last night in ;bella

[rodolphus lestrange]

The last night in August and Rodolphus Lestrange would be off to Hogwarts the next day to teach a bunch of brats proper education in duellings. Granted, some of those brats were his own children, but brats they remained in his eyes. He had never been fond of children, but under the Dark Lord's rule, they were a necessity in rebuilding the pure blood lines. Well, so long as he really didn't have to do much in the raising of the little beasts, Rodolphus was fine with the ruling. At least there was a brain behind the wizarding world that could lead them foreward like no one from any Ministry had ever done before.

His musings on the current times were done in his personal study as he sat in his favorite decorated armchair. It was almost big enough for two full grown adults, leaving him plenty of elbow room to read his Evening Prophet without feeling confined. The latest news was of the first day of the school year arriving tomorrow and the journey that all of the wizarding children would make. There was also some comment about it being some odd years since a muggle had ridden the train and a bunch of other rubbish that Rod didn't care to finish reading.

He quickly glanced over the quidditch section to see the results of the previous week's matches, even though there were only two. If he could have one wish it would be that there be a game of Quidditch every day, but at the moment there weren't enough teams to make the season last very long if they did that. As it were, the Falmouth Falcons had dominated the Chudley Cannons, and the Holyhead Harpies had a close win against the Tutshill Tornadoes. Rod couldn't help but smirk at the wins by his two favorite teams: the roughest bunch of guys, and the prettiest bunch of girls. Two traditions he admired about each team respectively.

[bellatrix lestrange]

The last day of the summer and the first that Bella was truly happy about. Not only would her children be attending Hogwarts in a few short hours but also that husband of hers. Really, to her the man was utterly useless. But it wasn't as though she didn't care for him, at least as much as someone like Bellatrix Lestrange could care for another. For it all steamed from the beginning of their courtship (if one chose to call it as such). Being forced upon another person had never been to her liking and although it was her duties as such, Bella couldn't say she ever grew particularly fond of the whole situation, or him.

Rod was good enough in all eyes. He was of superior blood and standings, but he's passive nature always seemed to overshadow his standings to her. Being a strong willed individual such as herself, Bella always craved the companionship of like minded people. She craved a challenged. She longed for witty conversations filled with banter and sharp words. In all, Bella wanted everything her dear husband wasn't and such was the great tragedy of her life.

But one must not interpret such things in the wrong light. As stated before she did care for him in her own way. And although mentally he didn't stimulate her as she would hope, physically he did. One would have to blind to not noticed Rods dashing good looks, and with his piercing eyes and thickly body type he had always been able to bring Bella to her knees. In all Rod was physical the man of her longing, if only he would stand up to her every once in a wail.

Now, normally Bella would retreat to her own quarters after dinner, finding the company if her husband and children quite dreary but seeing as it was the last night they would be at home she found her duties as a wife and mother overshadowing her own selfish wishes. Besides, after spending two longs months in the close comforts of her own family she found herself in desperate need of a drink. Although not normally one to partake in such an activities, she found, during the summer hols, her dependence on the substance grow more and more as the time passed. So, for all those reasons above Bella Lestrange found herself walking to her husbands study that night, much against her better judgment.

With an elegant grace that was truly her own Bella stepped into the warm, chic room and without even a slight nod towards Rod, began walking directly towards the large bar area at the rear. Although the situation called for her to await for one of the elves to server her, in that moment she did have the desire to wait around for them. Besides, the sodding elves took forever to get anything done and half the time their work was shotty at best! When it was all said and done Bella could easily say she hated those stupid creatures and if was at all expectable (which of course it wasn't) she would just off the lot of them and hire human servants. But then, if such was a possibility then one would have to deal with fair wages and equal opportunity bollocks. The whole thing made her sigh and as she poured herself a healthy helping of gin (with just a dash of ginger beer) Bella shock herself of her thoughts and brought her attention back to the room.

Unable to wait, she found herself sipping the strong beverage as she made her way towards the center of the room, where her husband was causally lounging, reading The Prophet. It wasn't till she came just inches from him and took a seat on the large, worm leather couch to his right did she address him with a slight nod and snipped tone.

"I thought you would have left this evening. I would image you have quite a lot to prepare before the session starts."

