Chapter 1

"I wasn't doing anything wrong," Ron said through gritted teeth.

Hermione glared at his best friend. "So, what exactly were you doing?"

Ron closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then opened his eyes. Choosing his words carefully, he started, "Look Hermione, I was simply dissecting the curse … to study it … to know what part made it stronger or weaker, etc."

"And you simply chose an unforgivable?" Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Cruciatus curse?"

Ron took another deep breath before answering Hermione's question. "Hermione, I wanted to study the curse. Knowing it better will help us deal with it better. Merlin knows how often Death Eaters use it!"

"Don't you know you can be sentenced to Azkaban for using it?" Hermione cried, "Why, Ministry officials could very well be on their way---"

"I read the books," Ron said simply, "You are punished only when you use it on intelligent creatures, which excludes rats."

Hermione glared at Ron. Ron merely continued, "I really don't know why you are always against me when I try to study Dark Curses. Even you know they have helped us in the past."

"Because they are dark," Hermione shot back. "Dark Arts are not called so for fun, Ron. Not only they have the capacity to hurt others fatally, over-use has negative and dark effects on the caster. It will make you a dark wizard, for Merlin's sake, Ron." Hermione cried the last part.

Ron decided against answering Hermione, turned away and walked out of the Room of Requirement.

This was not a new thing for Ron. For as long as he remembered he had heard this from everyone, from his family to his best friends. Ron was a natural at Charms and Curses, though he had trained himself in the latter all by himself. He had forgotten how many times had he received adulations for his deep knowledge of Charms. The Charms Weekly had gone as far as calling him Charms Engineer of the Century.

His favourite work, however, was to combine, manipulate or dissect simple curses with others or dark ones to create dark curses or to simply manipulate Dark curses. Not only were they challenging and tested his knowledge and talent, but also tricked the enemy in a duel. Of course, none other than his family and Harry and Hermione knew of this and they never stopped nagging him for this - a reason good enough for Ron to keep this under wraps. Merlin knows how others will react to it.

But how long can one keep such things a secret.

And Ron's handiwork became known when he used his own charms and curses in a duel against Death Eaters last summer. It was only his vast knowledge of charms and curses which had kept him duelling with one of the most powerful Death Eaters, a known prodigy of Charms and Curses.

'Marvellous … I had only heard of your talent, Weasley. Never knew you were that good.' Ron recalled the only compliment he had received when he had put his hard work on display in the duel.

The honesty and appreciation in the comment had taken Ron off-guard in his duel with the one giving it. Not only had the admiration of the Death Eater he was dealing with gave Ron pride, but also saved his life. Momentary loss of concentration in the duel could have cost him his life, but the Death Eater merely left him, winking and saying – we will meet soon, Weasley.

And since then Ron had been waiting for the said meeting. The pride he had felt, the acknowledgement he had been yearning for, the understanding he had found in that one sentence had fuelled Ron to further his work.

But other feelings had also crept into Ron's mind – fear, guilt and occasional shame. He feared for his life, felt guilty for getting excited at the prospect of such meeting and shame that he was letting his friends down … especially Harry.

For the Death Eater who had complimented Ron was none other than … Bellatrix Black.

And yet, Ron couldn't forget the shine in those blue eyes when she had seen Ron's charm work as a curse, he couldn't forget the smile she had given him – full of pride, he couldn't forget the honest admiration of his work and he definitely couldn't forget the look she had given him before leaving. It said volumes of what was going on in her mind at that instant.

She had finally found an equal.

A/N: I will continue with this story only if i get good enough reviews and readers, mainly because lack of reviews and readers make me lose the motivation required. Hope you like the story. Ciao