Downfall | Lestrange

Chapter Two

[Chapter Two]

Courting the young Elizabeth Rosier didn't turn out to be as painful as Roderick had once imagined it to be. Unlike the many women he had come across in the social gatherings, Elizabeth while quiet was very intelligent but remained humble. He adored her mind, mainly because he could tell that she was quite reserved with her own form of tactics in order to remain ahead of the game. If it was some sort of game that they were playing, Roderick wasn't really up for play, he really did want to get to know her.  Under the shy exterior, there was the power that he often caught a glimpse of whenever they made eye contact. He wanted to see more of that, he wanted to hear more of it, and in reality, he really just wanted to get to know his future wife. 

To Roderick, she had made it quite clear that she didn't believe a woman's purpose was to serve under her husband. She didn't believe a human should "serve" anything except the purpose that they felt they could get behind. She believed that marriage was to be a partnership where both husband and wife supported one another in their actions. If any of their families had heard her say such things, Roderick was certain she would have been tortured into submission and told to be a good little girl. But Roderick never exposed the conversations he shared with Elizabeth. He didn't want to see the power in her eyes and voice vanished, he quite liked the confidence he heard when she spoke.

It was unlike his brother's wife, Bellatrix. Another strong woman, except Roderick, was certain the woman was half-crazed, possibly even more than half. It was certainly obvious during meetings between the Death Eaters that Bellatrix had developed a strong love for the Dark Lord, rather than her own husband. Rodolphus, never spoke out against his wife's obvious affections, probably much too afraid of possibly offending Lord Voldemort. It only made it much more so that the arranged marriage between the two was strictly contracted.

Pureblood families intermingled to keep the blood pure and straying from the bloodlines that were accepted, was a certain act of treason. It was if it was their sole duty in a marriage to make sure to keep the lines going and with the Lestrange line close to extinction, the responsibilities rested on Roderick and Rodolphus in their marriages to produce children.

Roderick was young and even though he understood his duties and responsibilities as a Death Eater and as a Lestrange, marriage and children weren't exactly his top priorities at his age. He had just left Hogwarts and the war was in full swing. The Dark Lord and the rest of the Death Eaters were doing quite well in the fight, only losing Regulus Black in the mix. However, even Bellatrix didn't seem very miffed about losing one of her family members when Regulus was announced dead, in fact, she didn't seem bothered by it at all.

Walburga and Orion Black grieved over the loss of their son and in his wake, Regulus left behind his family. Roderick couldn't imagine what anyone in that situation was going through, it was unfortunate that shortly after his son's death, Orion passed away as well, many claimed it was due to a broken heart over practically losing both of his son's, one to disownment and the other to death.