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

[aseptic]

There. Much better. Jade looks at his handiwork without a shred of remorse, then shakes his head.

"It's fine. It can wait until morning."

He feels very tired, all of a sudden, the events of the day catching up to him now that things are starting to stabilize. He should leave while he can, but (perhaps unwisely) he lingers.

[canicide]

"Okay." Morning's fine. He should probably get to sleep, anyway. He finds himself holding his posture a bit awkwardly, feeling an occasional sharp discomfort in his lower back. His shoulder kind of stings, too. If he didn't know better, he'd think...

...wait.

"What time is it?"

[aseptic]

There's a brief pause before Jade answers. "Late at night."

It's an odd answer, coming from him; he keeps careful track of the time, and usually has a good idea of what the current time is. Tonight, however, he finds himself at a loss. How long had they spent in Professor Eichel's rooms? It felt like hours, but surely it can't be that long.

"You should sleep," Jade adds, a subtle layer of command in his voice, as if he's speaking to someone still under the effects of the Imperius Curse.

[canicide]

For a second, Heine just stares back at Jade. His mind still hasn't fully cleared, and the urge to just... agree is certainly there.

"Yeah... I will." Heine starts turning away to go towards his bathroom, pulling at the neck of his robe and shirt to see what it is that's hurting his shoulder like he'd gotten bitten there. "You should too."

[aseptic]

He watches, impassive on the outside, but inside he's busy thinking and planning. Can he safely leave Professor Rammsteiner now? No, better not to risk it.

"Can I stay?" He asks, his tone as neutral as ever. He isn't asking for anything unreasonable, after all.

[canicide]

Heine is distracted, wracking his memories to try and make sense of things. Why had Jade walked back with him, after the ball? They hadn't talked since that time Jade spoke to him, to say that he would be studying with Eichel from then on.

"Did Professor Eichel..." He pauses. Had he been there? How long has it been? Not answering Jade's question he looks at the clock in the corner of the room. Four in the morning. When he left the ball it had only been about midnight.

He'd lost time.

Heine turns back to Jade, a combination of confusion and near-panic in his face.

"It's four already." His voice has a sharp edge, discomfort clear.

[aseptic]

If there's one thing he's learning tonight, it's that Professor Rammsteiner is capable of a far greater range of emotion than Jade had previously thought. Anger, fear; Jade watches him curiously, detached as a scientist studying a particularly interesting specimen.

"Really?" The time is a surprise to Jade as well. He hadn't realized they spent such a long time with Professor Eichel. "Then we should sleep."

Subtly, he flicks his wrist, wand dropping once more from the sleeve of his robe to his hand. He had been hoping that there wouldn't be a need for more spells tonight, but he'll do what he has to in order to keep Professor Rammsteiner under control.

[canicide]

He feels nervousness, a certain sense that there is a hunt, primal instinct crawling on his back. Heine's hands clench and unclench as he goes to the window to look out at the sky, like that will tell him if the clock is correct. As he walks over he feels something odd, yet not wholly unfamiliar—the sensation of a slick, wet substance on the insides of his thighs.

For a long moment he just stares unseeingly out the window. The urge to turn and tear into the other person in the room is almost too much, and not entirely his own. Heine has to fight it; his shoulders tense even further in the second before he turns around and sends a wordless spell at Jade, aiming to just grab him and pin him to the wall—but the force is too much and certain to at least bruise.

[aseptic]

When he sees Professor Rammsteiner tense, some instinct tells him that something is about to happen.

It still doesn't prepare him for the feeling of being suddenly shoved back by an invisible force, his back slamming against the wall. It sends a jolt of pain through his already sore body, and he lets out a low grunt.

Then his wand is up and raised, hurling a stunning spell at Professor Rammsteiner.

[canicide]

Heine, holding Jade back with one hand, blocks instinctively, using his other hand to throw up a shield. The spell glances off but he stumbles back a step before recovering.

Jade hadn't tried to explain. He'd taken away his memories, for what reason Heine can guess. He'd been used again and even if—even if he had given permission, he can't remember giving it.

The pressure Heine is exerting on Jade's entire body moves upwards from his torso, concentrating almost entirely on his shoulders and neck. He tries to catch his breath, unable to find the words to speak. Even looking straight at Jade he still doesn't understand.

[aseptic]

He can feel the pressure crawling up his body, pressing down against against bruised skin, choking the life from him. Fear, primal and instinctive, crashes through his mind. He cranes his neck, trying to escape from that crushing force, but it only seems to press down upon him more firmly.

His head is starting to spin. Jade forces himself to focus. His arms haven't been restrained - he lifts his wand hand, Conjuring a stream of Fiendfyre in an attempt to startle Professor Rammsteiner.

[canicide]

Heine is still fighting down the instinct to consume it all, to press harder and crush the very life out of the one who'd tried to control him.

But both ways are wrong. Heine is looking at Jade without seeing him, and when the Fiendfyre streaks towards his face he drops all of force he's using to pin Jade against the wall so he can divert the flames around himself.

[aseptic]

The pressure around his throat disappears, and Jade sucks in air in a gasping breath. If he didn't know better, he'd almost think Professor Rammsteiner had been trying to kill him.

(Is he?)

The Fiendfyre wreathes Professor Rammsteiner in a circle of snapping flames. Jade doesn't fight Professor Rammsteiner for control over the Fiendfyre. Rather, he takes advantage of the distraction to point his wand at Professor Rammsteiner again.

"Imperio."

[canicide]

The Fiendfyre jumping up and licking at his sleeves can't be warded off by normal spells, but Heine smothers it with a sharp movement of his hand. The cost is that he can't defend against the Imperius Curse.

