The Darkness Within

Chapter Four - The Prince's World

Chapter Four

"Come on, Prince! It's not that complicated!" Bella reprimanded, her dark eyes narrowed at the boy.

She was more surprised than annoyed that her Master's prodigy was having trouble with the 'bone-breaking' curse. Usually he picked up spells and curses with relative ease.

Harry sighed and tried again to focus. It was already difficult to get a hang on this stupid curse without the annoying pain in his scar. It was breaking his concentration.

He motioned to Bella to demonstrate the curse again.

"Adflicto Corporis!" Bella shot the bone-breaking curse at the dummy they were targeting. The spell hit the femur bone of the skeleton dummy, cracking it in two.

Harry followed her example but his spell did nothing to the other leg of the skeleton. Frustrated and annoyed, Harry flung his wand across the chamber. It clattered onto the marble floor, rolling a few steps before coming to a halt.

Bella looked on in amusement.

"That an idea" she sniggered. "You can always throw your wand at them. If you aim right, you might take out an eye." she joked.

Harry threw her an angry glare as she was clearly enjoying the fact that for once, he was not able to pick up on something that she herself was an expert in.

"I'm not in the mood to listen to your usual cheek." he told her. He summoned his wand with a wave of his hand but pocketed it instead of taking aim at the target dummy. "I'll try again tomorrow, I can't concentrate." He said as he rubbed at his forehead, eyes squeezing shut at the pain that emitted from his scar.

Bella lost her playful smirk at the sight of Harry rubbing at his scar. She was at his side in a flash.

"Is it your scar again? Sorry Harry, I didn't realise." she apologised. His lack of concentration made sense now.

She pried his hands away from his forehead, trying to determine how much pain Harry was in. It was never easy to tell with Harry. She gently tilted his face up to have a look. Harry pulled away, gritting his teeth as the ache intensified.

"I'm fine. Just leave me alone." he said, kneading his forehead with his knuckles.

Bella ignored him. She knew when Harry was fine and when he wasn't. She also knew Harry was too proud for his own good. She turned to the small cabinet in the training chamber and took out a vial of pain potion. She walked back to Harry and handed him the vial.

"You should have said something sooner." she said, annoyed that Harry had been suffering silently for the last hour.

Harry sat down on the single sofa in the chamber before he downed the potion in one gulp. The effect was instant but the pain in his scar was only dulled a bit. It would only go away properly when his father's anger diminished completely, as that was what was causing him such pain.

"I was waiting for him to calm down." Harry explained. "He usually controls his temper better than this when he knows I'm around."

Bella looked at the doors with a worried look.

"He must be very angry." she said quietly, biting her lip nervously. "I wonder what's happened?"

Harry leaned back in his seat.

"Whatever it is, it's got him really annoyed." He said.

Bella sat down next to him, eyes fixed to him.

"Really? How annoyed?" she asked anxiously.

Harry rolled his eyes at the question.

"I'm sick of being a mood determiner for father." He replied. "Ever since I can remember, you and Lucius always ask me how badly my scar hurts before going to see father."