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[attr="class","cbody"]Being back in the Ministry was not something that he had honestly expected to happen. When he had left the Ministry, he had been nearly certain that he would not be returning. He did not enjoy his job so much to miss it. Work at the Ministry had always been more of an obligation than anything else. It was not been something that he’d been at all interested in before Azkaban. Back then, he had cared more about power in different forms, and invention. It had only been when Wentzell had taken over the Ministry that he had found himself with a job there. He’d had three, actually, since he’d taken all of the ones that had been offered. He had been the Ministry’s executioner, he had of course taken his seat on the Wizengamot, and he had been asked to be the head of the aurors’ office.
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It had really only been the latter position that he’d been unsure of. Killing for the Ministry was something that he could do with ease, and he knew that he had to keep his seat in the Wizengamot. He could technically pass it along to Rabastan but when the Ministry had first been taken over, his younger brother had not exactly been the most stable person in the world. He couldn’t very well expect him to sit in on cases back then. Now? Now he probably could, in all honesty. He was much more stable now than he had been back then.
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But at this point, there was little reason to give up his spot in the Wizengamot. Rabastan was busier than him these days. It seemed like his younger brother was always off doing something. Between his wife and Rabastan, it was no wonder Rodolphus had felt like he was sitting around doing nothing. They were both either off working or conspiring together doing Salazar knew what. Rodolphus knew his brother well enough to guess what was on his mind. Whether or not Andromeda had those same suspicions remained to be seen, in all honesty. Maybe she did. He had said it to her more times than he could count. She knew that he was not exactly husband material. He had given her that out when she had been with Colin and he hadn’t given it since. But he knew that she was still well aware that there were things a husband could give a wife, that he would never be able to give her.
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It wasn’t that he didn’t want to give her those things. It was simply that he was incapable of it. Before Azkaban, it might have been possible. There were parts of him back then that had still cared. He knew that he’d thought he had loved her back then, and he hadn’t been sure if he was able to love anybody. But he had come out of Azkaban harder than he’d entered it. Those pieces of him had been chipped away. They were so far separated from him that he could barely remember feeling that way at all. He could remember it—the memories, anyway. But the feelings that he had back then were different now. He wanted her to be safe. She mattered to him. But he did not love her. He was never going to love her.
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And he thought that Rabastan did. Or at least, his brother fancied himself in love with her. Whether it was real or just because he no longer had Bellatrix… that remained to be seen. There was no way to know that for sure, but he knew his brother well enough to see the familiar signs. He treated Andromeda similarly to how he had treated Bellatrix—minus all the elixirs and potions they’d commonly taken back then. That was not something that he thought his wife was going to start partaking in. “I was starting to feel like the bloody nanny.” He didn’t actually watch the kids, but still. He was there, they were there. It was absolutely ridiculous. “Sounds like a productive use of your time.” Rodolphus added with a chuckle.
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[attr="class","cbody"]He knew that Andromeda was busy. Of course, she was. He didn’t have to work at the Ministry to realize that there was a lot of work to be done in order to keep the government going. More than people even realized. He thought there were plenty of people without jobs in the Ministry, with their little shop jobs, probably didn’t even think about what went on in the Ministry. They probably didn’t realize how much work went on to keep things going even marginally the way that they should. With so many people without magic, there were some jobs that could just barely be done. Sure, some of those jobs were more important than others. He didn’t know what the hell went on in the Department of Mysteries, but he figured what they didn’t do much to keep the government actually running.
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But they needed Obliviators to erase the memories of Muggles that saw more than they could. They needed that to keep the wizarding world a secret and to keep from any breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy. They needed the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to deal with all the problems that could come if a child did accidental magic in front of people they shouldn’t, they needed the Invisibility Task force to keep magical places out of the eyes of Muggles. Those barriers kept Muggles from seeing things that they shouldn’t. All of the departments that kept the magical world safe from Muggles, that kept them from breaching the Statute of Secrecy were obviously crucial jobs that were barely getting done now.
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He knew that there was far more than that to deal with. Keeping Muggles from finding out about the magical world was one of the most important parts of the Ministry but they also had to keep their government and their economy from falling to pieces. From what he’d gathered from Andromeda, Lucius Malfoy had stopped brushing his hair long enough to keep the economy going. Rodolphus couldn’t bring himself to even be mildly impressed by that. More likely, there was a smarter person in the department doing the work, and Lucius was taking credit for it. That seemed much more likely to him than the alternative.
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No matter who was doing the work in that department, he supposed it was good that it was getting done. It was important. One less thing for Andromeda to worry about. If their economy was failing, then they would really be in a situation. That was not something that any of them needed to deal with.
