Title: Victim and Perpetrator
Author/Artist: 0idontknow0
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Pansy, Blaise, Theo
Word count: ~1600
Warnings: * torture* Gen
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: "To go against those lessons afforded the Death Eaters the means to punish you as they saw fit, giving a hands on lesson in torture and how it should be dealt."
A/N: Well, this challenge is all sorts of fun to explore. And thanks to my beta, asnq8, for looking things over.
This was written for hp_darkarts' Imperious Challenge.
Pansy knew what others thought of her. She knew because people often looked at her as if she had the word 'bitch' carved into her skin. It did not bother her though; she knew she was a right bitch at times. But she also knew that the students outside of Slytherin thought she would jump at the opportunity to torture Mudbloods and blood traitors. Perhaps she would have, in her first few years at Hogwarts when she had little to no empathy.
Now though... now the thought sickened her, especially when not all of the methods of torture were bloodless. Pansy was more easily disgusted than she had expected to be. She would have been the clean sort if she had been interested in that kind of thing. She would have avoided spilling any bodily fluids not only because of how grotesque it was but for fear of getting herself messy and simply not wanting to have to clean up after herself.
But now... now she had little to no choice. Now the school was run by Death Eaters and you were either with them, against them or unworthy of their ranks.
###
Blaise had always maintained a neutral standing in politics and the war. He did not concern himself with taking sides and was content to remain an observer, acting when necessary or when he saw fit. He held his tongue and kept his thoughts to himself unless provoked or directly addressed and he studied those around him so that he would know how best to handle them should he need to.
There was no singular approach to interacting with the Death Eaters in Hogwarts. Blaise learned that almost immediately. The Carrows were unstable and short tempered, Snape was level-headed and seemed to keep within reason, Lestrange was as excitable and vicious as Draco had said his aunt was. Where one was apparently sane, the others were unquestionably mental.
They all seemed to agree on one thing though, that the Slytherin students should be taken under their wing and taught in their ways, torturing Mudbloods, defiant half-bloods and the like. To go against those lessons was to go against the Dark Lord. To go against those lessons afforded the Death Eaters the means to punish you as they saw fit, giving a hands-on lesson in torture and how it should be dealt.
The Death Eaters would patch them up afterwards, of course. They would summon Madam Pomfrey to aid in healing the tortured Slytherins and disallow their attending classes until they were back in good health with not a scratch on them. The other students were none the wiser and Madam Pomfrey had been forced into silence on the matter.
Blaise could tell that he and his housemates were resented for receiving "special treatment". If only they knew what that special treatment was, what went on in the dungeons, why most of Slytherin raised their wands against their schoolmates, why some of them seemed so dedicated to the tasks given to them. Some of his housemates enjoyed torturing the others, yes, but most did not. That degree of hate and lack of empathy was not inherent in the entire house; it was not possible for so many people to be quite so cold. It was rarer than that.
###
Theodore was the son of a Death Eater so of course he would want to torture the 'tainted'. There was no question about it. He was expected to be like his father, to want what his father wanted, to do what his father did.
But Theodore did not want to torture Gryffindor first years, or torment the Ravenclaws or teach Muggleborns a lesson. He wanted to study and finish his tenure at Hogwarts. He wanted to do normal things and go for butterbeers with his friends. He wanted to sneak into an alcove and snog Daphne Greengrass for all she was worth.
Instead of doing any of those things he would have preferred though, Theodore was hacking up the contents of his stomach after having to learn and properly execute a Branding spell. The room had smelled of burning skin as he worked, letters visibly burning into one of the Creevy brothers' thigh. 'Filth' he had written.
He had purposefully avoided usually unclothed areas.
Theodore had in no way dealt his torture in the manner expected of him though, with stoicism, confidence and at least a shimmer of enjoyment. He had been shaky, nervous, disgusted and had nearly been unable to do it.
Memories of Blaise suffering for his non-compliance almost a week prior had pushed him though. There was no way he wanted to suffer through the Branding spell himself, or whatever else struck the Carrow's fancy. He would not be broken the way his friend had been that day, and all because he could not overcome the qualms he had about casting a fairly lethal spell. Theodore would be punished for his reluctance, yes, but his lesson would not be quite as harsh as Blaise's.
###
Pansy had never in her life had to utilize her Slytherin qualities quite so frequently. Morning, noon and night had her wearing mask after mask. She remained her confident and bitchy self when outside of the dorms so that the other students did not catch on to what was happening in Slytherin. There would be consequences if that happened. Slytherin was supposed to be perfect. They were supposed to be perfect. She was supposed to be perfect. When she was given instructions she feigned willingness; when she had her wand fixed on a wailing student she affected control; when her housemates were being 'taught', she tamped down on her emotions and when her nightmares kept her up, she pretended sleep.
Now, as Lavender Brown stared defiantly at her and Death Eaters watched her with a careful eye, Pansy pulled her face into a sneer, she curled her lips and she straightened her back. She ignored the way her hand trembled slightly and how bile threatened to rise up and out of her throat.
Pansy spat out the incantation she had been taught and watched as skin peeled away from Brown's shin, sliver by sliver. Salazar she wanted it to be done, to drown out the screams, to vanish the blood, to reverse the curse. But she could not. She would not. Pansy knew better than to have this lesson be taught to her properly, especially after having to suffer under the Bone Breaking Curse after failing to snap more than three of McMillan's fingers... segment by fucking segment.
Maybe the other students were better off having the Slytherins torture them. They were not as adept as their superiors and often the intent behind their magic was less genuine. Intent said a lot for how harsh a blow those students would be dealt.
Brown shrieked at Pansy to stop. If only Brown knew how much she wanted to and what would happen to her if she did.
###
Blaise had not been to class in six days. He was bound to his quarters until he was fully healed of the Bleeding Curse. He had begged and begged for them to stop, to lift the curse, pleaded with Yaxley because the pain was simply too much and he had been losing so much blood. It had leaked from his eyes, ears and nostrils, bubbled in his throat then spilled out of his mouth, and soaked his trousers and pants as he bled from unmentionable places. And it had burned. Everywhere had burned where he bled until he could not feel it anymore and he was dizzy from blood loss.
Blaise had thought for a moment that his life was over. Yaxley had waited until the very last minute to end his 'lesson' and even then he thought the only reason Yaxley had stopped was because Snape had found them.
Madam Pomfrey had been shaking with rage from what he could remember of her helping him.
The woman was a saint and a devil both. She eased his pain and healed him, but only for him to have to suffer all over again - either by torture or by torturing.
Potter had better find a way to defeat the Dark Lord because Blaise was not sure how much longer he could live like this.
###
Theodore had taken to avoiding eye contact with students from other houses when possible. He, and many other Slytherins, more or less ignored the non-Slytherins in the hall. It might seem as if they felt too privileged to acknowledge the existence of those around them but in truth it was either that or buckle under the guilt of what they had done, what they would do. It was so they could hide away from some of the shame and disgust, from the walking reminders of siren screams, tortured flesh and pleas for help.
Theodore ignored them so that he could hold on to what sanity he had left, and so he would not find himself scrubbing his skin raw until he did not think he could feel or smell the spatters of blood on him anymore, or the bile, the piss and the shit that sometimes escaped his victims.
If this did not end soon, Theodore was not sure what he would do. He did not want to rob his father of his only son but part of him wanted to find peace with his mother in the afterlife, because there was no conceivable way for him to move on from this, from what he has done. The nightmares grew worse each passing night, the spells more violent, and the screams more memorable. There were too many faces contorted in pain and too many voices begging him to stop.
He was near breaking, if not already broken.