Imperio

Imperio

by ObsidianEmbrace

Story Notes: This is a continuation of Crucio and the second story in the Unforgiveables trilogy. As a reminder, the Dursleys, Dumbledore and various Order members are dead. Rated for violence and character deaths. Characters and Settings belong to JK Rowling. Enjoy.

I could feel dozens,
if not hundreds,
of faceless companions
in the water around me.
I could feel them,
and sense them,
but their shapes
I could not see.

(Swimming in Darkness by Frank McEowen)

~*~

Chapter One: In the Darkness

"Imperio!"

Harry's fingers trembled around his wand, already aware that the spell hadn't worked. Even before he saw Snape's scowl.

"Try it again."

A single bead of sweat dripped past his eyebrow as Harry tried to summon the proper resolve--the will to cast one of the darkest curses. But as if he was the one under the Imperius, he lowered his arm. "I... can't."

Snape's jaw tightened and Harry prepared himself for the tirade. But Sirius spoke instead, his voice strained, "I think that's enough for tonight."

"We will make no progress," Snape snapped, his dark ire directed at Harry, "if you quit every time it becomes too difficult."

"It's not because it's too difficult," Harry retorted, his temper flaring in spite of himself. "And I'm not quitting."

Snape narrowed his eyes; a clear challenge. "Then do it again."

"Snape-"

"I can't," Harry said over Sirius' quiet protest. "I've tried a dozen times-"

"Then you are quitting?" Snape sneered.

"No, I'm not," Harry said, shaking his head quickly. "I just don't want to control you enough!"

"You had best learn to want it then, Potter."

"Well, I can't!" Harry exploded. "How the hell am I supposed to want to control someone?"

"All right," Sirius interjected firmly, stepping in front of Snape before the professor could retort, "that's enough. We'll pick this up tomorrow."

"It isn't going to be any different tomorrow," Harry said, too frustrated to realize he was snapping at the wrong person.

"Perhaps not," Sirius agreed calmly. "But you've been practicing for over an hour. And at least tomorrow, you can begin again when you aren't sniping at one another."

"I am not sniping," Snape growled; but he was already turning away.

"Yeah, you're badgering," Harry muttered under his breath. Snape whirled around.

Sirius glared the professor into silence as he turned Harry round and gave him a little push toward the kitchen. "The Weasleys will be here in a few minutes. Go."

Harry went, but not without one final scowl for Snape. Bloody git. He was doing the best he could! But no, that wasn't good enough. And of course, Snape couldn't understand that it wasn't normal to want to control someone else. Stupid, greasy, badgering git.

He swiped a stack of plates from one of the cupboards and plunked it on the table. He crashed the second one down just as Sirius came in. His godfather raised his eyebrows. "Taking your anger out on the crockery?" he asked with a small smile.

Decidedly unamused, Harry said shortly, "I hope you told him to stop being such a bloody tosser."

Sirius plucked a glass from Harry's hand before it met a disastrous end beside the plates. "I asked him to be a bit more patient with you, actually," he said quietly as he placed the glass gently on the table.

Harry stared at the glass and then at Sirius' unruffled expression. With a heavy sigh, he lowered himself into one of the chairs, all of sudden drained. "I just can't do it, Sirius."

Sirius sat on the table's edge. He tucked his hands away as he crossed his arms, his frown thoughtful. "Most wizards can't cast the Unforgiveables, Harry," he said. "It takes a lot of anger and hate. And, as you said, for this one, you have to want to control your victim."

The word made Harry's skin crawl. He rolled his shoulders, as if that would dislodge the grimy feeling now lodged in his gut.

"And the Dark arts tend to affect a person negatively," Sirius added, as if he had read Harry's mind. Harry didn't say anything and Sirius put a light hand on his head, tilting his face upward. "I'm very glad you can't cast an Imperius yet."

Harry blinked up at his godfather and tried to be heartened by that. "But eventually..."

"Yes," Sirius said softly as he brushed the dark sweep of Harry's fringe away from the scar which had been twinging steadily since the realities had been merged. "Eventually, you'll find it in yourself to want something you shouldn't have to want."

"But Snape--"

"Snape knows it as well as I do," Sirius assured him. "But he is just as affected as you are by this dark magic both of you are invoking. And all three of us could use a holiday." He smiled a little, though there really wasn't anything light-hearted in Sirius' features.

The days had been wearing on all of them, even with Order members coming and going a bit since Snape had fully rejoined them. Shacklebolt had become something of a replacement for Dumbledore. And Bill had made regular visits with updates. Remus and Tonks as well, now that Remus was fully recovered from his injuries sustained on Privet Drive all those weeks ago.

