#bellamort

[capriddle]

Oddly enough, we know that only Snape besides Voldemort could fly. I have two theories: Bellatrix could too but was never shown it, or Voldemort taught Snape to do it as revenge for some mistake by Bellatrix.

[fugamalefica]

How I imagine Voldemort and Bellatrix in their 30s.

He was plainly dressed in a black suit; his hair was a little longer than it had been at school and his cheeks were hollowed, but all of this suited him; he looked more handsome than ever.

A woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne.

In his 30s, Voldemort was being harassed by Hepzibah Smith and Bella went to Azkaban. Sigh. They deserved so much better.

[greenhouse-seven]

Be My Valentine

Greenhouse Seven 2025 Secret Admirer Fic Exchange

We're celebrating Valentine's Day 2025 at Greenhouse Seven with a Secret Admirer Fic Exchange!

Join in the fun by signing up, selecting your prompts (one for each of the senses) and the ships you would like to write for and receive in your gift.

As always in the Greenhouse, this is a fest to celebrate our fave canon couples, check the FAQs if you're not sure which couples that includes.

❤️ The Important Bits ❤️

Dates:

The time for all deadlines is 9am GMT

Sign ups: Open from now and will close on Sunday, 5th January. To sign up, go to the Google Form and fill out your info.

Matches shared: Tuesday, 7th January

Submissions Due: Monday, 10th February

Fic Reveals: Friday, 14th February

Admirer (Author) Reveals: For the week after Valentine's Day we will reveal a number of authors each day.

Rules:

🌹Submissions must focus on Canon Couples (See FAQs for what counts as Canon Compliant) but can be in both Canon and AU settings

🌹Fic submissions should be at least 1000 Words - there is no maximum on word count

🌹No explicit content featuring minors (under 17 years of age)

🌹Beta’s are highly encouraged! If you don’t have anyone to beta for you, come join Greenhouse Seven on Discord! There are plenty of people who can help out.

FAQs:

❤️What is a Canon Compliant Couple? For the purposes of this fest, any couple that does not break-up couples featured as together at the end of the 7 Harry Potter books counts as canon. So ships such as Deamus & Hannah x Neville are more than welcome!

❤️How should I submit? Fics should be submitted to the AO3 Collection by the submission date and gifted to your recipient

❤️ What if I sign up but can't complete the fic by the submission date? Life happens! We get it. If you can't complete the exchange, please let us know as early as possible. We have a number of authors who have offered to step in in the case that someone needs to drop out.

❤️What if I need an extension of the submission date? Due to the tight turnaround between the submission and reveal dates, we won't be offering extensions for this fest.

❤️I have another question not answered here You can always reach out to the mods, @starlingflight and @merlinsbudgiesmugglers on tumblr, or come on over to the discord server and pop your questions in the fest channel there!

[potterblog]

If anyone here would like to join a positive, writer-friendly, newbie-friendly multiship harry potter fanfiction discord server that supports fanfic writers and fanart creators for all ships (especially hp rare pairs, dark ships, hp canon ships, and gen fics without romance), i'm in a really friendly, welcoming, and active 18+ HP fanfiction server made up of multishippers, and our group loves to encourage newbies to writing/fanart to help them get started and feel more comfortable practicing writing and sharing their work, especially those who want to spread appreciation for underappreciated hp ships! (Especially the rare pair ships for Ron, Draco, Snape, Peter, Sirius, Dumbledore, Ginny, Percy, Pansy, Millicent, Astoria, Dudley, Petunia, Lily, etc, HP Next-Gen characters, or any other commonly-bashed characters or ships!)

