Chapter 20: Le Maledizione Pericolose

The Opposite

Chapter 20: Le Maledizioni Pericolose

Harry's eyes flinched. He sensed someone in the room with him. Slowly reaching under his pillow, he sat up, pointing his wand at the intruder. Ron jumped back, putting his hands up. Harry sighed and relaxed a little.

"Ron, I could've easily blown your head off. What is it?" he asked sounding slightly annoyed. Then he looked out of the window to the left of him. It was still very dark outside. Ron sighed and sat at the end of Harry's bed. He looked very tired. "Ron, what time is it?"

"It's past two in the morning. Harry, do you realize that the first is in two days?" he said, looking up at his best mate. Harry nodded slowly. Then he narrowed his eyes at Ron.

"Did that woman tell you something that's bothering you? You've been kind of distant since you saw her," Harry stated. Ron nodded his head. "Well, what is it already?"

"I can't tell you. She told me not to reveal it. Plus, I really don't want to think about it. Let's just say it's not the most joyous of news. Besides, the real reason I'm here is that Aislin woke me up. She wants us to start learning four new curses that are apparently really powerful. They'll take a lot of time to learn. That's why we're up so early. So, get up," Ron said, standing. Harry looked at his friend. He'd never seen Ron look so down.

"Ron?" he said. Ron turned before he left the room. Harry smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will work out for the best. We're some of the most powerful wizards now. So, look a little happier. You don't want Hermione harassing you, believe me," Harry said, trying to sound jovial. Ron smiled a little.

"Thanks, Harry." With that, he was gone.

When Harry got downstairs, everyone was sleepily leaning on one another. Aislin was standing, looking very much awake. She clapped her hands.

"Let's look alive, people. Today and for the next two days, I will be teaching four of the most dangerous curses in the world. They are not illegal in this country, but they are illegal in other places such as Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. These curses require a lot of energy. I don't expect all of you to master them. They are really hard." Aislin took out a box of spiders. Ron cringed and took a step back behind Hermione. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe you're still scared of spiders, Ron," Hermione grumbled. Ron scoffed.

"Try being really young and all of a sudden, your favorite toy has too many legs and arms..." Ron shuddered at the thought. Hermione sighed and watched Aislin take out on. She held her hand out and the spider got a little larger.

"They are called 'Le Maledizioni Pericolose.' That means 'The Dangerous Curses' in Italian. The four curses are the Dolore Curse, the Assassinio Di Anima Curse, the Suicidio Curse, and the Détruire Curse. These curses all cause extreme pain. The Détruire Curse is more devastating than the Avada Kedavra Curse. This curse kills, but it kills in a painful way. If you want your victim to suffer before they die, you would use this curse. I will teach you how to do this curse." Aislin took out her wand and pointed it at the spider. "You merely point your wand at your victim. Then you say the incantation. Détruire Fatale!" Aislin yelled. The spider started to twist in what looked like pure agony.

Harry watched the spider with awe and amazement. He looked at Aislin. Her wand began to vibrate violently. She seemed to be concentrating very hard. Her eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly, the spider stopped moving. Aislin raised her wand and looked at them.

"If the spider had a voice, I'm pretty sure it would've been screaming. The next curse is the Dolore Curse." Aislin took out another spider and enlarged it. Ron shuddered again and Hermione sighed. "This curse is like the Cruciatus Curse, but ten times as painful and whomever you use it on is guaranteed to go insane, no ifs, ands, or buts. Observe. Dolore Mortale!" Aislin pointed her wand. What seemed to be a jet of air hit the spider.

Hermione and Aurora recoiled as the spider turned over and began shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly, Aislin lifted the curse. The spider twitched every now and then. Its body was twisted in an awfully painful way. Aislin looked at the young adults. They all looked horrified.

"Scary, huh? Your victim isn't making any noise while this is going on, but they do feel extreme pain. The pain is so powerful that the victim cannot describe it; therefore, they cannot scream. They are in awe of it." Aislin took out another spider and enlarged it. "The next curse is the Suicidio Curse. This curse is like the Imperius Curse in an awkward way. The only difference is that you are telling the person to do one thing. Can anyone guess what that is?" Aislin looked around the room. Neve raised her hand.

"To commit suicide. I believe that is the English word for it, right?" she asked, looking at Aislin. Aislin nodded and pointed her wand at the spider.

