Dark Lord's Downfall Chapter 22

The Calming Draught


Only a few hours had passed, when Rodolphus and Rabastan came down stairs to find Bartemius doing the hokey pokey.

"Let me guess; you spat in Cassiopeia's afternoon cup of tea." Rabastan quipped with laughter on the verge of hysterics.

Barty gave him the stink eye. "Shove off!"

That remark only made the eldest Lestrange brother Rodolphus cackle louder in his own laughter.

Rabastan took another turn poking at Crouch, who was now ballroom dancing with an invisible nobody. "Well, if you'd rather us leave you to your soundless orchestral interlude...." He and Rod both turned to vacate the room.

"Codswallop! Wait, will ye! You Blooming Barmy Buggers! Throw me a bone here! I've been at this for hours with only myself for company." Barty bellowed in a sweat.

Rodolphus smirked and stalked slowly towards him. "Awe. You hear that Rab? I think wee Barty here is cracking lonely."

Bartemius held his tongue. A first for him; but by that point he was so thirsty, fatigue, drenched in sweat, and sore with aching muscles-- that he was willing to cooperate to be free of the hex. Rabastan skulked even closer than Rodolphus, tilted his head to the side and grinned an all too evil grin.

"Say Please."

Barty clenched his teeth. He wasn't that willing to cooperate.

"Fine. Have it your way." Rabastan countered before jumping in and grabbing hold of Barty's hand and waist. He twirled about- joining him in the ballroom dance repertoire. He led him around the dining room before switching silent tunes and commencing first in the tango, and then the rumba. Rodolphus linked arms with the odd pair when the foxtrot began and together they tortured Bartemius with a full enthusiastic roundabout through the kitchens and corridors. It was only when they'd ventured into the sitting room and the cha-cha began that Barty had finally had enough and gave in.

"Alright, alright! Please, You Donkey Duffers!"

"Please what?" Rabastan huffed out breathless. Though not nearly as breathless as Bartemius.

"Please end my suffering you Twonk!"

"Careful with your choice of words there my mad march hare friend. My brother is likely to take that literally and hit you with the green light." Rabastan warned him as Rodolphus settled himself on the side of an armchair. He eagerly began rubbing the point of his wand with his fingertip; the look on his face twisted and as non compos mentis as Bartemius himself.

"For Bloody sakes end the damned spell! Please."

Rodolphus frowned disappointed, Rabastan smiling with victory. "Go on Rod. I think he's had enough torment for the day."

Without further words, Rabastan stepped away and Rodolphus sent the counter curse hurtling towards the feverishly moving man. Immediately the dancing concluded and the bat shit crazy Barty collapsed to the floor panting. Though he still managed to bark his agro.

"Bunch of Bastards!"

Rabastan's eyebrows knitted together. "That is not a very pleasant way of saying thank you."

Bartemius just sneered and lay back on the floor catching his breath.

Rodolphus- all together unphased- picked at his brain. "So, what did you do Barty? To set Cassiopeia off that is."

Not that it was either of the Lestrange brother's business- but Barty being Barty, and being proud of his accomplishment- he told them the tale of what he called a little white lie.

Meanwhile a few floors above, the woman being gossiped about was taking yet another turn medicating the ailing Avery. She'd been very tempted to give him the dose of Revival Potion but Severus had said 'only if' he didn't wake in a day or two. Cassiopeia was growing impatient.

So it was to her astonishment and her terror that he woke when he did and the way he did. He didn't just open his eyes and groggily come to; he came to in a fit- bolting upright, slinging his arms about, and yelling like a savage caveman charging a bull. For a moment Cassi was stunned to the point of being frozen in place. He was a frightful sight even to a woman as fearless as herself. He wasn't the Avery that had saved her life; the Avery she'd grown up with;  the stalwart loyal, and reliable life long friend she was so accustomed to. No. This man-- The man screaming like a deranged maniac looked like Avery, but sounded like a senseless lunatic ready to drink her blood, eat her flesh, pluck at her bones, and suck out her soul.

"Avery! Avery, it's alright! It's me. It's your Cassi. You're alright. You're going to be alright. Just calm down." She tried to restrain him, crawling on top of him and holding his wrists down with her hands; her knees pressing against the lower portion of his strong biceps. He was too powerfully built for her and a tussle began. Avery grabbed her by the throat unintelligible words pouring from his mouth. They were more like sounds than words. Animalistic, he howled and growled beneath gritted teeth, a fire of red flames burning in his eyes as he squeezed harder.

