Chapter 8, Play Time
"I swear, that child is pure evil," Bellatrix hissed as Kreacher's hands lifted to cover his own ears when Sirius began scream-shouting about how he wanted the Santa ornament. The elf nodded in silent agreement as his eyes met Bella's. Clearly he was pleased to find understanding in her company.
"I feel sorry for Walburga," Rodolphus said. "She looks embarrassed."
Bellatrix nodded, cringing slightly and Kreacher found himself echoing the gesture. Rodolphus looked thoughtful. "Maybe we should offer to play with the brat for her. You know, to give her a break. None of us may be comfortable holding a baby as young and fragile as Regulus, but I could hold Sirius." His dark eyes flashed eagerly. Bellatrix and Kreacher exchanged a confused glance that Rodolphus did not miss. "Holding him would be a game," he explained carefully. "A squeezing game! He shall be a squeeze toy. Do you see?"
Bellatrix's mouth made a pleased silent O and little Rabastan giggled in open appreciation. "Are you in the mood to play with us if we invite sweet little Sirius along," Bellatrix asked Kreacher. Her sing-song tone made him smirk. He knew it was bad, wrong, but Sirius was so evil and he was so very tired of him. So very tired. Perhaps if the brat had a little training from Rodolphus he would learn to behave!
"Aunt Walburga!" Bellatrix sang out. "We could play with Sirius for you for a bit if you would like."
Emotional strain mixed with relief on Walburga's face as she gave Bellatrix a warm smile.
"Really? How wonderful! Thank you!" Rushing over to the children with Sirius in her arms, she glanced toward the still peaceful Regulus. "Good. I can sit with Regulus and try to enjoy the holiday for a change. You are all wonderful children."
That made Kreacher feel a bit guilty, but it did not stop him from allowing Bellatrix to drag him along by one arm. Rodolphus tugged at a grunting Sirius, who was of course resisting.
"Don't you want to play," Rabastan asked.
"He likely isn't accustomed to anyone wanting to play with him," Bellatrix said with a snicker.
"Here, allow me to make it easier for everyone," Rodolphus said, hefting Sirius up in his arms. "We're off to the play room!" He led the way, the others trailing eagerly behind. Once in the playroom, Bellatrix pushed the door closed and turned eagerly to Rodolphus who was still holding Sirius.
"That's right," Kreacher said. "Rodolphus Lestrange should not put young Master Sirius down unless he wishes his toys to be mistreated. Young Master Sirius is always banging and slamming his own toys and sometimes they break." Kreacher's gaze flicked around the room with its cozy colors of dark green, silver and black. There were several thick rugs strewn about on the floor. Two toy chests stood against the far wall. A stack of building blocks towered high in one corner and an old rocking horse ruled the center of the room.
"Little prat breaks my toys, I break him," Rodolphus said darkly, then grinned. Bellatrix giggled. Sirius grunted and squirmed, intent on getting away from Rodolphus. "Time to squeeze," Rodolphus said. "Sirius, I think you look just like a squeeze toy. Guess what you do with a squeeze toy, Sirius."
"DOWN!" Sirius screamed angrily into Rodolphus's face.
"What you do with a squeeze toy, Sirius, is you squeeze it," Rodolphus stated calmly. Kreacher felt his heart leaping in pure anticipation of what was to come, because Master Sirius deserved it. "Squeeze toys must be soft in the middle, else one can't squeeze them. Let's see how soft Sirius is," Rodolphus said. He squeezed Sirius. "Just squeezing a little now," he said as Sirius grunted and kicked. "I don't like being kicked," Rodolphus snarled. "Now I am squeezing harder!"
"Yes, do!" Rabastan clapped, jumping up and down. Bellatrix clasped her hands and smiled, dark eyes shining with happiness. Kreacher felt himself edging closer to take in the suffering on Sirius's face as the little prat's cheeks reddened even further with anger and he opened his mouth to scream.
"Down!"
Rodolphus squeezed harder and Sirius lunged for his face, teeth snapping like an angry dog. Rodolphus shook him. "Try and bite me, will you? I'll squeeze you until you snap in half!" He squeezed and Sirius screamed. "Some toys squeak when you squeeze them, and some scream," Rodolphus called over Sirius's noise with a laugh. Rabastan's hands came up to cover his own ears and soon Bellatrix followed suit.
"Kreacher!" She called. "Cover Roddy's ears, please. He can't." But Kreacher was busy covering his own ears at that point so pretended not to hear. He barely heard, after all, so that counted. Bellatrix did not insist upon the matter, so Kreacher was free to watch Sirius rage crying as Rodolphus chuckled and continued to squeeze him in short bursts."It's all a balance, you see," Rodolphus instructed loudly over Sirius's screams. His dark gaze flicked from Bellatrix to Rabastan to Kreacher, assuring himself that they were all listening before he continued. "It's about squeezing him hard enough to teach him a lesson but not doing true harm or even leaving a bruise. I really wanted to smack him when he tried to bite me, but that would leave a bruise, so a little shake works instead."He spoke as if instructing and they all watched and listened with riveted attention, clearly eager to learn. Though his expression was grave, the gleam in Rodolphus's eyes said clearly that he was as excited by this new game as the rest. Sirius was even excited, though not in the same way, Kreacher observed with a smirk as the child kicked and squirmed. It was deeply satisfying to watch him paying at least a little for being such a royal prat. With a sudden grin,Bellatrix dashed forward, snatching one of Sirius's kicking feet in her hand so that he could not move it.
"It isn't nice to kick at poor Roddy," she crooned. With a grin, Rabastan darted forward to catch Sirius's other foot just as the child gave a roar of rage and swung it up for a kick.
