Chapter Text
This was the greatest day of her life. Bellatrix broke through the door to Sirius’ flat. She had to get her things before her plans realised themselves. And what lovely, ingenious, beautiful, freeing plans they were!
Bellatrix spotted Sirius staring at her with newfound amusement. Everything she did was amusing to him. Fucker deserved a punch in the nose - but he’d probably find that amusing, as well. ‘’Cousin, Bellatrix.’’ He didn’t call her Bella unless it was truly derisive or sarcastic. Talking to Sirius was easier than she expected.
‘’Cousin Sirius, hello. I’m looking for that portkey I gave you.’’
‘’You’ve given me many portkeys over the years.’’
She had. Her contingency planning rivalled that of Moody’s. Somehow, even with the careful erasure of the Order and its members the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement still remembered the man, the myth, the total legend that was Alastor Moody. Who was the current head of that department? Some guy, Scrimgeour probably. Bellatrix didn’t pay much attention to that. It was Abraxas’ division.
‘’The portkey I told you to use for code red.’’
‘’What’s code red again?’’ Sirius cheekily pressed her.
‘’Are you serious right now?’’
‘’I’m always Sirius.’’
Bellatrix hated herself for walking into that one. She ought to know better. Her face was turning redder than if a stinging hex had hit her. ‘’I don’t have the time for this! I’ll make a new one.’’ And Bellatrix had learned how to do that. She’d taken a bloody course. It was ridiculous to recall the things the Supreme Leader needed to know how to do - for her own safety, of course.
‘’Shouldn’t you have a security detail with you?’’
Bellatrix’s security detail was on permanent leave. She disliked people snuffing about her business and following her and listening to her. Gods, she was turning into Alastor Moody. This was terrible. ‘’I’m leaving.’’ She said with finality.
Sirius didn’t laugh at her. He knew she wasn’t joking.
‘’I did wonder where that portkey would take me.’’ He gestured for a liquor cabinet. It was the worst place to hide a secret portkey. It was so bad a hiding place that it was perfect. Bellatrix scoffed as she hunted for it. ‘’Where does it lead to, Oh Supreme Leader?’’
‘’If I were to tell you it would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?’’
Sirius inclined his head to agree. ‘’True.’’
Bellatrix played with the portkey (a sickle) between her fingers and sighed. With her other hand she ran her fingers through her hair. Her hair was greying. As long as it wasn’t falling out, Bellatirx didn’t mind. ‘’Are you going to be okay when I leave?’’
‘’Probably not.’’ Sirius said. ‘’Maybe they’ll think I did something to you and they’ll send someone to kill me.’’
‘’Probably Nott.’’ Bellatrix nodded.
Sirius cracked a grin. ‘’If you weren’t such a heinous bitch you might have won the war for our side.’’
‘’Blood matters, Sirius.’’ Bellatrix would never stop believing in that. Even if everyone told her it was wrong to be so callous and limiting. ‘’I can’t just - if it were wrong it would not have lived on as a belief for so long.’’
‘’You ever heard of the Bible?’’
‘’Did you find bloody Jesus now?’’ Bellatrix was subject to listening to drunk Voldemort too many times during their coexistence in war not to have heard about his opinions on Catholicism. Apparently these people had tried exorcising him as a child when modern medicine had not cured his ailments. She couldn’t understand why Sirius would want her to align with these people.
‘’Naah. Lily liked to talk about Christianity and put some things from that book into a magical context. It was interesting. Though, maybe not your style, dearest Cousin Bellatrix.’’
Bellatrix didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what else there was to say to that.
‘’Help that Granger girl before you leave.’’ Sirius said. ‘’You know Mind Magic.’’
‘’You’re a Black, too.’’
‘’Yeaaah, but I never bothered to learn the ‘Mental Arts’.’’ He added air quotes to further demonstrate how little respect he had for anything that had to do with the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. ‘’I can just lie really well and create chaos wherever I go. You’re the type of person who learned. You’re the oldest child.’’
‘’You’re the oldest child, too.’’
