Opening

Bleeding
Breathing
One and the same
A Death Eater's
Motives
Could put you to
Shame
To fail at a task
A blight on one's life
The Dark Lord's
Anger
Breeds less courage than
Strife
Weakling
That's what she thought
Emotions are frail
Would lead you to
Nought
The strongest of people
Stone to the touch
A garment of honour
Tormented too
Much
Blessed are those
Whose hearts
Bear
Ice
Thoughts leaving body
Act on own
Device
Blank pages Unwritten
No story to tell
One final task
Could lead you to hell
Unreasonable yet
Predictable
His expectations
Bred Fear
No lack of courage
Much torment to bear.

Chapter 1—Face the Music


"Bella, no, you can't. He did his job. Please, just let me take him home."

Narcissa was pleading and Bellatrix was more disgusted than sympathetic. Like his father, Draco had failed. He was supposed to be the one to kill Dumbledore, not Snape. She had been right to try to keep him away from Draco. Snape was a meddler, always trying to steal the spotlight for himself. He thinks he's the Dark Lord's right hand man. This, Bellatrix knew, would surely knock him down a few pegs.

"It's not your business, Narcissa--"

"How dare you! Of course it's my business! Draco's my son!"

Bellatrix sneered. "You know what I mean. Draco needs to answer to the Dark Lord for what he's done or, rather, what he hasn't done."

"It's not his fault Severus stepped in! He couldn't control that!"

"From what Greyback says, Draco had plenty of time to do his duty and he didn't. He'll be lucky if the Dark Lord grants him forgiveness."

"But what if you talked to him..."

Bellatrix cackled, her hoarse voice echoing into the night. "You don't get it, Cissy. There's no negotiating with the Dark Lord. Draco's at his mercy."

Narcissa was weeping now, hardly able to stand up. She couldn't wipe the tears from her cheeks fast enough. The anguish was clouding her cold, aristocratic beauty, swelling and reddening her eyes, splotching her cheeks. Bellatrix merely stood idly by, watching her sister distort into a withered pile of human. She was never Death Eater material. Bellatrix never doubted her loyalty but she was too soft, too weak to handle the Dark Lord's orders. She wouldn't have been able to survive one mission. She often wondered if Narcissa reacted like this every time Lucius was sent out.

"But he didn't ask for this!" Narcissa wailed. "It's not his fault..."

"He volunteered, Narcissa. He knew what he was doing, what he was getting himself into."

"He didn't have a choice, Bella, and you know it! The Dark Lord is making Draco pay for Lucius's faults."

"It's not your place to say that, Cissy, and you know it."

An air-breaking crack resounded in the distance and Bellatrix whirled around, yanking her wand from her robes as she did. Two sets of feet padded against the moist grass as velvet shadows ran across the landscape and towards the two women. Bellatrix lit her wand tip and the light flew into the darkness, bouncing off the graying face of her nephew, Draco, and the pale, sallow, greasy face of Severus Snape.

Bellatrix turned her head around to face Narcissa who was now weeping into her knees, crouching on the ground. "Your pwecious baby's here, sis. I'm sure he'll let you weep on his shoulder."

Narcissa's head jolted up, her eyes as wide as they could be considering how swollen they were. She jerked her head around and rested her eyes on the lit face of her only son. She let out a heavy sob and darted for her boy, burying his face in her shoulder. If he had said anything, it had been muffled by her body and drowned out by her crying. While Narcissa weeped, Bellatrix turned her wand to Severus who stood before her, leering. She walked up close to him, she looking up into his face, holding her lit want tip inches from him. She smirked, her arrogance hard to fight back.

Snape remained stoic, staring back at Bellatrix with just as much intensity as she was giving him. "Don't be so smug, Bellatrix. You know nothing of what's happened."

"I know enough."

"Do you?"

"I know you killed Dumbledore. That was Draco's job."

"As I'm sure you reminded him every chance you got. And it was you, I take it, that told him to keep information from me?"

"What a smart wittle boy Snapey-kins is. And I was right about it too. You would steal his thunder if you knew. But you took it anyway, huh?"

"I couldn't wait all night for your nephew to finish his task. He had been up there for some time. Dumbledore would have died of old age had I waited for Draco to do it. Now, if you're finished, I have more important people to speak to."