She fought back, baring her own teeth and struggling for breath.

"Avery. Please. It's me." She managed to gurgle out in a gasp before he tightened his grip. But he was un-hearing and un-seeing in his rage. He picked her up with one mighty arm- his hand still clutching her in a choke old- and drug her across the room and threw her against the wall. His body was stuttering against hers as he trapped Cassiopeia between his hard, muscular frame, and the unyielding wall behind her.  

A noise tried to crawl its way out of Avery's throat. He could feel it vibrating there; the culmination of what was going on inside him nothing more than a haze. He felt like he couldn't breathe, yet she was the one suffocating. His mind was chaos. Never before had he been so disorderly, such a mess. Thinking had no way to parse itself and there was only one pervasive thought: Need.

Need to crush the windpipes of the man that had nearly killed him. To off the man that had attempted to murder Cassiopeia. Revenge was in his grasps. He could see it, he could feel it, and he could taste it. Dolohov would die by his hand.

Cassi tried to catch her breath but everything in the universe seemed to be conspiring against that goal. Her head was spinning and her heart was a triphammer. She ached. Her heart ached at the fact that the light was going dim and the last thing she may see was an unknown being invading Avery's body. She clawed at his arm and clung to him, her feet kicking. His eyes. No. Those eyes. It would be a haunting image for it to be her last. She didn't see how this punishment could get any worse. Then Avery finally formed a sentence and she felt it's ferociousness in her gut.

"Does it hurt?"

Chills swept down her body; the baritone in Avery's deep voice penetrating the thick fog of sorrow, pain, and anger that was ravaging her body. Yet, to her dismay, she found herself nodding.

"Say it." Avery's words thrummed in her ear and cut through her like a frigid winter wind.

"Yes...." She forced out, the sound of her air raw and rattled.

"Good! I will break you slowly. One bone at a time. Cause you so much pain you'll beg for death. But I shall not give it to you until I've peeled the flesh from your rips, yanked out your lungs and draped them around your neck. Then I'll leave you for the vultures to pick at."

The words echoed all around her, rippling through her core; like stones thrown into a still pond.

His head tilted back in a Vikings roar and Cassiopeia found herself being tossed around in the storm of his barbarism like a broken doll. She was helpless against it. She could use magic against him but this was Avery! Though he wasn't acting himself, she couldn't find the will to fight back. She had in the beginning, but now-- Now she was so consumed with confusion that she just waited for the crashing wave to drag her under.

Just as Avery's back began to bow with the impending whiplash of something too profound to simply be called primitive or feral-- Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Bartemius came charging in and tackled him to the ground. Cassiopeia stood, rubbing at her throat and sputtering as she welcomed the oxygen back into her lungs. She couldn't help but shed a few tears as she watched the men forcing Avery down and binding his hands and feet like a mental patient in a loony bin.

"What the Fuck Cassiopeia?" Rodolphus cursed in a questioning tone that nearly sounded accusatory.

"Brother, Give her a bloody moment for pity sakes. Can't you see she's just nearly been traumatized." Rabastan came to her defense. Though he would almost regret ever speaking up for her in the first place.

"Pity? Pity! Do not pity me! Pity Avery! I am not traumatized. I am worried Rabastan! A man I've known my entire existence- who risked his life for my own- just tried to snuff me out!" She turned to his brother.

"As for you Rodolphus! Do not question me. You think I provoked this?" She waved her hand in the direction of Avery whom was now securely bound to the bed and pulling against his restraints.

"I only meant." Rodolphus began.

"You only meant what? To take charge and think you know everything like always. New's flash Lestrange! You know nothing." Cassi spat in a state of pique.

"Well, excuse me your highness, but from what Barty here just told me, I know more than you think!"

Cassiopeia glared daggers at an innocent looking Bartemius Crouch Jr.

"Barty is full of Dragon Dung!"

"Maybe. Even so you did go all that time without tending to Avery."

She gasped. "Are you blaming this on me?"

"If the shoe fits."

Rabastan got between them and stared down his brother. "Honestly Rod, you want to go there with her? Now?"

"Oh! So you are on her side!?" Rodolphus shouted, steam nearly fuming from the fever that rose over his skin.

"I'm not taking sides brother, but you forget your place and to whom you speak. Just because you shagged her gives you no right to talk to her like you would that fishy wife of yours."

