HOGWARTIAN HELL
CHAPTER TWO
AMYCUS CARROW
Breakfast held more talk for the students than dinner had. Snape wasn't present at the head table and so people's nerves had gone down slightly, though the atmosphere still felt anxious. Those who were most afraid were the ones who had Dark Arts first thing that morning.
"You've got Amycus Carrow first thing after breakfast?" Neville said, staring at Chad in disbelief. "Well, tell me how it goes. I hope it isn't too bad."
"Well, maybe he won't even notice Chad or Martin?" Lavender put in. "Maybe he'll just pick on some other kids?"
"Hopefully, seein' as Chad's a Muggleborn," Seamus alleged. "I don't fancy the idea of bein' in that classroom with Carrow first thing in the fuckin' mornin'!"
"Oh, shut up!" Chad whisper shouted at them all. "We're as nervous as it is already and I don't want to hear any more reason to be afraid. I'm hoping it will be one of those hours that goes by really fast."
"Here, here," said Martin.
"Well, we have the other Carrow this morning, guys," Pavarti Patil reminded her fellow seventh years. "Muggle studies with Alecto."
"Shit, I forgot about that!" Seamus grumbled. "I only took that class because Dean took it and I wanted to learn about his type of people, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I'm not really hopin' to listen to some old Death Eatin' bitch talk about Muggles as if they were nothin' but animals!"
"Death Eating?" Martin repeated.
"It's just a saying about Death Eaters," Seamus explained.
Just then, they all heard thunder come from outside and the enchanted ceiling showed rain drops plummeting from the sky.
"Crap," Chad moaned. "We have to go through the courtyard to get to Transfiguration later!"
"Or we could just take the shorter way with that staircase near the Dark Arts room," Martin suggested. "We'd have less way to go and we wouldn't go through the rain."
"Fine, we'll do that," Chad agreed.
Lavender looked up at the ceiling and said
"I wish Harry, Ron, Jacob, and Hermione were here. They always knew what to do. They started the D.A after all. Where are they? Are any of them ever coming back?"
Nobody answered. Chad merely stared at the cloudy, grey, wet sky and tried to focus on happier thoughts. He couldn't even think of one for more than two seconds.
….
Martin and Chad took one double desk table at the front of the class. They realized how it had been a wrong choice to sit this close up right after Amycus Carrow walked from the office above them, down the small flight of stairs, past the Teachers' desk, and right in front of the class. Chad felt he was too close for comfort.
"Well, well, well," he growled maliciously, looking around at all the students. "Quite an audience! A class of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors! All in their second year. This should be a lot of fun."
He rubbed his grimy hands together and continued
"Now, the entire school is behind on learning curses so from now on, no matter what year you're in, you'll be learning how to perform Dark Magic, including the three unforgivable curses."
The students looked worried as Amycus snickered snidely.
"Now, you all learned Flippendo, the knock back jinx, and Expelliarmus, is that correct?"
They all slowly nodded.
"Well, I should expect you to pick up Stupefy and the other ones in due course. It won't be too difficult. But, for now, we shall be focusing on one of the most useful curses ever conjured, 'Imperio'."
There was another silence and Amycus giggled his wheezy laugh again. It sounded like death to Chad.
"Oh, yes. Now, can I have a volunteer?"
Nobody moved a single muscle.
"No one?" Amycus whined, making a falsely sad face and then glaring. "Let me rephrase the question. Who here would like to be my fucking demonstration?"
The only movements were students jumping slightly as the teacher yelled.
"Fine! I'LL choose some little shit to do it then!" Amycus roared in surprising fury.
"You shouldn't say those types of words around us!" Lurlin piped up bravely, her blonde hair falling around her face.
"How about you, sweetheart?" Amycus snarled.
After a long, apprehensive moment, Lurlin stood, shaking with fear, a small tear rolling down her quivering cheek.
She stood in front of the class, looking like she would faint as Amycus pointed his long, black wand at her.
"IMPERIO!" he shouted.
All manner of expression vanished from Lurlin's face. She stood there, a blank look and then began to move as Amycus commanded.
"Slap yourself!" he howled. "Slap yourself hard little pretty!"
The other students gasped and one or two of the other girls began to cry as Lurlin was forced to slap, hit, and punch herself, leaving red and grey bruises on her face as she struck with shocking force.
"Now…," Amycus continued, grinning.
Next, she was forced to throw herself against desks, knocking the wind out of her stomach and making her eyes roll back as she doubled up in pain. Amycus made her slam her head against the wall repeatedly and at different angles until blood began to drip down from her skull.
As she slammed her head more and more, Chad finally had enough and stood up. He began to scream at Amycus
"Stop it you fucking bastard! For God's sake, STOP IT!"
Amycus took one look at Chad and released Lurlin from her curse. She dropped down on the floor and began to sob uncontrollably.
Amycus began to walk towards Chad, making the other students (especially Martin) moan in fear and anxiety.
Chad, however, looked his teacher in the eye and scowled.
When they were so close their noses almost touching, Amycus growled
"What did you say, boy?"
There was another pause and Chad said loud and clearly
"You should have heard me. I bloody shouted, didn't I? Let me remind you, dumbass. Quote 'Stop it you fucking bastard. For God's sake, stop…it'….un quote."