‘’You don’t want to help her. Fine. You could have just said so. Why should you, right? She’s just a mudblood.’’ Sirius twisted that word into something truly hideous. He said the word how mudbloods heard it and threw it back at Bellatrix. All of Walburga’s children had a powerful voice, infused with their magic.
His eyes were equally as Black as hers. Bellatrix didn’t look away. She wouldn’t be humiliated, nor would she feel ashamed for her beliefs. But she would clear something up: ‘’My duty, Sirius, is to serve all of my residents. I have to make decisions that ultimately lead to the protection of all of them. This may be difficult for you to understand but saying something in order to get elected - or in our case to go to war for - and then once the war ends you’re forced to do something are two wholly different spheres of thinking. The MUE won’t just allow us to enslave half our population…’’ Quietly: ‘’And we did do the numbers; the mudbloods are a big part of our world. And yes, inbreeding does cause detrimental effects on magic. There have been studies. That we have actually done.’’
‘’Funny how those studies never made it to the public.’’ Sirius deadpanned.
‘’Are you insane? I don’t want another civil war on my hands! Bread and circus, Sirius. That’s all we can do for them now. Hermione Granger was supposed to be the first proper mudblood that we’d be integrating slowly into the cycle. Did you know there’s a sort of positive discrimination? It’s quite interesting stuff. Bloody maddening, as well. Don’t get me wrong I find all of this highly idiotic, but it’s one of the things I have to look for. The MUE gave us this checklist. Just guidelines that we can go by or we can choose not to go by and get bombed by NATO.’’
‘’NATO knows about us?’’
‘’Oh yes, that was a shock to me, too. When Voldemort heard about the possibility of getting bombed I do believe that’s when he… well, not freaked out - that’s not quite what happened.’’ Bellatrix stopped. "To be honest… Yes, freaked out is the best way to put it. He had an episode." She wouldn’t tiptoe around the topic any longer.
‘’He ill or something?’’ Sirius stopped Bella from answering the minute he realised what a complete fucking idiot he was for asking something like that. Of course he was ill. Anyone who’d survived two wars had underlined issues that needed addressing, but couldn’t be addressed due to the intricate taboo placed around mental health.
‘’I’m leaving.’’ Bellatrix shouted. She had to get back to what was important. ‘’I suggest you leave, as well.’’
‘’I’m not leaving that girl behind.’’
‘’You danced a couple of dances with her and now you like her?’’ Bellatrix sneered. ‘’Wasn’t that werewolf enough for you to understand that you shouldn’t get attached to your lesser mages, Sirius?’’ Perhaps Bellatrix was cruel to her cousin because that was the only thing she knew how to be when around her family? It wasn’t worth dwelling on.
‘’She’s sweet and reminds me of Lily. And she needs help.’’ Sirius blocked the exit to his flat. Bellatrix glanced back to the fireplace and raised a brow inquisitively at him.
‘’Do this one thing for me.’’
‘’I’ve done things for you. I’ve done way too many things for you.’’ Bellatrix hissed. She pushed Sirius and he didn’t budge. Wouldn’t budge. It was like talking to a brick wall. And not the kind that served as an entrance to Diagon Alley – that one sometimes spoke back and understood basic instructions. ‘’You’re being incredibly ungrateful right now.’’
‘’You just told me she was going to be your face for Mudbloods Being Useful.’’
‘’We wouldn’t call it that, Sirius. Have you spent a single moment in a marketing meeting ever?’’
‘’Nope.’’
‘’It shows.’’ She drawled. When she drew her wand he drew his. Bellatrix looked, yet again, back to the floo network – but she preferred going through the door because of the ward setup. It would be suspicious if she went through the floo after never going through it. The floo was tracked by the Ministry. Mages didn’t go through front doors unless they had to – it just wasn’t a thing that was ingrained as a habit with them. He poked her with his wand and told her to man up or woman up or Supreme Leader up and stop being such a cunt. Such lovely words from her own blood. He kept poking her. She poked him back. ‘’Stop that. You are being childish.’’
