Splinters
Quirinus and Nagini experience Voldemort's ire after a failed mission. Written for the prompt "falling asleep before midnight".
A spasm snapped my spine rigid and jolted me awake. The preternatural stiffness of Nagini in my lap suggested I wasn't the only one receiving my Lord's tender attentions this bright and sunny morning. My Lord?
You were asleep. I told you not to fall asleep before midnight.
But, my Lord, it was daybreak. The sun was just beginning to rise.
That shocked him. Both Nagini and I could feel it.
He smoothed it away with a practiced mental flick. It wasn't yet midnight. Midnight is when I say it is, little squirrel.
I didn't even begin to know how to answer that. I buried the thrill of fear that shot through me in the secret mental compartment I'd built in the last few days. It was a curious thing, that compartment - neither my Lord nor Nagini could feel it. It was a nice little splinter in my mind to call my own.
A word from my wayward studies in muggle psychopathology flickered and shivered in that splinter: schizophrenia. It was a word with icy promise and scalpel edges, spiced with just a hint of mania. Rather similar to the way Glacius smelled, when you twisted it with an Alveus and a splash of Fiendfyre.
I suppressed a giggle. We're all mad here.
What's that, Quirinus?
Quote from a Muggle author, my Lord. From a cat he wrote about, actually.
Nagini sniffed. I like cats. They're tasty.
I stroked a finger along her soft belly scales. Just don't let Filch hear you think that.
He can't hear me, silly. Only you and the master can.
Probably for the best. Only I truly appreciate your sense of humor.
Nagini licked my throat affectionately.
My Lord's will slapped against us both. Quiet. Your constant chatter is distracting. We have work to do right now.
I let my fingers slide gently along Nagini's back in a familiar calming rhythm. Which work is that, my Lord?
To bamboozle that idiot half-breed into revealing how to get past the overgrown cerberus, of course. Or is there some other life-or-death objective I should know about?
Nagini became very still and I swallowed hard. Hagrid didn't come. Before midnight or after. We'll have to try again...get better bait to lure him out.
A shudder roiled through all three of us as my Lord's fury broke in a scalding wave and then vanished as if it had never been. A hollowness followed, delicate as blown glass.
We all three breathed slowly together. My sympathetic nervous system had long since learned to handle two air passages utilizing my lungs. Neuroplasticity was truly an impressive thing. It was a damned shame I could never publish anything about the more intriguing side effects of my Lord's magical forays. The Annals of Neuromancy would have a bloody field day.
Well. We all had to learn to deal with disappointment. Another silent giggle echoed in the private splinter of my mind. Shhhh….enough of that.
"So," I murmured, "unicorn blood tonight?"
Nagini nodded. I think that would be best.