Chapter Text
"Are the houseelves slacking today?" Warrington clicked his tongue as he lifted what looked like to be a normal strawberry flavored pudding with his fork. The flavor was definitely off though. "There's something terribly odd with today's pudding."
Olivia Hornby nodded wholeheartedly, "truly! My family's elf would have never made this kind of mistake!"
"In my house, such pudding would have earned the elf a few cutting curses.."
Madeline chewed her meal vigorously. They were talking about a pudding, of all things. As if the entire wizarding Britain was not sent blazing with today's prophet - as if their own fathers and brothers did not have a hand in it!
Then again, that might have been the purpose of this ridiculous act. Glares and whispers had been accompanying her house since they first walked into the great hall this morning. Did they think pretending to be oblivious would have eased the masses' ire?
Barty leaned in, "Mad, don't touch the pudding. Someone's tampering with them and I have four guesses who." He glowered in a particular direction at the red adorned table.
"I can't tell if those who ate the pudding anyway are plain dumb or purely genius," Evan grumbled, his fork playing with the suspiciously jiggly pudding. Would falling for their prank eased their rage? Would it distract them from the serpent that slithered out of a massive skull in the sky?
Despite saying that, Evan eventually chose to eat the pudding, shrugging at Barty when her brother threw him a disbelieving look.
A sigh escaped her as she moved her gaze to observe the other houses. Beneath the rage and the whispers, she could easily discern what was crawling under their skin. A growing feeling that was born since they first saw the serpent that came out of a skull’s mouth in the sky.
Fear.
Fear made the violent and the righteous of them retaliate, and the same fear kept the others from taking action. Making them hide. Even now, she could see some of them avoiding to look at the slytherin table direction. And while most of the slytherins chose to make a light of the situation, there was tension brewing underneath the surface. Stiff shoulders, hesitating glance. Those who were not as firm as the others on which side they were standing on were starting to feel agitated.
And he will strike them at the most opportune time.
Madeline drank her pumpkin juice slowly, glinting blue eyes locked on the embroidered snake on the green banner above her house's table. Once again, she was reminded that there was still much to be done.
Only after all her classes were over - and watching a ridiculous amount of Slytherins get sent to the infirmary due to non-stop vomiting - that Madeline could visit the Hufflepuff's dormitory, using the excuse to speak with Amanda and Bethany in their room. The Hufflepuffs eyed her curiously as she stood in the sun kissed common room, eyes set on their prefect.
Amelia, as their prefect, allowed it.
"I'll lead you to her room."
On the way there, Amelia asked her to wait as she grabbed something from her own room. It seemed that the perceptive girl had already figured out the true purpose of her visit, Madeline eyed the thick scroll held in the girl's arm as the girl emerged from her room with a satisfied smile. When they arrived at her friends’ room, Madeline didn't hesitate to open it without as much as a knock.
Because she knew the room was empty - she had made it so when she asked a favor from Amanda and Bethany to borrow their room while they take their roommates to the kitchen after class.
Once they were in, Amelia closed the door and locked it, while Madeline waved her wand and the buzzing of a muffliato charm took place.
"What do you have?"
"This is not the first attack," the girl revealed in one breath, and Madeline's eyes sharpened.
"And why am I only hearing this now?"
Amelia wore a grim expression as she handed her a stack of papers.
"Because they thwarted the first one and thought it was just an ordinary kidnapping case. The death eaters quickly retreated when the aurors arrived sooner than they had probably expected. But as you can see, the location was off. Death eaters typically abduct people not in their own home, but on the routes their target usually takes. The reports also said there were four death eaters that day. Double the number they usually used for a kidnapping attempt. At first, the aurors thought it was just a decision made from caution. After yesterday's attack though, they realized the one on New Year's eve was a similar case to this recent one."
She read the papers. It was an official report - Two, official reports, one from the operation on New Year's Eve and one from yesterday. She scanned both of them quickly and briefly paused when she read the New Year's eve attack had happened in Devon.
According to her notes of the future, the first sighting of the dark mark was December 1975, above a muggleborn family house in Devon. The date and place matched, but there was no dark mark on the sky above Devon this time, and there were no bodies. The targets of the attack had survived.
History had changed.
Her heartbeat fastened. She continued to read - masked individuals, nothing can be inferred from their general build. Not even the perpetrator's gender or height. It was as if their presence had become blurry in the auror's mind. Nothing can be perceived about their identity.
Madeline frowned as she read the last of the report.
"No arrest in both cases?"
"It was impossible to make an arrest in the first attack," Amelia refuted the judgment in her tone. "As you can see from the report, they immediately retreated once the auror showed up. Meanwhile on the second attack, the Death Eaters anticipated the auror's quick arrival. This time, they didn't dawdle. They killed their target just as they arrived."
She read the section on the victim profile of the second attack. Augustus Prichett. Ministry clerk, Muggleborn. Married to Annie Prichett, a muggle. Two kids, one had been identified as magical.
Two kids, losing their Father at age 9 and 5.
A pang of pain rattled her chest as she forced herself to read the rest of the report.
