HP 6 - A different Half-Blood...

The Cruciatus Curse

They arrived at King's Cross twenty minutes early. The Ministry driver got the trolleys for them and loaded their trunks onto them. Mrs. Weasley thanked him and he sped away, easily dodging through traffic. They walked over to the barrier at platform nine and three-quarters and walked through it slowly. There was no need for any of them to run at it anymore. They found a compartment near the end of the train to put their trunks in. However, Ron, Ginny and Hermione still had to supervise the loading and mentor the behavior of the students. Harry had not actually seen Ron or Hermione dock any points, yet, but for a while, he was not hanging around them.

After they loaded their luggage, they went back to say good-bye to Mrs. Weasley, and Fred and George, who had popped up while they were gone.

"Now, Harry, make sure you eat a lot of food, ok? And don't wander off, especially into the Forbidden Forest. It's very dangerous. You managed to find your way back in there last year... again.... Do really try to stay out of it," Mrs. Weasley hugged him and was on the verge of tears.

"And Ron, you better keep him and you out of there, too, and I'm so proud of you being Captain of the Quidditch team! You will do great," she hugged Ron, too.

"Yes, I'm sure he will make us all very proud," Fred said, in a hearty voice.

"Don't make fun of your brother! Someone put him in charge and that's more than you two can say!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.

"We're so sorry, Ron... can you ever forgive us?" George said, through fake tears and getting on one knee and grabbing Ron's hand.

Ron wretched his hand away and looked at the people around him, who were watching curiously. His face went red and he said a tersely good-bye to the three of them. Harry did the same, smiling, and Mrs. Weasley hugged Ginny and Hermione in turn and they all headed for their compartment. Neville, Dean and Seamus spotted them and came to join them in their car.

"So how was your vacation, mate?" Seamus asked.

"Great," Harry said, thinking about witnessing an execution.

Seamus understood his meaning and waved good-bye to his mum, who was outside the window. She eagerly waved back, but as the train started to move, she vanished from view. Seamus moved back by the door and sat down.

"She looks happier," Harry said.

Seamus was slightly confused, but said, "Yeah, I think she has gotten over him."

"So, your parents aren't getting back together then, mate?" asked Dean.

"No, it'll never happen," Seamus said, sorrowfully.

"That's too bad," said Ginny, frowning.

"Let's play some cards," said Ron, unconcerned about the topic.

Hermione gave him a dark look, but played Exploding Snap with them anyway. They talked about their presents and Harry noticed that Ron and Hermione did not say much about their presents. He did not even remember what their presents were, but the conversation turned to Ron's new training ideas, which went on for hours. They ate a few snacks when the trolley cart came by their compartment, and they reached Hogwarts after dusk. They enjoyed a good dinner, and went up to their dorm rooms to get ready for a hard, long day of classes tomorrow.

Harry took notice that the house elves had brought his trunk up, while he pulled off his robes. Suddenly, the day seemed exhausting. He wanted to sleep. Ron was not there. Where could he be? He did not feel like looking for him, but he was extremely tired and he lay down in bed. He immediately closed his eyes.

He was staring at the mirror, but not looking directly into it.

"Your friend Igor is dead, but you already know that, don't you?" Harry spoke.

"My Lord, he was no friend of mine. I told him not to leave and that you would find him, master," said a voice that came from behind him. Harry recognized the snarling voice, though it was not as formidable as usual.

"Severus, you know much in the ways of Occulmency. Too much, I'm afraid," Harry said and turned to face him. Snape was paler than he usually was.

"Master, I only serve you," Snape said, bowing his head slightly. Harry looked directly into his eyes as though looking for the correct answer, but there was none to be found.

"You are resisting me. I can sense that much at least. Lucius might trust you, but he has much to answer for. I am tired of his failures. The question is, 'Are you one of his'?" Harry asked, with a certain malicious delight. Snape would not beg or make up excuses. He knew this.

"Perhaps, if your defenses were weaker, I can know for certain..." Harry snarled, pulling out his wand with his long, spidery fingers, but Snape did not say anything, though watched the wand with a trace of fear in his eyes.

"Yes, perhaps I have not been as inquisitive as I should have been.... I know you are hiding something. I want to know what it is... Crucio!" Harry yelled.

