Gradually the night came, and Harry and Dominique had to go to their special classes; including Tom. Today they decided to go without the invisibility cloak. They thought that sneaking in every day could lead to suspicion. And Harry didn't want Dumbledore to know about his invisibility cloak right now.
As they entered the classroom, they noticed that the room was filled with dummies. Harry had a sick feeling that Slughorn was going to make them duel today. And as thought, they were going to do the same.
"Professor, are we going to just practice on dummies or do we have to duel within ourselves?" Harry asked carefully.
"Both, my dear; you cannot become powerful unless you are an expert in duelling." Slughorn explained.
"Yeah right, the power and all." Dominique nodded nervously.
"So, at first my children, we are going to practice on dummies before we duel among ourselves. We are going to learn to use the unforgivable curses." Slughorn announced.
Harry and Dominique's eyebrows shot up. They glance at each other, with meaningful looks, which were definitely mixed with a bit of nervousness. But it more of had a stern face.
"Okay at first, Tom will show you how to cast the Cruciatus curse. Tom, will you please do the honour?" Slughorn asked and Tom nodded.
He turned to one of the Dummies which were bewitched to feel pain, pointed his wand and muttered, "Crucio". A red light shot to the tip of the wand and hit the dummy square in its chest. It fell on the ground and writhed and squeaked in pain. Harry winced at the mere sound and was reminded of the pain when the very curse was used on him during the ritual of Voldemort's return.
After a few seconds, he lifted the curse and turned to Slughorn, but not before glancing at Harry who was still wincing.
"Harry, now it's your turn. Remember, you—"Slughorn started.
"—I have to mean to hurt it; I know." Harry nodded his face blank.
Dominique put a hand on his shoulder, but Harry shrugged it off. He turned to a dummy and pointed his wand. He closed his eyes and thought about every possible thing that could lead him to mean to cast the curse. Then his mind filled with the thoughts of Ron and Hermione. His breath fastened with rage and anger that he has refrained from showing to anybody. He didn't mutter anything. He just positioned his wand and directed the curse to the dummy. As soon as it hit the dummy, it fell on the ground and started melting away. But Harry didn't stop, he pointed at another dummy and shot the same curse, making it melt as well. When he proceeded to the third dummy, he shouted, "Crucio!" and the dummy fell on the ground and literally starting screaming and writhing in pain. As soon as he heard the scream he stopped dead in track. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide.
"Merlin's beard Harry, that was a very powerful Cruciatus curse; even stronger than Tom's! And what was the curse you used before that?" Slughorn asked amazed.
"I don't know." Harry muttered. His voice was dripping with hatred and venom.
Tom was looking at him amazed and shocked. His curses were having a great affect on Tom. He was getting curious and wanted to know what curse he was using; he wanted to learn them.
"Professor, can I go and sit for a bit?"
"Yes, of course. Till then, Dominique, it's your turn." Slughorn said turning to Dominique.
Tom's gaze followed Harry to where he went to sit. He buried his face in his hands and sat there for a minute.
Dominique's attention immediately went to Harry and she couldn't concentrate. Though, she pointed her wand at the dummy, she couldn't produce the curse.
"Dominique, you need to concentrate." Slughorn said from behind her.
Dominique nodded and focused her worry and anger on the dummy in front of her. After a moment before she shouted "Crucio!" and the red light of the curse hit the dummy in the stomach. It fell on the ground and squeaked in pain. After a second or two, she lifted the curse.
"Well done, three of you. Now, I'll call each of you to duel with Tom at first. Remember, duelling with an actual human, is way tougher than fighting a dummy. Now, Harry, you come first." He called Harry, who reluctantly got up and stood in front of Tom.
Right now, Tom had an evil smirk on his face. As they positioned themselves in front of each other, Harry's mind was still fixed on the people who had betrayed him and scared him for life.
"Get your wands positioned. And you'll start on the count of three. One...two...three—start!" Slughorn announced.
As soon as the countdown ended, Tom started throwing curses, which were practically dark, combined with some light strong curses. Harry efficiently blocked every curse. And a time came, when Tom shot the Cruciatus curse and Harry couldn't block it. It hit him straight in his left chest above his heart and he fell down screaming in pain. For a second Tom didn't realize what curse he was actually using. He was just hitting random curses; whichever came in his mind. He just frowned and looked at Harry confused why he was screaming so loud.
