Sirius Expelled

Sirius Expelled Part 15

"Sirius. Regulus."
Walburga spoke her son's names as if they disgusted her. Her cruel eyes flicked between the two brothers as she eyed them. Sirius's spell had worked and Walburga had no idea what happened in the owlery. However, both boys were too scared to go back in again.
"We must talk about this attack that we've planned." Walburga continued. "I don't know if you are ready."
"Well if the last attack was any indicator, we aren't. So we should just drop the entire mission." Sirius responded, bluntly.
With an exasperated sigh, Walburga gave him a cruel look.
"All the more reason to train you two." she replied. "Wands out."
"Regulus can't use magic." Sirius pointed out. "He's out of school."
Walburga hesitated for a moment, sizing up Regulus as she looked at her youngest son. Sirius suppressed a grin of triumph as she considered the situation for a moment.
"No matter." she said, eventually. "Kreacher! Get Regulus a spare wand."
The elf bowed and vanished, returning quickly with another wand, handing it to Regulus. The younger boy shot Sirius a scared glance and Sirius began to stall for more time. He needed a way to get his brother out of this.
"But Mum, Regulus won't be able to cast without his wand. It's not going to work for him." Sirius tried.
"Don't waste my time, Sirius. Regulus will learn with whatever wand he needs." Walburga sniffed. "Now, unforgivables. You both performed the killing curse fine, but Crucio and Imperio are both that you must learn and both require strength. You must mean your curse or it won't work."
Although he was scared, Sirius fought a smile that tried to grow across his face. Unbeknownst to his mother, he'd successfully used the imperius curse against his father last week. She had no idea how strong he was.
"Power," Walburga continued, "Comes from emotion. Simply saying the curse's name is not going to do anything. You must have strength behind it, you must mean the curse."
She hesitated, her eyes pausing in Sirius.
"Or just have a high range of emotional energy." she added, knowing exactly what Sirius was thinking about. "Any form of explosive emotion will work."
Rage bubbled in Sirius's stomach no matter how hard he tried to force it down. Walburga smiled, sensing the furious magic Sirius was trying to hide.
"Sirius! Since you're so eager, why don't you go first?" Walburga suggested. "Kreacher!"
The house-elf stepped out from behind Walburga and stood, stiffly in place.
"The cruciatus curse, Sirius." Walburga directed.
Even though Sirius despised the house-elf, he was completely unwilling to torture him. He didn't raise his wand and stood his ground, meeting his mother's eyes.
"Sirius. Now."
Still, Sirius stood still, making no move to attack. Walburga's gaze fought him for a few moments before she lifted her chin.
"I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." she said.
She took a few steps backwards and cast a spell. Sirius flinched but the spell only created a stopwatch, ticking in the air. Three rabbits appeared in front of the brothers and Regulus stepped back, his eyes flickering in confusion.
"You boys have five minutes. Kreacher and I are leaving the room. When this watch reaches 5:00, we will return. I expect the curses to be used on the rabbits."
Sirius's mind was rolling as he tried to figure out Walburga's plan. She grinned, knowing what was running around his mind.
"If neither of you cast any spells, I will torture both of you until both of you cast all three. If one of you casts all three then I will spare both of you. Those are your options."
A cold wave of panic crossed Sirius's heart and Walburga's smile widened. She knew exactly how to manipulate Sirius into doing what she wanted. Regulus had never been expected to use the curses. Of course, Sirius, being the heir, was the real target. He shivered with terror as Walburga stepped backwards.
"Five minutes. Make your decision wisely." she warned, before closing the doors.
The second she was gone, the watch began to tick. Regulus turned to Sirius, confusion written across his face.
"Siri, what does she mean?" he asked.
Sirius set his gaze forward, eyes on the terrified rabbits. His grip on his wand tightened and he straightened out his back.
"Reg... This was never about you. She just wants me to cast the spells and she knows that you're the only person she can use against me. I'd let her torture me before you. She knows that. So she set us into a corner. I have to spell all the rabbits."
"Please don't." Regulus whispered. "They didn't do anything wrong."
"Neither did you. But I'd rather take them over you." Sirius responded, stepping forward while avoiding his brother's eyes.
His palms were sweaty and shaking. He'd used the imperious and killing curses once each. But the cruciatus curse was the one he'd never ever tried. He considered using it against his mother that one time, but he hadn't. It was likely a trauma response. He'd felt the curse so many times that he couldn't bear to use it against anyone else.
"They're just rabbits." Sirius whispered to himself, trying to convince himself that it would be okay.
The problem was that he couldn't convince himself that they were just rabbits. These rabbits would someday become humans that he would be expected to use the same curses on. The stopwatch ticked to four minutes and Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin. Raising his wand, he tried to breathe as he steadied himself and pointed it to the first rabbit.
"Crucio." he whispered.
The rabbit didn't move, looking at him curiously with its nose twitching.
"You must mean the curse." Walburga's words echoed in his mind.
