Money, Power, Respect

Later that evening when Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan returned home from Azkaban, Harold met them at the door. That in itself was telling, as the elf usually had better things to do unless there was a message to be delivered or unexpected visitors were present.

"Your sister and her husband are waiting to see you, Miss Bellatrix," he said with a slight bow. "Harold put them in the library with some tea. Would you like them to remain for dinner?"

"Our day at work was fine, thanks," Rabastan said drily.

"Harold is pleased to hear it," the elf replied. He always seemed to feel dubious about being drawn into any sort of casual conversation. That was one reason Bellatrix suspected he may relish the plague doctor mask that kept his expression hidden.

Rodolphus gave a brief grin of amusement at the exchange, but Bellatrix frowned, wondering what Narcissa and Lucius wanted. Paying an unannounced visit in the middle of the week didn't feel like a social call.

"I'm not sure if they shall be staying for dinner. I will tell you as soon as I know," Bellatrix told Harold.

The elf nodded. "Yes, Miss."

"Is Lyra in the library with our guests," Bellatrix asked.

"Indeed so," Harold agreed.

"Let's see what's going on, then," Bellatrix said. The three headed for the library where they found Lyra having tea with Narcissa and Lucius. Though no one looked amused, due to Lucius being present, all three seemed relatively relaxed so Bellatrix assumed the world wasn't ending. That was a relief, because these days one never bloody knew.

"Yo, Lucius! How's it hanging?" Rabastan crowed.

Lucius's face turned purple. "Good evening, Rabastan," he replied after a strained moment. "Bellatrix, Rodolphus."

"Good evening, Lucius," Bellatrix said, and Rodolphus nodded as he took Bella's hand and moved to sit on the sofa.

Rabastan headed cheerfully to the liquor cabinet and took down an ornate snifter. "Anyone else want brandy in their tea," he asked, before moving across the room to the tea pot that rested on a low table between Narcissa and Lyra's chairs.

"Are we having tea," Rodolphus asked, and Bellatrix considered for a moment before shrugging. "I suppose. Are we having brandy?"

It was Rod's turn to shrug. "Why not? We can celebrate having our Dark Marks removed."

"Oh yeah, we still gotta celebrate that," Rabastan grinned. "I was just having a drink for the fuck of it, but that makes it sound so much bloody better!"

"You what," Lucius asked.

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you," Lyra said apologetically. "It really has been an exciting several days."

"You got your Dark Marks removed," Narcissa asked, eyes widening. "How? That's supposed to be impossible."

Bellatrix rose and pushing up the sleeve of her dress, approached her sister's chair to show off her clean left arm.

Narcissa leaned forward to take a close look, fingertips lightly tracing the spot on Bella's arm where the imprint had so recently been. She made a soft sound of amazement, then glanced up into Bella's face. "It's truly gone," she breathed. "Look, Lucius!" Lucius glanced over as Bellatrix presented her arm for his perusal.

"We had a Curse-Breaker remove them," Rabastan explained as he handed Rodolphus a silver brandy snifter with his well-spiked tea. "Yours is coming up, Bell," he said, heading back over to the liquor cabinet.

"How much did that run you," Lucius asked Rodolphus.

"It was pricy but well worth it, I think," Rodolphus replied.

"I don't see why you'd bother when it hardly shows now," Lucius stated. "It doesn't even look like a snake now that the Dark Lord is dead."

"Yes, but who knows how long he shall remain dead," Narcissa said as Rabastan approached Bellatrix with her drink in one hand.

Taking it with a grateful smile, Bellatrix nodded in grim agreement as she moved back to the sofa to take her seat at Rodolphus's side. "Indeed, Lucy, better be nice to the goblin Curse-Breaker long enough to get yours off unless you potentially want her tracking you some day," she said, relishing the suddenly ill expression that came over his face.

"He's upstairs resting now if you'd like to speak with him," Lyra suggested.

Lucius's brows shot up. "You have a goblin staying in your house?"

"No. We keep him on the roof, actually," Rodolphus said, managing to keep a completely straight face as he spoke.

"We prefer not to share air for too long with the vermin, but the Dark Mark was such a powerful curse that he could only remove one per day. After doing so he was entirely wiped out and unable to do much. As we needed him to remove three, he remained here with us. I wasn't going to actually give him a room though. A blanket and pillow was enough."

Lucius actually nodded in agreement and understanding before everyone else burst into laughter.

"He's in a guest room, Bro," Rabastan managed through his guffaws. "Damn! Even we aren't that bad, but you obviously are… Good to fucking know!"

