Lucius used a spell that woke Eris up. She yelped when she saw him standing in front of her and acted rather confused. She didn't know what this was all about. She remembered hearing someone entering the room but she never got to see her attacker before she fell unconscious on the floor.
"I don't want to hear one word from you. Understood?" Lucius hissed at her.
Eris softly nodded in reply. Her eyes quickly flashed around the room as if looking for something or someone.
"Your little friend there seems to like playing games with other people. Let's see if she'll enjoy this as well," Lucius smirked.
"Get up, Dahlia!" Lucius roared turning towards where she was sitting on the floor. "I want you to enjoy all of this."
Moving very slowly, Dahlia stood up, shivering out of fear for what exactly it was that he wanted her to 'enjoy'. Different scenarios crossed her mind. Would he rape her like in her nightmare? Would he rape Eris? Or both? Was he going to kill them? After starring at her own bare feet for a few seconds while these thoughts played in her head, she looked up and met his cold eyes.
A menacing grin appeared on his lips as he raised his wand and cast the Cruciatus curse on Eris. Dahlia wanted to shout something as Eris' cries of pain echoed through the entire apartment. Anything would do just to make him stop. Just when she was about to open her mouth, she felt the curse flowing through her own body and fell down onto the floor. She writhed and screamed out in pain for what seemed to be an eternity although she never saw him cursing her.
She couldn't hear Eris' screams anymore and saw Lucius' feet next to her face. Dahlia was still in extreme agony but soon felt the spell leaving her body in the same mysterious way that it had entered.
"A marvellous poison don't you agree?" he smirked as he mockingly looked at his wedding ring.
"What are the effects?" she asked him again in a soft whisper.
"Now now, Dahlia, haven't I told you that you ought to find out for yourself?" he replied.
"Yes, Lucius," Dahlia whispered.
She only stared at his shoes. She simply couldn't stand to look into his eyes anymore. They had been so beautiful and intriguing a few nights ago but now she feared them. His gaze was so cold and filled with hatred, yet she still wasn't sure why he was doing this. He couldn't have found out about the bet, could he? And would he torture her just for that? And why involve Eris in this; she had nothing to do with it.
Lucius' voice stopped her train of thought. She realized that she hadn't spoken or moved for over a minute. A short period of time in a person's lifetime but painfully long surrounded by awkward silence like this and certainly with Lucius Malfoy staring down on her.
"Well, it seems you still haven't figured it out. You obviously need another lessen," he smirked.
Dahlia saw by the movement of his feet that he had turned around. She heard him casting the Crucio curse again but just like before, she didn't feel its effects immediately. Then she heard Eris screaming again with the little strength she had left. The curse was slowly draining the life out of Eris and Dahlia knew that too. Her parents were loyal followers of the Dark Lord so she had seen and learned a lot about the Dark Arts.
Then the curse hit her again. The pain flowed through her body as if someone had injected an ice-cold fluid in her veins. Every inch of her body ached terribly. Her own voice was growing hoarse as she screamed out her agony.
The pain left again but only to make place for a new feeling, nausea. As fast as her sore body allowed, she sat up and threw up everything that hadn't been digested yet. A new shock of horror and fear rushed through her when she saw that she hadn't thrown up on the floor but on Lucius' black leather boots.
Dahlia heard him hiss and swear under his breath as he kicked her in the stomach with such force that she couldn't breathe for several seconds. She fell onto her side and coughed as she clutched her belly. Tears shed in silence rolled over her cheeks.
Suddenly, Lucius strode out of the room and into the bathroom. Dahlia assumed that he left to clean his boots and took the advantage of his absence to sit up on her knees and try to see Eris. She was unconscious again. Dahlia was happy that she was still alive as she saw her friend's chest fall and rise, even if it was slowly.
"Your friend won't be able to bear much more. She's losing this game," Lucius said.
"Why are you doing this?" Dahlia asked.
She now assumed that it was all about the bet although she still hadn't figured out how he could've found out.
"You really have no idea, do you?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Dahlia only shook her head in reply. She could've told about the bet but if that was not the reason, she would be in much more trouble - if that was even possible now.
"It seems that beside your lusts, you can't control your temper or your voice. Poor Darius' honour was shattered when he heard that I took you to heaven and back - twice. Oh, I don't think I've thanked you for the nice compliment on my arse," he sneered.
Dahlia's eyes widened when she heard Lucius repeating the exact same words she had spit at her father. She now wished that she had kept her voice down and if she had been able to control her anger, then she wouldn't have told her father so much.
"How did you find out?" She finally asked the question that had troubled her mind all night.
"I was waiting for Darius in a drawing room for a meeting, and it just so happened that you chose to have your row outside that room. You brought yourself into this. Now I want to hear the entire story and I recommend you to tell the truth. Unless you want more of this game of course," he smirked.
Dahlia shook her head and began to reveal everything. She knew that if she wouldn't, he could force her to drink Veritaserum or kill Eris to make her tell the truth. By the time she finished the story, she looked up in his eyes and saw his hatred and fury flare up again.
"I'm sorry, Lucius. I thought you'd never find out that it was all a bet," Dahlia whispered.
Without saying a word, he walked around her and kicked her so hard in the back that she fell over on her face. He placed his boot between her shoulders, pinning her down on the floor.
"You should've thought about that before you fucked with a Malfoy," he hissed.
She then heard him casting the Crucio curse for the third time but just like before, it took a few seconds before she felt the pain again. This time, it was even harder to bear the pain since she couldn't move freely. The ability to move didn't take away the pain, but being pinned down like this wasn't much of an improvement either.
When he lifted the curse, she heard him chuckle so coldly that it even made it all worse. When she at last stopped screaming hoarsely, he removed his boot and she vomited again. Only this time, it was all blood. Her body was being destroyed from the inside out.
Lucius rolled her over with his boot and crouched down next to her. He removed a few strains of hair in her face with the tip of his wand.
"So, have you already figured out what the poison does?" he asked.
Dahlia kept silent for a short time. Mainly to give her body time to recover from the last curse but to ponder his question as well. Then she sat up straight to answer him face-to-face.
"Every time you curse Eris, it reflects upon me so I feel the same effects," she concluded.
"Yes, but there's more. If anyone tries to curse me or one of my family members within one mile of myself, you will endure those effects as well. I am the only one able to lift its consequences from you. Therefore, if someone would attempt to kill me by using the Avada Kedavra curse, you will die too since I can't stop it. In case someone uses Crucio on me, you'll feel it too until I am able or willing to lift it. Interesting, don't you agree?" he smirked.
"What are you going to do now? Kill us?" Dahlia asked.
"Alas, I cannot kill you, Dahlia. Your family is far too important to the Dark Lord and I don't think that Darius would like it if I were to kill you. Besides, this is much more fun. Wherever you go, I could show up and you'll never know what I'll be up to," he mocked.
"Why did you punish Eris as well? She had nothing to do with this. She didn't even like the idea to begin with," Dahlia said.
"Let's just say that she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong moment. She simply was very useful for me," Lucius said rather matter-of-factly.
He stood up and straightened his robes as he continued talking.
"You probably don't realize it Dahlia, but you've just proven once more what a powerful family you're from. They probably wouldn't be able to overpower me but you have obviously inherited the strong body of the Rohart family. Your friend on the other hand was less fortunate. She's dead."