Sweet Revenge

It Was 2 in the Morning

It was 2 in the morning, and the inhabitants of Slytherin Castle were groggily trudging downstairs where their Lord awaited them with his glorious coiffed hair completely perfect and his robes ironed crisply. 

          "It's bloody 2 in the morning!" Rabastan complained. 

          "What was that, Rabastan?" Tom asked sharply.

          "Nothing, my Lord." Rabastan gave a very wide and very unconvincing smile. 

Tom smiled back. This resulted in an intense smiling war between the two until Bella broke the silence and asked, 

          "Where's Harry?"

          "Sleeping," Tom answered.

Nobody complained again as Tom doled out tasks to prepare for the event at the Burrow.

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Rodolphus was assigned to lead the Outer Circle members who were sending those Order members not at the Burrow to Scotland. Dolohov was going to be the leader of the inner ring of Death Eater, but he objected loudly and exclaimed that unfortunately, he was going to be sick that day. Tom moved him to the leader of the outer ring, and Dolohov sat back with a smug smile (You must understand--Dolohov was thirsty for power, as being around Bellatrix most of the time deprived you it). 

Bellatrix wanted to prance around outside and burn things, so Rabastan would be the leader of inner ring operations, and Barty was given the honor of casting the Dark Mark above it all. Izar (the wimp) was going to stay at Nott Manor and write a letter to Rita Skeeter telling her to omit anything to do with the Burrow incident in the Daily Prophet (Tom had also, without Izar's knowledge, sent him a hefty package of paperwork to take care of that morning). 

Rodolphus immediately went to call the Outer Circle members he was leading and intimidate them before they set out. 

Dolohov was sitting in the corner where he was supposed to be planning strategies for how to deter and fight Order members, trying to draw a perfect circle; Bellatrix was "practicing" burning things. Only Rabastan was actually trying to do anything at 2 in the morning. 

He was sitting at the coffee table with two columns of names on a piece of loyal paper. The first column contained the names of all the Inner Circle members he would be managing, and the second contained the names of all the other people who would be at the Burrow. He was matching which Death Eater was to abduct which Weasley/Dumbledoor--sorry, Dumbledore.

Rabastan had also employed a few other Inner Circle members to stand in the fireplace and prevent Order members from coming through the Floo by blocking the chimney. 

As Rabastan wrangled his sleepy, befuzzled mind over his sheet of paper, Lucius strolled up behind him and commented,

          "Wouldn't it be better if McNair took Mrs. Weasley? He's the large build that Yaxley lacks."

          "Right," Rabastan mumbled and tapped his wand to the paper, causing the wobbly line he drew from Yaxley to Mrs. Weasley to switch to McNair. 

Rabastan's brain was not really functioning that morning. He had forgotten that Avery had requested to take Alex Potter and had written down that Rowle was to do it instead. It took Lucius's scandalized breath of,

          "You can't do that the Potter! No matter how god-awful he is, nobody should suffer Rowle!"

          "Look at you, having a conscience," Bellatrix drawled from the couch where she was sprawled upside down. 

Lucius scowled. Rabastan took a few seconds to realize the mistake and correct it so that now Alex was being taken by Avery. The Dark Lord had decreed that no Elite Death Eater was to take away Alex Potter, since that would serve to show the Light how very insignificant Alex Potter was (it would also make Alex Potter very upset if he ever learned that he had been manhandled by anyone other than an Elite). That's how Regulus ended up with the task of snatching Ginny. 

As Rabastan (with a lot of aid with the actually-conscious Lucius) finalized the kidnapping plan, Harry slept peacefully...

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...until he didn't. Harry was woken by a slimy feeling on his cheek and grumbled, tugging the warm covers around him. His actions were interrupted by a set of paws that walked over him and began jumping on the bed. It was Siriusly unpleasant. 

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Harry made his way down the grand staircase in his rumpled pyjamas and tangled hair after being unceremoniously attacked by Sirius in his Animagus form (perhaps Harry wouldn't have been as grumpy if Sirius had attacked ceremoniously). 

The entrance hall was suspiciously empty. Then, there was a loud crack somewhere down the hall, and Snape appeared with a dramatic robe flap. He looked from side to side and then strode into the East Wing. Harry followed him and watched as Snape threw open the doors to the parlour, got hit in the face with a flying Pumpkin Pasty and then disapparated again. 

Harry entered more prudently and came upon a bizarre scene. Rabastan was crouched behind the chaise longue, Lucius and Dolohov were huddled under the table, and Bella was sitting with her back pressed against the back of the wing chair. As Harry came in, she made a desperate motion telling to be silent. Harry crept around the chaise longue and asked Rabastan what was going on in a whisper. 

Rabastan responded just as quietly that Narcissa had baked some Pumpkin Pasties for them and charged Lucius with delivering them, but Bella had been bored and had charmed them to fly. Unfortunately, she had accidently stumbled over the last syllable of the incantation and now, the flying Pumpkin Pasties flew to wherever there was sound. The crisis had been going on for a quarter of an hour now, and everyone was worn ragged, according to Rabastan. Harry looked around at the stoic expressions on the faces of the hiders and pointed at the Pasties. Then, he wandlessly made them disappear. He looked back at the faces, which now looked back at him in wonder. He took his wand and tapped it against his head and wiggled his eyebrows that them. 

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Tom had gone to find Harry but, unable to do so, had returned to the parlour where he found a very-much-awake Harry telling a not-so-awake Rabastan that no, they could simply override Avery's request and put Alex with Rowle to promote maximum suffering.