‘’Never had a problem with it growing up and I’m not about to stop now when I’m a relic of the past.’’ Sirius both poked Belaltrix and the fact that the only reason why he was outside of Azkaban was because he was being ‘redeemed’ and ‘re-educated’. ‘’Beautiful, enchanting, ingenious, brilliant –‘’
Bellatirx knew where this was going.
‘’-mesmerizing, cutthroat, wonderful –‘’
It went on.
Bellatrix kicked him between the legs, said goodbye to having any nieces or nephews from Sirius to harass, and high-tailed it before he could finish saying how much Sirius Black loved being the only other relic of the past alongside his most wonderful professor Minerva McGonagall. That puppy crush should have been outgrown.
With the portkey that no one knew about in hand, Bellatrix disapparated to Ginny’s place. She liked to give that girl as much autonomy and space as she could. Even though they were entangled for two years, it seemed much too soon to live with someone. Bellatrix couldn’t forget the moment when she’d woken up screaming from a nightmare. That had been the most awkward situation she’d ever been forced into living through. And she’d seen Abraxas Malfoy preparing his proposal speech. Now that was Schadenfreude.
Bellatrix was beginning to seriously believe in synchronicity. Because Abraxas Malfoy was waiting for her in Ginny’s apartment. He was sipping tea loudly and not minding how he came off as a prick by doing so in the most annoying manner possible. In fact, Bellatrix was convinced that the man savoured each micro-expression of disgust that coloured Bellatrix whenever she saw him. He was Voldemort’s confidant. Bellatrix was his General. They interacted because they had to.
‘’You look like you’re in a hurry.’’ Abraxas knew things. He was a Master at Arithmancy and he knew things that people wouldn’t know unless they actively sought maths out.
‘’That’s because I am. I’m horny as hell.’’ Bellatrix was a great big liar and because she was so adept at lying and the infamously called Mental Arts – she knew that the best tactic to throw someone off one’s scent was to confuse and revolt the daylights out of them. ‘’Ginny’s waiting for me. Thanks for keeping her company, Lord Malfoy.’’ Bellatrix needed Abraxas out of this apartment. She needed him out of her life. Hadn’t marrying Minerva been enough for him? He’d all but retired then.
Abraxas sighed. Not one of those regular sighs. No. He sighed the infamous sigh only a man with 125 peafowls could. This was not going to end well for Bellatrix. Ginny was unharmed. Ginny was wondering what in Merlin’s name was going on. Patience, Bellatrix sent her a thought, I’ll tell you everything later. Just help me get rid of this prick.
Ginny decided to get rid of him by asking him what was wrong. Sometimes the youth, however much they were ingenious, turned out to be idiots as well. It was one of those win-some lose-some moments. Bellatrix had had higher hopes for Ginny.
‘’Bellatrix,’’ how profane was it to call him Lord Malfoy while he dared to call her by her given name. Bellatrix would think it was a lot. ‘’don’t you find it exhausting to lie?’’
She didn’t have a safe retort. The only one she could think of to say would offend a lot of people and she had to watch what she was saying as the Supreme Leader of the new world. Fucking Merlin and Nimue she wanted to say what she had in mind. Next time. Next time when she wasn’t in such a hurry and could think of better insults, she would speak her mind.
‘’Have you tired of Minerva and that’s why you’re here?’’
‘’I have, actually.’’ Abraxas sighed. ‘’I have tired of her.’’
‘’Oh.’’ Bellatrix had not expected that. Minerva and Abraxas always looked like such a fun couple. Too fun, sometimes. ‘’Wait did you only marry her to save her from Azkaban?’’
‘’Got it in one.’’
‘’Why?’’
‘’Well, more than one reason – it was to make Tom jealous.’’ Abraxas sheepishly admitted.
Bellatrix was younger than these men. Much younger. So young that if they were in an intimate relationship it could be called cradle robbing because they were her father’s age. Yet she was still much more mature than them. She glanced at Ginny, who was having similar thoughts.
