Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

"I want to stop off at my parent's place before we go home," Bellatrix told Rodolphus as the three Lestranges stepped into the boat that would carry them past the wards for Apparating home. Rod had enchanted the boat to float back to the island when its passengers Apparated out of it. Once it returned, one of the spiders or goblins on duty would chain it to the rock Rod had placed at the edge of the water for anchoring.

"Sure," he agreed easily. "You coming, Rabastan?"

The younger Lestrange shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Alright then, see you there," Bellatrix told her brother-in-law before snatching Rod's arm and Side-Along Apparating him with her to Black Glass, her parent's manor.

Of course Rodolphus knew the way, but Bellatrix did not even wish to separate from him long enough to Apparate alone. When they arrived, she released her grip on his arm and turned to face him. "I am aware that you noticed my state of mind being more off than usual, and you've been kind about it. I also see that it worries you, and I am sorry. I am trying to work it out by... perhaps understanding," she said carefully. "I love you, Rodolphus, and right now, you're the only secure thing in my life. You always were the most important thing."

His steady gaze flashed with relief at her words but before he could speak, Bellatrix grabbed his face and kissed him hard. He responded readily, catching her waist and hauling her closer. "Gods, I thought we were visiting Bella's parents! I didn't come to watch the two of you shag on their bloody lawn," Rabastan grumbled.

They hadn't even heard the crack of him Apparating in. Bellatrix sighed, regretfully drawing back from her husband.

"I love you too, Bella, and I'll always be here... Always. I just need you to be alright," Rod told her, then turning to Rabastan he growled, "Quit your bitching or I'll send you home."

Rabastan arched dark brows, but fell silent, acquiescing to his older brother as he always did.

Bellatrix took Rodolphus's arm and marched up the long flight of stone stairs to her parent's front door. When she began to angrily pound on it, both Lestrange men gave her looks of startled surprise. Orb, the Black family house elf, did not look at all shocked upon opening the door to see Bellatrix on the other end of the angry banging.

"I want to see my parents," Bellatrix told the elf before she could speak. Orb bowed and silently gestured them inside.

"They are having pre-dinner drinks in the dining room, Miss Bellatrix. If Misters Rodolphus and Rabastan and Miss Bellatrix wish to stay for dinner, Orb has made plenty."

"I haven't decided," Bellatrix said, brushing past the elf as she swept inside.

When she stalked into the dining room with Rodolphus at her side and a bemused Rabastan trailing, her parents glanced up in surprise. Each had a glass of wine at their elbow, and her father had the evening newspaper spread out before him on the table.

"Hello, you three," Cygnus Black greeted pleasantly. "I'm glad you stopped in, actually." He pushed the newspaper away from him with an expression of distaste. "You can never believe what you read in the news, and you lot are more in the know with the Ministry these days so you can likely give us far more accurate details." He gave a dry chuckle. "Now that's a sentence I never expected to utter, especially in your younger years."

When Bellatrix spoke, she nearly chilled herself by how calm her voice came out. "Those younger years are just what I came to speak with the two of you about," she said.

Again both elder Blacks looked surprised. "Oh," her mother asked. "Well then, come in and sit down. Who would like wine?"

"Me for sure," Rabastan replied eagerly. "Please."

"For both of us as well," Bellatrix said, still holding Rod's arm as the three approached the dining table to join her parents.

Druella Black called Orb and asked for three more glasses of wine before turning expectantly toward her daughter. "Is it true, about that Delphini girl?"

"Which part," Bellatrix asked, the deadly calm still in her voice.

"The part about her attacking Durmstrang and Hogwarts, of course!"

"Oh... You aren't curious about the part where she claims to be my child with the Dark Lord, then?"

Druella Black frowned. "Of course not, Bella! Why would I be? It's obvious nonsense! If you'd had a child with anyone I think I'd know, and you never showed that sort of interest in the Dark Lord."

Though yesterday Bellatrix would've drawn comfort and validation from her mother's words, today they enraged her. They set a fire within her like a match to a flame, and it ignited in her eyes, reflecting in the glare she shot her mother's way.

"I hadn't heard of any attacks, but we were working at Azkaban all day to fortify its defenses," she said, speaking in an extremely careful tone...because she didn't want to explode until she was good and ready. It was what she'd come here for, after all. It was her personal explosion, and it would be on her damned terms. While it was very kind of her parents to play into her hands as they had, she wasn't ready to let them have it quite yet.

Something important like this should be allowed to build...to be savored, so that when it was released, it would be extra satisfying... Almost like an emotional orgasm, but not really. Though speaking of that, she had big plans for Rod later too. Plans he would very much enjoy.

"It's very good that you didn't think I was shagging the Dark Lord, Mother. The only thing that would've been better is if you'd bothered to notice that the three of us weren't at all alright after the summer of nineteen seventy-nine. That would've been very nice indeed."

Druella blinked. "Not alright? Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean that while we were always quite passionate about the Dark Lord's goals, as was Regulus, no one fucking noticed when that passion skyrocketed literally overnight to a near mindless obsession," Bellatrix shrieked.

One hand shot out, swiping her mother's wine glass off the table. It shattered on the floor with a satisfying sound, so she went for her father's glass next. Her hand wrapped around the stem, and lifting it she hurled it into the nearest wall. Red wine flew out, spraying the floor and wall as the glass struck and shattered. Noting the change in her mood, neither of the Lestrange men took a seat at the table.

