Chapter 27
A Lesson in the Dark Arts
Disclaimer-Not Mine.
The hand holding the back of Lily's neck tightened as he pulled the wand out of her shawl. "You won't be needed this." He said, stuffing it into his own pocket. He pushed Lily farther down the hall until they reached the door to the Shrieking Shack. After kicking the door open he carelessly pushed Lily in.
He turned to his son and hissed, "Let's hurry up before someone notices you're gone."
Sirius lowered his head as he helped Julia into the Shrieking Shack as well. "Fairley!" Orion Black called up the stairs for his partner.
Fairley came clobbering down the stairs as fast as he could, "Yes sir?" He asked, as his eyes landed on the kids. "Good you found them. They are-."
"Silence!" Sirius's father yelled as he raised his wand. Lily noticed Fairley gulped, which scared her even more than she already was; to see a grown death-eater afraid of this man. "I thought I told you not to let them out of your sight!" He said, clearly very angry.
"I know, sir. But they just-." Fairley stuttered. Sirius took a step towards Lily and took her hand in his own to get her attention. Her palm was sweaty and shaking but the look on her face showed no fear.
"It's going to be okay." He whispered, trying to assure her. She nodded that she had heard them, but the truth was, she was starting to doubt that. Sirius's father obviously wanted Lily and Julia there for whatever reason, and he was putting up quite a fight to keep them there.
"They what? They outsmarted you?" Orion advanced on Fairley, his wand still raised at him. "They are sixteen years old!" Fairley could feel the cold stench of Orion's breath on his face. Orion's face grew redder and a blood vessel throbbed in his temple.
"N-no..." He mumbled, his voice losing the authority it had had when he was talking to the Gryffindors.
"So you let them go?!" Sirius's father hissed, furious.
Fairley shook his head as he took a step back from Orion Black. Sirius's father continued, "I thought you realized what was at stake here..."
"I-I do." Fairley said. "It won't happen again." He assured him.
Orion Black glared at him as he whispered, "You bet it won't." Orion slowly took a step back before yelling, "Avada Kevarda."
Lily's hand went straight to her mouth as she watched Fairley fall to the ground; dead before he even hit it. She felt every ache in her body now more than ever. Her knees went weak and Sirius quickly put his arm around her to support her. Her hands were shaking as she watched the Death Eater slowly turn to the three Gryffindors.
"Well look at this." He snarled, looking at Sirius comforting Lily. "Don't bother giving her false hope. It won't do any good."
Sirius took a step in front of Lily and Julia, "Don't touch them." He had faced his father in many arguments before. He could remember how scared he was of this man when he was younger, but now was different. Not only was he not the little boy he used to be, but more was on the line than just himself; two of his friends were, and he wasn't about to let anything happen to either one of them because of his own father.
"How noble." Orion said, with a nasty chuckle. "But I'm not going to do anything to them." He paused, before hissing through yellow teeth, "That'll be your job."
Sirius frowned as he attempted to understand what he was saying. When Orion realized he didn't get it, he continued, "I gave you a chance to get rid of both of these filthy things but you didn't take it."
"I did take it!" Sirius countered. "Julia and I aren't going out anymore and this is the first time Lily and I have really talked in weeks!"
Lily's mouth dropped as she figured out the mistake she had made. Sirius's father didn't want Julia and Sirius together. Her eyes roamed over to the dead man on the ground, and she shuddered. Sirius's father obviously got what he wanted...
Orion shook his head and took a step closer to the group. "The only reason you did it was to protect them. Not for the real reason."
There was clearly more to the conversation than Lily was understanding. Lily tried to pull her attention towards father and son so she could figure out what was going on, but her mind kept wandering to Fairley.
"Real reason?" Sirius asked back.
"One of them is a mudblood and one has auror blood running through its veins." He near yelled. "Do you have any idea what trouble those aurors have caused the Dark Lord? Do you?"
"They deserved anything those aurors gave them!" Sirius hissed through gritted teeth. Even though Julia had no idea what was going on, she still heard what they were saying, just not comprehending it. She registered the words 'aurors' and 'Dark Lord', both of them sending shivers down her spin as she recalled the night her parents died and left her and her brother alone in the world.
Orion angrily advanced towards the group. He reached passed Sirius and took a hold of Julia's arm. "It's about time you started acting like a Black." He pointed his wand at Julia . "Take out your wand." He commanded, though he didn't have to because Sirius already had his wand pointed at his father.
"Don't point that damn thing at me or I'll kill her." He threatened. Sirius glared at him as he slowly lowered his wand. "That's a good boy." He condescendingly cooed.