"Stop; stop I said!" Dominique shouted and took out her wand. "Protego!" she shouted and a shield instantly blocked the curse hitting Harry.
Tom snapped out from his trance and looked at Harry who was lying on the ground curled up and shaking in pain. Right then he realized what curse he had used. His eyes widened and he ran to Harry. But before he could reach him Harry had cast a shield which stopped him.
He banged on the invisible shield. "Harry, let me in, please." he shouted.
"Go away; you are beyond saving. He's destroyed your mind." Harry hissed in Parseltongue. The pain has lessened a bit then. Dominique was continuously rubbing a hand on his back to soothe the pain down.
Tom's eyes went wider. He was now realizing, what these special classes had done to him. He didn't even realize what curse he was using.
He banged on the shield again. "Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to use the curse on you." Tom pleaded.
Harry removed the shield and stood up with difficulty. "Professor, I'm ready." His voice was hoarse from the screaming.
"No Harry, you are not fighting with that monster again." Dominique shook her head.
"Nick, I have already fought a monster before, he was much more mirthless than one standing in front of me. I can do this." Harry said standing straight and pointing his wand at Tom.
Tom felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He really didn't mean to hurt Harry so bad.
"Then I'm with you. I want to see if he can use the killing curse on us, as well." Dominique said pointing her wand at Tom.
"Okay, it was a clear mistake. But you should be ready for anything, for your enemy won't spare you any kindness. So start on the count of three. One...two...three—start!" Slughorn announced once again.
Tom again started throwing curses, but this time much more cautiously, so that he does not us another unforgivable. But this time he was having a difficulty with keeping up with two of them. Harry and Dominique blocked every single curse thrown at them and managed to send back quite a few curses and hexes.
"Confudus," Harry muttered under his breath. Suddenly Tom was jerked sideways, which made him dodge a hex thrown by Dominique but gave her enough time to shout, "Expelliurmus!" and Tom's wand went flying out of his hand into Dominique's.
Harry and Dominique smirked. "You don't always need the unforgivable to defeat your opponents, you know." Dominique said a dark expression crept on her face; which made Tom gasp under his breath.
"Excellent teamwork, Harry and Dominique. And Tom, it was your first day with two opponents so, you too did a good job." Slughorn said, beaming at his students.
Dominique approached Tom, with the same expression on her face. "You; try one more time to kill my brother, and I'll make sure you don't stand up the next day. I hope it's clear to you." she moved away from him, after she heard a gasp from Slughorn.
"And Professor, don't you think, it's your responsibility to stop any student from using the unforgivable on other students?" Dominique asked giving him a fake smile.
"No, it's my duty to make you ready for any kind of situation you could face in your life. I think Tom did a great job. And you shouldn't have threatened him like that. It's inappropriate." Slughorn said locking his hands behind him and putting his nose up.
"Inappropriate: my ass!" Dominique said, but the last two words were muffled as Harry had put a hand over her mouth.
"Come on," Harry muttered before pulling her out of the room.
"You cannot just curse like that. You were being too obvious. Please calm down; I'm fine!" Harry said in a whisper.
"No, Harry, how could someone encourage using the unforgivable curses on other students? That's against the school curriculum." Dominique argued.
"I know, but we cannot just burst onto someone. It would ruin our plan!" Harry said.
"I'm sorry." A familiar voice said from behind.
They turned around to see Tom standing there. He had a touch of guilt in his eyes. Dominique scowled and looked away. But Harry didn't look away, he approached him. He was having a bit of difficulty in walking.
He put a hand on his shoulder. "Tom, I hope you realize what Dumbledore is trying to do to your mind. He's turning you into somebody, you'll regret later. Please, trust us. It is affecting your brain, Tom."
Tom nodded and put a hand on Harry's hand. A similar kind of heat passed through both of their bodies; but they ignored it. "I really am sorry." Tom said before walking away.
Harry and Dominique sighed. It was getting a difficult for them. Tom walked through the hallways, his mind racing in his head. Was Dumbledore really trying to turn him into a monster? And after that was he going to kill him? Was his fate going to be the same as Grindelwald? Why does he feel the heat whenever Harry touches me?
He went straight to his dorms. He laid on the bed thinking about the events of the previous few days. Something was special in the newly arrived group; especially Harry. He had found a weird urge in the teenager to save him—from something—from something which has not occurred yet; from something that is going to happen. He was trying to save him from his future. How can he possibly know his future? Yet he himself was broken. He could see the pain in his eyes whenever he talked about the Granger girl. Who was she? Did he love her?