What the ever loving fuck, Bella
Bellatrix didn’t know how to answer Ginny.
‘’Why are you here, Abraxas?’’
‘’I dabbled a bit.’’ This was code for ‘I was absolutely bored out of my mind and decided to see future outcomes and now it’s up to you to make my favourite future a reality and you have to do so without my explaining to you what will happen in it’. Bellatrix hated that she knew that. Out of all of the Old Guard it was Abraxas that was eerily squeaky clean. Not even if she wanted to shove him in Azkaban she couldn’t due to a lack of evidence and motive. It would be best if she followed along for now.
‘’Okay.’’ Bellatrix played with the sickle between her fingers. Abraxas ignored its presence. Good man. ‘’Why did you two end so abruptly? You would think that being together for thirty years ought to be enough time to get to know each other. There weren’t any children that would make you stay together – well – okay – the peafowls are yours and Voldemort’s children in a way.’’
‘’He still comes by to see to them. It’s rather nice of him. Unexpectedly so.’’ Abraxas mumbled. Then he sighed, that infamous sigh, once more.
Ginny was smarter the second time around. She inched towards Bellatrix. But it was Bellatrix now that asked him what he wanted from her. Abraxas wasn’t like Thoros Nott or Avery Sr. No, he rose above their pettiness and brought a freshness to the regime.
‘’Say what you have I am in a hurry and you obviously know where I am going. Or don’t you?’’
‘’Oh no, no – I do know you’re attempting to flee. It’s never too late to change your life is it?’’ Abraxas laughed. ‘’Definitely false thinking. You can easily get trapped in your way of life if you live to serve another person. It is good you don’t have children, Bellatrix. You would be a selfless mother, I think. You’d let your child control your life. Druella let you control hers.’’
‘’Ginny, we’re going travelling, love – could you go and pack up some essentials. I’ll pay for whatever else you want.’’ Bellatrix had had enough bothering herself with Abraxas’ ramblings. She shooed Ginny off to get ready.
‘’Is she like your companion then?’’
‘’Exactly.’’
‘’I remember the day I realised I was older.’’
‘’Can you not drain my energy with your nonsense, Abraxas. Respect me enough to do that, at least.’’
‘’I want Tom back. He’ll listen to you.’’
‘’Excuse me?’’
‘’He will! The numbers don’t lie.’’ Abraxas took out a handkerchief from his robe pocket and enlarged it. It was covered inch by inch with equation solving. The end result was a five. Bellatrix took only one class of arithmancy before switching out for runes because she wasn’t a masochist. She had no idea what the five meant. To her it could mean anything Abraxas said. But, as a Black, she could tell if he lied to her. He didn’t lie: ‘’There are five things that have to happen and he’ll listen. Two have already happened.’’ Abraxas took out a wand (Albus Dumbledore’s wand!) from his other robe pocket and handed it to her. ‘’Third one’s here.’’ She took it quietly, softly. ‘’That’s the Elder wand by the way.’’ Bellatirx choked on her own spit and nearly dropped the wand.
‘’What are the first two?’’
‘’Something about mummy issues.’’ Abraxas pointed to the number 23.
‘’How in Nimue’s name can you read that from a number?’’
‘’I have spent fifty years doing this craft, I can decipher everything the numbers want to say.’’
‘’What’s my love life like?’’ Bellatrix leaned forward and asked. She might as well use this opportunity to figure things out while Ginny was in the other room packing up.
Abraxas said it was zero. ‘’Very stable.’’
‘’How is a zero stable?’’
‘’It’s neither negative nor positive!’’
‘’What was Tom’s and yours relationship?’’
‘’I am not disclosing that number.’’
Bellatrix finally shut the man up. She twirled the elder wand in one hand and held onto the portkey in the other. ‘’I can’t believe I beat a man with the elder wand.’’
‘’To be fair he never did use it much in combat. It was as if he gave you the victory.’’
Bellatrix deadpanned: ‘’Such a shame none of your favoured champions managed to kill Dumbledore. You’d be stuck with them and not me.’’
