Drain All the Blood and Give the Kids a Shove
Lucius watched in amusement as the new recruits nervously entered the main hall in a single line. He sneered at the passing youths as he saw that they were pale and twitching. His face became blank as Draco enters last, closing the door behind him. Without any indication of the pain that he felt on his right arm, Draco stood straight, impervious to his surroundings, guarding the entrance. The soon-to-be Deatheaters huddled together in the center of the main hall.
From a dark corner of the room emerged Bellatrix Lestrange. She smirks as new recruits cower at her sight. One youth dared to look her in the eye. He cannot handle what he saw. Bellatrix' dark eyes held nothing but insanity and doom. With a flick of her wand, the daring recruit was thrashing on the ground. Bella hit him with the Crucio spell. She flicked her wand again and the spell stops. She cackles as the youth whimpers and staggers to get up.
"Draco, be a dear and help the child up," she says airily while doing a twirl in her navy gossamer v-neck gown. She skips to the middle of the group and starts randomly pushing the youths. "Ooh! Help them Draco, they're very clumsy!" she giggles. Draco makes no move to help anyone. Bella happily skips and kicks the young recruits while singing: one, two buckle my shoe.
"Enough Bella," Lucius says. "The Dark Lord will be here soon."
Bella stops to pout. "But I want to play!"
"No time for games. Entertain yourself later." Lucius says dismissively.
"I don't like your tone very much ickle Lucy," Bella says darkly. "Who do you think you are to berate me?" she hisses.
"It's Lucius, belly," he snaps. "Need I remind you of who owns the ground that you stand on? The food you eat? The bed that you sleep upon?"
The youths move closer to the doorway as the two adults bring out their wands. Lucius and Bella circle each other, snarling- almost feral. One could see death in their eyes; a hunger for destruction, misery, pain, humiliation… and limitless evil.
Draco shivers for he knew that look. Someone will die, if not now, then later. It may mean either one of them- which hasn't happened yet- or another unfortunate muggle or muggleborn. A mudblood will die. Inwardly, Draco is repulsed by what he witnesses. But survival instincts kick in and he puts on a smirk.
"Oh, a duel. What fun!" a voice hisses from main entryway.
Suddenly, both duelers stand straight to bow to the figure emerging from the doorway. "My Lord," says Bella. "My liege," says Lucius. My ass, Draco thinks as he bows his head.
The figure glides into the room and motions the young recruits forward. He directs the recruits to form a circle around Lucius and Bella. "Please, do not stop in my presence," the figure says circling them both."I haven't been quite entertained these past few days."
The figure chose a spot where he'll get to see everything. "Make sure someone loses an appendage." The figure hisses while stretching a slit that he calls a mouth in his face.
Bella was only too happy to grant the Lords wishes, but Lucius began to hesitate.
Draco knew that the Lord was somehow testing him. Voldemort chose a spot where Draco was directly in front of him. Draco was right, Voldemort wanted to see how he'd react.
Without restraint, Bella began to attack. She gleefully sent curse after curse to Lucius, not caring if it hit the recruits should Lucius dodge. It was obvious that Bella had the upper hand-for how can she not, when she is mad with need to be the Dark Lords favorite pet?
Lucius dodges as best as he could, but a few curses hit him- thought he did manage to hit Bella, it only served to further enrage her.
Draco, at least, manages to keep his face a mask of indifference as recruits and his father suffer his aunt Bella's madness.
"Enough," the Dark Lord commands. Bella stops instantly. She is out of breath and flushing with pleasure. She couldn't help the manic grin spreading across her face. Her eyes held nothing but pure adoration for her master.
Lucius stands with difficulty, for he was thrown across the room with Bella's last spell. He winces as he tries to straighten his back. He almost gives up, but the thought of defeat forces him to stand erect with the little dignity he has left.
Draco watches silently as the recruits who were unfortunate enough to be hit with wayward curses forced themselves to stand tall, even though they were clearly still feeling the after effects of the curses.
"Come hither young ones," the dark lord commands. "You have given me pleasure in both joining the cause and showing resilience to the onslaught of curses that hit you. For those, I commend you."
Draco stifles a scoff. He knew that the recruits were forced to join and that they were too scared to actually show pain in front of the Dark Lord. The recruits wince from time to time and one was even crying quietly, hiding behind others and bowing his head.
"You have done well Bella," Voldemort continues. "Your skills in dueling are still to be reckoned with." Voldemort turns to Lucius with evident displeasure. "And you, Lucius, shame me. To think that the man"-Voldemort says this with scorn-"of this house can't even duel with a woman properly. You've merely shown me cowardice." Voldemort scowls.
Bella was extremely pleased with herself, flushing with pride; Lucius hung his head, he knew that it would be futile to explain himself to the Lord unless asked to.
Draco just stood stoically at the door; he knows that the Dark Lord was currently gauging his reaction. Voldemort's red eyes were focused on Draco, waiting for any sign of what Voldemort considers as weakness. Draco hides his emotions well.