"Something happened in nineteen seventy-nine," Bellatrix said. Her voice had lost its calm edge and now shook slightly on each word. "Long story short, when the Dark Lord nearly killed Kreacher to hide a Horcrux, Regulus discovered that we were serving a twisted monster rather than another Grindelwald!

"He and Uncle Orion came to us with the situation, because as those highest in the Dark Lord's ranks, we would be the best to help trap and kill him. Also, as family, they knew we could be trusted. So that was great, we summoned him with no problem and all cast the Killing Curse at once! There were six of us. There was Kreacher, Regulus, Uncle, Rabastan, Rodolphus, and myself. It should've worked, but instead something...happened that I still don't understand, and the Curse twisted and struck Uncle. At least, that's how it looked. He was dead, and the five of us were left with the fallout. And trust me, Mummy and Daddy, there was one hell of a fallout!"

Even sarcastically referring to her parents in the way she had as a very young child caused Bellatrix's breath to hitch. They hadn't protected her, and weren't parents always supposed to protect? And to know their children, and thus notice when their fucking minds had been twisted and bent? Perhaps? Her breaths were now coming raggedly, and she looked around in her need for something else to smash. Choosing the framed painting of a nature scene on the far wall, she drew her wand and shattered it, then the grandfather clock flew across the room to smash into the doorway.

"Bellatrix," her mother nearly shouted. "You must stop so we can understand what you are telling us!"

"Oh, I can make you understand," Bellatrix said, noticing that the deadly calm had returned to her voice. Good. This was getting fun! As she spoke, Bellatrix's eyes swept the room for her next target. "While I still can't remember what he did to Kreacher and Regulus, he forgave the three of us...while twisting our minds with compulsion and other fun spells that distorted our reality."

She aimed her wand at the glass panels of the door that led from the dining room out into the hall and shattered each in turn. Still unsatisfied, she began ripping the doors off their frames. Now those sounds were satisfying! Splitting hinges and ripping wood as shards peppered nearby walls.

"The compulsion made us worship him to a level that caused us all to become a bit stark raving mad with the fervor that everyone, but you, apparently noticed, considering that most people thought us quite insane. The distortion of reality caused us to somehow forget the fact he'd just killed Uncle and probably a lot of other horrors that I don't even remember yet. Grindelwald said it takes time to process, so there's probably more," she said in a falsely gleeful tone.

She was satisfied to see her father's face was drained of color. "What has Grindelwald to do with this," he asked, and she shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter." Waving a dismissive hand, she used the other, the one holding her wand, to hurl the heavy oak dining table into the far wall. "What matters is that none of you noticed! No parents noticed, no fucking family members noticed what happened to us!"

She hated the fact that her voice broke on that final bit and hot tears began to spill down her face. Druella Black rose from her chair and approached, face twisted with horror. Gods, was she horrified by her, Bellatrix wondered, hand tightening on her wand as her attention went next to the painted tiles of the ceiling, shattering one then another and another.

"Bella...Baby!" Bellatrix's wand hand fell limply to her side because Druella's voice cracked on her words just as Bellatrix's had. "Baby... I'm so sorry! It's just that you were all out so much those days! You didn't have time for us. We hardly ever saw you! When you weren't partying, drunk, or on drugs, you were murdering Muggles for him or breaking into the Ministry for him. You seemed happy! Whenever we did see you, you seemed happy! You were always speaking of making our family great and... but that is no excuse...I...we should've noticed."

"We didn't do drugs or party that much, Mother," Bellatrix said icily.

"We kinda did," Rabastan muttered. His grin wilted under Bellatrix's glare.

She turned back to her mother. "And don't pretend that you thought our mad obsession was just us being high on something."

"It's true, though," Druella defended. "Hell, you and Rod were still happy together, so nothing appeared amiss!"

Bellatrix turned away from her mother, ignoring her last statement as the pathetic attempt to avoid personal responsibility that it was. Turning her glare on her father she said, "And you, Daddy? Always on me to be more responsible whenever Rod and I would sneak out to drink and party on the weekends before we got married? You noticed that shit, but you didn't notice when my mind got broken, Daddy?" She sobbed and drew roughly away when Druella tried to take her into her arms.

"Well, there was no fun after that, Daddy, because thanks to what the Dark Lord did we spent all our best years in Azkaban, and that shit was no fun at all, Daddy! I could've been more! All three of us could've been...who knows, because that time is wasted and gone, Daddy!"

She was shrieking again and bringing chunks of the ceiling down with satisfying swipes of her wand. Her rage was sweet, and she rode it like the high it had become.

"I'm so sorry, baby," Cygnus Black whispered, face showing evident strain as he searched for a way to make the impossible right. It was a bit too late for that because there were some things that Daddies just couldn't fix.

Tears now streamed down Druella's face as she cried with her daughter. Once more she reached for Bellatrix, and this time she didn't bother to move away. "Please, Bellatrix... We love you so much... We are sorry. We..."

Dropping her head to Druella's shoulder, Bellatrix let herself cling to her mother for a moment as they both cried. "Mummy," she choked out. "Mummy, it was so bad...he was so evil and his...energy or magic or whatever it was...when it touched us it felt beyond foul," she sobbed. "And after that we were alone... Hell, we didn't even fully have us anymore, and no one knew! None of you knew!"

Druella rocked her back and forth as they clung together, and Bellatrix wanted it to help...really she did. When it didn't help, she gently pushed her mother away and flung herself at Rodolphus. Her husband was startled and cringed back momentarily as if expecting her to fly at him in anger as she had yesterday at the Ministry. When she only clung to him and sobbed, though, he wrapped her in his arms and held her tight.