The Magic Within

Chapter 4.

"Why?"

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER IF YOU ARE TRIGGERED OR VERY MASSIVELY UPSET BY MENTIONS OF NONCON, CHILD ABUSE, ABUSE IN GENERAL AND/OR UNDERAGED NONCON PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. yOU MAY SKIP THIS CHAPTER ENTIRELY IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, THOUGH THE TOPIC MAY AGAIN BE BROUGHT UP IN LATER CHAPTERS.

Harry hummed quietly, nervously as he headed down the stairs. He was nervous of what he was gonna find. Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, what he found disturbed him quite a bit. There were cells down here, it was like a dungeon. That wasn't the part that bothered him though. What bothered him were the manacles on the ends of chains attached to the wall. They were too small, like they were made for someone with small wrists- or a child. That thought made him freeze, a memory of screams, blood and pain on his back coming to the forefront of his mind before he ruthlessly shoved it back where it belonged, in the deepest recesses of his mind. He approached one of the first cells, noticing the years old blood on the walls. It was in a dripping pattern, as if the blood spilt had been against the wall from a previously opened wound.

He opened the cell door all the way, jerking back in surprise as a see through figure suddenly showed up inside, being held up by the manacles attached to the wall. The figure couldn't have been older than Ten! And even with the silvery, ephemeral form reminiscent of the ghosts of Hogwarts, only more blue, Harry could clearly see bleeding wounds and whip lashes. The lashes looked old, but those wounds were still bleeding quite heavily it looked like. Suddenly another, much older figure walked through Harry, sending shivers down his spine.

"Are you sorry yet Ruben?" The second figure spoke in an rough, gravelly voice.

"I, I don't understand Father, what did I d-" The younger figure, Ruben, is slapped harshly.

"You do not have the right to call me that! Not after you killed your sister! Not after you killed Laura!"

"But Father she isn't- AH!" The father had grabbed a cane and began to beat his son, cursing at him and berating him. Harry backed out of the cell, hitting the wall and sliding to the ground with tears falling down his face. Memories came unbidden, His uncle beating him harshly with the belt, laughing at him, calling him a murderer. Telling him that it was his fault his parents died, that he'd killed them and his godfather just by existing. The times his uncle took it further, using him for the fat man's sick pleasure. Harry sobbed, curling up and gripping his hair. He never noticed the figure nearby, who was watching the young man curiously. The figure briefly wondered what made him cry so harshly, what memories the man was caught up in. Unfortunately, for some reason the Figure was unable to access this one's mind. The figure almost sighed, then caught themselves. What were they doing?! They almost sympathized with someone! They didn't need anyone! The figure then paused, looking back at the clearly distraught officer, sighing and turning to leave.

Harry eventually collected himself, breathing harsh, but steady. He employed his occlumency practice, putting the memories back where they belonged. He stood up, going through the hall, each cell having a new memory begin to play. He felt himself go numb as one of the last memories began to play, watching as the boy's father watched as a man whose face he could not see violated his son and listened as the man muttered sick praises to the boy in his ear as he used him, seemingly reveling, even getting off on the boy's hoarse screams. There was blood all down the boy's legs, blood on the wall, thick, white fluids on the floor, suggesting there had been more than just this one man.

Oh Merlin. How could they do that!? Why?! That, oh he was gonna be sick.

'He, he was just a kid. Why? WHY?! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN SON?!' Harry felt sick, And so he bent over, and threw up. His uncle doing it was one thing, he was not his flesh and blood, but how could someone watch it happen to their own child, and arrange it!? Once he got himself under control, which took way too long in his opinion, cleaning his mouth out with a spell, He hurried down the hall, unable to handle watching anymore.

