Bellatrix was in high spirits during the entire work day at Azkaban. Zabini and Grindelwald hadn't even considered her ointment idea before she'd mentioned it! They were both geniuses so that really said something about her. She was being appreciated for her mind! Grindelwald even said he may want her to pose as a bodyguard at specific political meetings and interject any ideas she had. GRINDELWALD! And he apparently trusted her enough to allow her to just speak out when she felt she had something productive to say.
Considering most of the world believed her to be insane, and as such likely never to be trusted, that really felt nearly shockingly good. Of course, Rod had always thought highly of her, but he would. He was her tribe. Both of them, along with Rabastan, had hoped to rise in power with the Dark Lord, but there hadn't been time for that before everything went to shit. Now, though, it was finally happening, and under Grindelwald as well! Their skills were at last being appreciated and even better, allowed to flourish!
Such thoughts kept her spirits high, so Snape showing up at Azkaban at the end of the day just as they were getting ready to go home put a bit of a damper on things. She'd never really liked Severus. His personality wasn't interesting or engaging and he was generally annoying. Of course, Rod agreed and he wasn't thrilled by the sight of the greasy git either.
"What do you want, Snape," he asked, but Severus's obsidian gaze rested on Bellatrix.
"You're almost looking good for a dead man," she drawled.
Severus frowned down his hooked nose at her as though she was a wayward student. She remained unimpressed.
"I am not about to start caring what you think today or any other," he bit out.
The large white owl that was perched on the shoulder of his black robe was vaguely familiar. Then it clicked. He'd started bringing it to meetings with him that last year for some reason. Severus Snape with a pet was still a strange idea for her to grasp, so she looked away in order not to put her imagination through unnecessary strain.
"I came to speak with Bella, but the matter is not private from you," Snape told Rod.
"That's good because I wasn't going anywhere," Rodolphus said, flinging an arm around Bellatrix's slender shoulders.
Smirking, she leaned into him. "What is it that you want, Snape," she asked, not bothering to hide her impatience.
"I want you to take care of Rita Skeeter...now," he said, his expression highly annoyed.
There were so many sarcastic things Bellatrix could've said to that, but she was too shocked so she merely asked, "Why?"
"Because she needs to be stopped! There is...there is some sort of twisted power in her words. Blaise Zabini, Albus, and I believe it is being used against us."
Though Bellatrix wanted to dismiss this out of hand because Snape annoyed her, she hesitated. Not because two other names were dropped, as honestly her opinion on both Blaise and Albus was vague or sketchy. It was because she thought they may be onto something. She wanted Rita dead because the so-called journalist had hurt far too many people with her blatant and outright disrespectful lies, Bellatrix most of all as she saw it. There was more to it, though.
"Twisted power," she mused, leaving the words hanging there for Snape to pick up and turn into something she could get behind.
"How did you feel when you read the ridiculous article that she wrote about your...more intimate involvement with the Dark Lord," Severus asked.
Bellatrix bristled. For some reason, her mind just could not grow accustomed to those lies to the point that she did not have an adverse emotional reaction when hearing of them.
"Obviously it made you angry, but dig deeper and do not be shy about what you felt, because it is very important," Snape prompted.
Bellatrix glanced away from his probing gaze, frowning in thought. "It was highly unpleasant but otherwise difficult to describe," she admitted, suddenly uncomfortable exploring her emotions in front of Snape of all people.
"Would you use the phrase violating on a primal emotional level?" Severus suggested and she felt her eyes widen. Picturing Snape experiencing that amount of emotion, not to mention being able to describe it, was beyond disturbing.
"Um, that sounds about right," Bella answered distractedly. In fact, the more she considered the strikingly descriptive words the more accurate they sounded to her.
"Rita not only tells lies, but she does it in a particular way. This is where we feel the magic comes into play," Snape explained. "In each case, the type of lie is exactly the same. It involves a person doing the opposite of what they would do or believe. There are lies, things that simply aren't true, and then there are the kind Skeeter tells.
"Were I to say you had lunch with me, that would be a lie. Were I to say that you had lunch with your sister Narcissa who happens to be a Muggle supporter, because secretly you are as well… Well, that would be a bit closer to what she does with her lies. It is our belief that she links us to this twisted magic with her words, and then draws on our power to some extent."
"How?" Bellatrix wanted to know, horrified and confused at the same time.
"We're still trying to sort it out, but basically her lie must have three elements to gain the corrupt or twisted power. One can think of it like a three part spell, but as it is presented as one lie, all mixed together in a dark combination, I see it as a sort of potions concept. It requires a pinch of something that means a great deal to you personally, a large dollop of something that you dislike or that would be rather the opposite of who you are, then it's all linked together with some sort of personal issue that you have not overcome."
