The Dark Gryffindor

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Continuation of….


Chapter Forty-three: Dark Arts Substitute


Lord Voldemort paced around in a circle as if in the midst of a tempest. Indeed he was in the midst of stewing over yesterday’s events, his temper rising rapidly. He circled the small office that was Amycus’s un-wrecked Dark Arts study. Voldemort was aware that Alecto’s Muggle Studies office was destroyed in yesterday’s explosion.

The Carrows waited for his condemnation, now that the facts had been disclosed. They were stunned by the extreme of his disapproval of them.

“I shall ask one last time…WHERE are the leaders hiding?”

“Master we do not know!” wailed Alecto despondently. She knew she was on the verge of receiving a brutal punishment. Meanwhile, her brother, Amycus mopped his sweating brow with the back of his hand.

“IF only you two dolts knew where they were hiding I could go and finish them!” screamed Voldemort. He was very angry, and the Carrows had never seen Voldemort in one of his rages.

“It is too bad you do not know, as you will both suffer tremendously for your mishap. Remember this: From this point forward I give you the prerogative to go and kill these three student resisters, whenever you do find them.” Voldemort did not ascertain Valerie Powers was one of them. It had been his mistake not to bother on inquiring any further onto the identities of the D.A. leaders. If he had, he might not have told them to kill her, if only because she’d proved useful to his ends as a spy. The Carrows nodded in agreement and bowed their heads at Voldemort’s scorching red-eyes gazed, glowering down at them.

“And there is more…” continued Voldemort maddeningly. He scolded them like they were severely disobedient children. “I have heard from Severus you tried to use Avada Kedavras…. I believe I ordered under no circumstance for this measure to be employed?”

“Yes, Master,” said Alecto guiltily.

“Not me!” argued Amycus vehemently. “Master, I did not try to kill those brats. I remembered your instructions - only she did, I would not have done-”

“Enough! Enough of your useless quibbling! I do not care how this happened. You are each held equally responsible….As Death Eaters I gave you the same task and you chose most unwisely to stray against Lord Voldemort’s orders. The both of you shall learn to never go against me again….”

Voldemort stalled, raising his wand ominously and almost instantly Alecto and Amycus threw themselves to lie pathetically, together at Voldemort’s feet.

“CRUCIO! CRUCIO!”

The shrieks of misery, despair and agony drifted out of the room and into the classroom where Snape was teaching Alecto’s class. He stopped his lecture for everybody was listening.

Whispering and muttering started to travel throughout the room. Some of the students suspected Voldemort was near, and that it was his doing that caused the racket. Within seconds an intense wave of fear crept throughout the classroom. But nobody could be sure, for all they heard were the Carrows cries of agony; Voldemort’s voice was too low to be heard.

Snape relaxed and waited for the noise to subside a look of pleasant indulgence on his face. Draco was stark white. The sounds of the Cruciatus punishment reminded him all too well of the punishments Voldemort had inflicted on himself, and it reminded Draco of the punishment he was forced to inflict upon Thorfinn Rowle.

Voldemort was still in his rage, but he did not speak loudly, barely above a whisper. He finally released the pressure of the curse, and bent down over the Carrows. “Neither have you satisfied my curriculum goals for Hogwarts. You are quite possibly the worst teachers Hogwarts has ever had. You do not know how to teach you fools!”

“Master – master….I’m sorry we have failed. We can do better next time,” spluttered Alecto between sobs.

“You must make certain of that. And I shall not have you muggle dueling students! We have the Cruciatus curse, as well as many other vices and penalties…Have we not Alecto? Amycus? You yourselves, are being subjected to one such now, as we speak. Shall we continue with another dose of pain?”

The Carrows started to cry in protest, and at once Voldemort placed them under the torture curse yet again.

The Dark Lord was still effused with rage. “Neither of you managed to get the poison to the students on time. Instead, you left three powerful wizards alone…And for what? So that they could burst free and destroy a room of an ancient Wizard dwelling. It is because of your stupidity that a room in Hogwarts lies in ruins. However, – you are very fortunate, for that that particular room holds no consequence to Lord Voldemort…”

The Carrows whimpered on the floor, and finally found the strength to grovel at Voldemort’s heels, clinging to his robes.

“I shall give you a final order….And this one had better be carried out else your master shall not be so forgiving as he is this time. You will place a group of my Snatchers before my Room of Requirement at all times.”

“Yes, my Lord, Yes, my Lord” assented each of them in unison.

“Good…. I am confident you shall adhere to this. As further sanctions I shall imprison you here, in this space ….See to it that the Come and Go Room is put under surveillance…If everything is not in order by tomorrow evening, you shall not escape my wrath with your lives….”

The Carrows shuddered and inwardly swore to themselves that they’d follow through.

“The headmaster which I had the good judgment to make sure was appointed shall deal with the remainder of the debacle. Severus, at least is a competent teacher...He can see to it that you are released when his duties for today cease.”

With a quick wave of his wand around the room, Voldemort cast several powerful spells to keep the Carrows locked in the Dark Arts office until Snape came by. With that, the Dark Lord turned to the fireplace and through emerald flames went elsewhere.

The Carrows would not dare use the fireplace; for obviously Voldemort had the country's entire Floo Network under control, and so he would discover they departed the Dark Arts office, which was now the stint where they were being incarcerated. They remained in the same positions on the floor, too scared to move.

After several minutes, Alecto rose, stamping her feet in frustration. “Oh! Oh, it’s all your fault, Amycus!”

“What are you talking about?”

“It was your dim-witted moves that got us in this scrape…”

“Oh, shut-up! We've got to tell Snape to send Snatchers out there!”

“I know,” said Alecto, her eyes shining malevolently. “And we also need to get another little project started.”

“Finding that half-wit, Mr. Longbottom's grandmother…Are you sure Bellatrix knows? Her mother used to be in contact with the woman…But that was years and years ago!”

Alecto didn't listen but instead, eagerly ran over to the fireplace and popped her head into it, after throwing a handful of Floo powder. “Oh, Bella….I know you’re there somewhere, sweetie…You must be so bored holed up with the dreadful Malfoys…” (For Alecto meant she was aware Bellatrix and the Malfoy couple had been put by Voldemort under house arrest). “Show yourselves, wherever you are, I have much to tell you!”

Amycus rolled his eyes at his sister’s tenacity. But nevertheless, he too wanted to see to it that Augusta Longbottom could be captured and killed as soon as they could manage the feat.


*


The final class of the day filed out orderly and quiet, and Snape gathered himself to go. A year ago he would have been bursting with twisted joy to be teaching the Dark Arts. But now he had changed. Witnessing the way the students interacted, he felt a startling aversion for his favored subject. It was disgusting how brainwashed everybody had become.

In dark shadows of a lingering, deepening doubt he returned after dinner to speak to Dumbledore. But the portrait could not give him the genuine solace he craved. He needed to see Valerie.


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