Considering Draco's lack of ability fending off Harry and George — who hadn't even used magic against him in the first place — I called my followers into the common room that night to basically do drills. Reviewing old spells for duelling and whatnot for the sake of actually having practice with all of the upperclassmen Slytherins.
Damn Umbridge with her terrible lesson plan.
"Why do you always pair me with Becky?" Draco whined to me after the latter hit him with another tickling charm. He gingerly held a hand to the stitch in his side from laughing so much.
I felt bad about it, but it had to be done. Becky was pissed after everything with the Quidditch match was said and done. Harry, George, and even Fred were kicked off of the team by none other than Umbridge, herself. For violence and — on Fred's part — attempted violence.
So, to maintain some form of peace, I was letting her release her punishment on him and… well, since he thought he was clever by kissing me so I couldn't yell at him, it was just a way of getting him to realize his mistake without distracting me in the process. Win win situation, really, because unless he learned the skills to back up his mouth I wouldn't be there every time he pissed Harry off.
"She's the only one I trust not to go easy on you if you ask," I admitted with an apologetic smile. "It's for your own good. I need everyone to be capable of duelling single-handedly. I don't want instances like today happening to you too often. If you can beat Miss Figsund at least once, then you'll have accomplished something great, Mr. Malfoy."
He pouted as he returned to the grinning girl, "If I can even survive this. She hates my guts right now."
I chuckled as I responded, "You'll get the hang of it — I believe in you!"
I continued pacing around the room, studying everyone around me. It was a bit of a hassle, but I had made sure I paired everyone in terms of their year. A seventh year could be too imposing for a fourth year to duel, so it was a matter of keeping everyone with someone of their same level. Eventually I'd have to mix it up so everyone had variety, but for the meantime it was safer to practice against others of the same knowledge and caliber.
There was nothing to be done of the ones who were obviously school slackers like Marcus had been. They barely even tried… somehow I'd ended up pairing slackers with slackers… bah, next time I'll pair them with the hard workers. See how they continue to slack off with someone throwing spells at them.
I noticed during my circulation of the room that one tall seventh year with messy brown hair was literally on his knees, constantly yelling "Protego!" as his fellow classmate barraged him with spell after spell… dear lord, she's relentless.
I silently stepped in, my presence causing the black-haired girl to respectfully pause.
"Very good, Miss Dunne. Your talent is unquestionable," I approved, the girl's cheeks flushing in response. I turned to the boy with a sigh, his head had turned down in shame. "Can you stand, Mr. Warren?"
With shaky legs, he pushed himself to his feet. He still wouldn't look at me.
"Your ability to put up a shield is honestly rather spectacular," I amended, shocking the boy into staring back at me with wide brown eyes.
"Erm — th-thank you..?" he mumbled in surprise.
"You deserve the praise," I said with a nod. "There's not too many people that can say they're capable of throwing it up so fast for so long. For most, after just a few spells, they would have slowed down too soon and got hit.
"That being said, getting stuck on the defensive doesn't get you very far against your opponent. Miss Dunne gave a very good show of what you might be up against in the future. If someone is trying to kill you, they're not going to stop until they get the job done. How long do you think you'd be able to last if the battle went in this same direction?"
Despite my compliment turning into a critique, he seemed to be a bit more confident in talking to me than he had when I walked over there. That was definitely an improvement as he placed a hand to his chin, pondering the scenario I had laid out.
"You do have a point," he said. "I probably wouldn't be able to hold them off much longer."
"Precisely, which calls for a change in tactics. Since this is only practice, I'll let it go for now, but the positions will have to change to match what you both work on," I turned expectantly to the girl. "Miss Dunne, would you mind practicing the shield charm while Mr. Warren has a go at casting offensive spells at you?"
"Not at all," she replied.
I smiled as I wandered away, "Go on ahead, then. Don't let me stop you again."
Another hour passed before I noticed everyone was slowing down with exhaustion. I called everyone to attention, allowing them to sit down in various places around the room. The lucky ones got the couches and armchairs while the rest laid out on the floor or leaned their backs against the wall.
