Chapter 8, Everybody got this broken feeling
Of course Sirius Bloody Black's escape caused issues on several fronts. Everyone was validly enraged and trying to get out through the minute space at the bottom of their cell door, which was a no go. Most weren't Animagi, and those like he and Bella who were, couldn't find a grip on their magic through the blanket of dread the Dementors kept on the place. That meant no shifting into their animal forms. It didn't stop he and Bella trying fruitlessly for hours, though. Eventually Rodolphus gave up, sliding down the back wall of his cell to thump onto his bony arse with a groan of exhaustion. He couldn't do it! He couldn't even almost do it. To make matters worse, focusing on his body for so long in the attempt caused him to dwell needlessly on how thin it had become. So painfully thin. He could only imagine how rubbish he looked. He'd once been so proud of his broad muscular physique and now after over a decade of half starving in Azkaban, he was skin and bones. "You should just go. This is no life for you, Rabastan," he said suddenly. "Look, Bella and I won't take it as disloyal. You've waited and stuck it out far too long and we never wanted this for you."
"That's right," Bellatrix said. She sounded as tired from her own failed attempts as Rodolphus felt. "Get out of here, Rabastan. Go and be with Corvus. He shouldn't have to be alone." Rod smiled, pleased that Bella had pulled the family card, knowing how important it was to all of them. It just may get Rabastan out of here.
"Sod off both of you," Rabastan squawked. "I'm no quitter! I don't abandon ship."
"This hell isn't quitting, you idiot," Bellatrix snapped.
"Would you leave if you could and Roddy and I couldn't," Rabastan demanded.
"Of course not, but that's different," Bella said. Rod made a sound of agreement, too tired and despondent over his failures for words. Knowing that this was, at least in part, due to the influence of the damned Dementors didn't really matter at this point.
"I said sod off, and if you persist, I shall become fucking offended," Rabastan said. The three of them were quiet after that, listening to the shouts and screams of despair coming from the other cells as they processed that Sirius had gotten away while they never would. Eventually the ruckus caused one of the Dementors to pass their row of cells on the way to pay some stupid, unlucky bastard a visit. For an instant it paused, hovering in front of Rodolphus's cell. He could feel it pressing in on his mind. With a sudden flash of rage, he rose to his feet.
His frustrated rage had just found itself a target. "Expecto Patronum!" He roared at the dementor and felt a flash of satisfaction as a red fox streaked toward the thing's face. "Take that you bastard prick maggot," he snarled as the thing stumbled back. At least this spell still worked. It came from the soul, a more primitive form of magic than most. Considering that, it perhaps wasn't so surprising, Rodolphus thought, giving a huff of satisfaction at his victory.
"Roddy?" Bellatrix's voice was shrill with alarm. "Roddy?"
"It's alright, Babe. It is gone," he said. And the thing was. Off to get whoever it had originally been after, surely. "Not today, Muggle Fucker," he muttered, slumping back onto the ground with a strange feeling of triumph. "In fact, not bloody ever."
The next disruption over Sirius Black's escape came a few days later in the form of an Azkaban wide visit from Ministry officials. Though they questioned every prisoner, special attention was paid to the three Lestranges. Two men in Ministry robes came to question Rodolphus, Bellatrix and Rabastan together.
"Why did Sirius Black escape now in particular," the larger of the two asked, getting directly to it as he paced up and down in front of the line of their three cells.
"No fucking hello," Rabastan wondered. He'd shifted hastily back into his own shape when they heard the officials arrive, so they hadn't seen him as a raven. That was something, Rodolphus thought.
"If you do not answer our questions, thoroughly and honestly, we could pay a visit to your family members next." That pointed statement, not so subtly threatening their families, had come from the second and smaller official. Though he was short and slight of build, his face put Rod in mind of a pig, and a stupid one at that. He hated the man's face right away on a deep visceral level that surprised even him a little. He wanted to punch the little pig man's face all the way in. Wanted to punch it over and over until his fists bled for the unforgivable crime of threatening his family. "We have no fucking idea why Sirius Black did anything ever," he growled."He wasn't one of ours. Obviously this is a fact of which you are clearly unaware." To Rod's fury both Ministry officials showed clear doubt to his words on their faces. "You can give us Veritaserum," he suggested. They had nothing to hide, and taking Veritaserum could get this over with all the faster.
The larger man's eyes narrowed."We aren't stupid. Surely *He*, your lord, showed you tricks for overriding anything like Veritaserum. You aren't pulling one over on us that easily."
"What? You dumb fucker," Rabastan laughed. Rodolphus sighed. These were stupid Ministry officials who believed themselves to be smart. This was going to be a headache. Suddenly, he hated Sirius Black even more than usual. That fucker was never anything but trouble, even when he wasn't around!
"Why do you think he escaped now in particular," Bellatrix asked, calm interest in her tone rather than the rage one might expect. Rod found himself leaning forward in interest for the answer to that question.
"That's why we're here, see," Little pig man replied. "For the answer to that question. We figured you lot would be the ones to ask. No one else here noticed anything useful, and as we expected, they know nothing. You lot, though. You are the top cat Death Eaters, so you know."
"Top ravens," Rabastan snickered. "It's top ravens."
The two officials exchanged a bemused look, but Bellatrix spoke again before they could ask another stupid ass question.
"My family disowned Sirius years ago because he is a shame, and an embarrassment to us. Whatever he is doing, for whatever reason, none of us would know, and it has nothing to do with our Lord."
"You can stop now, because we don't believe you," the larger official said. As he spoke, he took a firm step in the direction of Bellatrix's cell. Rodolphus growled, rising to his feet. The bastard had better stay away from his wife. "We know Voldemort has returned. There have been activities. We cannot risk making this known to the public yet, of course, but we are aware. Now. As all cards are on the table, this will go far faster and more smoothly if you start telling us the truth." Rodolphus felt his eyes widening in shock as his lips parted wordlessly. Bellatrix and Rabastan must be showing their shock just as clearly for the Ministry officials suddenly looked crestfallen as they exchanged a glance. "They don't know," gasped the little piggy. His clear shock may have amused Rodolphus if he wasn't busy being shocked his damn self.
"He returned and didn't fucking come for us," Rabastan exclaimed.
"But we did everything right," Bellatrix said, her voice cracking. "but..."
It was all so hard to take in. "How can you be certain," he demanded of the officials.
"We are here to get answers, not to give them," Piggy said peevishly.
"We believe you, though," the bigger official said, turning away. "Come on," he told Piggy. "Clearly they know nothing."
Rodolphus glared after the two as they departed. Not only had they enraged him by threatening family, but they'd left the three of them with questions and doubts that they'd never had before. The certainty that their lord would free them from this place was what had kept them going. It had given them the strength and fortitude to survive this place. Now all they had was doubt and confusion, and that was not good.
"They're lying," Bellatrix insisted desperately.
"They were shocked that we didn't know," Rod told her flatly. "They weren't lying. Hopefully they were misinformed, but to their knowledge, they weren't lying."