"I've got it," Lyra crowed gleefully. "Let's play spin the bottle for our drinking game, only when the bottle points at someone, they have to take a shot instead of kissing anyone."
"Seems harmless," Rodolphus said.
Lyra gave her father a suspicious look. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"
His lips twitched. "In this case it's a good one, because there is only one person in this manor that I plan on kissing!" He threw an arm around Bellatrix and headed for the library to look for Rabastan and Lucius, while Narcissa and Lyra went upstairs to put Lyra's things away.
"The spider should get to drink tonight too," Lyra called over her shoulder from the top of the stairs.
"Probably unwise, I may eat the obnoxious blonde man if I get too drunk," Rhadamanthus rasped.
"He's definitely drinking," Bellatrix drawled, and Rodolphus chuckled. "Yes! Lucy needs to learn to live on the edge."
When they reached the library, they discovered that Lucius and Rabastan had already gotten rather drunk.
"Were we gone that long," Bellatrix asked drily. She stood in the doorway, one brow arched at Rabastan.
The younger Lestrange shrugged. He was slumped in a corner armchair, a half full glass in his hand. "Probably not, but getting drunk doesn't take very long when one is determined."
Bellatrix smirked, thinking that Rabastan and Lucius had likely had vastly different reasons for being determined to get quite drunk in this situation. Lucy, because he'd lost all his magic and now felt unsafe thanks to Delphini, and Rabastan because they'd left him alone with Lucy.
"Well, can you explain to your dear niece why you can't play her latest drinking game," Bellatrix asked.
"I didn't say I couldn't play," Rabastan objected, a grin dancing across his lips. "I can always drink more."
"As can I," Lucius agreed, speaking each word carefully in an obvious attempt not to slur. "I am not one for games, though."
Bellatrix frowned, though her eyes were laughing. "Well, you can't drink if you don't play."
"Fine," Lucius grumbled. "I'll drink."
"He means he'll play," Rabastan said with a chuckle.
"I said so, didn't I?" the blonde huffed, giving Rabastan a peevish glance.
"Leave Lucy alone, Rab," Rodolphus said, giving Malfoy a negligent smile.
Rabastan sighed. "Fine."
"We should probably have dinner first," Lyra said as she and Narcissa entered the library. "I plan to drink a lot and food on the stomach usually makes the outcome a bit brighter."
Narcissa chuckled. "You are very much like your parents in your enjoyment of celebrating," she told Lyra.
This caused Bella to smile. Seeing that Lyra was like her and Rod even after having grown up on another continent was touching and filled her with something strange that she could only assume had to be motherly pride.
"See? If I'm so much like the two of you, you should party more with me, and stop being such sticks in the mud," Lyra complained, turning a pointed glance on her parents.
"She's right," Rabastan chimed in. "This new responsible Bellatrix both bores and frightens me at the same time."
"Watch it, Bro," Rodolphus warned, flashing an amused glance between the two. "If you offend her and she decides to teach you a responsible lesson, don't think I'll be getting in the middle because that's not happening."
"You're always so sweet, Roddy," Bellatrix said, turning a smile on her husband.
"And wise," Rodolphus added. "I am also very wise."
"I need another drink," Lucius said.
Ignoring him, Bella turned a dark scowl on Rabastan and Lyra. "What part of Delphini could attack at any time didn't you remember?" she demanded. "You," she pointed an angry finger at Rabastan. "I do believe you were there when we lost to him in a big way the first time. I recall my uncle dying, and our minds getting twisted." Turning to Lyra, she directed the same finger of accusation at her. "I also recall you seeing that memory. Did you forget already?" she demanded. "She appears to somehow be even more powerful than he was, not to mention having a little of him inside of her to top it all off."
"For my part, I believe strongly in the success of drunken fighting," Rabastan said. "You know, no inhibitions and all. One can pull off some very brilliant shit at such times. Trust me, I know... and I recall both of you participating drunkenly in a few such fights at my side," he concluded, daring to point a return finger of accusation at his sister-in-law, if briefly.
"While Uncle has a point, I was more banking on the strength of all the wards that are on this manor allowing us enough time to Apparate away," Lyra said. "I'm not saying we should drink every day, Mum, but you really should loosen up a little," she coaxed. "If we're all wound too tight, we could make foolish mistakes at the worst time."
"The girl is thinking," Rodolphus said.
"I did loosen up a little," Bellatrix snapped, glaring at Lyra. "That's why I suggested drinking tonight!"
"Yes, and I appreciate that, but you know what I mean," Lyra said gently.
"Dinner is served." The hollow voice came from Harold, who stood in the doorway of the library, speaking from the depths of his plague doctor mask.
"Thank you, Harold," Bellatrix said, ready to eat and hopefully be done with the conversation for now. Taking Rod's arm, she swept out of the library and toward the dining room.
