This is part 1 of 2 because I had a lot to shove into this chapter...enjoy!
"Good morning little one."
Antonin grinned and perched himself on the edge of his cot, anxious to get his plan in motion. He had mixed feelings about Lucius informing Nagini, and the dark lord by extension, of their plan. Sure it made them sound good but what if something fell through with Lilith? They would look like complete buffoons and likely incur his wrath. It was more important than ever that he made this work.
"Good morning Antonin. You seem like you're in a chipper mood today." which loosely translated into, what are you up to? It was the cheshire cat smile that tipped her off.
"A healthy meal will do that for a man." he replied with another smile, hand absently rubbing at his dark mark.
Lilith pretended not to notice but was very aware that all of the men had been itching at their dark marks for days. They tried to be subtle about it, turning away and rubbing furiously at their arm when they thought she wasn't looking. And because not a one of them had asked for a potion to help with the discomfort Lilith was starting to get suspicious. Her knowledge of the marks was limited, only that it was from their dark lord and had much to do with the wizard wars. She would definitely need to research it further.
"I'm glad you're feeling well." Lilith replied casually though she did feel a sense of pride knowing that she was actually helping them.
"What sort of wand do you use?" Antonin asked nonchalantly as the medi-witch put the muggle device to his chest.
He suppressed a sigh as his body relaxed, he'd been merely tolerant of her examinations at first but had actually begun to like them. Anytime her fingers touched him they sent tingles rippling across his skin and set it aflame. The sensations made him feel alive.
Lilith quirked a black brow at him, meeting his eyes for a just a moment as she moved the device to his back, but whatever he was thinking was well masked.
She'd broken her own rule that morning and started with Dolohov, so she wouldn't have to face Fenrir or Rabastan too soon, but was suddenly regretting her choice.
"Vine." she replied at last, deciding that knowing what wood she had wasn't going to hurt anything. "What makes you ask?"
"Missing my own wand." Antonin told her with a hint of sadness in his voice that surprised them both. "Yew." He badly missed holding that power and security in the palm of his hand.
"An excellent wand for dueling, I've heard."
"I can verify that." Antonin laughed wistfully. He was almost giddy to return to Dolohov estates and collect his prized wand. "What core do you have?"
Lilith would be done soon, he needed to stop daydreaming about his own wand and somehow turn the conversation towards tutoring her without sounding suspicious. It had sounded easy enough in his head… He looked up at Lilith through his too long, dark brown bangs, blowing them out of the way in annoyance.
"Dragon."
It felt a little wrong to be conversing with a DeathEater as if they were two normal people out on the streets but it wasn't as if she was arming him with top secret info. There was nothing he could do with her wand since she always left it locked in her office.
"Same as mine." finally, that was his in! "Temperamental though, prone to accidents."
Lilith blushed a little, recalling how she'd mistakenly turned her chocolate frog into a real one the other night. It had shaken itself out of its little wrapper and hopped off the table forcing her to chase it around a bit to turn it back. When she'd finally caught up with it Lilith had felt decidedly guilty about changing it back and eating it so she'd just let it go free outside.
Dolohov leaned in a bit closer.
"I could help you with your accidental bouts of magic you know, I used to suffer from them myself." he whispered conspiratorially.
Her wandless magic must have been tied to her emotional state, he'd decided after many days of thought. If he could help her get around that, force the magic to respond to will instead of emotion, there would be no stopping the young witch.
"Nothing to worry about." she replied dismissively, though inwardly her pulse had kicked up instantaneously, and strung the stethoscope around her neck.
"That was quite the episode though Lilith." he pressed, making his voice soft with innocent concern. "You don't want to send people flying every time you get upset."
Lilith pulled back quite suddenly with a sharp intake of breath, as the memory of that day, the anger, embarrassment and fear of what she'd done came flooding back, but not before he felt the zing of magic surge through her fingers. She hastily brought her slacked jaw up into a tight smile so that others wouldn't notice she'd faltered. The magic however still hung between them like the shock of static electricity and the sparkle in Antonin's eyes promised that he was never going to let it go.
What was happening to her, had he done that or had she? That was twice in as many weeks and both times in front of men who would eat her alive for her weakness.
Ok, act normal, don't let them see you panic, not again.
"Thank you, no." the witch said quietly and straightened up. "All done then, any aches or pains?"
Please say no, please say no, Lilith prayed, eyes studying her black and white sneakers. She just needed to be away from him, to move onto Rodolphus who really didn't affect her one way or the other. His hostility was grounding in a way, she didn't give a shit if he hated her, so she didn't have to think or feel anything in his presence. It was the same with Lucius and his cold indifference.