But the visits were nothing more than perfunctory breaks in the unending sessions, both with Snape and Sirius. Especially as Snape had declared that Harry needed to learn to wield the Imperius curse on a flesh and blood person, before he could properly manipulate the streams. Not that Harry was certain any longer that they'd even be able to find Voldemort in the vast ocean that was now a part of him. Without the immediacy of Snape's rescue, the task had shifted to something that seemed nearly impossible.

Sirius jiggled Harry's head a bit. "Still with me?"

"Yeah..."

Sirius ducked his head, capturing Harry's unenthusiastic gaze. "We'll continue to practice until it works, Harry and that's all there is to it. You know very well that neither Snape nor I are going to allow this to fail." His smile was accompanied by raised eyebrows this time. "Yes?"

Harry's lips lifted without his permission. "Yeah, I know."

"Good," Sirius said. He nudged Harry's forehead with the tips of his fingers as he stood up. "Come help me with dinner then."

Harry accepted the pot which Sirius handed to him. As he watched the water sloshing the gleaming sides, he said with a grimace, "Snape will be even grouchier tomorrow unless I apologize."

Sirius turned off the tap and lifted the heavy pot onto one of the burners. "Wait until after dinner, after he's cooled his temper. He was demanding I do something about your attitude when I left him."

Harry glanced sideways at his godfather, but Sirius merely smiled. "Fetch another pot, would you? A smaller one."

With a little smile, Harry did. He was just transferring it to the stove as the Floo roared.

"Harry!" Ron ducked to avoid bonking his head on the bricks and grabbed Harry's hand as soon as he cleared the hearth. Ginny came next with a big hug. The smell of her shampoo was still in his nostrils as Mrs. Weasley crushed him to her.

"You're skin and bones," she admonished as she finally released him. She took Harry's face between her hands. "Haven't you been feeding him, Sirius?"

"I knew there was something I was forgetting," Sirius said, with a wink for Harry. Harry smirked but Mrs. Weasley frowned.

"I'm sure none of you have had a proper meal since you came here..." She looked around the large kitchen. "Where's Professor Snape?"

Harry and Sirius shared a glance and it was Sirius who answered, "He's busy with his studies at the moment--"

"He has to eat," Mrs. Weasley said briskly and then bustled out of the kitchen. Sirius shook his head and went back to the pots of water. Mr. Weasley and Bill stepped out of the hearth next. Harry was trying to answer all of their questions when Mrs. Weasley came back in, looking extremely flustered. Harry ducked his gaze from Sirius' quiet chuckle.

Mrs. Weasley recovered quickly and took over where Sirius and Harry had left off with the dinner preparations, snapping out various orders. Shacklebolt came through the Floo midway through the preparation. Remus and Tonks came in soon afterward, though they'd Apparated. Tonks greeted Harry with a grin and a peck on his cheek.

With a smirk she said, "Snape's in a foul mood tonight. Have anything to do with that?"

Harry was saved from answering as Mrs. Weasley announced dinner, and in short order, all of them--sans Snape--were gathered around the table.

--

By the time everyone had gathered in the parlour for tea and biscuits, Snape had sequestered himself in the library--which doubled for his bedroom these days. He had flatly refused to sleep upstairs; no matter how many times Sirius had told him he was welcome to.

"Doesn't he eat?" Ron asked in low voice, noticing Harry's glance toward the closed door.

"I've left him a plate in the kitchen," Mrs. Weasley said quickly, having caught the question. She looked anxiously toward the library. "Do you think I ought to--"

"No," both Sirius and Bill answered in one voice.

"He usually takes his evening meal rather late," Sirius explained though it wasn't precisely true. For the most part, Snape had been eating with them. Bill knew it too since he'd been here for a few meals, and he turned studiously from Sirius when Sirius shook his head slightly.

"He'll eat when he's hungry, Mum," Bill assured his mother. "We shouldn't interrupt his work."

Mrs. Weasley sighed but let the matter go.

"Have you seen the papers?" Ron asked between mouthfuls of biscuit. Harry nodded. The Prophet had reported him as missing after the Dursleys' house was burned to the ground. And it wasn't until after Harry merged the realities that Shacklebolt had suggested--since Harry had refused to leave Grimmauld Place--that he should send a letter to the Prophet to let them know he was alive and perfectly well. The papers had been speculating every since.

"Everyone from the minister to the newest intern is trying to figure out where you've gone off to," Mr. Weasley said. He glanced at Shacklebolt and then added quietly, "There's been a bit of clamour about your guardianship."

Harry saw Sirius' fingers tense around his teacup, but when he caught his godfather's eye, Sirius smiled in a way that Harry knew was meant to reassure. It didn't.

"Fudge's office has been inundated with adoption requests," Shacklebolt said, shaking his head. "You needn't worry about it though. Once you return to Hogwarts--reappear--I'm sure the Department of Child Services will contact you. You can request a guardian; any member of the Order would be willing, myself included."