As the laughter continued, Lucius glared icily.

"Would you please speak to the Curse-Breaker on our behalf?" Narcissa said, her cool politeness cutting the mirth as effectively as any knife.

"Sure," Lyra said, giving her aunt a polite smile. "If you'd like to remain for dinner, though, you could speak to him yourself," she suggested.

Narcissa shot Lucius a worried look. "I think not. If you would speak to him on our behalf and give him our address if he is willing to remove Lucius's mark, we would appreciate it immensely."

Bellatrix nodded. Likely her sister was rightfully concerned that Lucy would manage to offend the Curse-Breaker so thoroughly that he would refuse to remove the mark.

"We came to bring you all copies of the books Regulus gave me the titles for," Lucius said a bit stiffly. "I was able to track them down. I gave Regulus the originals and made duplicate sets for our library and yours."

"Thank you, Lucius. That was very kind of you," Bellatrix said, honestly a bit touched and surprised at his thoughtfulness on the matter.

"Here is a receipt for your bit," Lucius said, passing a crisp slip of parchment to Rodolphus. "They were pricy."

Well, that was more like Lucy. Not at all generous, Bellatrix thought. She could read clearly on Rodolphus's face that he was contemplating telling Lucius to consider the Curse-Breaker referral their payment, but after a brief hesitation, he shrugged and stood.

"I'll get you the gold right now. Lacking magic as you are, I can only imagine things are more difficult and thus more expensive for you in many areas." He smirked and left the room. Bellatrix knew she was smiling and she didn't care. Rod was brilliant and when he got the last word in on people like that, it was sexy as hell!

"Let's see the books then," she demanded and Lucius drew a package wrapped in brown paper from under his chair.

He passed it over to Bellatrix who took it eagerly. Just holding the books in her hands without even opening the wrapping that covered them transported her mentally back to the past. To the Durmstrang library into which she, Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Regulus, along with Kreacher, had broken. All but Kreacher had been on assignment from the Dark Lord to steal four books. However, Regulus had brought Kreacher along to help, feeling that his elf magic could come in handy if they were discovered breaking into the library of a school none of them had attended.

One of Rod's French cousins had helped them to get in and the job was relatively easy, all considered. Bella and Rod had even stolen an extra book for themselves on sex magic but never read much of it. Idly, she wondered if they still had it around. They should as they never got rid of books. Perhaps if she ever had a bloody moment, she'd find it and give it another look. The concept had interested them, but the writing style was incredibly dry, which did not seem at all fitting for sex magic. As if on cue, Rod reentered the room.

"There you are," he said, handing Lucius a handful of gold.

"Very good then," Lucius nodded. To his credit, at least the git didn't bother counting the coins, Bellatrix thought.

He stood and Narcissa followed suit. "We shall leave you to your dinner," she said, moving across the library and bending to give Bellatrix a quick embrace.

She smelled of floral perfume, and Bellatrix smiled, embracing her in return. She hadn't visited with her sister nearly enough of late, and realized that she'd missed her. "Be safe," she said and Cissie nodded.

"Promise." She straightened and moved to Lucius's side, bidding Rabastan, Lyra, and Rodolphus farewell. Taking his hand, the two walked out and Bellatrix drained half of her brandy-tea, then rose to tell Harold that there would not be two extra for dinner. She'd nearly forgotten. When she returned to the library, Rodolphus was unwrapping the new books.

"Talk about a trip down memory lane," she said with a smirk and he nodded.

"I'm feeling left out," Lyra lamented.

"Don't worry, you weren't even born yet," Rabastan told her.

"Alright then, I feel better," she decided.

"We've got to comb these books for anything we can discover of what Delphini could be utilizing," Bellatrix told her daughter. "The Dark Lord sent myself, your father, your Uncle Rabastan, and Regulus to break into the Durmstrang library for copies of these books in nineteen seventy-nine. Being the knowledge whores we are, and considering he did not tell us not to, we had a quick peak into them before delivering them to him. It was in one of them that Regulus read something that allowed him to put two and two together concerning Voldemort's creation of a Horcrux. With that in mind, we hope there are other tidbits in these pages that we can use to discover more of what he was planning with Delphini and consequently more of what is happening now."

"Ooh," Lyra said, reaching for one of the four books that Rodolphus had placed on the nearest table. "That's exciting. These must have some super rare knowledge for him to want them so badly."

"Indeed," Bellatrix nodded. She, Rabastan, and Rodolphus all settled down with a book as well, and everyone read in silence until Harold appeared to announce dinner.

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