"So how does that apply to the rubbish she said about me, for example," Bellatrix asked. "Break it down so that I might better understand."
Severus nodded, his expression thoughtful as he considered. "Well, the thing that meant a great deal to you personally was the Dark Lord himself. The twist that equates to the opposite of who you are was placing him, wrongly, where Rodolphus lives in your heart, because Voldemort was not sexual or capable of love and your love for him was quite obviously not that sort of love."
Bellatrix nodded, lips twitching slightly in amusement. "I see you've read my article."
Snape gave a slight nod. "It was very...enlightening. Honestly, I was surprised."
Bellatrix did not care that he was surprised. She did not care what he must think of them as they didn't think much of him either. When she made no reply, he continued.
"The third and final element, the personal issue that you have yet to overcome is what drew you all to the Dark Lord in the first place. Your unresolved fear and hatred of Muggles."
"We don't fear Muggles," she hissed, disgusted and offended by the very idea.
"Of course not," Rod agreed, giving Severus an incredulous look.
"Fear has many facets," Severus explained calmly. "It has levels. If you did not fear the Muggles, you would not hate them. You fear what they can do if we're ever caught out again because of what they have done in the past. I understand that you only experience this as hatred, but that is simply the way the fear presents. It is a hatred born of fear and the hatred is the emotion you feel you can actually work with."
"Well, aren't you surprisingly deep?" Rodolphus snarked, but Bellatrix noticed her husband did not object to Snape's line of reasoning.
"You said she is using this power, though. To do what," Bellatrix asked, perplexed.
Severus shrugged. "We aren't precisely certain," he admitted.
"So you want me to kill her to stop it," Bellatrix stated and Severus nodded. "I do. I also wish for you to...question her first. Ask her exactly what she is doing, and why she crafts her lies in the precise manner that she does."
Bellatrix nodded slowly. "Very well." She'd already planned to torture Skeeter before killing her in order to make her pay for her lies. Being multi-talented, Bellatrix could easily question and torture at the same time.
"I shall need three cloaks of invisibility," she told Severus decisively. "We could get them easily enough from those in charge of Shadow Ops when they were required for assignments, but I don't wish to involve the Ministry by asking for them now. Kereston has made it understandably clear that the Ministry can't afford to be mixed up in such a scandal now. She likely can't defend us if we are caught so I was biding my time until there was a suitable opportunity to strike, but with a little arranging, I can make my own opportunities."
Severus inclined his head. "I trust that you can. Just be a bit more discreet than you were with the Longbottoms."
Rodolphus frowned as Bellatrix bristled. "We weren't exactly operating under our full faculties then," Rod said peevishly. "Having your mind twisted with the compulsive need to serve can make one a bit hasty, and as a result careless."
Bellatrix nodded. "But this time, it is all us. We are only operating under our own willpower and it shall be glorious!"
Already, her mind was returning to the plans she'd previously started percolating on the back burner of her mind for when the right time presented itself. She decided to put Skeeter in her own bath so that the blood would be contained…because there would be blood. That lying cow had earned that.
After they'd punished her properly and gotten all the information out of her and then some, Bellatrix planned to make the woman write a note, retracting all her lies, and claiming that she was ending herself out of guilt for all the awful things she'd done to ruin the lives of others just to profit. The dreadful power in her quill may as well serve those she'd hurt for a change. Bellatrix found that satisfyingly suitable.
"I understand how Albus Dumbledore has suffered at her quill, but what's she said about Zabini," Bellatrix asked. "I don't think she was ever brave enough to write about all his Mum's supposed murders - what was it, seven?"
Severus nodded. "His issue is the same as Albus's at least in part," he answered. "Blaise doesn't like reading that Gellert and Albus were involved any more than Albus does."
"It's odd that it bothers people that much," Rodolphus said, shaking his head in frustration, likely for the times Bellatrix had gotten so upset over the whole issue.
"Not so odd," Severus said quietly. "It isn't just a lie, remember. It is a literal magical twist on who we are when it is directed at us and it feels extremely unpleasant."
Bellatrix nodded fervently. "That it does. Do not worry, though. She will pay and her words shall be stopped."
The smile Severus gave her was relieved and he nodded. "Very good. I'll have those cloaks to you tomorrow. Shall I bring them here?"
"That's fine," Bellatrix said.
She, Rod, and Rabastan could pay an invisible call on Ms. Skeeter tomorrow after work. If she wasn't alone, they could simply return another time.