A Cruel Love

"Elmund, a year from today you will turn seventeen years old. You will be a full-fledged adult wizard and the heir to the Grindalwood legacy and yet, you can't even cast such a simple spell. You are unfit and a disappointment to father. Will you continue on for your whole life this way as a weak character or will you grow up and learn what you have to do to be a part of our family properly?" The voice that spoke to Elmund was full of biting malice. Constance had no sympathy for his brother at the best of times. He even took pleasure in the distress that the younger boy was feeling at the task at hand. Constance was not worried that Elmund would ever surpass him. For all the brightness he possessed, Elmund hadn't a backbone to back it up.

There was a short while when Constance was in his sixth year and Elmund had begun at Hogwarts where Constance feared he may not become the official heir to the Grindalwood family. Elmund had been sorted into Ravenclaw rather than the normal Slytherin most Grindalwoods' became. His teachers all spoke of how bright he was but the rosy pallor on his cheeks never left, and he was always soft in his personality henceforth. Of course, upon reaching his own seventeenth birthday, Constance learned of his arranged marriage to Penelope Luminse. Father had wanted Constance to become the heir to the Luminse fortune as the lady of the house had not born a son and was now barren. It was the perfect political marriage in Father's opinion. The Luminse were a rival family of the Grindalwoods, of course good-natured as they were both pure-blooded families. It was the opportune moment to induct the Luminse fortune into the Grindalwood's vast empire. It was no loss for Constance to marry Penelope as she was beautiful and brought him a sense of freedom he could not have had as the heir to the Grindalwood fortune. Now that restrictive noose lay on Elmund's throat and Constance had been left to teach Elmund every minute detail about being the heir during the summer holidays. As it was his only job, Constance took lavish fun in torturing Elmund into submitting to him.

"Elmund, you know what punishment lies for you if you cannot cast one teensy Cruciatus curse." Constance hoped the fear of paint would spur Elmund into casting the necessary spells and they could get on with the training instead of wasting time.

"I can't cast such a spell Constance!" Heat flooded into Elmund's cheeks. Experience taught him that if he didn't do what Constance wanted, then Elmund would receive whatever curse or spell it was that he refused to cast. The memory of when such terrible times began was too fresh in his memory. Elmund had gone with his mother to pick Constance up from Platform 9 ¾ after being away for his first year at Hogwarts. Elmund was only six years old. When they arrived home, Mother had gone upstairs immediately with a steely glint as a house-elf fetched Constance and Elmund to go down into the basement. The basement was normally explicitly forbidden from the two by their mother. Father worked down there.

Father was down in the basement already as they arrived, tip-toeing carefully on the steps. In the main room, there sat a man tied to a chair while Father loomed over him with a couple of his friends behind him snickering as the man in the chair struggled. Constance's eyes widened, realizing the situation in which Elmund was unaware.

"Father, can I take Elmund back upstairs. Is he old enough to be down here?" Constance cautioned. It was the first and last brotherly thing Elmund remembered him doing.

"Don't be silly Constance. I want both of my boys here for the beginning of their training to being the greatest Grindalwood's the world has ever seen. I see potential in both my boys!" Father was so very proud that Constance had gotten into Slytherin. He explained that as he begun to speak of the man they had kidnapped. "Both of you pay attention to this filthy muggle. It will be your test dummy this summer Constance as I teach you to excel past your classmates and become a great and knowledgeable wizard. I remember when my father taught me everything I needed to know. I was Elmund's age with two older brothers when I learned what I needed to do to become a man."

While Elmund did not receive wand education as he was not old enough, he was still forced to be in the room when Constance practiced the spells Father had laid out for him. Elmund tried to force the visuals and sounds out as he daydreamed instead. When the summer was over and Constance had to go back to school, both Constance and Elmund were forced to watch as their father killed the muggle in front of them. They both learned to fear their father that day and Elmund still feared him. He was mad as a hatter and Elmund could see that Constance was slowly becoming the same way. A true Grindalwood was mental from the pressure of being a Grindalwood.

Father didn't ignore Elmund after he was sorted into Ravenclaw like Elmund had thought he would. Instead, he'd begun to take a more personal interest in Elmund's behavior. He often muttered that he should have forced Elmund to learn more spells at a younger age like he had so that Elmund had become a proper Slytherin. However, Ravenclaw wasn't all bad either because it meant he was intelligent. No, Elmund would be groomed properly even if it meant bodily harm.

