Rabastan is counting down the days... (imperiofury) wrote in an_ill_wind, @ 2009-09-06 06:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | - 1980/09 september, rabastan lestrange, severus snape |
Who: Rabastan Lestrange and Severus Snape
When: Saturday, 5 September 1980 (backdated); night
Where: Rabbit's place - Ipswich, UK
What: Drinking and a favour
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Rabastan had checked his stock of liquor Saturday afternoon after listening to a Quidditch match on the wireless. His favorite team from the Continent, Heidelberg, had lost their semifinals match against Berlin. Rabbit's other favorite squad, Falmouth, had also come to a semi-glorious end. They had played into the finals and lost their starting Seeker in practice. Needless to say, the reserve Seeker left much to be desired and they were narrowly defeated in that match because their Chasers could not put enough points on the board before the opposition's Seeker caught the Snitch. Either way, this last season had been the best in Rabastan's recent memory. Today, he would be entertaining Severus. This occasion served two immediate purposes. First, he could drink with one of his closest comrades within the ranks, truly a dwindling number these days. Rabastan did so appreciate Severus's sense of humour on several issues. Rabbit had decided early on that for Severus to be the only halfblood in the Dark Lord's service, the Dark Lord must have a special interest in him. As such, he fully supported Snape's participation in the group unlike Bellatrix. Second and most importantly, he wanted to ask Severus to be one of his groomsmen. Actually, he had wanted to ask him to be his best man but Rabbit had had a sinking feeling that the pureblood elites would question why he would pick a halfblood Slytherin four years younger than himself. To avoid the controversy, he had already asked Regulus to serve as his best man. Thankfully for Rabbit's sake, Black had said yes. Amycus Carrow had also consented to serve as a groomsman. He could only hope that Severus would agree to do it as well. Saturday had been the same as almost every Saturday had this year -- uneventful. Uneventful in the eyes of somebody who wasn't Severus Snape. His morning was the same as every weekend morning. He awoke, he sat in bed, pondered, got out of bed, pulled on some robes, washed his face, brushed his teeth, collected the Daily Prophet and ate crumpets. Crumpets filled with butter and love. There was nothing like it. The Prophet was boring, as usual. Nothing particularly interesting in it, although that was no recent development. His afternoon had been spent reading, about various things. He had finished The Many Variations of Arachnid Limbs and was almost half way through reading up on a very obscure branch of dark magic. Psychological magic, slow and spreading vicious magic that could make blubbering fools out of the most hardened men. After that, he saw fit to sort through and organise his bookshelves. They were practically groaning under the weight of all of his reading materials, and he really could do without them collapsing on him. For dinner, he'd made sausage, egg and beans. It was now early evening and Severus had bathed, dragged a brush through his hair a few times and gotten dressed. He would very much have liked to carry on reading through the night, but he didn't much mind Rabastan. Due to his large height and not-so-large weight, Severus had never been able to control himself while under the influence of liquor. Rabastan was one of very few that he didn't feel obligated to hold back with, and for this he was glad. His mind was less of a constant interweaved network of cogs and gears and he didn't have to try so hard to keep his emotions to himself or to restrain himself from the inevitable slips of the tongue. With the resolution to consume every bit of expensive alcohol he could get his hands on, Severus pocketed his wand and Apparated. Rabastan's wards signaled a person incoming towards them and upon checking the clock, he realized it must be Severus. He dashed out of the parlor, opened the door, and dropped the wards. Frankly, he had no desire for Severus to wind up in his special pond filled with carnivorous Central American fish. The Dark Lord would not take too kindly if he learned that Rabastan's piranhas had indirectly killed off a member of his ranks. Not to mention that the bloke was one of Rabbit's best mates now. He needed as many friends as he could hold on to these days. Waiting just outside the doorway, he decided to check out his apple and pear trees that he had directed his house elves in planting this summer. They had all done rather well this season even if the sun did not make many appearances. He should serve some fresh fruit next time he had Italy over to his place. If nothing else, he could use it as proof that he actually did more than read Dark Arts texts and hex people. Severus walked warily. Admittedly he was wary about whatever wards and hexes Rabastan had about the place. As much as he may seem like a normal - however normal a Death Eater can be, that is - person, one could never know what fucked up contraptions and curses he'd put up around his home. Having said that, if they were the wall between life and death, it would be pretty normal to go a bit crazy