𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 - 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

32 - 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚

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TRIGGER WARNING - MENTIONS OF ABUSE

If you wanted an account of what the Cruciatus Curse feels like, I would recommend asking Sirius Black. Not because he had experience with the curse. Well, he did, but only once, but he can assure you, once is quite enough.

I recommend asking him because first, he was merely 16 years old when his cousin fired the curse at him, and held it in place with mind-numbing cruelty for precisely 7 minutes, without yielding.

This is horrible to know about because Sirius was a very lively child, and I think I speak for everyone around him when I say he was never quite the same after that evening. No one in the Black family was. Walburga and Orion seemed more detached from their children than ever, Bellatrix seemed to have lost what little humanity was left in her, Aquila left with only one ear capable of hearing, Sirius left with a crooked finger which never sat right and Regulus left with a gash on his cheek that somehow always looked raw.

Where usage of the Cruciatus Curse should have landed Bellatrix in Azkaban, no one outside of the Black family was explicitly informed of this night.

After 15 minutes when Sirius was finally released from the hold of the Cruciatus, he lay there, not moving, for about twenty minutes. His younger siblings, though they cared for him a lot, were, in the end, little kids as well, and were crying over their own wounds to be of any help. Not that they could, since Bellatrix was prowling like a predator around the house waiting for one of the kids to make one wrong move.

When the clock struck ten, Bellatrix apparently felt her work of 'disciplining' her cousins was done, bid a goodbye to her aunt and uncle, and left. It was this time, after the roar of fire from Floo had died down, that Sirius Black got up, with a sort of unhinged look in his eyes. He didn't walk quite straight. His whole body was leaning towards the left side, scratches and bruises marked his smooth skin that had no sign of the pimples all teenage boys seemed to be plagued with.

His parents were settled in the sitting room, an untouched tea tray in front of them. Orion straightened and opened his mouth once he saw Sirius entering, but before he had a chance to say anything, Sirius had walked over to the tea tray, put one finger under it, and flipped it upside down. Hot tea, sugar, cream, scones and biscuits flew everywhere, and would have perhaps fallen on Walburga and Orion as well, had they not shielded themselves just in time. Orion gaped at his son, and Walburga remained perfectly motionless, her lips pursed.

Sirius maniacally grinned at them, and went upstairs. Aquila and Regulus stood in the doorway of Regulus' room, Aquila clutching her ear. Not paying them any mind, Sirius grabbed his trunk, put it under his closet, flourished his arm in a sweeping arc, and emptied the entirety of his closet into the trunk. Kicking it shut, he grabbed the tiny knick knacks he had decorated his room with throughout the years. A snowglobe of four boys running around, gifted to him by James' mother in his second year, a scarf with a 'Padfool' embroidered on it, gifted to him by Peter when they had all finally succeeded their Animagi transformations. Peter wasn't the best at embroidery, and had written the 'l' for a 't', but had forgotten to draw a line through it so it read 'Padfool'. He grabbed his tap-dancing shoes, that him and James had bought together at Zonko's, that made the wearer automatically tap-dance when the heels were clicked together.

Shoving all of this into his trunk, he grabbed some of the permanent sticking glue from his desk and stuck his Gryffindor scarf to his bedpost. Let them remove that. The whole house would burn on fire first.

Without one more glance at his room, he slammed the door behind him, dragging his trunk. His eyes shifted towards Aquila and Regulus, who looked like the two little kids waiting Sirius' instructions for a prank they were performing on their mum and dad. But they weren't little kids anymore, and the people downstairs certainly weren't mum and dad anymore.

"Come with me."

"Stay."

Both of them blurted at the same time, then Regulus shook his head. "Stay, Siri," he spoke in a soft voice.

Sirius gave him a sad smile, suddenly incredibly tired. "You know I can't."

"Everything will be alright," he replied desperately.

"Fool's hope, brother." Sirius and Regulus jumped forward at the same time, and hugged each other fiercely. They both let go of one arm and opened the hug for Aquila. She got bundled beneath the two boys, but there was no other place she'd rather be in.

"I love you, Siri," the twins spoke, chuckling through their tears.

Sirius drew back and held the two of them at arms' length. "Now, you two take care of yourself, alright?" the two of them nodded, sniffling. "We'll see each other at Hogwarts, yeah? And if they or that bitch gives you any trouble, you use your freakish abilities and blast the hell out of here, understood? Send me an owl ahead, so I can come watch the burning Manor with you."

"Where are you going?" Aquila asked, her head tilted to the side.

Sirius' eyes sparkled. "I think I have a place."

That concluded their glorious sibling moment, with a hand raised in farewell, Sirius tumbled down the stairs, throwing his trunk down to make as much noise and destruction as possible, only to be stopped by Walburga standing in his path.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Walburga said coolly.

Sirius' face crumpled. "I hope you never have children in the next life. You're a foul woman, and a terrible mother. I'm thankful I got sorted into Gryffindor and got Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Potter, otherwise I would have ended up like that statue of a man you call your husband." Orion had the decency to look down shamefully. Walburga, surprisingly, looked taken aback.

"The day someone kills you, I'll be there," Sirius spat, leaning closer to her. "And I'll laugh, and maybe I'll go to hell for it, but I sure as hell won't go without dragging you there with me."

Walburga said nothing, like always, just bit her lip as her eldest son pushed past her and left the house with a slam of the front doors.

"I should-" Orion began, his voice wet.

Walburga raised her hand, trembling. "Let him go. He'll come to his senses soon enough when he has no place to go, when he needs-"

"HE IS YOUR SON!" Orion shouted, grasping her arm. "He is your son, and you let that crazy girl near my son. And when I went to stop her, you had the gall to stop me."

Orion didn't wait for his wife to reply, just grabbed his coat. One hand on the door handle, he turned around to her and spoke. "He was right, you know. Maybe we were never meant to have children, because I don't think whatever universal power could be so cruel to curse our children with such parents."

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whoop walburga just had her arse handed to her

you tell her sirius!

also, for people here for more jp content than this thing, sorry for disappointing, more jaquila content will be coming, but i feel this part is equally important.

thank you for reading if you're still here.

all my love,

༻hy༺