Showing 'Mercy'

"W-why aren't you going down...? T-this is impossible!" Draco utters, shocked. Hermione was the same, watching the back of Harry as he relentlessly advanced.

*Smack!*

Draco falls onto his butt from a vicious slap from Harry, stopping the Cruicio outright. He puts a hand to his reddening cheek and stares up at Harry whose sweaty fringe was concealing his eyes...

"Did it feel good?" Harry quietly asks.

"W-what?"

"Did torturing me feel good? The power to claw at someone's soul, to make them insane if you wished."

...

Harry nods at his silence, hair falling aside to reveal his almost glowing green eyes, "Good. Then you will have no objection to what happens next." he points a finger at the down boy and audible mutters, "Crucio."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Draco lets out a blood-curdling scream, louder even than when his father had used the curse on him. Unlike when Harry had been affected, the boy looked as if he was having an epileptic fit on the ground, his back arching awkwardly and his head slamming against the floor with reckless abandon.

"DO YOU FEEL GOOD NOW!? MALFOY!?" Harry loudly asks over the screaming, "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED!? "CRUCIO! CRUCIO! CRUCIO!"

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!! SS--SS-S-S-STOOOP! PLEASE!"

"Aha!? Now you want to stop!? CRUCIO!"

"HARRY!" Hermione yells and he turns to her, blinking numbly and keeping the spell active. "Harry stop! He's done!"

He chews his lip and ceases the torture curse, allowing Draco some respite. He telekinetically pulls the boy's wand to him and snaps it clean in half as he turns to his friend, "Stop? Why?"

"B-Because it's wrong! It's illegal! Y-You can't torture your classmate!" she hurriedly explains, stumbling over her words like a newborn calf.

Harry tilts his head and tosses the wand pieces to the side, "Did you not just see him torturing me? What do you think his end goal is here, Hermione? Using a Forbidden Curse in the middle of school, in front of both of us. He'd either have to obliviate us afterwards, or intimidate us into submission... That, or simply killing us.." he scowls, "Can you say with certainty that he wouldn't have murdered us just now, Hermione?"

She looks at the quivering pained face of Draco and nods slightly, "He's an idiot! But he's not that stupid! What would he do with our bodies!? What would he tell the teachers!?"

"The blood purist teachers? He'd have simply vanished our bodies and been done with it. His father is a powerful man in the government, someone who was Voldemort's right-hand man. He'd have waved the charges away with no issue. The nation may have been upset at my death, but you? The nobody 'mudblood'? You'd only be remembered by your parents, if the magicals didn't erase their memories afterwards." he states, ignoring her shocked and tearful look.

Shaking his head at her sudden silence, he kneels next to Malfoy and forces him to face him with a tug of his platinum blonde hair. "Ready for another round, Death Eater?"

"N-n-no!"

"No? Are you being a hypocrite? Would you allow your victims to demand something of you? Crucio!" he growls, sending the boy into another fit of screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"D-Draco!" Crabb shouts as he and Goyle run over, their wands already drawn.

"SUPPLICA ET CADE!" Harry roars and throws his hand out at them, causing both to smash their foreheads into the ground, the sound of their noses breaking echoing out. "So you did bring your pathetic followers? Let me show them my mercy, Malfoy. CRUCIO!" he shouts, casting the Forbidden Curse on all three simultaneously.

Sweat beads on his forehead, but he maintains it while drawing from the resentment in his mindscape, taking great satisfaction in watching the three writhe in agony.

"Damn weakling actually thought you could fight me!? You who only dip their toes in the magnificence of magic!? You who strut around like fucking dragons among sheep simply because of who your families are!? WHERE'S YOUR FAMILY NOW!?" he strengthens the curse further, a manic grin splitting his face.

"WHERE IS YOUR WEALTH!?"

"WHERE IS YOUR POWER!?"

"WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC!? CRUCIO!"

"HARRY!" Hermione screams, the magical ropes dissipating and allowing her to wrap her arms around his chest. "STOP! P-PLEASE STOP!" she sobs, unable to look at him while he's making that horrifying face.

"They deserve it. Let's see them attack us again from an Asylum!"

"YES! Yes... They deserve it. But-, n-not from us! Not from you! Let someone else punish them!"

"Why!? All they'll get is a slap on the wrist! You know who rules this school, who runs this charade!"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE SCARING ME!" she pitifully shouts.

He waves his arm, pushing her over and sending her skidding across the floor into a nearby bookshelf... "Do you know how it feels to be tortured, Hermione!? Maybe I should show you, so you can appreciate the reality before you!?"

"T-this is not you... Harry..."

*Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap!*

His eyes widen as the sound of people running towards the library echoes out, someone must have notified the faculty of the screaming... Shit, he should have silenced them! He telekinetically grabs Hermione, taking her into his arms while casting the Disillusionment Charm over them both.

Just as they're sneaking away the library door smashed open, the barrier the Malfoy had presumably set up not barring the teachers from streaming in with wands drawn. Dumbledore, Quirrel, Snape, McGonagall, and Flitwick all storm in. They check the unconscious Filch, then the three snivelling and sobbing boys.

"Cruciatus curse exposure!" Flitwick shouts, "Albus! Someone's been torturing these boys!"

"They must still be here!" Mcgonagall exclaims, causing Harry to curse under his breath.

"We need a way out!" he whispers to Hermione, who silently and almost dispassionately follows.

*Pop!*

He blinks, feeling magic wash over him and the area change... The Come and Go Room?

"Mastaa's needs helps?" Blitzy asks, standing before them with a reverent smile.

...

"Yeah, take us to the forest near the Quidditch pitch." he orders, and the house elf makes it so.

*Pop!*