Subverted Expectations

“What are you doing tonight?”

Bellatrix did her best to stifle a groan of pure annoyance, and felt that she was at least moderately successful- the groan did not escape her lips, but she did roll her eyes. Really, she wasn’t annoyed with Cissy for asking; more so with the question that she’d chosen to ask her.

“Why?”

“Does there have to be a reason?” Cissy huffed. “I was just wondering if you were free tonight. You haven’t sat with me in the Common Room in forever.”

In her defense, this hadn’t been on purpose- she was simply too busy for that. Almost every night, she was in the abandoned classroom that she and Green had picked out. Or, well, she had supplied a list of rooms that everyone knew not to go into unless the door was open (a closed door implied one was hooking up, which was the only reason she had this list in the first place, obviously), and Green had decided on one of them. Same difference.

Whenever she wasn’t with Green, studying or on ‘date nights’ (mostly consisting of bringing something up from the Great Hall, or more studying but sitting closer together- Green could be quite boring that way) or what have you, she was ‘out’ with the Dark Lord and the rest of his followers. These two things were taking up much of her attention, and, truth be told, Cissy had kind of- slipped through the cracks.

“Sorry, I have plans tonight,” she told her. “Maybe tomorrow, though.”

“Alright, then,” Cissy said, looking mollified. Good- she didn’t really want to lose both of her sisters right now, though once Andy came back Cissy would inevitably follow.

But she and Cissy were fine, because she would definitely spend some time with her tomorrow- she just had so much going on right now. Somehow, in the three weeks that she and Emma Green had started ‘dating’, their date nights had not yet coincided with whenever the Dark Lord ended up scheduling a meeting. Until tonight.

Of course, she could work around both- she didn’t have to get to Black Manor until around eight, and Green never wanted to stay out past curfew, so they were never out later than nine. She’d just have to leave an hour early, and everything would work itself out just fine.

Still, it stuck in her mind, and she got lost in thought trying to figure out just what it was that unsettled her so much. By the time she had blinked herself out of it to find that Cissy had left, she still had not found the source of her discomfort.

—----------------------------------------------------

“And, urgh, I know you’re friends, but he’s just such an arse! What gives him the right to pick on Kathy like that?” Green ranted. Bellatrix was almost positive that the sheer frustration emanating off of her was actually causing her hair to poof out even more, but maybe that was just the humidity.

“Well, her being her probably seemed like invitation enough to him,” she shrugged, not overly worried about Katherine Connors and whatever insult Robert had leveled upon her this time- probably something to do with Quidditch to celebrate Gryffindor’s upcoming match (and because Robert rarely thought about much that wasn’t Quidditch- she knew he was the captain, but it was still just a bit much, honestly). She doubted it was the worst she’d ever heard- knew, actually, since Bellatrix herself had found great entertainment in bullying Connors pretty much since they’d met in their first year. “Also, Robert and I aren’t friends. Acquaintances, at most.”

“What about her would make someone want to bully her? She’s so nice! And forgive me for thinking you might be friends- he’s one of, what, two other people besides me I’ve ever seen you talk to willingly?”

“Yes, because we play Quidditch together,” she shrugged. That alone would not have been enough to generate any sort of fondness for the boy- she didn’t even know the first name of one of their newest Chaser this year- but the fact that they had played together for years and that he was one of the more tolerable people she knew (of which there were very few) earned him a few points in her book. “Doesn’t make us friends, though.”

“Well, either way, if it comes up you should tell him to stop bullying my friend,” Green huffed. “It’s awful, and it always makes her cry.” Bellatrix was about to point out that this latter argument was exactly why she and Robert both felt the need to pick on Connors (honestly, she was seventeen- possibly even eighteen- and she still couldn’t take a few insults?), but thought that maybe Green wouldn’t want to hear that.

Instead, she said, “Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that,” without really meaning it at all- the day she willingly told Robert to stop bullying his Quidditch rivals (again, it was the only bloody thing he thought about) was the day she learned the name of that second year Chaser.

As in, literally never.

“I suppose I’ll just have to take that,” Green sighed, not looking entirely like she believed her. But there was no time to remedy that now, so she would have to make it up to her later.

“Well, with that, I’ve got to head out a bit early,” she told her, sitting up and gathering her things. “Cissy demanded I hang out with her tonight, and apparently she has a ‘very strict bedtime’. Loser.” She had determined this to be the best way to go about this- obviously, she could not tell Green the actual reason, as she was well aware that the ‘activities’ she performed with the Dark Lord were very much illegal and not something her girlfriend would approve of, and this excuse was harmless enough in that it made her seem like she cared, or whatever, and also couldn’t be proven wrong, because when was Cissy going to talk to Green in any context at all?

“Oh. Alright, then. Have fun, I guess,” Green frowned.

“Will do.” She got to her feet, slung her bag under her shoulder, and marched out the door at what she felt was a reasonable speed. Once the door had closed behind her, she picked up the pace- ooh, she was going to be late….

—--------------------------------------------------------

She did not end up being overly late- just by a minute or so- but it still stung to not be the first one there, because by the time she floo’d in, the Dark Lord was already chatting with another man, engaged in an apparently riveting conversation. The jealousy that had boiled up in her had fueled her for the rest of the night, and by the end of it, she’d been exhausted from her efforts but relatively certain that she’d come out back on top.

She actually slept that night, all the way through to the morning, which was such a rare occurrence that she’d nearly been tempted into going to the hospital wing to make sure she was alright. But as nothing was ever going to get her to the hospital wing willingly, she would just have to move on with her life.