As Snape started to walk away, Bellatrix grabbed him by his arm and forced him back around to face her. "I'll make sure you pay for meddling, Snape."

Snape cocked his eyebrow at her and chuckled a snide, sadistic chuckle. "Is that so? And just what are you going to do, Bellatrix? Crucio me? Set your husband after me?"

"Roldolphus does not fight my fights."

"And maybe you would have fewer fights and remained a little lower on the radar like the Dark Lord wants you to if you kept your crazy contained. Now, let go of my arm."

Snape wrenched his elbow from Bellatrix's grip and marched towards the old, abandoned house in the middle of the graveyard, lit only by the moonlight. Bellatrix stood for a moment at the top of the hill and watched as Snape bounded off. She glared after him, a sneer that would be visible in heavy blackness on her face. Who does he think he is, coming and going as he pleases, thinking he can interfere with everyone's plans? His day will come, she thought. The Dark Lord is skeptical of his allegiance and Bellatrix had a feeling that, even with Dumbledore's death, he would be hardpressed to trust Snape with anything of a more sensitive matter.

Bellatrix chuckled to herself before turning back around to face her nephew, still embraced tightly by his mother. She rolled her eyes and stomped towards the twosome, grabbing Narcissa by the shoulders and wrenching her away from Draco.

"You've had your time, Cissy. The Dark Lord is waiting for him. Come, Draco."

"No!" Narcissa screamed as she ran back towards her son.

Bellatrix pointed her wand at her sister, an almost pitying look on her face. "Don't make me hurt you, Narcissa."

Narcissa stopped just short of Draco and turned to her, tears welling in her eyes and flowing down her cheeks. "What do you care, Bella? You care nothing for family! They're just tools to you! Would you do the same to Rodolphus?"

Bellatrix's face was stoic. "Yes."

Narcissa visibly deflated. "Then your heart is blacker than I thought."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes over to Draco. "Let's go. The Master is waiting." Draco looked nervously at his mother before walking slowly towards his aunt, a look of grim defeat on his face. "Go home, Cissy. You're crying won't get you anywhere. There's nothing you can do."

"I can run..."

"What?"

"Run. Take Draco with me. Get Lucius, we could all disappear."

Bellatrix marched towards Narcissa, anger etched in every feature. She grabbed Narcissa violently by the chin, forcing her to look into her eyes. "You do that, Narcissa, and I will hunt you down myself and hand you over to the Dark Lord. Do you really think that could save you?"

Narcissa said nothing. She just stared into Bellatrix's eyes. They were empty of any emotion. She slapped Bellatrix's hand away from her face and stood up straight, grimacing at her sister. "You disgust me."

"I'll cry later. Come, Draco."

Together they walked back to Riddle Manor, leaving Narcissa in the darkness of the imposing hill. Bellatrix walked as if she were going to the store, proudly displaying her latest accessory. Draco, however, proceeded like a dead man walking. She shoved him through the door and, before being able to gather his bearings, Draco was thrown to the floor in a fit of agony, squirming and contorting his body in unfathomable ways. Bellatrix looked up to see Voldemort pointing his wand at her nephew, a smug and angered look riddling his face. She closed the door behind her and stepped around the agonizing body, joining Voldemort at his side.

He lifted the curse and the room was silent again except for Draco's heavy breathing and occasional gasping sob. She glanced over at Snape on Voldemort's other side, a look of stone covering his face. She doubted the Dark Lord had punished him yet. He was still standing. Snape felt Bellatrix's eyes on him and slowly turned his head to glare at her. She sneered at him and drew her finger across her neck, a look of satisfaction on her face.

"Now, now, Bella. No need to be childish."

Bellatrix's face straightened out immediately. "I'm sorry, my Lord. It won't happen again."

A faint laugh echoed across the room. "Of course it will. Your ability to contain yourself is near nonexistent. Get up, Draco." The last three words were spat with disgust. Voldemort's red eyes glinted malignantly at him as he found his way to his feet. "Don't think it's over, boy. My punishment has just begun. But first, for those that don't need a third party to help them out," he rolled his eyes towards Bellatrix and Snape, "we have a mission to discuss. I believe it's time for our imprisoned companions to join us again."