An Ill Wind - Mod Journal (illwindmod) wrote in an_ill_wind, @ 2009-06-07 23:34:00 |
|
|||
Dorcas VERSUS Leoben
If it weren't so damn frustrating, the fact that Aberforth's patronus had come flying into Sirius's bedroom at yet another thoroughly inopportune moment would be almost comical. Almost. But the news that the silver goat carried with it was something neither one of them were about to ignore and so as they jumped out of bed, Dorcas threw on her clothes as quickly as she could possibly manage, shooting a look at Sirius before apparating straight to Hogsmeade, just in front of the now flaming inferno that was once the Hog's Head.
"Fucking hell," she swore as she quickly took in the scene. This was far more than just one Death Eater. The entire village was fucking swarming with them. And had Dorcas possessed any real sense of self-preservation, she would have realised this was not a fight they had any chance of winning and gotten the hell out of there. Yes, that definitely would have been the smart thing to do. Instead she raised her wand and pointed it at the nearest masked Death Eater and shouted, "Deprimo!"
Ben was feeling quite powerful tonight. It had been over a month since they had done anything very constructive for their Lord and he was more than ready to be active again. Killing muggles, as entertaining as it was, did not quite give him the same satisfaction as this. He breathed deep, tasting the night air through the confines of his mask. He was more than ready for the spell that came his way, especially since it was practically screamed at him. He defended himself rather carelessly with a shield charm, letting the spell take the damage as he went directly for something a bit more damaging.
"Confringo," he growled, aiming right for the girl's chest. A rather familiar girl actually and he felt a note of satisfaction as he realised who he was duelling. She wouldn't get away this time, he was sure of it.
If she made it out of this alive, Dorcas was definitely going to have to work on her non-verbal skills, she told herself as the Death Eater all too easily deflected her attack. She threw up a shield of her own that absorbed his attack but the force of it still sent her stumbling back a few steps. She wasn't prepared for this, dammit. Mentally or physically. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how the hell she was going to defeat this bastard until a glance towards the burning pub gave her a burst of inspiration.
"Incendio!" she shot back, also aimed straight for the Death Eater's chest, followed by a quick "Stupefy!" Even though she obviously had no idea that it was the same Death Eater who had destroyed her flat, they were all the same to her with their masks and cloaks and she couldn't help but think that she'd see how he liked getting his chest torched.
Leoben was not in the mood to have to dodge anything tonight. With a growl of impatience, he thought aguamenti. Immediately, he wished he'd said the spell, for as much as he was practised in non-verbal hexes, it wasn't as strong as he'd have liked and a lick of fire caught his arm, searing through his robes.
It was only by pure luck that he dodged the stunning hex, mostly in his hurry to put himself out. His bicep stung with every movement and already, this was not going as planned.
He aimed for her feet and hissed, "Glacius." With any luck, it would freeze her to the ground and give him an advantage in mobility. He didn't wait to see if it would hit, instead immediatley following it up with a bone-twisting curse, aiming for her wand arm.
She was expecting another attack aimed straight for her, not her feet and quite suddenly she found herself quite awkwardly stuck to the ground. Son of a bitch. But there wasn't time to deal with that now as another hex was flying straight for her. All she could do was twist awkwardly out of the way and although she at least managed to narrowly avoid the bone-twisting curse, the sudden movement without the ability to compensate with her feet sent her careening forward.
The first spell that came to mind was a blasting curse and she sent it flying at the Death Eater before her hands hit the ground. This was definitely not a position she wanted to be stuck in right in the middle of a duel and to make matters worse, she had quite definitely twisted something in her knee as she fell which made pushing herself back up a slow and painful process.
Leoben had been expecting her to simply fall over, so he was unprepared to have a blasting curse being sent in his direction. It crashed into his abdomen and sent him flying back several metres. All the wind was knocked out of him for a moment and it was only because it was automatic that he thought to set a silent shield charm around himself.
It took a long moment to get back to his feet and his insides felt like they were crowded. It wasn't a good feeling. Still, he'd taken note of the fact that she didn't seem to be using any non-verbals and so he cast a silencio as he made his approach back to her and then a conjunctivitus curse, angry at having been hit.
