Chapter 48: Your Head Is Running Wild Again
"We'll be at Malfoy Manor to begin the wards at eleven," Romeo said. "All of you including the Malfoys should be there to help. Lucius and Narcissa can at least provide refreshments and do anything else they can to help that doesn't require magic. Then they can do the same at all of your parents' homes."
Rabastan grinned. "Fuck yeah, make them work for it!"
"Damn right," Romeo agreed, grinning back at the younger Lestrange before dropping his eyes back to the form on which he was scribbling. "The more civilian help we have, the fewer Aurors are out doing this. If Delphini strikes somewhere and we're all out protecting homes, that won't do at all."
Grindelwald nodded in approval. "Indeed."
"We'll see you at eleven then, at Malfoy Manor," Rodolphus said before draining his coffee and tossing the disposable cup into a corner wastebasket.
"Thank you," Bellatrix nodded to Grindelwald and Valdez before turning to Rod. "I'll just pop into the lady's. I'll be right back."
She hated Apparating on a full bladder and right now hers had some coffee to get rid of. She tossed her own empty cup into the wastebasket to join Rod's on her way past.
Pausing at the desk of a young female Auror with spiky blonde hair, she asked for directions to the closest lady's.
"Well there is one right down the hall, but..." the young woman paused, leaning toward Bellatrix and speaking in a hushed whisper. "Fat Penny Pug just went in there to drop a massive poop, and you really don't want to experience that."
Bellatrix felt her eyes widen as an incredulous laugh escaped her.
"So I'd go down a floor to level three, just to be safe," the girl advised. "There, the lady's is just a hall over on the left. I'll have to wee in about five minutes tops, and trust me, I'll be going there as well." She gave Bellatrix a wink.
"But how do you know she went in there to do that," Bellatrix asked.
"Because she left five minutes ago, and she isn't back yet," the young woman said, glancing pensively at the clock as she spoke. "Penny takes a long time to drop a poo and trust me, it's bloody toxic!" She covered her face, giving a heartfelt shudder.
Bellatrix noted the young woman's name tag said Valdez. "Are you Romeo's sister or wife," she asked, recalling the man had one of each.
The spiky haired blonde grinned. "Wife."
"Ah, you're the one who can't cook," Bellatrix said with a chuckle.
The young woman gave an indignant squawk. "Romeo been talkin' shit again, has he?" she demanded.
Bellatrix laughed. "Trust me, I can't cook either. There's no shame in a lady having better things to do."
T. Valdez grinned appreciatively. Thanking her for the lady's room tip, Bellatrix gave a little wave and Apparated down a floor as the woman had advised. The lady's was indeed down the first hall on the left, as promised. Not one to go in a public restroom if she didn't have to, Bellatrix was relieved to find this one decent enough. It was quiet and pleasantly warm with a reassuringly clean smell. It appeared she had the place to herself. Hurrying into the nearest stall, she slid the lock on the door and was settling down to void herself of too much coffee when the door to the lady's opened, and by the sound of it, several women entered.
"I mean!" one of them squealed. "They're just letting those Lestranges walk around loose among us! I'm just holding my breath waiting for them to stop playing nice and slaughter us all!"
Another giggled. "Yeah, or at least start throwing Crucios like wildfire, while laughing maniacally!"
"I don't think they're all that bad," a third voice chimed in. This woman wasn't laughing. "I don't know what to think of Rabastan, but Rodolphus seems to have a steady head on his shoulders. All the Aurors are singing his praises for his improvements to the security of Azkaban. I really think he was dealt a bad hand being saddled with an insane shrew of a wife like Bellatrix!
"He probably has to struggle constantly just to keep her insanity restrained. It makes me sick for him! That poor man doesn't deserve the trouble she brings down onto his head. I can't imagine someone as dependable as he appears to be doing that to those Longbottoms. I bet it was all her! She's probably always dragging him down."
Bellatrix didn't hear the rest of their conversation through the roaring in her ears and the pounding of her heart. She couldn't tell by that point if she felt extremely upset or extremely furious. She was simply too overloaded to know. As the women stopped talking and entered stalls she was finally able to attend to her own business. She was at the sink nearest the door washing her hands when she heard one of the stall doors open. A woman even taller than Bellatrix herself, with black hair pulled back into a tight bun, emerged from one of them, and Bellatrix could see her reflection in the mirror over the sink in front of her.