Lilith forced herself to take a deep breath to calm the panic welling up inside her wishing that she were anywhere but Azkaban in that moment. Dolohov followed her to the door which suddenly seemed a million miles away, a knowing look in his devious eyes.
"Keep the offer in mind, yeah?"
He smiled with the perverse pleasure of having been the cause of another mishap. If he made her fear this unbridled power enough Lilith would soon be begging for his help.
Lilith didn't reply as she snatched her hand off the cell door, allowing Longbottom to close it instead, and causing Antonin to miss when he reached out with the intention of touching her fingers one last time. Fuck that power had felt good, his body was humming from head to toe.
She'd avoided looking at Rabastan on the way in, a blush lurking beneath her ivory skin and threatening to expose Lilith the moment she entered floor five, but could avoid it no longer. Rodolphus, Lucius and Draco's visits had gone far too quickly and now she was at Rab's door wondering if it would just be easier to swallow her pride and go home. Lilith had thought about their kiss far too many times more than she should have, which if she were honest should have been zero. Rabastan was waiting at the rear of the cell and had been pacing until she stepped up to the bars. He paused mid step and stared wordlessly, drinking her into the depths of his tumultuous eyes.
Lestrange was tired and wiry from two sleepless nights spent thinking about his witch and finally there she was like a breath of fresh air, a dream among nightmares and his heart just about stopped as she stepped into his cell. After a long moment of staring at Lilith like a complete fool Rabatan sat stiffly on his cot. She approached with a beautiful, albeit unsure, smile.
"Morning Rabastan." Lilith said softly, hoping her cheeks didn't look as hot as they felt.
Her hair was tied up into a bun, although a few rogue curls had escaped and cascaded down her graceful neck and he couldn't help but think about brushing his lips from her ear down to shoulder blade and back.
"Lilith." was all he could manage.
Everything he'd thought about saying, every warning, every subtle little phrase he'd come up with to warn her without sounding suspicious just flew out the window. Lilith pulled out her muggle tools and began her examination, using great care to avoid Rab's eyes and lips. Rabastan was ruggedly handsome beneath his shaggy black hair and scruffy beard and though it hadn't gone unnoticed before, it was now glaringly obvious. The witch silently chided herself for acting like a hormonal teenager. He wasn't handsome, he was a DeathEater, he was in prison, what was wrong with her?
Say something damnit, something professional!
"I trust you're feeling better from the other day?" Lilith placed the listening device to his lightly haired chest.
Rabastan shook his head to clear away all the thoughts of things that were never going to happen and forced himself to smile.
"Much better, thank you." he swallowed the insane amount of spit in his mouth and gathering up his courage, continued. "So that potion you talked about the other night, for my episode…" he raised his brows and waited a moment to see if Lilith was going to follow his lead.
Her brow furrowed for just a moment but then understanding lit up her minty eyes.
"Yes, did you need it?"
Lilith had no inkling as to where this was going but something about the way he looked at her when he'd said the words indicated that this was dire. Was he trying to covertly continue their conversation from the infirmary? Why was she even entertaining this?
Rabastan looked around quickly at the others and though no one seemed to be paying them any attention he knew he still needed to be very careful. DeathEaters were stealthy by nature, even his brother couldn't be trusted with this.
"Not now, no. But I just wanted to make sure that you still had it at home should I need it again. Do you live close enough that you could run home to get it if needed?"
Rabastan's heart was pounding so madly from the worry that the others would catch on that he started feeling a little woozy. He felt like the cell bars were pressing down on his body and half suffocating him. The dark lord wouldn't take kindly to him warning away the newest recruit which, thanks to Lucius, he knew was coming. If Lilith escaped and one of the others ratted him out Rabastan would likely be cruciatus'd right out of his mind. With the way he was feeling however that probably wouldn't take long at all.
So there they were again, was he trying to secure a promise that she'd go or something? Why was he still trying to deceive her, was it some cruel joke? Had they all concocted one big plan to drive Lilith absolutely bonkers? Because quite frankly it was working!
"Of course I would run home and return with it. It wouldn't take me long at all to return." The younger Lestrange felt his heart drop at the way her eyes seemed to emphasize the word 'return'. How was he ever going to convince Lilith of his good intentions?
"Rab, you're eating into my time with the missus." Thorfinn broke in from next door, his face suddenly right up against the bars and staring intently at the pair. He sensed that perhaps there was a deeper meaning to their quiet words and needed to break it up. If one of the Malfoys turned Lestrange in there would be hell to pay. "Come on over love." he crooked a finger at the witch and smirked.