Bad Romance

Chapter 128

And so they began by explaining the Muggle vs wizarding wars, so Arthur would understand why Muggles were awful and mostly needed to die. "So that's why Muggles are mostly evil and need to die," Bellatrix concluded.

Arthur frowned skeptically. "And you don't believe the wizards could've had a hand in any of the problems that led up to these wars? You don't think maybe the wizards used the magical power they held over...Muggles to their advantage?"

"Like how," Rabastan asked doubtfully.

"Well, let's say you really like my Porsche, and you just take it from me with magic because you can when I refuse to sell. Or maybe you don't even ask if I'll sell it because you can just take it from me with magic because I have no magic, so I can't very well stop you.

"People are fundamentally shitty for the most part, if we're being honest. Wizards are people so you know they played their part in the shitty behavior that went down between Muggles and wizards.

"Muggles is such a silly sounding word, by the way," he complained.

"Well, we didn't make it up," Rabastan assured. "It's been around forever."

"Perhaps wizards use a silly sounding word to belittle something they fear," Harold murmured, then flashed a look to Bellatrix and Rodolphus. The light glinted off the round glass goggles in his plague mask as he moved his head. "Harold is sorry," he said hastily.

Bellatrix blinked. "Sorry? What'd you do?"

"Harold just said..." the elf trailed off.

Bellatrix shrugged."As Rabastan pointed out, we didn't invent the word. Why would we care?"

Harold hesitated, then drew in a deep breath. "Just...Harold didn't mean that the three of you are frightened of Muggles. Just he thinks some wizards are, and perhaps the name was invented by people who needed to diminish that which they fear. Like calling magical, powerful beings the fair folk and little people to make them appear more harmless."

Arthur looked back and forth between Harold and the Lestranges with an expression of open fascination on his face.

"Why would wizards fear Muggles," Rabastan asked.

Harold shrugged. "Because they won the war. And the war after that and the one after that and..."

"We take your point," Bellatrix said through gritted teeth.

"How did the Muggles keep winning, though," Arthur asked.

"By vastly outnumbering us," Rodolphus said. "Muggles breed like bugs while we take far longer to do so, for some reason."

"Ah," Arthur said. "That makes sense. If wizards outnumbered Muggles, or even had similar numbers, magic would win out for sure. Do you think it's something about magic in the genetics that makes it harder to breed?"

"Certainly, though precisely what is unknown," Rodolphus said. "Magic doesn't appear to show up in blood as a tangible phenomena. Instead it appears to be an advancement of the mind. It shouldn't interfere with breeding, yet it seems to do so anyway."

"That is odd," Arthur mused. "Well, apparently not even magic provides all the answers."

"Not all of them," Rabastan agreed with a sigh. "If it did, we'd have no trouble with the Muggles."

"You have trouble with one another too," Arthur pointed out. "Wasn't this Delphini person magic?"

They all nodded, even Harold.

Bellatrix gave a happy sigh. "It sounds so beautiful when you say 'was' like that."

Arthur grinned. "Compliments will get you most places, m'lady."

"You're right. Humans are fundamentally evil, but we can stop the wizards faster than the Muggles, because again there are fewer of them," Rodolphus explained.

"What gives wizards more of a right to be evil than Muggles, though," Arthur asked. "I mean, you dislike Muggles basically because they won, right?"

The Lestranges exchanged a glance. "It gets more complicated than that but in part, sure," Rodolphus said.

"Well, what gives wizards more rights, especially if they keep losing," Arthur asked.

"Because we're better," Bellatrix exclaimed, drawing herself up in her chair. "You know we are. We just brought you to our home in less than three seconds, and your airport thing would've taken far longer. Wizards are like diamonds, and Muggles are like common rocks on the ground, valueless and too plentiful to matter."

Arthur just stared at her blankly. Or was that disappointment on his face?

She sighed, then glared. "Well, you're different, obviously."

"Why?"

"You already know why! Because you helped us. Because you're bloody Arthur."

Arthur shook his head. "I may not be. We don't really know. And so I helped you. What if other Muggles would've helped you?"

Bellatrix shook her head. "I doubt it. No one stopped their cars but you."

"Alright," Arthur said. "Fair enough. Most of them don't stop their cars for one another either."

"So they may be shittier than wizards," Rabastan said happily.

"Well, with them...us being far more plentiful, unfortunately, they have far more chances to be shittier if you do the math," Arthur said.

"There are fewer elves than there are wizards, yet elves are more powerful," Hydra spoke up quietly. "Just as wizards are more powerful than Muggles, elves are more powerful than wizards. It has a messed up symmetry, doesn't it? There is a stone more rare than a diamond, Bella. It's called Painite, and it's usually a pinkish to pinkish red, but it can come in brown and in some lights can even look green."

If one ever forgot that Hydra was a Ravenclaw, they'd remember when she started speaking like that, Bellatrix thought. "Interesting," she said.

The girl certainly knew how to make people feel uncomfortable. Well, Bellatrix hadn't enslaved the damned elves, and Harold was free, things of which Hydra Black was well aware.

"Hey, is that shit real," Rabastan asked. "I mean it sounds like it has the word pain in it, and you know how much we enjoy hurting people... So are you just fucking with us?"

Hydra laughed, shaking her head. "No. That's really the name of the stone. It's so rare that Mag doesn't even have any." Hydra flashed a quick apologetic look to Arthur. "Mag is a friend who makes wands, among other things. Her wands are made of crystal and other stones and have twice the strength of the wooden wands most wizards and witches use."

"Why are wands necessary at all, if the magic is in you people, though," Arthur asked.

Hydra exchanged a grin with Regulus. "We still have a lot to explain to you tonight," she told Arthur. "Harold, we may need coffee."