Coldstone Harshing was only several of Tarquin's ravishing strides towards his design: outside of HQ. Moves like a ghost, cloaked like a phantom, wand held like an olympic fencer. She, the beast had asked for practise. She would get it and fuel his innards at the same time. To kill two birds with one stone is usually a metaphor, but in the case of Coldstone Harshing it is safer never to use dark imagery.

He was outside now, he had written formally to the beast. She would come, she had a thirst for knowledge. He waited - for how long, he did not keep check. When their was blood on the menu time was of no importance or significance. He would wait for the beast for an eternity and when she came he would slay her.

*Kiley had recieved the letter and came outside, her wand held in her hand. She had asked for help from Harshing, but she hadn't expected that he actually would help her. As she stepped out into the moon lit september night, the wind chilled her to the bone and blew her hair around her face. As she looked up and saw Harshing, a thrill a genuine fear settled in around her as she almost regretted her request*

The wind whipped up an eddy that was strong enough to shake the ancient yews on the meadow grass yet nothing could waver the incredible presence of Harshing who stood still - the teacher, the wizard, the commander. His cloak moved only as he circled the beast. The ogre. His obsession ran deep and was starting to become a sore, her mother had not trigged his sadism yet it had caused his epitome of hatred for Kiley the beast.

"Why b*****d?" He called out, his voice serpentine. "Wherefore base?" He did not laugh. "I shall call you Plague until you can defeat me. Now, Plague - I shall teach you the greatest curse ever discovered, the cruciatus curse. It is not evil. Evil is subjective. I think you are evil, you think I am evil. The curse is used on foes that we think are evil. If we could use it on Sentinus we would."

He wanted to clear any misconceptions about torture up. "Inflicting pain is wonderful. It is exciting. I would never stop doing it. Crucio is the quickest most efficient way to cause it. There are more exciting ways but none as.... fast."

"Fire a cruciatus curse at me, Plague."

*Kiley stepped foward. She tried to push away her fear and concentrate. Kiley hated the idea of using an unforgivable, but she knew that the wizarding world was once again, at war and that they needed to train for it. Kiley tried to focus on all the pain harshing had caused her as she raised her wand* "Crucio!" *She yelled, pointing her wand at Harshing, dreading what he would do to her if it didn't work*

It worked...pathetically. It hit him and he stepped back a little, shaking off the meagre attempt. "Terrible, Plague. I shall demonstrate its full potential." He smiled so seductively, raising his wand and stabbing it through the air like it was a sword, as he did so he said the horrid word: "Crucio." The curse melted through the air.

*Kiley's knees buckled and she fell to the ground on her back. Her scream pierced the night. She managed to hold onto her wand but barely. Kiley's back arched from the intense pain. She closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face.*

"Little Plague has infected herself." He moved his wand and the curse ceased. "You arched like your whorish mother, yes another filthy beast, devilish, spiteful...pittiful." He laughed after this. "She was a dog...somethings run in families."

"Try again, PLague!"

*Kiley took a deep breath and stood. She was weakened from the crucio but she was determined to get it right* "Crucio!" *She tried to think of how much she hated Harshing and what he had done to make her feel like that. Her legs were shaking*

Harshing shook with a bit of pain however it took him no time at all to recover from yet another weak, yet slightly stronger attempt. "Yes, a weak pathetic corgie dog... never stops yapping but has the resilience of an ant. And ants have to be crushed." Harshing stabbed his wand through the air, "Crucio," he released the curse like an expert.

*Kiley held in the scream as she fell to the ground. A strained groan escaped from between her gritted teeth. She just wanted it to end, but she refused to give him the satisfying of begging with him. She could sence the old feelings of hate crawling back to her. She despised the man that stood before her to the very core of her being*

He removed the curse. "Silly. Little. Girl. Such big ideas for a resistance yet cannot even fight off a single man. How laughable. They are laughing at you Kiley." Whispers began to call around Kiley's head (like lost) saying thinks like "dog", "bitch." They were her friend's voices, then just Mel's voice, laughing.

"Mel is laughing at you now - what a dizzy little day dream all this was. A silly daydream for a stupid f*cking girl!"