"Thankfully, the wife and their two children made it, " Amelia continued. "The aurors arrived just in time for them. They prioritized the family's safety rather than an arrest." the girl exhaled a shaky breath, "It's already a miracle that we only have injuries and not bodies. The spells they used - "
"I saw the list," Madeline cut her tersely, tapping that particular part of the report.
Dark curses meant to expel one's entrails, explode heads, and melt organs. Cutting curse that left a burning wound, cutting curse that kept on bleeding -
While the aurors gave the death eaters a good fight, they were still rather overwhelmed. And that gave the death eaters time to escape.
Aurors were reluctant to use the killing curse, the report said. One of the officers casted the killing curse and missed, and a killing curse was aimed at the wall next to him immediately. Their concern was that using the killing curse against them would escalate the situation. Aside from that one use, these death eaters did not use a single killing curse against the aurors. The only other time the killing curse was cast was against Augustus Prichett, before the aurors arrived.
Madeline spread the papers on the desk nearest to the door. They were clever, alright. The mind games these people played - the sheer fear they were trying to instill. What must she do to stop them? What would be the next best action?
"Crouch - you father, I mean - decided to keep the first attack under wraps," Amelia divulged. "It wasn't difficult. The operation was clean, and the media didn't sniff a thing. But yesterday your father had no choice. The ominous sign in the sky gave it away."
Madeline pulled out the prophet from her robe and laid it next to the reports. There, on the front page, a glowing massive skull could be seen hovering above a little house, with a serpent shaped smoke slithering out from its mouth.
The dark mark.
Madeline hadn't really taken it into account. She had thought about the kidnappings, about the puppetry play in the ministry and the recruitment of various magical beings. She designed a tracker to mitigate the attacks, assign a competent teacher to the auror school, and keep track of the other beings locations. But she had never counted the dark mark itself as a threat.
That was her first mistake.
She saw the effect firsthand now - saw it in the way it completely changed the atmosphere in Hogwarts. This was how his reign of terror started.
"Tell me about this sign."
"I figured you would ask that," Amelia said, handing another report. "I asked my brother about it this morning when he gave me the other reports. It just arrived after class. The sign is a product of a spell. Our aurors saw it being cast as the death eaters retreated. Nonverbally, unfortunately."
Madeline moved to receive it. "That's awfully fast of your brother. Did the headmaster allow your brother to visit Hogwarts?"
Amelia shook her head. "No, he didn't visit. We just use a fax."
"Brilliant," Madeline breathed. She read the report as she talked. "Can't the aurors remove it from the sky?"
"Weather charms don't work. Neither do basic or the more advanced forms of finite.The list of spells they tried is written on page two and three."
Madeline went to those pages and had to blink slowly to process it. Father's name was sprawled on the report - he was the one who attempted to dispel the mark from the sky. Using numerous advanced charms, the ones she knew could be found in Mother's collections. His attempt was rather thorough - she didn't think she could do better.. or maybe she could? Father didn't use any dark spells. Then again, dark weather spells were limited, and it would probably worsen the dark mark's appearance in the sky...
The dark mark only disappeared after a time, perhaps after the power that was poured into it had run out. The report said it was like a huge projection consisting of emerald stars, though the snake looked quite wispy. But it couldn't be just an illusion - if it was, finite and other similar advanced charms could have dispelled it.
"What are you thinking?"
She looked up and found Amelia looking at her expectantly.
"I want to look into the dark mark spell," she shared to the girl. "Maybe I can figure out how to dispel it from the sky - hopefully we can stop the fearmongering in that way. Tell your brother to keep an eye on whoever casts the spell. Steal their wand if he can. "
Amelia pulled out a notebook and wrote it down. "Anything else?"
She observed the older witch. Amelia Bones was highly efficient and quite knowledgeable. But Madeline had only been using her as an owl, she realized. And even then, the witch still managed to make an initiative and asked her brother about the dark mark before Madeline had even asked for it.
How should she utilize her best, she wondered?
"Do you think we can do more to mitigate these attacks?" Madeline tried, inquisitive eyes locked on the witch.
Amelia Bones furrowed her brows as she took her time to think.
"I don't think so. Your tracker is already a huge help - the only thing better would be finding out where they plan to attack, and that wouldn't be possible without infiltrating them. There's also the matter of our auror's difficulty in capturing the death eaters. Despite the improvements made in auror school, our aurors are still struggling against them. We need a more definite solution if we want to help the aurors capture them."
Madeline nodded, satisfied with the girl's answer. She was already working on infiltrating them, but figuring out a way to make an arrest is also a good point. "I'll think about it."
.
The following week was spent with Madeline frantically searching for any magic in resemblance to the dark mark. From one shelf to another, diving deep into her grandmother's private library for entire nights while Barty begrudgingly took over her work for the company. There wasn't much choice - she had to find a way to counter the dark mark before the next attack. And she couldn't ask Barty for help in this - she didn't want to expose too much dark magic to her brother. Unfortunately, the books in grandmother's private library were too many, she hadn't even finished checking half of them after a whole week passed.
Before she knew it, the time had arrived for her to finish the ritual on Callum.