"You've all done great today. Well done," I said, looking around the room with pride as I grinned. "However, as I've been telling you, that was only practice! I won't be so easy on you next time, but for the moment you can take a short break before I teach you something new."
"You mean that wasn't all for today?" Blaise asked incredulously, rubbing a hand tiredly over his face.
"Nope," I replied smugly. "I'm going to torture you all just a little bit longer tonight before I send you to bed. Before we begin any special classes on curses, jinxes, and their counterattacks… I need to teach you all how to block your minds against accomplished Legilimens like my father."
Mutters and whispers surrounded me as everyone's heads turned to friends and mouths moved with speedy curiosity.
I chuckled, "It really shouldn't be all that surprising. The more I build you guys up, the greater the possibility that my dad is going to expect me to send some of you on missions — whether it be with me or his Death Eaters.
"After each lesson, we're going to practice what's called Occlumency, where you'll be learning how to keep me out of your heads. My dad can read minds just as easily as I can… so if you can ever successfully keep me out, then you've got a good shot at being in the same room as him without revealing the truth behind our group here."
The silence was deafening as they stared back at me, eyes full of fear and apprehension at just the thought of being in the same room as Lord Voldemort.
With a reassuring smile, I held a hand out, "Of course, I can promise that it'd be quite some time before most of you would even earn than ability and, even so, I'll only call on you when you feel confident enough to handle it. Some of you will progress faster than others, so don't worry too much about the outcome right now. It is all a learning process, after all."
The collective sighs from around the room brought the room's energy down from tense to relaxed.
"Oh — Melody?" Pansy raised her hand, bouncing with such urgency that I nodded to her to continue. "If that's what we're going to be training for, then when are we going to learn Dark Magic?"
Other students chipped in with cheers and affirmations. I glanced around, silently intrigued by everyone's enthusiasm on the subject. Everyone… except Becky, that is. Pansy's mere mention of Dark Magic had Becky's eyes clouding over with worry and anticipation. It obviously worried her immensely.
However, not only did I not want to make Dark Magic a required lesson, but I most certainly didn't trust anyone in Slytherin to be careful with it. It was almost like a drug… if I let them learn how to use it, there was a strong possibility that they'd start using it like they were stupid powerful. The backlash would be too magnanimous for comfort, so I preferred to hope that we could all build up some trust in each other before I taught them anything drastic.
I waited until everyone had calmed down to a certain extent before answering. "Hm.. not yet."
Blaise was the only one brave enough to show his indignation. "Well, why the bloody hell not?" he demanded, walking rather bravely up to me.
I glared daggers at him, causing him to take a tentative step back as I allowed my gaze to sweep the room of students around me. "I may not know all of you personally.." I said clearly. "But I do know this: none of you have the right level of restraint I'm looking for."
"Wh-what d'you mean?" Millicent asked.
"Meaning that Dark Magic is complex and, due to us all still being in school, learning and practicing it requires a certain subtlety neither of you possess.
"All of you have a tendency to want to curse other students in the hallways — I get it, I do — but do you realize something? Who would get in the deepest trouble with Dumbledore if there's an army of students using Dark Magic, in particular, on others? Me. I'm the first person he'll look at."
No one said anything. No one even met my gaze as they stared at the floor, seemingly upset that their love of torturing other students was keeping them from learning something they wanted.
I continued. "He only has a smidgen of blind trust remaining for me, you know. Nothing against the lot of you, but I can't afford to be careless about what I teach, and to whom."
"Hem hem," a certain voice cleared its vile throat from behind me.
I repressed the urge to groan, taking a deep breath before turning around. "Umbridge. What can I do for you?"
"I could've sworn I'd heard wrong. Trust for you? What a laugh," the woman made her point by tittering like a little squirrel. "As if the old fool were actually foolish enough to trust you, even in the beginning?"
I raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you trying to say?"
