Cockney Accents and Motherly Advice

He had nothing to say, he couldn’t even look at her. He didn’t have an answer for her. He couldn’t even form a sentence. He didn’t know what happened to them. Marital bliss had sure worn off pretty quickly. He looked up and hesitantly met Khaat’s gaze. He wished he hadn’t though. The pain was there – the suffering. He knew he probably mirrored what her eyes showed but he would never be strong enough to admit it. He couldn’t believe it had come to this. They were practically strangers. “I don’t know.” Rob said quietly. “I don’t know what happened to us. I’ve never stopped l-” Rob cut himself and pinched the bridge of his nose, something he’d seen Jen do a thousand times. “Just... have a good day at work, Khaat.”

She walked out, proud she had hid the crippling pain that still continued. She didn't believe now he was ever coming back. She moved as fast as she could, holding onto her stomach, into Knockturn Alley again. She quickly downed another vial of potion. This wasnt' getting better this time. She knew that if she were in her right mind, she'd be asking her father for help. But she didn't want him taking away the only thing that kept her mind at peace. And it would be the first thing he would do.

Rob sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He made a move to leave but something caught his eye over by one of the sinks. He walked over and bent down to pick up a vial. He smoothed the label out on in and scowled upon finding that the label was bare apart from the faint line of ink that must have once covered it. Rob uncorked the vial and sniffed it. He went green and immediately crushed the vial on the side of the sink. He winced as the glass dug into his skin but managed to ignore it. He pulled out some of the shards and ran his hand under a cold tap. Rob ripped a piece of his shirt and wound it around his hand, knowing it would be effective but it wasn’t important.

The stuff was lethal and he’d definitely smelt it on Khaat or at least some weird variation of it. Like when it mixed into the blood and began to poison it. The last time he’d seen it was when his mother had begun taking it shortly after the death of the carpenter. She’d claimed it brought her happiness but Rob doubted it highly. It destroyed her. He was just thankful that Jen was resourceful enough to get someone who could reverse the effects. It would slowly begin to kill someone once they became addicted. Once it was in the bloodstream you weren’t going to last as long as one would hope. A year at the very list. The effects weren’t fast but weren’t quite slow either. It was a painful death and Charlotte had been as close as one could get.

Rob felt sick. That stench was always in the house. He couldn’t go in there without feeling sick. His grandmother had tried to clean it out but it was useless – the smell was always there. He needed some relief. In a last attempt to ditch the smell, Rob melted into his dog form only to find it even more poignant. Even the dog looked green.

Rob trotted out of the Bistro and followed the scent, Khaat’s scent. He found her in Knockturn Alley with that scent around her. He sat down a little way away from her and lifted his paw onto his nose. It was disgusting. He finally gave a doggish sigh and yipped, trying to get her attention. He wanted to go home; whether he was in dog form or not, he’d find away to get his girls home. Even if it got to the point of calling his brother then he’d do it. If Khaat was using it like he thought, although it seemed unlikely – Knockturn was filled with the smell, then it wouldn’t bode well for Abbey.

Khaat turned, hearing some silly dog barking. She saw a black lab not too far from her. Her vision was blurry, but she could see an animagus even when she wasn't at her best. "Who are you?" she frowned. "Look. Go home. If you want my attention, use bloody English, would you?" The pain only got worse, and she sank down on a wooden crate to rest a second, sitting the bag beside her on the ground, her many vials clinking together in the bag. "I am quite sure I have nothing you want," she told the dog. "I can't even help myself," she said very softly to herself, forgetting for a second this was not a muggle dog. Well, that was just nice! She never spilled her guts to a strange wizard. That could be deadly. She was definately not in her right mind anymore. Well, at least as an animagus, he couldn't cast a spell on her. The worst he could do was pee on her leg, which he didn't seem to be interested in at the moment.

