002. Meanwhile, locked in...
The last time the lift lurched and quit on him, Frank ended up with Alice. This time, however, he was stuck with Bellatrix Lestrange, an altogether more foul and disagreeable woman. "This hasn't happened to me for years," he began, jamming the buttons on the panel angrily. "Same lift though. I really must stop using this one."
Frank raised an eyebrow, eyes darting between her face and her wand. A fool, was he? He found himself annoyed, but the Lestranges (and, indeed, the Blacks) were never ones for tact. Still, he did rather want to punch her in the face. "And you're a witch. You're welcome to try it yourself, though last time I was stuck here nothing would budge. Still--" he gestured in the direction of the door "--best of luck."
Bellatrix merely narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head. "You work here, it's your job to fix shit when it goes wrong." She had always harboured a hatred for Frank Longbottom, and it was hard to decipher her exact reasons for her hatred. She stepped closer to him, the walls of the elevator already seeming to be closing in on her. She needed to get out - she couldn't just stay in here with a bloody auror! "Fix it, quickly!" She snapped.
"My job?" This woman was a right nasty piece of work, and Frank could only imagine what would happen were she trapped with a Muggle. "You do realize I'm not on the maintenance staff, I assume? It is not my -job- to do anything about this lift anymore than it's yours. If you want out so badly, fix it yourself."
Bellatrix merely dismissively waved her hand. "I'm aware of your status as an auror. But you still work here, so do something about it, Longbottom. Or you might just find that in a couple of days you don't have a job. I have powerful friends, Longbottom, and a lot of money. Do something," She snapped again, jabbing her wand in his direction.
"Is that a threat, Bellatrix?" He cast aside the dignity of using her surname. "You may have connections, but you should take note that threatening an Auror can have serious consequences, both under the law and outside of it." He took a step closer to the witch and pulled his shoulders back slightly to reach his full height. "Threaten me again, or gesture at me with that wand of yours, and I assure you the next thing you see will be the inside of a jail cell."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at Frank with a smirk. "Do you think I care about your petty little laws, Longbottom? It's as if you aurors can't take care of yourselves and you need the ministry to care for you like a small child." She glared as he took a step closer, and kept her grip firm on her wand. "Oh, you assure me do you? How cute. Now go and do something bloody useful and fix the elevator, instead of whining like a baby about your precious laws."
"You'd rather a state of chaos then? Dark wizards running amok?" He sneered. Of course she would, he knew, but he had yet to find any proof. She wasn't particularly subtle, though, so it was only a matter of time. "Though maybe to you that does sound ideal." The elevator again? "Not that you've bothered to pay attention to anything but your pointlessly repetitious yammering, but our magic won't fix this. And even if it would, I won't do a thing to get us out of here when I'm accompanied by someone also capable of wielding a wand who expects everyone around her to bow to her every whim. I'm not your house elf, Bellatrix, and you can't kick me around like one. So if you want out, fix the damn lift by yourself."
Bellatrix merely inclinced her head at his suggestion. Dark wizards were already running amok - it was rather hilarious to watch the ministry denying that things weren't as bad as they actually were. "I'm not doing a thing, its your job." With that, she slipped her wand away into her holster again, but left her hand tenatively resting by it. She didn't want to be thrown into jail for threatening him - which she didn't doubt he wouldn't report - but she also didn't want to be left defenseless if he took the opportunity to question her while they were stuck. "I guess we're stuck here then."
"Indeed..." he muttered, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Was poking a tiger a smart idea? Not in the least, but Frank was growing increasingly more aggravated. He almost hoped she'd strike first--he'd have loved the reason to detain her. "Though it seems foolish for you to insist on doing nothing. Perhaps you're incapable? I was under the impression you fancied yourself a powerful witch. But it seems the rumors are true. You are rather like a Squib after all."
Bellatrix merely smirked at his pathetic attempt at insulting her. There were no rumours going around - if there were, she would have heard of them already. "Don't poke the devil, Frankie, it's not a good idea." The walls were getting closer - she felt like she couldn't breathe but she had to stay focused while she was in here with Frank. She couldn't let him see her being weak, hell no. "I'm no squib."
