Places to Chat
Eleventh rhymes with
Chatterbox: Blab About Books
Next-Generation HPRP, part the eleventh
Eleventh rhymes with...
Eleventh rhymes with seventh, haha.
Anyway, the next thread for our next-generation HP roleplay. Er, fanfiction, really, to tell the truth. It stopped being a roleplay when all the Hogwarts people left (read: got exasperated with the Bella-Voldy-Wolfbar-Belinda fanfiction Mary W. and I were writing...)
Right. So. MW said she was having problems loading the last one. Plus, the number was wrong on the last one. Shouldn've been tenth.
Carry on!
submitted by TNÖ, age 16, Deep Space
(July 15, 2009 - 3:11 pm)
(July 15, 2009 - 3:11 pm)
//Bellatrix//
She ran into Wolfbar along the way; he'd been skulking in the hall, with, she noticed with some amusement, the Riverside Shakespeare tucked under his arm, when she came around the corner. His eyes enlarged comically as he took in the blood on her sleeves; the Death Eater grinned at him. "Lovely evening, isn't it?" she said, and whipped around the corner before he could respond.
//Draco//
It was nearly midnight by the time Draco had sorted through all the paperwork. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, wondering vaguely how long it would be before the Dark Lord ordered them to break the remaining 'faithful' Death Eaters out of Azkaban.
He also wondered if the Dark Lord would go so far as to lead the operation himself. He had in the past, or so Draco had heard. But then, there had been a lot more Death Eaters to break out the last time.
Now there were only two; Avery, who apparently had chosen to go to Azkaban rather than try to squirm out of it once more, and Rabastan, which was really only to be expected.
Draco sighed heavily. For all he knew this was a pointless exercise and the Dark Lord had no intentions of breaking into Azkaban. The two remaining Death Eaters would hardly be in a state to be of any use, after all...
He decided not to worry about it, and went to bed.
(August 8, 2009 - 6:59 pm)
((Phoo, the first part got cut. D: A lot.))
(August 9, 2009 - 12:27 am)
((Could you summarize without the... iffy content or language or whatever the Administrators cut it for, or is it not necessary?
Another thing, would it be all right to turn Albus a bit... evil and twisted/on Voldy's side/traitorous? Just because we no one else is posting from Hogwarts, and I'd be glad to if only Al was a bit more interesting to write about...))
//Wolfbar//
After a few petrified seconds, Wolfbar proceeded hastily along the corridor, having decided that it would much infinitely better for his mental health not to wonder why Bellatrix had looked as though she'd just had a hand in some sort of mass murder. It was a concept he had far too much ease accepting.
His last thought before drifting off to sleep was to wonder if it would be possible to find a Petruchio willing to tame Bellatrix.*
//Albus//
Albus had never cut classes before, at the old Muggle school he'd been sent to before Hogwarts, and he doubted that first year at a wizarding academy was a good time to start. If his parents found out, they'd be furious. Of course, at this point pleasing Harry and Ginny wasn't top on his list of priorities.
He'd been spending time in the library, the restricted section for the most part. Avoiding the librarian had proved quite simple- Madam Pince had recently had a heart attack, and a sort of "substitute," a young Hogwarts graduate called Vikki, had taken over. Her reinforcement of library policies was slightly more... lenient than Pince's had been. By sneaking in at night and staying until ungodly hours of the very early morning, he'd quietly studied old history texts, with the occasional spellbook. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for- information about his father, perhaps?- but with only a bit of guilt he admitted to himself that he was certainly enjoying himself while doing it.
*((The Taming of the Shrew, W. Shakespeare))
(August 9, 2009 - 11:46 am)
((It's certainly not the *worst* I've written for her Bella... Meh... moving along...
Re: Evil Albus: ZOMGDOWANT!!!!!111!!!11! /chatspeak. Er, yes, please. *bambi eyes*
Also, <3 for the TotS reference. I love TotS.))
//Draco//
"You killed someone, didn't you?" Draco asked tiredly the next morning as his aunt very nearly strutted into the kitchen.
"And you were up all night sorting through Ministry paperwork," she replied sweetly.
Draco sighed and returned to a blackened, rock-hard lump that had, five minutes ago, been a piece of bread. "May I ask who?"
Bellatrix shrugged. "Some auror. Where'd you get the coal?"
"It was supposed to be toast," Draco said dismally.
"Really?" His aunt peered closely at it. "Whatever did you do to it? Even I can cook better than that."
Draco scowled at the charred mess. "Perhaps it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't set me to the utterly pointless task of sorting papers until midnight."