"Do. Not. Be. Bad!" As he shouted each word at Sirius, Rabastan gave the foot he held a firm tug with each word. Sirius screamed and began to cry, not enjoying the activity of being restrained and squeezed.
"It is how he makes everyone else feel all the time," Kreacher muttered morosely, glaring his resentment at Sirius. Unlike the others, he did not dare to touch the child, but watching him get what he had coming was most certainly cathartic. He did not know that word, but he understood the meaning even at the age of ten.
"I'm tired of his crying," Bellatrix complained. "Let's return him to Aunty. Then we can duel for a time before dinner. You will play, Kreacher. Sitting about with that baby can't be as fun as playing with us."
Kreacher gave her a dubious look, for it was quite pleasant sitting with the calm well behaved Master Regulus. Still they had helped to punish Sirius Black, so he would duel with them.
"Here. I shall take the prat back to Aunt," Bellatrix said, making a face as she released her grip on Sirius's foot. She reached to take said prat from Rodolphus as he kicked out at her with his now freed foot. "Prat," she hissed, reaching up to his head as she spoke and giving his thick curling dark hair a sharp tug. Sirius howled and tried to snap at her arm like the animal that Kreacher felt he was.
Bellatrix snatched his waist and swung him up-side-down so that his biting mouth could not reach her or anyone else. "Open the door for me, one of you," she said. All three moved to do so, but Rabastan got there first, flinging the door wide in his clear eagerness to be rid of Sirius. Bellatrix stalked out, head high, looking dignified even as she carried a squirming up-side-down Sirius. Kreacher, Rodolphus and Rabastan stood about shifting their feet in silence after Bellatrix had departed. Not speaking, they listened in relief as Sirius's rageful screams diminished in volume the further away he got. Eventually it was Rodolphus who spoke first. "How can a child be that bad? It seems to take such a great amount of effort, doesn't it?"
"It appears to come effortlessly to him," Kreacher muttered darkly.
Rodolphus nodded. "There's that."
Soon Bellatrix was back, closing the door firmly behind her with a sigh of relief. "I told Aunt he did not enjoy playing and tried to bite us so she smacked him," she said. A happy smirk curved her lips. "He deserves worse, so I think he got off easy."
"How was Master Regulus," Kreacher wanted to know.
Bellatrix shrugged. "He looked fine to me. He was not crying or biting, so I would say he's just grand." She came further into the room as she spoke. Approaching the toyboxes, she stopped in front of the first one and flung back the lid, bending to rummage about inside. Coming up with three toy wands of simple thin wood, she passed one to Rodolphus and one to Rabastan, keeping the third for herself. Of course Kreacher did not need one, a thing over which the others were always impressed. "I get Kreacher first," Rodolphus said."
Bellatrix shrugged. "Then me, then Rabastan." Rodolphus nodded, turning to face off against Kreacher as Bellatrix and Rabastan began to duel.
"Crucio, you're dead," Rabastan shouted and Bellatrix laughed. "That isn't how it works for so many reasons."
"Really try to block my levitation spell," Rodolphus told Kreacher. "I really hate the way you go easy on us. If anything happens you aren't in trouble."
Kreacher did not disbelieve him, but he always felt doubtful on the matter nonetheless. Perhaps Rodolphus would not mind, but his parents might. He sighed and nodded. When Rodolphus attempted to levitate him, he simply dissipated the spell. It was easy.
"But how," Rodolphus grumbled in clear frustration. "Can't you teach me?"
"Kreacher always tells Rodolphus Lestrange that he cannot teach him if he cannot see what Kreacher is doing."
Rodolphus sighed glumly. "True. You did say that before and I still didn't see you do a thing. I mean I saw that my spell did not work, but I did not see you counter it. I just know that you did because it did not work." He sighed."Let's go again then. And counter my spell slower this time. Perhaps then I can see what you are doing."
Kreacher nodded, trying not to feel bored as he wondered idly how dear Master Regulus was. Rodolphus had no more luck seeing his dissipation spell than Rabastan had in killing Bellatrix with a Crucio. Eventually they traded off partners. Rabastan and Rodolphus began levitating one another while Kreacher continued to extinguish Bellatrix's Lumos charm to her frustration. They had just switched partners again, with Bellatrix facing off against Rodolphus and Kreacher facing off against Rabastan when Esmay Lestrange called them to come and eat.
"Yes, Mum," Rodolphus called back. Grinning happily, he jogged over to the toy box to deposit the toy wands inside. "I'm starved! All that squeezing Sirius made me hungry!"
"I was gonna build a fort around Kreacher with the blocks, " Rabastan pouted.
"How is that a dueling move," Bellatrix asked, baffled.
Rabastan shrugged. "I didn't say it was. I just wanted to do it."
Kreacher chuckled. "Perhaps after we eat." The meal was good. Jackdaw was a good cook even if the Lestrange elf could have improved by allowing Kreacher to help out. Kreacher ate with him in the kitchen. He wanted to talk, but Jackdaw was silent, and somehow this left Kreacher with nothing to say. He could've talked about improving Jackdaw's cooking methods, but when he had done this before, the other elf had tossed him out of the kitchen quite literally.
Mistress Walburga had told Kreacher to eat, and doing this whilst being tossed out of the kitchen would be far too difficult. After dinner, the Lestrange boys and Bellatrix charged into the kitchen, dragging Kreacher back to the play room. Bellatrix and Rodolphus had their turn dueling one another while Rabastan gravely built a fort around Kreacher with his building blocks. Once he'd done, Kreacher made the blocks fly around Rabastan, and the youngest Lestrange laughed with glee as he attempted to catch them. For a time, Kreacher almost forgot about Master Regulus and simply enjoyed being a child with the other children.