the-purple-dragon

1 - Who was better in bed, Rodolphus or Voldemort?

That's a tough one. Being better at sex is relative to so many things, in my opinion. I'd say Rod was more experienced in giving pleasure, and Voldemort had only truly cared for receiving it before Bella, so at first Rodolphus was much better than Voldemort. No comparison there. I hc Voldemort was terrible at sex before Bellatrix happened, but he was a quick study, so he caught up pretty quickly.

Considering Bella's preferences, Voldemort would be better at foreplay. I imagine Bella enjoying it hard and fast, so Voldemort gave her the complete opposite only to torture her until she became a sobbing mess. Rodolphus would be better in aftercare, which for me earns him a lot more points in the sex department. Bella always said she didn't enjoy or need aftercare, but that was a lie: she loved and needed it very much and, if Voldemort even knew what aftercare was and had done it for her, she would cry from happiness. Seriously, guys, aftercare is important.

Bella felt safer and more comfortable asking things from Rodolphus in bed than from Voldemort, and that usually leads to amazing sex. However, it's Bella, so Voldemort definitely got her more aroused by barely making any effort than Rodolphus did with his best efforts :( poor Rod

I also think that Bella got completely different sexual experiences from both Voldemort and Rodolphus, and both were fulfilling and complementary. She'd burst with frustration if she spent too much time without fucking one of them. I have pretty specific headcanons for their different kinks, so that would require a separate post hahaha (you can ask if you're interested, I'm no gatekeeper, as you can tell)

2 - How do you feel about the generally accepted headcanon within the HP fandom that Voldemort was asexual/aro?

I absolutely hate it.

First, because it stems from a complete misconception of what asexuality and aromaticity even are. I haven't seen someone defending that headcanon without being completely biased and prejudiced, so I personally consider it disrespectful until I see someone argue in favor without any bias.

Voldemort could even be easily mistaken for demisexual and demiromantic, I suppose. However, as a character the main reason Voldemort wouldn't want sex or romance would be his trauma leading him to avoid intimacy and emotional connections with others. That's about his behavior.

If he had been written as a demi character because that's genuinely how his sexuality works, I'd be fine with a demi Voldemort headcanon. He is not, so I'm not fine with this particular headcanon either.

Second, I think the biggest misconception of Voldemort as a character is that he'd be someone who denies himself human activities because he wants to be immortal. The trick here is that he likely wasn't a man who denied himself his desires and pleasure those activities can bring.

Voldemort is a character who revolves around pleasure and desire, and who has an interesting relationship with those concepts. So, I believe that Voldemort would be more than happy to enjoy a nice meal, an expensive wine, and sex could be highly enjoyable as well. What Voldemort hated is depending and needing those things. It wasn't about him not finding pleasure in those.

In fact, it was precisely my hatred for the asexual Voldemort headcanon that brought me back into the Bellamort fandom and led me to ask fugamalefica a question about it.

3- Or do you think he got around in his prime?

Honestly, I can headcanon Voldemort as both a womanizer and completely disinterested in women until Bella. I have no strong opinions about this.

I do love the concept of Voldemort being a virgin before Bella because that would be sweet, but realistically, that would mean he spent at least 44 years without sex and to me that doesn't sound right considering his personality.

Voldemort was manipulative, considered more than good looking, and charming. Back in the day, I'm sure there were plenty of pure and half-blood witches who tried their luck with him. I do think he enjoyed sex, but nothing beyond his own pleasure and he likely killed the half-blood witches shortly after coming, and avoided meeting the purebloods again afterwards. He preferred half-bloods because it was easier to end things with :)

After his appearance started changing, most witches were repulsed and Voldemort likely went through a gradual period of absence. Which was sad because Voldemort felt more comfortable than ever with his new looks.

I think Bella was a game changer for him in sex because not only was she not repulsed by his appearance, but also was sexually attracted by him precisely because of the way he looked. So, Voldemort discovered another sphere of his sexuality with Bella and allowed himself to care a bit more about someone else's pleasure, even if his always came first, because seeing her losing control of herself during sex was a pleasure for him as well.

I have a pretty hot... I mean, sick headcanon that Voldemort and Druella fucked during their Hogwarts years :) Maybe even a one nightstand after... shortly before or after Bella was conceived... And Druella promised Bella wasn't his, so Voldemort was alright with that until Bella started having thoughts and he had a magical DNA test before fucking her just in case Druella was lying. Hot, isn't it? Fuck, sick. My keyboard is insane today, guys. (I'm kidding, I think it's hot)

4 - Do you think Bellamort were closer during the first war or the second?