We are always open to new members joining us, especially if you are shy or self-conscious about your writing or art, and need some encouragement, feedback, or support, or if you just love reccing, sharing, & discussing HP fics and want a friendly chat group to do this with! :) Feel free to DM me privately anytime or comment on this post if you are interested in getting an discord invite link to join this hp fanfic server! 🥰

We regularly hold fun writing activities like round robin stories, fanfic masquerades, and drabble challenges fairly often as well, to help newbies feel comfortable in giving writing a try for the first time! Beginner, intermediate, and experienced writers are all welcome here, as we have many knowledgeable HP fanfic writers in the server who enjoy improving, learning, analyzing, & discussing writing craft! ❤

The main rules of this server is that we don't allow character-bashing, ship-bashing, trope-bashing, fic-bashing, writer-bashing, or canon-bashing in this hp server (since there are many other hp servers that do allow that, so we don't need the negativity here)! We focus more on positivity, discussing & brainstorming interesting new hp fanfic story ideas that are uncommonly explored and rarer uncommon hp ships (inclusive to both canon ships and non-canon ships), giving constructive feedback only when requested, and we love to support each other's works and overall be helpful, share cool resources and links for writers, artists, fanedit creators, readers, etc.

A majority of this server's members are pro-Ron and pro-Draco, pro-Dumbledore, pro-Weasleys, pro-Snape and pro-Marauders, pro-Romione, and supportive towards other ships like Hinny, Lucissa, Drarry, Drastoria, Drinny, Dron, Ronarry, Tomarry, Nevannah, Panville, Drastoria, Romionarry, Dronmione, Dronarry, Percy/Audrey, all canon ships, all HP rare pairs, etc, and we are slash-friendly, femslash-friendly, darkfic-friendly, dark-ship-friendly, OC-fic-friendly, canon-friendly, AU-friendly, gen-fic-friendly, multiship-friendly, Next-Gen-friendly, and so on! And many writers and readers here are open to discovering and appreciating new rare ships, especially for lesser-known side characters in HP! So if you'd like to join our server, if there are any particular characters and ships that you dislike, that's okay but please don't aggressively bash or invalidate anyone's favorite ships, characters, ideas, etc, in negative ways that shut down conversations in the server! (And don't bash canon either please!) We welcome members sharing & writing fanfics with complex characterizations of HP characters including fics with dark, negative, toxic, or evil AU character portrayals compared to canon, but we're not as interested in character-bashing fics from those who dislike HP canon and genuinely hate certain canon characters like any of the Weasleys, Slytherins, Dumbledore, etc, without being able to acknowledge that all humans are complex, flawed, and have the ability to grow and change over time (for the better or the worse).

We appreciate and enjoy the complexities, nuances, and flaws of all the HP characters in the canon Harry Potter books, and we see HP fanfiction as something different from HP canon that can be equally appreciated without bashing or invalidating HP canon or those who enjoy it! If you are a chill, friendly HP fan who just loves reading well-written stories with interesting what-if scenarios, no matter the pairing or character(s), or you are someone who wants to get into writing HP fanfics for fun, just comment here or DM me if you'd like a discord invite!

If you like both Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy as characters, please comment or reblog this with some fanfic recs featuring them both positively as flawed, nuanced characters without any bashing!

I don't care what ship or what subset of the HP fandom you're from! ❤ This question is for everyone, but especially the multishippers and the gen fic fans! 🥰 Whether you ship both Romione & Dramione, Hinny & Drarry, Ronarry, Dron, Drinny, Tomarry, Remadora, Lucissa, Tedromeda, Jily, Snily, RonLuna, Ronsy, Drastoria, or random rare pairs, or if you're a Snape fan, a Marauders fan, a Weasley fan, a Malfoy fan, a Dursley fan, etc.

I'd love to know your fic recs that are both pro-Ron and pro-Draco! Bonus if these fics are also featuring Dumbledore, Snape, Pettigrew, Sirius, or other interesting & complicated canon characters! 🥰

[keepmycandleburning]

An addition to my post about how Voldemort is really invested in other people's love lives: Voldemort has no respect for people's privacy or bodily autonomy, and likes to insert himself into people's space and force people to have a more intimate relationship with him than they desire.

He uses this as a form of punishment, knowing it makes people uncomfortable, and also as a form of entertainment because he finds their discomfort amusing.