Sirius wanted to say something, but his mouth stopped working. Instead, he looked at Lily, who was finally showing how scared she really was. Her eyes were still glued onto Fairley's lifeless body.
"Your first lesson: Crucio." Both Sirius and Lily turned to Orion at the same time.
"W-what?" Sirius asked.
"The torture spell." Orion said. "Do it on that Mudblood." He commanded.
Lily's mouth dropped and her breath caught up in her throat. What did he say? She asked herself. Surely not what she thought...
"Are you bloody mad? There's no way in hell I'm doing that to Lily." Sirius stuttered out. "And stop calling her that!" He said, finding more volume in his voice.
Orion chuckled evilly again. "I'll call her whatever I want." His voice became less amused when he realized his son was not listening to him. "I said put the curse on her!"
"No!" Sirius yelled back as he glanced at Lily from the corner of his eye. She was watching the two, and as hard as she was trying, she couldn't hide her fear. She had just seen someone being murdered, and realized that both her life, Julia's and maybe even Sirius's was at stake. She didn't want to mutter a word because she was afraid that she might offend him. It was the first and only time in her life, she would be too scared to stand up for what and who she loved.
His father pursed his lips and his nostrils flared as he growled, "I hoped it wouldn't come down to this." He jabbed his wand at Julia's throat and muttered, "Paseaero!" Julia's hands went instinctively to her neck as her throat began to close up.
Sirius panicked and lunged for his father, "What did you do to her?" He demanded.
Orion casually flicked his wand, stopping Sirius from moving any closer to him. "You have about a minute to torture the Mudblood before the spell kills this one. Her throat will close up and then herlungs with begin to deteriorate." He said, with no trace of emotion. "Now, do you really want her dead?"
Julia tried to cough, but no air could get in or out. She still didn't know what was going on, the only thing she was aware of was that she couldn't breath.
"You filthy bastard!" Sirius yelled. "Lift the curse!"
"Not until you use Crucio!" He yelled back, showing he had an identical temper as Sirius.
Sirius turned to Lily, who was looking at the scene completely stunned. "I won't do it...I can't."
"Sirius!" Lily replied, "You have to!"
"See, even the Mudblood knows her place." Orion muttered.
"But Lily." Sirius said, looking from Julia to her. "I don't want to hurt you."
"She's going to die if you don't!" Lily yelled. Her eyes landed on Julia, who was still struggling to breath.
Sirius looked one last time at Julia before turning to Lily, "I'm sorry Lily." He muttered. "C-crucio!"
Nothing happened. Not even a spark came out of his wand. "You need emotion Sirius." His father instructed. "Work up the hatred at the Mudblood. You have to want her in pain. You have to want her dead."
"B-But I don't..." Sirius whispered.
Julia's face was turning a light purple as she continued to gasp for precious oxygen. Her legs soon gave way and she landed on her knees with a light thud. Sirius turned when he heard her dropping to the floor.
"Sirius try again!" Lily said, panic taking over her body. She was about ready to take his wand from him and do the spell on herself, though she knew it wouldn't do much good.
"Crucio!" Sirius said, this time with a little more power in his voice. Power that he got from being so panic-stricken. Again, nothing happened.
"You're running out of time." Orion almost teased him as he watched the girl at his knees gasping for air. "About thirty seconds left until this one kicks the bucket." He commentated sadistically.
"I'm the reason she hates you so much!" Lily yelled, she needed to do something to help Sirius. "She wanted to forgive you, you know. But I told her that you were scum not worthy of even looking at!" She blurted out.
Sirius looked at her and frowned, "You what?" He muttered, wondering why she would bring something like this up now.
"I told her that I saw you making out with that girl later that day." She lied. "And she believed me."
Sirius frowned, "You wouldn't do that..." He barely whispered.
"Oh I would Sirius and I was happy about doing it too." Lily tried to assure him as she looked at Julia. "She was going to forgive you after you left the hospital wing that night. She said you kissed her and it reminded her of how much she loved you. But I told her, that she was just another pawn in your disgusting player game." A lump filled Lily's throat as she watched Julia struggle to breath.
Sirius was starting to catch on that she was doing this to get him angry enough to perform the spell, but he didn't think of that. Instead, he concentrated on every word that came out of her mouth. "She loved you Sirius and everything would have been back the way it was supposed to be if it wasn't for me."
"Crucio!" Sirius shouted. This time, a yellow-green bolt shot out of his wand, stopping short of Lily by a foot.