Dorcas had at least managed to get back to her feet and was in the middle of melting the ice that had encased her feet when Ben's silencing spell hit her. Shite. At least she could move again but now she couldn't speak. Fucking hell, if it wasn't one thing it was another and the list of spells that Dorcas was confident in her ability to cast silently was woefully short. She needed to think of one, and fast so she could restore her ability to speak and she managed a silent tripping jinx before Ben's conjuncitivus curse connected.
She opened her mouth to scream as she was suddenly blinded by a burning pain in her eyes but no sound came forth. All she could do was rub her left hand over her eyes as she blindly sent a jelly-fingers jinx in what she hoped was the Death Eater's direction.
Ben grunted as he tripped, barely keeping his head from connecting with the pavement in his attempt to keep himself upright. Salazar, who used tripping jinxes? Still, in a somewhat awkward position, his wand slipped out of his hand as the second curse hit him. Leoben went to pick it up again and just as he was getting a grip on it, it slipped away again. Well, this was just bloody brilliant then, wasn't it. In a concentrated (and time-consuming) effort, he managed to get his wand in his hands long enough to mumble the counter-curse. But he had no idea how long it had taken and he only cast a shield charm around himself before looking up at his opponent.
Dorcas, for her part, had at least managed with some effort to get the countercurse to the conjunctivitus curse out and while her eyes still stung a bit from the lingering after effects, she could at least see again. Just in time to see the Death Eater looking up at her. Fuck. Well so much for dealing with the silencing charm. Instead she went for one of the few other silent spells she knew and sent a rictusempra at the Death Eater in the hopes of keeping him occupied long enough for her to restore her ability to speak.
There. Much better. And the first words out of her mouth weren't a spell but a loudly shouted, "Go to hell you fucking bastard!" followed by a "Fernunculous!" All right, so perhaps not the best way to get her point across, but it was the first thing that came to mind. And boils hurt!
Back on his feet, Leoben's shield charm kept him protected from her first spell and he reinforced it with a second as she was yelling at him. Salazar, they were so crude. Honestly, he wished people had more class. "Incendio," he growled, and then with more force... and certainly more cruelty, "Crucio!"
No. Absolutely not. There was no way Dorcas was letting some Death Eater bastard set her on fire again. The problem was she was so fixated on dodging his first attack which flew harmlessly over her shoulder as she ducked down that she didn't actually process the second until it was too late. Her eyes flew wide as she stood and tried to cast a quick protego but she just wasn't quick enough.
The crucio connected squarely with her chest and Dorcas fell to the ground, screaming in agony as pain unlike any she had ever known before tore through her body. All notions of fighting back were forgotten as her small form spasmed on the ground. The rocks and gravel that tore into her skin were nothing compared to the feel of pure fire running through her blood and dear god, she just wanted to die. She'd never actually been hit with a cruciatus before and she had no idea how anyone could stand this.
Ben kept his wand trained on her for several moments, only stopping because honestly, her screaming was obnoxious and it hurt his ears. He wished he'd thought to silence her again. As effective as the curse was, it really did do a number on the caster's ability to concentrate.
He approached her from the side, trying not to favour his burnt arm, or his damaged and bruising abdomen. Did she know who he was yet? He thought not. Still, he had no faith in her ability to recover from the cruciatus in any amount of hurry, so he allowed himself to glance around the battle scene just once, eyes falling on the rather large form of their resident werewolf. It would be so much better to let the monster have his way with this girl. Whatever that happened to be. But how to attract his attention?
Dorcas just laid on the ground even after Ben had lifted the spell, not ready to even consider moving again. Her breathing was laboured and her head was spinning as the last remnants of agony slowly dissipated from her body. That was an experience she never wanted to have again but despite the desire to just stay on the ground for the rest of the night and maybe have a nice nap, she could see the Death Eater moving closer to her. Shite.
Her wand had fallen from her hand while she was being tortured and as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, she grabbed for it. Except instead of her fingers curling around the familiar length of wood, she ended up with a handful of gravel in her hand. Well that would just have to do for the moment, she decided as she threw the rocks at the Death Eater as hard as she could possibly manage.
With a shield charm - and the fact that it was mostly just gravel - the only thing throwing it at him did was get his attention again and Leoben couldn't help but laugh. Which really rather hurt, considering he'd gotten hit in the stomach with a blasting curse only a moment or two ago. But it was absurd. Did she actually think she was going to fight anyone off that way?