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Not that he would personally be the one that was dealing with it, obviously. That was not his problem. But he did officially have a job in the Ministry again. So, he supposed it was for the best to hope that they didn’t all crash and burn. And being here meant he had something to do during the day, which was definitely better than sitting at home. And definitely better than visiting Andromeda and her thinking he was there to tell her something about the boys. Salazar forbid. He chuckled at her words before leaning against the side of her desk to look at her. “I thought I would tell you that Griff hired me as the new head of the auror training program.” He knew that she would likely be surprised, but she also had to realize how tired he had gotten of being at home. Getting a job in the Ministry was an obvious step for rectifying that.
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[attr="class","cbody"]When Andromeda had said she wanted to be Minister, he had laughed. Actually laughed, right at her face, because there had just been no doubt in his mind that she was joking. He couldn’t fathom a reason for his wife to be interested in that position. She had never even had a job or an interest in politics. Yes, hospital politics. He knew that being the director of the hospital had been no easy feat, but that was a far cry different than being the leader of the United Kingdom. That was politics to the extreme, and he had not seen or understood a single reason why she would be interested in a position like this one. He had thought that she would regret it. He was prepared to say ‘I told you so’ when she did. It just had seemed like a horribly bad idea.
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It was a hell of a lot of work, and for what? No one ever liked the Minister. They would always make mistakes, and with purists in charge? They could always find something to pick at. Wentzell had technically been doing the job just fine, but still everyone had found reasons to get rid of him. There was no reason to think they wouldn’t turn on Andromeda eventually too. Yes, she was sacred twenty-eight, but that wouldn’t shield her entirely. They would still be just as willing to stab her in the back to have the next person who thought they could do better take over. It had been a cycle as of late. There was no reason to think that was going to change.
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And why would she want anything to do with that? Why would she want to deal with all that work for no reward? No one was going to thank her. It was an absolutely thankless job, and he did not understand why she wanted it.
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Already, he thought there were some people that would be ready to replace her. She had made things easier on Muggleborns, and he thought that was only going to continue. He didn’t think his wife was as dark as she liked to let people believe. If he was going to place a bet on it, he’d say he thought the registration would be completely over by year’s end. Maybe even before that. If she could pull it off, he’d guess it was over by summer. And there would be plenty of people that would have a hell of a lot to say about that.
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He was going to have to deal with that, and without magic, that was a lot harder to do. His name still instilled fear in some, and he could kill with his hands as easily as he could with a wand, but it was not going to be easy to defend his wife without magic.
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As much as he hadn’t wanted to work for his wife in any way, shape, or form, sitting at home without his magic had been worse. Rodolphus had decided that he should at least see if Griff had any openings. If he could get any job in the department, then he would at least have something to do. It would definitely be better than watching his wife go to work every day. That just was not something that he could do anymore. Chuckling at Griff’s words, Rodolphus shook his head. “I don’t need this job. I let you have it. It’s yours,” he wasn’t just going to walk back in here and expect it back. He wasn’t even sure he wanted that job. It had been a hell of a lot of paperwork. “Just a job. Do you have any open?” He didn’t care what it was, as long as it was something—and preferably a bit more than just being an auror.
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[attr="class","cbody"]Over the past weeks since he had first summoned Lilith over to Lestrange Castle, he had grown quite fond of his time with the Squib. She was a breath of fresh air. Not having magic had impacted him in more ways than he could count, and more ways than he would ever be willing to admit. He hadn’t known what to do—being a Lestrange without magic hadn’t made sense to him. While he had been bored without anything to do, while he had disliked mostly being at home while his wife was at work keeping the Ministry going, he had found that getting a position at the Ministry hadn’t helped all that much either.
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It had given him something to do, that was true enough. Overseeing the training, keeping up with the rankings, and all of the paperwork that he had to get through on a weekly basis kept him from spending as much time at home, which worked well for him. He had not liked being home with the house-elves and the babies all day. It had been completely emasculating him. His wife had been the one working all day and he had been doing nothing. For Rodolphus Lestrange, that was absolutely unacceptable. Having work to do had helped with that.
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But it had only helped so much. There was still plenty missing, too much that he could not do without magic, and then he had owled Lilith. He had not seen her since the day he had come into Borgin and Burkes and had first seen her. She had been so eager to please that day—and he had greatly appreciated the view that her rapid breath and low cut of her dress had provided. That was not a sight that he had forgotten. He had decided that he would call on her and he would just see what happened. Perhaps he would shag her again and get bored. Perhaps not. Rodolphus was unsure if he wanted to break her or protect her at this point. Maybe a little bit of both. Protect her from others, break her for himself. For his pleasure. And for hers, if she played her cards right. It all depended on his mood, in all honesty.