Harry ignored the sudden tightness in his throat as he nodded. "Thanks." He'd known, of course, that it would come to this. Not that it made any difference who his legal guardian was; or at least, that's what Harry kept telling himself.

"You'll be of age in a year," Tonks said.

"It will merely be a formality," Remus added, though he was looking at Sirius. Sirius stirred his tea and didn't respond.

"Everything will work out," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling warmly at Harry. "Now, I think it's off to bed," she added to her offspring. "Harry dear, finish your cocoa and you can go up as well."

Harry's gaze went back to Sirius. "I need to-"

"Now, whatever it is you need to do, it will wait until morning," Mrs. Weasley interrupted firmly. She took the cup from his hands, still half-full of cocoa. "It's late and you look as though you need a good night's sleep for once." A reproachful look for Sirius came next and Sirius' features shifted a little.

"He's getting plenty of sleep now, Molly," he said mildly.

"He's pale," Mrs. Weasley countered. "And nearly as gaunt as you. I hardly think a few extra hours of sleep would go amiss. I assume he's not been to bed at a decent hour since he's been with you?"

Sirius set his tea soundlessly on his saucer, his lips pressing together briefly. He turned his attention away from Mrs. Weasley and with a little nod toward the library door said to Harry, "Go ahead and speak with Snape if you'd like."

"Snape?" Ron echoed. "What do you have to speak to Snape for?"

Harry had a hard time pulling his eyes from Sirius'. He shook his head at Ron's question. "Nothing. Just something about today's lesson."

"Maybe you ought to wait until morning," Tonks suggested as Remus refilled her cup. Her lips twitched. "Especially since he hasn't eaten yet."

"Of course it can wait until morning," Mrs. Weasley said quickly. She gestured for her offspring to stand. "Come along now. Harry," she said, a little bit sharply, when Harry didn't immediately stand. Sirius frowned then. But Mrs. Weasley didn't allow him to speak. "All of you upstairs," she said determinedly and giving up, Harry fell in step beside Ron and allowed himself to be shooed up the stairs.

He twisted round to try to catch Sirius' eye but Mrs. Weasley was blocking his view.

"Don't mind Mum," Ginny said as she followed Harry and Ron into Regulus' old room. "She means well."

"You don't actually talk to Snape when you don't have to, do you?" Ron asked with a dramatic shiver as he plopped on the camp bed that Sirius had set up for him that morning, his long legs nearly dangling off.

Harry shrugged. "It's sort of hard to just ignore him; he's been around for weeks. He usually eats with us."

Ron's exaggerated look of horror made Harry smile.

"Please don't tell me you like him now," Ron said, his hand poised over his heart as he pulled a face.

"He's still a git, if that helps."

Ron smirked. "A bit, I guess."

Ginny rolled her eyes; she settled herself on Harry's bad, leaving Harry waffling as he tried to figure out where to sit. He finally shoved Ron's feet out of the way and perched on the end of his mate's bed.

"How is Sirius?" Ginny asked. "Bill told us everything--as much as you told him anyway

"He's well now," Harry said swiftly, not wanting to relive the days he'd spent worrying about his godfather's fate. "Bill brought potions that first day he visited. And Tonks replenished the potions store here. Snape's been brewing."

Sirius never complained, but Harry noticed the winces sometimes when he moved. And Snape's face sported a few scars that hadn't been there before Voldemort had tried to burn him to death.

"I still can't believe Snape saved Sirius."

Harry pulled his thoughts from those awful days when he'd covered Snape in salve and shrugged again. "He didn't have much choice." It was decidedly more complicated than that, but he didn't want to go into the details of Snape not torturing Sirius when he'd had a chance or how Harry had been a basket case. He didn't want to think of it ever again.

"Bill said Snape put Wormtail under the Imperius."

Harry nodded vaguely; he'd forgotten about that. No wonder Snape didn't think it was too much to ask for Harry to perform that particular curse.

Ginny nudged Ron with a foot across the aisle between the two beds and said in an overly cheerful voice, "It's nearly your birthday. We'll be here for it, you know. Mum wanted to make certain you'd celebrate it."

Harry frowned. "Sirius knows when my birthday is."

Ginny smiled. "Of course he does. But Mum's been rather obsessed with you since..." She glanced at Ron; he grimaced.

"Since the Dursleys died."

Harry ignored the whatever it was that he always felt when he thought of the Dursleys and tried a smile. "I'm all right. I mean, it's nice of your mum to worry over me, but we're just fine here and Sirius wouldn't forget my birthday."

"And he feeds you too, I'll bet," Ginny added, her brown eyes sparkling with mirth. Harry grinned.

"Most of the time."