"I took it all away from you!" Lily shouted, realizing that tears were pouring out of her eyes at the sight of her best friend dieing. "You love her but you can never have her Sirius!" Her voice echoed through the abandoned shack. This time, her words stung Sirius because he knew it was true. Nothing was going to be the same. He was sure his father wouldn't let him go back to Hogwarts, now that he had been involved in this. Orion surely would have been smart enough to know that Sirius was going to tell the headmaster about this.
"Crucio!" Sirius yelled one last time.
The spell hit Lily directly in the chest and she fell to the ground in pain. A burning sensation filled her ears and she could barely make out Orion saying, "Good job son."
Sirius lowered his wand, completely disgusted with himself. "Now take the curse off of Julia." As Sirius lowered his wand, the curse was lifted off of Lily. Sirius was sure to make it only last a few seconds, not that he had enough hatred for Lily in him to keep the curse on her for much longer anyway.
Orion laughed again; that same happy evil chuckle. Like his sick and twisted mind was actually glad that he had killed a man and was suffocating a sixteen year old girl. "No." He said, firmly. "Not until we are done with out lesson." He finished.
"But you said you would take it off of her as soon as I did the curse!" Sirius yelled as he raised the wand to his father.
"I wouldn't suggest sending a single spell at me unless you know the counter-curse to the one that's on this filth." He said, glaring as Julia, who was now close to passing out.
Sirius knew he couldn't do anything. He had no idea what spell was on Julia or how to counter it. He looked over his shoulder at Lily, who had now lifted herself onto her elbows, tears pouring down her freckled face, not bothering to hide her pain anymore.
"You sick bastard." Lily breathed.
"What was that Mudblood?" Orion hissed as he walked over to Lily. Lily just stopped herself from whimpering at the tall man standing above her weak body.
"I-I called you a-."
"Lift the curse!" Sirius interrupted, in pure panic, as Julia passed out onto the dusty wooden floor. "Take it off of her!" His heart was pounding rapidly against his rib cage. Thump, thump, thump.
"Calm down." Orion hissed. "You have one more lesson." He said, talking purposefully slow and emphasizing every word. "One more spell."
"Spit it out already!" Sirius blurted out.
"I want this Mudblood dead."
Sirius's and Lily's mouth both dropped at the same time. "W-what?" Sirius whispered.
"You are going to kill the Mudblood." Sirius shook his head but Orion continued, "It's about time someone starts to get rid of these filthy creatures. The minister isn't doing anything about it, so that job falls on us."
"She's my best friend." Sirius said to his father. "I won't kill her."
Lily sat on the cold floor, her whole body was shivering now. She couldn't figure out why someone like Sirius's father could get to be so sick in the head. What kind of disgusting maniac could think of torturing his son like this? Of torturing muggle-born like this?
"The Mudblood is going to die anyways. I'm going to kill her regardless." Orion said. "It just depends whether you want this one to live." He said, lighting kicking Julia. Lily felt like her chest was being stabbed repeatability as fear gripped every part of her body. Lily was going to die.
Sirius shook his head, his mind had went numb. There was no way he would ever do anything to hurt Lily, more than he already had. He didn't have it in him. He wasn't born a dark wizard like his family had been.
A loud clank echoed from the outside the Shack. Orion eyes immediately darted to his son. "What was that?" He whispered.
Sirius shook his head and looked down at Lily. "How should I know?" He mumbled.
The group stayed quiet for a few seconds before Orion said, "Who did you tell Sirius?"
"I didn't tell anyone." Sirius truthfully answered.
Orion wrapped his fingers around his sons' neck. "Who did you tell?"
"It was me." Lily said, slowly standing up, her eyes still gushing with tears. If she was going to die, she figured she better do it because of something she was willing to die for.
"Don't be stupid girl. When could you have told anyone?" He questioned before turning back to his son.
"Look at the sky and see for yourself." Lily said, pointing to the open window. Orion let go of his son. As soon as he did, Sirius ran over to Julia and muttered every counter-curse he could think of to try and lift the curse off of her.
Orion craned his head out the window and looked at the dark night sky. Stretched across it in flaming orange letters read:
Help! Shrieking Shack.
Sirius's let his wand fall to the ground, completely unaware what was happening behind him. His hands found Julia's wrist as he desperately searched for a pulse.
"You little-." Orion grabbed Lily by the arm and rammed her against the wall. The breath was knocked out of Lily momentarily but Lily didn't remove her eyes from his gray ones. "You thought you'd get out of this alive didn't you? That someone would come and rescue you?" He hissed, moving his face closer to her. "But you're not going to live to see anyone else. How sad." He mocked.
"You're not going to get away with this..." Lily whispered but Orion continued.
"Just think, the next time your friends and family will see you, you'll be in a cold coffin waiting to be lowered into the ground." He whispered into her ear, his slimy breath on her face.
