I am The Dark Lady (ABANDONED)

GoodBye

I lied. This is my longest chapter with 5300 words.

Voldemort couldn't breathe. It felt as if someone had hit him in the chest with a sledge hammer multiple times and then what he imagined the killing curse to feel like. Dumbledore had once lectured the Hogwarts students on the importance of love when he was a boy. He had laughed during that lecture because he did not believe in love at the time. After all, those born under a love potion cannot feel the exact emotion that caused their existence. Besides, He didn't believe he was capable of experiencing such an emotion, and he had been glad he couldn't feel love.

Voldemort saw love as a weakness.

He had been wrong. They had been wrong. All of them were wrong. Hours and hours of extensive research had concluded two things. The first being that Love-Potion children can feel love. It just takes a certain person to unlock that from deep within them. 'Soulmates' some may put it. He wouldn't. The second? That he was doomed. Now, don't get him wrong. He's no stranger to attraction and sexuality, he's still a man for goodness sake and yes he has had 'relations' thank you very much. He's Lord goddam Voldemort. He can have any woman he wants!

Nobody noticed his inner turmoil, however, and he was granted a private moment with his thoughts. As a masked Death Eater, Goyle it looked like, took the torture over from an exhausted but giddy Bella, Voldemort stepped away. He turned his back from his gaggle of faithful followers and gritted his teeth.

This cannot be happening.

He growled under his breath as to not draw attention to himself and began racking his brain for solutions as to how to fix this problem.

The thing is, and he knew this to be true from an impromptu Legillimens while they were distracted by the screams of the last Auror, was that everyone apart from maybe Bella herself had already figured this little factoid out. Their relationship was different. Okay, yes he knew that and could admit this. With the others He was cold, dark, mysterious and threatening. With Bella he could be friendly, humorous at times and share banter and overall have an relaxed atmosphere around her.

See, he should've listened to himself all those years ago when his instincts told him that teaching a 16 year old Bellatrix was a bad idea. "Congratulations Thomas" He had mocked himself. "You 100% fucked this entire thing up"

Or something like that anyway.

The screams of the Auror died out and when he turned around, the only thing The Dark Lord could see was the twitching, mangled body of the once breathing man. Knockturn alley (they had manage to push the 'light side' away from the big area of Diagonal) stunk of death and decay. All the Death Eaters turned to him, pulling their masks off slowly and Bella (who had already removed her mask some time ago) shot him a victorious grin, laughing behind her teeth. From his peripheral vision, he saw a handful of Death Eaters share knowing looks.

And he snarled behind his own mask.

Everyone knew he already had a soft spot for her. It was common knowledge, not even worth gossiping about, and everyone in the entire army made little faces at each other whenever he got slightly more gentle or tender towards her than usual. Sometimes it was their little banter that other death eaters listened in on during meetings. Other times it's the way he let her get away with-literal- murder where as the others (even Narcissa Malfoy) could've been tortured for the exact same thing.

For the army, Voldemort loving Bellatrix was common knowledge.

So when he raised his wand after a few seconds of silence and aimed it towards her, muttering a certain unforgivable under his breath, that she herself had just been casting, and a jet of red light shot out and hit her in the stomach, nobody could believe it. Bella crumpled at once, screaming in pain. Rodolphus reached for his wife, feeling somewhat possessive,  but with a wave of his hand, Voldemort sent him flying back into a wall. No other tried to stop this is. Her screams increased the longer the spell went on and the sound of it made his heart squeeze painfully and a lump to form in his throat.