"You little bitch," Bellatrix raged, eyes fixed on Hermione. I am going to fucking kill this little slag. I was supposed to be by his side, and now, I am stuck babysitting, "You took him away."

The Mudbloods eyes went wide with terror and her face turned white as a sheet. The fear, the vulnerability, the powerlessness that Bellatrix saw in Hermione's expression only served to enrage her further.

"W-who?" the pathetic little thing whispered.

" 'w-who'? I'll tell you who, you scum!" Bellatrix screamed, how could she not know, HOW COULD SHE NOT KNOW?

"If it hadn't of been for you, the dark lord would still have me amongst his most trusted," Bellatrix advanced on Hermione, internally delighted at the way the girl squeezed her eyes shut, "but now…no. fucking. chance."

Bellatrix mounted her prisoner and wrapped her fingers around her neck in a chokehold. She had the little bitch, the same way the Dark Lord had always had her, and now he didn't, and how could HE ABANDON ME TO THIS DUTY after all that I've done for him and let him do to me?

The sudden mental burst of rage she felt towards her master was too much to process and she externalized it immediately onto the filth below her, squeezing Hermione's torso with her thighs until she heard the girl whimper.

Bellatrix's eyes rolled back in her head and she arched her body. She was mentally elated from the auditory evidence of the fear she induced, and incredibly aroused by the captive body beneath her. She pressed her crotch into Hermione's stomach, and bit back a moan at the friction. She looked down at Hermione, and was suddenly irritated that the girls eyes were shut. She leaned down, making sure her breath tickled the girls neck.

"Open your eyes," she commanded, and the Mudblood did nothing. Stubborn little twat. Bellatrix leaned down further, so her mouth was up against Hermione's ear, "I said OPEN YOUR EYES!"

The girl obeyed and brown irises revealed themselves immediately. Bellatrix felt the body beneath her stiffen; her center of gravity almost thrown off by the sudden rigidity. Bellatrix sat up straight to maintain her balance, and looked down at Hermione. Her jaw was slack. There was no trace of life in her wide-open eyes, she wasn't even blinking.

"What's wrong with you?" No answer.

"ANSWER ME!" Bellatrix slapped her with the force of all her anger and…panic?

"Girl, I swear, if you don't answer me this instant I am tying you to this mattress spread-eagle and allowing every death eater to have their way with you for the next two weeks," she hissed into her ear. There was no flinch, no sharp intake of breath, no physical sign that her cruel words had been acknowledged.

Bellatrix gathered her thoughts for a moment, and continued her threat, "I'll make sure they fuck you so brutally that you'll never bear children."

Silence, stillness.

Bellatrix dismounted the rigid body, and pressed her hand over Hermione's chest. She felt an erratic heartbeat. The peaks of her breasts were rising and falling, she wasn't dead. She was still there, but at the same time, she wasn't. Her eyes stared up and through the ceiling, unblinking, unmoving, empty.

Bellatrix had to look away. The girls demeanor reminded her of the Longbottom couples' condition after she had driven them to madness with the Cruciatus curse sixteen years ago. She had relished seeing that outcome because it had drained so much of her magical energy to keep casting the dark curse for hours on end….but the outcome on this girl, with close to no effort on her part, was not gratifying in the slightest. She had not inflicted it, it was out of her control, and it sowed uneasiness in the pit of her stomach.

She reached out and poked Hermione sharply between the ribs. Still nothing.

Four Hours Later

Moonlight streamed across the Mudblood's body. The girl's eyes had finally closed, but her muscles remained taut and clenched.

Bellatrix dragged her gaze over Hermione's bare legs, irritated at how attractive she found them. With curiosity, she noted the neat, horizontal scars on her outer thighs. She had heard of this masochistic phenomenon that had afflicted the young and idiotic.

That's it! She thought to herself. Finding and exploiting whatever had driven this particular young idiot to harm herself so would allow her to inflict maddening emotional torment.

Suddenly, the stream of Bellatrix's malevolent thoughts was interrupted by a violent twitch of the Mudblood's body, her first gross body movement in hours. The young girl's breathing became shallow, and she scrunched up her face in a silent scream as if she was dreaming of undergoing Cruciatus.

Much more entertaining than playing dead Bellatrix thought, and released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Two Hours Later

Golden sunlight illuminated the traces of gold and maroon in the curls of Hermione's hair. Bellatrix sat cross-legged on the corner of the Mudblood's mattress, convincing herself that her motive for staying with the girl in her traumatized state was to gather information that she could use against her for future torture.

When Hermione began to hyperventilate, Bellatrix made it a point to fixate her with a penetrating and unnerving stare, to scare her she thought to herself, not because I want to erase the image of her lifeless expression.

Hermione's face was alive with confusion and panic. "What-" her eyes flitted to the ceiling, to the floor, then to Bellatrix, "time is it?"

"I have no idea," Bellatrix was transfixed by the sudden change, it was clear that the Mudblood had not felt the passage of any time since her last conscious state.

"But, you just came in….and it was at night….and now….," she could hear the girl attempt desperately to hide the weakness in her voice,

"I first came in," Bellatrix interrupted, "six hours ago."

"But that was…that was just now…" Hermione's brow furrowed, and her fists clenched at her side.

She hates being wrong, I see. I can have fun with that.

"No, it wasn't," Bellatrix replied with forced calmness.