"Suicidarse!" she yelled. A jet of green light shot from the tip of her wand. It was amazing what the spider did. It simply put its own legs into its eyes. Then, the spider went still. Aislin looked out at the kids. They all were making disgusted faces. She took out another spider and enlarged it. "This is the last curse. The Assassinio Di Anima Curse. This curse, to me, is the most devastating. It causes the victim's soul to die. You don't want to know what it is like living without a soul. Not a very tempting occurrence. You must have a soul to do it. I don't think that I can do it on a spider, actually. Spiders do not have souls. I don't recommend teaching you this curse." Aislin returned the spider to its normal size. "The incantation is Uccidere L'anima. There really is no way to practice it. Now, let's see what you make of the first curse I taught." She gave everyone spiders, except Ron; she gave him roaches.

Later that day, Hermione had her nose in a book. Neville walked over to her and looked over her shoulder.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, sitting down. Hermione looked up at him.

"I'm looking for a way to block these different curses. Plus, I don't understand why they aren't illegal here," Hermione said, returning to her book.

"That's because not many people know about these curses. They were made mostly by Italians and the French. They are very difficult to perform, also. You must be a relatively powerful wizard or witch to do them. You will find it is much harder to use these curses on a person. Unlike the Unforgivable Curses, you must really despise that person. Justifiable anger and rage will not do it. You must really want to do that person harm. Serious, deadly harm. This comes easier for Dark wizards than anyone else. The Magi are trained to do these curses," a voice said. Hermione and Neville turned to face Fionnula. She was leaning against the wall.

"So, you're saying that if I was to throw one of those curses at Ron, it wouldn't work?" Hermione asked. Fionnula nodded and walked forward. She sat across from Hermione and Neville.

"You're in love with Ronald. You care for him. Your heart will not allow you to kill him or do him any serious harm. You could say the words. You will get the jet of light or air. But, the most he would feel is a tingling sensation. Now, Neveah could easily have killed Sloan with one of the different curses because she truly despised him. It wasn't just anger. She wanted to do him serious, justifiable harm for betraying us. I'm guessing she killed him with her bare hands, knowing Neveah."

"What about Harry?" Neville asked.

"Harry would have a better chance at doing one of the curses to its full potential on Bellatrix Lestrange than Voldemort. Harry did not watch Voldemort murder his parents. Actually, I'm pretty sure he did. But, his memory does not serve him. He witnessed Bellatrix kill his godfather. He told me he tried the Cruciatus Curse on her right after, but at the time, he didn't truly hate her. Harry now has let his hatred for her stew over the past year. He now has another reason to hurt her; she helped Voldemort take Ginny away," Fionnula said. Hermione and Neville nodded unconsciously.

"So, Harry has a better chance of using one of the curses on Bellatrix than Voldemort? Harry utterly hates Voldemort," Hermione said. Fionnula nodded.

"That is very true. Harry loathes Bellatrix. He hates Voldemort. Unless Voldemort does something to completely and totally push Harry over the edge, Harry will not be able to use the curses on him. I guarantee you that they will work much better on Bellatrix than anybody. The other person who could use these curses to their full extent would be Draco." Hermione and Neville looked at each other with incredulous looks on their faces.

"Malfoy? Why Malfoy?" Neville asked, sitting back and crossing his arms. Hermione nodded in agreement with him. Fionnula sighed and crossed his arms.

"Draco knows something that no one else knows, and it's been eating at him since he first knew it. If Draco hated his father before, it is nothing compared to what he feels for him now. It is not my place to disclose what he knows to you, but let me tell you, it's definitely not good. So, that occurrence pushed Draco over the edge. Now, he feels nothing for his father except loathing and contempt," Fionnula said. Hermione nodded.

"Wow. Who would've thought Malfoy would have no problems with killing his father."

"I did. I always knew he hated his father. What I didn't know was to what extent," Hermione said. Neville and Fionnula both looked surprised. Hermione noticed their looks and blushed. "Oh, it's so bloody obvious. I noticed it first in second year. We saw them in the bookstore on Diagon Alley. Draco acted like he hated us. Then, his father walked up. He moved Draco out of the way to speak to us. Behind his back, Draco was glaring daggers at the man. That was when I could tell that he wasn't the insufferable git he makes himself out to be. He only acted that way to appease his father. Still, the things he said were so mean and spiteful, you couldn't help but hate him. It was inevitable," Hermione said.

Upstairs, Draco was practicing on one of his spiders. He concentrated on the spider. Aurora sat on the other side of the room, watching him. She was trying to read his expression. Draco pointed his wand at the spider.

"Dolore Mortale!" he said. The jet of air hit the spider. The spider moved around in tremendous pain. Draco lifted the curse when the spider started twitching. Aurora smiled and clapped her hands.