"Something smells delightful," Rhadamanthus said eagerly, the tips of his feet whispering along the carpet as he scuttled along behind them.
"I'm betting roast chicken and mashed," Rodolphus guessed. "Which happens to be one of my favorite meals," he explained, casting a glance over his shoulder at the spider as he spoke. "Harold is so thoughtful...making my favorite food during times of Lucy-induced stress."
Bellatrix smirked. Lucius hadn't yet joined them. He along with everyone else was lagging behind, probably to talk rubbish about how overly cautious she was being. It was a good thing she never gave a damn what anyone but Rod thought when it came down to it.
"You'll want a large spoon for the mashed potatoes," Rodolphus was telling his spider. "Those are very good, but rather soft, so not something you can easily nibble or just throw into your mouth."
"Yes, thank you," Rhadamanthus murmured seriously. "You have been a great help in how well I have adjusted to doing things as humans do, and it has been quite a treat."
Bellatrix nearly laughed at that but restrained herself, knowing that her amusement may not be understood. The idea of a creature finding Rodolphus helpful was a new one. The fact that said creature was a huge predator made it a bit more understandable, though.
Dinner passed quietly and without event. Everyone seemed to be in his or her own thoughts, other than Rabastan briefly asking how the shopping trip went, and Lyra and Cissie keeping their answers just as brief, understanding that a man wasn't likely to be curious about any boutique. Rhadamanthus handled the potatoes well, and enjoyed them enough to have a second serving.
After dinner was over, Lyra asked Harold to bring at least fifteen bottles of fire whisky up from the cellar and to the library. Lyra gestured for everyone to gather around the large round reading table in the center of the room where they'd played their last drinking game. "It will be easy to spin the bottle on the table," she said.
"If we need an empty bottle, Lucius and I nearly finished one while you lot were out," Rabastan said. "Wait just a moment and I'll..." He snatched a nearly empty bottle of fire whisky from the edge of a book shelf. Unscrewing the cap he downed it in two long swallows then presented it to Lyra with a pleased grin. "There we are!"
"Thanks, Uncle Rabastan," Lyra said drily. Harold Apparated in with a case of fire whisky floating at his side. Placing it beside Rodolphus's chair, the elf bowed and turned to go.
"Wait!" Lyra said. "You should stay. Drink with us! Rhadamanthus is drinking, and if you don't, you'll be the only one sober."
"Which might be a good thing," Harold murmured.
"Come on, please?" Lyra coaxed.
"It is up to the master and mistress," Harold said after a second of hesitation. "Harold has no particular desire to drink, but he will do as they wish."
"Don't do anything you don't wish to do," Bellatrix said, waving the elf away. Rodolphus nodded. He bowed and left. Bellatrix decided he was the wisest one present.
"So how does this game work," Narcissa asked, eyeing the empty bottle now in the center of the table. "How does one win?"
"By not puking," Bellatrix suggested, smiling at her sister's ill expression.
"You win if the bottle isn't pointing at you when it stops, so there are always more winners than losers," Lyra said with a laugh. "If the bottle points at you, you take a shot, then it's your turn to spin it, and whoever it points at gets to drink, and it's their turn to spin and so on."
"What if a person drinks, then spins and it points to them again," Lucius asked, speaking for the first time in quite a while.
Lyra grinned. "I guess they get really drunk."
"Yeah," Rabastan crowed, conjuring six shot glasses with a wave of his wand. "Wait! How's the spider going to take shots," he asked, glancing at Rhadamanthus, perplexed.
Lyra frowned in thought. "I think half a bottle should make a shot, considering his size… So he gets his own bottle and drinks half when it's his turn."
By the time Harold entered the library to announce the arrival of guests, Rhadamanthus had finished three bottles, and the humans had polished off two. Everyone was pleasantly drunk, more than pleasantly in the case of Rabastan and Lucius, who had begun far earlier.
"Guests," Bellatrix asked, blinking a bit blearily at the elf in his adorable plague mask. While drunk, she always thought the mask looked especially charming. "I assume it's no one dangerous, because were we in danger, you would not appear calm."
"Harold will make a special point never to appear calm during times of danger, Miss Bellatrix," the elf said politely. "As far as who is here, it's Regulus and the elf Kreacher."
"Show them in, then," she said, wondering what they wanted, and why they hadn't just come in. She just walked in when visiting their manor, after all. It was annoying when Reg was all polite.
Harold bowed and hurried out. Soon he was back, Regulus and Kreacher following behind. Bellatrix frowned at the mildly shocked expressions on their faces.
"What's the matter?" she snapped. "No one is dead."
Rodolphus smirked. "And by that she means that no one has killed Lucius."
Narcissa frowned reproachfully at her sister and brother-in-law, but Bellatrix was more interested in Regulus and Kreacher's reason for being here.