‘’A Black’s audacity and prowess is unrivalled, Bellatrix. Now, second thing on the list-‘’
‘’Do I need a coat?’’ Ginny popped out. She was holding a very big and fluffy coat.
‘’No.’’ Bellatrix said.
‘’Somewhere warm then. Okay.’’ Ginny popped back inside.
‘’- Bellatrix, second thing on the list – ‘’
‘’Do I need a bikini?’’
‘’Only if you want to make me sad!’’ Bellatrix shouted.
‘’Skinny dipping then! Cool!’’
Abraxas was becoming quite cross with this situation. He stood up from his chair and pushed his index finger against Bellatrix’s chest. ‘’Listen to me, Bellatrix. Mother’s embrace, happened. Friend’s betrayal – probably you deciding to leave once and for all. Enemy on the rise – you with the elder wand if he comes for you to have something to do real damage with.’’
Bellatrix opened her mouth to say that her own wand had caused a lot more damage thank you and that she didn’t need the elder wand to kick arse and take names later. But Abraxas wouldn’t hear of it.
‘’This fourth thing is a 1979 and I am having a bit of trouble figuring it out.’’
‘’Huh.’’ Bellatrix snorted. ‘’That’s a year.’’
‘’What?’’
‘’1979 is when Granger was born.’’
Abraxas snorted back. ‘’Well that solves that, I suppose. Get Granger back. You do know how to return her memories?’’
‘’Sweet Circe I just want to fuck Ginny in Italy why are you all badgering me about this. Either keep your mouth shut when we leave or tell Voldemort at this point, Abraxas, I’m going quietly or no!’’
‘’Oh that has to be the fifth thing then. It is a bombastic number. Must be him being forced into doing administrative duties again’’
Ginny came out dressed in the sexiest damn robe Bellatrix had ever seen her in. ‘’Is that new?’’ She ignored Abraxas.
‘’I bought it a couple of days ago.’’ Ginny answered, speaking in a silky, attractive voice. She pulled Bellatrix into an open mouthed kiss.
Abraxas coughed to get their attention. ‘’As a man who has been married to a lesbian and has made a child with one, may I just remind all of you that I won’t fall for these distraction tactics.’’
‘’We’re not making out to distract you.’’
‘’Yeah, Mr. Malfoy, get a life.’’
‘’It’s Lord Malfoy.’’ Abraxas answered Ginny, miffed. He crossed his arms and glared. ‘’Bellatrix, I want Tom back.’’
‘’Win him back yourself.’’ Bellatrix stopped making out with her lover to turn to Abraxas and sneer. ‘’Stop using me to do your work for you.’’
‘’This way is less emotionally compromising for me. In the other way where I don’t use this situation to my advantage I actually have to apologise for not taking his panic attack seriously in the 80s and I truly don’t care for that sort of thing.’’
What the actual fuckity fuck, Bella? Ginny looked at Bellatrix, aghast.
Bellatrix didn’t have enough words to describe the sheer fucked-up behaviour that was propagated in the high circles of pureblood culture that shaped the men Bellatrix surrounded herself with. For all they spoke how blood traitors raised their children, said children at least learned how to apologize and how to take criticism.
‘’Could you help Hermione, though?’’ Ginny asked.
‘’She could.’’
‘’I don’t have the time.’’
Ginny narrowed her eyes. ‘’Would you make time if I asked you to?’’
‘’She would.’’
‘’I really don’t have the time!’’
Ginny pouted.
Bellatrix found the time.
Abraxas laughed at her the entire time they went to Granger’s abode. For emotional support Bellatrix brought Sirius with them.
‘’Since when do they live apart?’’ Bellatrix wondered. ‘’Shouldn’t she be at Hogwarts?’’
‘’Perhaps Tom has learned the error of his ways?’’ Abraxas couldn’t even keep a straight face while saying that.
Hermione opened the door and barely recognized them all. ‘’Hello!’’ She wore a chipper smile.
