Remus led the two boys into his office and Conjured two plush armchairs for them. He poured them each a cup of tea and asked them to sit.
'Is it true that you cast the Magnadolorous Curse on Ron Weasley?' he demanded.
'Yes,' Harry replied brazenly.
'No, sir,' Draco protested. 'I was the one who cast the curse. Aries had nothing to do with it.'
Harry's jaw fell open. 'Whatever do you mean, Draco? I invented it. I taught it to you.'
'But you didn't use it on a fellow student,' Draco said simply. 'I did.' He turned back to face Remus. 'Professor Lupin, I take full responsibility for my actions. There is no reason for Aries to get in trouble too.'
Remus looked taken aback. 'But, Draco, he admitted to teaching you the curse.'
The blond boy remained unfazed. 'Aunt Cassie taught us the Blood-Boiling Curse, but I know better than to use it on fellow students.'
'But why would Aries even teach you such a thing?' Remus asked.
'After what happened with...with Lucius, I wanted to learn some spells to help me to defend myself against Riddle,' Draco explained. 'Aries only taught me the most powerful ones he knew.'
'And I'd do it again,' Harry said boldly.
'Shut up, Aries!' Draco snapped. 'There's no reason for us both to get into trouble.' He looked Remus directly in the eyes, a pleading look on his face. 'Please, sir, it wouldn't be fair at all. Aries did nothing worse than any of the other students involved in the duel.'
Remus sat pensively for a few moments. He found the boys' loyalty to one another to be quite impressive. It reminded him strongly of two other boys he had once known.
'Very well, Draco,' he said. 'You make a good point.' He turned to Harry. 'You may go, Aries. But you've lost another twenty points for teaching your cousin such a Dark curse. I should have thought that after your experience with the diary you would have more sense than to fool around with Dark magic.'
'You don't understand, Uncle Moony,' Harry moaned. 'And if you're going to get Draco into more trouble...'
'Watch the whinging,' Remus said sharply. 'And don't forget about your week of detentions.'
Harry glared at his Head of House, but did as he was told. He got up from his chair and left the room. Once the door slammed shut, Remus turned his attention to Draco.
'What shall we do with you?' he mused.
'I'm sorry, Professor,' Draco said sincerely. 'I don't know what came over me. I was just so angry at Weasley for the things he said about my father. I didn't expect it to be so powerful. I've never managed anything like that before.'
'Anger can be a very dangerous thing, especially for a wizard,' Remus said quietly. 'You must learn to control your temper. If you just let yourself lash out at anyone who upsets you, who knows what will happen? Next time you might kill someone in a fit of rage.'
Draco nodded soberly. Remus put a hand on his shoulder.
'I sympathise with you, believe me,' he said. 'I have a terrible temper myself.'
'You?' Draco exclaimed. He had never even heard the mild-mannered professor raise his voice.
'I have learnt to keep it under very tight control,' Remus said. 'Even so, I nearly lost it when I heard what Messrs Weasley and Finnegan had done.'
Draco gave him a small smile. 'You did?'
Remus smiled back. 'Of course. I care about you and Aries very much. You've been through an awful lot this year, and it's not right for other people to give you a hard time about it.' His smile vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. 'However, the way you responded to their provocation was utterly inappropriate. You can't go around Cruciating your classmates because they annoy you or hurt your feelings.'
'It wasn't technically the Cruciatus Curse, sir,' Draco began, but Remus cut him off.
'Don't give me that rubbish,' he snapped. 'I've read Aries' research, and your Aunt Cassie's analysis. The Magnadolorous Curse may qualify as a new curse, but it still works on the same basic principles.'
Draco conceded the point. 'Even so,' he said, 'it was only a bit of pain. It's not as though I caused Weasley any real damage. Others were using Bone-Breaking Curses and Cutting Curses.'
Remus paused pensively.
'Do you know why the Cruciatus Curse is one of the three Unforgivables?' he asked at last.
