Adrian's head jerked around and watched in bafflement as his father snatched a plate of tarts from somewhere hidden. Voldemort walked over, setting the glass platter onto the table with a loud clatter. The tarts shook slightly, almost bouncing off of the gilded surface.
The tall figure slid into the chair opposite of Adrian and arched one expressive eyebrow into an inquisitive look. Adrian timidly reached out and selected one of the flaking pastries from the dish. His father didn't look any more pleased but he didn't look insulted either, Adrian assumed he was in the clear.
"I was informed of your progress, prior to Bellatrix's...absence," Voldemort's nose wrinkled in distaste, "I've been led to believe you are adequate with spellwork."
Adrian wisely didn't respond.
His father cleanly placed the remaining apple core on the table between then, just shy of the pastries. "Burn it."
Adrian swallowed and let the bubbling rush drag through his body in a dissociated exhale. His vision warped, tunneling slightly as the apple smoldered a pathetically wispy plume of white smoke. It thickened slightly, before sputtering pathetically.
Adrian felt like he was on the edge of desperation. If he couldn't satisfy his father, then it was likely that he would be disposed of.
He needed it to burn. From that desperation and incentive something in Adrian's skull squeezed his brain just so; the apple burst alight with a shimmering orange flame.
He watched the fire burn and char the remnants of the apple until it was a shriveled thing. It proved a distraction to avoid the man sitting across the table from him- until he felt strong fingers grasp his jaw and force his head upright.
At once the fire ceased, and he found himself inhaling sharply at the sight of the deep scarlet irises surrounding oval pupils. It was an uncanny reminder of the events in the chamber, which his father also grabbed his jaw and observed his face for resemblance. This time though, the scarlet eyes were not surveying his features. They were locked with mesmerizing force on his own eyes and searing into his memory.
He felt a buzzing in his skull as his mental barriers were nearly obliterated. They were pathetic, even with the pride that Adrian had felt with their construction.
Adrian was breathing heavily as he felt sharp needles stab into varying levels of his consciousness. A low tingling buzz near his spine warped with the sensation of an Eagle's quill jamming just behind his left eye.
He could feel a low whimper slip from his mouth as the thorny presence withdrew from his mind; the scarlet eyes broke contact and left Adrian reeling and withholding tremors.
He could tell his father was disturbed over something; he could tell in that small portion back in his skull which always instinctively told him how his father felt.
Then, metaphorically before his eyes, the presence of his father's emotions retracted.
"Fascinating," His father murmured under his breath, glancing off at a point past Adrian's left ear. His father lifted a long pale finger, pressing it to his own temple to heighten concentration. The dark eyes flickered back to Adrian who quickly looked away.
Adrian kept searching in his mind, navigating around the wreckage of his occlumency walls to investigate the portion which felt numbingly separated.
Then it opened, unveiling like an eyelid to stare into the ruins of Adrian's mind. With an absence of subtly or caution, something intruded with searing black limbs from it. Squirming limbs of a thousand octopus' grasping and reaching and touching.
Adrian gasped outright, collapsing heavily against his chair as the sensation of cold water filled his skull. It was spreading, filling him and leaving jaw chattering tremors in its grasps.
He was torn away from his own eyes, his vision darkening as his mind separated from his own sense of sight and sound. He was wrapped and entangled in the confines of something long and nimble; endless with no distinction between head, body, and tail.
The thing hissed something wordless and without meaning. It tightened, stealing his withheld breath and caressing his flesh like a dementor's grasp.
Then it was retracting slowly and leaving Adrian alone.
Adrian gasped something discourteously and blinked.
His eyes somehow recovered from their blindness. He was once again aware of his own body and how his limbs had spasmed and curled in. He pried his limbs away from where he had hunkered into a fetal position on the chair. He jolted his head upwards from the strange position it had been holding. He didn't remember holding his neck so stiffly during the...
"None of that," His father hushed without kindness, voice loud against the pulsing in his head.
....
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