In The Fight To Survive (Golden Trio Era) {4}

Reclaiming Control

"Don't." Mikayla hissed knowing exactly what Fred was thinking. "He wasn't lucid. He had no idea what he was doing." Mikayla informed Fred, grabbing an empty vial from her blue bag, and made her way towards the radiator. She crouched down, and used Fred's wand to shove the miniscule red and green speck that had fallen from Vector after his head made contact with the radiator. She stoppered the vial before casting the engorgement charm on the speck, which grew into a green beetle with specks of blood attached to it's hard shell.

"Fred, could you give Mr Smirnov some CC?" Her boyfriend looked at her in disbelief but didn't argue against helping the older man at her request. Fred was a little rough when he shoved Vector's head back to pour the healing potion into his open mouth, but Mikayla said nothing. She didn't know what happened between the pair whilst she slept, regretting taking the sleeping draught before she went to bed. The adrenaline from the fight fizzled away in the tense silence as Mikayla examined the green beetle, and she quietly winced whenever she lightly flexed her broken hand.

"Hello?" Remus' voice echoes through the house from the foyer, "is anyone here?" Bill calls after him, Fred looked at Mikayla to see if she had called for back up, "Padraig and Annabeth must've heard the commotion from their house and alerted the Order." Mikayla responded in a whisper, looking over at the window that was surrounded by shattered glass from her accidental magic. "We're upstairs!" Fred shouts back, as Mikayla magically moves Vector to the bed out of the way of the door. Kingsley, Cairo, Bill, Remus and Arthur walked into the room, scanning the debris from the battle while Annabeth rushed straight to embrace Mikayla and Fred.

"Oh thank Merlin, you're both okay. When it went quiet I got really nervous, but thought it was best to wait for back up," Annabeth rambles before stepping back and surveying the damage done to the room, before everyone's eyes fell to the bound Vector laying in the bed. "You did right by waiting, Anna, none of us should head into a fight alone." Mikayla told her with a gentle smile, before lifting up the vial with the magnified magical insect inside. "Is that what I think it is?" Cairo questions, stepping towards the blonde to examine the creature. "I believe so." Mikayla answered as she handed him the vial.

"Care to fill the rest of us in?" Bill asked patiently, after everyone had someone silently agreed not to mention how terribly Mikayla, Vector and Fred looked. The three of them were covered in cuts, blood and bruises, not to mention Mikayla's broken hand. "Imperium Cimex. A green beetle that can be used for mind control if bred by the right person, someone that understands their parasitic nature, a very old pureblood practice." Mikayla vaguely explained after handing Fred back his wand, but with Cairo being very passionate about ancient Pureblood practices, he couldn't help giving them more details.

"It was how ancient Pureblood families would discipline their children, to ensure they held the same values as they did, before the Imperius Curse was invented. They were a preferred method over Blood Vows as they didn't leave behind proof and couldn't be passed down to heirs. It could be used for minutes or years, depending on the host's health that it controlled. Their breeders would have to let them live off them for the first three months of their lives, building a telepathic connection that could be then used against others once the Imperium Cimex matured."

"You have no memory of what you've done while being the Imperium Cimex lives inside your body, and unlike the Imperius Curse there is no way to combat the parasite's advances. It does however have a pro over the Imperius Curse because the Imperium Cimex can't force someone to take someone's life, I think they planned that Vector would deliver me to them and then kill us both. We got lucky that it hadn't lived in Vector long enough to burrow itself into his brain. It fell out of his tear duct when he hit his head off the radiator, as I restrained him with a binding spell to stop him from causing me any further harm."