wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure

[alittlemirror]

To say Jade is displeased would be an understatement. It's not that he cares about this detention tarnishing his record, no. He doesn't really care about his record. What he does care about is how it cuts into his studying time. He had just come across a particularly fascinating snippet on the nature of death and the soul...

(And besides, those Hufflepuffs had started it with their incessant chattering. They're like a less annoying version of Saphir, and nobody had ever really objected when he hexed Saphir. And it's not like he used a serious hex; he just sealed and removed their mouths. Easily reversible, if they knew what they were doing - and knew how to use nonverbal spells.

After all, what kind of first-year doesn't know how to use nonverbal spells?)

But someone had taken offense to his hex, and now he finds himself trudging to Professor Rammsteiner's office, growing increasingly irritated at the loss of his study time. From what he's heard of detentions, they usually entail doing useless, mundane tasks easily accomplished with a little creative wandwork. He's thought about ignoring Professor Rammsteiner's orders more than once, but he's also been told that it would just lead to more detentions and thus a bigger waste of time.

Oh well. He's here now. With one last irritated sigh, he raises his hand to the door and knocks.

"Professor Rammsteiner? This is Jade Curtiss."

Comments

[canicide]

Professor Eichel stands, wand arm up—it's too late. Heine throws his arm forward with force that shoves Professor Eichel up back against the wall with a thump.

His eyes close for a second as he coughs, catching his breath.

Heine walks forward. The room seems small and he wants to swallow everything up; the dog has him reach out and grab him by the front of his robe.

[aseptic]

"Heine..." Professor Eichel falters. Whatever he had been about to say dies in his throat. He's gripping his wand tightly, white-knuckled, but powerless to lift a hand to defend himself.

Jade doesn't think he's seen Professor Eichel so vulnerable before. His own wand is in his hand before he realizes it, but the wood seems to lack its usual warmth; there's something in the room, some unseen menace that seems to swallow up every shred of warmth in the room. Jade stays still, frozen in place, his heart in his throat.

[canicide]

"Who the fuck do you think you are? I told you." Heine's grip tightens on his shirt. "I told you."

Laughing resounds inside his head. Heine gets up close enough to smell him. For a moment he just stares into his professor's face, seeking—something. Regret or something that will stop him.

But there's nothing that he can recognize. Heine's hand closes over his throat, hard. With a sudden force he pulls Eichel by the neck forward, then back, slamming his head against the wall, again and again.

[aseptic]

There's nothing Jade can do but watch, held in place by some unseen force. He should be horrified, he thinks, listening to the crunch of broken bone against the wall. There are better, cleaner ways to do this, ways that don't involve such brutality.

But all he feels is a detached sort of curiosity. He doesn't think he'd move even if he could. He stands there and watches quietly, expression blank, as Eichel's body gradually stops twitching.

[canicide]

The noise goes from hard thuds to a wet smush, wetter and wetter as Heine crushes the back of Eichel's head. Holding onto his neck rather than his head keeps his grip firm.

Time passes while Heine is listening. He doesn't really see anything; the strange sight of Professor Eichel's eyes staring into one spot in space, lightless, and the off angle of his neck seems to have gone far past shock to acceptance.

He lets go eventually and the body falls to the ground. A few pieces of cranium are only partially connected to the rest of his skull, now.

The sheer rage and joy that the dog takes from killing recedes. Heine settles back into his own body, shoulders dropping, presence fading. His limbs feel heavy. It's been a long time since he's done so much, and the effort of locking the dog away once more leaves him exhausted.

[aseptic]

Professor Rammsteiner stops, and with it comes a stillness and silence that is disconcerting after so long. He looks, gaze travelling from the bowed figure in front of him to the corpse on the ground, and the bloody mess that covers the walls and floor. Professor Rammsteiner had been strong enough to break bone, he notes.

The pressure holding him back had faded. Jade takes a step forward, a little hesitant, then another. Is Professor Rammsteiner going to rip him apart next? He probably deserves it. But the aura of menace around him had faded, and his teacher looks tired more than anything.

"You really are cursed," Jade says quietly, more to himself than anything.

[canicide]

Deep breaths. His hand hurts. His head hurts. Heine licks his dry lips and tastes blood. He hadn't noticed the mess splashing onto his face while it was happening.

"You already knew that." And knowing that made Jade just want to use him more, but maybe now that he's seen it, he'll back off.

...probably not. Heine looks back over his shoulder as he straightens up again. If Jade has anything to say... Heine will deal with it then.

[aseptic]

"I didn't realize the extent of it," Jade admits, quiet. There's blood spattered onto Professor Rammsteiner's white, white skin, spots of red flecking his hair.

"I didn't want you to kill him, you know." His eyes go to rest on the corpse once more, and he thinks wistfully of all the knowledge that had just been lost to the world. But what's done is done. If nothing else, at least his mind is his own again. It's time to focus on the future.

Restlessly, he fiddles with his wand, turning it over and over in his fingers. "There will be consequences for this...if we get caught."

[canicide]

Well, he hadn't exactly elaborated on the details of it either. Heine backs away a few steps from the limp body of his old professor, hand curling into a fist at his side.

Jade hadn't wanted Professor Eichel to be killed, but Heine had. He'd been so angry. Was it because of Professor Einsturzen? Or was it Jade?

Either way, it's over with now.

"Then I won't get caught." Jade doesn't have to be involved with this. Heine creates Fiendfyre on the ground; it starts licking up from Eichel's feet. "People knew what he did. If they thought someone blackmailed him into leaving..." Then they probably wouldn't look for the charred remains of a body. Heine plans to get rid of those too, anyway.