‘’You should smile more.’’ Abraxas elbowed Bellatrix on his way inside. ‘’Hello, Hermione!’’
‘’Oh Hermione, that’s my name!’’
Ginny shuddered. ‘’Death is too good for that man.’’
‘’He’s immortal.’’ Abraxas gave away a government secret.
‘’Wait really?’’
‘’Yeah, apparently he split his soul or something?’’ Sirius was the town gossip.
Bellatrix looked at Hermione and asked to see her sit down. Hermione’s face blanched. ‘’Am, am I in trouble, Supreme Leader?’’
‘’Big trouble.’’ Bellatrix nodded. ‘’I need access to your brain to see if you’ve been colluding with some dangerous people.’’
‘’I – I haven’t!’’ Hermione panicked.
‘’Well, you don’t remember.’’ Bellatrix said, speaking slowly. And if she was patronizing that wasn’t anyone’s business. ‘’Because you got obliviated. But I can tell. So, just let good old Supreme Leader in your brain and I’ll be out before you can finish saying that insanely long muggle word-‘’
‘’What inane muggle word?’’
‘’You’ll remember it soon enough.’’ Bellatrix fanned away.
Returning Hermione’s memories turned out to be child’s play. The ire in her eyes, however, was something altogether different.
‘’I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!’’
Abraxas squealed with joy. ‘’Oh after this he’ll have no other place to go but to come running back to me!’’
Bellatrix grabbed hold of Ginny and activated the portkey. She needed out of this madhouse.
Sirius soon activated his and left to another location.
Let Voldemort deal with a woman scorned on his own.
Bellatrix was going to finally live her own life.
The things Bellatrix and Ginny actually got to do before shit hit the fan were the following:
- Swim in the sea
- Drink lots of wine
- Say buongiorno and arrivederci to the staff in an attempt to hone their bilingual craft
- Went to see some sights
- Enjoyed in each other’s company
- Breathed in peace
After all of that they tried to have sex.
And it was that exact moment when Ginny had her tongue lapping up at Bellatrix’s clitoris that Professor fucking Voldemort deigned to call via Dark Mark.
Bellatrix refused to answer. She was in the moment.
The Dark Mark grew agitated. It seared with pain.
Bellatrix tried to remind herself that she was not going to allow the fiend to ruin this for her. Ginny was absolutely wonderful. Bellatrix tried to be wonderful, in turn, but the natural talent on her lover was unparalleled.
And Voldemort kept calling. It was the equivalent of leaning on a doorbell and just. not. moving.
She must have spasamed at the wrong moment because Ginny lifted her head and said: ‘’Bella, I’m not going anywhere. See what he wants.’’
Fine. Bellatrix answered the call by placing her index finger to the mark. ‘’Hello, Voldemort.’’
He spoke directly into her head because the magic demanded it. BELLATRIX BLACK
Bellatrix relayed to Ginny via eye-contact that she was in oh so much trouble.
Ginny bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. Bellatrix might follow suit because this was the most ridiculous situation she’d ever found herself in.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? I AM BEING HUNTED.
To Ginny: ‘’Hermione’s on a manhunt for him, apparently.’’
To Voldemort: ‘’That’s what you get when you don’t ask for people’s permission to do things.’’
COME BACK IMMEDIATELLY AND ALL WILL BE FORGIVEN!
‘’That doesn’t sound reassuring at all.’’ Bellatrix was not intimidated. No woman that had another woman eating her out feared a man. It was basic logic.
Ginny figured out that she could get Bellatrix to lose control while she was arguing with a has-been Dark Lord. She grabbed hold of her ankles and dived back in.
Bellatrix gasped.
Voldemort realised what that meant because not only was he in her mind, but he was also demanding her emotions to tell if she lied to him. Why had Bellatrix agreed to the Mark if it was so intrusive? Ah yes, because none of them had been bold enough to outright ask their once upon a frightening lord what it was the mark did. Fucking idio – and Ginny was a genius.
BELLATRIX, ARE YOU TAKING THE FUCKING PISS RIGHT NOW?