OOC: THrow a full crucio at Harshing... hes winding her up so she does lol.

ooc: That's what I was going to do. lol

ic:

*The hate bubbled up inside her. She stood, ignoring the pain she felt throughout her limbs, the reminents of the curse. She looked at Harshing, gripping her wand to the point that her nuckles were white* "CRUCIO!" *She screamed, concentrating on what he was saying to her, what he had done to her mother, and the fact that he didn't think she could do it. Kiley could almost feel a change, as if she knew it woulc work this time*

Harshing was thrown off his feet and into the mud where he failed, arched and twisted in utter agony. He could feel the hate around him what had caused such a potent curse. She had mastered it, however whether she could repeat this was another matter - summoning hate would be hard for her, it had taken a long time for Harshing to implant the seeds of hatred into her mind. He made no utterance, it was just like the night of his induction - only on a lesser scale. Eventually he was able to keep himself still, using the few techniques he knew to ease the pain to a minimal extent. However, to ease crucio was like sipping the ocean.

*Kiley lifted the curse after a moment. She bit at her lip, unsure if it had really been her that had tortured someone. Kiley knew she would only ever use the curse if absolutly necessary because the idea of it scared her. She realized now that her knees were once again shaking as she stared at Harshing on the ground, unsure of what to do or how she felt about the whole situation.*

Harshing got up and steadied himself. He looked at Kiley straight in the eye - his red vessels pumping around the pupils. Pump. Pump. A split second appeared before he said, "Avada Kedavra" and sent a ray of green sparks towards the sky.

"I win. You finally mastered it and failed at the last hurdle. You released me unharmed with my full power at hand. If I was a psychopath I would have killed you." The deep irony of the situation was what made it even funnier for Harshing.

"You are a physopath." *She muttered under her breath. Luckly, the wind was blowing hard enough that it was have been hard for him to hear her.* "I don't want to kill anyone." *She explained at regular volume.* "I'm ding this to train so that when the battle starts, I'l be ready. If it gets to the point of murder....I will....but it's not for recreation."

Harshing shook his head and sighed like he was dealing with a cretinous first year. He was tempted to say "detention" but then thought twice about where he was and his current position. "Back in the duelling position Plague!"

Harshing thrashed his wand about in the air, forming complex signs and symbols. The ground shook and a giant "thing" rocketed from it, a long muddy sod - a dirt snake, thrashing and biting and plummetting towards Kiley. Then it stopped, feet away.

"Elemental Animation and Mensa-Connectivity. I am probably one of five wizards in the world able to do this. Would you like to learn how to create and control clockwork-like elemental beasts?"

"This snake will do anything I like." It started to sway in the air then roll on the floor. It shed its dirt skin and formed a rocky outerlayer so it looked like a rock-demon. It split into two creatures then into four, then into eight until there was an army of small sized snakes, all doing the same thing. They rejoined to form a giant one again.

"I can teach you Elemental Animation but I am sworn never to reveal Mensa connectivity. You will be able to animate elements but never control them to the extent I have just done."

*When the snake came towards her, Kiley gasped and stumbled back, almost falling on her back. She ppulled herself together after a few seconds and focused on Harshing again. Kiley realzed how much being able to do what harshing had just done would put her ahead of the the family. They were the under dogs and they needed help.* "Alright....teach me." *Kiley's position tenced slightly as she physically and mentally prepared herself*

The snake vanished. "We start small." He sat on the floor and took a clump of dirt. He motioned for Kiley to join him. This was a strange feat - passing on knowledge to his most hated freak. She was so stupid, so naive.

"What you see is not Naturalism. It is sort of imitation Naturalism. Now, the first step is the hardest step. You must split your mind into two streams. My mind is in seven streams at the moment - but dont ever attempt it, it can kill you. A stream of thought is what most people have. A single stream. They think with it, pleasure with it and talk with it. What I propose is a more efficient way of thinking."

He paused and split the soil in half. "Two streams of thought. One for the magic I will teach you as well as other things you shall learn. The other for all your normal things."

He waited for her response.

*Kiley immitated him, rolling the clump of dirt between her palms. She broke it in half and looked at them.* "Is it dangerous to split your stream of through into two?" *She asked, lookin up from the dirt to harshing* "Is it perminate or only when you want to use this sort of magic?"

