Trying Times | Rod & Bella
Date: October 5th, 1979 Location: Lestrange Manor
@blackestlestrange
Rodolphus was often the calm at the center of the storm. The two people he was closest to, his younger brother and his wife, were both chaotic in nature, tempestuous, and Rod only had limited control over them. Granted, he hadn’t really tried to control Rabastan for a while now though it was hard to give up that more parental role, and he’d never had much control over Bellatrix, since she vehemently denied him that kind of control. He didn’t try to control her either and arguably never really had, though he did ask her for certain things that, when they’d first been married, she refused to adhere to, but after ten years she had, at least, come around somewhat. They had a good balance now, or so Rod liked to believe, both publicly and privately, and she was one of the few people who got to see behind his calm mask.
It was more difficult to maintain that mask during these times but extremely necessary. Things had spun out of control, something which Rod always hated, because he’d been blindsided by the Dark Lord’s disappearance (not death, he wouldn’t believe that) and he wasn’t a man who it was easy to blindside so he never took it particularly well. There was a meeting coming up, he knew, at Malfoy Manor, to decide what they were to do and it was always best if he and Bella went into such meetings as a united front. They generally were anyway, but sometimes a conversation or two was necessary beforehand.
To that end, he carried two glasses of brandy (alcohol was sometimes necessary for these discussions and it was somewhat of a balm to soothe any jangled nerves) into the sitting room. Even at home, he was dressed impeccably, in a tailored three piece suit. The sitting room itself was also spotless, everything in it’s place, unless Bella had seen fit to move things about as she sometimes did. The house elves were well trained to keep an eye on her and pick up after her almost immediately since Rodolphus couldn’t abide mess. His wife never seemed to have the same compunction so he’d made sure the servants adapted to her habits so there was as little strife as possible. The decorations weren’t lavish, Rodolphus would have called them tasteful, even if the contents of the room itself were incredibly costly. The sofa alone, an antique but comfortable, cost a fortune and that was only one of the best pieces. Still, it wasn’t overly ostentatious, at least Rodolphus didn’t think so.
Setting one glass of brandy down next to his wife, he took a seat in his armchair. “We should talk about the meeting.” It wasn’t a command, his tone a shade gentler with her than he was with most other people, but it was still a strong suggestion. Neither of them had much patience for beating about the bush so it was always best to get to the point.
