"Master is speaking to guest inside the office." Nagini hissed, lying entangled with his legs in her massive coils, her large head nested near his own. Lutain flicked his tongue companionably, curled around Adrian's right forearm and his pillow.
"Who is it?" Adrian asked, stroking the long forehead of the python.
"The blonde," Nagini hissed, causing Lutain to perk up.
"Spawn of dragon-hatchling?" Lutain lifted his head upward, eyes bright.
"Draco's father?" Adrian blinked in confusion, his hisses faltering, "What is he doing here?"
"Crazy-lady, they want her back."
Adrian nearly sat upright. Bellatrix? They were planning to get Bellatrix back?
Internally he nearly grinned in excitement, and at the same time he was horrified to think that he would be forced to leave. He didn't want to go, he wanted to stay with his father here.
"I wish we knew what they were saying."
"I do." Nagini reared, lifting her weight onto her coils before headbutting Adrian's chest roughly, if still gently for a snake her size. "Self, self?"
"Nagini," Adrian winced and pushed her snout aside. "What are you-"
The tattoo slid out of his skin, flicking its tongue at Nagini, who flickered her tongue back at herself.
"Self." The real Nagini was satisfied, looking at the mark agreeably, "What does Master say?"
The tattoo twisted in acknowledgment and melted under his skin once more. The sensation made Adrian twitch.
How brilliant, he hadn't ever considered something like that before. He knew that the tattoo, the elaborate yet completely legal mark that covered his flesh worked as a messenger between the painting in his father's office and throne room. He hadn't ever considered using it as a spy, a way to learn more information he wasn't privy to.
Yet, was he actually not permitted to know the information? It wasn't him who had suggested the tattoo do it, it was Nagini who had summoned it with an eager butt of her nose. Adrian shouldn't be punished for the action of his familiar, yet something inside him cried out that maybe Nagini had summoned it on purpose. Maybe she was trying to get him in trouble.
No, she liked Lutain too much to go out of her way to try and injure Adrian.
Yet somehow the concept of summoning the tattoo was a little too advanced for her, something that seemed suspiciously beyond her understanding.
It curled and rolled under his flesh, tugging slowly like the uncomfortable feeling of Spell-O-Tape being pulled away from his skin. It tingled and itched like a burn, or a blister starting to peel.
"You're using me like a carrier pigeon." Adrian argued, not enjoying how the python was using his skin.
"I find pigeon," Lutain offered, wriggling excitedly at the prospect of using his own service. Adrian almost smiled at how his familiar tried his best to accommodate his discomfort.
They waited in bated silence for the tattoo to slither back into view. It emerged from his thigh, sliding over a hip before reporting through fanged jaws, "Raid in fall. Azkaban. Crazy-lady free with kin and den-mates, Demen-tears problem."
Adrian smiled and stroked the tattoo appreciative. It was beautiful, yet morbidly nauseating to glance at knowing it was under his body. "Thank you."
It hissed welcomingly before fading away and leaving the three.
They were planning a raid on Azkaban? Fall was still a long time away, and Adrian didn't even know when exactly in fall this would be taking place. In fact, Adrian didn't know anything. He hadn't been told any details.
He was finding out about it from a tattoo.
Adrian knew that his father was aware that he and Bellatrix were close. Wouldn't it be logical for him to include Adrian on the planning to better manage her?
Unless his father didn't want Bellatrix and Adrian to meet or be together.
"We'll have to wait and ask later," Adrian stated the obvious, stroking each of the serpent's scales soothingly. More for himself as his anxiety drifted again.
His insecurities and worries only heightened and intensified as all three drifted in and out of sleep in the afternoon heat.
....
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