"Everything's my fault, isn't it?" Bellatrix affected a sad, puppy-dog look which, given her hollowed cheekbones and sunken eyes, made her look positively demonic. "Besides, it wasn't utterly pointless."
"Lucky you," muttered Draco darkly, Vanishing the burnt toast and summoning a fresh piece from across the kitchen. He was suddenly very glad indeed that he had responded to the call.
Bellatrix smirked and swept to the opposite side of the room. "You, meanwhile, will be liberating Avery and my dear brother-in-law."
"Isn't the Dark Lord supposed to be the one giving orders?" Draco asked, turning back to his slowly toasting bread.
"The Dark Lord is allowed to delegate on occasion," she replied. "At the moment he is, um, detained."
"Detained? Arson, murder, or theft?"
Bellatrix snorted. "None of the above; he's recruiting. Up north, I believe. Far north."
"Ah." Well, it had to happen sometime. "Who's he blackmailing this time?"
"You're terribly negative, Draco dear," he could practically hear her smirking. "He doesn't *always* use blackmail. And besides that, I don't know. Didn't care to ask, and he didn't see fit to tell me."
"How very sad for you." He examined the second slice of toast, which was significantly less burned.
"Eh." Draco blinked and his aunt was at his elbow. Bellatrix shot him a quick, impish smile, snatched the toast, and darted out the door before he could retaliate.
Draco glared after her; she laughed as the door swung shut behind her.
(August 9, 2009 - 12:48 pm)
((I tried to decode the chatspeak and gave up, but I think I got the gist. What exactly did the "z" mean, though?))
//Wolfbar//
"Checkmate." Oliver smirked.
Wolfbar had spent the last hour or so playing Oliver at chess in the library, for want of little else to do. Or perhaps 'being pummeled' would be more accurate. Wolfbar still couldn't figure out what Oliver kept doing to checkmate him in four moves.
//(evil!)Albus//
Sitting on his dormitory bed, Albus lazily turned the page of the book that Vikki had let him check out. She hadn't seemed to care--notice, really--that the title was A History of Dark Wizards Through the Ages, or that the red tape on the ide read RESTRICTED: TO BE USED WITH PERMISSION ONLY.
He'd originally planned on skipping right to a few decades ago--it was a fairly recent book compared to most in the restricted section--to where Voldemort's story was chronicled. Again, he had no idea why, he just felt somehow drawn to that period of time. But he'd started reading the first chapter--about the Dark wizard Benedict Arnold back in the 1700s, and found it incredibly interesting. He suspected this didn't say much for his character, but secretly he found himself rooting for the bad guys--though the hero almost always triumphed in the end. Not to mention that all the villains had the best lines.
(August 9, 2009 - 6:29 pm)
((The "z" is completely meaningless and used purely for emphasis. It doesn't stand for anything.
Off Topic: In my HP Sims neighborhood (take, um, five, stupid game keeps asploding), my newly created Bellatrix met the Dark Lord for the first time, and got one of those thought bubbles with the hearts exploding out of it. Then she bowed (I didn't even know they could do that...). /randomness.))
(August 9, 2009 - 11:41 pm)
((Evil!Albus FTW, by the way.))
//Voldy//
The Dark Lord flicked lazily through the various papers Bellatrix had somehow managed to steal over the past few weeks. Honestly, he hadn't the slightest clue how she'd gotten her hands on some of it. A large percentage was top-security information, kept carefully secret by the Departments of Magical Law Enforcement.
Breaking and entering without detection was arguably the one skill that Bellatrix had developed further than the various methods of torture that she employed on anyone unlucky enough to get on her bad side. Yet another reason he couldn't just kill her and be done with it.
He scowled at a page listing the secret keepers of the Death Eaters who had 'reverted' back to the side of good. Scared silly, still, after nineteen years...?
The Dark Lord smiled evilly. "As well they should be," he muttered.
He let the page drop back onto the desk to be dealt with later. For now there was the more pressing matter of the distressing scarcity of people and creatures willing to turn towards the Dark... he couldn't imagine why...
Which left the two remaining faithful Death Eaters in Azkaban, if they were even in a condition that would be of any use... Hopefully Bellatrix and her theories were correct. If not...
Well. He'd think of something.
"Bella," he said softly, twitching his wand very slightly. A heartbeat later she appeared, sinking into a deep bow before her robes had the time to settle after the tumult of Apparition.
"My lord?" Her eyes flicked almost immediately up to his face.
