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Tweak says, "Get up and go walk your dog."

Bellatrix Lestrange (sw_bellatrix) wrote in strugglewithin,
@ 2008-12-08 19:53:00

Entry tags:

*complete, bellatrix lestrange, padrig cadwallader

RP: Looking for a few good men
Date: 8 September 1997
Characters: Bellatrix Lestrange, Padrig Cadwallader
Location: Undisclosed
Status: Private
Summary: Bellatrix contemplates Mr. Cadwalader's level of usefulness..
Completion: Complete

Bellatrix waited in the deepest part of the shadows under the trees lining the graveyard. She'd sent a note to Cadwallader earlier that day.  He had best not be late.

It was time to evaluate the boy. Her Lord's ranks were sadly lacking in footsoldiers with enough brain power to cast an umbrella charm when it rained.   Cadwallader had some modicum of intelligence and a strong sense of self preservation. The question was, did he have the intestinal fortitude to be a Death Eater.

If he did not arrive soon, she would test that fortitude by pulling out his intestines and visually inspecting them.

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caddishly
2008-12-08 08:13 pm UTC (link)

Padrig had received the owl from Bellatrix Lestrange earlier that day, early enough for him to finish his work and bugger off a few minutes early. Some things, especially this, were obviously more important. He didn't need to make excuses to Marietta, she was likely staying late at work again. He had already decided to tell her as little as possible. His conversation with her the other night showed how little faith she had both in the Dark Lord's cause and in him as well. At the time he'd been dodging projectiles but, with time, he'd become a bit irked at that thought. She was afraid he'd be killed or she would be hurt. That was patently ridiculous, not if he played her cards right, not if he did what he knew he was capable of doing. It was in his blood. Or at least his mother's blood in any case. And that was really all that mattered.

He was uncertain what Bellatrix wanted this time, but he'd already learned to dress in dark robes, the better to not be remarked on when she set him on tasks. Arson, some petty tasks, he'd already tried to prove himself useful to her, and so far it seemed to be successful. While logically he knew he should be terrified of her, most people were, he actually found himself pleased she took such interest in him. She was all a Pureblood woman should be, proud, powerful, unafraid to do what was necessary. And she had chosen him.

The graveyard was a familiar meeting point and he arrived a few moments early and walked in, his eyes searching her out. A movement in the shadows drew his attention, and he made his way to her and waited, hands folded in front of him.

"My lady."

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sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 08:29 pm UTC (link)

However polluted the boy's blood was, at least he did have lovely manners. She stepped out into a pool of faint starlight. The cool breeze ruffled her loose hair and tugged at her robes. A glance at the sky proved that high clouds were still scuttling along before a high fierce wind.

Good. Inconstant light was more intimidating even that a moonless night. It leant itself better to letting the eyes play tricks on the unwary.

"Mr Cadwallader, come closer," she said, her voice soft and intimate, and held out her hand. "I have a surprise for you. And an opportunity, if you have the strength to sieze it."

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caddishly
2008-12-08 08:33 pm UTC (link)

Padrig unhesitatingly walked forward and took her hand. Since the first time he hadn't been afraid of her, awed and wary, perhaps, but not afraid. If he failed her, he deserved what she did, and he did not expect to rail.

"I will take any opportunities you give me," he said, his voice even, his eyes determined. "It is my great honour to serve you and through you, your Lord."

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sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 08:43 pm UTC (link)

"Such a darling boy and wise beyond your years. Such potential I see in you." She graced him with a smile before abruptly pulling him into a Side-Along Apparation. It was pleasing that while his hand spasmed and tightened around her, he didn't clutch at her or shriek. When they reappeared, she graciously allowed him to hold onto her hand until he regained his balance.

"I have an errand tonight and I would like some companionship as I go about it. This a rare treat Padrig. A very rare treat." She pulled a cloth wrapped bundle from her pocket. "It is not often that one who is not initiated gets to witness the workings of my Lord's servants so closely, much less be allowed the honor of wearing this without consequence."

She unwrapped a white mask, plain and unadorned unlike her own intricate silver mask.

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caddishly
2008-12-08 09:05 pm UTC (link)

Pig was not completely surprised when they disappeared, although the suddenness of it was startling. He held on as they reached their destination, then let go carefully so as not to offend her.

As she spoke, he kept his eyes on her, cold and a bit contained, only a flicker of pleasure crossing his face as she pulled the mask out of her pocket.

She was offering to let him accompany her on a task for the Dark Lord. Not as a Death Eater, but as their representative.

