Hey Readers, this idea just kind of materialised out of thin air. I kind made this up as I went along. So please read and I hope you enjoy it. If you would liket leave a reiew that would be very much appreciated as they really do mean a lot. Constructive criticism is also welcome. But mostly I just hope you enjoy!

T rating just to be safe for implications

Dislaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned, they all belong to JK Rowlng.

Rodolphus looked across the room at his wife's sleeping form. Lately he'd liked her best when she was sleeping, it reminded him of the earlier years of their marriage, before the Dark Lord and before Azkaban. When she was asleep she looked peaceful, relaxed, beautiful. There was no anger lines on her face, no hatred, no desire for sadistic behaviour. This wasn't to say that Rodolophus hadn't been sadistic himself, but he had always been relatively happy with his home life. He'd be a death eater and do as the Dark Lord wished, but then he would go home and he would be Rod, a normal person, a loving husband. Bellatrix used to be the same.

Bellatrix was no longer the woman Rodolphus had promised to spend the rest of his life with. She looked just the same. The darkness of her eyes and hair highlighted her milky skin. But her eyes now had a maddened look and her un-kept hair made her look wild and out of control. She had a beautiful figure, many women would give their right arm to have, but the way she moved was so seductive that her figure only served her temptress façade that was only used outside the home nowadays. She lived to serve the Dark Lord and only to serve the Dark Lord. She talked non-stop about blood purity, about how noble the Dark Lord was, how he was a wonderful role model for young witches and wizards. When Draco became a death eater she was so proud. Rodolphus remembered how she burst into the house with some kind of insane look of total elation on her face, screeching in joy about how her nephew was the first death eater of the new generation.

Rodolphus had lost his wife. His Bellatrix was not the woman who came back to the house every day. His Bellatrix was not so obsessed by other people's pain and suffering that she could barely go a week without torturing someone. His Bellatrix did not value herself on how many mudbloods, blood traitors or muggles she destroyed. His Bellatrix had a life, loved fashion and literature, enjoyed spending time with her baby nephew, making googly eyes and using silly voices to make him giggle, loved her husband. The new Bellatrix appeared to only care about blood purity and doing exactly as the Dark Lord wished. She wasn't hostile or unkind to Rodolphus, it was like she didn't register his reaction to anything. She didn't care if he was excited or bored by her constant pureblood propaganda, the manic excitement on her face never dropped, the eagerness in her voice never faltered and the insane laughter she released when talking about causing pain never ceased. Rodolphus had lost his wife, he knew this, but there was only so much he could take, he didn't know what to do. Rodolphus hated to cry and he didn't do it often, but today tears began to escape Rodolphus' dark eyes and ran down his cheeks.

Bellatrix awoke, she forced her face into the sheets allowing herself a smile as she remembered her dream, before she opened her eyes to reality, ready to think of something hateful to say about non purebloods or whatever she felt would impress her husband today, but quickly stopped when she noticed Rodolphus sitting on the sofa on the far side of their bedroom crying. She frowned, genuinely frowned in confusion. Rodolphus never cried, really he never cried. She was sure she had never seen him cry. She didn't even think he had emotions, let alone tear ducts. She got up and crossed he room and stood in front of him.

"Rod? Roddy? Is something wrong?" she asked, she was truly and honestly shocked, Rodolphus hadn't showed any kind of emotion, not since before Azkaban.

"Bella, Bella this isn't working." He told her, his voice sounded broken with anguish.

"What? What's not working Rod?" she asked still utterly bemused by his sudden emotional break.

"Us Bella! Us! We're not working! I'm sorry but this obsession with blood purity, I agree that blood purity is important Bella, but it's taken over our lives, we don't have a marriage anymore Bella, we don't even have conversations." He had raised his voice now. Bella just stood there and stared at him, her mouth hanging open, completely dumbfounded, before tears began streaming down her face.

"What? How can you do this to me? I spend every day pretending just to please you and you're leaving me? Do you have any idea how exhausted I am? I spend all my time talking to you about the cause because I love you and now you're blaming me for destroying our marriage?" She screamed at him, positively wailing as she stared at him, not believing what she was hearing. Now it was Rodolphus' turn to be confused.

"Bella what are you talking about? I'm sick of hearing about the bloody cause, it's all you talk about, what on earth possessed you to think that would please me?" He asked.

"You did! And he did. When we broke out of Azkaban you kept talking about all the mudbloods, blood traitors and muggles we were going to kill. And then the Dark Lord told me what you thought, that I was getting old, that I didn't care enough about the cause, that you were going to leave me. He knows I care and he told me I needed to show you that I..."

"Bella what? What are you talking about it? I love you, I wouldn't care if you wanted to leave the death eaters and never kill again, I just want to spend my life with the Bella I married, not the Bella who cares about nothing else but blood purity. I never said or even thought you were getting old, you're the most beautiful woman in the world for Merlin's sake. I know you care about the cause, I do too, I just don't want it to dominate our lives and the Dark..." but Bellatrix cut him off.

"Then why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you talk to me? I thought you didn't love me, you never touch me anymore." She dissolved into tears again.

"Because the Dark Lord told me that you didn't care about anything but the cause, not love, not family, not even sex, and I asked what I should do, he said there was nothing I could do, I thought I could handle it, I couldn't." He told her and then realisation dawned on both their faces.

"He set us up against each other." Bellatrix stated in shock, then she looked to Rodolphus, "Why would he do that?" she asked him.

"What does the Dark Lord care about more than anything else?" Rodolphus asked flatly.

"The cause." Bella realised. "He tried to split us up so we would only concentrate on the cause, what are we going to do? We can't confront him, he'll kill us." She panicked.

"We don't tell him, we carry on as if nothing has changed, but at home we will be us again. We can make it work again Bella. The Dark Lord doesn't need to know. We'll fight for the cause but we'll still be us. I love you." Rodolphus told her.

"Okay but promise me next time the Dark Lord tells you something about our marriage, will you please talk to me about it?" Bellatrix said seriously.

"I promise." He smiled at her. He stood up and kissed her for the first time in months.

"Rod." She whispered.

"Yes?" he said

"I love you, but right now I need you." She grinned at him mischievously as Rodolphus'' eyes darkened and they moved towards the bed.

I may write an M rated follow up to this so if you have any opinions on that, lt me know if you want it.