Of course, having spent the night sleeping, she had not had time to devise a plan to make up for the slight callousness that she had perhaps given off the previous day, so she spent most of her class time figuring that out. The best solution she could come up with was to get the elves to make Green something ‘special’ and get everything all set up for her before she even set foot into their classroom tonight.

Perfect.

And, astonishingly, things had been going well- if Green had been at all mad at her for being dismissive or for leaving early last night, she clearly wasn’t anymore within five minutes of sitting down. Of course, she’d insisted on doing their homework, but for once Bellatrix didn’t really mind- she was a little behind on work. They sat there in completely companionable silence, and she’d just been about to lean her head on her shoulder when the whole thing was ruined.

The door opened.

Her first thought was that that wasn’t supposed to happen, this was supposed to be a private room, and didn’t everyone know not to come in here? Her next thought was that she should have locked the bloody door, but she’d had a lot of stuff in her hands when she’d gotten here today, and it had slipped her mind entirely.

It wasn’t until the initial panic and outrage faded away that she realized Andy was the one who had interrupted them, which in fact served to make the whole situation both significantly easier to deal with and laughably worse.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, straightening up and away from Green, hoping to maybe save face. Unfortunately, she was having a picnic in an abandoned classroom with a girl and half her shirt was unbuttoned (a fact which Green had noticed, but hadn’t even done anything about, damnit), so if there was anything to be saved, the time was long past for that.

“Wha- oh, Merlin, you’re-”

“Get out!”

This, instead of sending Andy scrambling out the door in a panic, only seemed to snap her out of her shock. “Well, I was here for you, actually. I needed to yell at you about something.”

“Did the mudblood break up with you?” she asked hopefully.

“No. And don’t call him that,” she scowled.

“Well, as you can see, I’m busy, so you’ll just have to come back later,” she huffed, leaning back on her elbows, achieving the purpose of both appearing much more casual than she felt and making sure her sister couldn’t see all the way down her shirt.

“Oh, you are not getting rid of me that easily,” she scoffed. “So sorry to interrupt your date. And, just for the record, you’re a bloody hypocrite.”

Well, in that case, Andy was entirely missing the point. She had no problem with her shagging or even ‘going out’ with the mudblood Tonks- it was the implication that she might actually get herself disowned for him that set her off. She wasn’t going to do the same for Emma Green.

But this was not the time to explain that- if Green knew that this was fully intended to be temporary, she might get scared away- so she just scowled heavily at her. “What was it you came in here to yell at me about, then?”

Andy seemed to be weighing the merits of continuing that conversation or just moving on with her life- thankfully for Bellatrix’s patience and general sanity, she chose the latter. “Cissy’s upset.”

She blinked. “And this is my fault because…?”

“She says you told her you would spend some time with her today,” she snapped. “Since you haven’t for ages. Of course, she won’t come and complain to you about it, though Merlin knows why, which is the only reason we’re speaking right now. I see why now, but spend more time with our sister or I’ll cut the heels off all your boots.”

On instinct, she curled her feet into her, tucking her boots under her legs. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would. Now, if you’ll excuse me- it was nice meeting you,” she said, addressing Green for the first time. “Sorry for interrupting your- whatever this is. I do hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

As a small mercy, or perhaps just to be dramatic, she closed the door behind her.

She sat there silently fuming for just a moment- who was she to come in here, yell at her, and then storm away?- before looking over to gauge Green’s reaction. To her surprise, the other girl’s face was carefully blank.

“Is she going to tell anyone?” she asked eventually.

“No,” she said definitively, almost certain in that assertion. If Andy told anyone about her and Green, she could just as easily write to father about her and Tonks. 

Green hummed, but did not say anything else for several more minutes, to the point where Bellatrix started to get concerned. Was something wrong? Had Andy said anything to upset her?

“You told me yesterday you were leaving to go spend time with your sister,” she said, not quite accusing but close enough. Bellatrix cursed inwardly- she’d forgotten about that part of her lie.

“I did, didn’t I?” she sighed.

“Where were you actually?” Green asked suspiciously.

Ugh.

“I was at a- meeting. Outside of Hogwarts, not academic, so no, you don’t need to come. With, ah- a friend of my father’s.” That was how they’d been introduced originally, right? Even though she was much closer to the Dark Lord to her father now, it wasn’t technically a lie.

Green stared at her for a long while, clearly deep in thought. There was something almost horrible in her face that she couldn’t quite decipher- something in her eyes, maybe. “This friend- what do you do with him?”

“Nothing much. Research, mostly. Why?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “Just- I don’t know. Maybe you should think about- about going anymore. It just sounds kind of shady.”

She supposed it was shady, from her perspective- again, it wasn’t like most of the stuff they were doing was exactly legal. But of course, there was nothing wrong with what she was doing- there was no need to think about it at all.

Still, for Green’s piece of mind, she acquiesced to at least give her something. “I will. I promise.”

Green still looked skeptical, but she at least seemed like she was going to let the matter go. “Alright, then. That’s all I need.” 

“Well, if that’s all- I should probably go find Cissy. Sorry I can’t-”

“No, no, of course. Go find your sister. I’m sure she misses you with all the time we spend together,” she said wryly, as if trying to mask the worry still evident on her face.

That was how Bellatrix left her- still sitting on the floor, a far-off expression on her face, as if trying to solve some large and complex problem that had just been presented for her. Normally, she might have spent some more trying to ponder that expression, but she really did need to go find Cissy now.

After all, she wasn’t sure if Andy had been entirely serious about the boots, but she definitely didn’t want to risk finding out.