Place of Refuge (Bellatrix Black)

Bellatrix felt herself getting cornered by Zeke’s words. It was almost as if he knew exactly what to say to make her feel even more guilty for what she had already done and said to him. Then again, she supposed that was one of his strong suits. She back at him and saw that a small, delicate smile was playing on his lips. That only made her feel more uncomfortable. Feelings were such a touchy subject. There was so much to be considered. It was fascinating how much she hated them...honestly it was. She stood there in front of Zeke, wondering what he could read on her face. Could he see the struggle that she was having between exposing herself as a being with feelings? She bit down on her lip and then promptly released it, ”Fine,” She muttered her voice low and controlled. If she was going to talk about this, she didn’t want anyone to hear about it...no one could know that she had a soft spot. She knew that soft spots only meant a quicker defeat and she couldn’t be compromised right now. She wasn’t sure where to begin or how to organize her thoughts, but she figured that starting at the very beginning was a good place, ”For the record, I never flirted with Archer Grayson,” She said referring to the Quidditch Captain last year. He had long since graduated, but Bells knew that the wound was probably still open and Zeke was holding on to it, ”We were holed up in the locker room having a bloody discussion about who should get the Captain spot next year and I was pushing for you. But then you burst in and started throwing all these bloody accusations around and-” Bella ran her hand down her face in exasperation, trying to fathom why she was telling him all of this. The way that she normally functioned was on an as-needed basis; meaning people only knew what they had to...the rest was left up to speculation. But here she was, revealing all her secrets to Zeke, ‘Damn him and those bloody puppy dog eyes,’ She mentally growled, ”Well let’s just say Arch and I didn’t see eye to eye after that.”

She stared at him as he spoke so harshly to her, she could hear the danger in his voice, the very un-Zeke like quality that it possessed. Normally he was tightly controlled and diplomatic, but tonight, he seemed to have lost all sense of what he was capable of. She narrowed her eyes, although she was trying her best not to escalate to anger once again. She wanted to keep calm around him, she wanted to show him that she was capable of controlling herself...at least sometimes. She was about to interrupt him, but he continued on his little rampage, apparently losing steam as he went on. Finally, he stopped talking, ”Listen-” Bells growled, losing control momentarily and then pulling it back so that she didn’t anger him even more, ”We should clear the whole team thing up before we go any further...” She knew she was about to have to admit to him that she had been lying about fooling around with the entire team, but she wasn’t sure how he would take it. Would he even believe what she said? That was the thing about Zeke, Bells felt like she could tell him things over and over and he would still continue to believe what he wanted...that was just the way that he operated, ”The team doesn’t know anything.” She said, trying to get around admitting anything. But she knew that wouldn’t be enough for him...she knew that he would press her until she said the words, ”Merlin, Z. The team barely even thinks that we were dating-” She finally let the words flare up and pressed her palms flat against the lockers that were behind her, ”You know what they used to tell me? ‘Stop being such an arse to Maxwell, he’s never going to give you the time of day.’ That was fantastic,” She rolled her eyes and then folded her arms across her chest in a huff, ”I just want you to come to practice and give the team your best.” That was all she was going to say about it for now. She shook her head and then turned her face away, her go to gesture when she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Her hands remained on his shoulders; she wasn’t sure why, but she felt as if she needed to comfort him. She needed to offer him something that she hadn’t in ages. She wanted to be there for him. And slowly but surely, she saw the crumbling of the walls that he had built up against her. She could see the way that he physically reacted to her being so close and the way that he relaxed, ”Of course it did,” Bells replied, not willing to cross into that uncharted land quite yet. She knew that she had felt something again, but she didn’t want to admit it. There was too much at stake right now. Too much uncertainty between them. As soon as she had asked what was wrong, she felt him tense and knew that it couldn’t be a good sign. She had had him relaxed but he seemed to be reverting. My Father. The words hung in the air between them as heavy as could be. Bella felt bad for Zeke; she knew his pain. She knew the way that their Father’s could be, ”If you’re going to be a diplomat-” She paused, looking up at him and then straightening the collar of his shirt delicately, ”It’s not going to matter if you were Captain or not,” She pushed a tendril of her dark hair away from her eyes and then offered him a weak smile. It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest thing in the world - Bella’s smile - but she was attempting, ”My father is still holding out that I’ll become a Ministry rat when I get out of school,” She offered in consolation. Bells knew that she wanted to go pro and join a Quidditch team, but her family had other ideas...much different ideas.