I think they were different types of close during both wars.

During the first war, when they became close it was because they enjoyed each other's company more than anyone else's. I think Voldemort liked having Bella around him mostly because she was amusing to him, later because her presence was comforting in ways he did not fully understand until the second war.

It took Voldemort many years, but he opened up with Bella in ways he never did with anyone. He gradually told her, without any emotion, about the orphanage, the asylum threats, his mother's death, what he discovered about the Gaunts' abuse of Merope, what truly happened between Riddle Sr. and his mother (or his version of it), and then, much later, how he murdered them all. Bella didn't even flinch, never judged him for the things he did. And Voldemort felt something different because of that. He basically gradually moved into Lestrange manor and never left until... we know what happened.

I'd say Bellamort was more physically closer than emotionally during the first war. Then, during his fall and her imprisonment, they became more traumatized by the idea of losing each other again. This was a completely conscious fear for Bella, not as much for Voldemort.

During the second, Voldemort was eager to see Bella again after fourteen years (that's canon). So, he wanted Bella close until DoM happened. My interpretation of that was that he was punishing her because of his mistake of being exposed by rescuing her. My headcanon is that he did it without a second thought, completely out of impulse and fear Bella would receive the Dementor's kiss, and because he had promised her she would never return to Azkaban. I do have many headcanons about what happened between those two. During HBP and DH, he distanced himself because it was easier than sitting down and accepting the truth about why he did it.

I think he also considered that distancing himself a way to punish her for failing at the DoM like the others, but deep down he knew it wasn't it. After Azkaban and his fall, Voldemort became more protective of Bella because prison had taken a portion of her powers and, especially after Delphi was conceived, he became terrified with the idea Bella had become a liability to his own self-preservation goals. So, not as physically close as during the first war, but definitely more emotionally because he feared losing her again :( let's cry

5 - Do you think Voldemort was particularly violent towards Bellatrix?

Yes, Voldemort was psychologically and morally violent with Bella: gave her silent treatment; blamed her for his own actions; was possessive and jealous; tried to separate her from her family; shamed her publicly; manipulated her into cutting ties with her sisters; even leaving Rodolphus and Lucius rotting in Azkaban for a year can be interpreted as manipulation to hurt her.

Physically violent? Not as much. I think that if he was absolutely angry and lost control for something else, and Bella happened to be in the room, then she could end up dealing with the aftermath of his anger. But I think Bella knew how and when to leave his presence, she knew him well enough to notice when that type of rage would appear (that's also canon). I don't think he was deliberately violent with her. Voldemort preferred punishing in ways that hurt her even more: emotionally and physically distancing himself.

Sexually violent? No. The reason I believe in this is because, in my opinion, the way Voldemort saw Riddle Sr. and Merope's relationship was that his father was the sexual abuser. I know canon suggests the other way around, but I personally don't interpret the love potion as real like many people do in HP fandom. So, I think Riddle did just completely abandon his pregnant wife. So, Voldemort would never sexually abuse Bella because it meant for him that he was just like his father. Yes, in my line of headcanons Voldemort did kill half-blood witches after sex, which is sexual violence, but in his head that was completely different.

6 - Why did they have that bastard child Delphi?

Weak pullout game, guys. That's the answer

I've recently been growing fond of the concept of Bellamort having a breeding kink. So, now I've been considering Delphi as the result of Voldemort being more excited than usual the night Dumbledore died, their breeding kink being particularly intense at that moment, and them forgetting the contraceptive spells and potions after.

Now, why Voldemort allowed Bella to keep Delphi in particular? I have two headcanons that can complement each other

The first is that Bellamort was so sure they would win the war that when Bella asked him to keep Delphi, he agreed. The second comes from a meta I'm writing about Bella's reward and I think it's possible that Bella being allowed to keep Delphi was actually Rodolphus's reward for Azkaban :) But I'll eventually finish the meta to explain this better hahaha

To me, the Lestrange brothers, like most Knights' sons, were raised as future soldiers for Voldemort. So, Rodolphus and Rabastan grew up knowing what lay ahead in their futures. Don't worry, those two were quite excited about it!

