I have no idea why I keep writing
Other Tender Things
By: Chloe
Rating: PG-13, for sexual content.
Characters: Bellatrix character piece, with bits of Narcissa
Notes: This piece basically wrote itself, but I would be no where without my beautiful beta yeats. She is, without a doubt, the coolest semi!ex-pat I know. As always, your thoughts greatly appreciated.
Bellatrix cuts off all of Narcissa’s hair while she sleeps. She is seven, Narcissa is two. Later, she tells her parents she had been sleepwalking, that she’d somehow woken in the morning to find the shears in her hand.
Bella hides Narcissa’s perfect, blonde curls in a silver box she keeps by her bed, and never tells anyone that she tries to spell them to her own head on several occasions throughout her childhood-the last when she is twenty-four, and just before her littlest sister’s wedding.
--
Usually purebloods marry early. Usually they don’t have to wait around scowling at themselves in mirrors.
Bellatrix does not mind being alone. She frequently feels ugly, but she is no uglier than their Lord, whose power was bought without looks in the end. And she knows that she is useful to him, even without her sister’s upturned grey eyes, and blank-faced beauty. And though he has never taken her into his bed, she is still one of the only female Death Eaters in his inner circle.
She loves saying inner circle. She curls her lips around the words and tries to eat them. If Bellatrix were the type to indulge in sweets she would make cookies for her Lord. They would be shaped like the Dark Mark. She thinks things like that and then wants to hang herself from the chestnut armoire in her bedroom.
--
In December of 1979, Bellatrix meets Rodolphus Lestrange.
Rodulphus is a French wizard that Voldemort has recruited for his Transfiguration abilities. He is younger than Bellatrix, soft-spoken. He tells her that she isn’t beautiful, but that he likes the way her feet turn out when she walks.
Bellatrix curses him into the next room. They are married six weeks later.
Rodolphus wears a top hat. Bellatrix wears her black hair long and knots it at the back of her neck. “You’re my school marm,” Rodolphus says to her. They are both fond of purple. They are both fond of figs and pheasant.
They never have children. Rodolphus buys dogs instead.
He never calls her Bella; only Narcissa is allowed that familiarity. Once he tries to call her Trixi. She does not speak to him for three long days. He never apologizes. Bellatrix kills one of his dogs, and leaves its body on his side of the bed. That night, she speaks to him again, and they sleep in a guest room.
Relations between Death Eaters have never run smoothly. The Ministry has more than a closet of files on it, each marked with names and dates, and the incident in question.
--
“I never should have married you,” Bellatrix likes to say to Rodolphus over dinner.
“You’re a fiend, Madame,” Rodolphus replies.
They go on eating.
--
Bellatrix and Rodolphus are away in France when Lucius first takes his pretty, young wife to a Death Eater meeting. He and Voldemort discuss her worth afterward, and soon Lucius is lending Narcissa into the Dark Lord’s bed with regularity.
Narcissa cries to Bellatrix about it when she returns home. Bellatrix laughs, tells her to simply close her eyes and pretend she is elsewhere. Bellatrix thinks of her silver box of curls. Narcissa’s hair is long now, blonde and Veela perfect.
“Perhaps if you chopped your locks off you’d be less attractive,” Bellatrix suggests, twirling a strand of her sister’s hair around her wand.
“Do you think so?” asks Narcissa, who is not sweet, but can be naïve.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Bellatrix shrugs nonchalantly.
“But I’ll be ugly,” Narcissa says dully. She runs her manicured nails through her hair, caresses it lovingly. Her nails are spelled to change color like a chameleon. They are dark red and then golden.
“That’s the point.” Bellatrix goes to get a pair of shears from one of the house elves.
--
For the second time in her life, Bellatrix cuts off all of her sister’s hair, but these strands do not join the others in her silver box. Instead, she burns the blond tendrils, and standing over the flames, the fire casts shadows like death on her pale face. Hair, she knows, can be used for powerful magic, but she will never physically hurt her sister. No matter how much she may want to sometimes (wand in hand outside of Narcissa’s childhood bedroom), she never will.
When she has finished with the hair, she stands in the mirror with Narcissa, who feels her shorn head with a shocked expression on her porcelain face. Bellatrix thinks her little sister might look a little bit green.
Narcissa faints, Bella does not catch her. Instead, and only after having a glass of wine, Bellatrix rings for a house elf to come, clean up her sister, and take the girl to bed. Bellatrix goes to find Rodolphus and they play a game of chess. Rodolphus wins nicely and knows exactly what his prize is.
They trade sex like cards; each favor must be won. He likes to cover his lap with Bellatrix’s hair while she’s sucking him. He makes her a little tent. Has very little desire to look in her eyes. Likes to think that he might be making her a little bit claustrophobic.
He isn’t.
--
Later, when they fuck, Narcissa wakes up to screams and thinks that Aurors have come and that someone is being murdered. She’s hopes it’s Rodolphus. She has always found him slightly crass.
--
Bellatrix drinks brandy with breakfast. She has vodka at tea. Rodolphus has never been much for alcohol, but he fancies himself an opium fiend. Bellatrix thinks he is just a foolish boy. Because that is what he is.
She tells herself that if she were to decide to love someone, she would love Rodolphus, or the Dark Lord. She does not know what love is, she thinks that it might be something like the Imperious curse.
Bellatrix rarely thinks about Andromeda, but she knows that her middle sister married for love. And she knows that love made her marry a Mudblood. There must be something very wrong with love, Bellatrix thinks. She wonders if Andromeda has had children with her filthy husband. Her own womb curdles and she smiles into her vodka.
