Nine Lives and Bad Luck

23:

         It was odd to hear a stranger speaking when he pushed the doors to the infirmary wing open. Normally it was to either Poppy fiercely scolding an injured student to intimidate them into carefulness or to dead silence, this voice was calm and level although it rang loud and clear in the infirmary.

    "The Cruciatus Curse, incantation Crucio, also known as the Torture Curse, is a tool of the Dark Arts and one of the three Unforgivable Curses. It is one of the most powerful and sinister spells known to Wizardkind. When cast successfully the curse inflicts intense, excruciating pain on the victim. The penalty for use of this curse on another human being is a life sentence in Azkaban, unless the caster did so under the influence of the Imperius Curse or with written and sealed approval from the Minister of Magic himself.   Considering that the curse does not physically harm the victim, it is theorized that it only stimulates pain receptors, but further research is prevented by ministry regulations."

      The topic was more than a little alarming as his eyes landed on the double bed, a clouded leopard stretched out at the front of it, it's long tail hanging limply downward and curling loosely around the nearest leg of the bed. Further away from the door on another bed, pulled much closer than it had been, was, presumably, the strange dark haired and eyed witch who had been called from the floo, they were motionless- he was unable to spot even the subtle motions that would have shown they were breathing- lying still with a dark cloak thrown over their head and body blocking them mostly from view. Kore, sat upon the double bed on the side nearest the body shaped cloak, leaning against the headboard, a book in their hands  as they continued to read aloud, but the gray eyes no longer were fixated on the book, but on the new person in the room. Slowly the glided back down to the book  and without any further hesitation, continued in their reading.

      "The Cruciatus Curse was invented during the early Middle Ages, by dark witches or wizards. The curse was created for torture purposes but has also been used effectively in duels.  And was once a very popular spell at all levels.   After the Wizards' Council was reformed into the Ministry of Magic tighter restrictions were placed on the use of certain kinds of magic. The Cruciatus Curse was deemed by the Ministry to be dark magic, and, along with the Imperius and Killing curses, were declared "unforgivable" in 1717. The use of any of these three curses on a fellow human being would result in a life sentence in Azkaban unless there was sufficient evidence that the caster did so under the influence of the Imperius Curse or for other defensible reasons...." finally she paused once more when they noticed they were still lingering by the door, the book was set aside quietly on the bed, gray-blue eyes returning to face him, "Yep?"

  (An: what she is reading is taken basically directly from the fandom Wiki page and reworded slightly in some places so, yeah, just saying, not really me, later on it comes from wizarding world. com. Full disclosure.)

     "Good afternoon, my dear, I hope you are well?"

"There is no need to change your attitude on my account, the damage is done either way. My problem was I was being kept from him after I received a very vague and.... upsetting letter, not your attitude. Although I am wondering what being a Tom means- that's not one I've heard before and I admit I'm more than a little curious of which of the perceived flaws of my kind it points to."

"My dear, I came in part to apologize for my actions, I must explain, I thought you were someone else who would wish harm on the students here, it was not meant as an insult towards yourself or your....?"

"You're not really endearing yourself to me here if that's meant to be your new angle. But like I said; take your pick, I have wizarding bigot bingo."

Dumbledore blinked, "Excuse me?"

"Bingo... you know? Or not, I suppose I should have expected that. The uh- Nevermind, your reputation precedes you but I 'must say' it is quite the deception.... what I meant was... well it's like this; am I involved in the muggle world? Well, yep, almost as equally as this one. Am I a mud blood?" Here Dumbledore opened his mouth to reprimand her, "Probably, they weren't willing to tell me what that one meant either." She gave a pointed look to him as if to say she wasn't buying the whole explanation about being called Tom because he mistook her for someone else, "half breed. Check. Dark wizard. Yep. Light wizard. Got that. Traditionalist. Yep, just not your type of it, do I need to continue? Tom, I don't know, probably."