Luckily there were no more cells after that, and soon Harry came to the end of the hallway. He went through the door there cautiously, shaking hands holding his gun tightly. He found himself in a, music room? There, in the middle of the room, was a gorgeous Grand Piano. Near it, in a case on the only table in the room, was a violin. A gorgeous one at that, and despite the dust on it, it was obviously well cared for. Harry didn't know Violin types, but He did in fact, know how to play. It had helped him with therapy. He'd learned how to play to have an outlet for his emotions. He looked around, trying to ignore it. Now was not the time for violin, it could call more of the Muertos to him. He paused, hearing soft Piano music. Was that, Chopin tristesse? It, didn't sound right without the violin accompaniment, but he didn't have time for that! Gah what was wrong with him?! He shouldn't even be thinking of that! He went to the only other door, but it wouldn't open, and an Alohamora did nothing. He briefly contemplated blasting it, but decided he didn't want to do that in case it drew something's attention. He froze at the feeling of someone behind him, and he spun around with his gun in front of him to find- Nothing. There was no one. But he could've sworn… no matter. He sighed, wondering what he was going to do now. He went to the door he'd come in through, to find that was locked now too. He felt some weird sense of relief at that, as he had no wish to go back through that hallway of nightmares. He looked at the violin and Piano again.

Did he dare? Well, It did seem like he wasn't going anywhere any time soon, so he guessed it wouldn't hurt. He cautiously made his way over to the Violin, hesitant in case there was some curse attached to it. He cast a revelation spell that he'd been taught in the academy, and found nothing. No spell, no curse, not even a protection spell or anything. It was just, a violin. A beautiful violin, but still just a violin. He picked it up, feeling the somewhat familiar weight of it. He could've swore that this was the same one he'd been taught with. This brought back memories, the first time he'd ever held one, how bad it had sounded when he played… How proud he felt when he improved. Before he'd even realized it, he'd gotten the violin in proper position, and once he noticed he began to play, the beginning notes of Chopin Tristesse Etudes in E major began to drift through the small room. He could feel the memories associated with him learning this song, the memories it brought back, letting the nightmarish memories leave his mind for now. He remembered teaching him diligently how to play, her playing the piano as he practiced. Memories of Sirius telling him stories of his dad, Fred giving him the marauder's map, Remus teaching him the patronus and being so proud of him, Tonks being her usual cheery clumsy self, Teddy being adorable while he changed his hair color, his Parents in the Mirror of Erised, hell even Moody teaching him to fight and Dumbledore offering everyone lemon drops.

All those he'd lost, all those he'd left behind, and his hope that they'd meet again in the afterlife.

Well, maybe not Dumbledore, but definitely everybody else. Chopin Tristesse was a song of Endings, of Partings and farewells, but he saw it as a song of hope. Of the hope to meet again. The hope of new beginnings, a new start. As the last notes played out, he heard a click. He jerked, opening his eyes- which he hadn't realized he'd closed- to find the far door was now open. He put the violin down gently but quickly. He'd forgotten for a moment, what he was doing. Where he was and what was going on. He needed to get out of here and figure out what was happening. And find Leslie and Sebastian again. Then hopefully he'd be able to figure out what the hell he had to do to survive.

As he slipped through the now open door, he never saw the figure behind the piano, who disappeared with a smirk. On the other side, he found what looked like a antechamber that had been converted into a, Lab? That was what it looked like, Smoothed stone walls, Wooden shelves along the walls lined with jars covered in dust, a few metal tables with quite a lot of old beakers, tubes, bunsen burners, and at least two operating tables. On the rusted tables there was blood that looked ages old, and a small trolley with surgical tools, also crusted with old blood and rust. He shuddered, moving through it quickly. He paused however, when he heard a static noise. He looked around quickly, gun at the ready, and saw a small tv on a stand in the corner had turned on somehow. He went over, and the static turned to a black and white recording, showing a masked surgeon, the lab new and clean, a "Patient" on the operating table, and in the corner, the man. Ruvik. Ruvik began to speak, voice gravelly and rough.

"Patient 254, Ariana Leina. Brunette, 22, Diagnosed with Early Dementia, Chronic Fatigue, and Mental insanity. Family checked her in a year ago, have severed all contact. Patient is sufficiently sedated. Doctor, Ria Arnone. 35, Certified brain surgeon with a minor in psychology and sociology. Doctor, proceed with the procedure." The Doctor moved to the patient, and Harry watched with morbid curiosity as the doctor cut into the patient's head where there was a bald spot, the area thoroughly shaved in prep. He didn't fully understand what was happening, but he did know that taking someone's brain out of their head isn't exactly conducive to living. He shuddered, getting away from the TV and looking for another door. He found it, right in between two racks of jars, which he realized with horror held the removed brains once he wiped the dust off of one curiously. He went through the door. He was getting tired of the doors dammit!

