Dark Fascination 8 - Unwelcome Visitors

*

Dragging him from the house, the Death Eaters continued to argue, ignoring Redric’s cries of surprise. The first of the two wrenched his wand from his grasp as Redric pulled it from his pocket.
“Well, what other way would we have been able to get past the wards?” the second Death Eater asked, his eyes narrowing behind the mask that concealed the rest of his face.
The other shrugged, “I have to admit, torturing muggles is my favourite way of getting attention, knocking… Call me old fashioned, but it’s not exactly why I got into this sort of thing.”
He threw Redric onto the ground in front of him, and both men once again pointed their wands at his face, despite continuing their rather heated discussion.
Redric sucked on his bleeding lip, content to let them squabble whilst he desperately tried to formulate some kind of escape plan.
“Well, blowing the door of it’s hinges is just so subtle,” the other Death Eater replied sarcastically. “And, if you haven’t noticed, we have other business to attend too.” He pointed to Redric who lay, bewildered on the cold stone floor.
“Look, I don’t know what it is that you want…” Redric muttered, finally finding his voice.
“Oh, really?” the first Death Eater said, stepping forward and kneeling in front of Redric. “See. We’re looking for someone, and we think maybe you could help us.
You have one of two options. You could just tell us what we want to know, and my friend and I will be on our merry way.” He gestured to the man behind him, with a long sweep of his black cloak.
“If not. Well, we’ll just have to force the information out of you.” the other snickered, twisting his wand eagerly between his fingers.
Redric stared at them, “What are you talking about?”
The first Death Eater leaned nearer to him, and Redric found himself transfixed by the eyes which glinted maliciously behind the horrific mask, “Don’t act all coy, kid. We know Barty Crouch. That girl, Scarlet lives here. Funny coincidence that you just so happen to be hanging around her house is it not?”
Redric blinked, totally stunned by this statement, “But… That doesn’t even make sense. He’s dead, well, practically. What does he have to do with me and my sister?” His heart sank, Barty had had a lot to do with his sister, but that was all in the past.
“Wrong on both counts I’m afraid,” the second Death Eater sniffed, before turning to the other. “He doesn’t know anything, we’re wasting time here.”
“I don’t know…” the first Death Eater looked at Redric searchingly. “So the girl’s your sister, eh?”
Redric didn’t say anything, cringing internally at making such a stupid slip of the tongue, as the full realisation of the situation he was in hit him. He was outnumbered, didn’t have his wand, and all he knew was that his sister was in some way involved.
“Hmm. It looks like our luck is about to change, my friend.” the first Death Eater said, speaking to the other as he got to his feet.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” the second Death Eater replied, laughing coldly, before turning to Redric, “Are you close to your sister, boy?”
Redric didn’t answer, glaring up at them defiantly.
“I asked you a question!” he said, lunging forwards and grasping Redric’s face between his thumb and forefinger painfully.
Redric let out a surprised gasp, and tried to struggle backwards, but it was to no avail. Both Death Eaters laughed in unison, jeering at him with unseen faces.
“I bet you are… And I‘m also willing to bet she‘d come to save you, if she knew you were in trouble.“ he commented, his eyes glittering once more as he shoved Redric backwards, letting go of his face as he did so. “Looks like we have time for a little fun after all. ”
There was another snigger from his companion, who extended his wand arm, “Crucio!”
Before he even had chance to brace himself, a blinding pain seared through Redric’s body. He couldn’t think, he could barely breath, the only thing he was the conscious of was the far off laughter that rang in his ears and his own, ringing screams. He dug his fingers into the damp dirt, his eyes screwed tightly together, trying to block out the pain. He wasn’t sure for how long this went on, but to him seconds seemed like hours. The only thing he was sure of was the harsh throb of his heart, and the dull ache that pained his whole body. Until, all of a sudden, the pain left him.
Redric looked up, his eyes streaming, somehow he had ended up lain on his front, though he didn’t remember having moved. He turned over swiftly to face the Death Eaters, one of whom was still crouched at his feet. They were both laughing, taunting him. The one whom had tortured him appeared to be wiping a tear of laughter from his face, “Oh, that really does never get old.”
“What do you want!? Tell me!” Redric yelled up at them, his shoulders shaking.