"Knowing that you're You-Know-Who's daughter has kept anybody — even Dumbledore, himself — from completely trusting you. Just look how that hope would've been crushed," she gestured half-heartedly at me.
"Really? And what does that have to do with my class?" I crossed my arms over my chest, electing to find the humor in her attempt to disrupt my lesson. I suppose I did make a fool of her a few times. It's only natural for her to want to repay the favor.
"Hm?" she feigned innocence, looking away from me. "I suppose nothing at all. Carry on, if you must."
I snorted, turning back to the Slytherins around me. "If there aren't any questions, how about we get starte—?"
"I bet you don't even know any Dark Magic."
I searched the faces for who'd said that… most everyone looked around nervously, but only one tall blonde-headed boy stood staring back at me with determined eyes. "Pardon?" I asked him.
"You heard me. I bet you don't know any — you got us bowing down to your every whim, but you probably can't even win a proper duel."
Other students gasped worriedly. I could've laughed — I could use these students with me in the hallways when kids from other Houses want to try duelling me! The gasps would be hilarious to hear!
I felt a grin grace my lips as I backed away slightly, pulling my wand out. "Want to test that theory of yours?"
"Happy to oblige," he said seriously, pulling out his own wand.
"Now see here!" Umbridge exclaimed indignantly. "This will not do! As the Head Inqui —"
"Umbridge," I growled, quickly glaring at her.
She froze mid-sentence, terror showing in her rigid body and watery eyes.
"Shut up," I finished, "and sit down. This is my class, not yours."
When she did so, I turned back to the boy before me as he trembled slightly. Something about my hardened composure had thrown him completely off guard. Oops.
My grin seemed to only make him more nervous, "It's okay. I don't bite… much…."
His resolve hardened, and he quickly waved his wand, "Expelliarmus!"
Protego! I thought, casting a shield silently before me.
"Hey, no fair!" he snapped. "You shouldn't know nonverbal incantations! Confundo!"
Protego! I shielded myself again, eyeing him with a chuckle. "Did you really think I'd be doing any of this if I wasn't capable of doing something so simple?"
He tsked out of frustration, obviously trying to think of another spell to send at me…. He's not very good at this, is he? He's giving me ample opportunity to smack him with a spell to end this… but, why would I let the fun end so soon?
"What year are you in?"
"Sixth. Why?" he sneered.
"Of course.. because I know you sixth years should have learned how to cast spells nonverbally by now. Obviously, with Umbridge here, that is not a possibility, so you have a good excuse. However — just a bit of friendly advice — you should ask Snape for some private lessons to hone that. That is if you don't want me to be the one to teach you."
"Shut up! Bombarda!"
I deflected his spell again. My turn, I thought with a smile as I waved my wand. Flipendo!
The sixth year was immediately thrown on his back. Before getting up, he immediately yelled, "Fumos!"
A vapor of fog emerged from his wand, slowly cloaking the area around him in fog…. It wasn't working very fast. Amateur, I thought smugly, pointing my wand at him just before the fog completely covered him from view. Cantis.
As the fog surrounded even me, the boy burst into song..
Whaaaat the heeeell is happening to meeee?
How daaaare you hit me with this speeeeeell —?
I heard him moving around me, pointing my wand in the direction of his voice with quick succession, Colloshoo!
Daaaamnit.. my shooooes are stuuck!
Leeet me gooooo!
Hoooow —
I laughed as I heard other students fail to keep their own chuckles inside. The room was even filled with him singing curses at them for finding amusement in his failure to get me.
When the fog dissipated, as did his singing… leaving him panting breathlessly with his hands on his knees. He pointed his wand at me to shout out another spell, but with my silent Expelliarmus! his wand flew out of his hand. His eyes filled with terror as I drew nearer, pocketing my wand as I went.
"I win," I said with a smirk, placing my hands against his chest to his worried gasp… it was almost as if I'd been going on automatic. "You wanted to see some Dark Magic? Here's one I've had considerable practice with." As his eyes widened nervously, I cast, Fura Visé.
