Misery Loves My Company (Bells, Lyra)

Bellatrix raised both of her eyebrows at her newly re-acquired friend. It was strange - but not all that unpleasant - to be playing for the same side again. As much as Bells tried to play it off that she could care less about the friendship that they had once had, she had been missing talking to Integra since the day that she left. It was the girl’s spit-fire attitude that fueled her own dangerous attitude. Without Integra, she had been going soft. Merlin, she thought about the tens of people that had stepped all over her in the past month and a shiver ran up her spine. No longer acceptable in her eyes; she was going to take back what was hers with Integra at her right hand. Or perhaps at this point, she was the right hand of Integra. ‘Stop thinking about it like that, Bells. Not everything is a competition.’ Her inner monologue chimed and Bellatrix Black shook her head, trying to abandon those thoughts for now. There would be plenty of time to figure out what exactly ‘reclaiming’ their friendship meant when they weren’t in the middle of something vastly important.

Caught up in the thoughts that were flooding her brain, Bellatrix didn’t quite realize when Integra had stopped before they rounded the corner. Instantly she saw Tegs turn around and felt her eyes go wide, trying to stop her body from colliding with the other girl. Luckily, they both had the same instinctual reactions and managed to narrowly avoid each other, ”Jesus bloody fuck, calm yourself down. You’re going to rile yourself up before we even get there.” She muttered back at the girl and peered around her thin frame to see what she was talking about, ”If you think that she’s just going to let you waltz up to her and let you take a few clean shots then you’re seriously delusional.” Bellatrix herself had always been one to rush into things, but this seemed different. Now they had to formulate a plan if this was actually going to work; they were going up against Lyra Lestrange. The woman was smart and tactful...perhaps not tasteful or beautiful, but most certainly a known danger. They were going to have to be smart about this, ”She’s not an idiot,” Bellatrix chose to remind her, pressing her back up against the wall and staring at the doors to the Great Hall.

Just as she had finished her sentence, she saw the woman coming out of the Great Hall. Watching her carefully, Bellatrix almost admired the way that she held herself. Confident and powerful, she seemed. But the closer that she looked, the more that she noticed the woman almost seemed frail. She was practically like a toothpick. Perfect. If they played their cards right, then this night might go a little more smoothly than she thought. She could only imagine the things that they could do together. Her mind was spinning webs of torture; using the curses that she had been picking up from the Professor Riddle during their lessons. Soliciting answers from the woman though the darkest of means. It was something that she had always imagined doing....Something that would help her earn her mark. Reaching up, she placed her fingertips on her wrist, tracing up the veins as she watched the woman moving through the center of her line of vision.

Bellatrix was so caught up in watching the woman that she hardly noticed when Integra moved away from their hiding spot. He reaction was immediate, grabbing Integra’s hand and pulling her back so that she could stare at her for a moment. Green eyes searching, Bells looked her over, ”Set a limit.” She growled, ”Before you go in, know how far you’re willing to go, Integra.” Seriousness filled her voice and for a moment, Bellatrix seemed like the sensible one, at least until she finished her thought process, ”Because once you get me started, I guarantee you won’t be able to stop me.” She let go of the girl’s thin wrist and began following her as they trailed the pathway of Lyra Lestrange’s destruction.

Although Bellatrix’s internal organs were practically screaming to be the leader of this mission, she knew that she didn’t really have that much of a choice when it came right down to it. This was Integra’s battle to be won, she was just back-up. She was the brawn of the current organization. Not that that was such a bad thing after all - she had been training with Professor Riddle for two months now and she was eager to show off what she had learned. Her hexing ability had sky-rocketed lately, not to mention she was mastering the unforgivables with such graces that she was impressing even the Dark Lord. She raised both of her arms, dropping the girl’s thin wrist in the process and nodding her head. There was a time and place for the power-struggle and right now was not it. She was doing this because she valued Integra as a human being, not because she valued being second in command.

Moving being Integra proved more difficult than Bellatrix had imagined. She was used to being the leader of the pack, setting the pace and letting everyone else struggle behind her. But because Teggy demanded that she play subservient this evening, she had to avoid stepping on her newly reunited friend’s heels, ”I wish you would-” She was about to throw an insult in her direction when she realized that Integra had already anticipated her loud mouth and told her to be quiet. Bellatrix narrowed her eyes as she watched the strange woman walking down the path. She was beautiful...but there was something about her that made Bells itch to watch her struggle. Perhaps it was all the blood that she had seen; she had gotten a taste and now wanted to know what it felt like. Every fiber in her body was demanding that she let lose with a thousand hexes that were whirling around her head, but she stopped herself short every time, instead just grabbing her wand and waiting idly for orders. She was desperate for some sort of relief. 

