Secrets and Masks

59. Two words

1st April

Crucio; the torture curse. One word.

Sectumsempra; the most deadly cutting curse. One word.

Bonbarda Maxima; a spell that could cause a person's chest to explode from the inside out in excruciating and unimaginable agony. Two words.

Avada Kedavra, the killing curse, the spell that was so powerful it pushed a person's soul right out of their body and ended their life instantly. It was the most powerful dark curse in existence, and it only took two words to use it.

Hermione had heard and used those spells a hundred times. She'd seen what they could do. She'd seen the absolute devastation that could be caused to another human being with just the right combination of words, and yet, in over ten years of war, she'd never seen a man be so utterly undone by two simple words as what Theodore Nott had been.

'Hi, baby." That was all it had taken to break Theo. No gruesome hex followed those two words. It didn't take any magic at all. Just one small greeting. Just two words, just three syllables, and Theo had fallen to his knees.

In those first few moments after Daphne had spoken, everyone just stared at her. No one moved. No one breathed. And through the eerie quiet that eclipsed the entrance hall, Hermione swore she could hear Theo's broken heart fixing itself. Could hear the needle pierce the torn edges of his heart and pull them back together, just for him to fall apart all over again when she spoke.

"Hi, baby." That was it. That was all it had taken for one of the most feared and blood-thirsty Death Eaters of all time to break body and soul.

From the moment she'd looked at him, Theo hadn't been able to take his eyes off Daphne. He stared at her the same way men stared at the light when they died, like he couldn't believe that she was real, like she might vanish if he just blinked once. He'd fallen to his knees and the wand Hermione had given him had slipped from his hand and clattered against the floor at his feet.

And Daphne was just as entranced by Theo as he was with her. She just stared and stared at him. Her lips trembled and she hardly seemed aware of the tears that ran down her cheeks. Hardly seemed to be aware of anything other than Theo in front of her.

It was equally the most beautiful, yet soul-crushing thing Hermione had ever seen.

"How?" Malfoy asked. His voice was just as unsteady as Theo's knees had been. "This can't be right. Daphne's dead. We all watched her die ..."

Hermione chanced a glance at Malfoy. She couldn't even begin to imagine how he must have felt. His eyes flickered with emotion as he stared at the sister he thought had died years ago. His wand was still in his hand but he'd lowered it.

Crouch grinned wickedly over the top of Mustang- Daphne's - head. "Did you watch her die? Are you absolutely sure of that?"

"Yes," Malfoy swallowed thickly. "It's ... not something any of us could ever forget," he said, pain in every syllable.

Crouch's awful smile only stretched higher. "You've been mourning a stranger all these years. Keira, I think her name was. Keiraaa ..." Crouch's voice trailed off and he looked down at Daphne.

"Barker," although Daphne finished Crouch's sentence for him, her eyes still didn't leave Theo. "Keira Barker."

"That was it," Crouch chuckled. "Lovely Keira Barker. A soldier. A high-ranking general in the muggle army. She was very clever, an excellent leader too, until that one mission in Bristol, where she led her squadron into a trap that a particularly spiteful blonde Death Eater had set - "

"He's trying to stall you," Daphne cut Crouch off. Her voice was scratchy, evidence of years of disuse, and the terror in her eyes as she looked at Theo was frightening. "He's trying to keep you here until the reinforcements come. Don't let him get what he wants! You need to kill him and escape!"