InsaneJournal

It wasn't unusual for Bina to stay past the end of her shift working on a case. It was easy to get lost in the work and sometimes after shift was the only time she could get peace and quiet. Evening and nights were calmer around the office too. Though her wand was still holstered to her wrist, her jacket was off and her hair spilled over her right shoulder, the tank top leaving most of her vine tattoo exposed as she leaned over her desk, scribbling in pencil in her notebook from the Crouch casefile. It didn't quite make sense and considering the last tip from within the Ministry had led to Lestrange's body, she wasn't expecting a good outcome. She glanced up across the office and saw that light was still coming out from under Rufus door. She had been meaning to ask him about a few things. Gathering up the files and her notebook, she headed to Rufus' door and knocked on it.

"Sir? May I interrupt?"

It was funny how old habits came rushing back. Sleeping in the office had been a thing at the height of the war, and though they weren't quite at that point (yet), Rufus found that his London flat was once again becoming more a place to rest his body in the short hours he made it from the Ministry than a place he was meant to call home. And he'd always found the after hours good for casting a gaze across his department, gauging the stress under which the Aurors worked (or thrived) by the time they put in when they were meant to be elsewhere.

Cambina was almost certainly in the thriving category.

"Yes, of course." He looked up from his work only when he heard the door close again. "In, sit."

For her part, Cambina perched on the edge of the desk instead of in the chair, some of the awe of the man in front of her having worn off during the last month or two. Besides, the chair made her feel like she was in trouble or being called to the headmaster's office. She set the file down next to her.

"Sir, you know I believe in using whatever means necessary to catch Death Eaters, especially with the growing number of unsolved cases. Although it might not be the worst idea to bring in everyone who associated with a person of interest for interrogation, we don't have the people power to interrogate all of wizarding Britain. However, with the unforgivables, well… it's just I've never used one, Sir."

“I expect you haven’t.” Rufus’ tone was bone-dry. There were a few of his colleagues he expected to react emotionally to the fact that the Unforgivables were back in their arsenal, but Cambina’s response was almost exactly as he’d predicted. Practical. Good.

“We’ll be running training sessions over the course of the next two weeks. Crouch oversaw the training last time, but…” Rufus leaned back in his chair, vanishing his reading glasses with the smallest of gestures as he studied the young Auror perched before him. “They’re spells. Intent is everything.”

"You wouldn't have hired me if I had, I assume," Cambina retorted with a smile, watching him carefully, listening to what was said and what he left unsaid. "But Crouch isn't going to do it this time. I know. I was just hoping to maybe get a lesson or two -- if you have the time, Sir. I don't want to be caught unprepared."

“No, and neither do I.” Rufus pushed himself forward and off his chair, the paperwork before him snapping into warded files as he moved around the desk, a tilt of his head gesturing that Cambina should follow him. “I’ll show you how we did it last time.”

Cambina slid off the desk closing and warding the file she'd brought with her with a flick of her wand before leaving it on Rufus' desk. Having Rufus return to the DMLE had given Cambina hope. After all, this was the man who had been so successful during the first war. She would probably follow wherever he led. "I appreciate it, sir. I'm not trying to get special treatment, I just.. I want whatever advantage we can get over them.”

Although it was Rufus’ firm and public belief that spells were mere tools to be used by their caster, it’d never sat perfectly right with him that that worst things in their arsenal were those the Dark wizards and witches had marked as their own so long ago. To use the Unforgivables was to level the playing field, not gain an advantage -- but Cambina got a short nod as he pushed open a door to the last of the training rooms, which had been locked to the rest of the department for a few days now in order to prepare for the work the Aurors had ahead of them.

The lights flickered on as they entered, revealing a wall of cages within which white mice scurried and blinked up at the intruders with their black little eyes.

“This is how Crouch taught me.”

Cambina followed Rufus into the training room. She had been intrigued, and a bit nervous, though she didn't want to admit it. She glanced around the room. She knew how the spell work, but had thus far avoided being on the receiving end of any of them. Bina swallowed hard as she stared at the mice. "If you can do it on an innocent creature, you can do it on anyone right?" Cambina asked, squaring her shoulders and glancing at the beady eyed creatures. She wasn't particularly fond of them, but to torture creatures… she wasn't sure if she had it in her. Maybe that's what she was most afraid of. Letting Rufus and the Aurors down. "So.. how do I do this? Just imagine one the Death Eaters I hate?"

"If that's what you need to do." A hand reached out to gently scoop out one of the mice. "Fundamentally, it's the same as any spell -- intent is what matters. Sometimes it helps people if they remember that. Just like you mean a blasting spell to take out a Death Eater's knees, you mean that Cruciatus to drop them to the ground, choking on their own poison."

That made sense to Bina. Not evil. Just thorough. Her posture changed as she straightened, a firm tension in her lithe, muscled frame. She took the mouse from Rufus, pushing aside the spark of excitement that blossomed whenever she was too close to him. He was everything she wanted to become. She set the mouse on the table, watching while it licked its paws. Take it down.

