June 1986

Break Carrow and you'll break the truth of the muggle-born killings wide open.

Break Carrow and end all of this.

Dumbledore stood over the unconscious body of Marcus Carrow. Blood covered the back of Carrow's head. When Dumbledore had found Carrow inside his house in London, sleeping in his bed two doors away from his son, he took Carrow by the neck, slammed his head into a wall, and apparated him to a closed-off London Underground tunnel that had been used as an air raid shelter during World War II.

"Rennervate," Dumbledore said.

Carrow opened his eyes, gasped, and struggled against the chains Dumbledore had used to restrain him.

"Dumbledore," Carrow spat, "you half-blood maniac!"

"I see you slept well," Dumbledore said, "after you picked Rhodus up from Hogwarts. It is strange. He usually takes the train home, doesn't he?"

"You're out of your mind."

Dumbledore yanked on the chain draped around Carrow's neck. Carrow choked. Dumbledore pulled tighter. Carrow's lips went purple and his feet hammered against the floor, trying to propel him away from Dumbledore and the lack of oxygen. He wasn't going anywhere. Dumbledore waited, saw the panic in his face, and watched him fight for air. He pulled on the chain until Carrow passed out, then he stood over him again.

"Rennervate."

Carrow gasped and coughed.

"I wanted you to know what suffocation feels like. Because that is how three of the students on the train died. They couldn't breathe. They gasped and struggled, much like you did now, and all they managed was to pull more mud down their throats."

Carrow gasped. "You're demented, Dumbledore. What in the name of Merlin are you on about?"

Dumbledore pulled on the chains. "The train, Carrow, your fucking attack on the train!"

Carrow laughed, as though it were all a misunderstanding; a sick joke. "You mental maniac. It wasn't me. I didn't touch those kids."

Dumbledore had poured Veritaserum down Carrow's throat before he chained him to the concrete column.

Does he know how to fight it?

"This is because I wrote the act, right? You think I hate them, so I must be out killing children on their way home from school?"

Dumbledore leaned over Carrow with the chain pulled tight in his grasp. "If it wasn't you, then who did you get to do it? Who attacked the train?"

"I don't know."

"You were sloppy. Two wizard-born children were killed on the train along with the muggle-borns. You didn't want that, did you?"

"I didn't attack the train!"

Dumbledore tightened the chain.

"I didn't kill those kids!"

Break Carrow and end all of this.

"Crucio."

Carrow screamed. His body twisted against the chains and his head thrashed against the column.

Dumbledore kept his fists clenched.

Carrow bit through his tongue. Blood ran down the corners of his mouth.

Dumbledore released the curse and Carrow fell forward, panting and bleeding. His body shook.

"I didn't kill anyone!"

"Who attacked the train? Who did you send?"

"You're insane, Albus. Let me go!"

"Who did you send?"

"Let me go!"

"Aren't you glad you picked Rhodus up instead of sending him on the train to watch his classmates die? You protected him, and now you're protecting whoever you sent after the train."

"I didn't send anyone!"

How is he fighting the Veritaserum? Did he get an Auror to teach him how to do it?

"Crucio."

Carrow screamed.

He knows. Make him talk.

Four bodies floating in the air.

Samantha Jones.

Five bodies laid on the ground next to the train.

He fucking knows.

Dumbledore stopped the curse and let Carrow breathe.

Carrow's nerves burned. He watched Dumbledore. The old man wasn't stable. Dumbledore's hands glowed and the tunnel shook. Carrow felt the chain tighten around his neck. If he wasn't careful, Dumbledore would lose control.

"Albus, let me go," Carrow said. "If you let me go, we can handle the rest of this without The Ministry. I will tell them this was a misunderstanding and we will solve the murders and the train attack together. I want to find whoever has been killing muggle-borns, too."

The chain tightened around his neck.

"Albus! Stop!"

Dumbledore pulled at the air and the chain dug deeper into Carrow's neck.

"Tell me who you sent!"

Carrow gasped and couldn't catch his breath.

The chain tightened.

Carrow's lips turned purple again. Dumbledore slowed the movement of the chain. He wanted Carrow to understand the pain his students had felt.

I'll choke him and bring him back as many times as it takes. If he won't tell me, I'll take the fucking memories out of his head. All his hate and his fucking Registration Commission Act. Let him panic. Let him struggle. Let him choke.

Carrow's legs pounded on the concrete. The walls of the tunnel shook. Tiles and pieces of concrete came loose.

The chain tightened.

Let him know what it feels like to be afraid. Let him know what it feels like to be at someone's mercy.

Carrow's eyes protruded from his face. His bleeding tongue rolled to the back of his mouth and lodged in his windpipe.

Let him die.

Dumbledore pulled hard. The links of the chain met and looped over each other.

Carrow's severed head fell onto the concrete.