"The two in Azkaban... They're in the caverns below, in the highest security cells..."
"Where I was," Bellatrix murmured with a grimace.
"Yes." He paused, studying her maddeningly blank face. "There will be a large number of Dementors around..."
The Death Eater bit her lip. He knew she hated Dementors; fighting alongside them had been the one thing she flatly refused to do.
Not that he blamed her...
"I'll manage," she said at last. "Though it would probably help to have someone... or several someones... who can cast Patronuses...?"
The Dark Lord smirked. "Given that it would be utter foolishness and possibly suicide to go without any chance of defenses..." He shrugged. "You can choose who to take. Have them back here by tomorrow evening."
She bowed once more. "Yes, my lord. I'll leave right away."
He nodded, and Bellatrix turned on her heel and vanished.
//Bellatrix//
Generally Bellatrix wasn't the type to plan ahead. She found that too much forethought lead to rigid schedules, which in turn lead to a general lack of flexibility. And flexibility, she had learned over the years, was key if one didn't want to be caught off guard.
An Azkaban breakout, though, that was a delicate operation. It would have to be quick, certainly, make a lot of noise wherever she wasn't, and Patronuses were a must. As many as possible.
After brief debate she decided to bring both Draco and Wolfbar- one could never be too careful in cases as delicate as these.
She set off in search of them, finding Draco rather quickly in one of the parlours where he was sitting with his family, all of whom looked rather worried and scared. Pansy jumped violently when she burst into the room.
"Hate to break up the little family gathering," Bellatrix said cooly, "but Draco- you're coming with me to Azkaban."
"Can't it wait?" he asked, looking a little desperate.
"No." Her nephew sighed and rose to his feet, planted a kiss on Scorpius' forehead and Pansy's cheek, and followed her out of the room.
"Know where Wolfbar is?" she asked lightly.
"He's coming too?" Surprise was evident in his voice.
Bellatrix snorted. "Just because I think he's an idiot doesn't mean I won't hesitate to use what talents he does have to my advantage. Probably in his room, sulking... Or whatever it is he gets up to in there..."
She Apperated to the hall outside his room and rapped on the door. A few seconds later it swung open to reveal Wolfbar, disheveled and looking very much like he had just woken up.
"What?" he asked irritably.
"Oh, don't be like that," Bellatrix said cheerfully, snatching at his wrist and beginning to drag him down the hall. "We're going on a little field trip."
(August 10, 2009 - 12:24 am)
((Regarding evil!Albus: Yay!))
//Wolfbar//
"Wait, what?" Wolfbar blinked. "Can we have breakfast...?" A disgusted look was his only response.
"We're going to Azkaban," said Bellatrix shortly, and, still holding onto both Wolfbar and Draco's wrists, there was a small pop and they Disapparated.
~
When Wolfbar opened his eyes, he was outside of Lestrange manor for the first time since the trip to Y'Galle and resisting the yrge to whoop with joy. Choosing not to dwell on the afteraffects of that paricular expedition, he looked around at his surroundings.
There was an old fortress-like building, build atop the highest part of the craggy island. The sky was ominous, and the wind was blowing hard, messing up Wolfbar's hair further. Wolfbar observed vaguely that he hadn't had a haircut in several months.
"Why are we here?" he tried to ask, but the words were blown away on the wind. Bellatrix merely touched a hand to her ear and assumed a bemused expression. As this was probably the response he would have gotten whether or not she'd heard him, Wolfbar decided not to press the matter.
//Albus//
"You wanted to see me, Professor Longbottom?" Albus said as he walked into the Herbology greenhouse, coming in response to a letter he'd gotten earlier that day.
"Yes, Albus." Neville looked concerned. "You haven't been coming to classes much anymore. Have you been feeling all right?"
Albus shrugged. "Yeah. Fine." A pause. Then he figured I might as well be hanged for a hippogriff as for a pixie, and added, a bit coolly, "I just have had more interesting things to do than stare at a bunch of plants." Knowing that his parents would be hearing about this and wondering why this didn't upset him, he sauntered out of the Herbology classroom, leaving the old family friend staring.
(August 10, 2009 - 2:26 pm)
//Bellatrix//
After a brief moment of studying the fortress, Bellatrix turned to her two companions.
"Avery and Rabastan are currently thirty feet below us, surrounded by about five Dementors each and some of the most complex protective spells known to the Ministry. The moment we enter the fortress alarms will sound and guards- both human and Dementor- will be on us within thirty seconds."
Wolfbar opened his mouth as if to question, but the Death Eater silenced him with a look.