"S-shut up." She stuttered out.
"Your sister will be there. I know you don't get along but she's going to regret that. She'll live her entire life wishing she wasn't so mean to you." He continued, ignoring her. "What about your parents? They tried so hard to protect you but I guess it wasn't good enough." He evilly grinned as he watched her face distort into complete terror and regret. "And James too."
"Shut up!" Lily screamed this time but he just laughed.
Sirius turned his head after hearing Lily. He dropped Julia's cold hand before turning to them, his eyes brimming with tears. Julia is dead...and it's my fault.
Orion looked over his shoulder at his son. "Now I want you to watch carefully Sirius because you'll need to learn this."
Sirius slowly raised his wand at his father, his hand shaking. He didn't say anything but looked down at Julia. A lump caught in his throat and his eyes continued to swell with tears. "You always ask your victims if they have any last words..." Orion continued.
Lily looked past Orion's wand and at Sirius, "Sirius," She spoke slowly, "If you ever see James, could you-could you tell him that I love him." The tears poured down her face, consistently flowing. She was too young to go. There was so much she hadn't experienced in life but now, it didn't matter. She would have no chance to do any of that.
"Very well...Avada-."
"Crucio!" Sirius yelled, a strong yellow-green light emerged from Sirius's wand. It hit Orion in the back, absorbing into him. The spell was three times as strong as when he had put it on Lily. "Are you glad you taught me this spell?" Sirius yelled at his father. "How does it feel?" He asked, showing no mercy to his father who was screaming in pain. Sirius's whole body felt numb and shaky. A single tear fell down his face, "This is what you deserve you fucking murderer!"
Lily ran over to Julia and knelled down by her side. There had to be something she could do. She ran through every spell she knew in her head. It has to be something that can help her breath. Anything that can make her breath better...She could think of about a dozen potions that could help with this but she didn't know a single spell. What about swimming...She thought. Something that can enable someone to breath under water. An air bubble? ...But you still need your throat. Gillyweed? ...No...I don't have any. Gillyweed? A weed? Plants! Plants breath through there skin...She remembered a spell that could allow a plant to breath through their skin more efficiently. Maybe it would work on a human too. It was Porous-...something. Lily muttered any combination of any a spell with 'porous' in it, desperately trying to find the right one.
Sirius continued to let out a string of curse words, not hearing the banging at the front of the house. The front door to the Shrieking Shack burst open at that moment. Three aurors and the Headmaster came running into the living room where the four were located. Sirius's eyes went straight to them but he didn't lift the spell, instead, he continued to swear at his father for every moment of Sirius's life that he had made miserable.
One of the aurors' mouth had dropped. He hadn't known of anyone, under the age of eighteen who could preform a dark curse like that. He quickly recovered and ran over to Sirius's side. "Lower your wand." He told Sirius.
The other two Aurors ran over to Julia and Lily. "She can't breath." Lily blurted out. "There's a curse on her."
An auror flicked her wand at Julia but nothing happened. She turned gravely to her partner and said, "She needs to be taken to Saint Mungo's."
"I'll take this one too." The other said, nodding towards Lily, who appeared to be tittering on the edge of unconsciousness.
"Mr. Black." The Headmaster began.
"Don't call me that!" Sirius shouted at him. He immediately thought of his father when he heard that name.
"Sirius, please, lower your wand." He finished.
Sirius finally seemed to realize the scale of what he was doing. He was preforming a Unforgivable Curse in front of his headmaster and a couple of Aurors. He slowly lowered his wand down by his side. "I-I just-."
"It's fine." The auror said, taking his by the shoulder. "Follow those two over there." He said, nodding to the other aurors. "And we'll take care of this man."
Sirius stepped into the Hospital Wing, not looking up from the ground. Julia and Lily had been taken to Saint Mungo's but seeing as Sirius was in a far better condition than them, the Headmaster thought it best if he just went to the school nurse.
"Sirius!" James said, jumping up from his seat. Remus looked up too and watched the raven haired boy enter the room. They had been sitting there since they both witnessed one of the two girls being taken away. The Headmaster had told them to wait in this wing until they could find the girls and Sirius.
James's excitement of seeing his friend was alright quickly faded, "What's wrong?" He asked, quietly, as he noticed his tear stained face.
"Where are Julia and Lily?" Remus questioned.
Sirius shook his head slowly. "They-." He started but lost his voice. He took a deep breath and tried again, "They're at St. Mungo's."
A/N- A heavy chapter. I know.
So what's going to happen with Julia? Is she okay?
If you review, I'll write faster. And the sooner I write, the sooner you get to know what happens next...
Kait
