"How dare she write something like that!? How DARE she?"
Hermione was upset about an article in Witch Weekly, which described her as a slutty seductress and fame whore, courtesy of poison pen writer Rita Skeeter. Crucie understood her completely; she would be upset as well. Besides, she probably had more experience with slander and notoriety than any other.
"It's a bitch. But look at it from the upside, they at least describe you as incredibly beautiful."
"They accuse me of criminal activities, Crucie!"
"So?"
Hermione looked at her friend as if the girl had gone mad.
"What?"
"I said, so what? It's not the worst accusation ever. Besides, some notoriety can get you a long way."
"Urgh, Crucie… If what they write is true I'm more sex-obsessed than Regina."
"We both know you're not. No one is. As for now you just have to find a way to use it to your advantage."
"I can't."
"Don't be so Gryffindor about it. There are worse things than love potion. They could have described you as a deranged sadist with a perverted love of dark curses."
"No, that would be you."
Crucie laughed, and then declared quasi-serious,
"My love of dark curses is very healthy and all but perverted, thank you very much."
"So you admit to being a deranged sadist?"
"Well, who am I to deny myself such a complimentous description?"
Now they both laughed. Hermione found that Crucie was the perfect person to go to when dealing with hate mail and slander. She managed to make a joke out of every hurtful howler and her dry sarcasm was a great relief from the pity and disgust she received from other girls.
"I do wonder where that bitch gets her information…"
"It's probably through eavesdropping and paying people for information."
"Skeeter's been banned from the Hogwarts grounds…"
"Maybe she has an invisibility cloak, or she could be exceptionally good at powerful Notice-Me-Not charms?"
"I suppose…"
"Do you want me to do something about her? I know a few spells to detect invisible fiends, if we find her I can easily teach her not to mess with you."
Hermione shook her head.
"You'd get in trouble."
"I've done worse."
Hermione knew that. She had read virtually everything the school library had about the death eater trials and the people involved in them, so she knew about Crouch's role in the trial of Crucie's parents. She was pretty sure she knew how much worse Crucie exactly had done. She wanted to ask, she wanted to be sure, and on the other hand… she didn't. There was a limit to how much guilty conscience she could bear, and she wasn't sure she was ready to face the true extent of Crucie's ruthlessness just yet. Maybe there would come a day, but it wasn't this day.
(Pagebreak)
Karkaroff gradually became more paranoid, more skittish… The dark circles under his eyes gave away that he barely slept, and his erratic behavior went so far that it interrupted lessons and got people scratching their heads. Crucie and Theo rejoiced… Especially Theo, who had been terrified of so many things for so long, seemed to glow seeing that his nemesis was suffering. They were talking in the library, and Crucie had decided that it was time to include him in her other pet project.
"Did you like Hermione, at the Yule Ball?"
"Err… She seemed nice… I was surprised she offered to cover for us, not really Gryffindor of her. Since she always hangs around with the Potter boy I thought she would be far more… you know. Bigoted."
"She's rather cunning when you get to know her better. It's all a matter of perspective. By the way, take a look at this."
Crucie shoved Theo the recipe for the battery potion. The boy looked it over, and she could almost see the cogs turning in his head.
"Crucie, did you make this?"
"Mostly. It was a joined effort with Hermione."
"But why?"
"Muggle tech. You know, it runs on something the muggles call Electricity. Magic distorts electric currents. I thought it was just a ward around Hogwarts, but I tested it in Hogsmede and on Knockturn, and Mione tested it on Diagon Alley. Electricity doesn't work in a magical environment, it's fundamentally incompatible."
"I still don't get it…"
Crucie's eyes glittered with joy.
"We did research, piles of research… We compared the reactions of magic and electricity in different situations… And we found they are incompatible, because they are so alike, Theo. We can make magic run in muggle devices, because in some forms it looks enough like electricity to make it work!"
Theo looked at the recipe, at Crucie, and then again at the recipe.
"The potion… it's obviously some sort of power potion…" He looked up with a start. "Is it compatible?"
"It's the right kind of energy, the signatures match. Hermione did the arithmancy and I did the experiments. It would require a strong spell to energize the potion, but once done it should work."
Theo's mouth fell open.
"But you're not even good at potions!"
Crucie shook her head and grinned.
"I'm not really good at following instructions, that doesn't mean that I lack all insight in how potions work or what ingredients do. I'm not a prodigy, but do you think Snape would trust me to prepare practically all the ingredients for his classes if he thought I was a complete dunderhead?"
Theo nodded.
"Okay, makes sense. But still… this is really good, Black. Did you show it to Snape?"
Crucie raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really have to ask? The first thing he would do is floo-call Uncle Lucius about it, those two are like women when it comes to juicy gossip. Besides, it took Mione and me literally years to complete this. It's our baby so to say, and we aren't quite ready to let it go."
Theo nodded again, still looking quite astonished. Crucie laughed.
"You look like you've seen a ghost, Theo!"
"I just can't wrap my mind around it. You've been doing this, all the time?"
"Yes, I have other interests besides torture, if that's what you're asking."
Crucie answered dryly.
"You know what I mean."
"I do. Want to help us?"
"Me? Really?"
"Theo, you're our year's potions prodigy. If anyone can help us, it's you. The question is, do you want to?"
"So THAT's why you made me hang out with Granger at the Yule Ball!"
"You've seen right though me."
Theo chuckled.
"You conniving woman. I'd love to help. This is exactly the kind of practice I can use if I ever want to get my potions mastery."
"The only condition is that you're civil to Mione. No blood- or family-related comments."
Theo frowned.
"Black, I'm not stupid, I am capable of common courtesy."
" Just warning."
