Chapter - 67 : Greetings Part - 4

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Harry kicked himself mentally for not recognising the effects of the Imperius Curse earlier and was forced to watch as Brian took a gulp of the same poisoned pumpkin juice that had Harry under its effects. He tried to protest, but found to his dismay that his mouth was moving sluggishly.

"Heulweuh," he breathed. His mouth was open but his tongue refused to work. Worse, his mouth wouldn't close again. He could still blink, but even that began to feel sluggish and he had to force himself to keep his eyes open, lest he be rendered both paralysed and blind.

"I did say it was a three-part cocktail, did I not?" Mortimer remarked. "Now, be quiet. Brian and I have some issues to deal with."

He scowled down at the boy and with a vicious edge, ordered, "Act normally!"

Immediately Brian's face looked stricken and tears welled up. "Please, I'm sorry. Please just let me go."

"You should have thought of that before you considered defiling my little princess."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he babbled. "I didn't do anything."

Harry mentally bucked and thrashed, but no matter how much he willed it so, his body wasn't responding. However, with the truth serum's effects coming at an end the cloud that had come over his mind dissipated, allowing him to think once more

His mind raced.

He needed to find a way out, for both of their sakes, but he had no wand, no magical objects and his body was completely unresponsive. The only thing working was... his mind that he had been strengthening with magic for a month.

Immediately he tried to fall into his Augeomency trance, but it was very hard as he had never tried to do so with his eyes open and the paralysis had progressed to the point where he could no longer close them. So instead of a calm and serene environment he was forced to watch as a Death Eater barked at a poisoned boy.

Mortimer narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Did you or did you not ask my little girl, the Heiress to a Noble pureblood house to accompany your filthy Mudblood self on a date?"

Brian shuddered and looked around fearfully for an escape. "I did," he breathed out miserably. "I'm sorry."

Mortimer shook his head to dispel some of his rage. "She is far too young for such things – I'm thinking 30 is a good age – but in either case a bug like you is far below her. So," He jabbed the boy's chest with his wand. "If you find yourself having improper thoughts about the future Lady of a Noble house, what will you do?"

"Run away, run away, run away..." Brian's voice trailed off in a whisper as he closed his eyes.

"Exactly!" Mortimer cried triumphantly. "Or you would, if you would be alive to do so."

Brian's eyes shot open, full of terror. "Please, please, please-"

"Oh yes," the Death Eater said viciously, ignoring his pleas. "And in the mean time..." His mouth curled into a malicious smirk even as his eyes darkened with a predatory look. "What deep dark secrets would you rather die than reveal?"

Wide-eyed, Brian shuddered, tears streaming down his cheeks before he haltingly began to speak in a broken tone.

"I watched... my best friend... in the shower and it excited me but it was wrong and I'm sorry and I touched myself and I'm sorry, so sorry and when I was ten I stole a necklace from the neighbours but I didn't mean to and I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Harry couldn't stop a tear from escaping as he was forced to listen to a litany of self-loathing from a fourteen year old boy as any and all secrets and failures were forced out of him in the most degrading and humiliating fashion imaginable.

He redoubled his efforts and this time succeeded at falling into his Augeomency trance, though he remained frighteningly aware of the torture happening only feet away. Ignoring it as best he could, he drew on all the magic not yet bolstering his Occlumency shield or memory recollection or any of the half-dozen other areas of Mind Magic he hadn't spent time studying. Instead, he commanded every last drop to trickle together and gather in a ball.

As soon as he made eye-contact with that Death Eater he planned to throw it in his face. He knew the theory behind Legilimency even though he'd never tried. Maybe he could command the man to release them.

He had to, it was his only hope.

It was slow going, though and he raged and threw himself against the cage holding his body in place as he was forced stare unblinkingly at Brian's tear-stained and tortured face, his heart breaking with every spoken word.

As best he could he tried to convey sympathy and understanding, that it was all right, but Brian's gaze was miles away as the boy lost himself in his darkest memories, forced to the surface at the whim of a Death Eater.

The Death Eater cackled somewhere to the side, outside his field of vision, the laughter growing louder with every tear the boy shed as if they literally fuelled his amusement.

It felt like hours but couldn't have been more than five minutes before Brian's voice hitched and started to slur as the third part of the potion cocktail kicked in and silenced his torrent of torture.

The Death Eater clapped his hands and let out a contented sigh. "That'll teach you to stay away from my little girl."

Harry listened as the man moved around the room, packing up his stuff. He mentally jolted as a hand was placed on his shoulder, but the man didn't enter his field of vision, unknowingly preventing Harry from striking as he planned.

"Well, I should probably be going. It would be awkward to get caught having lunch with two dead bodies," the Death Eater said jovially. "Just so you know, the third compound is a slow-acting but strong paralytic that will stop every muscle, including those drawing air into your lungs and, of course, your heart. That'll happen in five minutes or so for the good Professor here. Little Brian has an extra ten."

No! Harry raged. He needed the man to get over here and look him in the eye!

The Death Eater did not oblige, instead moving around a little more, judging by the footsteps. Harry mentally checked himself over, his worry growing, because his breathing did feel a little more shallow than before, as if his lungs were having trouble getting enough air.

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