Crucio-chan and the Crucial Wand

A new beginning

My bedroom door opened. I looked up from the book I was reading to find my brother standing next to it, hand still on the handle, looking at the ground.
-Oniisan, look! They found the cursed tomb! -I exclaimed, pointing at the book. Then he looked right at me with a serious, strict look on his face. He clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about stories.
-Kurushi, we need to talk.
Afterwards, I followed him through the living room until we sat on our cushions round the table, and I couldn't help but feel scared. He never used my name unless I messed up -he usually called me Crucio-chan- and, as far as I was aware, I hadn't messed up lately. At first, he stared at me without saying a word, and all sorts of thoughts started racing through my head. Had Jinx gone missing again? Had he received a call from school? Had he found our father? No, that couldn't be the case, he didn't look happy, but rather concerned. He just got an envelope out of his pocket, and placed it on the table.

<<Ms. Kurushi Cruciatus
The room with the window nook
7 Greendale Avenue
Alderley Edge
Cheshire>> I read it aloud.

-Who would send me a letter?-I asked, increasingly intrigued.
-Open it-he said on a stern voice.

<<HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Minerva McGonagall
Dear Ms. Cruciatus,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress>> the first page said, and I was as unsure as one can be about how to process what I had just read. Who was this Minerva McGonagall and why did she know what my room was like? The obvious answer to someone else might have been that it was part of an elaborate prank, but I had never had a friend over at my house- nor did I have any friends at all, besides Jinx and my brother if family counts. Maybe he... but why would he do something like that? It didn't fit well with his character, he was constantly scolding me for believing in magic, and sometimes, he would become really scary when I brought the topic up, which, unfortunately, happened quite often.

*flashback*
It was raining fiercely. I sat on the swing, lazily moving it with my feet, looking down at the colorful beads, contrasting with the mud. The tears that ran down my cheeks probably had washed down to the ground with the rain already, and my wet silver locks didn't hurt from the pulls anymore either. But something still stung.
-Crucio-chan! What happened?
I recognized my brother's voice, but I didn't have it in me to even look up.
-Crucio-chan?
Tears started running down my face again. He got so confused when I looked up at him and smiled.
-It's broken -I said gleefully. Of course, he didn't understand.
-The bracelet. Tiffany Brooks wanted it, so she tried to steal it, but I resisted, so it just broke down.
-Aw, we can fix it when we get home -he said, lending me his umbrella, still looking lost.
-No -I declined, confusing him even further-. I like it how it is now.
-What?
-She tried to take it forcefully, but it didn't want to go with her, so it just destroyed itself and her greed with it too, at least for a moment. If I can't have it, no one else can -I said happily, I didn't feel any need to include the details about how she reacted afterwards, and I got up, grabbed the umbrella and together we started walking home. -You know, I appreciate it more now that I know how it is.
-How?
-It's cursed.
-Wait, what?
-If I were a witch -I started daydreaming, and everything felt right again-, I would curse everything in this world the same way. So, if something is away from where it truly belongs, it gets destructed so no bad people can get anything from it. I think that would make everything so much easier, don't you? Oniisan?
-Kurushi- he had stopped walking, and he was looking at his own feet, as if trying to contain himself from bursting out. - there are no such thing as curses.
-How do you know that? - I asked him. No one really knew how to answer to this, but nobody had gotten so angry about it before. -How could you know curses aren't real? Maybe we are cursed ourselves, and we just don't know because we are too young and it's waiting on us to have children of our own, so it can live on, passing down generations through all eternity- I rambled, looking at the cloudy sky and the tears that fell from it.
-Because it's nonsense! -he screamed, I had never seen him this furious before. I took little steps back as he spoke, completely clueless on how to react- It's stupid! You are eleven already, why can't you forget about it and enjoy this kind of life like the other children? You can't curse things, and you can't use magic or even be able to see it! You can't be a witch, Kurushi! You will never become a witch and you should get used to it! -he broke down in tears as his voice cracked when he yelled the last part, and fell down to the floor. What was going on with him?
-Kotaro...-I stared at him, teary eyed, completely in shock, and realization hit him. We just stayed like that for a while, until he got up carefully and confused.
-Crucio-chan, I'm sorry, I...
-It's okay- I smiled again- Look, a lightning ray!
-We... should get going- he said shyly.
-Hm -I nodded. We never talked about that day again, whatever was what had happened in it. But I would be lying if I said I had never thought about it ever since.

*Flashback ends*

-Oniisan -I asked without giving it any more thought- is this letter real?
-Kurushi, you and I are going to have a very long chat, and I want you to listen carefully, understood?
And, for some reason, I allowed myself to believe it.
-Do you remember when you used to have these dreams -his eyes pierced right into my very soul as he leaned towards me- about a place called Mahoutokoro?