Weight settles once more into his mind as the last flickers of fire disappear. This time, Heine knows he's supposed to push back, to resist... and he tries. His expression twists and he takes a small step back, halfway raising a hand.

[aseptic]

It's not working completely, but it's not failing either. Jade takes a step closer, his neck aching, but not letting the pain distract him.

"I just want to talk," he says, pushing his will onto Professor Rammsteiner. Now that he's not under attack, he's beginning to realize more and more that there's something odd about Professor Rammsteiner's actions. And there was that moment earlier, when Professor Rammsteiner had spoken, where it seemed like there were two people speaking...

[canicide]

Heine looks at Jade. But his gaze is sliding around, never quite focusing. With Jade's additional exertion, his blinks slow in frequency.

"I..." He backs up one more step, going off-balance when he bumps a hip against the bedpost. There's a feeling at the small of his back, half the pain from being fucked (he recognizes what it is now), half a simple pressure, like a hand rubbing at the base of his spine. The sensation spreads up to his shoulderblades and his back straightens.

Things finally slide together, clicking into place. Heine looks at Jade, eyes clear but empty.

[aseptic]

It worked. But something about the way Professor Rammsteiner's eyes simply go blank makes Jade annoyed. He doesn't really understand why, and he orders Professor Rammsteiner to sit down on the bed with a brief touch of thought while he tries to sort through his own feelings.

What he wants, he thinks, is simply for Professor Rammsteiner to calm down. It's not his obedience that he's after.

But with the Imperius Curse, all he gets is this: Professor Rammsteiner empty and blank, nothing but a blank slate for him to impose his will upon. Which is the point of the Imperius Curse, he supposes, but it's not what he wants.

Mulling over the problem, he sits down on the bed as well, a frown creasing his face.

[canicide]

Heine sits as directed. While Jade hesitates, he keeps looking at him, expression clear of any reaction.

As the bed dips with Jade's weight, Heine's mind processed proximity and then just spins with the concept. He doesn't do anything. But without further direction from Jade, and pure relaxation suffusing him, Heine's eyes begin to drift closed and his head droops.

[aseptic]

Watching Professor Rammsteiner from the corner of his eye, Jade lets out a quiet little sigh when he sees him starting to doze off. He can't blame him, he supposes. Now that the situation had calmed again, he's starting to feel exhaustion set in.

He had meant to find a resolution to the problem before sleeping, but his body betrays him. Before he knows it, he's dozing off as well, leaning against the headboard of the bed.

[canicide]

Once the Imperius Curse has taken hold, the amount of effort needed for Heine to resist it again is higher than before. He can't concentrate on it. Sleep overtakes him, and eventually he falls onto his side and sleeps in that awkward position, not even fully on the bed. The warmth of another body nearby soothes when he's under the heavy weight of the magic.

For once he doesn't have any nightmares.

[aseptic]

There are a few times where he almost wakes up, but not quite, and sleep always ends up dragging him under again. By the time dawn arrives, Jade is sleeping properly on the bed, his body angled towards Professor Rammsteiner's and one arm thrown over his shoulder in a loose embrace.

Morning comes, and he still doesn't wake, too worn out by the activities of last night.

[canicide]

It's a day off after the ball, and Durmstrang is mostly quiet. Even outside, there's a heavy fog, muffling the grounds. Heine wakes up gradually, blinking at a shoulder that seems oddly close to his face. Out of the ordinary as that is, it's the awkward position he'd slept in that makes Heine move. He sits up slowly, stretching to relieve the stiff and sore muscles in his back and legs.

He's in his room. Jade had just sat him down, he remembers. Before that... it's all fuzzy. Maybe he'd had too much to drink? (He can't remember having anything other than a glass of wine.) Heine rubs his eyes and sits where he is, waiting for—

—something. Rubbing his eyes again, Heine gazes down at his own rumpled clothes, thinking about getting changed. Jade being in his bed seems a little strange, but at least they're both still dressed. Sighing softly, he looks back at Jade to check on him. Maybe the punch was spiked. He can't recall.

[aseptic]

He had slept past the sun rising, but the feeling of someone moving so close to him is enough to rouse Jade. Still half-asleep, he frowns at being disturbed, and frowns at the unfamiliar feeling of being in such close proximity to someone.

It doesn't take him long to wake up fully, although he keeps his eyes closed. Inside, he's busy sorting through his memories of the past night. After a good night's sleep, what happened last night almost seems like a lurid fever dream, something too unbelievable to be true.

But it really had happened. What remains to be seen is if Professor Rammsteiner is still murderously angry at him. So far, it doesn't seem that way.

He opens his eyes, not seeing a need to delay any longer. Subtly, he reaches for his wand, drawing some reassurance from the feeling of the warm wood against his fingers. For the moment, he doesn't speak yet, waiting to see what Professor Rammsteiner's mood is.

[canicide]

Heine is getting to his feet when Jade opens his eyes, but he has his back turned, and is making an effort to be quiet. His back aches—from sleeping in that weird position for hours, he assumes. Stretching again, he prepares to go to the bathroom to change when he sees Jade move out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey," he says, and almost winces. That was a more casual conversation starter than he would have liked, considering he still doesn't really want Jade in his room. "What're you doing here? Did you—get into the wine and get lost or something?" Even as he says it, it doesn't sound right, but it seems... feasible.

[aseptic]

"Or something," he says, but doesn't elaborate, unsure of how much would be safe to say. He pulls himself up to a sitting position - and immediately lets out a low hiss of pain.