Turning, she gave the woman her famous mad grin, then calmly dried her hands as Bun-Lady's two blonde friends emerged from their own stalls. Bellatrix relished the widening of their eyes as they took her in. The chubbier of the blondes looked as though she may faint, and that felt good. The three nearly tripped over their own feet to get past her and out the door. The nasty cows hadn't even washed their hands. Of course, they were likely too afraid to stick around that long knowing she'd overheard their trash talk, she thought with a smile of smug satisfaction.
Bellatrix never cared what people thought, and she didn't now. Of course she didn't, but they'd been treated surprisingly well by all the current Aurors, so those stupid women and their equally stupid comments had rattled her in a way they probably shouldn't have. When she burst through the door of the lady's she Apparated back downstairs at once and nearly crashed into Rodolphus's chest.
"You alright, babe," he asked, hands coming up quickly to catch her upper arms.
"I'm sorry," she managed. Her voice came out breathy, nearly in a whisper. This was due to the fact her entire chest and throat felt constricted. Her breath was coming fast, and she felt tears stinging the back of her eyes. She silently vowed that if she began crying here, she would return to the third floor and kill absolutely everyone there! At least she could be sure of taking the three catty bitches out who'd upset her.
"For what?" Rod demanded. "What's wrong?"
Bellatrix looked up into his face, and saw concern written there. "For...for...oh, Rod, am I that terrible to deal with?" She swallowed, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it as he gave her a look of purest confusion.
"Are you? What are you talking about, Bella? I never have a problem dealing with you."
"Are you sure," she asked, hating the stupid way her voice trembled.
"Of course I am! What is this about? You'd better tell me right now."
Sighing, she did, and as she spoke, his expression went from shocked to positively stormy. "Where are they?" he demanded.
Bellatrix shrugged. "Probably somewhere on the third floor, I used the lady's there. What does it matter?"
"We're going to find them right now," Rodolphus said. Taking Bellatrix's hand he Apparated down to the third floor. An instant later there was a crack and Rabastan stood at Rod's other side. His face wore a concerned look as his eyes met Bella's. Gesturing down the hall, Rod nodded for her to lead the way. Feeling mildly bemused, she shrugged and began
walking up the hall toward the main corridor she'd Apparated into. "We'll walk every bit of this floor, and when you see one of them, you point her out to me," Rodolphus said.
Bellatrix assumed he wanted to check their name tags and report them to the Minister for whatever that was worth. The thought was sweet, though she doubted it would quell everyone's rude comments. It was only a pity they weren't free to handle people the good old fashioned painful way, she silently lamented.
She spotted the chunkier of the two big haired blondes first, and pointed her out wordlessly to Rodolphus. Smiling happily, he approached her desk.
"Excuse me," he said politely. "I was wondering if you could fetch your two girlfriends. You know, your friends that said such nice things about my family. It would mean a great deal to me if I could speak to all three of you at once."
The blonde looked ill, and Bellatrix smiled. She hastily scrambled up from her desk and murmured something that may have been 'of course,' but she was already hurrying away so Bellatrix couldn't be certain. Idly, she wondered if the woman would even return, but she did, and in less than a minute, with bun and other blonde trailing. Both regarded Rodolphus with wide eyes, and he flashed them a charming smile. "Good morning, ladies. I just wanted to clue you in on a little secret."
As he spoke, the friendly look left his face and that Rodolphus Lestrange blank stare which terrified the shit out of anyone he wished to intimidate took its place. "I simply thought you should know that it is, in fact, Bellatrix who keeps me together, keeps me from turning stupid little fluffbunnies like you into pathetic broken things when the sound of your obnoxious laughter begins to annoy me."
They gasped, and he smiled coldly. "She's worth fifty of any of you. She knows how to make me feel alive in ways that you small minded parrots in heels could never imagine."
He leaned forward slightly. "And now I'll tell you a final secret. What people fail to understand about the Lestranges is that we are very nice to those who are nice to us. Otherwise, we lose a little control and when that happens...well, let's just say that we're the only ones who find the results pretty."
Tossing an arm around Bellatrix's shoulders he turned away. Rabastan followed, giving the three a cheeky grin as he did.
"Now stop allowing rubbish people like that to get into your head," Rodolphus murmured, giving Bella a little squeeze before Apparating them back home.
Sighing, she nodded, snuggling against his strong muscular side. "It's really you who holds everything together, though. I'm just glad you don't mind."
Rodolphus shook his head. "I couldn't and wouldn't without you at my side, so it's you," he argued, giving her a careless grin.
"Fuck that," Rabastan said firmly. "I'm always the one looking after the both of you!"