He lived on the back of Quirrell's head for almost a YEAR as a punishment after Quirrell failed to steal the Stone from Gringotts. A YEAR. IMAGINE WHAT HE SAW. Quirrell could not have done ANYTHING without Lord Voldemort seeing it and hearing it. I mean he was there when he was using the toilet, masturbating, etc etc. And imagine if Voldemort could also feel all of Quirrell's bodily sensations.

Voldemort forced Wormtail to care for him like a helpless baby, again for almost a YEAR, hand-feeding him and picking him up and God only knows what else, when they could have easily done the resurrection ritual really at any point in time—even if he truly wanted nobody but Harry, Barty Jr. could have brought him from Hogwarts.

Voldemort is clearly amusing himself with the situations at this time, making multiple jokes in just the couple scenes he's in:

'Care for my bodily needs for me,' is such an insane punishment to give Wormtail (definitely a punishment, for being a traitor which Voldemort hates and maybe other reasons) and I do wonder if he also did this to the Malfoys in DH, like forcing them to make him food and watch him eat and so on. It's just so weird to imagine that because he seems so inhuman but I mean, he does it in GoF so...

He also has Wormtail approach him and dress him by hand when he comes out of the cauldron naked instead of just bending down and picking up the robes himself:

He makes interestingly similar comments in the GoF baby era and at Malfoy Manor in The Dark Lord Ascending:

Asking his servants a question he knows damn well the answer to is 'it makes me uncomfortable to have this level of proximity with you,' and forcing them to falsely claim they have no problem with it and they actually want it.

He appears to have literally moved into Lucius's house with him, or at the very least is using it as a professional base. I almost always see people interpreting it as that Voldemort lived at Malfoy Manor, which I don't necessarily think has to be true, but I think it's a fine interpretation, and I enjoy it.

With both Wormtail and the Malfoys, Voldemort forces them to witness him in a domestic setting, forces them to claim they want it, and makes them aware that he knows that they hate it, which he knows is terrifying.

While he's at Malfoy Manor, he inserts himself into their family business (as discussed in linked post), commenting on a marriage in the family, speculating on what children the couple is going to have and what relationship the children will have with the Malfoys. We can see he's clearly using this to amuse both himself and the group of Death Eaters, as he makes multiple jokes (implying Bellatrix may be happier about her family member marrying a werewolf than she is about Voldemort's presence, asking Draco if he is going to babysit the cubs) and allows the DEs to laugh.

He also turns Bellatrix's complimentary but not overly inappropriate comment into what I think is unquestionably a sexual innuendo, and then immediately intentionally embarrasses her and induces a group of almost all men to laugh at her:

Regarding Bellatrix, there's often a misconception of viewing Voldemort as someone who would not stoop to a certain level of bodily intimacy or give up his own privacy—but he shares an entire body with Quirrell, he willingly gives up all of his autonomy/privacy with Wormtail, he even rises out of the cauldron fully nude (could have been done privately, I mean the Riddle House is right there, just carry the blood up the hill) and forces Wormtail to again interact with his naked body (and his real one now, not just the baby one) to dress him. So yeah he very much would, and he does, over and over. Voldemort gets bottle-fed and probably diaper-changed for 11 months but noooo he'd never have sex. Be serious. Voldemort takes every physical intimacy he's offered and much more.

Also just want to note that Voldemort is prone to discussing people's personal lives also in situations where it is wanted. For example, Barty Jr. reveals at the end of GoF that they clearly had some personal conversations about Barty's relationship with his father where Voldemort also offered information about himself. Voldemort definitely seems to know Bellatrix personally, and I would very much guess they've had personal conversations. And also the conversations with Snape about Lily (see last post too)—when Snape comes to him about sparing her, they have a thorough enough conversation that Voldemort believes Snape just 'desired her' and then they follow up later about how there are better women for Snape. He likes other people's business!

Overall, I very often read Voldemort as doing things for a major purpose of entertaining himself. He seems to find amusement in many different situations he's in and make jokes to himself and others. His tendency to overstep boundaries of bodies and personal space—both intentionally and by necessity—is one of these things.