"You two are here largely for your Patronuses- as many as you can manage. I'll take care of any human guards." She grinned wolfishly. Then, sobering slightly, she added, "We're not sure what sort of condition the prisoners will be in... probably bad, if past experience is anything to go by." A quick shadow passed over her face.
"So, um," Wolfbar gulped, "Are we just going to... go?"
Bellatrix snorted. "Of course not. Give them... oh... forty seconds?"
"Them?" Draco arched an eyebrow.
His question was answered when several large, black... things... soared into view and slammed into the side of the fortress. Alarms began to shriek.
"Those," Bellatrix said disinterestedly. "That's our cue," she added, as Dementors began to swarm in the direction of the various "breaches".
She melted a hole in the wall- an action that was followed almost instantly with more shrieking- and led Draco and Wolfbar deeper into the depths of Azkaban.
(August 10, 2009 - 3:18 pm)
((Aargh, my *entire post* just got got deleted somehow. I have to retype it. This does not make me happy...))
//Wolfbar//
As they progressed deeper and deeper into Azkaban, Wolfbar tried to hold his breath. It smelled almost... dead. He looked straight ahead or down, trying to ignore the various shrieking sounds.
Finally Bellatrix held up a hand. "There." She pointed to to adjacent cells, and then at two human guards. "There are Dementors coming," she said quietly. "Deal with them as best you can." With that, she began shooting curses at the human guards. Dementors, three of them, glided into sight, and Wolfbar tried his best to summon a happy memory. It was somewhat difficult under the circumstances.
A weasel and an x ((what's Draco's Patronus?)) shot out of Wolfbar and Draco's wands and capered towards the Dementors. They were rather faint and wispy, but more substantial versions joined them before long... Wolfbar and Draco's cries of "Expecto Patronum!" mingled with Bellatrix's occasional shrieks of glee as she daned around the human guards on the other side of the hall. It was under control for a few minutes, until another alarm began going off somewhere and more Dementors materialized, having recognized the false alarm and realized where the real trouble was.
Wolfbar knew it wasn't going quite as planned when Bellatrix disposed of the human guards probably quicker than she would have liked, and tried to join Draco and Wolfbar in fending off the Dementors. This was difficult, seeing as she couldn't cast a Patronus. Draco looked as pale as though he were about to faint, and Wolfbar figured he wasn't much better.
Wolfbar was exhausted and felt half-dead, and knew that this was a battle they couldn't win. And then suddenly there was a great burst of light, and all the Dementors vanished. Wolfbar looked at Draco, but there was no way that he could have cast such a strong Patronus, feeble as he looked. He turned to Bellatrix. "I thought that-"
"I don't know how that happened." Bellatrix looked a bit shaken. "That shouldn't have been possible..." Her eyes widened, and she paused a second. "But never mind that." She grinned suddenly. "We have a jailbreak to lead."
((Was that okay? And sorry, Administrators, it was quite long...))
(August 10, 2009 - 7:50 pm)
//Bellatrix//
Curious though it was, Bellatrix recovered rapidly from the shock of having summoned a Patronus for the first time in well over forty years and moved right on into breaking through the enchantments surrounding the cells. The silvery shrike flitted around her shoulders as she did so.
She was vaguely aware of both Draco and Wolfbar staring at her, but she ignored them.
About five minutes later the cell doors gave way with a sharp crack and swung inwards to reveala hunched, grimy man in chains and ragged grey robes, and the corpse of what had formerly been a hunched, grimy man in chains.. Rabastan looked up slightly as the door banged on its hinges.
"Bella-" he croaked, and then doubled over in a coughing fit.
Bellatrix swore and conjured up a stretcher easily. The chains vanished and she gestured for Draco and Wolfbar to assist the formerly imprisoned Death Eater.
"Could've at least made an effort to stay alive," Bellatrix muttered with a dark glance at Avery's cell. Then, briskly, "Let's go. Less time we spend in this godforsaken place the better."
The shrike vanished as they returned to the surface and Apparated back to Lestrange manor.
(August 10, 2009 - 9:19 pm)
ARGH. I get so upset when that happens! Maybe you can copy your post after you write it, just in case.
(August 11, 2009 - 7:55 am)
((A shrike, that's perfect.))
//Draco//
Draco had retired to his bedroom as soon as they returned that night, waving away Pansy and Scorpius' questions. He tried not to reflect to heavily on what had happened at Azkaban, not having the energy for deep thinking. He'd been there once before, but not in a situation like that. It gave him somehing of an idea of what his father had suffered through, and that was something he didn't want to dwell on.
