Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at the nondescript building. Something felt...off, but she couldn't put her wand on just what it was.

"Two minutes," a voice whispered.

She frowned.

Virtually the entire inner circle was present for this raid, except for pretty little Lucius and that thrice-damned traitor Snape. Just let her catch sight of that greasy bat...

They started their approach – slowly and silently.

The Dark Lord's instructions had been very specific, unusually so. In fact his behavior of late had been down right odd. He was never at the mansion anymore and he'd been asking the strangest questions...It was almost as if he were sane again.

'But,' she told herself, 'that's ridiculous, you don't just become sane.'

Cautiously they entered the windowless building through its only door. That detail made her more than a little nervous. Their Lord had assured them that the Wizard living there was harmless, only the enchantments on the structure were dangerous and as long as they followed instructions they'd be fine.

However, bunny-hopping down a black hallway just did not make her feel very confident.

'Lucius should be here,' she thought, rolling six times to the right, 'I'd love to see his pompous Malfoy arse down on this floor with the rest of us.'

It wouldn't be half what that arrogant blonde snot deserved. Her dearly 'beloved' sister had been bawling her eyes out on Bella's sofa about the abrupt end of her marriage for almost four months now. Oh Narcissa wasn't upset over the loss of her dear husband as much as his huge....vault. Frankly Bella was sick to death of hearing about it.

After spinning around ten times to the left and fifteen times to the right she fell to her knees, too dizzy to stay upright. She heard several of the others do the same but at least that had been the last of the ridiculous requirement to bypass the building's security.

Now they could actually start looking for the damn book that supposedly contained a spell that could bring down the wards surrounding that Potter brat's house.

If it didn't contain the spell...she was going to find someone and set them on fire. Maybe several someones...with kittens...

The lights clicked on as voices called "Accio wands," from all around them. Surprised and blinded the Death Eaters could not stop the loss of their wands; Bellatrix felt her back-up wand pulled away by the spell as well.

Her returning vision finally revealed...a room full of Aurors.

The leader, or at least the one with the most shiny bits on his red robes smirked at the kneeling, half blind, robed and masked Death Eaters.

"Well, well, well," he said, rubbing his hands together, "you lot gave us quite the show! Is it protocol for big scary Death Eaters," – the smarmy little git actually made air quotes around Death Eaters! – "to give your victims a rousing good laugh before you maim and torture them?"

Bella ground her teeth.

"Is that in the 'bad guy' training manual?"

Nott flung himself at the man, yelling, only to have a stunner cast on him.

"Right," the 'leader' said, adjusting his robes, "You are all under arrest for breaking and entering into a restricted Ministry of Magic facility and the suspicion of being Death Eaters, with all that that entails."

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"Well, well, well! Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew – aren't you supposed to be dead Sir?"

Bella opened her eyes cursing bureaucrats and their apparently limited vocabulary. In the pit of her stomach burned the realization that they had been betrayed and every word out the fool's mouth before them only cemented the identity of their betrayer in her mind.

Voldemort.

Their Lord and Master had sent them to a Ministry controlled building used for advanced Auror training intending for them to be caught. It was the only thing that made sense. He was washing his hands of them, but why? And why was Minister Fudge the one in the room with them right now talking about their crimes and their upcoming trial. And just where were they anyway? An interrogation room?

As the Fudge-monkey continued to prattle on, more and more of the puzzle began to fall into place. It was all that Potter brat's fault – that was why the Dark Lord had been asking all those strange questions; that was why they hadn't know the boy had been captured until after his rescue.

She thought he'd given up the mad scheme he'd concocted when the boy had been born, the idea that he could raise Gryffindor's heir as his own as either a son or a future lover. After all, he had tried to kill the boy – but perhaps seeing Potter almost grown had rekindled the thought. Was he trying to seduce the boy? Obviously Potter had to have given some show of loyalty for the Dark Lord to sacrifice his best people...perhaps Voldemort had marked the boy...

She wished Fudge would shut up so she could think! Mentally she cursed the man until his last few sentences sunk it, angry sentences starring Harry Potter. Perhaps there was a way to salvage this situation. She wasn't a Slytherin for nothing...and they did call her crazy after all.

"Minister," she murmured, interrupting the man's self important monologue, "it is plain to see that the Dark Lord has washed his hands of us and while he is no longer capable of seeing how useful Pettigrew and I can be, I'm sure a man of your...obvious talents can."

A cunning light entered the little man's mud colored eyes and Bellatrix found herself surprised – something that was happening entirely too frequently of late.

"And what would you get out of such an arrangement my dear, hmmm?"

After nearly four hours of sly innuendo mixed with shrew negotiation, the two former Death Eaters were moved to a nice clean holding cell – their bargain struck. Very soon, provided they all upheld the stipulations of their Wizard's Oath, they would all have what they most desired.