‘’This isn’t a good time. Oh sweet Circe –woman!’’
I AM APALLED AT YOU. I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE DISRESPECTED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
Bellatrix scrunched her eyes up and clasped her hands together, folding them above her head because she wanted to grab a hold of Ginny, but this would make it more intense if she didn’t. She wouldn’t lie, hearing Voldemort’s voice was doing things for her, too.
‘’OH Merlin, Ginevra, where did you even LEARN THAT?!’’
‘’I have my sources.’’
THAT IS IT! I AM GOING OVER THERE TO DRAG YOU BACK MYSELF.
As an orgasm rocked through Bellatirx she found that she couldn’t must up a single care about anything Voldemort had to say.
UNBELIEVABLE!
Bellatrix looked at Ginny and had to agree with that.
NOT WHAT I MEANT AND YOU KNOW IT!
Their connection ceased. He’d hung up on her. Bellatrix didn’t mind. She smiled sloppily at Ginny and told her that she had to go and beat up an intellectual but after she finished such unseemly business up, she’d make her come so many, many times.
‘’You better.’’ Ginny whispered. She wore a devilish smile. It adorned her beautifully.
Bellatrix Black stretched. She cast some rudimentary spells with the Elder wand to get herself suited to its power. It was exquisite, but she still preferred her own wand. However, for this task ahead she knew that intimidation was key.
Voldemort glared at her. One of his eyebrows was just gone.
‘’What happened to your eyebrow?’’
‘’None of your business, Bellatrix.’’
‘’Did Hermione Granger vanish it?’’
‘’None of your BUSINESS.’’
Bellatrix laughed in his face. She’d feared this moment for such a long time. Nearby them the Mediterranean Sea crashed against the shore. The intoxicating smell of iodine cleared Bellatrix’s mind in a way nothing had these past twenty years. It put things into perspective that this was her most terrifying moment. She’d thought so hard about what would happen if she up and left. How it would be to fight her own mentor. But now she found it was easier to laugh at him than it was to ridikkulus her own boggart as a thirteen year old girl.
She swished the Elder wand through the air and said nothing more. ‘’Should we bow? You have a thing for bowing if I remember correctly.’’ Cheekily she grinned.
He grumbled a few choice words. Then, louder: ‘’Of course we shall bow. We are not barbarians.’’
After the tensest bow in existence was over, Bellatrix crushed his knee with a spell. Nobody ever looked down when blocking. Most shields tended to be concentrated around the heart and head area, leaving the feet and knees practically open. Voldemort had spent a terrible amount duelling children to have forgotten such a thing. She couldn’t blame him, of course – his fucktoy had decided to rough him up before her scrutiny. The more Bellatrix saw Hermione Granger at work the less she found mudbloods useless.
Besides, any shield proved to be useless against the Elder wand. Bellatirx kissed it for good luck and shouted: ‘’Do you yiel-‘’
Voldemort hit her shoulder with a cutting hex, ruining her new Italian robe with blood. ‘’Motherfucker!’’
He limped, muttering healing spells underneath this breath and guarding against her attacks while he was doing so. Bellatrix sent a flurry of hexes at him, to distract him and cause him to botch his own healing spell. In return he sent her snake made out of fiendfyre. Bellatrix, ever so carefully, decided that she was not going to go up against that. She disapparated and apparated behind him, slamming her fist against his head. ‘’Stand down, already. I’m better at combat than you!’’
As he collapsed to the ground he shouted: ‘’The only reason why you’re winning is because I’m already injured!’’
‘’The eyebrows?’’ Bellatrix hissed out another laugh. She couldn’t take the man underneath her seriously anymore. He called the fiendfyre back when he felt the tip of her wand pointed at the back of his head. She bound his hands with conjured ropes behind his back.
‘’Not the bloody eyebrows, Bellatrix.’’ Painfully he whispered, more out of humiliation than physical pain: ‘’She hit me with a cruciatus curse.’’