Madeline took out the deep red velvet dress for tonight's slughorn dinner. Long fitted sleeves, a nude mesh with black dotted pattern that showed her collarbone, and velvet fitted bodice that flared out into an A-line skirt and reached just under her knees. The deep red color worked as a reminder and a source of strength - and it was one of the few dresses Madeline had chosen for herself. Mother was so happy that she showed a bit of interest in buying clothes that she didn't mind the dress's bold color.
She tied her hair in a half ponytail with a matching red ribbon and assessed herself in the mirror. Maybe she was a tad bit overdressed. Her hands still grabbed a pair of earrings to complete the look.
Callum was already waiting when she got to the common room, green eyes made to pop against his all black attire.
"Hey, beautiful."
She took his offered arm with a pretty smile - the perfect opening for the final act of this play.
"No muggle clothes today?" Callum teased and snickered at her pinched expression. The boy patted her linked hand in his effort to appease her. "There, there, don't frown. You wouldn't want to terrify old sluggy with your fierce frown, would you?"
"The muggle clothing joke is getting tiresome," Madeline grumbled. She had enough of that from the nameless passing faces in the corridors. "Please give it a rest."
"Your wish is my command," the boy nodded threatically, earning a genuine amused smile and small chuckle from Madeline. They continued their walk with mindless conversation as Madeline pondered. Lately, the boy often said that phrase, perhaps noticing how it always managed to bring a pleased smile from Madeline. It was only a couple of days ago that she noticed this, and saw no reason to rectify it. After all, the more he said it, the more it would help strengthen the ritual.
"Miss Crouch!"
"Good evening, professor," she pleasantly greeted the bubbly professor as they entered the dining room. "For a second there, I thought we've entered the great hall - today's dinner certainly looks to be quite a feast!"
"Why of course, Madeline! Wouldn't want to give the best students of Hogwarts less than the best, eh?"
She chuckled at the compliment and listened to the professor’s chattering before he went back to greet the other guests that had just arrived - guests that happened to be Barty, with Celine's arm linked with his.
The pair caught her offguard expression and approached her to explain after they’re done talking with Slughorn.
"He owes me a favor."
"And I'm paying dearly for it - aw."
Her lips quirked up as Barty rubbed the side of his arm - right where Celine had lightly hit him. "You'll handle him well," she said sagely to the younger girl, making her brother scowl.
The dinner went by swimmingly - with Barty cleverly answering most of the professor's questions about father and the company without telling them too much. It was his time to shine, she supposed. Her brother always enjoyed the eyes of others on him. Meanwhile the professor awkwardly diverted the topic when Amelia bluntly brought up the issue of the recent death eater activity after he asked her about her brothers - which was rather laughable. Why bother asking at all if he was not ready to hear the answer?
In the middle of it, Regulus came fashionably late, walking in his black tailored coat and large white cravat that accentuated his refined features. He greeted the professor politely and apologized for his tardiness, though he didn't seem that apologetic.
Still, the professor excitedly accepted his pleasantaries, "Better late than never! Come, come, take your seat, Regulus!"
The boy nodded and prepared to sit, when his gaze landed on her.
This was where the problem started : Regulus literally stopped moving. And it wasn't just a brief moment of a pause - he really stopped moving, standing up before taking a seat with his eyes dazedly stuck on her. She cleared her throat when Regulus hadn't come to his senses after the first five seconds, blue eyes avoiding that intense look of his that was still locked on her.
Make it more obvious, why don't you?
"Ohohoho," the giddy sound came from the professor, "Miss Crouch certainly looks beautiful today, doesn't she?"
Regulus snapped his eyes back to the professor and finally took his seat, impeccable smile on his lips, "indeed, though it's not because today is a particular day, rather Miss crouch seems to grow more beautiful with each passing day. Excuse me if I made you uncomfortable with my staring, Madeline."
She evened her breath and hoped that she managed to control her blush under his direct address, "your flattery made up for your rudeness, so apology accepted."
The stern tone she used urged the professor to thaw the air with another light topic, and the dinner continued. All the while, Madeline glared at the impossible boy across the table. Honestly, she didn't understand why he suddenly turned so bold! And thanks to that, Callum hadn't stopped being too attentive of her - grabbing her a napkin when she was just about to do so, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, putting more food on her plate, leaning in just to whisper insignificant things. It's like a cat pissing on their territory, and she couldn't exactly ask him to stop. She wanted his mood to be good for her plan to go smoother.
Thankfully, dinner came to an end soon enough. As if to keep her to himself, Callum led her to the professor and told him they would be retiring early, snatching her away from the crowd - or perhaps, from Regulus.
It worked out just fine for her plan, but it would be weird not to ask, "Callum - aren't we supposed to mingle?"
"I'd rather it to be just me and you."
She chuckled. "Do you have anything planned?"
"Nope. Just plain old me accompanying you here down in a boring dungeon. I hope you're not too disappointed."
She looked directly at his eyes, unrestrained grin on her face, "Disappointed? Why, it’s the best idea I heard this entire night!"