"Oh, Dorcas," he drawled, almost lazily. "You did put up such a better fight last time. If you die tonight, it will not be by my hand though, I assure you." He said it rather simply, as if he were talking to a child. Never mind that he had gone to school with her. "But I will still be thinking of you." He brushed a gloved hand through her hair... and then cast an entrail-expelling curse before pushing himself back into a standing position and walking away. That ought to get the werewolf's attention. The beast was useful, he had to admit.
At the realisation that this Death Eater, this fucker who had cast the cruciatus on her was the same bastard who had tried to kill her, who had burned down her flat and who had been sending her body parts in the post; basically that he was responsible for the living hell that her life had been the last few months, Dorcas felt herself absolutely seething with rage. "Fuck you!" she snapped, diving for her wand just as the entrail-expelling curse hit her. Pain tore through her once again, this time as her stomach was torn open and her guts began to spill out from inside of her. She wanted to launch herself at him. She wanted to rip off his fucking mask off and claw at his face until her nails reached his skull, but all she could do was manage the strength to swing her wand arm around and fire a gasped "Expulso," at his back before collapsing to the ground, clutching her stomach and hoping to god that Edgar or Sirius or someone would find her.
Leoben's shield charm protected him from a load amount of the spell, but the pure force of it drove him forward (his back was to her), pain shooting across his back. Luckily, nothing seemed exploded and he was about to turn his wand on her again when he saw the hulking form of Fenrir Greyback approaching. A vicious smile turned his lips and he inclined his head at Dorcas in a fair goodbye. He didn't expect to see her again. Which was just as well, as he threw another shield charm around himself just in time to protect himself from a stray curse.
Sirius VERSUS Rodolphus
Sirius was in a pissy fucking mood when he apparated into Hogsmeade, and the sight of utter chaos did absolutely nothing to quell that particular feeling. It wasn't just any one thing - like the fact that he and Dorcas had been interrupted (again), or the fact that his friends were in danger and fighting for their lives (again), or the fact that the Death Eaters were ripping fucking Britain apart (again) - it was all of those things, combining into one horrible nightmare, and he was beginning to think it was never going to stop. Every time he let his guard down for more than a few minutes, something happened. Fuck it all.
But those thoughts weren't going to get him anywhere, particularly with curses flying everywhere, the sky a brilliant glow of red, green, purple, and every other colour, illuminated against the backdrop of fire. Those fuckers sure loved their fire. He spotted Lily not too far away, her form unmistakable given how pregnant she was, and his first instinct was to head her way to help keep her safe, especially when he spotted James locked in combat with someone else. He was just running over when the ground in front of James exploded, and he was just barely able to keep his balance as the aftershocks of the curse shook the street; he shot a stunning spell in the vague direction of the Death Eater before he got his footing again and took off.
Sirius Black. Rodolphus grinned under his mask at the sight of him. He wouldn't kill him, no, Bellatrix wanted to do that far too badly. But playing with him a bit certainly wouldn't hurt. Rodolphus wanted to show him who the bitch really was, even if he wouldn't be telling the bloodtraitor whom he was dueling. "Confringo!" he bellowed, sending the hex in the direction of Sirius' feet, to trip him.
It was a good thing that Sirius had a good sense of balance, as he was so focused on getting to Lily that when the ground directly in front of him exploded, if he'd been a less nimble person he wouldn't either landed face first in the rubble, or ended up getting his head smashed in with the rain of concrete. Instead he fell hard and rolled onto his back, pushing himself up to his feet as he shouted a gouging spell, aiming it at the bastard's chest. Right about now he really wanted to hurt someone.
Rodolphus deflected the curse easily, and laughed. "Tsk tsk, Mr Black. You'll have to do better than that," he said, silently casting a crucio.
Sirius was suddenly furious, far moreso than he'd been even moments before. There was something about being taunted like that that infuriated him, got under his skin in a way that made him nearly see red. He threw up a shield as light burst from the end of the Death Eater's wand, and while he stagged back a few steps under the force of the curse, the shield held and the curse bounced off behind him. "I can kill you, if you'd like," he snapped, as he hurled a Reducto and then an Incendio immediately after.
"Do try," Rodolphus replied, amused, deflecting Sirius' hexes by picking rubble off of the ground and throwing into the path of the spells. The reducto exploded one chuck of concrete, sending rubble in every direction, some of which he dodged himself. The incendio heated up the other piece, and Rodolphus whipped it at Sirius, followed in succession by a silent defodio and expulso.