“Oh, you’re hardly in a position to be ordering us around, Mr Bellamy.” the one knelt at his feet replied, “And besides, we don’t particularly want anything from you. You’re just a bit of entertainment for us while we wait.”
Redric stared at them, unable to keep the stammer from his voice, “You… You don’t…?”
“We are, however, very bored.” the other interjected, nastily.
“You don’t know anything at all do you, boy?” the first Death Eater said, smugly. “You have nothing to barter with, no leverage, you may as well lay down and die like the little blood traitor you are. However. Your dear sister will no doubt come for you, and when she does we will kill her too.”
“Could we kill him?” the other asked hesitantly, a hungry look in his eyes, “It’s not like anyone would miss him. Well, not anyone who matters anyway.”
“Hmm.” the Death Eater at his feet considered this at length.
The other stepped towards him, “We could… We could just do it.”
Redric’s heart beat faster against his chest as he attempted to speak, to argue, to raise some sort of defence, but his throat was so dry he could barely form words. He knew better than the Death Eaters, he knew there would be no one coming to save him. No one knew he was there.
“Yes. We’d be doing the Dark Lord a service. Tying up the loose ends…” the first Death Eater said, having come to a conclusion. He rolled up his sleeves.
The second nodded, “Yes, I think so. But, my, my, we’re forgetting…”
He raised his arm, revealing a heavily scarred hand, as he flicked his wand lazily at the sky, “Morsmordre.”
There was a bright flash, and the Dark Mark appeared, twisting menacingly in the sky. Redric went numb as blind panic gripped him. This was it, there was nothing he could do.
The Death Eater nearest lent closer, lifting a hand to push his hood back, “You should always look death in the face, boy…”
He wrenched the skull-like mask from his face, revealing his pallid, twisted features. At that Redric made a decision. Quickly, he kicked out at the Death Eater with all the force he could muster. His foot connected with the man’s jaw with a satisfying crunch. Seconds later, Redric had dragged himself to his feet.
The man yelled in pain, and from the sound of pursuing footsteps Redric could tell the Death Eater was already on his feet and close on his heels. His companion was not far behind.
“Avada Kedavra!“
Hearing a voice cry the killing curse, Redric jumped to one side, a flash of green light streaking past him, missing him by inches.
“Stupefy!” another cried, and this time Redric had no time to dodge it. He felt the spell hit him squarely between his shoulder blades. His legs seemed to stop moving of their own volition, and Redric went crashing the ground as the curse rendered him unconscious.
*
Barty strode towards the Death Eaters, the adrenaline still pumping fiercely through his veins. Neither of them were wearing their masks, and Barty identified them once again as Dolohov and Rookwood. The former appeared to already have sustained some injury, as there was blood about his mouth, and he clutched at his jaw with a weary hand. Despite this the pair were bickering, or so it seemed to him, and hadn’t even noticed Barty approach. Out of the corner of his eye Barty could see the outline of Scarlet, as she darted through the trees and around the other side of the house
“I would get stuck with a pyromaniac like you! What the hell did you set fire to the house for!?” Dolohov yelled.
“Because… I wanted to!” Rookwood replied, trying and failing to come up with a proper excuse.
“There is no need to Incendio everything in sight!” Dolohov answered curtly, massaging his temples angrily. He sighed. “Now are we going to stand here arguing, or can we get back to the matter at hand?”
Barty took ‘the matter at hand’ to be Scarlet’s little brother, who was laid in the grass. Barty hoped he was only unconscious, guessing from what the pair had said however, it seemed unlikely Redric was dead. Death Eaters rarely cleaned up after themselves, unless of course, they were waiting for him.
This seemed much more likely.
“Seen as though you can’t keep your wand to yourself, I’ll do it.” Dolohov continued, turning to the immobile form of Redric.
“Now, now gentlemen.” Barty said, coolly, as both Death Eaters whirled around. Rookwood gave a great start as he saw him, but Dolohov didn’t move, the skin around his mouth tightening almost imperceptibly. Both pointed their wands at him immediately, as Rookwood recovering, barked victoriously, “Crouch! So nice of you to join us!”
“Thought it was about time we all caught up, had a little chat… You know.” Barty shrugged, his tone relaxed.