A warm chuckle escaped him, "I'm glad to hear it."
They walked aimlessly in silence for quite a while, the endless corridor providing them with a means to spend time together. Until finally, Callum broke the silence, "So.. your father. He's the head of DMLE."
Her eyebrows raised, not expecting this kind of topic. "Evidently so."
"It must be hard for him these days."
"Well - I wouldn't know. I'm stuck here with you," she answered teasingly, lightly bumping her shoulder with the side of his arm.
The boy grinned at her for a brief moment before his eyes returned their focus to the corridor ahead of them, "Do you plan to follow in his footsteps? Join the aurors, get into politics?
"Not at the moment."
"Following your mother, then? Get married, focusing on the family, Oh no, wait -" The boy smirked at her, "you already started your own company."
She returned his smirk with her own. "Yes. I don't think I'll follow anyone's footsteps."
There was a silent pause as they walked, and Madeline used this pause to ponder on how to get Callum to an empty class - surely it wouldn’t be too difficult? He wanted to be alone with her and an empty class would be perfect for it - they wouldn’t be disturbed. It would be very typical of Hogwarts male population to do dates like this. Of course, whatever luck he might have wanted to catch with her today wouldn't come true… should she propose to find an empty classroom first?
"You know, my father expects me to follow his footsteps."
It was so candid that Madeline, in her pondering, was taken aback. Glancing hesitantly at the boy beside her, she probed, "Do you want to follow his footsteps?"
The boy shrugged.
"Sure. I don't have any other plans for my life." He tilted his head, boyish grin returning, "Unless you have any plans for me?"
She blinked, processing. What is this, what is this? Their conversation never went this deeply.. "I - I don't have any at the moment."
What was she supposed to say? Sure, she had plans for him, but it wasn't that kind of plan for the future, not in any way Callum had intended it to be...
She must have looked like a fish out of water.
"Pity," the boy said, a hint of regret and amusement mixed. "Let's continue our talk here."
Callum opened a door she didn't realize was there, being distracted with his choice of topic that she was. They had walked far enough to venture into the depth of the dungeon, to classes in the dungeon that were always there collecting dust.
"This is the room the duelling club uses."
Obviously, one of them didn't collect as much dust as the others.
She inspected the room as soon as she walked through the door, while behind her, the door closed and locked itself. It turned out she didn’t have to lure him after all, as they were now alone in a huge room, almost the size of three classrooms, merged. The lighting could be improved, but the seatings could not be any better: emerald velvet sofas made of the finest material were lined up at each corner of the room, because of course, an exclusive slytherin duelling club wouldn't use such a plebian thing called pillow seat like the DA. And in front those sofas were three circles, drawn on the floor with glowing chalk.
The dueling arena.
She never expected one of them would invite her to this room this easily.
"Does Slughorn know about this room?"
"He pretended not to," Callum said, amusement clear in his voice.
She sat on one of the sofas, eyeing the whole room with a thoughtful look. Even when sitting, all three of the duelling areas could be viewed without any obstruction. "It's quite spacious."
Callum took a seat next to her and pointed to a direction, "I bleed out once on that spot."
She tilted her head, pretending to be oblivious of their way, "It's that dangerous?"
"We practice spells that aren't covered in the curriculum," Callum divulged, green eyes glinting under the candle light, "Spells that are.. typically frowned upon in this society. Want me to show you?"
Madeline let out her breath slowly, inwardly relieved. This was the Callum she was familiar with - the one that bonded over gruesome curses and mortal weapons. She made a little nod, and the boy bounced from his seat, taking aim to a sofa across the room.
"Eviscero!"
The sofa was obliterated, mercilessly - its padding blew up and spilled outward.
"A perfect casting of the disombowelment curse" she murmured, now realizing how terrifying it must be to fight an army of Callum. No hesitation, no pause. It was mindless, almost unconsciously familiar for him to cast such a dark curse.
"I knew you'd recognize the curse," Callum mused, sitting next to her once again. "With how knowledgeable you are on dark magic, this curse must be pretty mild for you, eh? Of course, mild in theory doesn't always mean mild in practice. Is this your first time seeing it casted?"
She hummed, "do you use this curse in duels?"
He shook his head. "Too dangerous. Even knowing the remedy charm, if it's applied a little too late, someone might end up dead. Besides, if the remedy charm isn't casted perfectly, they'll end up dead anyway. We typically practice this particular curse on rats - easy to obtain, easier to clean up, and help with our aiming simultaneously. Of course - we sometimes practice it on each other, just to train up our shield charm, you see. But never in duels - controlling the power of the curse is too difficult in that setting."
Discussing a dark curse like he was discussing the weather... were they always like this or did the duelling club desensitize them?
"Wanna try casting it?"
Madeline blinked at the boy, at the way he casually offered her to try casting a dark, mortally dangerous curse. Of course, for Callum Macnair, Madeline Crouch was a girl who was very into morbid curses. It wouldn't be wrong for him to assume that she would want to try it.
But this was the final act. She didn't need to pretend anymore.
"Rather than that," She said instead, "I want to try countering it. Can you cast it at me?"
