"We," Rabastan answered Parvati haughtily, "are the Lestranges, Bitch… Only you're not a bitch, it's just a phrase, you know…" he added hastily.
Parvati smirked. "How do you know I'm not a bitch?"
"Good point," Rabastan said. "Though I'd not call you one unless I knew for sure, so it still wasn't meant like that."
Parvati grinned again. "Got it, that's very polite of you… Wait, the Lestranges...as in THE LESTRANGES?"
He nodded. "Yes, one and the same." He glanced at Rodolphus and Bellatrix who were both leaning against the counter. "Are either of you tripping yet?"
"Just a little, but it hasn't really hit yet," Bellatrix said, and Rodolphus nodded. "Same."
"Yeah, me too," Rabastan nodded, then looked back at Parvati.
"So..." Parvati blinked slowly, struggling to focus on the current situation. "I'm tripping such balls," she moaned. "So...do you three know that you're known for torturing and killing, and that everyone is always afraid you'll just suddenly snap and lose your shit and start torturing and killing them randomly?"
Rabastan laughed. "Are you part of that everyone?"
Parvati grinned, allowing her eyes to roll back in her head briefly as she tipped her head back. "MAAAAYBE," she said, drawing out the word before laughing again. "Then again, MAAAAYBE not. Gellert and Blaise aren't stupid, after all. Not only did they let you in here and allow you to have Mag's wands that give you extra strength, they also let you trip with us. So they appear to be relatively certain that you won't lose your shit… Unless...unless they're tripping too hard to be wise."
She flashed a worried glance in Gellert and Blaise's direction from where she sat on the rug near Rabastan's feet. Blaise and Gellert sat on a small couch along the side wall that was likely intended for anyone who had to wait for service.
"They're all good," Gellert assured.
"I'm feeling my trip now," Rabastan announced. "I think I need to sit down." He glanced down at Parvati's rug. "May I sit there with you?"
Parvati shrugged. "Well...since you asked… Sure."
Rabastan sat down beside Parvati, crossing his legs Indian style.
Parvati ran a finger over one of the brass raven skull buttons that studded the length of his green duster. "Wicked."
He nodded. "Yep. Thanks."
Bellatrix glanced around for a place for her and Rod to sit.
"There are my and Gel's stools behind the counter, but I don't know how comfortable they'd be while you're tripping," Blaise said lazily. "Parvati's is smaller so that wouldn't do at all. There's that bench in the back you could drag out here that Regulus and Kreacher use for..."
Bellatrix choked.
Parvati grinned. "Yep, that's why I use the rug."
"I'll just transfigure the bloody stools into comfortable overstuffed chairs," Rodolphus said. "With my new wand giving me twice my usual skill and strength, they should therefore be twice as comfortable."
"Brilliant," Bellatrix said.
She wondered why none of them had considered doing that, but in the midst of a trip the mind did take strange twists and turns, which was the fun of the thing. She watched as he floated the stools out from behind the counter and placed them beside Parvati's rug with a flick of his new wand. He then transfigured them into large overstuffed armchairs in a shade of comforting blood red. Bellatrix felt her face stretching into a grin as she plopped herself down into the nearest.
"Nice. Thanks." She lightly touched Roddy's arm as he settled himself into the one beside hers.
He grinned, covering her hand with his after pocketing his wand.
They sat for several seconds in silence. Bellatrix allowed the sensations, both mental and physical, to wash over her. The light in the room had taken on an interesting blue and purple quality, and time seemed to be something they were currently unaffected by. She stared at Blaise and Gellert, mostly because her and Roddy's chairs faced their little couch.
"I wanted to talk to the two of you about an idea I had concerning those magic absorbing sponges," she began slowly.
"The Moopkas," Blaise asked and she shrugged.
"If those are the ones we worked with yesterday in the love room, yes."
"Yes, they're called Moopkas," he nodded. "What was your idea?"