The respect Bellatrix had for Hermione Granger quadrupled: ‘’Oh I love mudbloods now. All of them are my best friends. I’m giving them the same rights as purebloods.’’
‘’Do whatever you want.’’
‘’Well since you said I can do whatever I want I’m going to send Thoros Nott and Avery to Azkaban. Might send Lucius, too, since he is doing some unseemly things with elves I’ve heard.’’
‘’Lucius has always been a bit troubled.’’ Voldemort agreed. His face was smushed against the stone paved path.
Bellatrix nodded. She sat down on Voldemort’s back. He hissed out in pain. She looked up at the sky and listened to the calming sound of the sea. ‘’I cannot send you to Azkaban.’’
‘’You care.’’ Voldemort laughed at her. ‘’How sweet of you.’’
Bellatrix nipped that in the bud before something came of it. ‘’No, it’s just that it would send a difficult message to the world. The MUE might ask questions that I don’t care to answer at the moment. I want you to know one thing, however. You pushed me to this. It is your inability to articulate your problems that have led to this moment with both Granger and myself.’’
At the mention of Granger, Voldemort’s ire tripled, but so did his discomfort. Watching this flash of emotions dance across his visage was a decent show. Amusing, albeit nothing important would come of it.
‘’You should send me to Azkaban. As punishment. If you want to hurt me.’’
Bellatrix smiled sweetly at him. ‘’No, no. If I wanted to hurt you I know for a fact that Azkaban wouldn’t do shite for you, Mr. I can speak to Dementors via parseltongue. I wasn’t born yesterday.’’
Voldemort began to accept that, as well. Bellatrix was not his trusted starry-eyed pupil any longer. Nor was Hermione that, as well. He needed a break from volatile women that cared for their own autonomy and challenged him every step of the way – no, what Voldemort needed was someone he knew how to handle; someone he had tried making a life for decades and somewhat succeeded: ‘’I miss Abraxas.’’ He whispered.
Bellatrix couldn’t believe how accurate arithmancy was. ‘’There are going to be changes when I return to England. I will be Supreme Leader for a few more months, okay. Prior to my retirement there will be an election.’’
‘’An election?’’ Voldemort hissed in horror.
‘’Yes, we’re giving the people democracy.’’
‘’That is a bad idea – look at what happened to Yugoslavia when they gave them that!’’
‘’We’re a lot smaller than Yugoslavia was, Voldemort.’’
He had to concede that fact. ‘’Fine. What are your other terms?’’
‘’I’m going to punish you. Really, really ruin the life as you know and cling onto.’’
‘’Are you going to destroy my horcruxes and kill me?’’
‘’Nah.’’ Bellatrix set his mind at ease because she felt a large spike of panic from him. ‘’That’s much too easy and it’ll leave everyone you’ve wronged without proper recompense.’’
‘’Then what are you going to do?’’
Bellatrix’s eyes glowed dark. ‘’You’re going to therapy.’’
Voldemort had never been more afraid in his life. ‘’I’ve created a monster.’’
Voldemort would rather die than admit that the therapy was helping him come to terms with a lot of things he normally wouldn’t speak about. Abraxas was quite happy to be back with Tom. And only he was allowed to call the man Tom. It was a privilege he’d earned fair and square.
Hermione Granger became an Unspeakable and did unspeakable things. She and Voldemort never crossed paths again. And even if they did because their country was very small – they always respected each other’s restraining order by crossing to the opposite street and moving on.
Sirius Black wound up in a secluded muggle Russia village thanks to that portkey where he became a local legend because he could make vodka out of water.
Rita Skeeter continued being a pain in the neck, but Ginny Black and Bellatrix Black couldn’t give two shits about her – because they were out of that political sphere nowadays.
The MUE sent Bellatrix a small card that said: Congratulations on your first democratic election.
Bellatrix would have savoured this moment a lot more had she not found out that the people had voted for Gilderoy Lockhart to take charge of the New World she’d painstakingly built.
Ginny kissed her to help her deal with the shock. It helped. Just a tiny bit.