with them. Severus himself had only the basic wards at his home. It was hard to ward a separate flat in a block of many and besides, he very much doubted that anybody would try and attack him unless Potter and his cronies got bored one day but apparently they were too busy being laughable and looking after Lily's disgusting child. His thoughts were fortunately disrupted when he came upon Rabastan and greeted him curtly. "I didn't have you down as the organic type." As Severus approached him, Rabastan crouched on his heels looking at the dirt in the wake of one of the trees. Looked as though the tree needed some better nutrients, he'd make sure to talk to one of his house elves later tonight after Severus left. This would not do and if left unchecked, he would have a dead tree on his front lawn. No high-class pureblood would approve of such a phenomenon anywhere on his property. He would have to do much more than talk to his gardening elf he supposed. Slowly standing to his feet, he grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, I think people would be surprised if they knew all the things that I spend my time on when I am bored. Happens quite frequently. I have a brilliant broom closet downstairs and several of them date back decades. Years ago right after graduation, I tried to build my own broom." Gesturing Severus towards the house, he stood stolidly replacing the wards. Upon finishing them, he continued his previous thought, "I failed miserably on the broom construction and I never really tell anyone about that for obvious reasons. One of my personal goals is to try as many things as I can in this life and while I usually fall flat on my face, there have been a few at which I excel. The Dark Arts is one of my strengths. Father must view that as a personal victory for himself." Reaching the door, he entered first and headed for the parlor. He had overseen his elves in bringing his best alcohol into the room earlier today. "What would you like? Name anything and I should have it." Severus replied with a simple "naturally" to avoid any elaboration on Rabastan's part. He knew quite well of his loathing for his father and he really didn't want to be listening to rants and raves about Festus Lestrange for the duration of the night. He didn't even see a reason as to why one would even indulge others with such intimate details so freely. No matter. If need be, Severus was brilliant at minimal responses. Not that he used them all the time already... "I'm not feeling too adventurous, I'll just go for whatever Firewhiskey you have." Balancing a bottle of firewhiskey in one hand and one of bourbon, an American import that he adored, in the other, Rabastan filled both with the liquids before handing the one with firewhiskey to his friend and keeping the other for himself. Sitting down on the nearest chair, he motioned that Severus do the same. "As you know, I asked you to join me today so I might ask you a favour. I would like you to be a groomsman at my wedding." Sipping his bourbon slowly, he hoped that his comrade would not turn down the request on the point of him being a halfblood. In Rabastan's mind, Severus was as good as any other bloke in the ranks if not better. Which these days was enough of a reason to ask him such a thing. Severus' eyebrow rose, but it was unclear to the untrained eye as to why it had. A negative response; sceptical and incredulous? It looked that way, perhaps, but it was more of a neutral raise of surprise and doubt. If eyebrows had the gift of speech, his would probably tell Rabastan he had the wrong man and ask him if he was sure. Rabastan had been known for his somewhat massive poor judgement and stupid mistakes, especially recently. Perhaps his stint of them hadn't worn off enough yet. A half-blood at such a pureblood's wedding, and a rank higher than a mere attendee at that. He wasn't frightened or anxious when he thought about the possible consequences, but he was more coolly amused. At least he had gotten straight to the point though, Severus wasn't one to beat around the bush and he had been curious since the owl. "Severus Snape, groomsman at lavish pureblood wedding," he piped up eventually, voice laden with sarcasm and faint amusement. "Are you sure?" Rabastan knew the question would be followed with such a reaction. He always had been one to throw caution to the winds but in this situation, there was a completely different rationale behind his choice of Severus as a groomsman. The one requirement to picking his wedding party was choosing a bloke from the ever-narrowing pool of friends that he had somehow maintained. "Completely positive. Better you than some pureblood that I despise. No point picking one of them especially if they are only a friend in the public eye." Not to mention his brother, whom Rabastan had cast out as a possibility very early on in his selection process. "But I think Yaxley would be overwhelmed if he were to get such an opportunity," Severus replied, avoiding the matter at hand. He wasn't entirely sure why he was even avoiding it. Well, it wasn't every day that somebody thought of him as a friend, and to have such a high opinion of somebody to invite them to be your groomsman. It was unexpected. Besides, the very reason Severus thought he would never be picked was because of this seemingly constant