[keencroissantgardenflap]

THE HOLY UNION

Honestly more than half of them would just make Voldy worse (or at least accepted him the way he is), but anyway 😊

Tom Blyth is my fancast for Abraxas Malfoy (so don't ask why Coryo here) 🫶🫶

I put Sirius here all because of one of the most brilliant fantastic magnificent gorgeous amazing flabbergasted HP fanfictions I've ever read "It runs in the blood" by Metalomagnetic (she made me fall into this rabbit hole) 🥹🥹🥹

God I ship Voldemort with too much ppl, I'd die in the cruelest way if he'd ever known I'm whoring him around like this 😭😭. Not my fault that his fanfictions are all so good that it feels like a crime

[bellamortedits]

Young and beautiful

[day-dreameratnight]

So we all know that Tom Riddle was an intellectual and a book worm right? and it’s a well accepted head canon that he’s read all of the books at Wool’s Orphanage?

I know we often talk about the great pieces of literature such as shakespeare and the religious texts such as the bible which he would have read in his time BUT, but, i raise you Tom’s guilty pleasure… trashy beach reads.

Imagine him steering clear of the books all the girls would fawn and giggle over, until he returns from Hogwarts for the summer after his fifth year and the only books that he hasn’t read are the ones he thought were stupid…he decides to read one out of pure boredom and curiosity and he falls. in. LOVE. (as much as he can love anything, anyway)

he’d sneak them in secret so he could keep up his reputation, but in the comfort of his own room he would DEVOUR every single word on every single page.

he’d love to point out the protagonists stupid actions most of all:

“no, martha, don’t go back to him, he cHeaTeD oN YoU!!!”

“susan, go collect your man, he is being dumb, and you two are clearly in love”

“oh sweet Salazar have mercy, Luca that was an idiotic thing to do. if i was in this novel, i would have killed you by now. not even with a wand, but in the muggle way. i would have strangled you.

and something he wouldn’t even admit to himself, he adored when characters got their happy endings. he might not fall in love, but he wants the characters to experience it.

he would say something like “oh that so cliche ugh 😑” but in the privacy of his mind he would be like “i want that🥹”

[ameriatenebrae]

Updated version

Why was Bellamort always canon

Delphini Riddle;

I actually don’t believe Delphini was born in 1998. I think it was in 97.

The reason is that in the books, Bellatrix is absent from the entire book. (Except that event in Spinner’s End, which happened in the summer-autumn of 96 and after that we see Bellatrix at the Death Eater meeting, which happens in July 97 but that's in the Deathly Hallows).

That means Bellatrix was absent for at least nine or ten months in that book. You think that’s just a coincidence? And where was she?

In my opinion, after rereading the books for I don't know how many times now (xD) she was glued to LV, who was in my opinion, fully aware of her pregnancy. And since he was traumatized by his mother dying in childbirth (which is also implied in the books), it also makes sense that he wanted her by his side. Another thing is that he certainly didn’t want anyone to see her pregnant. Because I think the death eaters were aware of something going on between them two and LV didn’t want anyone to know that Bellatrix is, indeed, pregnant with his child.

Bella wasn’t there, when Dumbledore was killed. Which I consider strange, because if you like it or not, Bellatrix was a very powerful witch and the highest ranking death eater, considering Lucius failing LV over and over. And no, Snape wasn't the highest ranking either, since LV didn't trust him 100%. LV sent Peter Pettigrew to Spinner's End so he and Snape could spy on each other basically (xD, very mindful, Tom, very demure). (And do you know why? Because Bellatrix had been telling Tom constantly that she doesn’t trust Snape, it seemed like LV ignored her opinion but I think he rethought it and sent PP there just to be sure.)

So why on earth ?! From a strategical point of view, it doesn’t make sense for Bellatrix not to be there?! And LV was aware of that so it must’ve been his meant decision to not send her there.

Just think… It had to be something really, really important… She would’ve been there if it wasn’t.

Delphini could be born in May – June 97. (It would be actually ironic, if she was born the same day Dumbledore died, 30th June 1997… Just a thought!)