Cassiopeia had to do a double take, peering over her shoulder at Rabastan. Normally he was so quiet. They barely even spoke and now he was coming to her defense for a second time? However, before she could process that information Rodolphus was spouting out crap.

"You suck up! You are just trying to get into her knickers! You always did go for sloppy seconds!"

Holy hell.

Barty scratched at his head and slyly snuck out of the room before the bomb went kaboom. He was all to certain Cassiopeia would fly off the hinge, and Rabastan was unpredictable. Not a good mix; so he hauled ass to safer havens several floors below.

As predicted Cassi's screw did come loose and she held up not one, but two wands- still having pilfered Barty's- and pointed them both in his direction. To her surprise Rabastan jumped in front of her and leaned in close to her face.

"Please. This battle belongs to me. Let me handle my brother's overcompensated ego." He whispered in a euphonious tone.

It was that whisper, that closeness to Cassiopeia that awoken a new sense of rage in Avery. He started struggling with the bindings; pulling and yanking in a desperate, vociferous manner. He was frantic in his frenzy, bellowing in long drawn out cries.

"Get away from her Dolohov!" Avery ripped both of his arm restraints off and shot upright; his hair wild about his face. A face that said 'annihilate'. A face so twisted with mayhem that it meant elimination- to wipe off the face of the earth. It temporarily deafened and staggered the onlookers into a statuesque-like state. But their dumbfoundedness was quickly smashed away like a brick through a glass window- their stark staring shattered and replaced with a go-go-go attitude the moment Avery came crashing towards Rabastan- having freed himself completely.

Cassiopeia shouted. "He's in shock! He still thinks he's battling Dolohov!"

The last of her words barely came out before Rabastan was throwing himself in front of her; his arms splayed out in a protective manner. The force of his shove knocked Cassi on her ass. She went to stand, but from the corner of her wide bulging eyes she saw both of the Lestrange men target their wands on Avery. But in his fit, he was too fast for them and clothes pinned Rabastan to the ground next to Cassiopeia.

She watched as Avery wrapped his hands around Rabastan's throat and began strangling him in a ripping roar of a growl. Rodolphus reared back and aimed, waiting for the precise moment Avery moved just enough for him to get a clear shot.

"NO!" Cassiopeia shouted, her mind a whirlwind. "I can fix this! Restrain him!"

"And just how do you expect me to do that? He's gone primal!"

"You are supposed to be the one in charge that knows everything. Figure it out!"

Rodolphus sneered but pocketed his wand. He leaped, landing on Avery's back in a giant bear hug. He enfolded his arms around Avery's own neck in a sleeper, his forearm pressing tightly against his artery.

While all three men struggled in their full out WWE tussle, Cassiopeia was crawling across the carpet to the other side of the room. She snatched up the bag of Potions and Elixirs and dug around until she found the flask labeled Calming Draught. Severus had warned her that Avery could wake not fully aware of his surroundings and possibly even still thinking he was in the midst of the battle that had nearly claimed his life. It hadn't made since before, but now it was crystal clear. Avery had seen Cassiopeia as Dolohov when he'd attacked her, but when the argument between Rod, Rab, and herself had broken out-- he then perceived Rabastan as Dolohov- seeing as he was the closest to Cassiopeia.

"A Calming Draught for when he wakes, that will subdue him of any shock or trauma."  

Damnit! Why hadn't she remembered this before?

She uncorked the stopper and raced over to the wizards, sliding and slamming down on her knees next to them.

"Hold his head back!" She ordered Rodolphus; Rabastan's face turning a light shade of blue. Rod encased one bicep around Avery's muscular neck and used his other hand to pull at his forehead; leaning his head back in a full tilt. Cassi pried his mouth open- getting bit in the process- but she forced a hefty dose of the draught onto his tongue. She managed to close his mouth and hold his nose until he swallowed and it took no time at all for the potion to take effect. He went limp in Rodolphus' arms and let loose of Rabastan.

They all fell to their arses and sighed exhausted. All but Rabastan that is; he was still on his back gasping and filling his lungs with overly welcomed air. Yet, he was the first of the 4 to speak.

"He's one strong Mother Fucker."

"I'll say." Everyone's heads darted in the direction of that voice.

Bartemius.

Standing in the doorway was Barty, just leisurely hanging out. Rodolphus yelled at him. "Have you been standing there this entire time!?"