stream of mistakes. If anything, Rabastan should've been more keen to ask a fellow pureblood. At the very least, it felt odd. Even when Lily had insisted on calling him her best friend back in Hogwarts, he hadn't been able to adjust fully to the title until it was too late. "I warn you though; dress robes and I aren't the most fitting of combinations." Spitting out the last sip of bourbon on his sleeve at the thought of Yaxley being anything but a complete prick, Rabastan snorted in laughter before conjuring a cloth to dab at his wet shirt. "Unlikely. He would probably spirit me away on the night before the wedding and hammer me to a tree. I think I should steer clear of such entanglements. Florence would never forgive me for such a foolish approach." Waving his hand dismissively, he commented, "I am certain that Florence and her mum can find you something that eliminates whatever you are trying to avoid. Besides, how often do you have to wear dress robes, Severus? It cannot be that frequent of an occurrence anymore now that your schooling is complete." Severus paled, although it really wasn't noticeable. Unnerving images flew in and out of his mind, all at once. Shopping with Florence Rosier and her mother. Being measured in a shop with Florence and her mother standing by as Severus reminded them of some awkward 11 year old boy being measured impatiently for his first set of schooling robes. It didn't matter how many there were or how improbable these situations really were, it still didn't stop Severus from flinching at the thought. His realist side told him quite sternly though, that these images were quite possibly the epitome of surreal and definitely would not be occurring. He calmed down. "Well, if everybody stopped deciding to get married left right and centre..." he muttered, "Anyway, it isn't me who is particularly bothered, they're your wedding photos after all." “I sincerely doubt that your appearance will be that degrading to our wedding photos, mate,” Rabastan covered his mouth as he grinned. He found this rather hysterical since the bloke obviously had a problem with the arrangement but was not about to turn him down. “I think you need to work on your self-esteem a little. I have no doubt that you will look fine.” He had to wonder what would have caused Severus to be so negative towards himself. Biting back the desire to ask Severus about his own likelihood of courting in the near future, Rabastan inquired curiously, "Has work slowed down now that school has finally begun?" Personally, he had found that few who entered Mulciber's Magical Artifacts around the beginning of school had even a chance of affording anything there. Not that it was all that expensive but only purebloods entered the place and even then only the higher tiers ever bought anything. Severus scowled, as usual. It wasn't self-esteem issues as much as fact. It was quite glaringly obvious that Severus wasn't exactly Mr. Universe and never had been, never will be. He'd had things with a couple of girls, but he couldn't really have counted them as girlfriends. Girls interested in Severus were few and far between. Besides, if he was so inconfident, he would've used magic to alter his appearance, or alternatively a hammer but that could go either way. He shrugged at Rabastan, offering no reply. "Yes it has. Sometimes I long for more business, but when it comes, I long for less, so it's a lose-lose situation. I'm going to start looking for something else," he answered. He wasn't even sure why he had settled for working in some dead-end Knockturn shop. He was competent and capable and all those other adjectives, but he didn't want to wind up working in the Ministry or generally somewhere that involved working with other Death Eaters. There wasn't really many occupations that put Dark Arts to use apart from being an Auror, perhaps, or a Hitwizard. Neither appealed. A potionere would be good, but to be frank, where exactly deserved his skills? He didn't want shops and companies making money from his skill, while he only benefited from a fraction of the profit. "With you?" Nodding in assent as Severus spoke about finding another job, Rabastan realized that a few of the Death Eaters evidently shared that desire. Regulus had conveyed thoughts quite similar to him just the other night. "As am I. After the wedding, I plan to leave Mulciber's. You know, open up my own shop somewhere. For now, I am scouting out possible locations. My sources tell me there is a significant untapped market in both Bristol and Liverpool. I want to be far away from the competition in London." He had also thought of France, most specifically around Nantes, since his ultimate goal was to leave England. Unfortunate though, Rabastan believed that he might have to accomplish that goal in parts. The last of which -- moving -- would require the war to be finished. Originally he had considered a Ministry occupation but he had no desire to work under self-righteous pricks. Better really to stick to something he knew and proceed from there. Over the years, Rabastan had saved a sizable amount of Galleons from his earnings in case he ever wanted to purchase a Quidditch team. Now he believed his best bet would be to save them for his honeymoon and the new shop. In the meantime though, Rabastan and Severus had a night to enjoy. |