Callum frowned. "It's dangerous."
"Are you saying my shield won't hold off against your curse?" She pretended to take offense.
Naturally, the boy backtracked.
"That is not what I'm saying, but - Are you sure ?"
"Very."
A pause, green eyes murky with hesitation before they relented, "Alright."
They soon stood against each other; Callum, with his wand, and Madeline, with her scheme. The first time Callum casted the curse at her, it was so weak that it fizzled out before it even reached her shield. An arched brow, questioning him, was sent at his blushing red face, and soon the boy followed with a much stronger casting.
This time it hit, and yet, it fizzled out just as pathetically as before when it reached her shield.
A confused frown started to appear on the boy's face - he was sure that he had casted it right, despite controlling the power to the minimum. How could his curse fizzle out like that?
Another curse followed, this time stronger than the last. But still it ended up dispersing pathetically on the shield. He thought the shield would have budged and glowed red for a second - a proof that his curse did some damage. But that wasn’t the case at all. Again and again this cycle repeated, until eventually, he forgot who it was he was casting at, beads of sweat pooled on his temple as he cast the curse again, this time, with all his power.
Only after the light of the curse emerged from his wand, more red than ever, that he startled back to his senses - and was too late to stop the curse.
In a split second, the shield dispersed, and a new shield, more visible than the previous one, rippled through the air.
The curse was absorbed in instance, and a blue light emerged from the shield, rocketing in one direction : Its attacker.
A thud sound echoed as he fell instantly the moment it hit him.
Madeline stood alone in silence for some time, making sure that the boy was thoroughly unconscious. When no sign of waking appeared, she immediately started her work.
The choice of dress for the night wasn’t solely based on its color. The red dress was equipped with something most other dresses did not have : a pocket. It was too easy to cast an undetectable expansion charm on it, and from this pocket, she took out several things:
A silver ritual blade. Dragon hide gloves. Obsidian bowl. Still water charged with two waning moons. Mugwort and wormwood incense. Calabash chalk, or commonly known as Nzu in its local language. And lastly, a poppet of thread.
The ritual began by lighting the incense. She made sure to use the dragon gloves to avoid the toxin in the magical calabash chalk, before drawing the magical circle on the floor around the incense, writing 7 glyphs of inhara in it. Her focus was absolute, only her intention for the ritual filled the front of her mind as she channeled her magic through the chalk. Silver blade then pricked both his hand and hers, thick red blood dropping to the poppet's heart. She took the red thread disguising as bracelets from his wrist and hers, tying them to the poppet, and placed the poppet right above the incense in the circle.
Then, to the still water inside the obsidian bowl, to the reflection of her and Callum on its surface, she chanted,
Thought to thread, sight to soul,
Through will surrendered, I make whole.
Let the mind’s gate open slow,
Let your secrets gently flow.
Her wand, pointed to her temple, extracted the memory of Callum surrendering his will to her, and put it into the water, strengthening her claim for his will. Now, for the last step, she pointed her wand at the unconscious boy.
"Ligaremens."
A surge of magic washed over her as soon as she casted it. It was done - she could feel it with her whole being.
The Marrionette vein ritual - a ritual to tether the target to its caster, allowing the caster to perceive through the senses of the target and also gently influence their thoughts or action. For something this useful, the ritual for it was surprisingly easy, though the preparation was definitely not. Also, the bond from this ritual originally lasted to just 13 moons, but the modification she made through a series of arithmancy calculations extended it to 39 moons.
Three years.
That should be enough for the infiltration plan, she thought. Callum would be her eyes and ears - literally, as his sight and hearing would be shared with her whenever she touched the poppet. And while Callum might not be a death eater at the moment, his brother, Walden, and his father were. A proud one, from what she heard. If she could nudge Callum to pry -
"Why did you bind him to you?"
It was reflex: the moment the sudden voice startled her, a silent petrification jinx was shot at the direction of the source, one that was so powerful that it visibly petrified the air in its area of attack. But her opponent had an even quicker reflex, as he dived onto the floor right in front of her, barely avoiding the spell.
Regulus sprawled on his stomach, head up to meet her eyes and whistled in a mix of awe and relief, “That is certainly a way to deal with an intruder.”
Both of her shoulders were up and tense, blue eyes shook and wide opened at the sight before her. It was in this frozen pose that she watched Regulus got himself up, returning to his composed self to sit in front of her. His head tilted curiously at the unconscious body between them.
"Regulus?" She exclaimed , high pitched in her bewildered state. "What are you - no, how are you even here?"
"Through the door."
"But I made sure I locked it -"
"There's another door," he informed her, and as if to make a point, he gestured to the said door, one that was hidden in the shadow. "You have to thank me, actually. I locked it after I went in. Who knows what kind of people could have entered while you perform that highly suspicious ritual." He casually nudged the unconscious Callum with his foot, "What did you do to him?"
She stared at him in disbelief. Breathe slowly, she reminded herself.
"There's no point in explaining it to you," Madeline said calmly, controlling her own erratic heartbeat and jumbled mind.
"Do you think it's too hard for me to understand?"