It was beautiful; the way that Integra moved with the graces of her wand. The spells seemed to fall effortlessly out of her and the woman crumpled in no time. Bells felt her face light up in giddy excitement; she hadn’t felt like this since Riddle had let her torture the rat to death her second week of school. Sure, she wasn’t the one at the helm, but she was most certainly a part of this. The laughter that fell from Ms. Echoes’ lips was like music to her ears and she felt herself smiling an eerie grimace in response. It felt good to be back on top with Integra: back where the pair of them belonged. 

Taking in the sights around her, Bells moved forward and looked around the empty pathway. Surely no one was coming at this hour, but her friend was right, they couldn’t afford to take any chances in that department. The very thought of burring a body in her mind, Bellatrix reached down and placed her hand into the mane of hair that Lyra always seemed to keep so pristine. With a yank and a malicious grin in Integra’s direction, she pulled the woman to her feet, even though she was all but limp upon her limbs, ”Don’t be shy, sweetie-” Bells’ voice was dark as she hissed into the woman’s ear, ”We’ve got big plans for you.” She pulled the woman toward the grassy area off the beaten path.

Further and further she pulled but Lyra was in too much of a pain-induced daze to pay any attention to what was doing. Finally, deciding that they were far enough away to avoid detection, Bellatrix pushed the woman forward, taking a few strands of her hair with her. Absentmindedly she strung them through her fingers, admiring the black tendrils with care, ”Do tell me that you know that you’re managed to piss off the worst possible women in Hogwarts, Lyra.” She took a step back and held out her hand, letting the hair fall through her fingers and looked at Integra. It was her move now.

She should have been ore ready for a backlash but her laps in sanity had hindered Integra greatly. There was a rage in the girl that could not be quenched. A sinister smile came to her lips as she felt her body clench. The scene wasn't something she had control over any more and that realization only fueled her hate fire more. Glaring down the demented woman, Integra let out a furious growling sound for a moment. "Don't fucking touch her you sick bitch!" Sure she had a healthy dose of loathing for the Black girl but right now Bells was a thousand times more important to her than Lyra.

"Bells.... Don't fucking listen to her. For once in your god forsaken life. Listen to what I'm saying!!" Integra knew an imperio when she saw one. Ichabod had used it on her plenty of times. Lucky for her, he'd also been a fan of the immobulus charm as well and Integra had grown a tad tolerant. Maybe it was that, maybe it was just her hate, or the giddy distraction in Lyra that came with watching Integra die, but the girl forcefully took a step forward. It felt like her entire body was made of unmovable stone. Her limbs refused against her muscles pleading and with a shaking stiff hand she gripped her wand firmly directing it straight at her once best friend.

"I will fucking end you!!!" This cemented the idea into her head that this world was doomed and needed to be changed. Lyra was willing to kill Integra, over what? An outburst? Dating the son she didn't love anyway? A tiny though undoubtedly painful hex? Integra would have none of that and was certainly not taking any chances with Bellatrix. There was no apologetic look on her face as the spell left her wand and hit the girl in the chest. Integra didn't have it in her heart to kill the Bellatrix and settled on knocking her on her ass instead.

The release of her fear and the movement loosened Lyra's hold on Integra and in seconds she'd yanked the woman's feet out from under her with a second flick of her wand. "Nice try you two faced fucking whore. I've lived my entire life being tortured. It's the one thing I thank my fool of a father for." She took a few labored but much more fluid steps toward the woman she'd once again floored. The more she moved the easier it became and once standing at Lyra's side, Integra sent a direct kick straight to her kidneys. "You aught to be rotting in hell for just existing." Before forgetting Integra threw herself on the woman, struggling against her to get the wand in her hand and narrowly dodged a jet of green sparks.

The girl sat on top of Lyra yanking at the wand. "Give it to me! Get your skeletal hands off!!!" The scuffle ended when Integra bit down on one of Lyra's fingers, piercing the skin. The taste of her blood excited her taste buds and Integra grinned down at her as the victor and posseser of both wands. "Not so coy now are you?!" Integra's face was pure insanity as the blood dripped from her lips and her own flowed from her nose mixing with it. More would hardly phase her. Her clothes were still drenched in Rabastan's own vital fluids. Nothing could make her night worse at this point.