"I thought if you could enchant them to block any spell thrown by an enemy in a duel that would be useful against her… or anyone else for that matter."
Blaise nodded. "If only. When we attempted it, it was no good for close distance dueling. It works to a degree for long range but not consistently, and close range isn't viable. The sponge can't tell your spells from those of your opponent, and it absorbs all of them. They don't get you, but you can't get them either, and it leaves you open to a degree."
Bellatrix frowned in disappointment. She should've assumed they'd already considered it, but one never knew. "What about grinding it up into a potion? If a person absorbs the magic, would it make their own magic stronger?"
Gellert gave her a startled look and chuckled. "I don't know! We never thought of that, but having a human try it wouldn't be safe. We could, however, experiment on an animal and we will."
Bellatrix smiled, feeling better. She'd had a useful idea after all. "Maybe grinding it up into a paste to put on the skin like a cream?" she suggested.
"Now that's brilliant," Blaise said. "We could totally try that. Though Moopkas are nearly as rare as amber, so we won't be getting as much as we'd like. Cream is harder to reuse, but for an emergency supply, we could definitely give it a go."
"Better not tell the Russian wizards if it works, or they won't sell you more," Rabastan said. "They'll want it all for themselves. Understandably so, I suppose."
Gellert nodded. "If any of our ideas succeed, the fact we're using Moopkas will be the secret of all of us here. Only to be shared with our closest and most trusted associates."
"Agreed," Parvati said dreamily. "I see a face on the ceiling. It's getting bigger and bigger, and it's smiling. Its eyes have different pictures in them. The right one is a spiral, and the left is a giant dot."
Blaise sighed. "And here I thought she was getting a useful vision about Delphini."
Bellatrix closed her eyes and reached into her mind for Nimue. Things were so busy of late, she hadn't had a moment to spare to continue communication with the druids. It would be interesting to see if she could use the trip to gain even clearer contact with them.
Nimue responded to her thought call at once. Bellatrix could receive images of her and Merlin without the crystal scrying device. The two sat on a sofa watching some square crystal thing with moving pictures. Nimue asked how things were there and Bellatrix caught her up to speed. As it turned out, speaking silently with her mind worked just as well as speaking aloud, which was nice as it meant she didn't have to disrupt the conversation of the others flowing around her. Gellert was talking to Rod about something involving transfiguration and the molecules of an object.
Bellatrix realized suddenly the thing Merlin and Nimue were looking at was a Muggle television. She'd nearly forgotten about them though it was something they'd learned of in Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. Damn, that was ages ago.
Nimue asked if they knew which goddess Delphini may be getting help from, and Bellatrix said no. Nimue then asked if they'd considered using a mongoose, and Bellatrix turned to Gellert. "What about a mongoose? Nimue is asking if we ever considered using a giant one against Delphini?"
Gellert's eyes widened slightly as he stared at her. "No… but that's a lovely idea." He smiled. "Especially if we can feed it Moopkas successfully! A serpent killer that absorbs its enemy's magic is exactly what we need!"
"But I thought Dumbledore's son was going to kill her?" Rabastan protested. "I thought we had this shit sorted!"
"If only," Gellert said with a laugh. "And trust me, he will need all the help he can get."
"Speaking of help, of course Lyra is asking if her man can get a wand like ours," Bellatrix said with a resentful sigh. "She's really trying to not let him die," she complained.
"Neither am I. He could be important backup when we need it. He could keep us all alive," Gellert pointed out, giving Bellatrix and Rodolphus a hard look. "So I will write Mag about a wand for him. If she has any questions you can answer them at our session Wednesday."
"Another shrink session already?" Rodolphus complained.
"Once a week is customary," Gellert said, lips twitching in amusement.
"So the kid gets to live, and I'm also stuck talking about emotions once a week?" Rodolphus pressed.
"Afraid so," Gellert replied somberly. "But it could always be worse."
"How?" Rodolphus demanded, and Gellert laughed.
"I was hoping you'd just take my word for it."