She fought down the nervousness and took a deep breath, steadying herself and her focus. Levelling her wand, she channeled her focus into bringing down the rodent with a "Crucio." Her spell went home, but the mouse simply twitched and bounced about a bit.

She would do what she needed to, Rufus knew, because Cambina was one of those people for whom failure was not an option (her mother’s daughter, truly). As she made her first attempt, Rufus unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt before carefully rolling them up to his elbows, the straps of the wand holster exposed against the skin of his left forearm. Not drawing his wand, not yet, but certainly ready to demonstrate when the time came.

“Where are you with the investigation?”

Cambina huffed out a sigh of frustration, both at the failed charm and the investigation. "Rotten, sir. There's certainly enough suspicion in what we have to bring him in, but few leads on where he might be. He seems to have just disappeared, which is bloody frustrating."

The frustration fueled her next attempt, which went wild, hitting the table instead and causing it to splinter with the force of her focus. "Fucking hell!" she exclaimed before remembering who she was with. "Sorry, sir."

Rufus appeared unmoved by this outburst, gaze unwavering. “Again. Your mouse is getting away.”

After a moment, he added -- “The allegation he made against his father is serious. It may be nothing but lies and fear-mongering against a well respected man, but he still aired it in public.”

"I want to wring his little neck, all that public taunting," Bina said, forgetting who she was with for a moment and not watching her speech. Her next curse went home, hitting the scurrying mouse. It jerked up into the air before dropping again, this time not moving. Bina went over and picked up the dead mouse. "I'm assuming that's not supposed to happen with the cruciatus."

And there it was -- intent. Rufus stepped closer, peering at the furry little corpse in his Auror's hand. "It can. Agony can do a number on someone's heart. And I didn't see a streak of green." He reached out to take the mouse from her. "He's too smart to be baited... But maybe that's the key. Trick him into taking bait, draw him out."

For a second Bina thought he was talking about the mouse, but then she realised. Crouch. "Now we just need to figure out how best to draw him out," she said, pulling another mouse out of a cage. She knew how this worked. Once wasn't enough. She had to be able to do this while in combat, when her attention might very well be divided. She dropped the mouse on the floor, following its movements with her eyes. This time her goal was to bring it down, but to finesse the force - as though they might want information from it. The mouse went down, twitching this time for nearly a minute before dying. Bina scowled. "Am I using too much strength? Or the wrong technique?" Perhaps it would be different on humans, but dead Death Eaters, while good, weren't exactly useful. She turned to Rufus and arched an eyebrow. "What does it feel like?"

Rufus had a good suspicion as to where such a line of questioning could lead, and where he would have once balked, the years had made him harder in more ways than one. "Overwhelming," he said, meeting her gaze squarely. "Lestrange -- Bellatrix, hers were notoriously agonising. She had a knack for nerve-endings and the targeting of them, and you can be sure those she tutored were given a taste." Some of her victims hadn't needed a Killing Curse for her to end their lives, for they were already dead behind the eyes when the DMLE finally got to them.

With his thoughts hooked to the memory, he levitated a third mouse over, cradling it in his palm, where it suddenly began to writhe and scream, the tip of his wand hovering inches above its twitching pink ears.

"What do you think Crouch meant by his comment about Minister Black?"

Bina watched Rufus carefully, stepping closer to get a better view, the line of his wand arm, the set of his face, the direction of his eyes, the cadence of his voice. The mouse was clearly in pain. "You sustain it," she observed, fingers moving over his wand hand as if to memorise his posture and grip. As if that held the secret to his talent. "The perfect balance without overwhelming the creature. A dead vigilante is good for the cause but can provide no information."

She thought on his question. "It could be as simple as a commentary on the Minister's lackluster interview with the Prophet. Or as serious as a tangible threat on the Minister's life. Perhaps with the intent to make him beg for his life before killing him. It seems clear Crouch thinks the Minister doesn't deserve the power he has and that his conduct is unflattering." A beat. "Will we undergo the imperius and cruciatus as training? It's logical to assume that some of the vigilantes have experience enduring them and I think we need to be ready for anything in this war."

“Yes,” was both in answer to her observation and her question. Anyone could throw a Cruciatus -- it merely took enough anger, enough desire to inflict pain -- but there was a world of difference between a harsh blow and something more refined, and while he wasn’t out to train a legion of torturers, neither did he want those Aurors who took it upon themselves to cast this particular Unforgivable to inadvertently kill their targets like Cambina had with the mice.

He wondered if through touch alone she could perceive the cost of the spell. Rufus permitted it a moment longer before he ended the curse and lowered his wand, the mouse stilling in his palm, its heart racing against his skin.

“Though with the Imperius, we need chaperones. For obvious reasons.”

