The Lestranges used the Floo to get home, too tired to Apparate safely. The day's work had been taxing to say the least. Grindelwald had trained them in dispersion walls and other interesting blocking wards, many of which when struck by magic caused the magic to explode or rebound on the caster. Such tricks certainly made one feel safer, but learning them, casting them, and at last holding them in place for prolonged periods was certainly draining!
Bellatrix stepped out of the hearth in the library and gratefully collapsed into the nearest chair.
"Do you think Grindelwald gets tired too, or is he just like a bloody magical battery," Lyra asked, stumbling a little in her exhaustion as she left the fireplace, dusting soot from her orange skirt.
Bellatrix opened her mouth to ask her daughter why she felt the need to dress like a fucking pumpkin but shut it again, too tired even to be properly bitchy.
"He isn't a man," Rabastan said dramatically. "He's pure magic made flesh, or perhaps a Lethifold!" Lyra giggled. "Want a drink," Rabastan asked, glancing around the room to include everyone in the offer.
"No, and neither do you," Bellatrix snapped. "You have to wake up and go into Azkaban tomorrow, if you recall."
That had been the order from Romeo Valdez for tomorrow's activities. They were to play with the prisoners and make sure none would defect to Delphini, if ever given the opportunity. Though the prison had wards upon wards, one could never be too safe. Romeo had asked the Lestranges if they believed they could make the prisoners too terrified to follow Delphini even if given the opportunity. Of course they could!
For once, Bellatrix was excited about the prospect of going into Azkaban. For the Lestrange family, torture had become an art, a beautiful painting of pain to work on the mind and body of each victim. My, how she had missed being creative! Working Shadow Ops hadn't provided much opportunity for torture. It was all about killing, and that was all well and good, but the art involved in that was so short lived. Of course, when one needed a quick release of anger, or to make a lovely point, killing was perfect, but if one wanted a prolonged activity...
"I am not going to work with you tomorrow," Lyra said firmly. Bellatrix sighed, too tired to fight. The Rodolphus-like firm set of Lyra's chin said she would make it an issue if anyone tried, and Bellatrix didn't care enough at present. Her daughter did need to learn the joys and benefits of torture, but if tomorrow wasn't to be that day, so be it.
"What will you do while we're at work, then," Rodolphus asked and Lyra shrugged. "Unwinding sounds nice," she said drily.
"You sure you don't want to come in with us," Rabastan asked his niece. "You're missing a grand opportunity to learn how to make sure a person will always do exactly what you want without the involvement of an Imperius Curse."
Lyra's eyes widened incredulously. "So you're saying that torturing someone with Unforgivables, and worse, is preferable to hitting them with the Imperius Curse?"
Rabastan shrugged. "It's certainly more fun! But yes, I am saying that torture is better... The Imperius Curse can be lifted, but the shit we will do to them tomorrow will NEVER fade!"
"I suppose not," Lyra said with a shudder. "I am not going to that place, though! I can just imagine how foul the energy is there with all those miserable prisoners who will be made a lot more miserable tomorrow by the three of you! All that will gunk up my Aura for weeks, and I'm not interested in feeling yucky for that long."
"Gunk up your what," Rodolphus asked, blinking at Lyra as if she'd just proclaimed herself to be an alien. Bellatrix understood his sentiment well!
"My Aura," Lyra enunciated carefully. "Please tell me you learned about Auras in school," she begged.
"What the fuck was she learning in Australia," Rabastan asked with a snicker, casting a gleeful glance at Bellatrix and Rodolphus that had Bellatrix itching to draw her wand on the little shit.
"In fact, we never studied Auras," Bellatrix told Lyra with a frown. "What the hell are they, anyway?"
Lyra heaved a sigh and clutched at her head. "An Aura is the unseen spiritual energy field that surrounds all living things. I have one, you all have one, your Acromantula friend has one," she said, casting a glance at Rhadamanthus. The spider's hulking bulk took up the corner of the room nearest the door, and Bellatrix had basically forgotten he was present. As he was generally silent, it was all too easy to do so in spite of his size.