Bellamort;

Secondly, I know it’s hard for some people to accept this, but Voldemort did CARE… He maybe didn’t love her or maybe he did, in his own twisted way, because we aren’t talking about fairytale love with these two. But he certainly wasn’t ignorant towards her. (opposite of love). It was unhealthy and toxic but at the same time they were kindred spirits who just accepted each other and even tho LV would never say it out loud, they also needed each other.

“But hE TrEaTeD hER BaDLy”

When exactly did Lord Voldemort treat Bellatrix badly? I can’t recall one time he was harsher to her than to other death eaters. And if you want to bring up that scene at Malfoy Manor, when he humiliated her and the Malfoys. You're right, he did, he enjoyed humiliating people. And yet, he took the shame from her in the next few sentances and focused solely on the Malfoys, because Lucius failed the Ministy mission, not Bellatrix. And he even made it up to her in the next paragraph. He didn't have a reason to be mad at her.

He actually treated her with the most respect he could.

He never punished her badly. Not so harshly like the Malfoys. She is described as unharmed after that fiasco at Malfoy Manor. And what’s more, she is by LVs side in public shortly after, whereas the Malfoys are home prisoned and I think Lucius might've been tortured even. He personally trained her, put his energy and time into her, because he saw potential in her. He saw her madness as a source for her powerful dark magic, not something she should suppress, that’s also why she was so devoted to him. Because he was the only person who respected her for who she was. Because in the end, they were both just two extremly broken souls (pun intended).

Further:

He was the happiest he had been in 14 years when she escaped from Azkaban. You may try to say that he was happy because he had 10 more death eaters. That would make sense if the other page wasn’t talking mainly about Bella. (Remember, JK Rowling was intentional when writing, it’s not a coincidence, that she’s focusing on Bellatrix after that statement. She chose every word of all their interactions and Harry's perspective on them intentionally).

He called her “Bella”, a short version of her name, that only few wizards, mainly her family used. He even called her Bella when he was angry about the borken prophecy.

She was the only one, who wasn't scared to speak first when talking to him or touch him even when he said no.

He entrusted her with his soul, whereas he gave the diary to Lucius just to get it to Hogwarts, never telling him that it’s his horcrux. But the cup was given to Bellatrix for protection. And it’s even symbolic, because that cup was Helga Hufflepuff’s, the founder of the Hufflepuff house which stands for loyalty… and who’s the most loyal servent of the Dark Lord?

He rescued her from the Ministry, I think that’s obvious. He certainly didn’t have to. And yet he did risk the whole operation and exposed himself to the whole Ministry. And we’re still talking about the most selfish man here… but he did it… and he did it just for HER, because he CARED. There’s no other logical explanation to this. He came the second she called him and rescued her because he didn’t want her in Azkaban again.

And you can see the difference in LV's behavior towards Bellatrix, Lucius and the other DEs. He didn't help Lucius to get out of Azkaban right away. Instead, he tasked his only son to kill a man, he himself wasn't able to kill simply to mock and torture him mentally.

Yes, from Dumbledore’s words, we were made to think that Tom really doesn’t care for anyone other than himself. But Dumbledore wasn’t aware of Bellatrix’s status at all! Because he didn’t suspect that Voldemort would give his horcrux to her. But we know, Voldemort did just that. And another problem with Dumbledore's preception on this is that he didn’t know much about Tom’s life (certainly not his private life) after his years at Hogwarts, so he couldn’t know about Tom’s realtionship with Bella. It was just his opinion, not a fact. He said, he *thinks*.

And Voldemort’s reaction to her death… That made everything clear, He cared for Bellatrix more than for the piece of his own soul living in Nagini. He had a worse reaction to Bellatrix's death than to, mind you, Nagini’s death… and she was HIS LAST HORCRUX. He lost the control of his magic (which doesn't happen often, since we're talking about THE Lord Voldemort here). He was so furious that McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn (all three very powerful wizards) were blasted through the air because: "Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last best lieutenant exploded with the force of a bomb. Voldemort raised his hand and directed it at Molly Weasley" he even tried to avenge her death and kill Molly. If Bellatrix hadn't meant so much to him, why would he waste his energy and time on killing Molly? Have you seen him avenging the death of someone else except Bellatrix? And if Harry didn't intervene, he would do just that. Because he lost it at that point. Death took another person (first his mother), who loved and admired him uncoditionally. All of his other DEs fleed or died. He knew he was alone and mortal. A human.