The next room was small, round, the walls in here were also stone, and it had, surprise surprise! 5 more doors! Then once he looked up and groaned, he noticed a trap door. He was too short to reach the ring for it though! He looked around, as there had to be something to pull it own with. The door was too high up for any normal human being to reach without help of a step ladder at least. He sighed. Nothing. He didn't exactly know a spell to open a trapdoor, and just "Summoning" it would probably break the door and whatever ladder that could be attached. He looked at the doors, groaning as he realized he'd have to search for the stupid stepladder or something to pull the door down. Resigned, he headed for the first door on his left.

~~~~~~~Half an Hour Later.~~~~~~~

"FINALLY!"

Harry yelled once he stumbled back into the main room, He'd gone through so many fucking puzzles and traps trying to open one fucking trapdoor! It had turned out the Trapdoor was fucking sealed, with mechanisms that required fucking blood sacrifices. Gaaah those stupid him or me do it right puzzled gave him the fucking creeps. He'd temporarily died like five fucking times! At least it had still counted and the mechanism got it's blood. Geez. If it weren't for the whole "Master of Death" Bullshit he'd definitely be dead. Permanently. Fuck. Dying was not fun, no matter how he did it. At least the muertos couldn't kill him. Huh. Maybe that was why he didn't take precautions when going on assignments. Huh. Oh well. Harry sighed, going up the ladder to the now open trapdoor. He peeked over the edge, finding a, bedroom? It looked like a scientist's bedroom, with diagrams of animal dissections and deconstructions of the brain. The Boy With No Self Preservation Skills climbed up into the room, looking around thoroughly. He found 2 Health kits, a jar of green goop that he left, and a journal. He cracked it open, reading a page.

"Father doesn't like how close Laura and I have become. My father is a very Respectable man, but he makes, questionable choices. The villagers nearby are angry, they do not like my father. They believe him to be playing God with their lives, when all he is doing is securing them a future. Or so he says. On another note, My latest research has hit upon, an anomaly. A pig, that apparently was supposed to be born with a twin, but the twin never came out. The pig was a runt, so the Farmer and his wife had no problems with me, appropriating it. I Dissected the Runt's brain, to find it as if two brains had merged. There were two nerve stems, two memory centers, and it was larger than it should have been. I have attempted to show Father but he became, agitated with me. He said he "Wanted no part in a childish made up science." Father is a fool. Respectable and Proud, but a fool. He sees not what lies before him, what exists in the world. He insists that nothing outside of his definition of Normal is God's will and will never therefore exist within his definition of reality. His, punishments, are getting worse. I know not what he intends to do if anything were to happen to Laura, as the last time I was with her and She fell from the tree I insisted she not climb the punishment was, less than pleasant. I fear my bandages are bled through again, I smell Copper. I shall rewrap my wounds and then Laura and I are going to the Barn. She so loves playing hide and seek in there. Though, I have the worst feeling. It is most likely merely my imagination. Nothing shall happen. Hopefully Father will come to see the error of his deep set ways, but I hold little hope that shall happen. We shall see.

-Ruben Victoriano."

The book was closed with a soft snap, then set back down where it had been found. That had been the last entry in the book, but Harry could stomach no more to go reading the rest. He was not disgusted with the boy's methods, oh no. He'd heard of much worse ways to enter into science, what with his contacts in the american's unspeakables. What he could not stomach was the fact the boy- for it was a boy- could endure all of that, and still respect his father. He'd lost respect for Vernon long ago, around age 5 when he'd asked an innocent question and nearly been killed for it. Harry turned from the book, and went to the door. He paused, and feeling like he was stupid for doing so he went back and put the journal in his moleskin pouch. Then he went through the door. Behind him, unnoticed, a figure stood. The figure frowned. They did not understand why the man had taken the journal, but they would see where this, interesting development would lead. The man was entertaining, and the coming back to life ability would have to be observed.

On the other side of the door was a hallway, lined with words seemingly written on the walls. Diagrams, charts, observations of science experiments. Harry didn't read them all, as he doubted he'd understand them fully, but the images alone were enough to make him queasy. He shuddered, pulling out his gun so he had it ready in case there were Muertos ahead. He pushed open the next door. He sighed in relief. No more labs it looked like. He was now in what looked like a kitchen, then one of the other doors opened, and Harry pointed his gun at it to find-