"That sounds rubbish," Rodolphus scoffed. Harold entered the room then, announcing dinner.
"Do you know what Auras are," Lyra asked him hopefully. "Please tell me elves are a bit more enlightened than wizards!"
The elf's expression could not be seen under the plague doctor mask he wore, but he gave his head a slow shake. "Harold apologizes, but he has never heard of this Aura."
"Apparently it is the unseen spiritual energy field that surrounds all living things," Rabastan drawled.
"Interesting," Harold said. He bowed slightly and left the room.
"You have a nice, strong, powerful Aura," Lyra called after the elf. "That's a true feat since you deal with them daily!"
Bellatrix rolled her eyes, following the elf from the room. "Dealing with us isn't a problem for him. Unlike you, he knows how to behave."
"So, not only do you know what these Auras are, you can apparently see them," Rabastan asked. He, Rod, and Lyra were trailing Bellatrix toward the dining room. No one was moving very quickly as they were all thoroughly exhausted..
"Oh, yes," Lyra replied, nodding. "We learned how to do that in school. I think it was my third year. Auras are very important. You can work some rather nasty magic on a person's Aura, but you can also tell a lot about a person by looking at it."
"Like what," Rodolphus asked skeptically.
Lyra gave him a sidelong glance, frowning. "Well, yours doesn't look very clean, to be honest. Mum's is worse, and Uncle Rabastan's is the best-looking, though that isn't saying much as his doesn't look great either!" Her frown deepened as they entered the dining room, and she regarded Rodolphus and Bellatrix thoughtfully, her head tilted to the side rather like a bird… A Lestrange raven, perhaps?
"Actually, that's not quite right," she said, taking a seat at the table. "It isn't that yours is better," she told Rabastan. "The damage is just…more subtle. All of you could use a good cleansing."
"Wait, you said one could do a lot of harm to a person through their…Aura," Rabastan asked, and Lyra nodded. "So we could fuck Delphini up through her Aura?"
Now Bellatrix was interested. "Probably," Lyra said. "If we can get close enough without her fucking us up first."
"This is definitely something we should share with Grindelwald," Rabastan said excitedly. "If you don't want to come with us for torture and cookies at Azkaban tomorrow, perhaps you should go to the Ministry and mention this Aura business to the Minister, or Grindelwald, or at least Valdez."
"I still can't believe you lot weren't taught anything about Auras," Lyra marveled, giving her head a baffled shake.. "But yeah, okay, sure I'll go to the Ministry and tell them whatever you want me to. I'm saying you sent me, though. So if they're not in the mood to hear me out, or something, they'll know who to bitch at."
"Sure, whatever," Rabastan said, shrugging dismissively. "So, how does one learn to see these Auras anyway? And what do they look like?"
"Well, as far as learning to see them, one must learn to open their third eye and, at least in part, see through that. It's sort of like looking sideways. As for what they look like, each Aura is like a bubble of energy that surrounds every living thing. It can be different colors, and levels of transparency, and all of that is indicative."
"Of what," Bellatrix asked around a bite of venison.
"A lot of things," Lyra said. "One's magical strength, one's health, one's state of mind... Sometimes you can even pick up psychic impressions about a person through their Aura if you have the ability to read it."
"Still sounds rubbish to me," Rodolphus complained. "Like a lot of silly hocus pocus."
"That's what Muggles say about our magic, and you, like them, are wrong," Lyra chastised.
"Do Muggles have Auras," Rabastan asked.
Lyra sighed. "Is a Muggle a living thing, Uncle?"
Rabastan grinned. "Sometimes...until we get our hooks into them. The only good Muggle is a dead Muggle, you know," he opined.
"Yes, Muggles have Auras," Lyra said with a roll of her eyes.