Bad Beat, (Luna/Rookwood), QuillsForACause HP 2007
Title: Bad Beat
Genre: Harry Potter
Main Pair/Char: Luna Lovegood/Augustus Rookwood (Death Eater)
Beta'd: By
vikingcarrot
Rating: R
Length: 1,415 words
Posted at:
hpqfacforum and
loonylove
Author's Note: I was sponsored by
drygau_sfs for
hpqfac , a charity project that donated to AmFar. The story is based off the wonderful Luna/Rookwood art by
vikingcarrot who was also gracious enough to do a super quick beta for me. It is one of the darkest things I've written (which isn't all that dark), however, and rated appropriately.
Bad Beat
"So you see, sweetheart…" he was saying casually with an arm hanging heavily on her left shoulder and holding her still. Her hands fluttered anxiously between lying down by her sides and clenching her skirt or up by her chest and fingers folding in together.
"That's why they call it a bad beat." Smoke trailed out from his nostrils as he spoke, amber eyes glowing as brightly as the end of his cigarette. She could smell the scent of his sweat over the smoke and all she could see was the dark fabric of his shirt contrasting with the green of his tie in front of her.
"You think you have all the right cards. You think your hand is the one to beat." He laughed now, the sound humorless and chilling.
Luna was not afraid to die. She hadn't feared death since her mother died. When the war officially began she joined the ranks, ready to fight and ready to die like everyone else. She didn't know at the naive age of seventeen that there were worse things than death. That you could find yourself begging for death when you finally realized the inevitable - that your future would be nothing but endless pain, humiliation, and suffering at the hands of another.
"But some wanker pulls out a straight flush and blows you away." The Death Eater that had captured her went on, explaining the definitions of poker terms to her as calmly as he had killed the rest of her team.
The three of them had decided to ambush him though Luna had originally expressed her doubts. They thought they had him overpowered but they were unfortunately wrong. Two pairs of lifeless eyes were now staring up accusingly at the Death Eater, as Luna's own filled with tears.
"Well, I’m that wanker, darling." His grin brought her gaze back up to his face and she felt the prick of a nail in the tender skin under her chin.
And so Luna closed her eyes to accept what fate had dealt - no more trips with her father, the loss of all the things she would never discover or prove true, and a whole life that would never happen. She waited for the first strike and prayed to her mother for the strength not to scream.
But it never came - her back up, however, did.
She visited him in Azkaban and she was never entirely sure why. Her shoes clicked as she walked along the halls and looked into each cell until she found him. He was sitting in a shadowed corner with smoke drifting through the air and beyond the bars. She hid her shiver and tried not to think that smell still had her heart racing.
He didn't speak when he saw her standing just an arm's reach from the bars of his cell. The only sound that came from him was that familiar dark chuckle, still humorless and terrifying. Luna swallowed and kept her gaze steady. She wouldn't allow herself to be afraid any longer.
"They call it a bad beat," she said as her pale, thin arm snaked through the bars and her free hand clutched the cold iron. She raised her arm out to offer what she held.
After another moment of silence he stood from his crouch and moved closer. Seeing him fully, in the light and in his gray prison uniform, she no longer felt fear.
His face was thin and pock-marked with his skin looking stretched over the bones of his cheeks. The eyes that had burned in her nightmares were still that strange golden color, but were sunken into his skull. His hair hung loose in greasy strings.
He looked like Death, and Luna had never been afraid of death.
Luna was shaken from her staring when she felt an icy grip tighten on her hand. He had moved closer to capture her again with a wicked smile on his face.
"Brought me a present, have you?" he snarled through his smile. "Some might think you've switched sides, darling."
"Just proving something to myself," she replied, her voice distant and soft.
"And what's that?" his hand tightened painfully on hers but she didn't cry out. It didn't hurt as badly as she expected.
"That I can keep fighting."
The box of playing cards fell from her hand to the floor. His gaze followed it, eyes flashing in recognition and anger as Luna pulled her hand free.
She cradled her hand to her chest as he stared at the cards. Then he was laughing, but it sounded different than before. He looked at her and smiled again.
"Why don’t you come back by? I might teach you how to play," he offered charmingly.
Luna turned and walked away, no longer ashamed of her fear but now of her desire to stay.
She found herself returning unexpectedly. Her feet took her to the entrance of Azkaban instead of the usual forests and mountains during her wanderings. Now that she was no longer afraid, her curiosity had taken control and insisted on analyzing him.
"Why didn’t you kill me right away?" she asked straightforwardly.
"Torture, I suppose. Possibly seduction," he answered after emerging from his corner. He draped his arms through the bars to lean his lanky body against the iron.
