The Potions Master's Daughter (Book Five)

Chapter 3

Once we were all seated around the table Voldemort spread his hands and looking right at me said, "I hear congratulations are in order. Well done Jessica, Fenrir tells me that you killed a man with just a knife."

I nodded and softly said, "Yes."

"Well then just imagine what you could do with some magic. You hardly even seem too bothered by it. Some people try to tell you that murdering people is like taking your soul away, not that anyone in this room would be able to tell you from personal experience but you look strong."

As he spoke I tried to avoid the stares I was recieving. Severus's eyebrows rasied a bit when he said this, and he looked slightly angry.

"I just did what I had to my Lord, the man would've killed Blake," I explained.

"Well in any case, welcome to the club Jessica. With more power, you can feel this way all the time."

I looked him in the eye, "I'm not quite sure it's a feeling I'd like to continue."

Everyone else looked very taken aback by my directness but he merely laughed, "The feeling will go away my dear. Anyways, I am glad that the two of you were able to get through this small test, Fenrir tells me you excelled and grew a lot by the end. It took long enough, I'm sure you're glad it's over-nasty group those Snatchers are, but just fine to do some of the dirty work."

Draco replied, "Yes my Lord, we hadn't expected it to take that long, but we are merely glad we were able to help you, and prove our loyalty."

"Well then there is of course the question of what to do with these men," Voldemort said and with a start both of them sat up and began to look around, the fright apparent in their eyes, though they couldn't say anything, "You both have mastered the Imperius and Cruciantus Curse I hear?"

Blake responded softly, "Yes, we have my Lord."

"I think a small demonstration is in order then," he said standing up, "It is one thing to perform such a spell on something like a spider, but on a human, quite another. Let's see if either of you have it."

The two of them froze, as did everyone else in the room. I had only been practicing with them with at most squirrels, never a human.

"Why don't you go first Blake?" he said motioning at the men in front of him, "We can start out easy. Just have him flip over and that should be plenty."

Blake's arm was trembling as he raised his wand and shouted, "Imperio."

The spell seemd to hold and he was able to make Allen roll over before releasing him from the spell and sitting back down."

"Now you Draco."

Much like Blake, Draco looked terrified and resigned as he cast the curse. He was able to make Rogers flip over sucessfully though. I let out a small sigh of relief, they were doing pretty well so far. The next part was going to be harder though.

"Blake, let's see if you have any aptitude for torture in you."

Blake stood up and looked panicked as he stood in front of Allen, raised his wand and said, "Crucio."

The spell didn't work, so he tried two more times before Voldemort interjected, "Shame, Draco let's see what you've got."

Draco glanced at Blake as he stood up and went to stand in front of Rodgers and said, "Crucio."

Much like Blake's his held little conviction and did nothing to the man in front of him.

Again Voldemort let him try two more times before he said, "Very well take a seat. That was more than I expected either of you to do, your willingness is a good sign though. Why don't you both demonstrate on these spiders."

The two of them relaxed significantly and were able to perform the spell on the critters in front of them with a fair amount of ease. I glanced over at Severus who looked mildly impressed and nodded at me, commending me for my teaching.

"Yes, that is enough to build on for now," said Voldemort, "However maybe the other youngster among us can show you what a real torture curse looks like," he looked over to me, "Jessica, I think you should be able to do this at this point. Why don't you show the two of them what it's like to have true conviction behind the spells you cast?"

I froze momentarily, totally unprepared for this, "Of course my Lord."

I cast a look at Severus who seemed entirely unsure of what I should do before I went to stand in front of Allen, who I knew had killed a Muggle while he was a Death Eater. I raised my wand out in front of me and tried to distance myself from the man in front of me. He's a cold blooded killer I told myself. You have to do this.

"Crucio!" I shouted.

Unlike Draco and Blake's, mine took hold and immediately the man collapsed on the table and began to contort in pain. I was able to distance myself still and keep the spell going. I kept it going too long I think, but I had begun to zone out. I shook my head to get out of it and took off the spell.

The look on Voldemort's face was nothing short of admiration, "Very good job. See boys, that's what that spell should look like when it's performed correctly."

Blake and Draco nodded but continued to stare at me, like everyone else in the room was also doing. I closed my eyes for a brief moment but it didn't help to make anything go away, not that I had really expected it to.

"I will take care of these two," he said standing up and masaging his head, "You all go home. I will let you know when you two will be inducted, though I suspect you still have a little time as I don't want to rush anything and we just had a full meeting. Jessica, I want you to come and train with me again soon, I will send word soon."

I nodded, "I look forward to it my Lord. Thank you. Have a good evening."

With that I stood up to leave, and everyone looked at me then back at Voldemort before I realized we hadn't actually been dismissed, "Well what are you all sitting around for? The girl is the only one with any initiative here."

The tension in the room dropped and followed me out. I hugged Blake and Draco goodbye and shook hands with Lucius and Narcissa insisted on giving me a hug right before I stepped into the fire and went home.

"We can talk tomorrow morning," Severus said, "Why don't you just get right into the shower and then to bed?"

I stalled, "I want to quick make a potion first, to help me calm down, then I'll go to bed."

"You mean like one of these?" he asked holding up a vial with purple liquid.

I sighed, it was a sleeping potion, "Yes like that."

"I was putting something away in my stores and I realized that every single sleeping potion was gone. Then I remembered you saying you were having trouble sleeping. There is no way you've gone through all of those already is there? That's nearly 3 months worth of potions Jessica."

"I need like 3 for them to work, potions keep not working on me," I explained, "And they were the only way I could fall asleep. I ran out about a week ago."

"We can try to figure out why you're not sleeping and why you need multiple potions to fall asleep tomorrw, for now I suppose you can take these and get some sleep. You really need it."

I relaxed, "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"Love you too."

I kissed his cheek then went to take a shower then went to bed, adn actually fell asleep for the first time in about a week.