A/N: A very short character study on Bellatrix. Slightly inspired by a story I read few minutes ago from Bella's POV, which I had never considered doing before; but other than that, I'm not exactly sure where the idea came from. Hope you like it.

Intoxication

Power. It attracted her, intoxicated her veins with its rich scent. It was what she saw when she looked at him; what allowed her to look past the hateful face, the blood-red eyes; what allowed her to look at all that and see only beauty. For none of it mattered to Bellatrix. All that mattered was the cold, merciless fury in his eyes every time he killed. In her eyes, that was the epitome of beauty.

She longed to be close, to touch, even share in, that beauty. It was not love. It was an obsession. A dark, unyielding passion bordering on madness, that tore her cold heart apart.

Every time he looked at her, every time she saw the cool contempt in the snake's eyes, it was another blow to her bloodied, stabbed conscience. How much she given up for him, how much she had sacrificed. It pained her, and yet there was no anger. For him to feel what she felt for him, it would be a weakness. A slash in his timeless, unfeeling strength. And if that were the case, he would cease to intoxicate her.

So she was damned to live forever in a haunted storm of unrequited passion; and to know that every time he looked into her mind, he could see the weakness, and felt all the more contempt towards her for it.