"You honour me greatly, my lady," he said, a slow smile crossing his lips. He took the mask when she offered it, white, simple, horrifying no doubt when on the opposite end of a wand, he weighed it in his hand for a moment, then, with a glance to ascertain he had her permission, he slowly slipped it on. It adhered to his face instantly, by magic, taking on the slightest contour of his features, including his beakish nose, and he let out a heated, anticipatory breath.

"I am yours to command."

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sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 09:23 pm UTC (link)

"Yes, you are."

After tucking her hair into her hood, she put on her own mask. "Wands at the ready, Mr. Cadwallader, we have Mudbloods to chastise." She led the way down the ridge into a small valley that widened abruptly into a large one filled with those dreadful, soulless, cookie cutter houses the Muggles were so fond of building.

As she entered the backgarden of the nearest house, she cast a series of anti-Muggle spells. It simply would not do to have her mission interrupted by those please-men.

"The creatures that live in this hovel have dared to protest their child's rightful expulsion from Hogwarts hallowed halls. The letters have become tiresome. I have been asked to silence the problem in such a way as to be an object lesson."

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caddishly
2008-12-08 09:40 pm UTC (link)

An object lesson. The home reminded him much of his Grandparent's in Swansea. He had already taken care of the charms and spells necessary to make it unnoticeable, along with the efficient "losing" of documents though his contacts with Marietta. At this point no one could find them. There was also the fact that although they had raised them, he did blame them for never telling him his heritage. Years without knowing who he was or what he was capable of. The fact that his father was a Muggleborn did not phase him in the least. A mere unfortunate circumstance, and he did not feel any pity for the man or for any of them.

Pretenders, userpers. Those words in the pamphlets Marietta had been making were true. These people should consider themselves fortunate their child was merely being expelled. The older people, those over the age of minority, were being rounded up and sent to prison or worse.

He wondered if silence meant kill, but he thought it was best to follow his lady's lead. What did it matter in either context?

"Some lessons must be learned the hard way," was his only answer, and then, he gestured towards the door. "May I?"

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	sw_bellatrix 2008-12-08 09:46 pm UTC (link)
	Eager and yet still courteous. Very good. "Go right ahead, Mr. Cadwallader. Remember it's late. Let's wake up the household." She took a few steps to the side to give the boy room to work, her wand held loosely at her side. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	caddishly 2008-12-08 09:49 pm UTC (link)
	Wake them up, he could certainly do that. He took aim at the door and cast a powerful Reducto at it, blasting it back into vapor, sending pieces of it into the room. There was a moment of silence, and then lights were flickering on inside, and he gestured for Bellatrix to proceed him. "After you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 10:07 pm UTC (link)

Bella nodded her approval and swept past him into the terribly plebian kitchen. Gingham prints? How tacky.

The father charged into the room, his dressing gown gaping open and streaming behind him in a parady of a proper cloak. He slid to a halt upon spotting her and let loose an offensive stream of incredulous vulgarity. A flick of her wand sent him flying to slam into the far wall with an agonized grunt. "Do not speak to your betters in such a tone, you foul creature."

The wife screamed from the other room and Bellatrix sent the neophyte after her with a wave of her hand.

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caddishly
2008-12-08 10:14 pm UTC (link)

Pig ignored the man on the floor, immediately seeking out the sourch of the scream. It rippled out, and he soon found the woman standing at the top of the stairs, holding onto the railing. There was a child, perhaps thirteen, behind her, and he deliberately ignored it, bounding up the stairs in two or three long legged leaps and grabbing the woman by the hair and pulling her down.

He held up a hand to silence the boy, eyes on him, cold and hard, and then pointed back in the direction of the bedrooms, before dragging the woman down the stairs, her screams half muffled now as she watched her child above, almost, somehow, understanding that the boy might be spared.

The woman was dressed in a nightshirt featuring kittens playing with balls of yarn, and he was almost disgusted with the utter ordinariness of it.

He pushed her down on her knees in the kitchen in front of Bellatrix, then raised his eyes to the Death Eater, his wand in his hand, and barely breathing hard.

"What do you wish me to do with her?"

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	sw_bellatrix 2008-12-08 10:25 pm UTC (link)
	"Silence," she hissed at the Muggle, sewing his mouth shut with a wave of her hand. "Ladies first, if baseborn filth such as your wife can dare to claim that title." "Tell me, Padrig, how are your Unforgiveables?" Her pale eyes gleamed within her mask. "Show me. I want to hear her voice all cracked and frayed at the edges." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

caddishly
2008-12-08 10:30 pm UTC (link)

He stepped back from the woman, eyes on Bellatrix, knowing exactly what she was asking of him, part of him horrified he would not be able to complete the task. He would though, and he could. He'd thought of it before, the sheer pain richocheting through your limbs as they turned in on each other, the screams, the horror.

