"Have a seat, Mrs. Lestrange," the rat-faced man invited in a tone that said the invitation was an order. He nodded to a hard straight-backed chair, the only seat in the room. Bellatrix knew this meant he would stand while she sat. He was trying to play the dominance card. He had no idea who he was playing cards with. She sat, regarding him through narrowed eyes.
He stood in the middle of the room a few feet away. Other than the single chair the room was entirely empty. She thought this was some room for questioning criminals, but they'd done nothing wrong so Bellatrix was feeling defensive.
"I think I am calling you Mr. Rat. You haven't given me a name, and I don't want one. Mr. Rat suits you far better than any name your mouse-faced mother could give you."
Unruffled by the insult, Mr. Rat moved to the right wall and flicked his wand at it. It rolled aside to show what at first Bella took to be a mirror, only she didn't reflect when peering into it. It seemed instead to be a large panel of clear crystal quartz. It flickered with an inner blue light that rapidly changed to green, then purple, then orange, then red, then gray, then black, before going back to blue again.
"What is that?" she demanded, wondering if he'd actually tell her.
"I will answer that at the end of this conversation, I assure you, Mrs. Lestrange," he said calmly. "First I have a few questions for you. Well, more than a few, actually. First, what do you know of the girl Delphini?"
"Who?" Bellatrix blinked in confusion. "Is that someone I'm supposed to know?"
Mr. Rat shrugged. This was another question he apparently wasn't going to answer. "Did you have a close relationship with the man you called Lord Voldemort?"
Bellatrix glared. "This is stupid! You know we did. Rod, Rabastan, and I were his top Death Eaters, and you bloody know that! What is this about?" she demanded. "Haven't we been good little killers for you?"
Seemingly not one for answering questions, Mr. Rat asked, "Yes, of course, but were you and your Lord Voldemort closer than even that?"
Bellatrix blinked in confusion as she scowled at him. "He taught me when I was young. Just before Rod and I got married I impressed him enough to have private lessons so I could better fight and kill for him!" She felt that old avid admiration and worship rising up in her heart again which caused her scowl to deepen. This time it was directed at herself, though.
That life was over and done. Not only that, but their Lord had turned on his closest more than once, a point that had become painfully clear to Bella in the end. When he started treating her and some of the few others he held close like dirt under his feet instead of powerful wizards fighting for him who adored him and deserved none of his ill will, it forced her to see things about him she never wished to know.
He nearly treated them as enemies back then. That's what Horcruxes did to one, she supposed. Unless he was mad even before he made a single one because not even she would've ever done that. She loved Bellatrix and wasn't trying to part with any of herself! Though she, Rod, and Rab were beginning to waver even near the end, at least a little, hearing of his Horcruxes had been a horrifying blow.
A glance at Mr. Rat showed him studying the large crystal panel which took up most of the right wall. Its lights were flickering again, this time to a darker blue. Nodding to himself, he turned his gaze back to Bellatrix. "Did he ever attempt to touch you during these private magic lessons?"
Bellatrix drew herself up indignantly, ready to defend the man she'd just been thinking treasonous thoughts of a moment before. "Of course not, don't be disgusting! It wasn't like that, and he knew I was with Rod. Everyone knew!" The idea of The Dark Lord doing anything like that was offensive as it lowered him to a more base primitive position. Rather than uplifting him to the god they had all believed him to be back then.
"Are you saying that you were never sexual with your Lord?" Mr. Rat's question came out incredulous and this caused hot anger to war with disgust in Bella's mind.
"Of course that's what I am saying, you bloody idiot! I love my husband. I was always with Rod and only Rod, which is, by the by, none of your bloody business! The Dark Lord wasn't sexual. He was above such things, with his mind on higher matters," she proclaimed. She nearly said his mind and soul, then realized even in her indignant state that, thanks to the Horcruxes, he hadn't exactly had one.
"So you didn't conceive a baby with your Dark Lord when you escaped from Azkaban in 1996," Mr. Rat asked, giving her a doubtful look.
