Though Bellatrix wished to speak with Regulus and Kreacher on the matter of their newly restored memories, the visit with her parents had been draining. She'd had enough for the night and had a feeling the boys had as well.
"Let's just go home, alright," she asked when the large front door of her parents' manor had closed behind them. Both Rabastan and Rodolphus nodded eagerly and the three Apparated to Raven's Nest without another word.
A good shag and long hot shower later, Bellatrix lay drowsily in bed in Rodolphus's arms. She was nearly asleep when a sudden thought struck her, and she brought herself fully back to wakefulness with a laugh.
"What," Rodolphus asked, chuckling in response.
"I think your brother dislikes pleasuring himself," Bellatrix said.
Rodolphus choked. "What?"
Bellatrix giggled...actually giggled! But this new realization was just too much! "A few days ago he was telling me about shagging a girl and telling her he had a thing where he liked to pretend to be Rabastan Lestrange. I asked him why he would enjoy pretending to be himself, and he said that it was in case he called his own name out during... The reason he is concerned that this might happen is because in Azkaban, he apparently pleasured himself a lot and when he did, he apparently called out his own name!"
"Alright," Rodolphus said slowly, obviously trying to follow the crazy train of thought and failing.
"So, he couldn't have enjoyed self-pleasure, or he would've drawn unwanted Dementor attention."
A long perplexed silence followed, then Rodolphus chuckled. "So he doesn't enjoy self-pleasuring, but did it to keep the Dementors away?"
Bellatrix giggled again at the sheer preposterousness. "Apparently so! I didn't get that at first, because most men do it because they like it, right?"
"I had you, so I wouldn't know," Rodolphus said. "You met my needs quite well when we were teenagers. I had no strength left for myself, and your body was far more interesting anyway."
"That's nice to know, Roddy. Quite the opposite of how disturbing it is to know how your brother feels about self-pleasuring!" She giggled again, suddenly feeling strangely younger. For once in two days, she wasn't thinking about the Delphini situation or what Voldemort had done to their minds.
As a result, she fell asleep happily. That's likely the reason she had no nightmares. The next morning, they headed to Azkaban after breakfast. The goblin and human Aurors arrived around the same time, and two elves joined the crew. Rodolphus got to work at once working with the elves to layer their elf wards into the defenses he'd placed the previous day to provide an extra level of protection on the prison. Bellatrix watched as he worked.
Today, she was more focused and centered, so she could truly appreciate the precise and deadly skill with which Rodolphus built his wards and protections. Of course, she'd always known how skilled and brilliant her husband was in general, but watching him take charge of the place that had held them for so long was particularly satisfying. When he was content with the wards the elves placed, everyone returned to the combat practice they'd begun the previous day.
Rodolphus worked with the spiders, wanting to see how fast they could make a web during combat, and Bellatrix turned her attention to the elves. As she suspected, they needed to be trained in dueling, and she was happy to do so. Without truly hurting them, at least not much, she showed them how little they knew and got them interested in learning more.
For his part, Rabastan was dueling both of the goblin Aurors at once while the human Aurors watched, properly impressed. Under Rodolphus's guidance not only did they all practice dueling, but they learned about the magic of the other races present so that they could all better work with one another. As Regulus Black had concluded back in the nineteen seventies, elves were the strongest and their magic seemingly the most effortless. Bellatrix had only to hone them in using their skills for killing rather than cooking or cleaning. Goblins perhaps had magic equal to that of wizards, but their spells, by large, were of a different flavor.
When the Ministry elf of the previous day arrived with several large baskets of lunch, they were all ready for a break. This time, the lunch elf did not ask them for a progress report, so Bellatrix turned the tables.
"Is it true that Delphini attacked both Hogwarts and Durmstrang yesterday," she asked, recalling that her parents had inquired about that the previous night.
"She attempted to but, in both cases, could not pass the defenses to enter either school, only making it onto the outer grounds of both," the elf answered readily. "Both schools are keeping the students inside and not allowing them onto the grounds for classes or recreation."
"I just bet they love being shut up inside," Rabastan said. "I wonder how long before some little shit sneaks out, and she catches them to use against their parents for leverage."
"If that's even what she wants," Bellatrix said doubtfully. She had a feeling the girl was after something bigger than a child to hold hostage. Gaining followers like that would take ages, not to mention forced loyalty would eventually backfire. Unless Delphini was even better at bending the minds and wills of others than her father, she thought, a cold chill running down her spine.
As they ate, Rodolphus chatted up one of the spiders, expounding on the benefits of roast chicken over roast duck, which was apparently far too dry. For her part, Bellatrix would love to serve the spiders roast Delphini! The elves questioned Rabastan and the goblins on some of the hexes they'd used during their duel, and Bellatrix wondered how long Delphini would take to figure out that they were here and come to play. When lunch was over, the Ministry elf collected the baskets and departed without comment.
