A/N: This is set during DH while the trio were Horcrux-hunting. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out - let me know what you think!

Warning: some descriptions are detailed and kind of dark.

Genre: Drama

Word count: 1310

Written for: Last Man Standing comp rnd 2 [Canon/ could-be canon]; Hunger Games style comp training round [anything]; Hunger Games trilogy comp [D11 - public punishment]; Disney comp [Mushu - Seamus]; HP Chapter comp [Goblin's Revenge - Hogwarts during DH]; Pairing Diversity Bootcamp [impetuous]

Impetuous Defiance

Seamus/Lavender

'I don't care, go on and tear me apart. I don't care if you do.' – Sky Full of Stars, Coldplay

XXX

"Therefore, any witch or wizard who marries a Muggle is not only degrading his or herself, but he or she is also committing to producing filthy half-breed children, thereby harming future magical generations, and insulting the values that the great Salazar Slytherin strived for." Alecto finished her lecture, sucking in her protruding gut as she drew a long, satisfied breath before expelling it. "Is that something you want to happen, children?"

The way she looked every single one of the seventh-years in the eye individually made her question seem more like a challenge. She knew none of them would have the guts to say anything; her invitation was just another way to prove that she - therefore Voldemort - owned every single one of them. And there was nothing they could do about it.

Seamus, convinced that her cold eyes scrutinised him the longest, glowered at her. Beside him, Neville felt Seamus tense.

'Don't do anything stupid, Sea,' he implored his friend silently, not daring to breathe a word out loud lest one of the Carrows somehow hear him.

The classroom fell eerily silent, as if each student was holding his or her breath too, wondering if anyone would dare defy Alecto Carrow.

A scrape of a chair and the sudden bang of fist punching desk made everyone jump. Several pairs of eyes looked at Seamus with nervous anticipation and shock. Neville just winced and shrank down a little in his chair. He fixed his eyes pointedly at the desk, too afraid to watch what was about to happen.

"Why shouldn't it happen?" Seamus shrugged almost nonchalantly as he stared Alecto dead in her angry and dangerous eyes. His defiance had been an impulsive and impetuous move, but there was only so much vile propaganda he could take. In a way he felt as if he was speaking on behalf of everyone at this point.

Alecto sneered viciously. "Because, Mr Finnigan," her cold, condescending words sliced the air, "Muggles are inferior to wizards and produce inept and uncouth children… like you."

"What would ye say if yer Master had some 'o' tha' Muggle blood within 'im too, Ma'am?" Seamus spat in his Irish lilt. "I'm just supposin', o' course."

He played it off as an innocent musing, but Alecto wasn't convinced. She shrieked in anger, her bulging eyes flared. Seamus gripped his wand tightly in his pocket. He could swear he was drawing blood as his half-bitten nails dug into the flesh of his palm, but he remained determined not to show emotion. His heart twitched painfully as he caught the wide and frightened eyes of Lavender in his peripheral vision, but he was determined not to look away from Alecto.

Every student was yet to draw breath as they waited to see what would happen next. The year had barely begun but it was already common knowledge that the Carrows relished their positions as disciplinarians.

"Amycus!" Alecto bellowed, still staring into Seamus' scornful blue eyes. Her brother looked up from his place at the back of the room. "You know what to do."

Seamus braced himself, but nothing happened; Amycus had disappeared from the room.

Seamus guessed that he'd gone to fetch some kind of torture device from Filch, but Amycus appeared holding a terrified first year girl by her collar instead.

He shoved her towards Alecto, who spun the girl to face Seamus and gripped her shoulders hard with talon-like nails. The girl's lip quivered; her tear-stained cheeks glistened in the narrow shafts of light illuminating the classroom through the grey clouds outside.

"You are familiar with the Cruciatus Curse, Mr Finnigan?" Alecto smiled sadistically.

"What?" Seamus was as horrified as the rest of the class.

"SILENCE!" Alecto barked, shooting a stinging jinx at random. It hit Lavender, who immediately began shrieking in pain. Alecto paid her no heed, and her smile grew wider still when she saw Seamus' nostrils flare angrily at Lavender's torment.

"Torture this little whelp, Finnigan. NOW!" Alecto bared her rotting teeth in a feral grin.

The girl whimpered. This sound coupled with Lavender's screams chilled Seamus to the bone.

"I'd rather swallow broken glass," he growled.

"Very well," Alecto pushed the girl away with so much force that she fell to the floor. The Carrows laughed, and by this point Seamus had had enough. He marched out from behind his desk and helped the girl to her feet, ushering her towards the door.

This only added fuel to the fire. Alecto drew her wand in front of Seamus as he heard Amycus do the same behind him. He was trapped.

"CRUCIO!"

"VOLNUS!"

A deafening scream rang in Seamus' head: another student's, he initially presumed. Soon, he realised it was his own, but the animalistic growl being ripped from his throat sounded nothing like him.

All coherent thought was lost when his knees buckled and he began writhing on the stone floor helplessly. It felt like a giant was crumpling him up in one mighty fist, crushing him and contracting his muscles, causing them to convulse and spasm. The agonizing sensation was endless. Merciless. Excruciating.

Lavender's scream grew louder and created a chilling harmony with his. He couldn't hear anything else from the blood that was practically screaming in his ears as it pumped through him rapidly. Seamus' body felt like it was on fire, but his bones felt icy and brittle, ready to snap at any moment. One of his arms flailed outwards and his nails dug into the wet ground.

Wet…?

Seamus snapped his head to the side and realised he was lying in a pool of his own blood. Summoning his dwindling strength to lift his head and keep his eyes open, he looked down and saw that his arms were covered in large gashes and lacerations. His angry, red flesh screamed along with him.

His head fell, collided with the stone with a deafening crack. The pain of this was nothing in comparison to the unrelenting, torturous waves. For the first time, pain seemed like a tangible thing. It was as if this feeling was all Seamus had known his whole life, when in fact, his punishment had only lasted ten seconds by this point.

Screams. Cackles. Fire and ice. Ripping flesh. Blood. It was all too much. Even as the world went black, Seamus didn't cry. He refused to cry…

He woke hours later in the Hospital Wing: suffering, bandaged… but alive. And there was Lavender in the bed beside him, a bandage covering her left eye.

"Sea," she whimpered, as a tear fell from her other one.

"It's okay, Lav," Seamus reassured her in a scratchy voice, knowing he probably looked like Hell. His throat felt like it'd been sealed shut with cement. "I wasn't about to let 'em punish that first year on my account."

With immense effort, Seamus reached across to Lavender's bed, where she met him in the middle and laced her fingers between his. She soon drifted off to sleep after that, and Seamus was left alone with his thoughts.

He partly didn't care that the Carrows punished him so harshly. He'd proved that they didn't own him; that he wasn't going to be controlled without a fight. If he could affect them so much alone, he could only imagine what was possible if Dumbledore's Army reformed. Seamus made a mental note to bring this up to Neville or Ginny when he next saw them, but then sighed as the implications of this plan came to light: Dumbledore's Army needed to reform, because this was going to be life now.

After that, the realisations just kept on coming:

Freedom of speech didn't exist.

Sadistic punishments were going to become the norm. Not just for Seamus: for everyone.

If anything he'd just given the Carrows cause to dole out crueller penalties despite his best intentions of showing them up.

Damn it.

A/N: Thanks for reading! :)

*Volnus was a spell I made up. It translates from Latin: 'to wound' or 'to slash'.