Chapter 2: Pain and Humiliation

Not able to escape but unwilling to cower or hide, Harry decided to pull a reckless move. Harry launched himself at V/M as fast as he could, hoping against hope that he'd be able to grab one or both of the wands from him.

As he half expected, V/M was too quick. Harry ran straight into a Cruciatus Curse. Screaming in agony, Harry dropped to the floor like a shot bird. This time, the torture curse was at its full potential. This…is much worse than the time in the graveyard. Harry thought dimly, trying to focus on anything but the burning pain that engulfed his body.

Finally, after what seemed hours, but was only really a few minutes. Harry felt the curse lift. As he lay panting on the floor, his throat raw from screaming, Harry heard V/M step closer. Turning his head and tilting his face up, the black haired teen was able to look into Malfoy's red eyes.

"That was revenge on what you did to me at the ministry, Potter." V/M hissed malevolently. Then he got a crafty expression on his face. "Potter, we're inside. Don't you think you should remove your shoes? Terrible manners, that is, you must have picked it up from your precious mudblood mother."

"Keep your mouth off my mum!" Harry shot back, anger roiling in his gut at V/M's taunts. The trembling Gryffindor managed to get his feet under him. Though his limbs still shook, Harry was able to stand tall and face his enemy in the face. Or rather, looked down into the eyes of his enemy. He could see V/M's rage at Harry standing taller than his current body.

"I asked you a question, Potter. Answer me. Imperio!" Harry felt the familiar sensation of the curse hit him as a voice chanted softly in his head. Just take off your shoes, just take off your shoes, just— Harry broke the curse not ten seconds after it was cast on him. Smiling bitterly, Harry decided that if he was going down, he should get some parting shots in at his enemy…even if they were only verbal.

"I thought you had learned your lesson that night in the graveyard, Voldemort." Harry said softly. "The Imperious Curse doesn't work on me. Or did you not realize that?" Harry knew he was playing with fire, but didn't care. He probably wasn't getting out of this room alive, so why should he just lie down and surrender? V/M's face colored in rage.

"Very well, Potter. We'll do this the hard way then." V/M hissed as he flicked Malfoy's wand. Instantly Harry felt himself be lifted into the air by his feet. No, not my feet, my shoes. Harry realized as he hung so that his head was about eye level with V/M's. Harry's robes hung around his face as his glasses threatened to fall off his face. Even though he was now upside down and blood was rushing to his face, Harry still glared at V/M.

"Well, we can't have your glasses coming off, can we Potter? After all, without your glasses, you can't see me clearly and I want you to be able to see my face clearly when I kill you." V/M flicked Malfoy's wand and Harry felt his glasses shoot back to where they belonged on his face. His glasses now felt like they were glued in place and Harry knew that they would not come off unless Voldemort wished it.

Then V/M flicked his wand again and Harry felt his shoelaces untying themselves and his feet starting to slip out of the shoes. So Harry yanked his feet the rest the way out of them and twisted the best he could to land on either his feet or backside. He didn't have enough time to hit the ground with his feet, so the young wizard landed ingloriously on his rear in a puddle of cold water. Biting back a moan of pain for his bruised posterior, Harry glared up at V/M, hate and anger blazing in his bright emerald eyes.

"You've been hanging around Bellatrix too much, Voldemort." He spat at his enemy.

"Oh? And why is that Potter?" V/M's voice was once again silky.

"You're playing with your prey just like she does." Harry explained rising once more to his feet. Both of them were roughly in the middle of the room, Harry's shoes still floating in the air. V/M sent them flying into a toilet with a lazy flick of his wand. Well at least he didn't drop them on my head. Harry thought ruefully, his socks and feet both soaking wet and cold. The two wizards were about four or five feet apart.

"And what's the harm in that? Unless you'd rather just have me end it?" V/M hissed, smirking. "Is the great Harry Potter wishing for me to just end his pathetic existence?" Harry held his tongue and glared at V/M, not wanting to show that he was afraid of death.

"Very well, Potter." V/M hissed. Harry straightened his back and squared his shoulders, struggling to keep the fear from his face as he continued to glare into V/M's red eyes as his hands curled into fists at his sides. I'll be with Mum, Dad and Sirius. Harry reminded himself and managed to keep his composure and not show his fear.

"Avada Kedavra" V/M cried pointing his wand at Harry's chest. A bolt of bright green light shot out of the wand and hit Harry. Harry felt like Hagrid had punched him. The breath flew out of his lungs along with a strangled cry of pain. Harry felt himself be lifted off his feet and thrown backwards.

The black haired teen felt the back of his head and shoulders crack painfully up against the stone wall as the rest of his body quickly followed. Bloody hell that hurt. Harry thought fuzzily as he collapsed onto the wet floor. Feeling the back of his head gingerly, Harry knew he had gotten off relatively lightly. There was a goose egg rapidly forming under his fingers, but Harry didn't feel any blood. He probably was going to get a mild concussion, but since most of the force of the curse had been used up already, Harry knew he didn't hit the wall too hard.

But the Gryffindor was puzzled as to why he was still alive. I can't be dead, I hurt too much. Then he remembered something the fake Moody had told the class at the beginning of his fourth year: "Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it—you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed."

Malfoy must not have enough power to do that, even with Voldemort controlling him. Harry thought sluggishly as he climbed unsteadily to his feet. Looking up, Harry saw V/M's face and almost had the urge to laugh. V/M's mouth was open and his were eyes wide with surprise. But the dark wizard figured out why Harry was still alive a moment later and his face hardened.

"So Lucius' son must not have enough power to perform the killing curse, even with my help. You'll have to improve, Draco, and rapidly." V/M hissed, the last part clearly intended for the teen he was controlling. A strange whimper escaped Malfoy's throat then and for a moment a look of pure dread and fear crossed Malfoy's thin face. But it was gone a moment later, and Harry felt an impending sense of doom crash over him.

"Well, in that case, I guess I'll just have to settle for 'playing with my prey' as you so charmingly put it Potter." V/M hissed and Harry tensed up, preparing himself. For what he didn't know, but Harry was sure he'd find out, and quickly. He did; V/M flicked his wand at Harry, who couldn't get his shaking legs to cooperate with him and dodge.

Harry felt and saw the effect of the spell immediately. Every article of clothing on his body caught fire. Harry yelped and dove into a puddle of water in order to douse the flames. This worked, but the fire had already done its damage. As Harry stood back up, the blackened remains of Harry's clothes fell to the floor. Leaving him completely naked. Harry felt his face redden in embarrassment but was relieved to see that the blank marauder's map was unharmed, though it was now lying in the puddle.

It must be protected from fire and water. Clever of them. Harry thought briefly before turning his attention back to V/M and trying to ignore his current lack of clothes.

"Let's see how well 'the boy who lived' deals with humiliation." V/M hissed malevolently. Damn, Hermione and Ron must have noticed my absence by now. Hopefully they're looking for me. Harry thought desperately, as he braced himself as best he could.

HB here: yay second chapter is up! I've started another sailor Moon fic cause I'm pathetic like that. So now I have three in progress fics. Ugh.

But good news is that I'm updating them. I updated Born of Wind and Ocean last night and now I'm updating this one. My other one isn't yet, cause I'm planning to just make it a one-shot, and there are going to be two versions: lemon scented and lemon. For the people who're uncomfortable with lemon fics coughI.Plead.Ignorancecough and one for the lemon lovers.

Oh and I got my first stripe in karate! Yay!

Changed some things around a bit, mostly Ron's dialogue. I've been watching the movies too much and forgot that the real Ron isn't that dumb or the comedy relief so…

Ja ne