Deep within the forest a fire raged in a clearing scattered with ashes. Several children were chained onto the trees surrounding it. A cauldron bubbled away over the thick black smoke. A table with an assortment of objects lay next to the cauldron: knives, scalpels, chains, and spikes of varying degrees. The children had been muted temporarily however not put out, watching them struggle against the chains brought life to Coldstone' eyes.

Four children, all in the first year. All four gryffindors... wait no, one was a ravenclaw. Yes... the four that had been sent to him in the last week. He guessed that this was their ultimate detention. His school was perfect, and nothing would blemish it. He picked up his wand, the most lethal weapon of all.

*Dorien had been hunting for a meal when he head a noise that sounded like a culdron. No wonder he couldn't catch anything. Dorien silently set off through the forest towards the noise, his pale skin standing out dramatically against the dark of the night. Dorien hadn't been able to feed for a while, so his eyes were dark and he had dark circles under his eyes. Finally he reaced the clearing where Harshing was with the children. Dorien stepped out of the shadows* "Coldstone?" *His voice was soft; muted. Dorien kept back from them, not trusting himsef being as thirsty as he was*

Harshing snapped around to look at Dorien, "Ah, my Dorien, my dear Dorien, so glad you could join us for our little party." There was a twinge of shock in his voice, he had not expected to be interrupted. Harshing waved his wand and party hats appeared on each of the child's heads. Harshing went up to the first child he came to and seized their face in his long hands. "This one," he said to Dorien, "Did not turn up to Potions."

He pulled his head back and made a sweeping motion across the boy's pretty neck with his wand. Nothing happened. Harshing laughed manically. "Almost had you dear, dear Dorien. Almost had you. This is a party, parties can last several hours..."

He moved back to his cauldron and threw in several plants until the steam turned purple.

*Dorien circled around the outer edge of the clearing. He could smellt he fear issuing from every child. It pumped the sour venom into his mouth and made his thirst even stronger.* "Speaking of which......I heard a rumor that you'll be opening up room 101 again." *Dorien didn't like what was happening....but he needed harshing on his good side*

"Yes, a necessary measure. The schools future depends on it. Of course, only I will have the power to send people there. I do not forget my friends, Dorien." He took a knife and chopped one of the children's fingers clean off. He threw it into the pot and watched the smoke change to a deeper purple. He bottled some of the potion and, with his wand in his other hand made the boy levitate from the ground and his mouth open wide. He gluggled the potion down and watched.

The boy writhed around, screaming for his mother, brother and father, begging to die. Harshing watched, with a slight smile. "Bottled 101," he told Dorien, "Not as bad but a similar effect." The screaming continued. Harshing kicked the boy's body to the side as he approached Dorien.

*Dorien had to force himself to look away from the boy's hnad, which was now covered in blood. The smell was intoxicating. He brought his long pale fingers to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes* "I rmember rom 101." *He tried to kep his voice even* "I remember reading out it in the profit when it was first intoduced."

"Yes, majestic isnt it?" Harshing waved his wand, ripping off the boy's clothes. Then he watched as small cuts slashed across his belly, causing pain but not deep enough to draw blood. Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. Each one added to the cumulative pain effect, making his nightmare ever more nightmarish. The other children sobbed silently, still under the mute charm.

A few more moments passed before Harshing forced all the other children's eyes open to watch the pain of them. "Avada Kedavra." The boy died instantly.

"My friends," he whispered to them all, "You have just witnessed a taster of what could happen to you. Listen and obey me very carefully or else you shall suffer thrice what dear James suffered."

Harshing knelt next to James' body and touched his forehead. He watched as the body turned to ash before him.

"Lets play a game Dorien. I shall ask you a question. Get it right you can save one of these children. Get it wrong and I shall give them this potion then kill them. How about it Dorien?"

*Dorien had turned away from the group, keeping his back to everyone. Dorien let his head fall back and he placed his hands on his waiste. The thist was indescribable.* "Alright. What's the question?" *Dorien's voice was still muted, but it carried. He wanted to save the kids......it made him sick to look at them tied up there.*

Harshing smiled and held his wand out, ready to kill. "What is the latin name for blood?" His eyes shimmied in the low light, a sense of danger and trickery was about him - he was up to something....

"There's two words for it." *Dorien answered almost immediately. He had studied latin before.* "Cruor or sanguis....They both mean blood." *Dorien finally forced himsef to turn around and face harshing. Outwardly, Dorien seemed in control of the thirst. But his eyes were on fire and his hands were clenched into tight fists, the blue veins standing out against his pale skin*

Somewhere, some where deep in the soul of Coldstone Harshing, in that blackened carboniferous lump of life was a little twinkle. He smiled, licked his bottom lip and in one twitch of his wand a boy was released but then he howled with pain as his leg was cut clean off and started to dissolve into nothingness.

"We all must pay a price Dorien, he will be bounded to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. He will never forget that resisting me is wrong." Harshing healed the stump and watched as the boy crawled through the woods, still howling.

Harshing sat down, looking at his remaining children. "I used to come here with friends, we would torture together. I would lead, we would dare each other further. For some reason, when doing it alone it loses its edge, its pleasure. There is no one to compete with, no one to share the sheer pleasure of hurting someone else. Yet I feel no guilt, because what is life? A pointless gap of theatre in between dust and more dust. Idiocy confounded by greater idiocy." He turned to Dorien.

"Some of us thrive and control this pointlessness we call life. I am one of them. Some people are controlled, making life ever more pointless."

"And some Dorien, some are very special. Some are the strongest of all. Some are free."

"Parents will find out about this......" *Dorien said, his voice still muted. He had resorted to holding his breath to stop himself from smelling the blood. it wasn't helping very much* "The school will be shut down. You can't do this and get away with it."

"But Dorien, I can. I am Head Protector now - Its easy just to make some people... dissapear. This travesty will be blamed on the Death Eaters. The children will remember nothing."

"Let the children go." *He said, taking a step foward.* "This is wrong......they're only children. Let them go, Coldstone." *Dorien didn't want to resort to violence, but he would if it would save the kids.* "I'm starting to get the feeling that I should no longer be your alley." (sp?)

Harshing was taken aback, Dorien's friendship... no allegiance (friends were for morons) was for granted. He looked around and the reality of what he was doing hit him, he thought he had left all of this behind, the blood, the tears, the killings - he was Patron for god's sake!" He performed a memory charm on the remaining victims and levitated them back to the castle.

He sat on a rock. "Dorien - As Premier of the State I need unquestionable allegiance. What you saw here was nothing more than necessary sacrifices to make our world a better place. I have removed people from your education who were disruptive. Its about the greater good. A man once told me about that - Quantum Bonus, greater good.

"I've found that it's easier to pull people into your cause with karisma and kindness than through brutality and fear." *Dorien took a deep breath. there was still the lingering smell of blood, but now that the kids were gone the majority of it, as well with the smell of fear, was gone.*