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When she did well, he did like to reward her though. So far, that had only involved buying her new clothes and lingerie when he felt like it. She needed more clothes anyhow. As much as he appreciated what she wore most of the time, he was a person with wealth to share. He didn’t shop much for himself, didn’t spend all that money on extravagances. He figured he might as well spend some on her—she was incredibly easy to please and money was nothing to him, really. The Lestrange vaults couldn’t be emptied even if he and Rabastan spent carelessly for years. And they didn’t.
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Today, he was doing a bit more than taking her out to go shopping. He had decided to rent her a flat. The place that she had in Knockturn Alley just wouldn’t do. It was fine for shopping, but not at all for living. His brief time there had shown him that. And he could not always bring her to the castle. It would be best to have somewhere else to go. Why go to a hotel if he could just rent her somewhere to stay all of the time? She would always be there if he wanted her, and it would get her out of Knockturn Alley. It seemed like a good enough plan to him.
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Rodolphus had not told her what they were doing here, though he had already had his house-elf pack up all of her belongings at her old flat and move them here. Her apartment was a short ride up the lift to the top floor, and he moved his hand to the small of her back to direct her out of the lift and in the direction of her new flat. Once they made it to the door, he wordlessly pulled a key from his pocket and handed it to her. “For you,” he said, finally, before letting her open the door.
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[attr="class","cbody"]Being without magic had not been easy on the man. He had been left without an outlet—without any kind of purpose. He hadn’t had anything to do and, conversely, his wife had been busier than ever. Being Minister for Magic in the middle of a crisis? That had left her busier than ever. She had to figure out how to keep the government running when it had been close to falling apart. That had meant dealing with every department of the Ministry as well as making sure that everyone was doing everything that they could. Hell, it meant dealing with Lucius Malfoy of all people. And Rodolphus didn’t care for the Malfoys.
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When he could taunt them, yes, then they were quite fun to be around. It was easy for him to get under the skin of Malfoy men. It always had been. It barely even took violence. Most of the time, it only took words. The last time he had seen the younger Malfoy had ended up being quite amusing, but he couldn’t even recall the last time he’d had an actual conversation with the elder Malfoy. Rodolphus still was not overly impressed by the man. Malfoys were, after all, cowards. There was no reason to be impressed by him.
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But he did have power in the Ministry now. And, with the Ministry falling apart in some ways, his department was more important than ever. The last thing that he could ever accept was thinking that Lucius Malfoy had more of a purpose than he did. That was just absolutely unacceptable. Rodolphus didn’t care all that much about power in the Ministry, technically speaking. From everything that he could see, the more power a person had in the Ministry, the more paperwork they had to do. And that was just extraordinarily dull.
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Griff had given him a position back in the aurors’ office, and Rodolphus had tried to see if that would help him. If it would give him something to do. He had wanted to see if doing paperwork was better than doing nothing at all. In some ways, it had helped. But not in the ways that had mattered.
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So, he had come up with another plan. It had involved a young Squib that he had met last year—it was hard to believe how long ago it had been, actually. She had been quite willing to please, and quite eager to learn. Now that he was bored, that sounded like a fair bit of fun to him. He had decided that he might as well get in contact with the woman and see how much fun she could prove to be. Breaking her, bending her to his will… it all depended on his mood, honestly. It had been a while since he’d had a pet. But it was not all that difficult to remember how it went. Little compliments and presents and he could have her doing whatever he wanted her to do. And he had very little complaints about having a young and supple body free for the taking. She was very pleasing to look at, after all.
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Not half bad with clothes on either, though he preferred her without them. Today, unfortunately, would not be one of those days. He had decided that she’d earned a bit of a reward, so he had taken her out shopping. Spending some money on the Squib was not difficult to do when he had so much of it. If buying her a few new dresses and some lingerie made her happier and willing to serve him better, that was an easy thing to do.
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Rodolphus knew that she could use some more clothes anyway. So, he pulled open the door to the shop to let her go in first.
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[attr="class","cbody"]There wasn’t much for him to do these days, and that was starting to grate on him. Rodolphus had never been the time of man that had needed to fill his time with busywork and other nonsense. Before the epidemic, he had been fine. He had left his job in the Ministry when Andromeda had decided that she wanted to be Minister. It had been an easy decision to make. He was not going to work in a position where his wife was his boss. A backwards belief to some, most certainly, but not to him. He did not mind his wife having power. All of his wives had been powerful to some extent. What he was not okay with was his wife having power over him. He was quite simply not going to work in that kind of position.