Bellatrix hadn’t wanted him to ask anymore questions, but she supposed with a statement like she had made about Archer, there were going to be unresolved issues between the pair of them. He seemed like he couldn’t quite believe it, trying his hardest to find some source of her lies, but there honestly wasn’t. Not this time. Bells was being as honest as Abe Lincoln. But as Zeke asked her why, Bells felt like she was about to roll her eyes. She managed to keep it under control, realizing that was just the way that Zeke was. He was going to need some reassurance before he was able to accept what she was telling him, ”I watched you play all last year, Maxwell,” She began as she pushed some of her hair behind her ears, ”You were temperamental, sure, but there was a fire in your eyes,” She wasn’t entirely sure if what she was saying made any sense to him. It had been a lot of observation that had made her pull in his direction. He knew what to do with the ball and even though he was a little selfish sometimes, she knew that he would get over it the moment that someone put the captain’s badge on his robes. That was the way that Zeke was. He was the perfect diplomat. It was what made him so special in her eyes, ”A fire that I didn’t think that I had.” She didn’t want to admit why she thought that she wouldn’t be a good leader because Zeke already knew it: Everyone was just afraid of her. Fear didn’t bring loyalty. Loyalty was based on trust....and Zeke had just about gained everyone on the team’s trust. He had that way about him. She just bit down on her lip, trying her best not to start blurting out the first things that came to her mind, ”If you hadn’t burst into the locker room yelling insults and everything that moved, you probably would have been wearing this badge,” Bells looked down at her captain’s badge; the thing that she wore proudly. Sure, she was in her street clothes, but she never took it off. It was her pride and joy despite the fact that she hadn’t thought she had deserved it at first.

Bellatrix growled low when Zeke referred to Archer has her ‘old boy.’ She had never really gotten along with Grayson, if she was completely honest. The pair of them didn’t see eye to eye about strategy or the way that he managed the team, in fact, Bells blamed him specifically for the losing of the Quidditch cup last year. But the more that she listened to him talk, the more that she realized what he was admitting. He was admitting to feelings. Feelings. The very things that had been plaguing Bellatrix since she was young. She was never good with them, Zeke knew this, and why he was now admitting to them, she had no idea. She felt her mouth fall open in surprise, one eyebrow half-cocked. She was completely unsure of what to say, ”Arch didn’t tell you to stay away from me because of Rod,” There was something funny about Bella’s relationship with her betrothed. They barely paid each other any attention, except for when the other was seeing someone else...then all hell broke loose. In fact, Bellatrix had been in several fight with Rod about their dating situation. It was a lost cause though, she knew that neither one of them were going to be happy in the relationship that they had ahead of them...it was better to just accept it now, ”Arch told you to steer clear because I told him that I would rip out his entrails and string them up across the pitch if he ever mentioned to you that I had feelings,” She kept her body pressed against the lockers, afraid to move any closer to him...afraid to feel more than she already was. It was then that he admitted to coming back to the team and she felt a smirk appear on her lips, ”I knew you couldn’t keep your bloody little act up forever, Maxwell,” She was tempted to go over and give his arm a punch, but wasn’t sure if that was appropriate now that she was captain. She had to have standards, ”Don’t worry. This year, their spots are in jeopardy. I’m looking for fresh meat on the team.” She said, referring to the Chaser spots.

Bellatrix just rolled her eyes at his comments. Zeke knew better than to listen to the things that she said, apparently. He had his own views as to what was going to win him the best political position these days. Slowly, her hands slid away from his collar and down his arms, stopping at his elbows for a moment, and then moving even further down until her hands were pressed into his. Bellatrix Black was holding hands with Zeke. She was sure that it wasn’t even something that she had done while they had been together for that short period of time, but at the current moment, she couldn’t help herself. It just felt so natural to be in that state with him. Zeke seemed all intent on bringing back up Rod, ”Rodolphus is going to do what he sees fit for me, namely popping out precious little pureblood heirs until I’ve died,” She rolled her eyes at the very thought and then dwelled on the seriousness of the situation, ”Daddy-” She used the nickname for her father in cold-blood, knowing full-well that the man that she called her father was anything like a daddy-figure, ”He’s already paid a lot of money to make this all go through. It’s a business transaction, you know that.” Bells knew how the entire system worked and she knew that there was no changing it. Intertwining her fingers with his she looked up at him, her eyes suddenly full of brimming emotion, ”We’ve gone through this before, Z.”