When he looked down at the woman, her eyes were wide and pleading, terrified, and it was the fear that did it, the same way Marietta's fear at times pushed him, made him do things to her just because he could.

"Let's find out." He aimed his wand at the woman and focused on her eyes, solely on them, knowing she could see his, how dark they were and dangerous. He hoped she feared him.

"Crucio!" The magic licked out of his wand and into her, invisible torturous fire, and then she was screaming, high and terrified, her body contorting in on itself, and the husband was screaming too, muffled and garbled in his throat, and Padrig felt it filling him, the sheer power of it, more seductive than anything he'd felt before.

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sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 10:41 pm UTC (link)

Bellatrix silently cast the spell that let her see through the boy's mask. The mask was to hide him from the Muggles, from their enemies, not from her. How else could she judge him? Legimency would have worked just as well, but she lacked her Lord's subtle touch. No, it was better to let the boy think he was safely hidden behind a bit of magic and pale, pale metal.

It was facinating to watch the shift of his expression as he first gathered his nerve and then his passion before casting that lovely dark spell. Oh yes, this was one that would appreciate the sheer seductive strength of the Dark Arts.

"Ease up, my dear boy. You cannot keep her under so long or you'll break her mind far too early."

The Muggle man was struggling against the invisible bonds that held him against the wall. Negligantly, Bellatrix gave him something else to concentrate on in the form of a Bone-freezing Curse.

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caddishly
2008-12-08 10:45 pm UTC (link)

He tapered off the spell and, with a twist of his wand, ended it, leaving the woman crumpled on the floor. It left him feeling powerful, half aroused and real, as if this was what he had been made to do.

The man was howling in silent agony at whatever Bellatrix had cast at him, and he looked over at his Mentor with a quiet little smile curving up the corners of his mouth.

"Do you think they'll continue their pursuit of a lost cause? Or do they need to be taught further?"

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sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 10:56 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, I am sure they have learned quite well." She lifted her skirts so she could step daintily over the woman's twitching hand. "But this pitiful creatures are not the only ones who must be taught a lesson."

She brushed her gloved hand over Padrig's masked cheek and down his throat as she passed him to examine the man more closely.

Hmph. The creature must have had a weak heart. He was already fading. She did not appreciate toys that broke so easily.

"The night grows old. Finish it," she said lightly. Ending the spells holding the man to the wall, she let his cooling body collapse to the floor.

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caddishly
2008-12-08 11:02 pm UTC (link)

Her touch sent a cold shiver down his body, one that was unexpected but not unwelcome. He followed her with his eyes as she bent over the man and then, when she stepped back, he nodded at her command.

For a moment only he paused, thinking of the boy upstairs, hiding, praying, or perhaps watching them somehow. He would survive if he was wily. But there was no help for these two.

"Avada Kedavra." It was a whisper, a caress, far more than his own parents had received, and her pain was ending, as lovely as it had been.

He had uttered the words without thought, the green light flickering through the kitchen, and then... nothing.

She was dead and he had killed, a cold, nearly unbelievable and wicked sense of want and pleasure jolted through him at the sheer power of it.

"Your will be done," he said, looking up at Bellatrix and giving her a cold smile. He stepped over the body, ushering his Mistress out before him, knowing the boy would find the bodies, cry, mourn. He wasn't certain he could kill a child. But who knew. Anything, he supposed, was possible now.

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sw_bellatrix
2008-12-08 11:13 pm UTC (link)

Once they were outside, Bellatrix raised her wand and called out reverently, "Mors Mordre." As the great skull and snake writhe above them, she sighed happily.

What a glorious night. Her Rodolphus should be waiting for her in their chambers in the manor that had been so graciously turned over to them for their use.

"You may keep the mask," she said, turning back to the boy. He had done well. Very well indeed. "For now. Let none find it." She gave him a long measuring look. "I will send you certain tomes. Study them. No potential servant of my Lord should be lacking in his knowledge of the Arts."

It was the work of a moment to drop the anti-Muggle spells. Let the please-men come now.

"Good evening, dear Padrig." Then she was gone.

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caddishly
2008-12-08 11:19 pm UTC (link)

Padrig watched her go. There was a moment of silence and then he could hear an alarm going off in the house and the boy's cries. He turned to the door, his eyes meeting those of the boy kneeling on the floor, weeping, and for a moment, he felt an ounce of remorse, of regret, but then, in an instant, he pushed it down, suffocated it.

No more. He Disapparated with a crack and was gone, the smoke and the sight of the Dark Mark in the sky setting fire to the blood in his veins.

No more was he someone like that, pitiful, weak. Now he was the hunter. Now they were the prey.

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