'I've never really been able to figure it out,' Draco said. 'There's other magic that can do far worse things to you than simply causing you a bit of pain.'
'That's just the point,' Remus said patiently. 'The Cruciatus Curse exists for no other reason than to torture someone else and cause them an immense amount of pure agony. There are no circumstances when it has any legitimate use that cannot be accomplished with a different spell. There are situations in which one might need to break a bone in self-defence, or even use one of the various Cutting Curses. But the Cruciatus Curse has only one purpose.'
'I'm afraid I don't understand, sir,' Draco said, shaking his head in confusion. 'Mightn't it be better just to use the Cruciatus? It doesn't inflict lasting damage.'
Remus got a strange look on his face and stood up from his chair. He walked over to the fireplace and retrieved some Floo powder from the dish on the mantel.
'Come with me, Draco,' he said.
Draco got up and walked over to his professor's side.
'Where are we going, Professor?' he asked.
'St Mungo's,' Remus replied. 'I want you to see something.'
The two wizards Flooed to St Mungo's and Remus led Draco up to the fourth floor: Spell Damage. The Healer on duty greeted them at the entrance of the long-term residents' ward.
'Good afternoon,' Remus said. 'I am Professor Remus Lupin, and this is one of my students. We're here to visit Mr and Mrs Longbottom.'
'Oh, how nice!' the Healer exclaimed. 'They don't get very many visitors. I'm sure it will do them some good.'
Remus took Draco into the ward and led him over to a small room. Inside there sat a witch and wizard, about the age of Draco's own parents. Vacant expressions lay on their pale, drawn faces. The wizard was muttering to himself constantly, and didn't seem to notice them come in. The witch stared at them with very wide eyes. She hardly blinked at all. It made Draco feel very uncomfortable.
'Frank, Alice,' Remus said loudly, 'I'd like for you to meet one of my students, Draco Malfoy.'
Frank and Alice did not respond.
'Draco,' Remus went on, 'this is Mr and Mrs Longbottom.'
'Longbottom?' Draco asked. 'Are they related to Neville?'
'You know Neville?'
Draco nodded. 'He's Aries' Herbology partner. He's a good chap.'
Remus looked pleased to hear Draco say that. 'Yes, he is. He's a fine boy.' He gestured towards Frank and Alice. 'These are his parents.'
'His parents?' Draco's eyes went wide. 'I knew he lived with his grandmother, but I assumed that his parents were dead.' He paused before continuing in a very small voice. 'What happened to them?'
The Transfiguration master took a deep breath. 'Frank and Alice were Aurors during the last war. They both fought against Voldemort very bravely. They survived three encounters with him.' He looked down at Draco seriously. 'Then they were driven mad by the Cruciatus Curse.'
Draco turned very pale.
'Don't ever think that pain is harmless, Draco,' Remus went on. 'There's nothing physically wrong with either Frank or Alice. Even if you had the Elixir of Life, it would do nothing to help them. The pain was simply too much for them to bear, and they lost their minds.'
'Is there anything that can be done for them?' Draco whispered.
'The Healers have been working on it for years, but have yet to find anything,' Remus replied.
'Was it the Dark Lord...I mean...was it Riddle who did this?'
Remus shook his head. 'It was a group of his followers, led by Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange.'
'Uncle Rudy and Aunt Bella?' Draco looked ready to cry. 'My godparents?'
Remus nodded gravely.
'Is that why they're in Azkaban?' Draco asked.
'Largely,' Remus answered. 'Though this is hardly the only thing they did to deserve that fate.'
Draco looked at the Longbottoms sadly. 'I had no idea,' he said.
'I know,' Remus replied. 'That's why I thought you ought to meet them. I shouldn't say anything to Neville about it, though. If he wants to share his secrets with you, you ought to allow him to do so on his own terms.'
Draco nodded. 'What about...Lucius?' he asked hesitantly. 'Did he ever do anything like this?'
.....
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