By: Chloe
Rating: PG-13, for sexual content.
Characters: Bellatrix character piece, with bits of Narcissa
Notes: This piece basically wrote itself, but I would be no where without my beautiful beta yeats. She is, without a doubt, the coolest semi!ex-pat I know. As always, your thoughts greatly appreciated.
Bellatrix cuts off all of Narcissa’s hair while she sleeps. She is seven, Narcissa is two. Later, she tells her parents she had been sleepwalking, that she’d somehow woken in the morning to find the shears in her hand.
Bella hides Narcissa’s perfect, blonde curls in a silver box she keeps by her bed, and never tells anyone that she tries to spell them to her own head on several occasions throughout her childhood-the last when she is twenty-four, and just before her littlest sister’s wedding.
--
Usually purebloods marry early. Usually they don’t have to wait around scowling at themselves in mirrors.
Bellatrix does not mind being alone. She frequently feels ugly, but she is no uglier than their Lord, whose power was bought without looks in the end. And she knows that she is useful to him, even without her sister’s upturned grey eyes, and blank-faced beauty. And though he has never taken her into his bed, she is still one of the only female Death Eaters in his inner circle.
She loves saying inner circle. She curls her lips around the words and tries to eat them. If Bellatrix were the type to indulge in sweets she would make cookies for her Lord. They would be shaped like the Dark Mark. She thinks things like that and then wants to hang herself from the chestnut armoire in her bedroom.
--
In December of 1979, Bellatrix meets Rodolphus Lestrange.
Rodulphus is a French wizard that Voldemort has recruited for his Transfiguration abilities. He is younger than Bellatrix, soft-spoken. He tells her that she isn’t beautiful, but that he likes the way her feet turn out when she walks.
Bellatrix curses him into the next room. They are married six weeks later.
Rodolphus wears a top hat. Bellatrix wears her black hair long and knots it at the back of her neck. “You’re my school marm,” Rodolphus says to her. They are both fond of purple. They are both fond of figs and pheasant.
They never have children. Rodolphus buys dogs instead.
He never calls her Bella; only Narcissa is allowed that familiarity. Once he tries to call her Trixi. She does not speak to him for three long days. He never apologizes. Bellatrix kills one of his dogs, and leaves its body on his side of the bed. That night, she speaks to him again, and they sleep in a guest room.
Relations between Death Eaters have never run smoothly. The Ministry has more than a closet of files on it, each marked with names and dates, and the incident in question.
--
“I never should have married you,” Bellatrix likes to say to Rodolphus over dinner.
“You’re a fiend, Madame,” Rodolphus replies.
They go on eating.
--
Bellatrix and Rodolphus are away in France when Lucius first takes his pretty, young wife to a Death Eater meeting. He and Voldemort discuss her worth afterward, and soon Lucius is lending Narcissa into the Dark Lord’s bed with regularity.
Narcissa cries to Bellatrix about it when she returns home. Bellatrix laughs, tells her to simply close her eyes and pretend she is elsewhere. Bellatrix thinks of her silver box of curls. Narcissa’s hair is long now, blonde and Veela perfect.
“Perhaps if you chopped your locks off you’d be less attractive,” Bellatrix suggests, twirling a strand of her sister’s hair around her wand.
“Do you think so?” asks Narcissa, who is not sweet, but can be naïve.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Bellatrix shrugs nonchalantly.
“But I’ll be ugly,” Narcissa says dully. She runs her manicured nails through her hair, caresses it lovingly. Her nails are spelled to change color like a chameleon. They are dark red and then golden.
“That’s the point.” Bellatrix goes to get a pair of shears from one of the house elves.
--
For the second time in her life, Bellatrix cuts off all of her sister’s hair, but these strands do not join the others in her silver box. Instead, she burns the blond tendrils, and standing over the flames, the fire casts shadows like death on her pale face. Hair, she knows, can be used for powerful magic, but she will never physically hurt her sister. No matter how much she may want to sometimes (wand in hand outside of Narcissa’s childhood bedroom), she never will.
When she has finished with the hair, she stands in the mirror with Narcissa, who feels her shorn head with a shocked expression on her porcelain face. Bellatrix thinks her little sister might look a little bit green.
Narcissa faints, Bella does not catch her. Instead, and only after having a glass of wine, Bellatrix rings for a house elf to come, clean up her sister, and take the girl to bed. Bellatrix goes to find Rodolphus and they play a game of chess. Rodolphus wins nicely and knows exactly what his prize is.
They trade sex like cards; each favor must be won. He likes to cover his lap with Bellatrix’s hair while she’s sucking him. He makes her a little tent. Has very little desire to look in her eyes. Likes to think that he might be making her a little bit claustrophobic.
He isn’t.
--
Later, when they fuck, Narcissa wakes up to screams and thinks that Aurors have come and that someone is being murdered. She’s hopes it’s Rodolphus. She has always found him slightly crass.
--
Bellatrix drinks brandy with breakfast. She has vodka at tea. Rodolphus has never been much for alcohol, but he fancies himself an opium fiend. Bellatrix thinks he is just a foolish boy. Because that is what he is.
She tells herself that if she were to decide to love someone, she would love Rodolphus, or the Dark Lord. She does not know what love is, she thinks that it might be something like the Imperious curse.
Bellatrix rarely thinks about Andromeda, but she knows that her middle sister married for love. And she knows that love made her marry a Mudblood. There must be something very wrong with love, Bellatrix thinks. She wonders if Andromeda has had children with her filthy husband. Her own womb curdles and she smiles into her vodka.