Written for the Battlefield Wars, for Team "After All This Time?" "Always."
Prompts: Barty Crouch Jr, Lily Evans.
The characters unexpectedly bump into each other somewhere
(word) Imprisoned / (word) Cloaked / (word) Floral / (emotion) Gleeful / (colour) Plum / (colour) Topaz / (word) Sentiment / (object) Birdcage / (word) Sparkle / (dialogue) "Why would you think that I wouldn't want to be with you?" / (emotion) Devotion / (word) Psychotic / (poem) A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allen Poe / (word) Extreme
Also used the lyric prompt, "All I wanted was you," by Paramore, for my own challenge on HPFC.
Warnings: Haha, oh God. If you are a child, or don't like sensitive themes, back away. This is not for you. Rape, Torture, Sadism, Psychological abuse. Or not...
The Flower In The Cage
The last of the autumn leaves rustled down the pavement in the light breeze, obscuring the footfalls of the cloaked figure making its way through the darkness. The streetlights flickered with an electric hiss before petering out, plunging the quiet street into the sparkle of the moonlight. As the figure turned to observe the street, looking for the hint of movement, a single strand of hair fell loose over a shoulder, shining red where it caught in the ethereal glow. The figure made for the corner at a heightened pace, wary and alert, when it collided with something solid that had been moving in the opposite direction.
The figure stepped back, wand raised, peering into the shaded face of the other soul who deemed fit to be out so early in the morning.
"Evans," the man spat out, eyes bored and brown as they bored into hers. Eyes she would recognise anywhere.
"Crouch," she scowled back, wand inching higher, ready to strike. He smirked, the infamous Barty Crouch Jr smirk, and Lily wondered what was coming next. If the rumours were to be believed, he'd become psychotic, worse than he'd ever been when she was at Hogwarts. Psychotic people were dangerous, in Lily's eyes; they were unpredictable.
"A fine time of night to bump into each other, don't you think?" he asked, twirling his wand in his fingers as he admired the stars.
"It's three o'clock in the morning," she stated.
"Exactly."
"Shouldn't you be at school?" she asked him.
He sighed. "That place is somewhat limited, don't you think?" he asked, with a casual air that put Lily on edge.
She said nothing, staring at him, waiting for him to make his move.
"Not in a chatty mood, then? No matter," Barty smirked at her, flipping his wand silently. Lily stared in shock as her wand flew from her hand before she'd even had the chance to defend herself. "Neither am I."
When Lily woke up, everything felt perfect. She smiled, holding back a laugh, as she admired the thick metal bars surrounding her. Evenly spaced, they rose up to a dome, meeting together directly above the bed she was lying on. Symmetrical, beautiful. Like a birdcage. Looking down, she stared at the silken plum sheets, wondering if she had ever seen anything so glorious. Only as she made to stand did she notice the floral dress she was wearing, long and beautiful with shades of topaz and cerulean. She didn't think she'd ever been so happy, but she found her memories were hazy, as if a film had been placed over them. She found that she didn't mind it all that much, as she considered that none of them could compare to her current state of bliss.
A harsh grating sound came from behind her and she turned to face its source. There he stood, Barty Crouch Jr, smouldering and tall, opening the door to allow himself in and locking it behind him, all the while staring at her.
She decided then that she loved it when he stared at her. She felt so wonderfully exposed under his gaze as she smiled at him through heavily lidded eyes.
"Barty," she breathed, noting how perfect the word sounded as it fell from her lips. She never wanted to stop saying his name.
He walked over to her and stopped when he drew near, though Lily still ached; there was too much space between them. He reached out to stroke a hand through her hair, watching it fall through his fingers.
"Do you want me?" he asked, his eyes hard. She knew she must give the right answer.
"All I wanted was you," she told him, feeling the words inside of her like they were a knowledge so profound they transcended her very being.
He smiled, and Lily was glad, happier than she ever remembered feeling. She wanted to paint that smile on the inside of her eyelids so she could fall asleep to memories of his affection.
"What if that's a lie?" he asked.
Lily let her jaw drop open in shock. Did he not see the sincerity in her eyes? Did he not know?
"Why would you think that I wouldn't want to be with you?" she asked, incredulous, her voice light. She couldn't find it in herself to be angry with him.
He leaned forward and kissed her, a fleeting kiss, and Lily leaned into it, starving for more. It confused her how the kiss felt so familiar, so welcome, and yet so alien at the same time. It was like there was a part of her, somewhere, fighting against her primal instincts.
"I don't understand. I don't remember…" she began, frowning a little.
"Do you think you have to understand?" he asked.
Her frown immediately disappeared, and she looked at him with a smile, as if his question had solved everything. "No," she told him, wrapping her arms around him. She was euphoric when he didn't push her away. Instead, he let her pull him down onto the bed, on top of her, licking his lip as she smiled in her devotion.
He made slow work of undressing her, savouring every image with hunger in his eyes, and she let him see. He was the only one she wanted to see her like this. He was allowed to look, to enjoy. As she began to feel nauseated, she quelled fears with the belief that she was nervous only because she loved him.
She loved him. In that moment, she felt sure of nothing else. As he entered her, her gasp was not one of pain, but of pleasure. She knew nothing was more perfect than now.
Satiated and sweaty, Lily lay in his arms as he lit a cigarette and an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty rushed over her. It was as though she was slipping out of consciousness into a world of opposites, where she did not love him, and this was not happiness.
"What is this? Where are we?" she asked, sitting up a little.
He immediately began to stroke her hair, muttering something that sounded like Latin, and hushed her, calming her.
"It's but a dream within a dream."
She smiled then, knowing it was true. A lifetime with him would only ever be a dream, come true before her very eyes.
She fell asleep in his arms content, though when her eyes flew open, the same sense of dread took over her. She looked into the face of her lover, panicked, searching his features for his most attractive parts. His strong jaw, his soft skin: everything that she knew she loved. But somehow, she felt it all slipping away. It was as though a glass roof was shattering, like her love and life were a million grains of dry sand: the harder she tried to hold onto them, the faster they fell through her fingers, the cracks she couldn't even see.
"Barty," she whispered, anxiety rising as she found the air around her too heavy to breathe. He sat up immediately, whispering that same phrase, and she found that all was well again.
"Thank you," she sighed, though she could no longer remember exactly what it was she was thanking him for.
He kissed her, a deep, bruising kiss, and she let herself relax, giving into him entirely once more.
"Lily, I want you to be with me forever," he told her between kisses he planted on her neck.
The sentiment was almost more than she could bear.
The next time she woke, it was dark, and she had the sinking feeling that she was alone. As the panic rose within her once more, she called out for him, her companion, and was met with silence.
She pictured his face in her mind, hoping the memory would bring comfort until he returned, knowing that he would. He had to. But instead of comfort, the memory brought her dread. She remembered him, not as he had been in their birdcage, but in a uniform, black and green, smirking at her. No, no it wasn't real. That was a nightmare, nothing more.
But more memories came back. She drew her knees up to her chest as the sobs began to wrack her frame. Faces, so many faces: her enemies and her friends. Barty had never been her friend. The realisation was so extreme, it shattered everything she thought she knew.
She had been imprisoned in a perfection he had created, and as the thought took over within her, she found herself suddenly retching onto the silken sheets.
As her real life began to came back to her, from her earliest memories to that dark street corner, she found her memories of this place, this cage, suddenly felt so very far away. She couldn't forget a second of it, but she found herself wondering if it had all been a dream, just like he'd said. She wondered if she really had been happy.