"Who did you imagine?" Aurora asked. Draco faced her. He smiled smugly.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, sitting on his bed. Aurora crawled over to him.

"Sí," she said softly. Draco turned his head to look at her. Then, he looked down at the floor. Aurora began massaging his shoulders. Draco sighed.

"I imagined my father," he whispered. Aurora stopped massaging his shoulders. Then, she started back up again.

"Why your father?"

"He's done some pretty awful things in his time," Draco said, his breathing slowing down. Aurora nodded in slight understanding. "He's done some really awful things. Things I can't even describe. Things I care not to describe," Draco muttered. Aurora turned him around. She kissed him softly.

"Go to bed. You look very tired," she whispered mellifluously. Draco nodded. Smiling, Aurora left the room as Draco got into bed.

Ron and Harry were also practicing their curses. Neve sat on the side. Aislin walked in the room. Harry looked over at her.

"Can you use Soliopathy to do these curses?" Harry asked. Aislin smiled sardonically at him. Ron stopped doing what he was doing to watch this exchange.

"Well, why don't you try it? Harry, when you do these curses, do not picture Voldemort. Picture someone else," Aislin said. Harry looked at her like she was speaking French.

"You said picture someone you loathe, right?" Harry asked. Aislin shook her head.

"I said picture someone you hate, not loathe," Aislin said. Harry still looked downright perplexed. Aislin sighed. "There is a difference between hatred and loathing, Harry. You loathe Voldemort. You hate someone else. Loathing will not cause your curses to be completely and totally effective. You are not a Dark wizard. They hate just about everything except their wives or husbands and their children. That's what makes it easier for them to do these curses. There is one person I think you would like to kill a little more than Voldemort."

"Why would you say that?" Ron asked, also looking confused. Aislin shook her head. Then, Neve stood up.

"Harry hates Voldemort for the simple reason that he killed his parents. The thing about that is, Harry doesn't remember seeing this happen. He was only told. Surely, Harry has lost someone that he held dear and watched that person die by the hands of another," Neve said. Everyone looked at her.

"I watched Voldemort kill Cedric Diggory," Harry said. Neve shook her head.

"You didn't consider Cedric a close friend, did you? Not like you think of Ron, Hermione, or Neville, do you?" Harry shook his head. Neve nodded. "See, that's why you can't truly loathe Voldemort. You watched someone else die, didn't you?" Neve asked. Harry's face darkened.

"I watched Bellatrix Lestrange kill my godfather, Sirius Black," he murmured. Neve nodded.

"I take it you held him very dear," Aislin said. Harry nodded slowly.

"He was the closest thing I've ever had as a parent," he said, barely audible.

"Well, you would hold a greater hatred for Bellatrix than Voldemort. You watched her murder your godfather. You saw how she cackled and boasted about it. You hated her for it," Neve said.

"But, I couldn't do the Cruciatus Curse on her..." Harry began.

"At the time, you were extremely angry at her. You didn't completely and totally hate her. Now, you do because it's been almost a year. I'm pretty sure you've thought about killing her. You hate Voldemort because you are... how do I put this... supposed to or expected to. You hate him so that you won't think twice about killing him," Neve said. Harry nodded, realizing what he needed to do.

"Well, try it now," Aislin said. Harry nodded and turned to face his spider. He pictured that night in the Department of Mysteries and saw the jet of red light hit Sirius and Bellatrix taunting him. His heart filled with absolute blackness. He opened his eyes and held his hand out.

Détruire Fatale, he thought with all his might. A jet of light flew from it, and the spider wrenched around on the table for a moment and then keeled over completely. Harry smiled a bit, looking at the slightly twitching spider. Ron clapped.

"Good job Harry! Now, who would I pick?" Ron looked thoughtful for a moment. Harry frowned. He'd never thought of Ron as one that would loathe someone. He didn't even think Ron had that power. Ron looked like he had an epiphany and pointed his wand at his roach.

"Dolore Mortale!" he yelled. The spider started having mad convulsions. Ron smiled and lifted the curse. He looked at Harry who clapped him on the back.

"Who'd you picture?" Aislin asked. Ron looked at her and smiled mischievously.

"I'll never tell," he said. Neve stepped up and enlarged her spider. She held her wand towards it.

"Suicidarse!" she yelled. The spider promptly proceeded to kill itself.

"Who'd you picture?" Harry asked.

"Guess," was all Neve said. She retreated to her corner and continued to watch Harry and Ron kill their insects.