"I trust you," Cambina said, the statement perhaps broader than intended as her hand slid from Rufus' arm to the trembling mouse, caressing it softly. The small rodent calmed slightly and Bina drew her wand. Trusting Rufus not to move (and hoping he trusted her enough), she pointed her wand at the mouse and whispered the curse, trying to feel it going through her. This time the creature twitched and cried out, but didn't die. The small limbs jerking unnaturally and she found her free arm clutching Rufus,' though for what, she wasn't quite sure.

After a beat --"Better." Then: "And the way I safeguard that trust is by including a third for Imperius practice. Those are the rules." His hand settled on her elbow, warm and bracing. "Okay?"

"We'll save Imperius for another day then." There was a hint of steel in her voice, her eyes focused on the shuddering mouse, reminded in that moment of the three year old she'd found dead. Had Lady Noir tortured the child first? Or was there mercy and simply a killing curse? Her stomach churned and if she'd actually eaten recently she might have risked losing her dinner. Instead, her chest heaved with long, deliberate breaths before she dared raise her eyes to meet his. "Do we need a third for the cruciatus?"

"No," came after a moment, unaccompanied by a smile. Pain is pain.

"Will you, then, sir? Help me to experience it?" she asked, her gaze meeting his full own. She knew what she was asking and had the balls to look him in the eyes when she asked for it. "I understand if you don't want to."

The trust Aurors had for one another was a difficult beast to characterise. "Want has little to do with it." His regulations, his responsibility. Rufus took the mouse from her, returning it to its cage with a silently plied confundus charm to clear its frazzled rodent mind from what had happened to it. The cage rattled as he shut the door; then, turning slowly -- "Crucio," wand aimed at Cambina.

Part of the reason Cambina idolized Rufus was that he was willing to do whatever was necessary. She supposed she shouldn't have expected warning, or negotiation. Rufus was thorough and it wasn't as though she would have gotten warning in a battle. Her vision went white as the pain spiraled through her nerves. To her credit, she remained upright for fifteen seconds before dropping to her knees. Her wand still gripped tightly in her hands, she fought the pain, her teeth drawing blood from her lip. "Expelliarmus!" she growled at Rufus."

-- but no Auror worth their salt would be disarmed by something as simple as a disarming spell, well aimed despite the agony coursing through its source. That Cambina could even cast it as directly as she did was a credit to her skills.

Silently, now, the Cruciatus tightening around her belly as he sidestepped -- almost lazily -- her countering spell.

She tasted copper as she struggled to keep her eyes on Rufus, sending a blasting hex at him as tears stung at her eyes.

The walls of these rooms were designed to absorb such violence, destructive spells hurled by trainees and officers alike sinking into the warded architecture rather than toppling down the entire quarter of the DMLE dedicated to training. And so Rufus ducked the hex, letting it dissipate into the wall behind him as the Cruciatus pulsed tighter for a final moment before he broke the curse.

"Enough of a taste for tonight?"

Her silence broke near the end, letting out a small anguished cry through gritted teeth before the curse broke. She fell forward on her hands, panting as she struggled to catch her breath and regain her bearing. The world felt cold and wrong and everything hurt. She shivered, trying to clear her head, sitting back on her heels. "No vigilante is going to ask me that," Bina said, voice hoarse and face ashen as she looked up at Rufus. She put a hand on the wall, trying to pull herself up to standing.

"Hit me again, sir."

"No." A firm undercurrent to his tone as he held himself back from offering assistance. Moderation was everything, but Bina needed to be able to peel herself from the ground on her own. "I'm not going to teach you how to withstand battlefield Cruciatuses in one session, and no vigilante is going to give you a shot of whisky and send you off to rest for the rest of the night. This is hard. We'll do more tomorrow."

"And going easy on me won't help either," she said, getting to her feet with only the smallest stumble. She was still breathing heavy and her face was pale, but she stood on her own two feet, which was saying something.

There was enough of her brash spirit to quirk an eyebrow at him. "No one told me training came with whiskey. You should put that on the recruitment posters, draw more in."

"Inside track," was almost entirely deadpan and humourless save for the slight narrowing of his gaze as he tracked her movements. "Training doesn't usually involve torturing your officers. Well." Beat. "Not like this, at any rate. I usually get you all squirming with the paperwork -- which these particular spells will involve, for what would we be without our paperwork, hm?"

Rufus moved to the door, unlatching it and pushing it open, wide enough so Bina could make her way through.

Bina stayed where she was, still uncertain of being able to control her legs to get her to her desk without falling over. "In triplicate, I'm sure," Bina quipped, a smile on her lips. "I'll have them on your desk before I leave."

"Something tells me you've done Minsterial paperwork before." When she failed to join him -- promptly or otherwise -- a slight furrow deepened in Rufus' brow. "Hop to, Bulstrode, one foot in front of the other," was just short of a commanding bark even as he drew back to her side, a steadying hand coming to rest on her shoulder.