Night has taken

Chapter 3

"So. You're Griphook." Bellatrix folded her arms over her chest and glared down at the little goblin before her. He sneered back up at her and said,

"Madam Lestrange. I've heard quite a lot about you."

"It's not been Madam Lestrange for some time now," Bellatrix said. "I'm the Dark Lady now."

Griphook did not laugh, nor did he scowl. He just stared, and finally he said, "To goblins, there are no lords. No ladies. Dark or Light or anything in between. I owe no witch or wizard my loyalty."

"You owe my master your loyalty," Bellatrix snapped. "You're being paid more than enough to demand your loyalty."

"So long as the coin comes in, I'll do as Mr Riddle says," Griphook snarled. "This goblin tonight, this goblin outside Scarborough. I want to tell you something about him."

"Go ahead." Bellatrix shifted her weight in the gardens outside Malfoy Manor, and Griphook said matter-of-factly,

"Mordock, this goblin. He got a promotion instead of me at Gringotts. I suppose I should be more angry at your father than at Mordock, but just the same, he stole the position I wanted."

Bellatrix curled up half her mouth. "All right, then. He's alone in his little house. I'll supervise. You do the killing. Show me what you're capable of, Mr Griphook."

"Let's go, Madam Lestrange," Griphook said, and he Disapparated at once. Bellatrix frowned and quickly followed, thinking of the goblin Mordock's home outside Scarborough.

Be quick and careful, she felt Voldemort think. Suddenly, in the dying light of the evening, Griphook scowled up at her and noted,

"You have two pulses. Two sets of breath. Something is wrong with you."

"Perhaps you're paying entirely too much attention to my heart and lungs," Bellatrix snapped. She knew that goblins had their own magic, but this was odd. She narrowed her eyes and heard a distant church bell chime seven.

"There's the cottage." Bellatrix gestured down a little hill toward a small stone structure, and she commanded, "Go take out the little shit that stole your job, Griphook."

"He's not in the cottage," Griphook said. He bared his teeth in an awful smile and said, "Tell your father I said thank you for all the money. All fifty thousand Galleons."

"Fifty thousand... what the blazes are you talking about?" Bellatrix demanded, and she thought at Voldemort,

Something's wrong. Something's off. You should come. Quickly.

She could feel him panic a little, then felt his heart and breathing speed up in her own chest. His pulse in the ether was crimson with frustration.

"Fifty thousand Galleons," Griphook said again. "Perhaps if he hadn't been so clumsy in storing money at the bank. Fifty thousand for me, and fifty thousand for Mordock. Loyalty, as it happens, is a very fluid thing. Goodbye, Madam Lestrange."

He vanished into thin air then, and Bellatrix scowled at the empty space where he'd been. All of a sudden, Voldemort appeared beside her, standing very close and looking enraged.

"A hundred thousand Galleons?" he exclaimed, and she realised he'd watched the scene unfold along with her. She shrugged and admitted,

"I can't see in their minds. My Legilimency doesn't work on goblins."

"No, mine either." Voldemort snarled in anger and jammed his wand down the hill toward the cottage. "BOMBARDA!"

The cottage exploded as if a bomb had detonated inside. Bellatrix gasped and cast a quick Shield Charm, for stones from the cottage walls flew out in every direction. One hit the shield and fell to the earth, and as the cottage burned, Voldemort levitated the stone with his wand and flung it through the air, sending it soaring into a tree. He was absolutely furious, Bellatrix knew. She could feel his rage in their shared heartbeat, in their catching, uneven breath. She could feel his anger in her clenching stomach and her throbbing head.