The Lestranges and the Blacks always thought Bella and Rod would be a nice future match, so their families introduced them when they were seven years old. So they basically grew up together.

I might have hallucinated this: do you know a scene from a cartoon where two parents put their children to play together, and then one parent says "It's so wonderful the children are getting along!!". And cuts to two children rolling downstairs fighting?

That's Belladolphus as children!

You see, Rodolphus had bragged about his dueling skills and Bella was outraged he insinuated she'd be defeated in a duel. I hc Rod was one year ahead of Bella in Hogwarts and, because of his childhood, he entered Hogwarts knowing more about combat and Dark Arts than most children would learn by the end of their Hogwarts education. So, dueling club was pretty boring for Rod... Until Bella came along.

Because Druella had been teaching Bella, she and Rod were basically the only ones who could match each other. That only brought them more hate and chaos, actually, but also a sense of friendship and protection forming between them. Rod loved teasing her, Bella loved being challenged. Actually, Bella secretly adored him for that since most people, besides the Lestrange brothers and her sisters, were intimidated by having her around. Bella enjoyed having people to go toe to toe with to help burn some energy and Rod gave her exactly that. Their friendly-enemies relationship continued until BOOM, puberty and hormones did their trick...

Rod (14) always knew he wanted to marry Bella, but she dodged even his attempts for a first date. Rabastan kept telling his brother to give up already, but Rod, who had a natural talent for taming Magical Beasts, said that if he could tame a Hippogriff and an Abraxan, he could also tame Bellatrix Black.

Rodolphus was wrong since even a dragon would have given him less work than Bella did, but he fortunately got his first date by the end of his fourth year. They quickly became Hogwarts sweethearts. Rabastan wasn't fond of it since he was now frequently third-wheeling for Belladolphus. In terms of feelings, Rodolphus definitely fell in love first, but when Bella eventually met him, she fell in love with him as much. They were never the overly sweet type of couple like Narcissa and Lucius were. However, love through teasing fit them perfectly, but they had their sweet moments too.

Despite his tough childhood because of his mother's death, I headcanon Rod as having a dark and funny sense of humor, and as being very easygoing unless someone threatened him or his little wolf pack, which was basically Rabastan, Bella and her sisters. I wrote an unpublished one-shot of Rod adopting a lost werewolf cub he found at the Forbidden Forest on his last year. He tried convincing Bella they should adopt the orphan cub (sad considering DLA, isn't it?):

Rodolphus: We should adopt him, Bella Bellatrix: Rod, that's a dangerous beast Rodolphus: See? Just like his mother!

When Bella started meeting Voldemort, Rodolphus didn't initially consider it suspicious since Bella always had her moments of pushing him away a bit.

When Bella started realizing she was falling in love with Voldemort, she was quite sad because it would hurt Rodolphus, but she also knew there wasn't anything she could do about it. And since Voldemort did not seem interested...

I headcanon Rodolphus played Quidditch (love your art, btw) and, if not for the whole DE thing, he would want to play it professionally after Hogwarts. But becoming a DE was a high expectation from his father and what he grew up wanting to become, so he did.

They got officially engaged after he finished Hogwarts. Cygnus absolutely adored Rodolphus and Rabastan, I can't even describe how happy he was. Most Blacks loved them as well, the only person against it at first was Druella. She knew how obsessive Bella's love could be, and it had always terrified her as a mother. When Druella actually started spending more time with Rodolphus and saw the way he treated Bella, she became more than happy with their engagement. After their marriage, Druella became like a mother to Rod and Rabastan :)

Belladolphus got married shortly after she finished Hogwarts - Narcissa organized the ceremony because they were too busy. When Rod discovered Bella had become a DE behind his back soon before their wedding ceremony, that was the second worst fight of their relationship, but he knew that there was no going back. So, he accepted and learned that they were perfect together as a team. They both knew their weaknesses and strengths in combat better than anyone, had complementary characteristics, and enjoyed the sexual tension that being sent on missions together brought them. It's like that saying "a couple that tortures and murders together, stays together", right?

I can see Rodolphus having good paternal instincts and wanting children, but since they were both DEs they decided to wait until Voldemort won the war. They had quite a nice marriage for a few years before Bellamort started. Bella disappeared more often, didn't return home sometimes and, initially, he assumed it must be some important mission Voldemort had given her. I guess we could say it was, in a way... Just not the way he imagined.