All these questions arrived in his mind. He wracked his brain for some answers. But he didn't get any. Every conclusion he came to seemed to be impossible. The last image that came to his mind before going to sleep was Harry's scars. The scars that had somehow, got stuck in his mind. He doubted it was ever going to go away.
"I think he's asleep." His eyes fluttered open at the sound of someone talking. But he didn't move.
"Yeah, let's sit there for a minute. Oh god, it's too hot in here." He saw Harry open his shirt and his scarred skin was exposed. He laid there still. The three figures; which he recognized as Draco, Harry and Dominique, went and sat on Harry's bed.
"Your skin makes me feel sick from stomach, Harry. Please, put your shirt back on." Draco said.
"Um, sorry; I was just—"Harry started.
"No Harry, it's okay. You can sit like this. Draco, just leave him alone for a minute, will you? Dominique scolded.
"Hey, what did I do?" Draco asked in a low voice.
Dominique sighed ignoring Draco's question. "I just wish we could live normal lives like others. I could live with you; you could have a family of your own even after Lily and James's death. That filthy muggles wouldn't have been able to torture you." Dominique took Harry's hand into hers.
"You know something? I was meant to be in Slytherin. But, even before I came to Hogwarts for the first time, Ron, Hermione, everybody discouraged me about the house. Ron was almost pleading to god to be sorted into Gryffindor. And, when the sorting hat was placed on my head, it had told me that Slytherin would be the best house for me. But I begged for it to not to put me there; so it chose the second best for me; Gryffindor. And look, here I am; used and tortured." Harry stated. Tears were flowing down his eyes.
"Don't worry Harry; look now you are in your deserved house. And I think you are capable for both the houses; you are brave and strong as a Gryffindor and cunning as a Slytherin." Dominique smirked.
"But, do you think that we could have been good friends if he was sorted into Slytherin? I mean he still would have that scar, and I would still call him a scar head." Draco said smirking.
"Yeah, that bastard spoilt the whole fun. Don't know how many more lives he is planning to destroy." Harry said shaking his head. "I don't know about others, but Tom can definitely be saved; if he cooperates of course. He keeps very quiet about himself; just like the silence before the storm." Harry finished.
"His childhood is similar to you; but still he's a very different person from you." Draco said quietly.
"Dumbledore actually wants every witches and wizards to hate muggles; hence, this same action again and again. He always puts wizards with some deficiency into abusive muggle homes and uses their weaknesses to his advantage." Dominique stated.
"When somebody sees him for the first time, they would think that he's doing it for the greater good. But he does everything for his own greater power. Or he wouldn't leave me with those children of Satan, even after knowing that I was raped right from the day I can remember to be my first." Harry growled.
"Harry, I think you need a bit of rest. From all these tensions, and not to mention that you were just hit by a Cruciatus curse today; and you are still limping a bit." Draco said.
Harry smirked. "The ferret's concerned for the scar head?" he asked. Draco just rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm used to all these pains. It doesn't bother me much now. And I really don't blame Tom for this. He's a good man; he apologised." Harry said shaking his head.
Draco and Dominique stood up from Harry's bed. "Harry, you really need sleep; so, bye and goodnight. We can talk tomorrow." Dominique said pulling Harry into a hug.
"Goodnight," Harry nodded and Dominique went out of the dorm after muttering a 'goodnight' to Draco.
"Goodnight, scar face." Draco said clapping his hand.
"That hurts ferret! And I am scared throughout my body. You can't call me just scar face or scar head." Harry said grinning cheekily.
"You, cheeky bastard, stop making me cry!" Draco said wiping his eyes.
"I love you too, ferret." Harry said pulling Draco into a hug. Draco hugged back before smacking Harry's head. "Ouch!"
"I'll still call you scar face; so suck it up." Draco said pulling away.
Tom closed his eyes; once again; more confused and curious than ever before. While some of his questions were answered, more questions have resurfaced in his minds, this time they were more about Albus Dumbledore. He now knew the reason behind the motive of them to save him; because Harry himself was used. And he knew fact behind them knowing so much about Hogwarts already; they have read here before. And most surprisingly, Harry was a Gryffindor. But when did he study in Hogwarts before? And even if they have done, how come he did not know them already? The rest of the question were about Dumbledore; different types of what, why, and how were roaming around his head. But the peace of the sleep had already engulfed him. He slept soundly this time, like there's no tomorrow.