The Unknown of the Order (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

Letting Go

"Crucio!"

Agony. He was on the floor of his family's cellar again, writhing and shrieking so loudly it made no sound at all, as his body was ripped apart and burned. 

The pain was gone in an instant, but he still felt its ghost settle into his body like stiffness in the joints after heavy exercise. He dared to open his eyes, and of course, he wasn't lying on the dirty cellar floor, but in a grassy clearing in the dead of night. 

Elena was hovering over him, shaking is shoulder so that his bones seemed to shatter. 

"What did you do that for?" she hissed, her voice as angry as the thrust of a knife. "You could have killed yourself!"

As Barnaby gained control of is breathing, he heard Aiden's satisfied laughter. 

"I'm helping you." Barnaby grunted as he forced himself to his feet, taking Elena's offered hand to help him. 

Once again, he'd been summoned far away from the camp where not even the moon dared to shine upon them. When Barnaby had meant to turn in that night, Aiden had been asleep in the bed he and Elena shared, but he had been perfectly happy to conjure a cot of his own and sleep outside. The chilly, open air was quite the opposite to the stifling, nauseating place that bed had become.

However, Elena had shaken him awake, her brother hovering behind her like a dog on a lead. She led led them deep, deep into the woods, tied Aiden up, and removed the imperius curse she'd placed upon him. 

She'd tried everything--gently explaining to Aiden that he was on the wrong side, heated arguing, then finally, out of sheer desperation, she'd pulled her wand on him. Barnaby only just managed to jump in front of the cruciatus curse in time. 

Elena had tears in her eyes, partly from her agony over her brother's reluctance, and partly out of regret for hurting Barnaby. 

"Nothing else is working!" she whined. "The Death Eaters only respond to pain and fear. I've got to explain it the only way he understands!"

Barnaby rested a hand on her arm, causing her to lower her wand. He noted angrily that his hand was still shaking. Had he been put under the torture curse so much that now he was weak against it? Elena had removed the spell as soon as she realized what she'd done, so why did he still worry he would throw up if he moved his head too fast?

"Trust me, this way won't work," said Barnaby. "You'll just...you'll just make him hate you more."

"Then what should I do?" she asked him. 

Barnaby had no answer for that. When Merula and Elena had joined the Death Eaters, he'd been determined to bring them back, to save them from themselves. But, he'd always been able to see the good in them. When he looked in the eyes of Aiden Andrel, he saw nothing but rancor. They were the same eyes of Drystan Lee.

Barnaby shivered and looked away. 

Aiden laughed again. 

"You're quite right to fear me," he said. "I have more magical power in one finger than you've got in your whole body. I've learned from the Dark Lord himself, and I will be there when he burns your world to the ground to make way for his own."

"I'm not afraid of you," said Barnaby. He was afraid of that hate inside him, that lust for power. He was afraid of letting those things control him, like they had Andrel. 

"Afraid of power? How pathetic," said Aiden.

"Stop reading my mind!" Barnaby shouted. He put his hands over his ears to block out Aiden's voice, both inside and outside his brain.