"You mean to tell me…that I was there for hours? It's never been that long…" the Mudblood's revealing statement was dripping with self-reproach. Bellatrix made a mental note to find out exactly where there was.

"I thought you were dead," at first, "and we can't have that. The Lord needs you alive."

Hermione studied her for a moment, and then her eyes narrowed, "you weren't in here the whole time?"

Bellatrix felt uncharacteristically insulted at the suspicious nature of the question. "No. Of course not. You think I would stay with you?" she spat.

The nerve the Mudblood has to automatically assume that I would hurt- I would watch over her for hours!

"Who the fuck do you think I am, little girl?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed further, "I honestly have no clue."

Bellatrix looked away. She heard the girls stomach growl, and smirked malevolently, "I bet you're very, very hungry child. But bad girls don't deserve to eat. A fat, useless, whore such as yourself may only eat when I say so."

"Right," the girl responded in a doubtful tone, and turned away.

Bellatrix's nostrils flared. I will break this little bitch of her defiance, yet. She does not know pain such as I can inflict! And with that, she turned and stormed from the room.

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"Bella?" Rodolphus addressed his wife timidly, "I know you are going to hate this…hate me for asking this…well…you loathe me in general so.."

"Come off the self-pity, dear, it doesn't become you," Bellatrix spat angrily across the breakfast table, "what in the bloody hell do you want?"

Rodolphus pursed his lips, and took a deep breath, "I wanted to know if you were alright."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, and let out a wry laugh. "Of course you would ask. How do you think I am faring, dear husband? Imprisoned in this duty to preserve that wretched cretin, when I should be at the Dark Lord's side destroying those like her! I am not alright, I am infuriated."

Rodolphus tentatively reached across the table, and placed his right hand over his wife's clenched fist.

Bellatrix recoiled almost immediately, eyes wide, "Y-"

"Stop it!" Rodolphus hissed, cutting off the first syllable of what was likely to be a bitter tirade, "Bella, I do not want to hear you speak to me as if I am some vermin that you condemn, save the hatefulness for the blood traitors? Do you not get your fix torturing them? Do you have to include your husband?"

Bellatrix stood up with so much force that she knocked over the chair she was sitting on. "Do you actually think this is a true marriage, Rodolphus? Are you so infantile that you still believe in the farce of love?"

She paused to cackle in an unsettling matter, then continued, "You are no man. Blathering, blubbering, whining that you don't have your soulmate. Does wittle wodolphus not get enough? Does wodolphus need his diaper changed?" She mocked nastily.

Rage flashed in her husbands eyes and in an instant he had seized Bellas forearms and slammed her into the wall. His breath was so close that it tickled the top of her collarbone.

Bellatrix was caught off guard, he had never displayed such behavior. She found herself not able to meet Rodolphus' eyes, and she closed her own tightly to hide the confusion in them.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?" Rodolphus screamed in her face, shaking her with enough force to make her entire body vibrate but not enough to harm her, "DO YOU WANT VIOLENCE AND PAIN TO SURROUND YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO?"

Bellatrix's breath hitched, and she opened her eyes. She felt incredibly sexually excited by this exchange, and bit her lower lip. She looked at Rodolphus, her eyes full of seduction and want.

Far from the reaction she expected, Rodolphus' eyes widened and his grip on her loosened considerably. He opened his mouth and closed it several times, searching for the words. Bellatrix resisted the urge to slap him, as she was quite turned on and his quick detour from man-handling her was disappointing.

"You…" Rodolphus began, and Bella could not fathom why he sounded so defeated, "you do want this. You verbally eviscerate me almost every time I show legitimate concern for you; you are so hateful and so enraged. But the few times I have raised my voice to you, the times I have spoken words to you I would normally only reserve for Mudbloods, you turn into a coy seductress. Your eyes light up. Just as they do when the Dark Lord is torturing you…." His voice drifted off.

Bellatrix huffed exasperatedly, "Where are you going with this? If you are compelled to regress from being a man into a boy who can only speak melodrama, spare me."

Rodolphus released his wife, and took a step back. "I am not going to get angry and hurt you just because you want me to, Bella," he said softly, looking down at his feet. He then shut his eyes tightly, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

To her absolute surprise, she heard her husbands breath hitch. He opened his eyes, they were shining with tears. Not once in their 25 years of marriage had she seen Rodolphus on the verge of weeping. Her usual counter to tears was external mockery; and internal delight in knowing she had evoked a powerful response. But not this time. She felt uncomfortable. I do not understand this.

Rodolphus then looked at her through his blurred eyes in such a piercing manner that she thought he was trying to legimilize her. It seemed as if he was waiting for her to say something, anything. I will not capitulate to this she thought anxiously, but could not will herself to look away.

"I. am. Not." Rodolphus said hoarsely as a tear spilled onto his left cheek, "going to hurt you. You should NOT!" he yelled, but she knew it was just to cover up a sob, "want me to hurt you."

And then, Bellatrix did look away. She stared at the floor until she heard her husband leave.

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Well, I looked my demons in the eye

Lay bare my chest and said, "do your best to destroy me."

"Cuz I've been to hell and back so many times

I must admit you kinda bore me."

Will I always feel this way?

So empty, so estranged?

A/N: So I know it's been like 9 years since I've updated this. But I re-read it recently and I thought, "damn, this is good." Thus, I will continue.