IMPORTANT: THIS IS A SEQUEL, BUT CAN BE READ SEPARATELY.

If you haven't read the previous parts, "A Gift And A Curse" and "An Accursed Gift", then this is the information you need.

main character: Crucio Carina Lestrange, Crucie for short, known generally as Crucie Black to avoid the worst of her death eater heritage. She has the talent (please don't hang up on me I promise she's not a Mary Sue) to wandlessly cruciate people, courtesy of her mother casting too many unforgivables during pregnancy. She loves torture, and her ethics are a little dodgy at least, but she's also a genuinely nice person with not too many prejudices, an interest in muggle technology, and a fierce loyalty to those she considers her family.

She's a good friend of Hermione, and they work together to create a magical battery that can make muggle things function in a magical environment.

She lives with her uncle Rabastan (who managed to stay out of Azkaban) in an apartment on Knockturn Alley. She spends most of her time there at Borgin And Burke's, where she works as unofficial shop assistant and puts her torture talent to good use during "negotiations".

She made friends with the portrait of Salazar Slytherin, and when in her second year the basilisk was killed, he asked her to "give her a burial". Crucie threatened Harry Potter into bringing her to the chamber, where she used an old spell to set the spirit of a familiar free on the remains of the snake. Thanks to her, Hogwarts is one fifty feet long basilisk ghost richer...

The events are largely canon, so you should have no trouble with the other things that have happened in the past two stories.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW?

"I can't believe he did that!"

Crucie stared at Rabastan, who had only just explained her why Lucius was acting strangely. Apparently the mysterious Tom Riddle diary was a dark artefact that could possess people into doing its bidding, and even though Lucius hadn't known that at the time he still was the one who had given the diary to Ginny Weasley… hence his strange behaviour.

"I'm pretty sure he did. He's having quite a bit of trouble with his job at the ministry now, for possession of dark artefacts."

"Wow, but… he didn't know? How can you have a rude-ass diary and not know it houses an evil possessing spirit?"

Rabastan laughed.

"Crucie, you have no idea how funny that sounds. Trust me, when Lucius found out neither you nor Draco were the Heir, he got into quite the panic attack… He could have easily lost his job if they had made the link between the Chamber and the diary and held him to it, you see."

"Yeah, and you thought Draco had a girlfriend."

"Pffft, in retrospect I'm willing to bet that he doesn't even swing that way."

Rabastan knowingly rolled his eyes and Crucie grinned widely.

"10 galleons and a chocolate fudge pie that he's gay?"

"Deal."

They shook hands as if they had just made an important business deal, before bursting out in laughter. Crucie felt warm inside when her uncle pulled her close for a hug.

"I missed you, Cruce…" He waited a moment. "Have you actually seen that infamous diary?"

Crucie laughed.

"I missed you too, uncle… and yeah, I've seen it. I'm still happy I cursed the hell out of it."

Rabastan's mouth fell open.

"You did that? Crucie, do you have any idea how dangerous that could have been?"

Crucie shrugged.

"He was all talk but in the end I'm pretty sure it hurt him as much as anyone. It was quite funny actually."

Her uncle shook his head.

"You are so your mother in some things…"

(Pagebreak)

There were few things Crucie liked more than torturing someone. Scratch that, there was absolutely nothing she liked more than torturing someone. The man that had tried to steal something from Mr Burke's shop would most likely be cured of kleptomania forever after the treatment Crucie was giving him. She carefully made notes in her Torture Registry while watching the man writhe on the ground, his mouth opened but his screams proficiently muffled to the outside world by Mr Burke's Privacy Box, which absorbed all sound in a certain perimenter of it. It felt delightful as usual… At long last she broke the curse, leaving the man panting and crying on the shop floor. Calmly she informed him.

"You see sir, it is not advisable to try and steal anything here on Knockturn Alley. You're lucky I like to torture, most shopkeepers here wouldn't hesitate to Avada you on the spot."

The man looked at the young twelve –nearly thirteen- year old girl and shivered, not capable of speaking yet. The remnants of a truly vicious torture curse were still raging through his body. He didn't want to know what kind of demon this girl was, that she could perform such an unforgivable wandlessly and non-verbally… She stuck out a hand to him and he curled up even more. She laughed.

"Please, let me help you up. I don't bite!"

Crucie helped the man up, and smiled at him.

"You better don't underestimate me just because I'm small. Mr Burke would never let me stand behind the counter if he thought I wasn't capable."

The man nodded, trying to ignore the tremor that still made his whole body shake.

"Either way, thank you for participating in my experiments. You have the honour of being my 800th subject!"

Somehow, the cheeriness the girl radiated made her all the more frightening. The man nodded and quickly scurried to the door, vowing to himself to never come close to this part of Knockturn Alley ever again… He had only left for a minute when Mr Burke returned from his lunch break.

"Anything happened?"

"Oh, some guy tried to steal your Hand of Glory, I let him know exactly what we think of that here. How was lunch?"

"It was good."

Caractacus Burke was not a sentimental man and the amount of people he had liked in his entire life could be counted on one hand. He had never married and had as far as he knew never knocked a girl up, and therefor the rest of the Burke family wasn't exactly on speaking terms with him. Even the portrait of his great-great-great-grandmother Elizabeth refused to talk to him because of his failure to produce an heir. Yet Crucio Lestrange… she was something else. Caractacus loved her like the grandchild he never had. Ever since the day she had stumbled into his store as a small seven year old, he had loved the girl.

"So, how is Rabastan?"

Crucie grinned.

"Ah, you know. Still generously misusing memory charms so he can sleep around without getting caught by the Aurors."

Mr Burke chuckled dryly.

"Of course."

Crucie was pensive. She pondered.