“Oh, yes. But it’s not just us who want to talk with you is it, Crouch?” Dolohov asked him coldly, smirking as Barty swallowed, his unruffled demeanour slipping for a moment. He gripped the wand in the pocket of his jeans tightly, readying himself for a fight.
“Yes, the Dark Lord is very, very angry with you, isn’t he?” Dolohov cooed, the smirk on his face growing wider.
The square-jawed Rookwood laughed at this, before chipping in, “Very angry indeed.”
Barty whipped his wand out of his pocket, pointing it at the two men in turn, “Honestly, you two really have been working on the cliché villain act since I last saw you haven’t you?” He nodded towards Redric, “And far be it for me to act as your conventional hero - because Merlin knows I am most definitely not - you should let him go. He doesn’t have anything to do with this. It’s me you want.”
Rookwood snickered, disregarding Barty’s casual insults, “But we were having so much fun.”
“Yes… Just precious isn’t he?” Dolohov said, sarcastically. He turned away from Barty, spitting blood onto the ground, and massaging his clearly very painful jaw.
“Well, it looks like he certainly did one over on you” Barty said smirking, and gesturing needlessly to Dolohov’s burst lip. Blood was slowly dripping down the man’s chin, which was swelling a rather fantastic shade of purple as all along the line of his jaw dark bruises were forming.
Dolohov ignored this, merely arching an eyebrow in reply, “I suppose this means your no longer our Ally then. You‘re no longer a Death Eater.”
It wasn’t a question, the situation was quite obvious to all three men.
“What do you think, Antonin?” Barty replied, putting particular emphasis on the name, aware that all this was creating sufficient distraction for Scarlet.
Dolohov moved towards him, his partner remaining behind him, his wand trained on Barty’s heart.
“Well, you know what they say. One a death Eater, always a Death Eater.” Dolohov replied, icily, his eyes narrowing to slits. “But in this case… I think not. You’re a filthy traitor, Crouch, who isn’t worthy of his pure blood, never mind the Dark Lord’s service.”
“Oh yes, how is your master? The murderous bastard.” Barty answered, his pretence of calmness strained as he gritted his teeth angrily.
Rookwood dived forward, spitting at Barty’s feet, “How dare you!”
Dolohov held out a placating hand to his partner, who remained where he was, clenching his fists angrily.
“You’re one to talk aren’t you? As much as it disgusts me to say it, you have a lot in common with the Dark Lord don’t you? I believe you too, killed your own father. How ironic.” Dolohov said, smiling complacently once again.
“Well, we all have our little problems… And that isn‘t irony, it‘s just unfortunate.” Barty replied, his self restraint almost at breaking point. How he longed the man before him.
“Hardly surprising this though is it?” Dolohov continued, smoothly, “You’ve always been a coward.”
“Oho. Now who’s being hypocritical? The pot calling the kettle black and all that.”
Barty sniffed, “And, as lovely as this all is, I really must be going.”
Barty glanced behind both men, catching sight of Scarlet peering from behind the house. She nodded at him resolutely.
“Expelliarmus!” he and Scarlet both yelled in unison. Both spells streaked forwards as Rookwood’s wand went flying through the air and into the nearby bushes. Dolohov’s wand however, remained firmly in his hand, as he span around immediately and thrust it in Scarlet‘s direction, “Impedimenta!”
The spell hit Scarlet straight in the chest, sending her sprawling backwards, landing several metres back from where she had previously been stood. Without stopping to think and forgetting his wand completely, Barty threw himself at Dolohov, incensed. Knocking him to the ground Barty hit him, simultaneously attempting to scrabble the wand from Dolohov’s hand. Dolohov kicked out, trying to throw him off as another figure joined the fray, dealing Barty a blow to the side of his head which made stars dance before his eyes.
As if from far away, Barty heard Scarlet gasp, “Incarcerous!”
Rookwood fell over mid-punch, as ropes appeared from nowhere, binding him tightly and causing him to fall to the ground. Barty used this distraction to his advantage, wrestling the wand from Dolohov’s grip and jumping to his feet, kicking out at Dolohov’s ribs as he did so.