Instinct woke Harry up before the pain hit him. He did not want to be trapped again as he felt stabs of pain across his forehead. His head felt as though a brick had fallen on it. Everyone was sleeping besides Ron, who still was not there. Harry rolled into his side. He felt another burning stab of pain and another, but it then subsided. He helped himself to a glass of water on his nightstand. The only thing he knew was that Snape was somewhere being tortured. Was he still alive? Did he tell Voldemort something? Harry did not know. He thought of telling Sirius, but he was gone.

Ron came in finally and got into bed without changing. Neither of them said anything. Ron fell asleep quickly, but it took a while for Harry to fall into an uneasy sleep. His scar kept waking him up throughout the morning. It was tinkling and he felt a kind of anger that he could not account for. It reassured him that Snape was probably alive, though he wondered why he cared. He finally drifted off into an interrupted sleep and Ron actually had to wake him up in the morning. He was fully dressed and said he would meet him downstairs. Everyone was gone already.

He got up and dressed quickly, but then he remembered his mother's wand. He got out the wand holder and fitted it around his shin without difficulty. The holder came with instructions for a charm that will keep the wand in place unless the person who enchanted it removed it with their hand. It would resist Disarming and Summoning Spells, he read. No one can take it from him, at least easily. He performed the charm and tested it. It withheld the Summoning Charm. He decided that he would always wear it and would tell no one about it. He grabbed his bag and headed downstairs, where Ron and Hermione were impatiently waiting for him.

"What took you?" Ron asked, impatiently.

"Couldn't find my Defense Against the Dark Arts book," he said, having already thought up an excuse.

"Oh, let's go eat," Ron said.

They ate a quick breakfast and tore off to Hagrid's a bit early. It was a clear day. The snow had decreased to about three or four inches. Hagrid opened the door of his hut, before they got there and beckoned them in. They noticed he had a healing bruise on his face.

"Did yeh've a good Chris'mas?" he asked pouring some tea.

"Yes, fine. How's Grawp?" Hermione asked, inquisitively, avoiding looking at Hagrid's face.

"Fine, fine. Abit cold isn' it? Made 'im abit of a shelter," he said quickly, too quickly in Harry's mind.

"I thought he didn't hit you anymore," Hermione said.

"Umm... his temper is jus'... actin' up... bu' don' yeh worry so much," Hagrid muttered, not meeting their eyes.

When the class arrived, Hagrid told them that they were going to check the progress of Nemesis, and go over what an expecting mother needs for her baby. The class enjoyed the non-violent nature of the lesson, but it was still freezing and they were hard-pressed to retain any of the knowledge. Hagrid, thankfully, noticed this fact, and dismissed them early.

They all went to the Great Hall to warm up. Malfoy was watching Harry intently, as he slithered off to the Slytherin table. Harry asked Sean Williams, who had also stayed at Hogwarts during Christmas break, if Malfoy stayed there the whole time as well and he said yes. Harry did not think he could be the new member of the Death Eaters that Voldemort was talking about, but it was still possible.

They went up to Defense Against the Dark Arts and Harry wondered if Snape was going to be there, because he was not at breakfast. He had not had the time to tell Ron and Hermione about his dream, yet. Class had already started, but Snape was not there. Many people might have considered leaving, but good sense told them that leaving Snape's class without permission was as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye. Ten minutes passed. Snape had never been late before.

Had Voldemort not let him go? Harry thought.

Snape, however, made a dramatic entrance by bursting into the room, and making everyone by the door jump in alarm. He did not mention anything as to his tardiness, and the class was not thick enough to ask.

"It is time to move to the next step. The Unforgivable Curses need more than just focus and mind control. They need willpower: the type of willpower that wants the curse to happen. Some of you understand this, but most of you do not. The Imperious Curse is the easiest of the three, because you need focus more than willpower. You need to understand how to get that power and we will start with the Cruciatus Curse," he said.

Neville was completely frozen, but Snape took no notice.

"The Cruciatus Curse is one of the most powerful spells. Very few know the feeling of it. The pain is excruciating. It humbles even the strongest of us," Snape grimaced slightly.

Harry looked directly at Snape, who just endured the curse the night before. His demeanor was reduced slightly, and a few other people noticed it as well.

"However, the focus and willpower needed to inflict that kind of pain is hard to reach. We will again start with spiders," he finished.