The sticking spell was removed from his shoes as he collapsed to the floor in an unceremonious heap, staring back at me in terror of his lost energy coursing through me.
It had been a while since I'd felt the energy sweeping through my veins, and it didn't worry me nearly as much as it should have that the thrill of feeling it again pumped through me so deeply. The darkness was as intoxicating as ever, to the point I wanted so badly to test it on someone else.
I had barely glanced at a terrified Professor Umbridge before a hand touched my shoulder, and I turned to find Becky. Her eyes — though not as full of fear as everyone else's in the room seemed to be at that moment — were glassed over with worry.
"Wha —?" I started to ask.
She turned me around, guiding me with her hands on my shoulders to the silver mirror that always hung in the common room. It wasn't until I stood in front of it that I saw what was so scary.
My eyes were red. Blood red.
So, I thought wryly as they slowly morphed back into a silvery gray, Barty wasn't lying to me when he said that they turn red when I use Dark Magic… then why did his eyes never change color?… I'll have to ask Seraphina about that. In the meantime…
Turning around, I walked back over to the boy. "What's your name?"
"S-Seever. Patrick Seever," he gasped.
"Thank you for allowing me to show everyone what I'm capable of…." I raised my voice so everyone could hear me properly. "I don't want to teach Dark Magic. Even I just nearly lost myself there — as you could very well see from when my eyes turned red. Does anyone else have any other objections to my teaching?"
Everyone shook their heads soundlessly.
I looked back down at Patrick. "And you?"
"N-no ma'am…" he mumbled, staring at the ground.
"Okay.." I said, kneeling down next to him to give his energy back — taking extra care not to give him any of the darkness that came with doing the action. Ésiv Arúf.
With his energy returned to him, he quickly scrambled to his feet. I felt regret as his body violently trembled, even more so as it intensed when I also stood up.
"I didn't form this group so you would all be afraid of me," I stated, causing everyone to look curiously back at me. "Though I am far more advanced than all of you, I wanted us to be able to work together as a magically capable team. I'm putting you through training and practice so we have the time to build up some trust in each other, and we can all get stronger both in our magic and in our friendship.
"I realize," I finished with a sigh, "that it will be a bit harder to trust me. But if you're willing to work for my trust in you, then I am just as willing to work toward your trust in me. As of now, I actually believe we've done enough today. Go get some rest… I'll let you know when our next lesson is. Then we'll start on Occlumency."
With that I walked to the steps to the girls' dormitories, disappearing up the stairs to go to bed. I was hopeful some rest would flush out some of the Dark Magic that I'd just allowed back into my bloodstream.
It was not going to be the case.
I wasn't informed when Seraphina finally came back, but I was pleased to find her in Severus' classroom just the same for our alotted Saturday night lesson. Lost in thought.. but still there as I'd hoped.
Severus had explained to me the night before during our Legilimency exercise that she had admitted to coming across a problem she couldn't solve. He was disconcerted, to say the least, that she would even tell him such a thing.
It had been a few weeks since the issue with the boggart, so I almost worried that she was thinking of backing out on her offer of alliance. Of course, I wasn't intending on plaguing her with that worry.
"Nice to see you back," I commented after I'd stood behind her for only a few minutes.
She seemed hardly fazed as she turned around, her eyes blank for a moment before she seemed to snap to. "Oh..! Thank you, dearie. Good to see you as well."
"Something wrong?"
Seraphina smiled thoughtfully, poking a finger at my forehead as she said, "Nothing quite as important as the topic that's on your mind right now. What seems to be plaguing your thoughts so acutely?"
I sighed with my own smile, can't get anything past you, huh…? "Fine, I'll respect that you don't want to tell me right now. Just know I'm here when you're ready."
"Noted," she replied with an appreciative look, closing her eyes as she sat down in one of the chairs. "Now, what is it?"
