On an innocuous Tuesday just after dinner, he struck. The second-year Ravenclaws were all crowded in a back corner of the library, chatting happily. They were the only students there, as most were still eating. Hidden under his Cloak, he waved his arm outwards and extinguished all the candles. One of them let out a scream of terror as it suddenly went pitch black. Harry felt his shadows snatch them up in its jaws.
He deposited them in a long-forgotten room in the dungeons, one he'd already warded and silenced. Still invisible, he let the frightened students have a moment to panic. One of them tried an alohomora on the door to no avail. They whispered reassurances to each other, that surely this was just a prank by the Weasley twins or something. Harry ran his nails down the chalkboard and made the candles flicker dramatically.
They screamed and clutched at each other.
Pulling his shadows into twisted shapes, he sent them after the students, separating them from their wands and crowding them into the corner of the room. Most of these students were mere bystanders, and that was what they would remain for now. Leaving them to watch, Harry grabbed the first bully by her hair and picked her up.
"You'll all regret what you've done," he giggled in her ear, making her start to scream and flail as she tried to pry him off of her.
But how? He wondered. There were so many possibilities. It was for the best that he did not cause any physical wounds on the students, and that he didn't use a spell too obscure that it could be traced back to him. Something simple but painful.
"Does anyone want to guess why they're here today?" He asked. They shook their heads and shrunk down, trying to make their bodies as small as possible. "I've seen some of you bullying your classmates. Stealing things, calling names, casting jinxes. It was very funny, wasn't it?" The girl tried to say something through her tears as she clawed at his arm.
"S-sorry, I'm sorry. Please," she begged.
"Why are you apologizing to me? You haven't hurt me."
"Please," she kept begging. "Please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"
He rolled his eyes, she wasn't even listening to him, she was too scared to think properly.
Harry pointed his wand at her and hesitated for a second. This was absolutely a terrible idea, the logical part of his brain insisted. He was supposed to be laying low, inconspicuous. If his mama or his friends found out, he was in for the lecture of a lifetime. But, the other part of his brain argued, it was worth it. They deserved this. No one would find out.
" Crucio," he murmured with a lazy flick of his wand. Her scream echoed off the walls, sharpening into a garbled wail as waves of pain shot up and down her nervous system. He let her fall to the ground. Her body trembled and spasmed as she began to pant and whimper, quickly crescendoing into another piercing scream. She was so loud Harry was worried that his warding would not be able to contain it, but it was almost beautiful in a way, her absolute agony filling the room. There was no way to focus on anything else. Darkness rolled out of her with each frantic, inhumane wail that left her mouth like smoke. It had a lightheaded, fragranced effect, filling his head as he watched in awe as the girl continued to twitch and scream.
He realized that at some point he had begun to giggle uncontrollably. He shook his head to clear the intoxicating feeling of the curse. It was a good thing that he was under his Cloak, he was embarrassed by how he had reacted. Beads of sweat dripped down him; he was wide-eyed and panting and felt high. Harry had not cast the Cruciatus before. The other two Unforgivables he had practiced with mama, but she had warned him against the use of the Cruciatus as it was the most addictive of the three curses. He had not realized the extent to which she meant. Already he felt a desire tickling in the back of his mind.
Alright, he was fine. It was fine. He would not use the curse again, they had probably learned their lesson, yeah? Turning his attention back to the scene, he found the horrified students sobbing as they looked at the prone form.
As the high began to wear off, it left Harry with an explosive headache. He had no idea how long they had been inside this room, it was time to wrap things up. However, he needed to make sure the other children understood the seriousness of his ire. The headache pounded between his ears and he found himself feeling even more angry than before. Perhaps it would be best to murder one of them? Perhaps he could make the others watch him tear one of them limb from limb. Maybe he would resurrect one of them and let the inferius feast on the bones of its former friends. His hands started to shake with unbridled rage.
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