Sorry, it took me so long, real life keeps steeling time.

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Star and Lightning

24th Chapter – Lessons Learned

All during her friday Herbology lesson, Elisha was inattentive. This night, she would meet Lord Voldemort again. Last Sunday, a black crow had delivered an envelope with a short note and a portkey. Elisha was nervously fingering the locket in her pocket while Professor Sprout explained how to repot the Dedokes. She was partnered with Neville Longbottom and trusted him to know what they were supposed to do.

When the lesson was finally over, she still had to endure a whole afternoon with Harry and his friends without making them suspicious. Fortunately, the boys decided to do homework and didn't watch her very closely, so they didn't notice how absent-mindedly she read her Potions book.

After dinner, Elisha excused herself, saying that she was tired. She went to her dormitory and stuffed the blanket with clothes in a way that it looked like someone was sleeping in there. Additionally, she closed the curtains around her bed, hoping no one would notice, that she was gone. She put on black clothes, grabbed Serena and concentrated on becoming invisible. Once Serena confirmad that she really was invisible, Elisha hurried out of the dorms and out of Hogwarts. There was one close shave, when she almost ran into the headmaster who, as Harry had told her, could see invisible people.

At the edge of the Forbidden Forrest, she took the locket, that Voldemort had transformed into a portkey, out and anxiously waited to be transported to Serpent Castle. She suddenly felt a pull at her navel and the world around her faded. She reappeared in a dark and tiny chamber. There was no sound expect her own breath. All of a sudden, a ray of magic flashed next to her head. She turned around and imediately returned fire. She cast spells and blocked curses until her opponent stopped and she heard the sly voice of Lord Voldemort:

"Very well. I see, you have improved. Follow me."

A door was opened and Elisha saw the Dark Lord's shilouette against the bright light. She blinked and followed him quickly. He waited for her to catch up and walked at a quick pace then. Again, she had no idea where they were going. When they reached a narrow stairway leading upstairs, he motioned for her to go first. Elisha hesitated for a second, she felt uncomfortable with him being that near. But a dangerous glint in his eyes was enough to make her hurry up the stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a huge room looking very much like the training chamber in the Chamber of Secrets.

"This is a place no one of the Death Eaters ever comes to. We will be undisturbed here. Sit down there and tell me what you've read in the books I gave you."

Volodemort was a strict and impatient teacher. Elisha was nervous and often mixed things up. Learning with him wasn't as fun as it was at Hogwarts but his knowledge was amazing. Elisha made sure to keep everything, he told her, in mind, because she was afraid of his reactions should she forget anything and because it interested her.

After two hours of testing her knowledge, the practicing session began. Elisha was supposed to do a little bit of dark magic on a key. She gathered her magic in her right hand and was beginning to lead it through the wand, when a snort from Voldemort distracted her. Startled, she looked up at him and the gathered magic went free, melting the key and setting the table, it lay on, on fire. He jumped up yelling furiously and quickly estinguished the fire.

"Silly girl! Did I tell you to set my castle on fire?" he barked, his red eyes glowing.

"I…I.." she stuttered timidly.

"Try it again." He told her grimly and sat down again, handing her a second key.

Nervously, Elisha started again. But his gaze was ennerving her, she couldn't concentrate. After some unsuccessful attempts to gather her power, she turned to him and asked, a bit more rude than she had intended: "Would you please stop staring at me? I can't concentrate!"

Voldemort scowled, but got up wordlessly and stood facing the window. Elisha breathed deeply and closed her eyes. When she had gathered enough magic in her wand, she whispered the incarnation and concentrated on what she wanted to do. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that surrounding the key was a dark mist that was slowly fading. As she carefully tried to touch the key, she was violently thrown backwards.

Lord Voldemort turned around quickly and growled angrily: "What have you done, now?"

When a small smile appeared on his Heiress's lips, he followed her gaze and saw the key. His eyes enlarged for a second and he walked towards it slowly. When he was convinced that Elisha had cast the spell corectly, he turned around to see her on her feet again.

"Very well. I want you to read about Dark Repulsion Curses till our next meeting. You are dismissed, now." He clapped his hands for a house-elve. "Tinky will bring you down to the Entrance Hall. Here," he threw her a handkerchief. "is your portkey."

Elisha turned to follow Tinky, breathing a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, Voldemort heard that and called her back.

"Condolesco." He said softly and Elisha fell down writhing with pain. She felt like all her bones were breaking. The curse lasted only for about a second and when it ended, he told her: "That will teach you to be obedient. Disobey any of my orders or show any sign of joy to get away from me and you will feel the curse again. Now go."

With a neutral face, she hurried out of the chamber and down the many stairs. Now, she was truly afraid of her Lord. She didn't know the curse, he had used on her, but she suspected that the Cruciatus-Curse felt much worse. And while she had experienced it for not more than a second, she had kept Garry under the Cruciatus for minutes at a time.

Back on the ground of Hogwarts, Elisha ran to the Entrance doors, not busying to make herself invisible and ran straight for the next bathroom where she vomitted into the toilet. When she felt, that there was nothing left in her stomach, she leaned against the wall and tried to calm her breathing. She was exhausted, sickened by the understanding of what she had done to Garry and afraid of how their next meeting would be.

After some time, she got up and shakily returned to her dormitory, fortunately meeting no one on her way.