Tales of the Battle

Cornered

Michael looked out across the debris strewn grounds of Hogwarts and tried to keep calm.

For some reason there was a lull in the fighting. He peered through the gloom; but no matter where he looked, everything was quiet. Michael was all alone in the night, cast adrift in an empty and endless void. Somehow in the confusion of the last attack, he'd lost sight of both Terry and Anthony. The darkness surrounding him was an all-enveloping, stifling cloak trying to suffocate him with its blackness, but it would not succeed. He took several deep breaths and desperately fought down his panic.

Squinting into the blackness, he saw movement in the distance. A lone figure crept carefully towards the castle. Michael did not dare to light his wand. Very early in the battle, he and his friends had discovered that a Lumos spell was a magnet for the enemy. Unfortunately, without illumination he could not identify the stealthily skulking shadow. Was he facing friend or foe?

The figure was moving away from him, away from the great entrance doors to the school. Michael silently stalked the silhouette, relieved that, whoever it was, they had not seen him. The figure was little more than a man-shaped shadow eclipsing the stars peppering the horizon. The unidentified dark shape appeared to be trying to outflank someone else. Michael moved slowly, soundlessly stepping over shattered stonework and cautiously closing on his quarry. As he moved, the figure suddenly stopped and rapidly raised its wand.

'Crucio,' the harsh croak of the stranger's voice shattered the silence as he shouted the curse.

Instantly, pain coursed through Michael's limbs and he collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.

The unbearable fire flowing through his nervous system transported Michael back to the day, almost two weeks earlier, when he had been chained to the wall in the dungeon.

oooooooOOOOOOOooooooo

'Michael Corner, Ravenclaw House,' Amycus Carrow snarled. 'Blood status?'

'Ravenclaw!' Michael told him.

'Blood status!' Carrow demanded.

'None of your damn business, ugly!' shouted Michael defiantly.

'Crucio!' Amycus shouted, and for the first time in his eighteen years Michael felt the power of an Unforgivable Curse wielded by someone who enjoyed it, someone who revelled in causing pain. He screamed. When the pain finally stopped Michael slumped forwards on the chains.

'Michael Corner! Everyone says Ravenclaws are supposed to be clever, but you're not very clever, are you? You've got a very stupid mouth, and a very stupid idea of right and wrong. I'm the teacher, you're the pupil. I decide who'll be punished. You freed them kids, sent them up to that Pomfrey woman. That was a bad move, and now you've got to be punished. Rule breakers have got to be punished,' said Amycus.

The squat, ugly wizard was almost dancing with joy as he spoke.

'You were torturing first years,' gasped Michael. 'Why?'

'Crucio!' Amycus shouted, and again Michael screamed in agony.

'That's none o' your damn business! I'm a Professor, I am! And I'm in charge o' discipline an' punishment. If I reckon someone needs to be punished, that's what happens.'

'Professor? You're not even a teacher! You're an ignorant twisted sadist!' Michael whispered angrily through his pain and tears.

'Crucio!' Don't come the clever Ravenclaw with me, Corner! You're all the same, Ravenclaws!' He snorted contemptuously. 'You think you're better just because you're good at exams. Now you're gonna get what you deserve.' Amycus leered lopsidedly at Michael as he spoke. Then he giggled; it was an unpleasant gurgle of joyous anticipation.

'My sister's on her way. Just wait till she gets here, Corner. We'll see how long you can stand up to a double dose of Cruciatus Curses,' Amycus Carrow continued.

As if on cue the cell door opened and Alecto Carrow waddled in. Amycus smiled cruelly.

'I've just been softening him up,' he told his sister.

'Corner, isn't it?' Alecto asked. 'One o' Potters cronies, aren't you?'

'He is,' Amycus confirmed. 'Crucio!' the Carrows shouted together, and Michael screamed once more.

Michael slumped forwards, his muscles unable to keep him upright. He was no longer able, or willing, to bait the Carrows. The chains which shackled him to the wall were digging painfully into his wrists, but he found that it was a comforting pain, a physical pain. It was a pain of the flesh, unlike the curse, which was an internal anguish akin to having every nerve in his brain and body set on fire.

'Are you ready for another double dose, Corner? D'you think that you can take it? Think you're tough? Longbottom's parents was Aurors, as tough as they come. They took a triple dose, did you know that? Drove them crazy. They're a couple of useless dribbling nutters stuck in St Mungo's. You'll be joining them soon if you're not a good lad. So why not be a clever Ravenclaw and answer this very easy question. Where's the troublemaker hiding? Where's Longbottom?'

'Behind you,' Neville said quietly.

Neville Longbottom was white-faced with anger as he stood in the open door to the cell. The Carrows whirled around, but they were much too slow. Neville silently cast two Stunning Spells with such force that both Amycus and Alecto Carrow bounced off two walls before collapsing in an untidy heap on the floor.

Michael shook the tears from his eyes. He'd been rescued, he realised gratefully. His friends had come for him, though he'd hardly dared hope that they would. Anthony Goldstein rapidly undid the chains and Ernie Macmillan and Terry Boot caught him as he slumped forwards. Michael's limbs would not obey him. Between them, Terry and a pale and visibly shaking Ernie carried him out from the dungeon. Neville, looking more fierce than ever, led the way and Anthony scurried along behind as rearguard.

They carried Michael through several secret passages, up to the second floor and then through a door concealed behind a painting and into, he discovered after he had recovered three days later, the Room of Requirement.

The memory of that pain would probably haunt him forever.

oooooooOOOOOOOooooooo

'Stupefy!' Michael heard Terry Boot's deep bass voice bellow, and the pain receded. Blinking tears from his eyes Michael tried to struggle to his feet. His arms and legs were still shaking and he found himself unable to stand. He remained on his hands and knees, shaking from the memory of the curse.

'Are you okay, Anthony?' he heard Terry ask.

'I will be, thanks, Terry,' Anthony mumbled. 'It's a good thing that you were close at hand; otherwise I think he'd have gone for the kill. Did I hear somebody else screaming, too?'

'Yes, it was Michael,' said Terry.

Michael looked up, bewildered. He saw his, tall, broad-shouldered and plain-featured friend, Terry, striding towards him. Short and narrow-faced Anthony Goldstein limped along behind him.

'Okay, Michael?' Terry asked, as he reached down and pulled his friend to his feet.

'Crucio,' Michael gasped. 'I feel terrible, but I'll be okay. What happened to Anthony?'

Terry looked sadly down at his friend. 'I think I'd better get you both to the hospital wing. Anthony was the one being cursed, Michael, not you.'