When the Two Ends Meet// Tomarry

Duel with the Devil

Gradually the night came, and Harry and Dominique had to go to their special classes; including Tom. Today they decided to go without the invisibility cloak. They thought that sneaking in every day could lead to suspicion. And Harry didn't want Dumbledore to know about his invisibility cloak right now.

As they entered the classroom, they noticed that the room was filled with dummies. Harry had a sick feeling that Slughorn was going to make them duel today. And as thought, they were going to do the same.

"Professor, are we going to just practice on dummies or do we have to duel within ourselves?" Harry asked carefully.

"Both, my dear; you cannot become powerful unless you are an expert in duelling." Slughorn explained.

"Yeah right, the power and all." Dominique nodded nervously.

"So, at first my children, we are going to practice on dummies before we duel among ourselves. We are going to learn to use the unforgivable curses." Slughorn announced.

Harry and Dominique's eyebrows shot up. They glance at each other, with meaningful looks, which were definitely mixed with a bit of nervousness. But it more of had a stern face.

"Okay at first, Tom will show you how to cast the Cruciatus curse. Tom, will you please do the honour?" Slughorn asked and Tom nodded.

He turned to one of the Dummies which were bewitched to feel pain, pointed his wand and muttered, "Crucio". A red light shot to the tip of the wand and hit the dummy square in its chest. It fell on the ground and writhed and squeaked in pain. Harry winced at the mere sound and was reminded of the pain when the very curse was used on him during the ritual of Voldemort's return.

After a few seconds, he lifted the curse and turned to Slughorn, but not before glancing at Harry who was still wincing.

"Harry, now it's your turn. Remember, you—"Slughorn started.

"—I have to mean to hurt it; I know." Harry nodded his face blank.

Dominique put a hand on his shoulder, but Harry shrugged it off. He turned to a dummy and pointed his wand. He closed his eyes and thought about every possible thing that could lead him to mean to cast the curse. Then his mind filled with the thoughts of Ron and Hermione. His breath fastened with rage and anger that he has refrained from showing to anybody. He didn't mutter anything. He just positioned his wand and directed the curse to the dummy. As soon as it hit the dummy, it fell on the ground and started melting away. But Harry didn't stop, he pointed at another dummy and shot the same curse, making it melt as well. When he proceeded to the third dummy, he shouted, "Crucio!" and the dummy fell on the ground and literally starting screaming and writhing in pain. As soon as he heard the scream he stopped dead in track. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide.

"Merlin's beard Harry, that was a very powerful Cruciatus curse; even stronger than Tom's! And what was the curse you used before that?" Slughorn asked amazed.

"I don't know." Harry muttered. His voice was dripping with hatred and venom.

Tom was looking at him amazed and shocked. His curses were having a great affect on Tom. He was getting curious and wanted to know what curse he was using; he wanted to learn them.

"Professor, can I go and sit for a bit?"

"Yes, of course. Till then, Dominique, it's your turn." Slughorn said turning to Dominique.

Tom's gaze followed Harry to where he went to sit. He buried his face in his hands and sat there for a minute.

Dominique's attention immediately went to Harry and she couldn't concentrate. Though, she pointed her wand at the dummy, she couldn't produce the curse.