But Sirius couldn't mean it. It was agony, it was torture. He didn't want to set it on the rabbits, he just couldn't. Although he knew he needed to do it, it was impossible to lift his wand. Except...
"Sirius, please." Regulus whispered. "I'm so sorry. But we both know what needs to be done."
Sirius latched his mind onto Regulus. All he could think about was his little brother. The whimpers and screams of pain that he'd suffered through. At this point, how could Sirius ask him to do it so Sirius didn't have to attack the rabbits? Sealing his heart of emotions, he forced himself to point the wand at the rabbit.
"Sirius,"
"Crucio."
His words were cold, trying not to tremble in emotion. The rabbit suddenly began to squeal. It twitched and let out a small shrill shriek. Sirius and Regulus winced as it wailed for help. A few moments went by before finally it stopped. The small rabbit was shaking, quivering in the memory of the torture. Sirius winced in sympathy but he forced himself to continue. Taking a few steps to the side, he bit his lip and swallowed hard. He'd cast this one on his father, he just needed to do it on this rabbit. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears as it picked up pace, pounding louder and louder. Trying to keep the fire in his heart fueled, Sirius pointed his wand at the rabbit as he hesitated for several moments.
"Imperio!"
For a moment, the rabbit froze before turning to Sirius. He suddenly realized he didn't know what to do with it.
"Walk towards me?" Sirius asked out loud.
The rabbit began to pad forward before sitting down in front of Sirius's feet. Regulus was watching his brother in surprise.
"Can I have it?" he asked, his eyes flicking between the rabbit and his brother with nerves.
Sirius nodded and sent the rabbit to Regulus, having it jump gracefully into his brother's arms. Regulus laughed as the rabbit nuzzled itself  into his arms, its warm body making him feel safer and Sirius grinned at seeing his brother so happy. Suddenly the stopwatch let out a dinging sound and Sirius jumped, turning around and dropping the spell. There were only ten seconds left before their five minutes were up.
"Shoot, shoot." Sirius muttered, pulling out his wand and aiming it at the last rabbit as the second one jumped out of Regulus's arms, confused and shaking with fright.
He didn't have any time to think. If he hesitated, Walburga would come in blazing with her wand out.
"Avada Kedavra." he spoke, trying to stir his feelings.
But it wasn't working, the smile that had grown across his face when Regulus laughed had thrown all his fire out of the system.
"Avada Kedavra! Avada-Avada Kedavra! Please, please work." he begged. "Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!"
The stopwatch was running down on time.
Three seconds.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Two seconds.
The panic was building stronger and Sirius was desperately casting the spells, trying to ignore the sickening sense of dejà vù as he tried to use a killing curse while the seconds ticked down.
"Avada Kedavra!"
One second.
Right when the stopwatch went off, the terror was enough. Sirius sent one last attempt at the rabbit and it let out a squeak before collapsing to the ground, going stiff right as Walburga opened the doors. A satisfied smile crossed her face as she took in the scene.
"Wand." she directed Sirius, holding out her hand.
Adrenaline was pumping through his heart, pounding his chest with fury as he tried to remember to breathe. Even a second later would've been too late. For a moment, Sirius clutched his wand in his hand tightly, before forcing his fist to unclench and drop his wand into his mother's outstretched palm.
    "Priori Incantatem!" Walburga said, waving Sirius's wand.
    Three spells burst out from his wand, the cruciatus curse, the imperius curse and the killing curse. Walburga smiled at Sirius.
    "Perfect work, my heir." she said.
    Sirius couldn't trust himself to answer so he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to get himself or Regulus in trouble. But he was trembling with an emotion that he couldn't tell if it was terror or anger. Or both.
Remember these spells." Walburga directed. "Because I expect you to be able to use them in two month's time."
    Her words quickly sobered Sirius as he remembered why he was learning the spells. He was expected to kill Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora. Meanwhile, he could feel Regulus trembling next to him.
    "Kreacher! Clean up these rabbits." Walburga commanded.
    Kreacher appeared and quickly vanished the rabbits just as Regulus turned away. Before Sirius could say anything, Walburga turned her attention to him.
    "Regulus. My child. Don't look away or you'll turn weak."
    Her voice was eerily soft with a venomous bite behind it. Regulus looked up, his face pale with fear.
    "You may go."
    Sirius took Regulus's arm and led his terrified brother up the stairs. At their doors, he hesitated. But Regulus shook his head and ducked inside of his room, unwilling to talk. So Sirius went back to his room, his heart pounding. He dropped his wand on his desk and sat on his bed. He thought that he should be scared, or nervous, or something. But he felt a numb detachment from the world as he stared around. He couldn't do anything. There was nothing that he could do to save Andromeda, could he? The thoughts were too much, too exhausting and demanding.
    Sirius pushed away from the thoughts and fell backwards to his bed. Something was going to happen. He didn't know what, but something. It would be bad. That was all he knew. But Sirius wasn't strong enough to keep going so he stepped out of the world. Just for a night he wanted to vanish, hide away from his stress. And he did.