The bodily harm came in bouts like today when Elmund refused to do a spell until he was put into so much pain that he had no control over what he was doing. When Elmund refused Constance, pain immediately flared up as Constance held the Cruciatus curse. Crying out didn't help relieve the pain. Elmund screamed internally and writhed on the floor. His eyes teared over as he looked at the girl who was this year's sacrifice. She was absolutely terrified as she watched Elmund be tortured. It only took Elmund five minutes to break under Constance, the wounds from the bout yesterday still fresh in his muscles. He'd refused yesterday to use the Fiendfyre curse. Elmund knew it was an unstable curse. The task had been to singe the muggle girls hair with the Fiendfyre curse and then put it out but inexperienced casters generally burnt everything and Elmund was afraid of torching her. Constance first used the Cruciatus curse on Elmund before he'd given in and put all his effort into it. He'd succeeded in not burning her much but her cries echoed through his dreams as he had tried to sleep.

"Okay, please stop! I'll do it" Elmund cried out as the pain surged even more. He was gasped and wheezing as his body twitched involuntarily even as the curse stopped. He felt as if he'd had a seizure and would keep having them all night. Shakily, Elmund stood and looked at the girl with utter regret deep in his eyes as he mouthed an apology as tears fell down his face. Her face was covered in tears as she sobbed without making a sound.

"Crucio!" Elmund screamed and as he feared nothing happened. The girl continued sobbing and Elmund looked around frantically.

"Come on Little Brother! You have to mean it. You want to cause her pain because if you don't, I'll cause you even more than you can imagine" Constance cackled with his head thrown back, not an ounce of kindness in his soul.

"How unbecoming of you Constance, I thought I taught you better than to hackle so un-charismatically." Elmund and Constance went completely still as their father walked into the room, his robes billowing behind him as if a wind blew. "Now Elmund, you must try harder for Papa. The term is about to start again at Hogwarts and you must master this spell because the next time I see you, you will be an adult. Now, try again!" Aural Grindalwood was a handsome man by anyone's standards. He draped himself gracefully across the empty sofa as he watched his children with joy. They were both growing so well even for all of Elmund's ugly kindness. He could and would fix him of that. It would just take a bit more harshness was all.

The second attempt Elmund made was much more pronounced. He focused the anger he felt towards his family into the spell, regretting that he was having to cast such a spell. An unforgiveable curse was terrible in his opinion and Elmund wished the spells could be unforgotten by everyone to never be used again. At the first scream from the muggle girl, Elmund dropped the spell, afraid of himself. In his head, he shouted apologies to her. She was a beautiful, young girl, barely older than himself. If he'd let his imagination run wild, Elmund could see himself going on dates with her but he would never get that chance because she was a muggle and would die soon. Elmund just hoped it wouldn't be by his own hands.

At the jeers and cheers of his father and brother, Elmund cast the spell again until the girl was crying and screaming endlessly. It only stopped when Mr. Grindalwood put his hand on Elmund's shaking shoulders. "Elmund my boy, you've made me most proud this evening. It took Constance quite a few days to finish the Cruciatus curse. I didn't think you had it in you. I believe we are done here. Constance, clean up the filth, I must speak with Elmund in my office."

Elmund cringed as his father led him upstairs, knowing what his words meant. The girl would be dead tonight and there was nothing he could do about it. He could hardly pay attention as his father spoke about all manner of things like the legacy, what it meant to be a Grindalwood, how Elmund was expected to behave and how he needed to grow a backbone. It was all things Elmund had heard before from his Father, his brother, his mother, and any visiting relative. He'd heard it all his whole life with nowhere to escape to as he hadn't made any real friends in his six years at Hogwarts. There were people he occasionally conversed with and a couple of distant cousin's he had to be sociable to but they were like his brother in their cruelty and he couldn't stand to be with them for long periods of time. It was a dismal existence.

Sleep didn't come to Elmund that night or the next night in anticipation to leave the Grindalwood manor. The screams of his victims haunted him and the anxiety at finally getting to leave this terrible place bore heavily on him. Elmund was similar to honey on his good days. His hair was honey gold, and his skin had a natural tan to it while his eyes were a light brown. He was unusual enough that some people questioned whether he was biologically a Grindalwood but those qualms had been laid to rest with a series of spells. Elmund had just received some of the more abnormal Grindalwood traits. Constance had perfectly dark brown hair with light brown eyes like their father. After two days of no sleep, Elmund was becoming gaunt with bags under his eyes. The night before he was finally to leave, Constance force-fed him some sleeping draught he'd brewed up so that Elmund could present himself at his best upon arriving at Hogwarts for his last term. Elmund could not answer Constance on why he could no sleep. He refused to admit the screams were haunting him as Constance would only give malicious laughter. Like most things he though, he had to keep them to himself.