"Again."

Up on her feet, wiping the blood dripping off her mouth. She failed again. Her father was unimpressed behind the glass window. She was unimpressed behind the emotionless face.

The man in front of her wiped at his knuckles. Imbecile smile on his lips. He was enjoying this. He had been wanting to do this to her for so long.

That's what Adelina gathered for the three seconds she could access his mind. before he punched her right in the jaw. She said the word. She couldn't defend herself. It was against the arbitrary rules her father made.

Three times her size, the man cast a shadow over Adelina. Her ground never wavered. She has mastered this already. She knows it. She has the experience.

But not speechless and not wandless.

Everything had to be done in secret.

A secret like her.

Learn to stay undercover.

That was her challenge.

She bit her bottom lip. Her eyes glazing over with no emotion as she looked at the man. Satisfying him with a reaction would earn herself more discipline to be engraved on her.

Staring. Black, lifeless eyes holding nothing but the remnants of what once used to be human. It'd be a miracle if there was anything beyond the monster he's become.

Legilimens. Legilimens. Legilimens. She repeated in her head, but nothing. All she had were her own freighting thoughts in her head.

Death would taste much better than the blood in her mouth. Her father's beheading would call for celebration. A dinner and at the centerpiece of her table.. his head.

Her hand twitched. Like a shot of firewhiskey, she was inside the man's head again.

puttana. Then the air was knocked out of her as his fist connected with her stomach. She gasped for air as she fell to her knees.

"Fail once more and you'll see." Her father spoke.

Adelina stayed on the floor, holding her stomach. She needed a moment. It's been hours since she got locked up in the small room.

A small giggle escaped her lips.

It was ridiculous. She's managed to get his name—his real name. Not Isidro like he's known by her father and all the Bosses. But Mario, brother of Luigi. A bloody plumber.

She grimaced as her head was tugged back. "Cosa c'è di così buffo?!"

"Cos'hai da ridere?" He barked in her ear, pulling her up by her neck. Adelina could no longer feel the floor beneath her feet as she spat on his face. Her lungs begged her to struggle for freedom.

Instead, she placed her hands on his. No struggling. Adelina wasn't going to struggle against Dumb Mario. He wasn't worth anything. He was glaring at her, and Adelina matched his gaze.

Legilimens. Like diving into the sea, Adelina met a crashing wave.

A boy with a teddy bear saw a monster. He cried to mama and papa, shared the bed with them and Mr. Coniglio. She could feel his fear, the child's thoughts running through her head. "fara 'da mangiare me".

The boy grew up. Lost himself when he was 19.

Adelina was on the floor. She could hear him cursing at her to get out. She was 18, and wanted to get away from the war that was not her own. Unlike Mario who delved further in until he had his own army to lead.

45 years of age. The same age he turned a mere week ago, 45 years of age and surrounded by older men in a dark room. They spoke in hushed, rushed Italian, pointing at places on a map. Pointing at her father's sector—The people under her father's care. The innocent ones.

Adelina was in the room, no one but Mario noticed. The fear in his eyes as realization dawned.

"You're looking to kill thousands of innocent people." Adelina stated, words clear as she glared at him. Cold and unfazed to his pleading. "Pathetic scum."

She had the information she was sought to seek for her father. Mario pledged his allegiance to only end up in betrayal. That was worse than being an enemy.

How far could Adelina go in his head? She's seen his childhood and adolescence and his now. But what if she showed him what his future would be?

Pick and scatter reminiscences of his life. Doubt. Fear. What was his life? Was his life worth living?

He's 45 years, a week, and a day old. A room just like the one him and Adelina are in. The glass window, the rusty lights, the dirty walls. That metal pipe in the ceiling, and rope. It'll all be his choice. His choice, his hanging body.

Adelina smiled as she got to her feet, walking towards the large man folded in himself.

"O forse no?" Adelina's voice was sweet like honey as she took her wand out of her boot.

Like the taste of blood, she was inside his head again.

Or maybe not. His choice was no longer his. Adelina had him cornered, twitching and breathing hard. Burst of red from her wand, screams from him as every nerve in his body ripped apart. There was nothing but pain and madness.

But why show him his future when it can just be his present already?

"Crucio." Adelina murmured, her wand moving on its own as the spell hit Mario's body.

His body twitched at her feet and she looked over to the glass window. Proud smile on her father's lip, slow claps. She spat the blood from her mouth onto Mario's body, gaze fixed on her father until the door opened.

She was being let out.

It was 3am when Adelina let herself feel again. Vomit as she held hair back. Breathless as she let the tears stream down her face.

She wanted to wipe the memory from her own mind.