Self Sacrifice and Shame
A sickening crunch echoes through the room, followed swiftly by a muffled yelp of pain. This process continues as Arminius Calico, the young boy prodigy, desperately reaches for the wand in front of him as Walburga and Orion Black are methodically breaking each of his limbs.
“Stop!! You're hurting him!!” Hydrus cries out as he struggles desperately to get over to him, hot tears streaming from his tired eyes as the third death-eater holds him back. As if ignoring his desperate cries, the two merciless death eaters continue their torture.
Arminius struggles to stay awake, he doesn’t care how bad this hurts, he has to get up. “Get up damn it!! Cmon!! If I don’t they’ll just hurt him more!!” He attempts to reach for his wand again, his head being violently smashed on the cold hard ground by a large, wing-tip shoe, A wand is pointed at his throat as Arminius struggles to lift his head up, his teeth clenched and a tired scowl on his face. A pool of blood that grows bigger by each passing second only adding to the carnage, it’s a miracle he’s even awake at this point.
Walburga smirks at the boy, her wand pointed directly at his throat. Calico desperately tries to struggle out of Orion’s grip but is forced into submission as the death eater holding him in place snaps his other arm. Arminius looks into the dreadful eyes of Walburga, his vision swimming as he scowls defiantly, refusing to give them the satisfaction of him pleading.
“What do you think we should do with him, Dear? This boy is clearly a nuisance…” Walburga begins. Orion tightens his grip on the boy and shoves him against the stone floor of the basement, Orion thinks for a moment before meeting his wife’s gaze and responding.
“I do agree, although this boy is clearly quite intelligent- he may be of some use to us yet.” He says with a dreadful smile as Walburga nods, a smile slowly crawling up her lips as she realizes what her brother meant. Calico struggles in a vain attempt to reach his wand as Walburga kneels down to look him in the eye, those evil silver eyes staring into the piercing blue of Calico’s. Arminius coughs as blood spews from his mouth, choking and spluttering between his desperate breaths as he’s forced to make eye contact with that awful woman.
“You're a Calico aren’t you, dear~?” Walburga croons as Arminius continues to struggle, his efforts stopped as Orion steps on his broken arm, the pool of blood surrounding him getting to be twice as large as it was before. The Blacks and the Calicos have a rivalry dating back centuries, the Calicos a long line of skilled aurors and the Blacks a long line of dark wizards and death eaters. The Blacks and the Calicos despised one another, the aurors from the Calico line always finding some way to track down and catch the infamously evil family in the act.
Clearly a skill that hadn’t skipped the newest generation of the Calicos.
“It would be quite the shame if the infamous Clara and Timothy Calico found out their only son was killed~” Walburga coos, lifting Arminius by the chin. He can’t do anything against the movement but growl at Walburga, nearly suffocating on his own blood. He’s desperately trying to use his genius mind to think his way out of this, but he had to think fast. Things were going to get a lot worse for Hydrus if Calico died here-
“But I think it would be even more of a shame if they found out their only son became the very thing they hate the most~” Walburga finished, victory mingling with amusement in her vile eyes as she backs away. Calico’s eyes widen in horror as he desperately struggles, blood is streaming into his lungs as he coughs it up. Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, his bracelet went off. “No, no no no no no no!!”And as if the world wanted him to die, the Cruciatus curse hit him the second the shocks began, The young prodigy screaming and crying from the pain. After the curse’s effects had worn off, Calico continues to lie there as the shocks course through him. He’s curled up on his side, violent tremors shaking his mangled form. By either a miracle or pure spite, Arminius lifts his head and spits blood at Orion’s shoes.