"Sebastian!?"

"Harry?"

Harry laughed in disbelief.

"Is that really you?" He asked.

Sebastian looked at his hands. "I would sure as hell hope so."

Harry laughed. "Well then, uh. What's happened on your end? I was with Leslie for a long time after we all got separated, met up with Nicole Kidman briefly but at one point I blacked out and when I woke up Leslie and Kidman were nowhere to be found."

Sebastian groaned. "Please do not make me recant everything. Lets just say it involved a lot of running, tons of those things, Ruvik, hallucinations of a brain, more running from Ruvik, a giant Spider lady, and what looked like a really fucked up amalgamation. Just a few minutes ago Jimenez and Leslie went through a big door that locked itself with a strange complex locking system, so right now i'm trying to figure out how to open it." He grumbled. Harry frowned.

"Well. I, didn't encounter any muertos like you did. Well unless you count the muertos that explode once they're close enough or get shot. Oh and they're blind and move by following sound. Ugh. Well, there was one that stood out. When I was still with Leslie there was one creature, no arms, just a body, legs and a searchlight for a head. It could open it's body like a giant mouth and eat the muertos! The weirdest part? It kept calling for Leslie, like it was searching for him. Also, I mean I could just, blow the door up, but if we're going for stealthy, trying to unlock it sounds the best."

Sebastian frowned.

"Wait wait, Muertos? What the hell are Muertos?"

Harry blinked, confused. Then he snorted out a laugh.

"Right, I forgot. I've been calling the creatures Muertos. It's a Spanish word for the dead, And i'm a fan of Telltale's The Walking Dead. Javier man. Anyway, we should uh, probably find out why we're here. But um, there's, somethings I saw just, made me sick. The memories in this place just-" He cut himself off with a shudder, face paling and he felt sick just thinking about it. "Just horrible, and, the worst part is; I think they're Ruvik's memories. Whatever, We need to figure out what the hell is going on and how to fix it. Or whatever." Sebastian looked at him in concern, but let it go, figuring it was so bad he couldn't bring himself to go into detail. They walked around, killing the Muertos they ran into, And eventually came to a room with a, Brain? It was in fact a brain, on some sort of stand, with transcripts and notes all around. While Sebastian fiddled with that, Harry looked around some more, making sure not to go too far in case Sebastian ran into trouble. He looked for supplies, mainly bullets as he was getting low,and found some handgun bullets on a shelving unit against a wall along with a box of shotgun shells. He took those too, remembering the Shotgun Sebastian had on him. He turned around, to come face to face with the man, Ruvik! He jerked back, banging into the shelving unit. Harry wanted to shout, to yell for Sebastian, but found he couldn't bring himself to make any noise. Ruvik came closer, bringing his face literal inches from Harry's ear. He breathed out softly, making Harry shiver from the warm breath brushing his skin.

"You." His voice was low, the tone alone sending more shivers down Harry's spine. "You've seen the darkest of my past, what now? Do you think me some lost little boy in need of love? Of saving? Do you think me weak now that you've seen all of that? I should hope not, Little One. After all, it would be to your benefit not to delude yourself so." He chuckled. "Though it would be rather cute to watch you try."

Harry growled a little, shaking his head slightly to clear the fog in his mind from being so close to the other. "No. I don't think that. I know, that's how you expect to be treated, but if you were really as all knowing as you act you'd know that I'd never think that. Not when I've been there. But, Knowing you're not a lost little boy doesn't mean that I think you don't deserve love. Even with all the shit you've done? I've seen worse. Yes, you've killed, you've experimented, you've even tortured. But none of it was for your own satisfaction was it? Your notes, you're a scientist through and through, even when you were a kid. It was all for a purpose. Do I think your methods were fucked up? You bet your bloody arse I do. Doesn't mean I don't understand. It's just the way you are. The way, you've always been. Isn't that right, Ruben?" Harry gasped when his throat was grabbed and he was pulled closer so he was staring Ruvik in the eye. The grip on his throat was tight, but it didn't cut off his air flow entirely.

"I abandoned that name the night my father had me violated. That very same week I killed both my parents. Were those the acts of a scientist?!" Harry could've swore Ruvik's eyes were a glowing silver at this point. He gasped for enough breath to say one thing.

"I'm sorry."

