Bad Romance

Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Dream the Impossible Dream

The Lestranges spent a few more hours in the Zabini family library chatting with Blaise and Gellert. Most of the time, they forgot that Gellert was The Legend Grindelwald. He was just an amusing person with whom they had discourse on everything from Dark magic to Regulus not living up to his potential. Gellert complained that Black was too depressive and unmotivated. As such, he wasn't participating in the fight against Delphini nearly enough for Grindelwald's liking and he flat out asked the Lestranges to prod Regulus to do more.

Bellatrix wasn't aware that Regulus was being such a wet blanket, but Shadow Ops kept them busy so they didn't see Regulus and Kreacher daily, sometimes not even weekly. She knew he'd never quite been the same after Voldemort, but who was? Gellert was a rather close friend of his, though, so if he was concerned about her cousin, Bellatrix supposed she should be concerned as well. She promised to address the matter with him and Grindelwald seemed happy with that.

"He figured out Voldemort's bloody Horcrux," he said fervently. "He's a bloody genius and I need him doing more."

Rabastan grinned. "Sure thing, Boss. The more he does, the less we have to do, after all."

"Dream on," Blaise said with a smirk.

"I try," Rabastan said.

When they got home it was rather late. Lyra, Harold, and even Rhadamanthus were already asleep, so they quietly took themselves to bed as well.

The next day the goblin Curse-Breaker paid them a home visit in the evening just after dinner. Bellatrix appreciated that Grindelwald kept his word, and so quickly.

"It's most definitely a curse," the goblin said, staring in fascination at the Dark Mark on Rabastan's arm. "It's seemingly dead...inactivated due to Voldemort being dead, but if he escapes her body or finds a way to grow stronger within it, this ugly tattoo could present a problem."

"Then let's get it off us, shall we?" Rabastan suggested.

"I take my payment first," the Curse-Breaker said.

He named a sum for the three of them that made Bellatrix choke. Still, it would be worth anything to get rid of the marks once and for all.

"For that bloody price, there better not even be a scar left," she declared.

"No scar shall remain, I assure you. Your arms shall be as smooth and flawless as they were before you swore your allegiance to a madman."

"Obviously we were not aware at the time," Bellatrix informed through gritted teeth. The goblin shrugged as though he couldn't care less. "We were told that these marks cannot be removed, so are you entirely certain the attempt shall not get us or you killed," Bellatrix asked.

"Voldemort was wrong about many things, and many things are believed to be impossible by those who lack proper knowledge," the Curse-Breaker said. "He likely was unaware of the abilities of goblins when it comes to curse breaking. Something tells me he wasn't the sort to educate himself about races he incorrectly considered to be lesser."

Bellatrix and Rodolphus nodded in unison, exchanging a quick smile when they both noticed they'd done so.

"That's true," Rodolphus said. "He was certainly overconfident, among other things."

"He likely set wards in place against a wizard using typical means to remove a tattoo or unwanted mark, and assumed if he knew of no other way, neither would you," the goblin said. "Though this curse has a few complexities to it, I've seen worse."

Satisfied that lifting this curse would apparently not get them killed, Rodolphus nodded and stood. "I'll go get your payment," he said, and Apparated from the library. Though they kept the bulk of their gold in Gringotts, Bellatrix and Rodolphus kept an emergency stash in a secret compartment in a bedroom wall.