"I have. It was quite the show."

"Barty, you arrogant slug! We could've used your help." Rabastan hollered, his voice raw and cracking.

"You seemed to have everything under control."

Rabastan looked to Rodolphus, Rodolphus to Cassiopeia, Cassiopeia back to Rabastan. He spoke again, his words aimed at his brother. "I'll give you the pleasure Rod."

Rodolphus smiled before vaulting to his feet and chasing Barty in a crazed chase. You could here Bartemius laughing down the hall as he fled.

Things got quiet after that; Avery motionless in the floor alongside Rabastan and Cassi. She was the first to break that soundlessness.

"Are you alright Rab?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"Fine."

Awkward silence.

"Well. I guess a thank you is in order?" Cassiopeia's formal way of saying Thank you, wasn't very sentimental in its saying.

"Don't mention it. Help me up will yeah, and we'll get this Viking back in bed."

She got herself up and threw out a hand; Rabastan grabbed it and she heaved him up and together they used the Hovering charm to gently move Avery back into the bed. With an exasperated exhale on both their parts, they stood in another bought of silence. Cassiopeia was gazing down at Avery's subdued form, pulling her hair up and contemplating if she should use the Sleeping Draught on him as well- to assure he didn't wake anytime soon- but decided against it. In her deep thought she felt the little hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention. She could feel Rabastan glaring at her, and slowly turned to look over her shoulder at him. Wide eyed with his aqua pools; he did not drop his fixated ogle.

She queried him with her own emerald peer, her dark brows raising in wonder.

"What?" She whispered.

He didn't say anything in reply, merely kept gawking. So she turned her entire body in his direction, never losing sight of his intense leer.

"What?" She repeated herself. "Why are you looking at me like you are undressing me with your eyes?"

He cut across her question with his own.

"You know what Rod said isn't true, right?"

"About what?"

"About me trying to get into your knickers and always going for sloppy seconds."

She could see him slightly blushing as she answered him. "I'm nobody's sloppy seconds but I thank you for your concern. Rodolphus, well... I think our little row in the sack went straight to that ego of his."

"So nothing will come of it? Your little row as you call it."

Cassiopeia's eyebrows shot up and her answer came out simple, yet stretched out in it's own interrogating way. "Nooo."

Rabastan went even redder, the very air in the room becoming thick with his radiating aura.

"Rabastan, are you trying to get in my knickers?" She asked beneath a wicked grin. She thought he looked uncomfortable before; now she could literally see him twitching in his own skin.

"I don't think now is the time Cassiopeia."

"Hey. You started this. You brought it up. I'm just finishing it." She closed the gap between them and watched him suck in a lungful of air. Then he did something he never imagined himself doing: he leaned in- eye's only for her in that moment- and breathed warm breath on her lips.

"Is this an invitation Cassiopeia?" He asked in a husky yet sultry tone.

"I don't give invitations Rabastan. I simply rest my tongue on the floor of your mouth, taste you and tease you as a sign of recognition. If you need an invitation then you are not worthy to take. And Rabastan. I give and I take. I do not ask permission. Do you?"

Grey flecks of panic flashed in his aqua eyes; a stab of light showing his arousal mixed with his anxiousness.

Should he take? It was an offer was it not? He should definitely take. But what would Rodolphus think? What would he do? Fuck him! He was tired of living in his shadow only to ever be in second place. By the winged God of Desire himself- By Himeros, it was his turn!

 He leaned in closer, his lips grazing the silkiness of her own.

"No." He answered in a hushed sensual tone.

She didn't move, so he pressed his lips firmly against hers and pulled her body flush against his. The feel of her against him-- the shadows dissipated and light flooded in. Warm light that washed over him like the sun's rays on a crisp fall day. Just as strongly as that warmth was her taste. She was so sweet it titillated his senses and her scent tickled his nose. He relaxed next to her and wrapped both arms around her waist and forced her closer still, deepening that kiss by slipping his tongue into her mouth. He felt no reaction from her so he sunk his fingers in her hair and yanked her face as close to his as it would go. He heard and felt her gasp and smiled against her lips and licked a thorough tasting of his tongue inside her wet opening.

"Cassi?"

Avery's weak voice called out to her and Rabastan's shadows consumed him once more as she peeled away and left him in the cold darkness and rushed to Avery's side.  



To be continued...

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