Paint Me in Trust
Bellatrix-
I was hoping to get your opinion on a little issue that’s cropped up with my movement lately, as I’ve heard tell that you’re quite brilliant when it comes to this sort of thing, something I’m sure you didn’t get from your father- just don’t tell him I said that. I need to keep my supporters happy, after all. Consider this a start to an apprenticeship of sorts.
Before even reading the rest of the letter (whatever the problem was, she was sure she could figure it out), Bellatrix grinned. This was the first time Lord Voldemort had written her at school, and while to be honest she hadn’t expected him to, it was a pleasant surprise. Embarrassing as it was, she had to admit that something in her preened at the compliments- and an apprenticeship? With him? She’d had tutors before, of course, but never with someone who saw her potential like he did.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Andy asked warily. This was, she thought, the first time she’d spoken to her since the Tonks Incident (which Andy was absolutely refusing to apologize for), and of course it was because she thought she was up to something.
“Just a bit of good news,” she said, folding the letter and storing it in her bag for later. Then, because she just couldn’t help herself, she added, “It’s father giving me full permission to murder your boyfriend.”
Andy flinched. “That’s not funny, Bellatrix,” she snapped when she saw her chuckling. “Seriously.”
“Alright, whatever,” she muttered. If Andy couldn’t take a joke, that wasn’t her problem. “Hey, Cissy, pass the salt, will you?”
“Mhm.”
She frowned at the halfhearted response. She did hope Cissy wasn’t still mad at her- that would be completely unreasonable, since it hadn’t even been that big of a deal and it had been nearly three days.
Ah, well. She wouldn’t let it ruin her good mood- things were going her way for once, and nothing could stop her now. Today was going to be a good day, she decided. She was going to go to the library to respond to Lord Voldemort and send him a response as quickly as possible, and then she was going to track down Green during her free period and let her know that she’d figured out her dirty little secret, and then maybe if she had time she would put in an order for whatever nice robes were in style right now and hope that they’d get to Hogwarts before they went out of style so Cissy would stop being a brat. Unlike the previous day when she’d decided to sulk, she was going to be productive.
And she was- she suspected that Lord Voldemort didn’t really need her help with this issue, and had just wanted to test her a bit, but she was happy to perform anyway. Her owl was currently being used by Cissy so she could write to their mother (why she would want to do that was beyond her, but whatever made her happy, she supposed), so she was forced to use one of the school’s owls. To make matters even better, she didn’t even need to wait for after class to bother Green- she passed her right as she was walking back down to the dungeons to get her things.
Green, as usual, tried to get out of her way, but while she would usually try her best to ignore her, this time she took advantage of the empty corridor to practically jump her and slam her against the nearest wall.
Green squeaked. It would’ve been adorable if it wasn’t so pathetic.
“Hello, Green,” she growled, letting her voice go as low as it could, for extra effect. “I know it hasn’t been too long since our last talk, but I was sure you wouldn’t mind if we did it again.”
“W-what do you want?” Green stuttered, face paling even more, if that was possible.
“Just wanted to let you know, I know exactly what you’re hiding.” She smirked as she felt Green’s heart rate speed up through her robes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re a terrible liar, you know that, mudblood?”
Green froze. “What?”
“Did you think no one would notice that you’re not actually a pureblood? It’s one thing to have poor lineage, but it’s another thing to lie about it.”
“I- I wasn’t-” She glared harder, and Green shrunk under her gaze. “Are you going to tell anyone?”
She paused just long enough to feel Green’s heart rate go up again before saying, “Not yet. Don’t you think it’s more fun that way?” Of course, it wouldn’t be fun for Green, but she always enjoyed playing with her food before she ate it. In this case, that involved letting Green see her every day with the knowledge that she could spill her secret any time she wanted.
She let that sink in for Green before letting go of her and stepping back. “Watch yourself, Green,” she hissed as a last warning. Predictably, the other girl shivered as she walked away, but didn’t say anything.
Good. She always preferred to have the last word.
—------------------------------------
“Bella, you’ve got mail.”
She perked up immediately as the school owl she’d sent to Lord Voldemort landed on the table in front of her, a letter clutched in its claws. Cissy detached it for her- just the other day, her order from Witch Weekly had come in, and her sister had forgotten all about being mad at her.
People could be so predictable that way.
Cissy handed her the letter, and she broke the seal impatiently, not even bothering to get her knife out in her hastiness to see what he’d said. To be honest, she hadn’t even been sure that she would get a response, so this was a very pleasant surprise.
Bellatrix-
I thought you might like to know that I found your letter very helpful (and such a quick response, too- I’ll have to remember that in the future. Dependability is a good trait), and have employed some of the… techniques you mentioned. We’ll have to discuss how you managed to get such an impressive hold on the school next time we meet. You take after me in that way.
In regards to our next meeting, I was hoping to see you before your term ended, just for a further outlining of what I might ask of you in future. Naturally, given the nature of our business, I cannot enclose that information in a letter. I’m sure you understand. I will be at Black Manor two Fridays from now for a little meeting with your father- we will be done before nine that night, if you choose to floo in for a quick chat.
I do hope to see you there.
-Lord Voldemort
“Who’s writing to you?” She looked up at Rodolphus Lestrange, who was looking over at her letter with thinly veiled interest. She scowled- normally, she didn’t mind Rodolphus too terribly, but this was hers.
“I don’t see that it’s any of your business,” she said stiffly, and he raised his hands in mock surrender and went back to bullying his brother over whatever Rabastan had managed to get himself into this week.
She looked back down at the letter, the excitement that had been stirring in her chest returning again. This was a wonderful opportunity, and one that she wouldn’t be wasting- he’d compared her to himself.
Weirdly, though, her eyes kept drawing back to his first line. She- hadn’t really expected him to take her opinions into account, so she’d gone a little overboard when suggesting suitable interrogation methods, most of which she thought were only reserved for people like her father. It was a little- strange that he’d used any of them for an interrogation that overall wasn’t terribly important. Even she would only do that in exceptional circumstances.
But the notion that Lord Voldemort could be even remotely similar to her father was completely outlandish. He recognized her potential, he showered her with compliments, something her father wouldn’t be caught dead doing. Maybe he’d gotten a little carried away. In that case, it was probably her fault anyway for suggesting anything in the first place. Neither of them were really at fault, right? In any case, they were definitely not as bad as Cygnus.
“Bella, are you alright?” Cissy asked, breaking her out of her reverie. She frowned, then realized that she’d already been frowning and clutching the letter tightly in her hands. “Nothing’s happened, right?”
She shook herself out of it. “No, Cissy, of course not. Everything’s fine.”
Cissy didn’t look very sure of this, but returned to her breakfast anyway. It wasn’t like she was lying to her- everything was fine. More than fine, really.
For once, things were genuinely looking up. She wasn’t going to ruin that just because of some silly little feelings. She was, after all, much smarter than that.