She quietly fixed her grip on her wand, "No, it's just that you won't be remembering all of this in five minutes."
As soon as she said it, her wand was raised, pointed against Regulus's face. But Regulus was a damn good seeker with a demon level reflex, and their close distance only worked against her : he easily snatched her wand, and to her horror, the crackling sound of a wood snapping spread loudly across the room.
It was her wand. He snapped her fucking wand.
Before she even began to comprehend his action, Regulus had pulled out his own wand and also snapped it into two, sending her mind short circuited.
Naturally, after a second had passed, she snatched the broken pieces of the wands from the deranged boy, "What did you do!"
"My well being was threatened," Regulus defended without missing a beat.
"You broke our wands!"
"As I said, my well being was threatened," Regulus repeated, taking many steps back as he realized he was not entirely safe yet, with how angry Madeline was. True enough, Madeline was stampeding towards the retreating Regulys in pure rage, "I broke mine too, now you can't steal my wand and use it against me - Oof, you’re strong.
She hit his arm and his chest multiple times, wrath still blinding her, "it's my wand! You have no right!"
Regulus quietly accepted her punches until her breath turned ragged. She couldn't obliviate him without a wand - interfering with the mind without a wand's help would be too dangerous, she could completely destroy his mind! This must be Regulus's aim - without a wand, his memory was safe.
A scowl was thrown at the boy. Damn him and his quick thinking! Now what should she do? Should she just petrify him here and go look for another wand outside? Maybe Barty would lend her his -
Her breath hitched as she realized there was a third person in the room, her eyes glancing at the floor not far from her. Unconscious he might be, Callum still had his wand on him.
Unfortunately, Regulus realized it at the same time as her. Just as she moved her hand to wandlessly summon the wand, Regulus tackled her and they were sent rolling on the floor.
It was quite a ridiculous scene : they were trying to top each other, so they just kept on rolling until they bumped into one of the sofas, with Regulus on top of her. He tried to keep her hands still, but of course Madeline wouldn't let him, and a painful groan was heard right as Madeline kneed him in the stomach.
In his vulnerable state, Madeline managed to shake him off and moved into the direction of where the wand was thrown mid summoning. Just as she lifted her hand to summon it again, Regulus, relentlessly, tackled her one more time, pulling Madeline to meet the floor once again, an 'oof' sound escaped her as she fell.
"I work out too, you know," he grunted between ragged breaths, hair falling to his face, "Quidditch isn't exactly an easy sport without fitness."
He was on top of her again and Madeline could only glare at the boy, exhausted by the whole ordeal. Not to mention the drain from the previous ritual - she was not in any condition to prolong this fight. Both of her hands were still held captive at each side of her head, even her elbows were kept still by his elbows. And she couldn't kick him with her legs again as Regulus cleverly sat on her hip - away from the reach of her knees. The weight of him on her proved all her efforts to move her hip up were futile.
"Regulus. Regulus," her voice came out all breathy as she tried to catch her breath, "I can do so many things with my wandless magic. Do you want me to hurt you? Just let me make you forget about what happened in this room, and everything will be fine."
The boy gulped nervously, but still looked into her eyes in defiance, "I don't think so. Tell me what you did to him."
Now they resort to their usual staring contest, blue against grey, neither showing any sign of relenting. Their heavy breath was the only sound that could be heard in the room, and Madeline only just realized then the position they were in.
Warmth spread to her whole body, eyes shaking as she finally looked away from his too close of a face, "It's called the marionette ritual. It binds the target’s sight and hearing to the caster through a poppet. I need information, and I'll get my information through him."
"What information?"
"Anything about the dark lord."
Regulus's gaze sharpened, expression sober.
"So this is why you're dating him?"
"Yes."
"Does the ministry condone this?" He probed, and Madeline huffed.
"Of course not. My father doesn't know. Neither does Barty."
The last sentence was stressed so clearly, it would be impossible to miss it. She looked straight into his eyes again, her eyes holding threats and warnings. Nothing was spoken, but Regulus understood. This matter must not fall into Barty's ears. He made a subtle nod.
"Why do you want to know about the dark lord?"
"Is it not obvious?” she scowled. “That man is ruining lives and he needs to be stopped.” Her words had visibly shaken the boy, and Madeline chose that moment to move her finger - just a little move, she should be able to stun him -
His hand held hers just a little tighter, enough to keep her in place but not enough for it to hurt.
"Nice try," the boy grinned boyishly and Madeline felt herself turning red.
Crossed that the boy easily read and deterred her attempt, she snapped, "Then answer this. Is your occlumency good enough to protect your mind from the dark lord, Regulus? Because if not, then you might as well choose. You can save me by allowing your memory to be modified. Or you can kill me right here and now."
Regulus frowned, baffled by her words, "Kill you?"
"I don't see the point in delaying my death."
"How extreeme. Can we not think of other solutions? We have time - I'm not meeting the dark lord anytime soon."
"So you say, but how can I trust you?" She spat, eyes glaring. Regulus might be her friend at the moment, but he was also a member of the club that used this very room they were fighting in. A room that trained future death eaters to kill indiscriminately, until casting dark curses was as easy as breathing.