Rob knew she wasn’t an idiot but she definitely wasn’t in her right mind. He made a move to run over to her when she nigh on collapsed on the box but managed to compose himself. Wizard or not, he was going to try and keep up the dog charade for as long as possible. For all she knew, he could have been an Animagus who had been Obliviated. Yes, that made perfect bloody sense.

He made his way over to Khaat, hesitantly. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to see him or not. Then again, he was nothing more than a bloody dog that was currently stuck in one singular form. He hoped that she had dog food at home or perhaps she’d cook him up a steak. Either way, he was going to get her back home to Hogsmeade whether it killed him. Which at the end of the day it probably would.

He sat down in front Khaat and looked up at her with glassy eyes. The trademark puppy-dog eyes. He just wanted her to be alright and that clearly wasn’t the case. He wanted to break down but as a dog that didn’t seem pretty normal. If he wanted her, in her drugged stupor, to continue to believe that he was a dog then all would be well. If she figured it out that he was in fact her husband then he would have to do some serious groveling.

Rob whimpered like a proper dog and moved forward to lean his head on her lap. He nudged stomach with his nose and looked up at her again. His dog counterpart must have a keen nose because he could smell the magic radiating off of Abbey - his little girl. He nudged her stomach gently once more and rested his head back on her lap. He wanted her to feel at ease around him again.

His magical signature was flickering as it sealed his form for a while he knew he wouldn’t be Rob until he was completely healthy again and he wondered when that would be. Would Khaat spill her guts out to her dog/husband? Probably not. He sighed and looked at Khaat’s stomach. What kind of pain was Abbey going through? He wanted to know so much about his little girl. What did she think of her mum? What did she think of him? She meant so much to him already that he knew he would have to do everything in his power to save Khaat; even if he was suck as a bloody dog.

"Okay," Khaat sighed heavily. Her father had taught her something after all. "So--you're stuck, I take it. Well, honestly, I don't care if you're Voldemort. As a lab, you're fairly helpless. And I am so damn tired. Alright. You can come with me. Hell, I adopt everything else. But in the morning, you go to the farm. I have to work. I won't be home. Unless you can fend for yourself. "

She sat for a moment. "I guess I have to go home. I can't go back to St. Mungo's today. Not today. And I definately can't go to the farm. And, you wanna know the truth? This bloody crap is expensive. I"m running out of money. I'll have to find a good excuse to borrow from Daddy, I guess. Unless I can charm Vincent into letting me into the restricted section of Hogwarts library. Then maybe I can find Snape's spellbook. He had F-ing everything. I could make my own if I had his notes. But I look like Hell. I'll have to fix that, I guess before I go see him. Alright, Dog. I guess we have to go to Hogsmeade. There isn't anyplace else to go."

She laid her arm on the dog and apparated them both to the living room of the house in Hogsmeade. She sank on the sofa heavily. She really hurt. She was afraid she might lose the baby at this point. She wasn't bleeding but something was definately wrong. As near as she could figure, the baby really did not like this potion and was stripping Khaat of her very life energies to power her own tiny existance. She couldn't blame her, really. She was entitled to do what was necessary since Khaat was proving to be a homicidal mother, at least in her own mind.

She waved her hand and conjured a huge bowl of kibbles and water in large bowls in the kitchen. "You want better than that, then check the fridge," she said. She apparated upstairs, too tired to walk another step. She landed in her bedroom, sat on her bed and downed another bottle of potion and tossed the bottle in the trashcan. She spilled her bag on the bed. There seemed to be hundreds of little bottles, but she knew it wouldn't last her more than a couple of days. And without it she felt really sick. Sicker than she was with it. She rifled through them to find her muggle makeup. She waved over her hand mirror from the dresser and finally removed her glasses. She really was glad Rob had not seen the nightmare she had become. She had no idea why she was even trying to continue any of this.