"I recommend always keeping two streams. It will make you a much better Witch. Just think - half of your capacity totally dedicated to wizardry, uncluttered by such tediums of life."

Harshing paused for a moment.

"Power Kiley. Power."

"I have a stream for wand magic, a stream for legilimency, a stream for the magic I am teaching you, one for talking, one for thinking and another for creativity. The very last one is for pleasure."

"Is it hard to acheive?" *She asked, not taking her eyes from him. She was really intent on learning it. It sounded like it would help so much. Even if it was going to be difficult, she was willing to try her hardest.*

"There are only about 30 people in the world who have mastered mind partition. There are even less who have done it multiple times."

He took his hand and cracked it across her face as hard as he could while sitting down. "Bitch. Whore."

He cracked her again. "Take that anger, concentrate it. Make it your only thought."

*Kiey's hand came up to her face where she had ben slapped. when he told her to concentrate on the anger she reluctantly let her hand drop back to her side as she started to ignore the pain and concentrate only on anger. Specfically her anger at Harshing. She thought only of the anger untll it consumed her. She didn't even realize that she was gripping the dirt clumps in her hands so hard that her hands were shaking.*

"Good," he said in the most sickening voice imaginable. He traced his finger on her cheeks and began to speak in tongues, odd languages - ancient languages. "Now, think of happiness, but keep the anger. Think of them both at once, do not switch. Both in simultaneous balance. If you fail then I shall beat you, like I beat your mother."

*At first Kiley didn't understand how that could even be possible. But after a minute of cncentrating she had acheived it. The anger was stronger than the happiness, ut she was deffinetly somewhat happy along with angry.*

"Hold it until they are both equal. When they are equal tell me, then I shall allow you to see the mind partition." Harshing would usually do some fancy footwork here but he was sitting down so could not and as Kiley had her eyes closed his evil snarls and facial expressions would go unnoticed. Thus, Harshing sat. And watched.

*It took Kiley about 5 minutes of pure concentration to get her train of throught where she wanted it. Her anger and happiness weren't completely equal; the anger was still stronger than the happiness, but not by very much.* "Okay. Ready." *She spoke quietly, afraid to mess everything up.*

He pressed his finger into her forehead and muttered something that could kill devils - it sent a magical dagger through her mind separating her happiness and anger into two separate streams.

*Kiley felt a shockwave go through her body. She went very tence and then relaxed. And ust like that kiley had two streams of thought. It felt so different from anything else she had ever expirenced in her whole life. Kiley opened her eyes and looked at Harshing, astonished.*

Harshing looked back. He so wanted to beat her senseless and prop her little body up in his house - feed her, nurture her, bed her - of course she would never return his conversation because she would be dead. How easy it would be to take her hair and wrap it around her pretty throat, keep it there and watch her struggle for air.

"The wall is permeable. You can send things through one side to the next, for example if you want to do a patronus force your happy memories into a seperate stream and then use the same one for casting."

"That will do for tonight. You need to practise daily - keep the boundary there, soon it will be as easy as breathing. If you let it slip we will need to start over."

*Kiley nodded and stood. She slipped her wand back into her pocket and brushed off her jeans. Se asn't sure if she should say thank you or just leave....now that the meeting was over she didn't know how to show gratitude towards her old teacher whom she had previously hated more than anything.* "Okay.....um....when's the next meeting going to be?"

He ignored her and simply waved her off. Harshing would not be dictated to... especially not by a little beast like Kiley. No, Harshing would keep her eager, he would use this incentive as power, as leverage to keep the entire resistance at his whim. Now there was only Rogue. When she was tamed once again Coldstone Harshing would control everything.

"Okay." *Kiley breathed, turning back to the house. She didn't glance back over her shoulder, just lft harshing out there to do whatever he wanted. Kiley had a mild headache from splitting her train of thought into two but she ignored it. Kiley went over and over the things that she had been taught as she went inside, tiptoes into her room so she wouldn't wake Rogue, and climbed into bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow*

Milo stepped outside and lit a cigarette up, he smoked in distaste. He never liked them - he smoked to show off and had somehow become addicted. He stamped it out in frustration. Harshing stood in a field, mist around him. Blink. Harshing was gone.