He moved quickly towards Scarlet who looked up and smiled at him thinly. There was no obvious damage but Scarlet’s hands were shaking, though her right still gripped her wand tightly.
He looked between both her and the momentarily incapacitated Death Eaters, “Are you alright?”
She nodded, “I’m fine”
Barty held out a hand, and as she took it pulled her to her feet. They both looked pensively at the two Death Eaters.
Rookwood lay on the ground, fighting against the binds which had ensnared him, practically unable to move. Dolohov in contrast was sitting rather calmly, as though he got his nose broken every day.
“Scarlet?” he heard a tremulous voice enquire, worriedly.
“That’s all I need…” Barty muttered under his breath, as he turned to see a dazed looking Redric staring at them both.
“Redric!” Scarlet cried, letting go of Barty’s hand and dashing towards her brother, pulling him to her in a firm embrace. “What are you doing here!?”
“But… What’s going on?” Redric asked, bewildered. “I was about to ask you the same question. But more to the point, what is he doing here?”
“I‘ll explain later. I‘m just glad you‘re alright.” Scarlet replied, loosening her grip and regarding her brother sceptically.
Barty turned his gaze to Dolohov, who appeared to be attempting to get to his feet, rather shambolically. He pointed his wand at Dolohov, who stopped moving, watching them cautiously. The anger that had momentarily left him rushed back. momentarily left him rushing back. Rookwood had stopped squirming, finally conceding defeat. Dolohov however merely stared at Barty intently, a glimmer of a smirk playing at his bloody lips. On the whole, it was a rather disconcerting image.
“You disgusting, vile, little…” Barty spat at Dolohov, advancing towards him.
“If you ever, ever do that again…” He jerked his wand at Dolohov violently.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your girlfriend? What a shame.” Dolohov retorted under his breath, so only Barty could hear.
“You shut your mouth” Barty answered, gritting his teeth.
“Or what? What are you going to me? Not that it’s relevant. This is still going to end in the same way, Crouch. You can’t hide from the Dark Lord forever. He’ll find you, it’s inevitable, and when he does… Well, I’ll leave that to your imagination.”
“You’ll die Crouch!” Rookwood screamed, failing to show the same amount of control as his partner, “You’ll die with her screams ringing in your ears.”
There was a mad glint to his eyes, where Dolohov’s face was once again serene. This only made Barty hate the man even more.
There was a slight pause, in which all Barty could hear was the angry pounding of his own heart. He was vaguely aware that Scarlet and Redric’s attention was now fixed upon him, but he didn’t care. He raised Dolohov‘s wand once more, “Cruci-!”
“Barty! No!” Scarlet yelled.
Barty looked between both her and the Death Eater, “But, he…”
He never finished his sentence however, as he noticed the look of relief that crossed Dolohov’s face, as though he had suddenly remembered something important. Dolohov reached into his pocket and before Barty could react, he had pulled out Redric’s wand. He made a slashing motion with his wand, producing purple flames, which shot right at Barty. Before he could bellow a counter curse, the spell hit him somewhere near his navel, and he was knocked off his feet. Two pairs of arms reached out and caught him as he collided with an unseen body.
After the initial shock had dissipated he was gripped by a blinding pain, collapsing against the arms which held him upright.
Through the haze he could hear two distinctly different voices shouting.
“Expelliarmus!”
“Incarcerous!”
Flashes of light and yells accompanied this sound, until all noise seemed to stop abruptly with a snapping sound. Shortly after he was aware of a yellow blur and someone murmuring his name.
“We have to get out of here. Help me carry him.”
Barty felt himself lifted to his feet, although he wasn’t aware that they were supporting him. He had a sudden feeling of weightlessness, that he had no control of his limbs, and his head lolled onto someone’s shoulder.
“Where can we go? If you hadn’t noticed your friend here is supposed to be in Azkaban. Soulless.”
“I’m well aware of that, thank you. Merlin, he doesn’t look good does he?”
The voices buzzed loudly, barely audible and Barty clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block the sounds out.
“Let’s just leave him.”
“Redric. No. I know where we can go. At least for a while.”
“Alright. But you owe me an explanation.”
“I know.”
All of a sudden the intensity of the pain increased, as the whole world felt as it were crushing in on him, choking him, as they apparated away.