"I wonder why he never married. I mean, isn't it a pureblood thing to make a respectable marriage? Not that he's respectable in most things, but he's pretty big on the pureblood stuff."

Mr Burke sighed deeply.

"Your uncle won't easily forgive me for telling you this, so I suggest you don't tell him I told you."

In that moment Crucie found that Mr Burke bore a very deep resemblance to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin right before he had told her about the Chamber. She bent more towards the old man, eager to hear what he was going to say. The old shopkeeper sighed again and began his story.

"Most pureblood families carry with them a long history of broken hearts, scorned lovers, family feuds, betrayal and anguish. I don't have to tell you that where love, money and power are involved people are capable of doing quite atrocious things to one another."

"I know that, but…"

"I wasn't finished. Along with their ancestry, most pureblood families carry at least one curse with them. The Malfoys by example only have one child per generation. Somewhere in the 18th century a warlock wanted to make sure his wife would bare a son, but his incantations also made sure that she –and all the Malfoy women after her- would only bare one son. No less, no more. Your family's curse, the Lestrange curse, is slightly more dramatic, and quite a bit older. In the 15th century a Lestrange broke a young witch's heart when he left her for a richer party, despite their contract of betrothal… In her anguish she cursed him and all his male descendants, and from then on the Lestrange men were able to give their love only once. Once they promised their love to someone, they would only feel romantic affection for this person and no one else."

"Huh?"

"So, they would not break their marriage contract, because such a contract involves promising to love the other. Even if they weren't in love at the time, the curse made sure that only for their betrothed they would ever feel love. The words of marriage contracts are empty for most arranged marriages… but not for the Lestranges."

Crucie suddenly understood.

"Wow. Smart. That's one way to make sure a guy doesn't cheat on you!" She thought a little longer about it. "So, my father truly loves my mom and no one else?"

"He wouldn't be able to love another woman even if he wanted to."

"That's… actually that's pretty romantic."

Mr Burke sent her a dark look.

"Do you understand now why your uncle never married?"

She thought, and then it hit her. Crucie bit her lip.

"Oh no… You mean he once sealed a marriage contract, but something happened to his betrothed, and now he can never love anyone else?"

"Something happened indeed… Something that, along with other things, eventually put your whole family in the place it is now. Literally and metaphorically."

Crucie's mouth fell open.

"But… but… how?"

"It's not my story to tell, Crucio. Just know that when your uncle sleeps around, it's not just because he has loose morals. He still loves her, even after all he has tried to make himself hate her and move on, and it hurts him more than you know."

Mr Burke noticed how the girl that had been sitting on the counter, cheerily swinging her legs, now looked rather downcast.

"I never knew…"

"You do now. But remember, don't tell him I told you, he would hex me into oblivion if he knew."

"Who was she?"

"A beautiful pureblood witch who made some very, very unfortunate life choices. As I said, it's not my story to tell. Now can you get off the counter and find me a pink Blood Quill in the backroom? Some lady asked for it, she was very specific that it had to be pink. If you find none, you can spell it to be pink; that woman couldn't tell a flamingo from a pink painted pigeon if you ask me."

Crucie went on with the tasks of the day, but in her head she went over the things Mr Burke had told her. She felt terribly sorry for her favourite uncle, and decided to bring home chocolate fudge pie even though she couldn't tell him why.

(Pagebreak)

The holidays passed in no time, as they always did. Crucie's torture book slowly filled up further, more muggle artefacts found their way to her room, and more than once Rabastan found himself fleeing the apartment from his ash-covered, angrily hissing niece after a failed battery experiment. Crucie conversed with Mr Weasley on the matter of the battery-potion, trying to find the right measurements for it, but so far they hadn't had any luck. With each experiment however the solution came closer… In any case, Crucie's summer was well filled.

When she wasn't torturing or experimenting she could be found in the back of Borgin And Burke's, reading her dark arts book. The book was a goldmine of information on a plethora of things… subtle mind control charms, spells for blowing things up that wouldn't be countered with a "reparo", potions that made one's blood boil, ways to target illnesses on people or cause infertility, a spell that made the male genitals shrivel (it was strangely enough found under "household hexes"), various rituals that bordered on necromancy, soul magic, and to her greatest delight two whole chapters on the Cruciatus Curse and its many uses, among other things. There was no day that Crucie didn't find something new and wondrous in the forbidden book…

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

Crucie looked up to find Mr Burke looking at her.

"Oh yes! This book is awesome!"

"I am very glad you like it so much… Find anything useful?"

"Plenty! I… I still don't really understand why these things aren't taught at school. Many of these spells would save us so much time, not to mention the insight we could gain in the workings of magic!"

Mr Burke nodded, surprised that the young girl had such a positive opinion on it all. He knew enough pureblood families where the dark arts were taught as some sort of secret weapon, solely for hurtful purposes. Crucie however didn't seem to consider the dark arts any different from the "light" magic that was taught at school.

"Dark spells, even when they're not meant to hurt or kill, are difficult to counter and often impossible to reverse. People are scared of everything they can't undo."

"That's just stupid."

"I agree."

(Author's Notes)

First chapter of the third installment in this series! Please tell me what you think... The plot-twist with Rabastan's disastrous love-life is an on-going theme, I wonder what you people think of it. I would love to know your opinions, because honestly I'm quite unsure about this. so...

PLEASE REVIEW?

Even if you have nothing positive to say, I still want to hear it...

PS: If you have questions about the Lestrange Family Curse, check the informational extra bit in the Author's Notes at the end of Chapter 2. After getting some very valid questions I have added that there for anyone who may be wondering about the curse and its workings. If you still have questions, please tell me and I will try my best to answer them!