"Fine…" Theo grinned again already, pointing at the recipe. "I think if you would stir three times counterclockwise in step four you can prevent the instability later on and then you don't have to add so much Fable Tears to counter it in step ten. Just a suggestion."
Crucie gave him a friendly poke.
"Consider yourself hired, Nott."
(Pagebreak)
The weeks that followed, a lot happened, but none of that was really bad. There was the tournament -and Crucie really bit her nails for the second task, as it involved Hermione being kidnapped by merpeople- there was detention, torture and "Order Meetings" in the hidden corridor, lessons from Barty, talk with the Durmstrang Students and observing how Karkaroff got reduced to a shivering mental wreck… Life was good for the youngest Lestrange. She should have known that usually when that was the case, something unexpectedly awful was about to happen. That unexpectedly awful thing turned out to be Harry Potter returning from the third task, disshevelled, bleeding and in the company of a dead Cedric Diggory. It started however with a little note, delivered by an unknown bird.
Dear Crucio,
Things have happened. You can't come home this summer. At least not right away. It's about to get good if you-know-what-I-mean… Find yourself a place to stay with friends. Don't worry, it'll be okay. Be good. I love you.
Your Uncle
It was short and barely readable, written completely in the characteristic messy scribble of Rabastan Lestrange. Crucie felt her heart clench. Things have happened… She knew it must have something to do with Barty's illustrious Plan, and the hyphenation her uncle had used gave her a slight clue as to what kind of "things" might have happened. She knew she should be happy… it was, however, almost her "time of the month", and the curse was unruly below her skin. All she could think about was that her uncle might be in danger and she couldn't do anything to help or protect him…
And then Harry had returned from the Task with his dead co-contestant, and everything had taken a turn for the worse. Crucie had hidden herself after they had found out about Barty impersonating Alastor Moody and the man had been given the kiss. That little tidbit of news had been the final push, and Crucie knew she had to keep herself out of sight lest she would curse the first person she laid eyes on. Now she was reading her first and favorite dark arts book, repeating the curses and ritual chants like a mantra to hold on to her calm and clarity. The darkness wrapped itself around her like a cloak in moments like that, and it seemed the only thing next to torturing someone's brain out that would bring her any solace. Over her head, Regina was speaking with Salazar Slytherin in Parseltongue.
/Is she all right? /
/She is meditating, Regina… But even as a portrait I feel the darkness around her. It's tangible. /
/Her Moon is closing and the Curse is restless inside her. She needs to find a victim or she'll get sick again. /
/She's mourning her friend, Regina. Grant her time. /
/How do you know? /
/Portraits talk, especially former headmasters. I listen carefully. The teacher she liked was actually another man, one she considered… of her nest. He simply impersonated the teacher, and now he is dead. /
Regina bent her ghostly head and let out a sighing hiss. She curled around Crucie's figure, trying to provide a minor comfort. The girl didn't appear to notice, too wrapped up in the dark arts book.
/She will be okay again. Just give her time to get a hold on her power. /
The portrait was right, as usual. It took several hours, but at long last Crucie let out a deep sigh, and closed her book. She smiled sadly at Regina and Salazar.
"Thank you."
The founder just nodded.
"You are alwayssss welcome here."
"Are you feeling well again, little hatchling?"
"I'm not great, but I'll live. The same can't be said of Barty, or that Hufflepuff guy though. I know they died for a cause…" Crucie shook her head. "But somehow I wonder if it was a cause worth dying for."
Salazar gave her a stern look.
"Your friend died fighting for a caussse he believed in. It isss not up to usss to believe in their caussse, it's up to them who fight for it. He thought it worthy to die for, ssso don't dissshonor him by believing he died in vain, Misss Lestrange."
"And what about the other guy?"
"A casssualty of war. Every war makesss victimsss."
Crucie closed her eyes and nodded.
"I know that. I know that neither of them died in vain and I will not let anyone say they did. I also know though…" She looked up at the portrait and Salazar saw her bright red eyes, "that either side will mourn their own deaths and celebrate those of their opponent. And I don't know what side I am on."
"You are on your own side, Strange Pain. The same side you've always been on. The side that is your family and friends and the people you deem worthy. This war… Salazar and I, we have lived for so long already and we know… war is relative. Sides are relative. What matters is where your heart lies."
Crucie blinked a couple times at Regina, surprised at the wise and comforting words the serpent spoke to her. Their soft reassurance confirmed something Crucie had known from the beginning, something the magic of the cruciatus curse had imprinted in her very being: in war and torture, all are equal. Either side is equally opportunistic, equally bent on winning, equally hypocrite. And it doesn't matter what is right and wrong, good and evil. It's a matter of power and perspective. And… of love and devotion.
Crucie left her first confrontation with the nature of war feeling ambiguous, yet strengthened. The snake ghost and the portrait watched her leave.
/She's strong, my little hatchling. /
/That she is. But I fear that this is only the beginning… /
/I can't wait to see what comes next! /
/Of course, Regina. Of course. Why don't you go stalk some sweaty quidditch players in the showers? /
(Author's Notes)
Another chapter! Yay for me!
Crucie has ethical dilemmas. As the war is closing in on her, she starts to feel difficulties maintaining her happily-in-the-middle position. The sides are polarizing, and she wonders whether she'll be obliged to pick a side or will manage to keep from choosing...
Also, Regina. I love her. Everyone needs a person like Regina in their life, I think.
In my story, Theo is a potions prodigy. As in, an actual prodigy. So that's why he immediately sees through the recipe that Crucie and Hermione put together.
PLEASE REVIEW!
I am in the middle of retake exams, halfway through to be more precise (4 out of 7 done!) and any comments are highly appreciated. Feedback is awesome and makes writing worthwhile! So please? Also, all questions you may have I will try my best to answer.