“It…It’s…g-gonna…t-take a….a-lot more…t-then t-that…” He wheezes as he finally collapses for what he thought would be the final time. Everything was fading to black, he must be dying. Walburga lifts him to his knees by the hair, pointing his own wand at his left forearm, Orion stretching out the broken arm, ready for his wife to give the mark. Calico squeezes his eyes shut further, bracing himself for the blinding pain. If this was what it took, so be it, at least it gave Hydrus more time to escape. He doesn't care about living anymore, he smiles in relief as he clenches his jaw, ready to get the dark lord’s brand to free Hy-
“WAIT PLEASE!!” Hydrus cries out, his voice somehow more desperate than before. He has hot tears streaming down his face as he writhes against the man’s grip. Calico struggles to lift his head as he opens his eyes, his vision so blurry he can barely see the floor as Walburga and Orion turn to their child, who has been released so that he can try to struggle his way to Calico. The death eater behind him laughs as Hydrus desperately tries to claw his way to Arminius, barely getting a centimeter closer.
“I’ll do anything!! I swear!! Anything at all! Just please don’t hurt him anymore!! He’s had enough!!” Hydrus continues, coughing as the man behind him steps on his spine.
Calico finally snaps, as he suddenly, by some miracle, almost sits up and reaches out to Hydrus.
Walburga tosses Calico’s wand to the side, smirking as her plan seems to unfold perfectly.
“NO!! HYDRUS THEY’RE TRYING TO TRICK YOU-” He yells out before being violently kicked in the stomach, copious amounts of blood spewing from his mouth as he coughs, he can’t seem to move anymore. Arminius finds himself against the nearby wall from the force of the kick, hardly able to make out a thin length of wood just out of arm’s reach from his position. If he could just… reach… it…
Walburga steps forward, twirling her wand between her fingers, a smirk on her vile face, she knew it would work. Her plan was to absolutely break her daughter’s apparent best friend to get Hydrus to bend to her will, and it had worked. Calico, in a desperate attempt reaches for Hydrus, as he coughs on the blood he’s choking on, he’s resorting to begging Hydrus to not do what he knows Hydrus would do,
“N-no…p-please n-no…n-not a-again….” He begs as he reaches out for Hydrus, the pools of blood so big it’s a miracle he’s still alive. No one listens to him as Walburga and Orion approach Hydrus.
Something in Arminius Calico changed that night, something big. He reaches for his wand, grabs it, and, with his broken arm and his blurry gaze, manages to aim it straight at the three of them. Coughing blood, he knows he only has one shot. He was going to petrify them, at first…but everything was starting to get even worse, which made Arminius Calico, for the first time in his life, abandon his morals and values, for a life.
“Avada…Kedavra…” He muttered with the last bit of strength he had, collapsing once more and shaking violently. The spell had split, hitting the unnamed death eater and Orion Black, Walburga had barely dodged the third prong of the killing curse, having dived to the side at the last minute. As his mother looks upon her dead companions. Hydrus was immobilized from shock, his best friend apparently dead just a few feet away. After a few seconds of recovery, Walburga turns towards the violently shaking Calico, who’s trying to stand and failing miserably.
“Y o u.” Walburga snarls as she steps towards the young prodigy, pointing her wand directly at his skull. He finally lifts his head and spits a glob of blood at the woman. Damn…this kid was STILL alive?! How?! Walburga is clearly ready to end this boy, once and for all. Calico brings his arm, fractured and broken, up. Wand pointed directly at the vile woman’s chest, causing Walburga to freeze up. Maybe out of shock, maybe out of fear for what curse or spell the boy would fire off next.
“Petrificus…Totalus…” he snarls, the charm shoots directly at Walburga, she’s petrified, and will be for a while. Calico groans in pain as he collapses again, slumping against the wall. Hydrus shakes his head, broken out of his shock-induced trance.