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But he hadn’t been overly fond of the job anyway. He had taken it because it had given him power in the Ministry. Wentzell had offered it, and he had figured that he might as well take him up on the offer. There had been no reason not to. At the time, it had seemed like the right thing to do, and it had kept him occupied for a time. But being the head of the aurors’ office had been a hell of a lot of paperwork. It had been boring, and he had never done well with being bored. He had always much preferred being down in the dungeons with whatever Muggle scum he’d picked up. Working on new spells, experimenting with his curses, that had always been much more entertaining to him than sitting behind a desk and working on the paperwork that the aurors’ office required. It was maddening. Every day opened with paperwork and all day, he had to deal with it. Then the day would come to an end, and when the next day began, there was more paperwork. It never ended.
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He had been glad to give that up, in all honestly. Andromeda had taken over, and he had told her that Griffith would be taking over the office for him. It had been an easy decision to make. Getting rid of that much monotony had been a relief. Rodolphus wasn’t all that sure that Griff had been glad to be given the job. He hadn’t fought him on it, but he supposed Griffith hadn’t known just how much paperwork had come with the job. Maybe he had even been looking forward to the position, but he doubted it. He was quite sure that Griff just realized that there was no good way to tell him no.
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Nepotism had given him that position and now the tables had turned slightly. Now, without magic, Rodolphus was bored enough that even paperwork sounded better than nothing. He couldn’t work on new spells and curses and could hardly torture people when Andromeda was in talks with the other side for some kind of peace. There was immunity, which was important to his wife but that would only go so far. That meant that he couldn’t go about kidnapping and torturing people all that he wanted. And he was bored. So, he figured he might as well amuse himself for a little while longer.
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Though, in all honesty, he didn’t find the mudblood to be particularly interesting. He was nearly bored already. “Did she? And just where is she, then?” There was a chance that she wasn’t lying, of course. But they did not get all that many breaks in a day—hardly any, depending on who was in charge of them. The odds that he had caught this mudblood on an approved break was relatively slim. Even if she had, he saw no supervisor around for her to actually prove it.
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[attr="class","cbody"]Having to come here had been frustrating. It just solidified the fact that he had nothing better to do. That Andromeda could just send him on errands, and he would go, because he was just sitting at home anyway. That was never something that he’d imagined happening. He had no problem with having a wife that held power. Having a docile doormat of a wife was better suited for men like Lucius Malfoy. He had gotten the Black sister with no fight in her. And that was exactly the kind of woman that Rodolphus would expect Lucius to want. It had come as no surprise to him.
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What surprised him more than anything else was the fact that Narcissa Malfoy could be such a meek little thing, compared to her sisters. In some ways, it didn’t seem like she held anything in common with the pair of them. Where Bellatrix was a warrior, Narcissa was a wife. While Andromeda forged forward in the Ministry, bossing around male department heads and everyone else, Narcissa hid up in Scotland. Bella had been a predator, Narcissa was prey. Rodolphus was certain he could continue the comparison all day long, but there was simply no reason to. There was little reason to think all that much about Narcissa Malfoy at all. In fact, he tended not to.
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They were on better terms than they had been in the past—that was one way of putting it, anyway. Mostly, he ignored her existence, just for Andromeda’s sake. The only time that he’d really even been in the same room as her since his release from Azkaban had been when Andromeda was in labor. Apart from that, he had been easier to just forget about the youngest Black sister. She was the forgettable one, after all.
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But when it came to the Malfoy men, bringing up the blonde was simply a necessity. Without magic, he had very little means for entertainment. There was only so much he could do—and words only went so far, when it came to harming people. But he knew the power of a veiled threat, especially when it came to the Malfoys. What he had done in the past was likely at the forefront of the Malfoy’s mind, just as it had been when Rodolphus had last seen Lucius. He didn’t have to have any plans of actually going to Scotland in order to put the younger Malfoy on edge. Even bringing it up, even the slightest threat, and he was sure to get a reaction out of him.
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In fact, though he had done very little, Rodolphus could already see it in his eyes. The boy was angry. The question was, what would he do about it?
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More than likely, nothing. That was something else that he’d learned a long time ago about Malfoy men. They were cowards. “And just what does your father think of her being so far away?” It was curious that he’d even let her out of his sight, though maybe that was proof that the man didn’t care who paid her a visit—or he’d rather not know. Ignorance was bliss, and Lucius wouldn’t have to feel like a failure if he was unaware of any harm coming to his wife up in Scotland.
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