Besides all that, he couldn't help but feel that the trip to Azkaban had been something of a fool's errand. They'd risked their own lives to bring one man to their cause? If he was even in a fit condition to serve the Dark Lord, it was unlikely that one extra person would make much of a difference. Then again, the Dark Lord had by extension ordered it, and Draco figured he'd be a lot better off not opposing the Dark Lord. With this in mind, he fell asleep.
//Albus//
Harry had showed up at the castle again today, for another meeting with the headmaster. As an afterthought, almost, he'd dropped into the dormitories to see James, and then Albus. The latter had patiently sat through lectures about manners, punctuality, the importantness of a good attitude. And the like. Now his father was grilling him on his emotions. "You don't mind not spending Christmas with us, do you, Al? That's not what all this is about?"
Albus glanced out the window. It was hardly the first week of December, and snowing lightly already. "No. I couldn't care less." A lie that became more true each day.
Harry pursed his lips. "Does this have anything to do with being put in Hufflepuff? Has James been teasing you? Remember what I said at King's-"
"Yes," said Albus impatiently, feeling his temper rising. "I remember what you said at King's Cross. Vividly. I have classes now. Bye!" He waved with emphasis and stalked out of the room. Staring at his son's retreating back, something that Albus' namesake had said years before floated back to Harry. You know, sometimes I think we Sort too soon.
(August 11, 2009 - 1:14 pm)
((Well, I needed a Patronus for her on the other RP, and I thought, "Hey, what better than a type of bird that is alternately known as the butcherbird?" and there you have it.))
(August 11, 2009 - 3:05 pm)
//Rabastan//
The newly liberated Death Eater was only vaguely aware of voices, and liquid of some kind being forced down his throat. He was slightly more cognizant of the light, and the subtle decrease in the pressure that had been encircling his chest for... well, for a while. He'd long since lost track of the days.
He could remember loud noises... and light... but there was something...
Rabastan opened his eyes and found himself staring up at the moth-eaten and dust-covered remnants of what had once been his own four-poster bed. A moment later he rolled his head around and saw his sister-in-law, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"Am I dead?" he asked wearily. It seemed the most logical explanation, if he wasn't in Azkaban any more.
Which he very clearly wasn't.
"No. At least, not that I'm aware." Bellatrix grinned at him suddenly. "Because if you're dead then I'm dead and I don't think I'm dead."
Rabastan blinked hard. Her logic was even harder to follow than usual. Probably the Dementors had something to do with it.
"So... I'm home?"
"What's left of it." Bellatrix shrugged. "Which isn't much, really."
He was suddenly aware of nearly excruciating hunger. "Is there food?"
"Mm-hm. Can you walk?" She extended a hand and half-dragged him to his feet.
Rabastan swayed slightly but stayed upright, then followed his sister-in-law down to the kitchen on slightly unsteady feet.
"What happened?" he asked, leaning slightly against the wall as he walked.
"We, um, broke you out," she replied.
"Well, yes, I got that, but why? Why now?"
Bellatrix swiveled her head to grin at him. "The Dark Lord's back."
"Wha-? But that's great!" Rabastan grinned in turn. He'd thought he'd simply been hallucinating when the Mark reappeared. Bloody Dementors, messing with his head. "But how- I thought- Wasn't he-? Does the Ministry know? What are we- What's going to happen now? And-"
"All in good time, Rab," Bellatrix said dryly. "All in good time."
Rabastan pulled a face. "Patience is not one of my virtues..." he muttered.
His sister-in-law only laughed. "You have so few of them, Rab, I'd hardly worry about that one."
"Who's here?" he asked. "Can you tell me that at least?"
"Well, there's the Dark Lord, obviously," Bellatrix grinned as they entered the kitchen and began to rummage through the cupboards as she spoke. "Sit. And there's me, and Draco, and now you..."
"That's it?" Surely the three of them weren't the only Death Eaters still around...?
"Well, as far as the old crowd, yes," Bellatrix passed him a tray laden with food which was at complete odds to the barren nature of the kitchen. "But there's also Draco's family... His wife, and his son Scorpius... A couple of students, Belinda and Oliver. And there's Wolfbar, who's a bit of a prat, really. As to the remaining Death Eaters... well, there's not many, and Draco was the only one to respond to the call anyway. Those who didn't will be taken care of in due time."
Rabastan grinned again between mouthfuls.
(August 11, 2009 - 3:34 pm)