Ruvik dropped him to the floor in disbelief, backing away.

"I'm sorry I called you that. I shouldn't have done that. So what if you killed them? Your father did all of that to you, I can only assume your mother either condoned it or was willingly ignorant to it. Revenge isn't exactly the most morally sound but honestly? If it had been my father doing that to me I would've done the same damn thing. Too bad the fat tub of lard I called my uncle that did that shit to me died by someone else's hand before I could do it. You think I don't understand?!" He stood up, rubbing his throat. He looked Ruvik in the eyes of his own free will, hating how moist his own felt, though he kept speaking, even as his voice cracked with his emotional pain, even as he felt tears slip down his cheeks.

"I do understand. I may not be happy with it but Merlin do I understand. You weren't much older than I had been. Maybe those weren't the acts of a scientist but fuck if they weren't the actions of someone pushed too fucking far! You think I don't get it!? Because I do! I only wish I had had the strength to have actually gone through with it like you did." He sniffled, hating how weak he must look. He didn't hate Ruvik, no matter how much he probably should. Ruvik was not a good man by any definition of the word, but fuck it if he didn't understand his motives for killing his parents and experimenting on those patients. Unspeakables did a lot of similar shit, and look how revered the magical society made them! Harry had seen some of the shit they did. Ruvik doing all those experiments made what they did look like child's play yeah but Harry got it. To make progress sacrifices must be made.

Ruvik was speechless. Where had he evaluated wrong? He'd watched this man, had never once been able to get into his mind no matter how much he tried, but nothing he had observed had given even the slightest hint that this man, was capable of more than empathizing, that Ruvik didn't have to deal with someone trying to "Save" him, Ruvik could not have even imagined that he'd ever be, dare he say it; Sympathized with! Ruvik dodged a bullet shot from the left.

"Get away from him!" Sebastian yelled, protective of the obviously distraught young man. Ruvik smirked, though internally he was still confused.

"Until we meet again, Little One." He made sure Harry was the only one who heard him before he glitched out of sight. Harry dropped to the ground as if his legs had turned to jelly. Sebastian hurried over to him, asking him what Ruvik had done to him and if he was all right.

"I, I'm fine, for now. I'm not hurt, he just, was trying to play mind games with me. Doesn't exactly work when the subject is more understood than he believed. Don't, just please, don't ask. It's a very sensitive subject and it, hurts to talk about. Did you figure out the puzzle?" An affirmative. "Alright, let's go finish getting that door open, then find Leslie." Sebastian asked why Harry seemed so protective of the young patient. Harry sighed.

"He reminds me of someone I know, someone very dear to me whom I consider a sister. She's, always been considered odd because she could see things others couldn't, so yeah, Leslie reminds me of her a little, especially with the hair and the eyes." He smiled sadly. He hadn't seen Luna in a couple years. Sebastian smiled.

"Alright, let's go find him then. Then we can figure out how the hell we're all gonna survive this."

OK PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I CAN EXPLAIN!

I wanted to do a take on how much worse Ruvik's childhood could've been, just like I've also used the idea of Harry's childhood being much worse than we were told. I've seen the whole Harry's childhood being absolutely horrid before, but I've not seen anyone doing RUVIK'S childhood worse. His father locked him up after he was burned so badly, pretty much blamed him for Laura's death. How could I not take the opportunity to take it this far?Anyway, if you guys have any tips for improvement, i've literally revised this chapter about ten times, so there shouldn't bee too many grammar mistakes, but if you see one, or if i made a mistake, missed somewhere that i contradicted myself, please let me know. I only recently got back into writing thanks to this story, so I've made vast improvements in my writing abilities but even the best can make mistakes and i am nowhere near the best so please let me know if you see something I contradicted myself on, something I wrote that doesn't make sense, and please let me know what you guys thing in general, even if you don't have any criticism, I always love hearing from you guys so much. And uh guys? Have you guessed the main pairing yet? XD cuz if I didn't make it obvious in this chapter I don't know how else to put it. And yes, we will get a little back on track with how the game goes, but A LOT is going to be different now that Ruvik has a sympathiser, someone who can try and commune with him, try to understand him and maybe even help him with his revenge ;3

For now, Farewell Lovelies!

Lola~