They got their spiders. Harry had to get Ron's for him, but Neville did not move. The Imperious Curse was easier as Snape said. Though Harry managed to cause his spider a little pain, he could not make it last. Ron was actually doing better than they were. Harry realized that he needed deep-seeded hatred in order to work the curse. He, however, did not have the hatred that Ron did for spiders. He tried a few more times with no success. He sat down and watched the spider start to get back up. He looked over a Neville who was still frozen. He had not moved in the last half an hour, much less tried the spell.

Snape, amazingly, had not said anything to Neville, yet. However, Harry watched Neville as he got up, retrieved a spider, returned to his desk and attempted the spell, without a word to anyone else. Harry watched him with concern, but Neville did not look over at him. Harry turned back to his own spider thought about the anger and hatred he needed. Voldemort. He just had to think about Voldemort and all the pain and hatred he caused.

Harry raised his wand and said, "Crucio!"

His spider was twitching in agony, but he did not like doing it and stopped. He needed to maintain the hatred if he wanted it to last longer. He tried it a few more times, but was revolted by what he was doing. Snape called the class to stop after an hour. They took many complicated notes on the Cruciatus Curse and he set a lengthy assignment on it. Apparently, Snape wanted to let them get an idea what the curse was like beforehand. Harry had to give it to him. He knew what he was doing.

Harry had noticed a few times that Snape looked exhausted, and shook from pain that Harry knew all too well came from the Cruciatus Curse. Ron and Hermione also noted Snape's diminished power of presence, but Harry was more concerned about Neville. However, when they got out of class and tried to talk to Neville, he ignored them and ran off just as Harry had done before Christmas. While still concerned for Neville, Ron asked about Snape. Harry told them what had happened in his dream. Their reaction was typical.

"Maybe he just showed you that to make you think that Snape helping Dumbledore! Just like..." Ron stopped after looking at Hermione, but she did not care.

"Ron, how many times do we have to go over this?" Hermione asked, very irritated.

"Well, you know..." Ron started.

"No, Ronald!" she said, furiously.

Harry was surprised to hear her call him 'Ronald', but they just continued arguing all through lunch and on the way to Herbology. By the time they got there, neither one was speaking to each other. Harry found the silence nice, but the forced conversations were stressful. However, by Wednesday, it was all forgotten.

The next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson was just as hard. Snape gave them spiders the size of a cat to work with. Harry concluded that using the Cruciatus Curse on animals was too cruel. Snape set another assignment on using Transfiguration as torture tool. However, Harry had read in Darko's book, the 온라인카지노게임 of the MacBoons, was a warning to those who Transfigure people into the wrong thing. Harry also noticed that Malfoy was more irritable than usual over the next few days. The reminder of the fake Moody's punishment of turning him into a ferret was still a painful one.

However, in Transfiguration, McGonagall had started them on a new subject: Animomency or performing magic not vocally, but by force of thought.

"The ability to do magic by thought, and not words, is usually obtained through experience. Saying the word is not what triggers the activation of the spell, it is the force of thought. With experience, usually, you gain this concept," McGonagall said waving her wand and a parrot appeared out of thin air. Another wave caused it to disappear.

"This takes years to build up, but I can show you how to do easy spells, and you will expand the number of spells you can do without pronunciation as you grow older," she said and set them to work.

The class soon discovered that this was the hardest magic they had ever learned. No one had affected their match they were supposed to be changing, but by the third day, Hermione was the first to change hers into a needle, earning her twenty points. Professor McGonagall said they would only try it for and few weeks and then start Human Transfiguration and Apparation. Both were topics that everyone was looking forward to trying. She also said that the other teachers would be having their own lessons in Animomency. Harry wondered if she heard that Snape assigned an essay on using Human Transfiguration as a torture technique. It seemed like their professors were organizing their teachings to coincide with each other more than ever before.

Charms had challenged them as well. Harry thought he should thank Madam Pomfrey for her skills, because the ability to mend bones was something that Harry did not possess. Hermione did fairly well though, as they practiced mending on broken sticks, which Professor Flitwick said are good practice for mending actual bones. Harry dreaded what would have happened if they had started on people first. Both Flitwick and Hagrid set lengthy assignments to welcome them back from break.

By then, Harry, Ron and Hermione were overloaded with homework. Hermione and Harry had more classes, but Ron also had to prepare for Quidditch practice, too. They got no sympathy from Ginny, who had to work all through break on her homework. Harry managed to keep up with his homework this time, with Hermione nagging him, but still they had to stay up very late to finish it. However, the only thing that really motivated Harry was Quidditch.