[aseptic]

Burning the body to leave no trace... It's the oldest trick in the book, aside from maybe Disapparating the body. Jade isn't convinced it'll be as simple as this, but he doesn't make any move to stop Professor Rammsteiner.

"How are we going to make people believe that?" We, and not you. Perhaps unconsciously, he had chosen to align himself with Professor Rammsteiner.

[canicide]

"Papers. Forged letters." They could mimic an old student's handwriting. It's not even particularly difficult, given a sample and a bit of work with Charms.

Heine is still watching Eichel's body burn. Fiendfyre isn't as hot as a crematory furnace, but he can let it go for as long as he needs to. With a glance back over his shoulder and a hand gesture, he shuts the door more firmly and seals it. The process is something to focus on so he doesn't have to pay attention to the rattling growl in his head.

His hand still hurts, a bit. Heine wonders if he can sit by the fire until it's over or if he should move.

[aseptic]

Jade doesn't hesitate to sit by the warmth of the fire, although it would be more accurate to call it a scorching heat. It'd be easier to sit by Professor Eichel's fireplace, even if the magical flames had already been extinguished with the passing of its owner. Jade could still have easily lit it up again. But he chooses not to. Instead, he settles down, watching the Fiendfyre consume every scrap of his former teacher.

"We could do that," he says, remembering another fire, another teacher whose death he had inadvertently caused. "I don't think people will look hard for him."

Professor Eichel had been respected. Feared, even. But nobody liked him much, except for those students he had charmed, and even then their attraction inevitably gave way to wariness, once Professor Eichel begins his mindgames.

Maybe it's sad, but Jade is simply of the opinion that Eichel had dug his own grave.

[canicide]

They probably won't. Professor Eichel might be a professor, but even during their stay for the Triwizard Tournament, Heine has gotten the impression that people mostly stay out of his way.

So it'll be dealt with. Except for Jade.

"What are you going to do?"

Jade had just witnessed him murder a professor at fairly close range. Heine wonders why he hasn't run away yet.

[aseptic]

He lifts his shoulders in a slight shrug, not looking away from the fire. "Look for another source of information, I suppose. I'll practice with what I know in the meantime."

Maybe he'll have to start practicing with Professor Rammsteiner again. He doesn't know. But he can decide later.

"We should forge those letters first," he states, finally looking at Professor Rammsteiner.

[canicide]

Heine meant about the curse. Or the effects of it. But if Jade isn't saying anything, maybe it's all right for now.

He nods silently in response and goes towards Professor Eichel's desk. Keeping the Fiendfyre contained where it is, he casts Accio on letters and comes up with a small stack.

At least three of them are from students. They're already opened, and Heine senses no energy from them, so he takes out the letters inside for a quick read.

[aseptic]

The sight of the letters is enough to rouse Jade from his spot on the floor. He gets up, walking to Professor Rammsteiner. "What do they say?"

[canicide]

"Uh..." Heine shrugs, skimming over the text. "Telling him they miss him. Asking if they can visit."

Odd, that there would be multiple people who wanted to return to Professor Eichel. But Heine really doubts that Eichel would keep any unflattering letters. He picks out one of the letters, Conjures parchment, and leaves the rest lying on the desk if Jade wants to read them.

At least blackmail letters don't have to be that detailed.

[aseptic]

Naturally, he wanders over to he desk to give the letters a quick skim over, brow furrowing the more as he reads. Some of these words...they seem to border on infatuation. He wonders if that's what these unfortunate students really think, or if that's what they were manipulated into believing.

"Did you know any of these students?" He asks, putting the letters back into their envelopes.

[canicide]

"No." There weren't any names he recognized. But as the dog points out: You came back. Of your own free will.

Heine tells himself it wasn't free will, just coincidence, but the dog doesn't buy it. He stays quiet while finishing up the letter (it's fairly generic) and starting a second.

While waiting for the message to be written out in someone else's hand, Heine looks at Jade again. He's aware of the blood drying on his face, and he brushes flakes of it off when he feels them.

"After the Tournament," he starts. "You probably shouldn't come near me."

[aseptic]

Of all the things Professor Rammsteiner might say, Jade expected this the least. Surprise flickers over his face, but it's quickly quashed.

No. Maybe he should have expected it. It's just like Professor Rammsteiner to turn away from him immediately after something important happens.

"Why?" His voice is flat.

[canicide]

"I can't control the curse completely." It's too strong, too fully a part of him that he had embraced when he was younger. Now, he can't always suppress it.

"I might hurt you."

[aseptic]

...Oh. Surprise shows on his face again, and it's less quick to fade this time. He didn't think Professor Rammsteiner would actually be worried about him, or be so straightforward about that fact, for that matter.

"It's fine," he says, after a pause. "You haven't hurt me so far."

Not permanently, at least. Absently, he rubs at his neck.

"You've let me get close," he adds, with the beginnings of a wry smile. If Professor Rammsteiner really cuts him off... Who else is there? No one. He'll have to continue his research on his own again. "It's a little too late to go back on that now."

[canicide]

He'd let Jade get too close. After Professor Eichel influencing them both, Heine wants little to do with them.

But it probably is too late.

Heine doesn't say anything, and goes back to the letters, putting them into envelopes and placing the new ones with the old ones back inside Eichel's desk.

"Unless you want to watch, you can leave." He needs to clean up the mess of ashes afterwards. It would be easier for him if Jade wasn't around.

[aseptic]

"I can help," Jade replies immediately. He doesn't want to leave yet; he'd like to see this through to the end.

[canicide]

"Fine." If he wants to do something, Heine trusts that he'll do it well, at least. Whether or not he should do something is another question.