The class held its breath. After a few moments of muteness, Amycus, breathing quickly and furiously, grabbed Chad by the scruff of the shirt and lifted him off the desk and in front of the class.
"NO!" shouted Martin in terror along with many other students, such as the hysterical Lurlin, her tears falling onto the floor.
Amycus smiled, still holding Chad and said
"Ready for your turn?"
Chad stared in hatred and then said
"'Ready as I'll ever be. Bring it on….fucker."
….
On their way to Transfiguration, Chad and Martin ran into Neville and the others.
"So, what happened?" Neville asked in a tense voice.
"Let me show you," Chad replied.
He lifted up his shirt and the others winced as they saw that Chad's chest was covered in blood. His right nipple had been sliced open.
….
The other teachers had no power at all. Professor McGonagall shook with murderous anger as she watched students walk by her, sobbing with their friends as they took care of large flesh wounds. Flitwick and Slughorn had to shield their eyes when they saw their students, Madam Pomfrey begged the Carrows to let her heal the students (the Carrows only laughed and refused cheerfully) and Professor Sprout almost burst into tears.
Trelawney began to mutter a foretold and horrible death for the Carrows which the rest of the Professors swore to make reality.
After a week of classes with the Carrows, the students had all become either scared or livid. The younger students usually traveled with one two or more older students with them for protection. They doubted whether or not they would be much use against the Carrows or Snape, but the other problem was the older Slytherin students. Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and many other older students in Slytherin had begun helping the Carrows with the task of performing detentions, though torture was a better word for it.
Detentions consisted of being dragged down to the dungeons into a small stone room where a student (young or old) would be chained up to the wall by their wrists, and forced to remove clothing so that their skin could be cut open with curses, their bones maybe even broken, pain after painful injuries inflicted. And, of course, the Cruciatus Curse was always used. The victims were never gagged….the Carrows and the older Slytherins reveled in the sound of the shrieks and screams.
The Slytherins were lead, not by Draco Malfoy (who usually kept silent and never desired to curse a student) but by Theodore Nott. The son of Senare Nott, a Death Eater, Theodore had been the boy to speak up against Amycus on the train. Now, surprisingly, Theodore was the right hand man of the Carrows.
He had not a problem in hesitating to curse a fellow student. In fact, he adored it. He especially loved to torture the younger students. Usually the boys. His reason was that the girls were more innocent and that using Crucio on the young boys would help turn them into men. Once, he had taken a small first year boy named Marcus Saverin down to the dungeons and cursed him for an hour and a half. The boy had returned to the Hufflepuff common room, tears running out of his puffy, blackened eyes, but no sobs came from his mouth.
Chad feared Theodore more than any. After all, Theodore usually looked at Chad with pure menace. Chad knew why, of course. His older brother, Jacob, had been worst enemies with Theodore ever since they had gotten into an argument about the rights of Muggles and Muggleborns during their first year.
Jacob had found out, in his fifth year that Theodore was actually gay. Even though he wasn't anywhere near being homophobic and was all for gays' rights, Jacob had made sure to tell the entire school that the prejudice, sinister Theodore Nott was a homosexual. From that moment onward, Theodore had vowed to kill Jacob Kragoff.
…
Seamus carried the small, weeping body of a young Gryffindor first year boy up the stairs. Once he reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, she turned away when she saw the child and emitted Seamus into the common room without even waiting for the password.
Seamus walked in and looked at the students waiting for him inside. Neville, Lavender, Pavarti, Chad, Martin, and some sixth years he hardly knew.
Seamus placed the boy carefully on the arm chair nearest to the fire, right after Lavender stood up to allow the child to sit.
The little boy's skin was coated in blood, his cheeks had large gashes in them, and his arms were in no better shape. He continued to sob until, after about fifteen minutes of the older students caring for his wounds; he sank into a heavy sleep. However, he began to stir a few minutes later, as if he were having nightmares of his detention.
Tears fell from Lavender's eyes as Pavarti closed her own. Neville looked at Seamus pleadingly.
"Who did it?" he inquired. "Who performed the detention?"
Seamus looked like he might spit on the floor.
"Theodore," Seamus growled in spite. "Theodore Nott."
"We need to get him back," Chad said.
The others did not look at him or say anything but everyone knew that he was right.
Eventually, Neville stood and paced around the room.
"I know what we have to do," he began after a couple of minutes had gone by in stillness. "We have to restart Dumbledore's Army."
"What?" Seamus yelped in surprise. "Are you daft? You remember what Umbridge did to us when she found out about it in our fifth year? Can you imagine what the bloody Carrows would do if they found us out?"
"I have imagined it and I've even had nightmares about it!" Neville almost shouted back. Then his voice calmed as he continued, "We have to ruin Snape and the Carrows, right? I say we restart Dumbledore's Army, send messages to all the old members and tell them to bring new faces if they want. We'll go around the school, pranking and getting back at the Carrows. But this time, not for humor, but for revenge! I am going to chase those bastards out of Hogwarts! And if nobody wants to help me, so be it."
The others said nothing until Chad walked up to Neville, looked at him and said
"I've always wanted to be part of Dumbledore's Army. We can restart it. If Dumbledore could do it with the Order of the Phoenix, why can't we do it with this?"
Neville smiled, put one hand on Chad's shoulder and said
"'Ever been to the Room of requirement?"