Playing with Fire

Chapter 32

"Get me my own wand from the kitchen, Hermione. Now," Barty growled, keeping his wand and glare aimed at Amycus.

Hermione complied almost immediately after hearing that venomous tone he used, and sticking to her original plan of trying to befriend him the best she could, she thought it best just to do what he asked from her. She didn't really care about Amycus anyways. A big part of her even wanted Amycus to suffer for all the horrible things he had done. She rushed to the kitchen to get Barty's wand, and without the slightest hesitation she went back to hand it over to the Death Eater. She could easily have used it against Barty. Or she could have tried. But she didn't, mainly because it was definitely not smart to fuel Barty's rage even further.

"Thank you, darling," Barty smirked when the wand was handed over to him.

"You can't kill me, Crouch," Amycus sighed, rolling his eyes. He was trying to come across as chilled and nonchalant, but he was doing a very bad job at it. He was afraid.

"Can't I?" Barty hissed softly, breaking Amycus' wand in front of his eyes and throwing it at his feet. "I don't think anyone gives a damn about your life, least of all the Dark Lord. You'll be replaced. As will your sister."

"Y-you need his approval though."

"You didn't ask him for approval for barging into my house, did you? Besides... this is my house, so you are at my mercy and mine alone. We can always say it was a... tragic accident," Barty said, the most chilling and cruel smile appearing on his face. "You hurt my daughter... And you will bleed for it."

Hermione quickly closed her eyes when she saw Barty raising his wand with the intention of causing a lot of pain to the other Death Eater. But unfortunately it didn't prevent her from hearing the sound of the diffindo spell cutting in flesh and the painful screams that were coming from the victim. This was only the beginning, and it was the moment where Amycus should start pleading and apologizing, Hermione knew. It wouldn't make the punishment any less, but it would prevent Barty from becoming even more hostile. However, Amycus didn't do what was expected from him. When Hermione opened her eyes, she saw with horror the bleeding body of Amycus, who wasn't even hit with the Cruciatus Curse yet.

"Nothing to say, coward? Come on... I want you to scream harder than that... I won't start torturing you until you showed me your real fear for me," Barty growled, continuing cutting in the man's flesh with his teeth bared in anger.

It was the cruelest thing Hermione had ever witnessed. The man was already getting tortured really badly, and Barty just told him he hadn't even started yet. She could feel the slightest bit of remorse for Amycus somewhere, but her fear for Barty and her need to get on better terms with him prevented her from opening her mouth. If she would say something, she would be on the receiving end of the torture. And she didn't want that to happen. She could see that Skye was looking slightly worried as well, her eyes were wide with horror. Skye's grandparents were just sitting in the corner in silence, not daring to intervene. Skye was either going to stop her father, or Amycus would be tortured to the brink of death before being murdered viciously. The girl didn't any attempt to stop her father, though, probably with the same arguments as Hermione. And maybe she even enjoyed the show, maybe she even admired her father for what he was doing.

The screams became more and more intense, and Barty was grinning like a maniac. He didn't seem to either notice or care that his house as well as his own clothes were covered in blood. He was really enjoying himself while torturing his traitorous colleague. When the screams didn't seem to work, Amycus decided that he should try to speak.

"Please, Crouch, p-please... I-I am b-begging you," he coughed. "Have mercy..."

Barty's eyes grew even wider, the animalistic glare now accompanied by his nervous tongue flick.