Ron snorted. "Hermione's itching to visit too," he said as he rested his head against the faded wallpaper. "Her parents have been anxious though, after what happened to you."

"Yeah, she sent an owl," Harry said, gesturing to the desk where her letter was curled into a neat scroll. "Said she was going to try to convince them to let her have a short visit."

The conversation drifted to lighter topics, mostly Quidditch standings until a throat cleared softly from the corridor. Harry twisted, smiling when he found Sirius just outside the door.

"Your mother is on her way up to check that you lot are all where you're supposed to be," he said. Ginny sighed.

"I suppose she'll notice if I'm in here."

"I think she might," Sirius agreed without his usual humor. Ginny stood up, looking a bit bemused. Sirius jerked his head toward the corridor, with a quiet, "Harry."

Harry slid off the bed, waving to Ginny as she slipped down the corridor and into the room next door. "You all right?" Harry asked as he reached his godfather.

Sirius' eyebrows arched in surprise; some of the tension eased from his face. "Yes, of course. I just wanted to tell you that I'll keep Molly at bay if you would still like to speak with Snape. Though I think it might be better to wait now."

Harry considered it only briefly, picturing the crowd in the sitting room, no doubt thinking as Sirius was that the professor wouldn't appreciate the gawkers. "Morning, I guess. Think he'll keep until then?"

Sirius smiled. "Probably." He frowned again as Harry flattened his fringe absently. "Is your scar bothering you?"

"No more than usual." He let Sirius comb the fringe aside.

Sirius grazed the skin beside the tender flesh with a thumb as he studied it. He sighed as he dropped his hand. "Let me know if it starts to do anything more than twinge."

"I will," Harry assured him, his mind on other things. "How many times do you think Snape has cast the Imperius curse?"

Though he looked a bit confused at the abrupt change of subject, Sirius answered anyway, "A few, I would imagine."

"Do you think it was easy for him, then?" Harry asked quietly. "When he cast it on Pettigrew?"

Sirius' face went oddly still then and Harry rushed to add, "I mean, since it was something similar--he couldn't have really wanted to do it, not for malicious reasons." He wished he hadn't brought it up; Sirius had gone sort of pale. "Never mind--"

Sirius shook his head, cutting off Harry's regret. "He did want to cast it though," he explained. The words were tense though his face had regained its colour. "He needed to so that we could escape. But yes, it is a similar circumstance."

Harry sighed. He didn't know why he thought the question would help. Sirius' features softened and he gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze.

"You two had best get into bed before Molly comes up here." Harry hesitated, wanting to say something, though he wasn't sure what would suffice. Sirius nudged his shoulder with an encouraging smile. "Go on."

Harry obeyed the pressure reluctantly, wishing he could figure out a way to quell the flickering unease knotting his stomach.

--

"Imperio," Snape's bored voice drawled. Wormtail snapped to attention, just like one of those little toy soldiers Harry had once watched on the telly. He marched back and forth while Snape held his wand like a marionette, his normally stark face twisted with a laugh.

Wormtail leapt, his toes pointed like a ballerina's when Snape swished his wand and then he twirled it and Wormtail begun to pirouette, faster and faster to the whim of Snape's wand.

Sirius was there too. He watched Wormtail spinning, a strange desperate look on his face and then he too was leaping in time to the wand, but with each turn, he tried to grab the shorter man.

But Wormtail danced out of his grasp every time, twirling as fast as a tornado now, until he was only a blur. Sirius' eyes stared after him as he fell to his knees, his limp hand still outstretched. He turned his face up to Snape, who was smiling viciously down at him.

"You can't have him," Snape sneered and with one sharp swish of his wand, Wormtail vanished in a puff of smoke. "So close..."

Harry bolted upright, shooting up so fast that he toppled off the bed in a tangle of sheets.

"Harrywhaazaa?" Ron's drowsy voice called from the other bed, but Harry was barely aware that he had spoken.

"Wormtail..."

How had he missed it? How had Sirius missed it?

"Whaa? Harry?"

"It's nothing, Ron," Harry told him impatiently as he kicked his feet furiously to untangle his legs. But it wasn't nothing. It was everything.

He tripped over Ron's trainers on the way out the door, ignoring his ginger mate as Ron pushed himself up and called for Harry to come back.

"What the hell is going on?" he groused, but Harry paid him no mind, not caring about anything except seeing Snape. His heartbeat was roaring in his ears by the time he reached the library door.

There was no light coming from under the crack, but that didn't slow Harry. He rapped loudly on the wood. Louder when there was no sound from within.

"Professor!"

He lifted his knuckles to bash the door again, but it opened with a quick swish and a sleep-disheveled Snape was glaring at him. "This had better-" he began to snarl, but Harry cut him off.

"Will the Imperius you cast on Pettigrew still work?"

TBC...