They were just getting back to their dueling practice when the alarm wards flashed red, indicating that someone was approaching Azkaban who did not have Ministry authorization. They went together to investigate. As they watched, the girl floated above the water, stopping just before she reached the island. Her hair was silver and her eyes were...difficult to see. They were hidden in what Bellatrix could only describe as a veil of shadow. Weird.
"I came to see Bellatrix Lestrange." Delphini's voice was soft even though she was far enough away that she should've had to shout. She must be using a spell to project her voice. Rather obvious, even if Bellatrix could not see the spell. Why was she thinking about stupid obvious magic at a time like this, she wondered angrily. Perhaps because this thing before them may be part of the Dark Lord, and he had done very bad things...in general and to them especially. Bellatrix felt frozen and hated it.
"At your service," she said. Her voice was confident, and she felt the familiar mad grin spreading across her face. Somehow it was soothing.
"I wanted to see you," Delphini said. Bellatrix waited, but the girl simply stared as she stood, floating a few centimeters above the water.
At last Bellatrix cracked under that calm blank stare and turned to Rodolphus who stood close at her side. Catching his hand in hers, she met his eyes and hoped he'd see she was silently asking how they should bloody proceed. Ask the girl to come onto the Island, and if she did have the vaunted superpowers everyone spoke of, they could be screwed. Don't ask her onto the island, and they couldn't kill her. There was a quandary.
"Well, it's nice to finally meet you face to face, Delphini," Rodolphus said, tone light and friendly even. Bellatrix was impressed. Glad to remain silent for the moment, she watched the interaction with fascination. "We've heard quite a bit about you from some very great wizards, after all," Rodolphus continued.
Delphini's lip curled. "Grindelwald is a shadow of himself, too focused on his boy toy than any true goals, if that's who you mean. Dumbledore is old and tired, and he won't keep me out of his school forever." She gave a soft chuckle full of confidence. "In fact, likely not even for a week, because I have a plan."
So she knew that Grindelwald was THE ONE AND ONLY, Bellatrix noted. Interesting. Unable to resist, she asked the question. "How did you know?"
Delphini arched a brow, the rest of her body remaining eerily still just above the water. She wore a long green and silver cloak that remained as still as the rest of her, not even shifting in the slight breeze. "How did I know that it was Grindelwald, you mean? Because it's all over him. I can see it. The power, the history, the open disinterest in repeating it. That's alright, though. I don't mind if he doesn't give me a real fight."
"What of us," Rodolphus asked. That was good, Bellatrix thought. He'd put it far better than she would have, and with such ease. Left to her own devices, she'd have probably just blurted out how she wasn't Delphini's mother right away and sent the girl into an uncontrolled rage. Yes, Rod was...a bit more of a people person. Far more diplomatic, certainly. Who'd known that Rodolphus had such tact? Then again, she'd never gotten to see him under pressure, never gotten to see him truly at his best or highest potential. They'd been young and free, proud, wild, and rough. Before they could grow up to be more, Voldemort had twisted their minds to basically be his, and his alone, only saving what was left for one another. Now Rodolphus's mind was his own once again, and Bellatrix was enjoying watching her husband bloom into a powerful man in his own right.
"That's up to you," Delphini told him with a small smile. "Though I mostly came to see Bellatrix, I hoped you and Rabastan would be willing to be friends. If you serve me, I will give you true freedom and power as my father never did."
"Interesting," Rodolphus said, giving her a polite smile. "We have this little agreement with the new Minister, though, and as she's a family friend, I would feel wrong betraying her trust."
Delphini made a tsking sound, expression disappointed. "You will be betting on a losing team, then. She is limited in her goals."
"She's new to the Ministry," Bellatrix said. "Are you even aware of her goals?"
"I am aware that they are not mine," Delphini replied simply. "For example, I see no Dementors here. Has she banished them?"
"Indeed she has," Rodolphus said, not bothering to hide the pleasure in his voice over that fact. "And I must say, it is a definite improvement on the place."
Delphini gave her head a slight shake. "Ah, but Dementors have feelings too. They, like your goblins and elves, are also suppressed beings, never given a fair chance or proper rights in life."
Bellatrix tried to stop her eyes from widening and guessed that she probably failed, at least to some degree. Dementors were worthless slugs! She, Rod, and Rabastan had had to fight daily to keep their souls free of the monsters during their time in Azkaban. Keeping herself unhappy so that the Dementors couldn't feed had spiraled Bellatrix into depressions that made her scream endlessly until Rodolphus finally managed to talk her down. His depressions were the silent types. When he stopped answering her, it meant it was really bad for him. All because of Dementors!
Every time it got bad, though, they'd pulled one another out of their own personal black holes of despair. They certainly knew more than most about Dementors as a result, and one thing the fiends did not need more of was bloody rights! Had the girl just made a joke? Dementors having feelings was as ridiculous as Sirius Black not being a git, prat, prick, asinine idiot!
"You see, I wish for all magical beings to work together so that we can bring about a true utopia," Delphini explained.
As Bellatrix feared, the girl hadn't been joking about the Dementors having feelings.