In my opinion they led, let's call it a Dual Relationship. As Bellatrix implies that LV tells her everything and yet he tells her to be quiet often. He calls her Bella when they're is just the two of them and mocks her in front of others. There's a disconnect between his behaviour towards her. So, in my deduction; there was Bellatrix Lestrange, the most loyal sevent of Lord Voldemort: which was basically their work mode. (And I'm a bit sad we didn't get more of their team work while fighting because I think they made an excellent work duo.) And then there was Bella and her Lord and their private life. Bellatrix wouldn't be against it being public, I'm sure about that. But I think LV didn't want others to know about him having some feelings or a soft spot for her, it would make both of them more vulnerable = since as you can see above, he lost control over his magic because of her dying. But he didn't manage to hide it that well because even Harry (from whose perspective are the books written) notices that there is something between them; "As to a lover"...

And on top of that, Bellatrix was the ideal match for Tom; a very beautiful, powerful witch from a pureblood family. Devoted solely to him.

So Bellamort had been canon even before the CC was released.

But the biggest question is; Why would Lord Voldemort want a child? A hard one… yes

Some explanations:

a) to continue with the Slytherin bloodline.

b) it was an accident, but he let Bellatrix keep the child, so she could be later trained into really powerful weapon (just like Bella)

c) it was that reward beyond Bellatrix’s dreams, he mentioned earlier in the series. He talked about it in the fourth book when he said that the Lestranges will be rewarded beyond their dreams.

d) last possibility, the most out of Voldemort’s character; In the case horcruxes failed, he would be still “alive” through his daughter. – I personally don’t believe this was the case… but who knows?

To sum it up: Bellamort makes more sense than people think. And the CC just confirmed it. period.

Delphini could be conceived around October 1996 and could be born, not in 1998, but in 1997 (before the Battle of Hogwarts). THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS <3

[incorrectbellamort]

Bellatrix: Can you keep a secret?

Voldemort: Do you know anything about my life?

Bellatrix: No, I do not. Good point.

[drawinggoose]

My three favourite canon (or almost canon in the case of Scorbus) ships from Harry Potter. Ron and Hermione complement each other greatly, Albus and Scorpius are adorable and cannot live without each other, while Bellatrix and Voldemort...

... They are completely deranged. King and Queen of toxic ships.

[sashimj]

genderbend!bellamort

to be honest, i can't stand original bellamort, but genderbend version is doing THINGS to me😨🥰

(i'm kinda conflicted 😔)

[capriddle]

I'm rereading Half-Blood Prince and I'm like, seriously, reading chapter 2, people can believe that Bellatrix is ​​crazy? I mean, she's clearly one of the most brilliant minds in the Harry Potter universe! She asks Snape such precise and careful questions that I can't understand how they can write her off as a jealous hysteric.

[klausandkatherine]

when bellatrix was calling out for voldemort and harry was like "he can't hear you here" and then voldemort shows up 1 second later and says "Can't I?" in a cold voice

OH he can hear her alright ! and he came asap !

[motherfuckingmaneater]

As mad as each other.

[keepmycandleburning]

There's such a difference between the way Bellatrix talks to Voldemort vs the way the other Death Eaters talk to him.

She starts every single one of the conversations they have. They have five total direct interactions: in the Ministry, at the meeting at Malfoy Manor, in the Forbidden Forest before Harry appears, in the Forbidden Forest after Voldemort falls over, and after they come out of the Forest and Neville throws himself at Voldemort. In three of these five (Ministry, first and second time she tries to interact with him in the Forbidden Forest), Voldemort tells her to stop talking to him. At the meeting he mocks and manipulates her, and at the Battle of Hogwarts he responds with four words. These are not particularly unusual reactions for Voldemort; he tells multiple people to stop talking to him including Wormtail in GoF Ch 1, Nott in GoF Ch 33, and Yaxley in DH 1.

