"You can't!"

"But I have to, I have to know."

"Please, don't. I can't bear to lose you!"

"You won't. I just... I have to know. I have to know why they're like this."

"No, please, no. I can't... I just... don't do this. Please, I'm begging you."

"What are they like, though? What do they think?"

"I don't care! Anyone who tries, they aren't the same. They're mad, they lose a part of themselves that they can't ever get back. I can't lose you like that."

"Don't you trust me? I'm one of the most skilled at Leggillmacy. I won't be like the others. I'll be the first to understand why they're like how they are."

"I won't let you."

"You won't? You can never best me in a duel. You know this. I thought you said you trust me. Was that a lie? Please, trust me to come back to you."

There was a pregnant pause before the man bowed his head, hiding his unshed tears from view. His blonde hair shielding him. "If you fail and... and become like the others from the past..."

"You do what you have to do," the woman patted his cheek gently, forcing the man to look up. "You do know that I love you, with all my heart." Her black, curly hair blew in the breeze with her soft voice. She had a fond smile in place, but her eyes were set. "But I have to do this. I have to know. If I don't remain... me and I don't remember what I learn, at least I have the knowledge that I knew for a short time."

"Will that even matter if you don't remember that you knew?" The man asked quietly. "Will it not matter that I lost you forever?"

"It matters, but you won't lose me. I'll still be here with you."

"But you won't be the same. You won't be the woman I fell in love with."

"No, I don't suppose I will be," the woman sighed softly, looking over at the gates of Azkaban that would lead to her goal. "But this is what I want."

"Does my love mean so little to you?"

"No, never!" She growled out, grasping his face in her hands. "But I'm filled with such... oh, I just have to know! Please, please let me try." A single tear fell down her cheek as she looked him in the eye. "Please, my love."

The man sighed, "Alright. I will be with you."

A bright, radiant smile bloomed across her beautiful, aristocratic face. "Thank you." She tilted his head gently, lowering him down so she could kiss him fiercely.

When they parted, she looked at him beseechingly, "Don't let go. Promise you won't."

He gave a strained chuckle and nodded, "I won't. I promise."

Hand in hand, the two walked up the steep steps to the front of Azkaban. When the two pressed their hands to the gate it paused, shuttered and opened for them, allowing them inside. They walked in, the gate slamming closed behind them.

It didn't take long before a Dementor neared them. The woman looked at her husband, giving him a quick kiss, "I love you, Rodolphus."

"And I you, Bellatrix."

She gave him another of her beautiful smiles before drawing her wand and pointing it at the Dementor. She paused and the thought that she shouldn't give in to her morbid curiosity crossed her mind. That she should live her life with her love. That she should be at least wondering why she wanted to find out what Dementors thought.

But those thoughts were quickly pushed away with that curious need to just know. She tightened her hold on Rodolphus, and smiled when he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.

Without another thought, she whispered, "Legilimens."

It was beautiful. The world around them was bright and full of happiness. Something that they couldn't have. Something that they yearned to have. Something that they wanted; wanted but could never grasp.

Yet everything around them had it. The plants, the animals, the humans. All that the humans felt, it seemed to consume them. Happiness, anger, joy, pain. Everything. It was something that only humans could have and enjoy.

What they had was nothing except for the hunger to feel. They wanted to know what it was like to feel that all encompassing happiness.

Bella was falling into that void when she felt arms wrapped around her. Someone who loved her and gave her that happiness.

She felt sorry for the creatures. They could feel nothing but a void that they longed to feel. They could see the beauty of the world, and how they wanted to have it for themselves. They were filled with such greed for it that they fed off those that felt it in hopes that they would eventually feel it for themselves.

The Dementor whose mind she had entered could feel her love for Rodolphus and wanted it for itself. It wanted to know what it was like to feel it. It just wanted to understand.

So that's why people go insane when they enter a Dementor's mind, she mused.

She was just about to retreat when Rodolphus shifted and for a moment, she lost her concentration.

The Dementor didn't waste a second and it sucked Bella deeper into its mind, dragging her away from her precious husband.

It drank from her; her memories of how she fell in love with Rodolphus, how she loved his smile, his quirks, his trust in her. It drank all the love she had from her and into itself.

It felt nothing.

It spat her out of it's mind.

"Bella?" Rodolphus shook her, whispering to her over and over again. "Bella? Come back to me."

The Dementor she had entered had left, leaving him alone with a wake of hopelessness.

Then it happened: she opened her dark eyes. For a moment, he felt relief.

"What are you doing? Release me, you oaf."

He recoiled and did as she asked. She stood and brushed off her robes and glared down at him. "I can't believe I married a coward." Bellatrix sniffed before she marched out of the prison and apparated away.

Rodolphus collapsed onto the ground, his whole body trembling. Tears welled up and trailed down his cheeks. He covered his face with his hands, his fingers digging into his scalp.

No matter how hard he tried, the tears wouldn't stop and his body wouldn't stop shaking. He didn't know how long he stayed there, but it had grown dark and he was still alone with the Dementors that swarmed around him and drank his emotions up.

Seeing no other other way out of his misery, he raised his head and drew his wand. He pointed it at the first Dementor he saw and whispered brokenly, "You'll have the both of us, then. Legilimens."