"Seduction?" Luna questioned.
He grinned. "I never rape."
Luna arched an eyebrow and left.
Yet she came back many more times for brief but revealing conversations. When she was asked about this unusual habit she said that she was "getting to know the enemy", which was partly true. It was mostly to satisfy her own desires, though. He never did teach her how to play poker.
"Why do you come here?" he asked her crossly one day.
She suspected he was having some trouble with other prisoners after seeing his newly blackened eye and bloody lip.
She shrugged. "Curiosity."
"I don't think that's the only reason," he snapped as he tossed cards into a hat. "I think it's revenge."
Luna tilted her head, hair sliding down her shoulder. "How so?"
"You want me to look when I'm unable to touch. You want me to want," he explained as the cards flew through the air with more force. "You're a bloody tease."
Luna stood silently as she considered this. She looked down at herself, in her new summer dress that showed off her shoulders and legs. She had worn her favorite strawberry earrings.
"You're right," she agreed.
Surprisingly, it only took a few bribes before she was able to enter his cell alone. He watched her silently from his favored corner until the iron bars finally shut with a clang.
If she had expected something tender or soft, she would've been disappointed. She knew the sex would be rough and quick, but she hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as she did. Feeling the cold of the stone wall against her back competing with the warmth and the hardness of him inside her was delicious. And the words he spoke in her ear... Whispered threats occasionally followed by growled promises of doing things to her that made her blush and endearments thrown in with curses. They shouldn't have made her shiver and moan.
She grappled with him as he rocked against her, a hand on his shoulder as the other clenched his arm. He shook her grip free and captured her wrist to hold it tightly. Luna felt it was right - one hand free and the other restrained. It was exactly how she felt.
Pain overtook pleasure at one point and Luna's cries became more strained. The sounds only seem to make him smile wider and she felt his teeth on her skin. She came as he drew blood. He waited longer, holding off his release. She imagined him desperate to keep his control over her.
When he finally let her down she wordlessly dressed as he did the same. The guard came just as she pulled her shirt back on. She took a few steps toward the bars before turning back to face him.
"I'm not coming back," Luna told him calmly.
He just gave her grin and pulled his cards out, shuffling them smoothly between his hands. "We'll see."
Luna blinked and turned to go. The sound of the bars shutting reverberated down the hall as she left. It occurred to her later that she should have expected him to call her bluff.
Genre: Harry Potter
Main Pair/Char: Luna Lovegood/Augustus Rookwood (Death Eater)
Beta'd: By
vikingcarrot
Rating: R
Length: 1,415 words
Posted at:
hpqfacforum and
loonylove
Author's Note: I was sponsored by
drygau_sfs for
hpqfac , a charity project that donated to AmFar. The story is based off the wonderful Luna/Rookwood art by
vikingcarrot who was also gracious enough to do a super quick beta for me. It is one of the darkest things I've written (which isn't all that dark), however, and rated appropriately.
Bad Beat
"So you see, sweetheart…" he was saying casually with an arm hanging heavily on her left shoulder and holding her still. Her hands fluttered anxiously between lying down by her sides and clenching her skirt or up by her chest and fingers folding in together.
"That's why they call it a bad beat." Smoke trailed out from his nostrils as he spoke, amber eyes glowing as brightly as the end of his cigarette. She could smell the scent of his sweat over the smoke and all she could see was the dark fabric of his shirt contrasting with the green of his tie in front of her.
"You think you have all the right cards. You think your hand is the one to beat." He laughed now, the sound humorless and chilling.
Luna was not afraid to die. She hadn't feared death since her mother died. When the war officially began she joined the ranks, ready to fight and ready to die like everyone else. She didn't know at the naive age of seventeen that there were worse things than death. That you could find yourself begging for death when you finally realized the inevitable - that your future would be nothing but endless pain, humiliation, and suffering at the hands of another.
"But some wanker pulls out a straight flush and blows you away." The Death Eater that had captured her went on, explaining the definitions of poker terms to her as calmly as he had killed the rest of her team.
The three of them had decided to ambush him though Luna had originally expressed her doubts. They thought they had him overpowered but they were unfortunately wrong. Two pairs of lifeless eyes were now staring up accusingly at the Death Eater, as Luna's own filled with tears.
"Well, I’m that wanker, darling." His grin brought her gaze back up to his face and she felt the prick of a nail in the tender skin under her chin.
And so Luna closed her eyes to accept what fate had dealt - no more trips with her father, the loss of all the things she would never discover or prove true, and a whole life that would never happen. She waited for the first strike and prayed to her mother for the strength not to scream.
But it never came - her back up, however, did.