Sirius sidestepped the rubble sent his way from his reducto colliding with the chunk of concrete, then cast another hasty shield to keep the burning chunk that came flying at him next from burning his bloody fucking face off. He made a sweeping gesture with his wand, and a wave of rubble went hurling at the Death Eater, one of the pieces exploding as it collided with the expulso. His shield was failing, however, and while it managed to take the egde off the defodio, the rest of it slammed into his knee, and he grunted in pain, shocks of it shooting up his leg. Teeth bared in anger, he slashed his wand through the air and hurled a sectumsempra. He grabbed at his knee with his free hand, chanting a healing spell silently to himself, and some - but not all - of the pain lifted.
Rodolphus stopped the rest of the flying rubbing and Sirius' slashing hex with a shield charm, laughing as he watched the bloodtraitor bleed. "Poor little Sirius," he teased, sending more blasting curses at the ground around Sirius, concrete exploding everywhere. Next came a silent bone-twisting hex, followed by, "Crucio!" Rodolphus practically growling the curse in anticipation.
Sirius really despised the way the way this arsehole was using his first name, especially as he was attempting to not get himself killed by the huge chunks of concrete that were exploding right in front of his face. It'd be a horribly embarrassing way to go, really - death by street. He couldn't imagine a stupider way to go - maybe death by merry-go-round, he thought with a surge of annoyance. Or death by... drapery or something. Determined to have something really awesome written on his headstone, he hurled a reducto, followed quickly by an incendio on top of another defodio. As he was casting the curses, the ones from the Death Eater came hurling at him, and he successfully dodged the bone-twisting hex. He wasn't so lucky with the Cruciatus, however, and it just caught him as he tried to dodge it. Blinding pain engulfed him and he shouted in agony as he dropped to the ground, only just managing to keep his wand in his hand. The curse was everywhere all at once, seemingly tearing him apart from the inside out as he thrashed on the street.
Of the three curses Sirius flung his way, only incendio caught Rodolphus, catching his robes on fire on his left arm. He ignored it for a moment, unable to stop himself from laughing manically at the sight of Sirius thrashing and twitching on the ground. As the fire spread upward and grew, Rodolphus' concentration broke. He doused the fire, skin singed along his arm and shoulder. It stung, but didn't deter Rodolphus' enjoyment. While Sirius was still sprawled on the ground, he smirked, and shouting called, "What's the matter little Sirius? Did that hurt? Be careful, because this might hurt too," punctuating 'this' with another silent bone-twisting curse.
Sirius was panting when the curse was lifted, and while the onslaught of pain was gone, his entire body throbbed and ached, and he felt like he'd just been run over by the Knight Bus. More than once. He tried to push himself up, slipped, and caught himself with a rather jarring slam of his elbow against the pavement. It was the little Sirius comment that jolted him back to his senses, and he growled, barely fighting the urge to transform into Padfoot and rip the fucker's throat out with his teeth. Move, his mind shouted, and he rolled out of the way of the bone-twisting curse, which slammed into the ground beside him. "Funny how you're so fucking smug," he snapped, still breathless, "yet you hide behind a fucking mask, like a fucking coward." There was bench behind the Death Eater, just visible in the distance, and Sirius threw another Sectumsempra and a reducto, and then summoned the bench, sending it hurtling through the air behind the bastard currently looming over him.
Rodolphus had to duck to avoid the slashing curse, and conjured a shield charm in front of him to stop the blasting hex. The bench, however, he hadn't even noticed, and it bowled into him from behind, taking out his back and bringing him to his knees, and then whacking him upside the head. His shield charm faltered and then fell. Dizzy and confused, it took Rodolphus a moment to regain a bit of sense and clamor to his feet, casting another hasty, "Protego!"
Sirius held his breath as the bench neared its target, half-expecting the bastard to hear it coming and blow the damn thing up, even as he prayed that it'd hit its mark. His eyes widened in surprise when not only did it hit its mark, but it knocked the arsehole to his knees and then smacked him upside the head. It was only a fraction of a second that Sirius stared, although it felt like an hour, and then he burst out laughing, unable to help himself. The sight of it had been too bloody fucking perfect, and it was just the pick-me-up he'd needed after essentially having his body put through a damn meat grinder. He laughed helplessly, getting a stitch in his side, but forced himself to his feet, casting a shield around himself before he threw a reducto at the bench, blowing it up in a spray of wood. "Fucker," he said, with feeling.