"To poke the devil, you must face the devil," Frank said, leaning against the far wall of the elevator. "And I've seen worse than you." In truth, he found very few witches or wizards worse than her. Even if he had no proof, he knew she was responsible for a good number of their unsolved cases. Which meant she was also clever. Powerful, ruthless, and smart. She was certainly dangerous. She was right. Poking the devil was never smart, but he was more than capable of handling himself, and by this point, very little could scare him. "Your arrogance will bite you in the ass one of these days. Even you aren't invincible."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes again, shaking her head once more. "I know I am not invincible. There is nobody in the world that is invincible - not even you, Longbottom, even with your precious laws protecting you from innocent civilians such as myself." She gave a girlish sigh towards the end, though her evil smirk gave her mocking nature away. "Frankie, darling, did you not think to send a patronus for help?" With that idea in mind, Bellatrix took out her wand again and flicked it, and sent the silently conjured spider away with a message for them to sort the bloody elevator out. Her status may not scare Frank, but she could almost guarentee it would scare whoever would receive the message.
"Innocent..." he scoffed. Innocent indeed. "Look at you actually doing something useful. I'm impressed. Though you could have done that before and saved us both what has been a most unpleasant encounter. How long before your little creature finds us help, would you say?"
She smirked, she had effectively proved that she was not like a squib, and had also proved that she was better than him all at once. "Oh, but dear...I am innocent...far more innocent than your precious wife, in any case. But her lack of innocence may do her no good in the future, dear Frankie." She took a step closer to him, and raised an eyebrow. "No good ever comes from fighting those stronger than you."
Alice? What the hell did any of this have to do with Alice? And what was Bellatrix even talking about? Confusion aside, Frank knew he couldn't react. A reaction was exactly what she wanted, and he refused to give her what she wanted. "My wife is none of your concern, you hag." He stepped closer and looked down at her as he put his hand on his wand. "You know nothing of her or of any decent human being. You, Bellatrix, are beneath the scum between a troll's toes. I will unmask you and you will burn, mark my words."
A knowing smile split across Bellatrix's lips as he called her a hag. She had wanted to rouse him, and she had done so spectacularly. "You aurors are the scum beneath my feet, Longbottom. Call the fucking authorities and say I was threatening you for all I care, it just shows how weak you are." She prodded him in the stomach with her wand, showing that she was unafraid of his status in the law. "Well, its a good job I enjoy fire then, isn't it, Frankie dear? Have fun burning my stake - too bad you won't find me at the top, Frank."
"Poke me again with your wand," he said, removing his and pressing it against her throat, "I will remove your hand." He moved even closer and pressed his wand harder against her skin. "I can't wait to throw you in Azkaban for the rest of your pathetic life. Because, you see, if I had my way, you wouldn't even make it there. So make you should be grateful that the authorities--" he dragged the tip of his wand up her jugular "--are keeping my hand from slipping."
Bellatrix glared with the utmost hatred at Frank, though she didn't move her wand away from his stomach. While he was dragging his wand across her neck - which was no more threatening at all, since the Dark Lord's threats during their private sessions were much more threatening as she knew he would actually do it - she eventually let her glare die away and returned the cocky smirk to her lips. "You won't do a thing, Frank Longbottom, because you are weak. A weak, foolish man." She slowly lifted her wand until it was pointed directly at his heart, why shouldn't she be allowed to protect herself while he was being so threatening after all?
In one fluid motion, Frank moved his wand to the side of her head, conjured a flame that lapped at the wall, and returned it to her throat. "Try me," he said, face inches from hers. "Your wand is at my chest. I may have no choice to defend myself, especially against someone of great interest to the Ministry."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow with slight curiosity at the flame, and then at his words. She was of interest, hm? That was hardly enlightening news, but it was good that it was confirmed, at least. "Your wand is at my neck, I may also have no choice but to defend myself. I think we both know how this is going to end, Frankie." She just wondered what this would look like when someone actually got the elevator working.
How this is going to end... With her head rolling across the floor, of course, though he didn't say that, especially not when the elevator hummed and began moving. "Well this has been pleasant," he said, removing his wand from her neck and stepping aside just as the doors opened. "Again, Thomas?" he said to the wizard in the front of the pack. "This bloody thing needs to be fixed properly next time." Now that they had an audience, nothing more needed to be said. Indeed, nothing should be said, given the nearly violent nature of the past few minutes. Without so much as a word to Bellatrix, he strode past the group, muttering darkly about incompetent workers, before disappearing into the nearest fireplace and heading home.
Bellatrix continued to glare at Frank as the elevator hummed back into life, and didn't remove her wand even as he did. She only stowed it away as she saw people who might actually make good on Frank's threat of her ending up in jail for threatening an auror. After watching Frank disappear, Bellatrix followed suit, not bothering to stick around any longer since she hadn't gotten to her meeting anyway.
