"Here," She chirped, flicking her wand in a movement Adrian dreaded seeing every morning. Cheery birds shot out, flapping in the air excitedly in mockery of Theo's inventive technique to rouse Adrian, "Target practice!"
"On live birds?" Adrian floundered, "Shouldn't we conjure a target first?"
She blinked and shook her head patronizing, "Oh Adrian, what's the point in learning dark magic if you don't have some fun!"
She spun, pointing one shaking hand at a happy canary, she shouted something quickly, sending a white line of magic at the bird. Despite how her arm tremored, her aim was impeccable.
The bird shrieked, spasming and collapsing to the floor. It trembled, shaking as its feathers puffed unnaturally, its skin swelling as if it tangled with a stinging jellyfish.
"See!" Bellatrix cackled, "Much more fun with live things!"
"That was a stinging hex?" Adrian blinked quickly, trying to mentally process how fast events had unfolded, "you're teaching me a stinging hex?"
"Oh," She blinked, eyes blank once again, "Yes, yes, let's teach you that. Okay, it's Ictum. Cast it like this-" her tongue poked out as she jabbed her wand forward like a spear. She did it casually at Adrian's chest, not caring about how the movement had Adrian ready to shield at any sign of magic. Bellatrix seemed like she would curse him without thought.
She looked at him impatiently, and with a slow breath he relaxed and looked for a target.
"Okay," Adrian exhaled, pointing his wand at a carefree bluebird, "Ictum."
He didn't cast it, although it sent the strangest sensation up his arm, leaving him gasping in surprise at the feeling. It felt like he had briefly submerged his arm in water, sending feeling through his nerves.
"No no," She tutted, dancing forward and grabbing his arm to point it at the bird again, "Like you're stabbing out its eyes!"
Right, stabbing out its eye. He practiced the movement once, exhaling before casting loudly, "Ictum!"
A white light shot out, hitting the bird and causing it to falter. It was flapping with a limp, landing and preening at its feathers uncomfortably.
The strange sensation tingled up Adrian's arms once again- was this what dark magic felt like?
"Ictum," He tried again, jabbing forward and sending a considerably stronger jet of light. His nerves tingled and muscles twitched as the relaxing feeling of warmed water drifted up his arm, just above his elbow.
The bird shrieked, puffing dramatically and dropping to the floor.
"Yes! That's it!" Bellatrix laughed, "Stinging hex like a pesky stinging nettle."
It looked more like an allergic reaction, similar to the bite of an Urosting.
"Ictum," Adrian continued, reducing his volume into a determined flat tone. Twice more his arm tingled comfortably, causing him to frown when it receded.
Birds dropped to the floor around him, chirping somberly as wings were held in awkward positions.
"Here," Bellatrix coached, directing his aim at one of the birds on the ground, "Rumpervis! To pop pesky feather balls!"
Adrian hadn't ever heard of a spell to 'pop' feathers. Was it a spell used against feathered magical creatures?
"Rumpervis?" Adrian tested the word, rolling it on his tongue. Bellatrix nodded eagerly, pointing at the first Canary on the ground, "How do I cast it?"
"Like avis," Bellatrix innocently added, "It gets rid of them!"
Avis had a counter spell? Normally the birds just vanished back to wherever they were summoned after a period of time. It would be useful to know the counter spell, especially when Theo summoned a flock to pester him in the mornings.
"Rumpervis," Adrian casted, not expecting a dark corkscrewing spell to leave his wand. It twisted, purple on the very edge before it connected with the bird.
It circled it for a split second, making almost a net around its swollen body. It sunk, paused for a split second before the bird exploded.
Adrian stumbled backwards, tripping on the ground as a tiny splash of blood speckled his cheek. It was probably unnoticeable, yet the warm fluid felt like it had drenched his entire face.
Yellow feathers stuck to the ground in the sticky pile the bird had once been, its left wing had been blasted clear off and laid on the ground. One puffy Robin hopped over to it curiously.
"See?" Bellatrix cackled loudly, "Pops feather balls!"
"You should have told me that it explodes birds!" Adrian shouted back, scrambling upwards to pull out his wand once again, he hadn't been prepared to just murder an animal.
"It's more fun not to tell you," She laughed, "Rumpervis! Rumpervis!"
Two more birds exploded with small bangs, speckling blood on the startled Robin.
Adrian had just killed a bird.
Although, they were conjured. So it was likely that they never had existed, or were true to the word 'alive'. They were just targets, moving targets that had as much life as a stationary training dummy.
"Okay," Adrian breathed, standing shakily and pointing his wand at another bird, ignoring Bellatrix's massive grin, "Rumpervis."
The Robin hopped, looking flustered with one gigantic wing, then it cried out.
Pop
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