The shied charm was a little weak, but Rodolphus managed to hold it long enough to deflect the bits of wood. He didn't like being made a fool of. His previous amusement faded away, replaced by anger and annoyance. First came a stinging hex, followed by several blasting hexes in the same fashion as before, in what was left of the street around them.
Sirius deflected the stinging hex with a flick of his wrist, but having the street suddenly blow up on all sides of him wasn't quite as easy to control. He staggered as he tried to keep his footing, almost falling several times as the concrete churned and roiled below him. His shield held off some of the debris, but a solid chunk burst its way through and hit him hard in the chest. He sucked in a breath when he felt a rib (or two) break, and then he did lose his balance, his foot catching on what used to be a piece of sidewalk as he tried to take in another breath. Knowing he'd be of absolutely no use whatsoever if he couldn't breathe, he threw up another shield and hastily ran his wand over his chest, trying his best to mend the bones in the shortest amount of time. He'd need Marly to look at them later, but for now they'd hold. Probably. Pissed off that he'd been hurt, he threw several severing hexes, aiming in particular for the bastard's throat, and then threw a gouging spell at his eyes.
Rodolphus deflected the severing hexes and moved for the gouging spell, which ended up catching him in the shoulder on the arm he'd already burnt. He, too, threw up a shield charm to hastily repair his injury, and then he narrowed his eyes at Sirius under his mask, channeling all his pain and anger into aiming a hex at Sirius that gave Rodolphus control of his body, wanting to pick the insolent traitor up and fling him towards Bellatrix so she could finish him off before Rodolphus lost his patience and did it himself.
Sirius didn't know what the fuck had hit him, but he suddenly couldn't do anything. He couldn't do anything, couldn't get his arms to move, or his legs to bend, couldn't even turn his fucking head to make sure there was no flash of green light coming his way. Fuck fuck fuck! his mind all but shouted, and he tried his best to struggle, but the hex was too strong and nothing fucking happened. After all that laughing, he was going to die so goddamn embarrassingly, unable to defend himself.
It was Rodolphus' turn to laugh. "Poor little Sirius," he said mockingly, walking up close to the brat. "What's the matter, Black? Are you stuck? Are you scared? There's nowhere to go, and nothing you can do. I could put an end to your miserable existence right here and now." He laughed again, then used his wand to move Sirius around in the air before crashing him down and into the ground. "Did that hurt, little Sirius?" he questioned, emphasizing the pet name vindictively. "Would you like me to stop?"
If Sirius could only have torn that fucking bastard's head off, infuriated by the taunting, especially when he was stuck like this, pathetically, like some helpless arsehole. What was more embarrassing than being frozen like this was then being lifted up and slammed into the exceedingly hard ground, and he grunted in pain as his backside collided painfully with the concrete. Sirius couldn't move his face much, but his eyes were furious as he glared up at the man taunting him, and how he itched to get his hands around the man's neck, magic be damned. His fingers flexed, but his arms stayed immobile.
Rodolphus slammed Sirius into the ground again viciously, before pulling him upright and moving close to him once more. "I won't deny the privilege of killing you from someone who will enjoy it so much more than I," he whispered, amusement evident in his tone. "Safe travels, bloodtraitor. I doubt we'll meet again." Will that he smashed Sirius into a pile of loose concrete with a flick of his wand, before sending him off and toward where he'd last seen Bellatrix, knowing Sirius would crash into something either hard, on fire, or both.
Sirius managed to clench his jaw as he was slammed viciously into the ground, though he could swear he could still feel his teeth rattling around in his fucking jaw at the force of his collision. Before he had the time to completely absorb just how much his damn body hurt, he was jerked upright again, far too close to the Death Eater controlling him like a goddamn puppet. He bared his teeth, but that was all he was able to do before he was airborn again, beginning to feel like one of those obnoxious muggle yo-yo's, or whatever the fuck they were. He crashed painfully into a pile of loose concrete, feeling his clothing - and skin - tear in multiple places. He didn't think he'd broken anything, and he realised he could move his arm now, though as he was poking at an aching spot in his leg, he was suddenly yanked back from the concrete and hurled bodily through the air. Fuck, he thought to himself, the battle whizzing by him, I'm going to die.