“Arminius!! Don’t move!!” Hydrus calls out as he tries to stand, his bruised and violated body refusing to allow him, he collapses, hissing in pain as he collides with the floor. Calico lifts his head up at this and slowly, using the wall, attempts to stand. After about fifteen minutes of this, he’s leaning heavily on the wall as his blood gets everywhere, his robes tattered, his glasses broken, pretty much every bone in his body broken as well, it should be impossible for him to be standing. Yet here Arminus Calico was, standing. His legs were shaking and threatening to give out, but he was standing, and though this caused him immense pain, he didn't care, he’s determined to get over to Hydrus. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Hydrus shouts, voice hoarse from the hours of screaming and crying “YOU’LL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE-!” but Arminius Calico didn’t listen. After a couple of agonizing minutes, Arminius finally makes it to Hydrus, who manages to prop himself up against the wall, and leans against the wall himself, hissing with pain as he reaches out to his best friend. The silver eyed boy crying once more.
“L-let’s….get you….out….o-of h-here…” He coughs, spluttering on the thick blood getting caught in his throat. After this he tries to smile, but Hydrus hates him for it. Hydrus hesitantly reaches out, gingerly taking Calico’s hand, and next thing he knows, he’s on the fractured shoulders of his best friend, who can’t seem to breathe properly.
“What are you doing?! I’ll be fine!! Just let me-” Hydrus starts, trying to convince this stubborn asshole he calls his best friend, who just shakes his head “I-” “Just let m-” Hydrus tries to get off of Arminius’s back but the prodigy wouldn’t let him. After about another hour of struggling and bickering, Arminius is somehow able to get Hydrus out of this shitshow of blood, gore, and trauma.
The boys collapse on a patch of grass, dark clouds blot out the night sky as lightning heralds the arrival of rolling thunder, rain pelting their bruised and broken bodies. Lightning flashes once more, briefly illuminating roughly ten figures before the thunder plunges them back into darkness. They rush over to the two boys, a Hydrus is in the middle of a full-blown panic attack as he clutches the now soaked tattered dress his mother had forced him to wear closer to his body.
As one of the order members lifts Hydrus from the ground, another pauses to inspect Calico, this member is rather young and most likely inexperienced, but a look of concern and horror at the prodigy’s condition is on his pale face.
“Get…him to the…hospital wing…!! He’s…hurt!! Take…care… of him!!” Calcio chokes out, body going limp as the rain pelts the group and his lifeless, bloody form.
“ARMINIUS!!” Hydrus yells out as the order tries to carry him away, the silver-eyed boy trying to sprint to his best friend bleeding out on the soaked lawn as lightning flashes above once more.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HE NEEDS IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION!! HE’S GOING TO DIE!!” Hydrus screams above the thunder and pelting rain as he reaches out, kicking and crying.
“I’m sorry, Hydrus, but we have specific orders only to retrieve you.” An order member states in an attempt to calm the silver-eyed boy, it only makes him struggle harder. Hydrus screams louder, pounding the order member’s back with his fists.. Calico slowly tries to lift his aching head once more, his eyes glazing over and blood trickling from his mouth and various wounds.
“THAT’S SUCH BULLSHIT!! ARMINIUS HANG ON!! PLEASE YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!” Hydrus shouts, desperate voice barely audible over the storm as he tries to break free from a grip he was in and run over to Arminius. He fails, trying anything and everything to get over to his best friend and help him.
“PLEASE YOU CAN’T LEAVE HIM HERE TO DIE!! HE’S THE ONE WHO SAVED ME!! JUST PLEASE WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!! ARMINIUS!!” Hydrus shrieks as he’s being led away, with tears running down his cheeks, Calico looked up, reaching out to Hydrus as his vision begins to give out, the world a blur of darkness and cries.
“Hydrus…” He mutters before coughing up a huge clot of blood. His body can’t take anymore of the stress and pain that the stubborn young prodigy has put it through. He finally slips into unconsciousness as he’s left in the soaked grass. The storm doesn’t ease up as Hydrus and the others disappear. As the rain, cold and wet, hits Arminius Calico he lays there, unable to move, his body finally having had enough. A loud clap and an echo of thunder can be heard as Arminius Calico is left to bleed out and die…Alone…
He deserves this in his mind, he wasn’t able to save Hydrus. Not entirely.