[rodolphus lestrange]

While he did enjoy the silence every once in a while, this evening seemed particularly dull to be honest. The Prophet was lacking in the headliner department, at least as far as Rodolphus was concerned. Yes there were always the stories of this famous witch flitting about with that wizard and all of that nonsense, but that's all it was - nonsense. There never seemed to be anything worth taking the time to read. Not to mention the fact that reading had never truly kept the man's interest for an extended period of time.

You see, he had always been more of a physical being. Words never meant much to him, not even while he himself was attending school. After having been raised that actions speak louder than words, he found that any sort of verbal threat meant absolutely nothing. The wand and a well placed spell was always the thing to do the trick: that or a well placed fist. And the same rang true with just about everything else in his life, including his marriage. While Bellatrix could be viewed as a bit of a trophy wife, she turned out to be so much more than that.

Not only was she brutal with her actions, but she also had a wicked tongue that Rodolphus just could not match up to. Yes they've had their tiffs in the past, but Rod was always the first to back down. He wasn't as good with words as Bella was, and both of them knew it, so why waste the energy in a fight he was never going to win in the first place? Besides, the faster he made up to her for whatever it was that had been wrong, the faster he could work her over and into bed.

He could remember a few times in their early years in which he would pick a fight just in order to be able to work her over. Though with Bella being as clever as she was, it didn't take her long to tell when he was just egging her on, so he had to give up on that take. Nevertheless, they still managed to keep it together, ironically by staying apart from one another throughout most of the year.

So it was a bit of a surprise to him when, just as he was convinced that his last night home would be dull, she came gliding through the door into his study. The years he had spent with her had taught him patience whenever he wanted something from her. Not to mention the fact that he was not very keen on trying that nasty temper of hers. It just wasn't worth it. So he waited until she had fixed herself a drink and sat down to speak. Luckily though for him, she was the first to make a comment at the same moment that she sat down.

"Perhaps if I was a professor of some other class," he answered in a somewhat droll tone, "I merely teach them proper form when dueling. It's the same every year as well so there are only a few small things to prepare for that I can do tomorrow. Especially since classes don't start until the second."

And what about you?" he asked after having taken a bit of a pause after his last comment, folding his paper up so as to make proper conversation. "Have you been preparing for anything as far as what you're going to do while you have the house to yourself?" of course the house elves weren't included in this thought as they weren't observed as any sort of thing that could be considered company.

[bellatrix lestrange]

Bella didn't hide the bored sigh that came to her lips as she listed to Rod droll on about something she really didn't care about. It was always the same thing with him, dull words from a dull man and it almost brought the woman to tears in all honesty. Of course her own starting response to Rod hadn't been one of whits or measure, for she had learned years ago to not even bothers, for she would never receive the sort of response from him that would please her. It was just who he was, and she knew that. Even if it drove her to want to shove nails through her eyes whenever they were alone in a room together.

It took the woman quite a wail to respond to him, the pregnant pause with her own reaction thicken the room to an almost uncomfortable degree. All she did was sit there, gazing over at him from atop her gin glass, her own eyes watching him in an almost sinister way. She found herself doing this to him a great amount of time they were together, in a way to prolong whatever conversation they were having at the moment. Well, if that is what one chose to call their little exchanges. Bella liked to think of them as prolong painful duties, for although she didn't adore her husband as she knew she should, she did have the sense to know that no marriage is able to succeed without a little bit of effort. It just annoyed her that she was always the instigator in such things! For she was sure if she hadn't asked Rod such a simple question they would of just sat there, quietly until one of them excused themselves for the night.

"I was planning on taking in the tranquility of my own house actually." She finally sad as she placed her glass upon the stand with a soft clang, making a point to emphasize on the words my own, for to her the manner was hers! It had been the moment she stepped into it that night, long ago, when they had married. And although it will always hold the name Lestrange, everyone knew that it was, in fact, Bella’s dwellings.

She let the comment set between the two of them for a moment or two before going on, again going back to the fact she didn't want to speak too quickly to the man because lord knows she didn't need to give him an aneurysm with her quick words. Slow and steady was always the way with Rod, in was just a sad fact of her life.

"Will you be coming back to the manner on the weekends or will you be staying at the school throughout the semester? If you are planning on returning I would like to know so I can work my social schedule as such."

Bella groaned inwardly at her own dullness! Good Lord it was contagious! It really was a good thing she had a still drink at her side for if not she was sure he would fall over from the boredom of the whole affair. Although she was making a point to hold court as she should with him she really wasn't sure how much more of this mind numbing conversation she could take before she snapped.