But still - why did she ask him that? She was planning to play along nicely for some time before petrifying the boy wandlessly and obliviate him with Callum’s wand when he let down his guard. But her ire didn't seem to let her quietly play along. She didn't know what made her so hotheaded.
Also - while most of her wandless casting still needed the help of some hand gestures, there was one magic in which she was always naturally gifted, one she didn’t need to use hand gestures to cast it wandlessly : fire magic. And yet, she didn’t want to use it against him, too afraid of hurting him that she was.
Her control wasn’t perfect yet, she reasoned with herself. Even with hand gestures, her control was still not perfect. Look at the mess she made in the raining great hall incident.
The conflicts in her mind made her all the more frustrated. Meanwhile sharp grey eyes looked into hers, as if searching for something. Again, they stared at each other, this time with seconds quickly turned into minutes.
Whatever answer he found in her eyes had him soften his.
"Alright. I'm sorry. You don't need to be so frightened - Obliviate me if you can't trust me. It's alright."
He released her hands and gently rubbed in circles the redness left by him while Madeline simply stared, disoriented with the sudden change in his attitude. His soft touches left a tingling feeling in her chest. She stared as he helped her sit, and still stared at the peculiar boy while he patted her hair, fixing its unruly state after their laughable fight, every gesture of him screamed the word gentle, and Madeline -
She was feeling wrong-footed. This turn of event worked in her favor but it was so sudden - why did she not feel any satisfaction? Why did it make her feel conflicted instead?
The boy quietly picked up Callum's wand and handed it to her, still with that soft expression on his face. How could someone with such sharp features have an expression this soft? The kind one made when looking into something precious - a baby. A kitten.
A loved one.
She looked down at the wand in her hand, feeling the blush rushing up her neck, straight to her face. Why is her mind wandering like this? She needed to focus if she wanted to cast the memory charm.
Making up her mind, she took a long breath before finally settling her eyes on Regulus once again, wand lifted -
And he was still looking at her so preciously.
Seconds passed in silence, with nothing happening between them. No charm was casted, no words exchanged. Just grey eyes framed with long lashes, gently encouraging a pair of shaking blue ones.
She dropped her head to her hands and cursed under her breath, "What do I do with you? Why am I hesitating?" This was not the plan. She should cut him off right now - she must!
But her hand did not obey her mind. The wand fell to the floor with a loud exhale, as if a burden of making a choice had just lifted from her shoulder, and she kept her eyes on her lap, hands clenching. Maybe obliviating Regulus was not the only way, a thought started to occupy her mind. Maybe Regulus really wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.
Maybe he would help her - he seemed to care for her enough to do so.
And if this choice turn out to be a mistake, she could always obliviate him.
Warm hands pulled her straight to Regulus' firm shoulders, patting her back, making it easy for her to lean on it and released all her tension, "Thank you for trusting me. We'll figure out a way. I promise."
A shaky breath escaped her and she felt herself calming down.
.
Regulus waited in another empty classroom with only his own thoughts as company, sitting at the only clean table in the room - much thanks to Madeline’s wandless casting of a cleaning charm. She refused to just cast it at the whole room, though, telling him to wait among the dust pettily - Madeline had assured him that she would be back soon, she had to be escorted to the dungeon by Macnair first - that way, Macnair wouldn't be suspicious of today's event.
He stared at his hand as he clenched and opened it numerous times. The feeling of her skin was stuck in his mind, he could even feel the remnant of her touch on his skin. Because of that, Regulus couldn't help but relieve the memory of their fight again and again.
Her collarbone under the see-through nude mesh, her lips, her neck. Her knees and bare feet, her small waist and the bones of her hip...
Focus, you pervert.
He sighed. Unfortunately, just as there were many pleasant memories made today, many unpleasant memories were made as well. The memory of the ritual doll, for example, was the proof of Madeline's bond with Macnair. And then there was Madeline's confession about how she had been working actively against the dark lord.
To stop him.
He rubbed his face, feeling lost. When he went to follow her tonight, he didn’t expect to discover something this grave. From the ritual to her tightly guarded intention to fight the dark lord… What should he do? While he always knew Madeline was pro-muggleborn, he still thought he could try to bring Madeline to his side someday. Surely, when presented with logical reasons, she could change her mind. After all, the Dark Lord, while Regulus had started to question his methods, was still working for the betterment of their society.
But if this is the extent Madeline is willing to do for her cause - He didn't think she would even consider joining his side.
His mind went back to the memory of her, glaring suspiciously at him. He always knew that Madeline was a cautious person. Perhaps she was even the most cautious Slytherin there was, with the way she hoarded her secrets. It was evident, despite how strong and intelligent she was, she was still a human that could feel fear. At first, he thought her fear of him was cute, like when she thought he would ruin her plan for Macnair. It was, in his mind, an unfounded fear. He would never come to harm her - and therefore her fear was cute.
But if she was working against the dark lord... would it make her fear of him real?
Regulus gritted his teeth. She must have been feeling threatened by him all the time - Regulus had never hid his allegiance. Just like how the Slytherin house didn't bother to hide their allegiance.
