Bellatrix and her Master

The Dark Lord

July 1969,

As far as Bellatrix knew, Lord Voldemort didn't have a headquarters. When she and Rodolphus were still on good terms, she had asked him if the Dark Lord always gathered his followers in the same place, but Rodolphus had replied that he preferred not to establish such rituals. Bellatrix imagined that such an attitude would make the Dark Order much more vulnerable.

Since Christmas, Lord Voldemort had shed more blood than ever before. Bellatrix suspected that he now felt surrounded enough by loyalists to implement his reign of terror. Few of these events had been directly linked to his name. The press seemed to receive no information from the Ministry. The Aurors themselves must have lacked evidence to charge him, but Bellatrix knew that Lord Voldemort had been under surveillance for some time now.

She knew the plans of the dark wizard. When he was still campaigning in the salons of the largest wizarding families, he proclaimed that he wanted to prioritise the superiority of pureblood over that of Mudbloods, to cease the privileges granted to these vermin, and to eliminate all their defenders. Bellatrix knew that at present, many barriers still obstructed his path, but she firmly believed in the infinite power of the dark wizard.

Yet it was difficult to come across the Dark Lord. He was totally absent from the wizarding world, and he had never appeared at the scene of any of his misdeeds. Bellatrix was beginning to think that only his Death Eaters were in real contact with him. He must be busy elsewhere... How could she contact him without resorting to the other Death Eaters? His discretion and the absence of a headquarters made him the most invisible being in Britain, even as his name gained popularity.

It was late, and her house had been asleep for a long time. She had returned from Hogwarts the night before. She had feigned great fatigue and had gone to bed very early without dinner. She had feared that Rodolphus would come to talk to her, and it was clear that she knew him well because she had recognised his voice echoing in the chimney duct barely twenty minutes after she had gone to bed.

Their marriage would be celebrated in a few weeks, and Rodolphus must have been panicked at the thought of his future wife being so recalcitrant. Knowing Bellatrix's difficult character, he must have feared a real scandal. After all, she was very capable of running away, bringing shame upon the Lestranges, or adopting the least dignified attitude possible to force him to give up marrying her. Yet Bellatrix knew that she wouldn't stoop to such lows. She was far too proud to make a fool of herself and recoiled at the idea of disappointing her family despite the grievances she held against them. Moreover, she refused to displease the Dark Lord. He had consented to her union with Rodolphus. She wouldn't evade this marriage without his acceptance...

When midnight struck, Bellatrix got up as discreetly as possible. The parquet floor of her room, which must have been as old as the house itself, creaked beneath her steps. Armed with her wand, she murmured a spell to muffle her footsteps. Now a graduate of Hogwarts, she could use magic as she pleased.

Clad in a lightweight black cloak, she descended the stairs, made her way to the dining room of her manor, and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder from one of the ceramics that her mother particularly cherished. She hesitated for a fraction of a second, then uttered the words "Enguerrand Avery Residence" in a low voice before being swept away in a whirlwind of green flames.

XxXxXxX

On the other side, the Ghost, the sole heiress of the Averys, awaited her, dressed in a simple nightshirt. Bellatrix offered her a faint smile, secretly grateful that the young girl hadn't lied to her. They had both arranged this meeting earlier in the year. The long years of enduring the Ghost's presence in her circle of friends suddenly paid off.