She visited him in Azkaban and she was never entirely sure why. Her shoes clicked as she walked along the halls and looked into each cell until she found him. He was sitting in a shadowed corner with smoke drifting through the air and beyond the bars. She hid her shiver and tried not to think that smell still had her heart racing.
He didn't speak when he saw her standing just an arm's reach from the bars of his cell. The only sound that came from him was that familiar dark chuckle, still humorless and terrifying. Luna swallowed and kept her gaze steady. She wouldn't allow herself to be afraid any longer.
"They call it a bad beat," she said as her pale, thin arm snaked through the bars and her free hand clutched the cold iron. She raised her arm out to offer what she held.
After another moment of silence he stood from his crouch and moved closer. Seeing him fully, in the light and in his gray prison uniform, she no longer felt fear.
His face was thin and pock-marked with his skin looking stretched over the bones of his cheeks. The eyes that had burned in her nightmares were still that strange golden color, but were sunken into his skull. His hair hung loose in greasy strings.
He looked like Death, and Luna had never been afraid of death.
Luna was shaken from her staring when she felt an icy grip tighten on her hand. He had moved closer to capture her again with a wicked smile on his face.
"Brought me a present, have you?" he snarled through his smile. "Some might think you've switched sides, darling."
"Just proving something to myself," she replied, her voice distant and soft.
"And what's that?" his hand tightened painfully on hers but she didn't cry out. It didn't hurt as badly as she expected.
"That I can keep fighting."
The box of playing cards fell from her hand to the floor. His gaze followed it, eyes flashing in recognition and anger as Luna pulled her hand free.
She cradled her hand to her chest as he stared at the cards. Then he was laughing, but it sounded different than before. He looked at her and smiled again.
"Why don’t you come back by? I might teach you how to play," he offered charmingly.
Luna turned and walked away, no longer ashamed of her fear but now of her desire to stay.
She found herself returning unexpectedly. Her feet took her to the entrance of Azkaban instead of the usual forests and mountains during her wanderings. Now that she was no longer afraid, her curiosity had taken control and insisted on analyzing him.
"Why didn’t you kill me right away?" she asked straightforwardly.
"Torture, I suppose. Possibly seduction," he answered after emerging from his corner. He draped his arms through the bars to lean his lanky body against the iron.
"Seduction?" Luna questioned.
He grinned. "I never rape."
Luna arched an eyebrow and left.
Yet she came back many more times for brief but revealing conversations. When she was asked about this unusual habit she said that she was "getting to know the enemy", which was partly true. It was mostly to satisfy her own desires, though. He never did teach her how to play poker.
"Why do you come here?" he asked her crossly one day.
She suspected he was having some trouble with other prisoners after seeing his newly blackened eye and bloody lip.
She shrugged. "Curiosity."
"I don't think that's the only reason," he snapped as he tossed cards into a hat. "I think it's revenge."
Luna tilted her head, hair sliding down her shoulder. "How so?"
"You want me to look when I'm unable to touch. You want me to want," he explained as the cards flew through the air with more force. "You're a bloody tease."
Luna stood silently as she considered this. She looked down at herself, in her new summer dress that showed off her shoulders and legs. She had worn her favorite strawberry earrings.
"You're right," she agreed.
Surprisingly, it only took a few bribes before she was able to enter his cell alone. He watched her silently from his favored corner until the iron bars finally shut with a clang.
If she had expected something tender or soft, she would've been disappointed. She knew the sex would be rough and quick, but she hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as she did. Feeling the cold of the stone wall against her back competing with the warmth and the hardness of him inside her was delicious. And the words he spoke in her ear... Whispered threats occasionally followed by growled promises of doing things to her that made her blush and endearments thrown in with curses. They shouldn't have made her shiver and moan.
She grappled with him as he rocked against her, a hand on his shoulder as the other clenched his arm. He shook her grip free and captured her wrist to hold it tightly. Luna felt it was right - one hand free and the other restrained. It was exactly how she felt.
Pain overtook pleasure at one point and Luna's cries became more strained. The sounds only seem to make him smile wider and she felt his teeth on her skin. She came as he drew blood. He waited longer, holding off his release. She imagined him desperate to keep his control over her.
When he finally let her down she wordlessly dressed as he did the same. The guard came just as she pulled her shirt back on. She took a few steps toward the bars before turning back to face him.
"I'm not coming back," Luna told him calmly.
He just gave her grin and pulled his cards out, shuffling them smoothly between his hands. "We'll see."
Luna blinked and turned to go. The sound of the bars shutting reverberated down the hall as she left. It occurred to her later that she should have expected him to call her bluff.