That's why she was always hanging out with those hufflepuffs, and Orpington, whose family was entirely neutral.
How could he be so blind when it was obvious from the beginning? All the information he gathered on her, why did he ignore the most obvious one? Was he trying to deny it?
But that's not the most important question, isn't it? The most important question would be what would he do from this point onward.
What should he choose?
The door opened quietly and Regulus put on a pleasant smile, thoughts retrieving to the back of his mind.
"So? Have you come out with a plan to protect your mind?"
..right. he was supposed to think about that.
"Not at the moment. But we have until June to figure it out, do we not?" He answered cheekily, enjoying the scrunched expression on her pretty face as she took the seat next to him. How could she be so adorable even when she was clearly pissed off?
"Avoid looking at Dumbledore's eyes. He's a legilimens too, though I'm quite sure he's not one to violate our mind," She added in a grumble, "Unlike someone we both know."
That was definitely a jab at the Dark Lord. Regulus tilted his head. The Dark Lord's mastery of the mind magic must have reached the aurors already.
"What are we going to do about our wands?" She said again, and for that, Regulus had prepared an answer.
"We'll buy a new one. I'll pay for yours."
"And how do we buy one, Regulus? The olivanders is not exactly next door," Madeline snarked.
"Do you not have some way to sneak into Diagon alley?"
She scowled, "Buying a wand isn't something that can be done sneakily. We will be questioned if we suddenly get a new wand."
Look at her, not even trying to deny his assumption. His lip quirked up at the thought of her finally opening up to him.
"Good point," he nodded, "Then let's just ask old Slug to accompany us. We can tell him we broke it by accident when we experiment with spells."
"That could be a way."
A pause.
"Figure out how to protect your mind," Madeline glared at him again and he nodded instantly.
"Yes, Madeline."
It was fortunate that the next day happened to be Saturday, and Slughorn immediately approved their outing, with the potion master himself acting as a chaperone. Before they go, Madeline briefed him once again in whispers as they entered the headmaster's floo room.
"Dont make eye contact with anyone. Anyone. That includes Dumbledore and Mr. Ollivander."
He nodded subtly and promptly dropped his gaze, to the patterned carpet that covered the headmaster office's floor.
"Horace," the raspy voice of the old headmaster welcomed them. "Here to use the floo?"
"Right you are, Albus! Miss Crouch and Mister Black here have their wand broken in their potion experiment, you see. We can't delay a trip to the Ollivander's when they desperately need it for their study, can we?"
A warm chuckle answered him, "indeed. How are you, miss Crouch? Are you enjoying your classes?"
Regulus blinked as Madeline answered the man politely. The Headmaster was making light talks? He had never seen the man did it for anyone other than his precious lions. Then again, Madeline was an exceptional student, and she did take the Muggle study class and boldly demonstrate a muggle outfit in front of the whole school... a muggle-loving fool like the man must be quite fond of her.
"Lost in thoughts, Mister Black?"
His automatic response was to look up and face the person who had just caught him mind wandering, but thankfully, he caught himself instantly and lowered his eyes again, "ah, my apologies, sir, i am quite sad that I have to part with my wand."
He could feel Madeline throwing a side glance at him, quietly saying ‘this came from the guy who broke his wand so easily?’
"Ah.. yes. The bond between a wizard and his wand can be irreplaceble indeed. Nevertheless, I hope you find it in yourself to accept a new companion today."
"Yes, sir."
Weird old man. Of course he had to accept a new wand.
Regulus was glad they didn't stay long at the headmaster's office. He noticed that Madeline was all tensed, especially when the headmaster was talking to him.
Right - She said the man was a legilimens. One peek into his memory, and Madeline might as well set to live in azkaban for her entire life. The ritual she used was dark, after all, and the victim was a pureblood house's heir.
A heavy breath escaped him. One wrong move and he could have put her in danger. He was suddenly very aware of how much trust she was putting into him - and the huge responsibility of keeping her safe that was now weighing his shoulders. Just as they arrived at Diagon alley, Regulus chose to completely close his eyes.
"Alright, I will drop you both at the Ollivander's and pick you up in, say, two hours? Yes, yes, two hours should be enough. Right then, come on."
He could feel the professor leaving, and he managed to tug the sleeve of Madeline's robe just in time, "lead me. I'll close my eyes until we arrive just to be safe."
"What?" A huff of amusement was heard. "You don't have to do it to that extent.."
"No, i'm positively terrified now," he confessed, "i feel like your fate is in my hand. I'd rather live blindly than put you in any danger."
A pause.
Then,
"Alright. Thank you for thinking of me."
He nodded, giving her his hand for her to grab. A giggle was heard as she took his hand and pulled him to a direction. He started to walk.
"What is it?"
"Nothing," she said, still giggling.
"Come now, what is it?" A smile started to grow on his own lips, just from hearing the pleasant sound of her laughter, and he desperately wanted to know what could have made her this happy.
She didn't give him a reply till the end, but with the ring of her laughter in his ears, he could hardly complain.