Growing up Pureblooded

Mr. & Mrs. Longbottom

Remus led the two boys into his office and Conjured two plush armchairs for them. He poured them each a cup of tea and asked them to sit. "Is it true that you cast the Magnadolorous Curse on Ron Weasley?" he demanded. "Yes," Aries replied brazenly. "No, sir," Draco protested. "I was the one who cast the curse. Aries had nothing to do with it." Aries's jaw fell open. "Whatever do you mean, Draco? I invented it. I taught it to you." "But you didn't use it on a fellow student," Draco said simply. "I did." He turned back to face Remus. "Professor Lupin, I take full responsibility for my actions. There is no reason for Aries to get in trouble too." Remus looked taken aback. "But, Draco, he admitted to teaching you the curse."

The blond boy remained unfazed. "Aunt Cassie taught us the Blood-Boiling Curse, but I know better than to use it on fellow students." "But why would Aries even teach you such a thing?" Remus asked. "After what happened with...with Lucius, I wanted to learn some spells to help me to defend myself against Riddle," Draco explained. "Aries only taught me the most powerful ones he knew." "And I'd do it again," Aries said boldly. "Shut up, Aries!" Draco snapped. "There's no reason for us both to get into trouble." He looked Remus directly in the eyes, a pleading look on his face. "Please, sir, it wouldn't be fair at all. Aries did nothing worse than any of the other students involved in the duel."

Remus sat pensively for a few moments. He found the boys' loyalty to one another to be quite impressive. It reminded him strongly of two other boys he had once known. "Very well, Draco," he said. "You make a good point." He turned to Aries. "You may go, Aries. But you've lost another twenty points for teaching your cousin such a Dark curse. I should have thought that after your experience with the diary you would have more sense than to fool around with Dark magic." "You don't understand, Uncle Moony," Aries moaned. "And if you're going to get Draco into more trouble..." "Watch the whinging," Remus said sharply. "And don't forget about your week of detentions."

Aries glared at his Head of House, but did as he was told. He got up from his chair and left the room. Once the door slammed shut, Remus turned his attention to Draco. "What shall we do with you?" he mused. "I'm sorry, Professor," Draco said sincerely. "I don't know what came over me. I was just so angry at Weasley for the things he said about my father. I didn't expect it to be so powerful. I've never managed anything like that before." "Anger can be a very dangerous thing, especially for a wizard," Remus said quietly. "You must learn to control your temper. If you just let yourself lash out at anyone who upsets you, who knows what will happen? Next time you might kill someone in a fit of rage."

Draco nodded soberly. Remus put a hand on his shoulder. "I sympathise with you, believe me," he said. "I have a terrible temper myself." "You?" Draco exclaimed. He had never even heard the mild-mannered professor raise his voice. "I have learnt to keep it under very tight control," Remus said. "Even so, I nearly lost it when I heard what Messrs Weasley and Finnegan had done." Draco gave him a small smile. "You did?"

Remus smiled back. "Of course. I care about you and Aries very much. You've been through an awful lot this year, and it's not right for other people to give you a hard time about it." His smile vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. "However, the way you responded to their provocation was utterly inappropriate. You can't go around Cruciating your classmates because they annoy you or hurt your feelings." "It wasn't technically the Cruciatus Curse, sir," Draco began, but Remus cut him off. "Don't give me that rubbish," he snapped. "I've read Aries' research, and your Aunt Cassie's analysis. The Magnadolorous Curse may qualify as a new curse, but it still works on the same basic principles."

Draco conceded the point. "Even so," he said, "it was only a bit of pain. It's not as though I caused Weasley any real damage. Others were using Bone-Breaking Curses and Cutting Curses." Remus paused pensively. "Do you know why the Cruciatus Curse is one of the three Unforgivables?" he asked at last. "I've never really been able to figure it out," Draco said. "There's other magic that can do far worse things to you than simply causing you a bit of pain." "That's just the point," Remus said patiently. "The Cruciatus Curse exists for no other reason than to torture someone else and cause them an immense amount of pure agony. There are no circumstances when it has any legitimate use that cannot be accomplished with a different spell. There are situations in which one might need to break a bone in self-defense, or even use one of the various Cutting Curses. But the Cruciatus Curse has only one purpose." "I'm afraid I don't understand, sir," Draco said, shaking his head in confusion. "Mightn't it be better just to use the Cruciatus? It doesn't inflict lasting damage."