Had she not taken an Unbreakable Vow not to go against the Ministry she would've literally kicked his ass for that one. Sadly, as he was one of the Ministry Aurors, beating his ass would likely constitute going against her vow, and it wasn't worth dying for.
Bellatrix leaned forward in her chair toward the man, eyes narrowing once more and growing hard and dangerous. Anyone who knew anything about her would've been soiling themselves at that look, but the man's pants still appeared unfortunately fresh. "Look, Rat. I am tired of playing whatever stupid game you've invented. Why don't you tell me just what the hell it is that you want, because otherwise I'm finished."
"I assure you, Mrs. Lestrange, this is no game. There is a young woman claiming to be your daughter and causing quite a bit of trouble in the wizarding world because she's angry that her father, Lord Voldemort, was killed. Let us say she has daddy issues."
Bellatrix was unable to keep her eyes from widening in shock at that...no, he couldn't be serious!
"If I had a baby, I think I'd know it," she spat sarcastically. "A medical exam should prove as much. You're all bloody stupid. And with the Dark Lord! That's so disrespectful and sick," she concluded, not bothering to hide her disgust with the rat faced official before her. She'd still love to kill them all. Weak, incompetent, brainless and now they'd apparently added sick to their list of shortcomings. They didn't deserve power. They certainly didn't deserve to have it over her and Rod, both obviously superior wizards on all levels.
Still, no matter how satisfying killing them all would be, it wasn't worth dying for.
"Interesting," Mr. Rat said thoughtfully, his gaze returning to the crystal panel on the right wall. Bellatrix's eyes followed his to see the crystal had turned a sickly green.
"Matches my mood," she drawled drily, and Mr. Rat actually chuckled and nodded.
"As it should, Mrs. Lestrange. It's doing what it's supposed to do. Now just a few more questions if you will. What if he'd wanted to have this baby for an heir? Wouldn't you have been perfect for such an honor as that? Perhaps your husband would have even approved and considered it an honor to your family."
"He needed no heir! He was immortal as he saw it, so he needed no successor when he wasn't planning to die."
Bellatrix wondered if carrying the Dark Lord's baby, had he required it, would've felt like an honor, and the thought caused her to shudder. No. She was married to Rod and did not want any children for any reason! Carrying a baby put strain and limitations on the body that she had no interest in. It weakened one as did succoring brats. Leave all that to her sister.
Not only that, though, having the Dark Lord on a pedestal above them where he belonged and deserved to be was one thing. Having his hands on her was another entirely. Before Mr. Rat's disturbing questions such disrespectful sacrilege had never occurred to her. Now that the mental damage was done, she was lost in the horror of the thought. His face, those serpentine features, and that cold voice, he was a god but there was no passion there. Nor should there be! She envisioned Rod's mouth on hers hot and demanding as her legs wrapped around him, and his hand tangled in her hair, tugging her head back hard enough to cause her to gasp in pleasure. Rod was a wizard who could match her twisted desires and keep up with her effortlessly. No offense to their former Lord, of course, but her husband was also bloody hot too!
The Dark Lord had been more of a sort of father figure who was also a god. Even before his appearance had changed so drastically, he wasn't bad-looking. Nor were any of her uncles, or her father, or Rod's father, but they were her elders, and she wasn't trying to shag any of them. The Dark Lord's later serpentine appearance had only raised his god status in her eyes, as it proved how much more than human he was. Shaggable, though? No. The very idea would've disgusted him as much as it did her, she was certain. The Dark Lord was asexual if anyone ever was, and that had made him somehow more pure. Sex was a primitive thing of mortals, and he was so much more… so other, and he allowed them to serve him!
"Exactly what are you thinking, Mrs. Lestrange," Mr. Rat asked calmly.
"About shagging my husband while bloody, if you must know, which I'd be doing right now if I wasn't here playing whatever stupid game this is with you!" She hoped the admission made Rat uncomfortable, but it likely only made his stupid day to imagine such passion, as he surely had none of his own.