"Well, I was curious about something…" I sat down next to her, leaning back as I talked to her, "I've noticed that because dad is so in tune with the Dark Arts, his eyes are always red. When I use Dark Magic, my eyes turn red for a short period of time. But when Barty was teaching it to me, and giving demonstrations, his eyes never changed color. Why is that?"
Seraphina tsked at the mere mention of Barty. "Crouch hasn't used Dark Magic to that extent, he's not a very accurate means of comparison. There's a reason all he is to Voldy is an underling."
"You really mean it doesn't happen to someone who hasn't worked with Dark Magic as extensively as you and dad?"
That wasn't the answer I was expecting… I had actually hoped that Barty's eyes not changing color just meant he had better control over Dark Magic. That he might be able to teach me how to hone it so my eyes didn't turn red… the fact that that wasn't the case — since Seraphina shook her head as a response to my question — definitely scared me.
"In that case," I continued. "I do remember your eyes changing color when you used your water and blood manipulation technique on me. But they changed to a different shade of blue from your normal eye color, rather than to red like us."
Her smirk nearly said it all. "You and your father have that in common, of course. I can't claim to fully understand why our eyes change to different shades when Dark Magic is such an unstable art to begin with, but I suppose we can think of it this way…. Just as you and I have very different eye colors in general, we're also bound to have different eye colors when practicing the Dark Arts."
"I see," I bit my lip in thought. "I have my mom's natural eyes but, obviously, I have my dad's dark-induced magic eyes… do you know what her eyes would change to?"
Seraphina chuckled, "That's certainly a way of putting it… I would unfortunately have no way of being privy to that fact. She saved me when I was a child, and that's all I know. I never personally witnessed her using Dark Magic."
"Hmm…" I hummed to myself in disappointment. Would've been nice to know… however…. "If our eyes are only going to change color when we've practiced it a long time, then why do I already have it? How's that for comparison when Barty's obviously practiced for years before even teaching me what little he could last year?"
"Why, you have an affinity to it, of course."
My brow furrowed, "What do you mean?"
"What do you think I mean?" she giggled. "What else do you think your parents were doing when you were conceived? Those two used Dark Magic to their advantage so often, I would've been more surprised if you were as inept with magic as that Longbottom boy."
A snort escaped me, "In general? Yes, I suppose that would be a surprise…. So then, it's really a matter of Dark Magic already being in my blood."
She smirked knowingly, "Just as you're strong enough to already be adept without a wand."
"Ah, my next issue.. why does no one teach wandless magic?"
"Think about it," Seraphina reasoned. "When you first realize that you have magic, you don't find out while using a wand. Our magic is magnanimous untapped potential that the wizarding government stifles for their own purposes. If the masses continue to believe that they need their wand, then they are helpless against the authorities if they find reason to break it. It is their way of keeping the entire wizarding world under their control. People like us — like your father — break their hold on us by not conforming to their every whim, and that is really why the wizarding world is so afraid of us."
"Not to say that the wand is completely useless, for it does work as a very potent weapon. The way it concentrates our magic into a sharp beam makes it almost like a Muggle gun but, again, it's not that we need it to access our abilities. To lean on it, as such, places wizards at an extreme disadvantage when separated from it. The wand is a crutch, not a necessity."
Makes sense.. I thought interestedly. The world — whether magical or Muggle — is mainly built on politics. Politics are in danger when people ignore the rules set down as supposed 'facts' when there is really a way around them.
I guess… that's one thing I don't mind about helping dad. The things I'm learning are making me stronger, even if some of it is clouding me in darkness that I'm afraid may swallow me if I'm not careful. Not allowing authorities to push me down — especially in concerns to Dumbledore — sounds very appealing to me.
Seraphina gave a small chuckle before standing up, "I've allowed us to be distracted long enough. We do have lessons to cram in before you go to bed."
"Oh, right.." I said as I leaned forward. "What's the focus tonight?"
Her gaze was mischievous as she replied, "Oh, some Dark Spells that will greatly assist you when you lead the prison breakout. None more important than the aging spell."