Also notably, Bellatrix uses one of his titles every single time she addresses him. Other Death Eaters who have a similar amount of lines like Lucius, Wormtail, and Snape skip the title on occasion. Bellatrix never drops this respect. (DEs who only have one interaction/conversation with him tend to do it every time.)

With all the other Death Eaters besides Bellatrix, the way Voldemort speaks to them makes sense with the additional information we know about that person and the relationship they have. With Bellatrix, there is a huge misalignment with the way we see them directly interact and the additional information we have about them. Voldemort tells Bellatrix to stop talking over half the time she talks to him publicly, yet he has given her a piece of his soul. He tells her 'be quiet' and then immediately follows it up with a nickname we only see her family call her. She fails him and he immediately saves her anyway—which I have always read as him physically reappearing after possessing Harry and therefore being seen by multiple Ministry officials in order to do so.

Bellatrix speaks critically of Voldemort and his judgement to her sister; when there's something else they're not supposed to say (talking about the plan with Draco) it gets acknowledged by the characters multiple times that they're misbehaving, yet Narcissa doesn't question Bellatrix making this very bold and actually rather blasphemous statement. Snape brings up Voldemort multiple times to mock Bellatrix, and she cuts herself off mid-sentence multiple times ('his most precious—' and 'he...lately we...') from speaking about it. She says he shares 'everything' with her and yet will not say what that is (his most precious what?). Bellatrix confidently speaks for the absent Voldemort at Malfoy Manor, telling Greyback she's 'sure' the Dark Lord will be alright with him taking Hermione. She is more willing to speak for him than she is to speak of what relationship they have privately.

When the cup is stolen and he loses his temper and is killing everyone in the room, he notes where she is and that she's leaving. She places herself in his close physical proximity—almost immediately after the cup was stolen from her vault—in public and he allows it. She talks to him with so much affection that even Harry can note it with his eyes closed, and he declines it and immediately moves on. Her comfort level to physically touch him is so high that she continues trying to do so after he tells her to stop. Her death is the third time he experiences a major loss in a matter of hours (cup, Nagini) and the third time he screams, but the one and only time he loses control of his magic (if he was consciously capable of sending all three of those people flying through the air, he would have done it already).

Compare Bellatrix continuing to try to physically touch Voldemort after he directly tells her to stop to Rookwood cowering on the floor and staying in a partial bow when Voldemort tells him to stand up, or Bellatrix initiating every single conversation she has with Voldemort to Draco being so afraid to speak a word to him that he does not talk at all and just shakes his head or does nothing. Rookwood is clearly terrified that Voldemort is going to physically hurt him for simply providing him information that will upset him, while Bellatrix is so sure Voldemort will not hurt her—again immediately after the cup is stolen—that she sits next to him, talks to him multiple times, and touches him. Bellatrix leans toward him, for mere words can't demonstrate her longing for closeness, and the Malfoys won't even make eye contact.

There's a major disconnect with what they're directly saying and the whole picture. These are two people who very clearly have on off-screen relationship that is substantially different from their on-screen relationship. One that Bellatrix believes she needs to keep private even from other Death Eaters. One that has caused her to believe she has the authority to speak in his place when he's not there. One that has led Bellatrix to believe it is alright for her to initiate conversations with him, to be physically close to him, to touch him. One that has given her some reason to believe she should—even, perhaps, that he wants or needs her to—continue to try to touch him after he declines it.

On-screen he places her halfway down the table, off-screen he gives her his soul to keep safe. Off-screen he's telling her she's his most loyal, his most faithful, he's sharing everything with her, while on-screen he tells her 'that will do.'

The word 'lover,' while it's used in the series a handful of times in the context of 'Mudblood-lover' or 'cat lover,' is used in the context of an object of one's affection once and only once.