Rob was happy about being home. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to know the truth though. Khaat’s revelation had scared him and the fact that she’d conjured bloody kibble and water for him made it worse. There was also no chance that he was going to that farm because he would probably maul her father in his sleep just to prevent Khaat from borrowing money from him. He could get something, anything and hopefully sell it for enough to cover her but that was the thing. He didn’t want her using it, it was hurting Abbey. He also wondered how he was going to get into the fridge if he wanted something better than kibble. At that rate he could have chewed on anything but he wasn’t going to start channelling his inner dog just yet. He had a job to do and he wasn’t going to waste his time by biting shoes and ripping up cushions.

After giving his decisions not a lot of thought, Rob trotted upstairs. He did have a few choices but he’d gone with the one he liked the best. Besides, she was his wife and this was their house. Although, she didn’t marry the dog, she married him. He needed something to do, to turn on the puppy-dog charm. He walked onto the landing and nudged open the door of their room. He walked inside and froze almost instantly. Bloody hell did that stuff smell. Obviously they’d changed it and amplified the scent over the years. Rob felt sick. He made a sound which he couldn’t quite analyse himself but he hoped it came across enough to Khaat that she knew he didn’t approve.

Still, Rob jumped onto the bed beside her and laid down with his head on her lap. He nudged her stomach like he’d done in the alley and he looked up at Khaat. She looked awful. She hadn’t been sleeping – that was obvious. Those potions were taking their toll on her. Rob sat up and knocked the mirror out of her hand. Whether it smashed or not wouldn’t make a difference. He still had bad luck. Rob nudged Khaat back with as much strength as his head had but it depended on how exhausted she was. He jumped down off of the bed and scraped at the sliding wardrobe with his paw. He managed to get it open and trotted inside. He picked up a blanket and walked back into the room. He jumped onto the bed again and sat down, waiting for Khaat to lay down. She had to sleep. That way he could sleep and Abbey could recuperate. She needed time to.

Sleep, Khaat. He begged in his head, trying to put his voice in her head like Jen did with him. Please just sleep for me. I need you to sleep. Our daughter needs you to sleep, please.

"You are really stubborn, whoever you are. Look, you. If I could sleep, I'd have done it by now," she sighed. "We can lay here for hours if it meets some odd need you have. But, really, I am sooo not interested in any weird ideas. You behave yourself or I'm tying you out in the yard. Wizard or not, right now you're a dog. And as it so happens, I am--sorta--happily married. To some guy that's thick as a brick sometimes. But that's another story. And I'm spilling my guts to a total stranger. I really have lost my mind. Look, here's the plan, Stan. I'm going to wait for this pain to go away, if I can, and then do my best seductress--which really is very pitiful, actually. And I'm going to try to get that stupid spellbook of Snapes from Vincent. Or at least a look at it. Unless you have a better plan. Cash, Dude. We need cash. I wonder if I can manage to rob Gringotts. Suppose? God, I've got a headache that won't quit. Anybody knocks on the door, that's your gig. Kill 'em. I don't care who it is. Oh, wait. I have a Dark Arts book on the shelf. It was my uncles. He used it purely to teach me what I was up against. Maybe its time I learned some of those spells. Might be useful. What do you think? What side are you on in this stupid war?"

Robert was at the farm, and his senses came into high alert. Something was drastically wrong--well, not perhaps as a matter of life and death, but certainly very very not right at Hogsmeade. He grabbed his shoulder bag and his wand and apparated into the living room of her house, his wand sounding with a loud crack as he entered.

Khaat could recognize the sound of a wand in her sleep. There was an intruder. She honestly didn't care if whoever it was killed her or not. She looked at the dog. "Well? I really don't care what it does to me, but if you want to live, you might want to go kill it first." She snatched up another vial of the potion and drank it in one gulp. If she had to die, she didn't want to feel an F'ing thing. She looked at the dog who seemed to be glaring at her. "Don't you DARE look at me like that," she hissed. "You don't have a bloody clue."