Chapter 40

Paul stared at Draco in mild horror as the short axe floated into his hands.

And even the cheer-full Frank stopped giggling...

But only for a moment...

Then a hefty and hysterical-sounding giggling fit overcame him.

"But... Lord... Please..." Paul tried to utter three different pleas but couldn't get out more than a word every time.

Could he even ask for a more lenient punishment?

A report to the ministry would definitely lead to a sentence in Azkaban.

Losing a finger was definitely preferable to a stint with the Dementors.

If the Lord allowed it, Frank could even get a prosthesis for his finger in the future—some magical prostheses were even so advanced that they were better than the original limbs.

The damage the Dementors would do to Frank's psyche couldn't be repaired that easily, if at all.

Monetary reparations were obviously not punishment enough in the Lord's eyes.

Paul could even understand it because everyone knew Frank wouldn't be the one paying the reparations...

But understanding something and approving of it were two completely different things...

And then actually doing it was something entirely different again.

Looking at the axe in his hands, Paul still hesitated.

"What are you thinking for so long? You're not actually considering hacking off my finger, are you? Tehehe..." Frank laughed at the absurdity.

"Just swing the axe into the boy's skull. Sitting so close, he will never be able to react fast enough to protect himself. Then we don't have a problem anymore. He probably has his pockets full of gold, too, so we can make ourselves a nice evening after we bury him and still put some money aside." Frank freely encouraged his brother, smiling dopily.

Paul's heart was suddenly beating as fast as a galloping hippogriff.

What was that idiot saying?

Paul could never...

For a millisecond, but only for a millisecond, Paul gauged the feasibility and glanced at Draco.

Except for questioningly raising his right brow at Paul, Draco didn't move another muscle, keeping his relaxed smile the whole time.

The wolf inside of Paul whimpered in fright and howled at him to run and hide, or, if that's impossible, to lie on the ground and present his belly in subservience to the alpha predator and beg for mercy.

The impulse to call for packmates didn't even arise.

Not that Paul had anyone he could call 'pack' except for his brother, but the impulse to call out to other wolves still came up at other times of crisis.

This time, his subconscious seemed to know that having a strong pack wouldn't make any difference in this situation anyway.

Few individuals had a keener instinct for danger than werewolves.

Listening to his inner wolf screaming, he knew, there was only one thing for Paul to do.

He steeled himself, grabbed the axe handle tightly with one hand, and grabbed the arm of his brother with the other.

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"What are you doing?! No! Don't! Stop it! Please!" Frank begged and fought back weakly.

Unfortunately for Frank, mind-blowing Cheering Potions didn't only intoxicate the mind; they also impaired body control, coordination, and muscle activation, so he stood no chance to escape from his brother's grasp.

But because Frank fought back vehemently, despite his weakness and inebriation, Paul couldn't swing the axe safely.

Draco had no interest in seeing Paul lose their scuffle in the end because he wasn't forceful enough with his brother, so Draco kindly helped him out by freezing Frank's body with the Full Body-Bind Curse.

Now, Paul only had to overcome his own scruples and hack off his brother's finger.

Because he was petrified, Frank couldn't get any word out anymore.

He could only beg his brother with his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Frank. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I took you to explore the forest that night. And I'm also really sorry that this is the only thing I can do to help you now." With tears in his eyes, Paul lifted the axe up in the air.

Paul readied himself, but he couldn't pull through and still hesitated.

"Get on with it. If I have to take over, I will take his whole hand." Draco said to motivate.

And it worked.

Paul stopped hesitating and swung the axe down.

While he was in the midst of executing the punishment on his brother, a little part of Paul had a tiny sliver of hope that this was nothing more than a simple loyalty test and that the Lord would stop his hand before he really harmed his brother.

But unfortunately, that didn't happen.

The axe hit, and blood splattered.

But only a little.

Frank couldn't scream in pain, so he just hissed miserably.

Unfortunately, because Paul had been too careful and irresolute, the axe didn't go all the way through.

The little finger was still attached to the hand with a half-broken finger bone and a scrap of skin.

When Paul noticed that, he turned to Draco, silently pleading with him that it was enough.

"You are just prolonging his suffering with your faintheartedness." Draco informed him helpfully.

Gritting his teeth, Paul raised the axe again.

This time, he only hesitated briefly before Frank's little finger was finally rolling on the floor.

This time, there was a little more blood.

Breathing hard as if he had just run from a coven of vampires, Paul looked at Draco questioningly, and Draco affirmed that he was satisfied.

Only then did Paul let the axe fall from his hands and run outside the shack to throw up.

Frank still couldn't move and just bled.

"Incendio." Draco uttered the incantation this time as he pointed his wand at Frank, making sure his control of the flames from the Fire-Making Charm was as precise as possible.

Burning out Frank's stump served two purposes at the same time.

First, it stopped the bleeding.

Secondly, it prevented the severed finger from being reattached later.

On further thought, burning out the stomp made the reattachment only more difficult.

With magic, it was certainly still possible.

For a moment, Draco thought about pocketing the finger as blood magic material, in case he wanted to curse Frank later or impose a geass on him.

But Frank wasn't worth the effort or the risk.

So Draco decided to conjure another flame and completely incinerate Frank's severed finger.

All in all, Paul's ability to consider the overall picture, adjust to circumstances, and do what's necessary was sufficiently tested.

Paul passed Draco's test, even though he had hesitated a lot and was still retching outside now.

His loyalty... Paul would have to prove that to Draco again and again in the future.

But his brother may have developed a little grudge in the process, even though Frank had been the one to make the mistake in the first place.

It was probably impossible for Draco to eliminate that grudge right now without resorting to magic.

Mind magic would be the most obvious option, but even that was on Draco's scale of effort and risk still above Frank's worth.

Instead, Draco decided to scare Frank a little more so that he would swallow that grudge so deeply that he wouldn't even dare mention it, let alone act on it in any way.

Draco crouched down in front of the petrified Frank and looked him right in the eyes.

Draco could see he had Frank's absolute attention by the way his pupils dilated because of the 'fight or flight' response.

Draco whispered to him caringly and affectionately patted Frank's petrified face. "This is your punishment for stealing from me. Consider yourself lucky. This is just what I had your brother do to you. Imagine what I would do to you if I took care of it myself... which will happen if you dare to displease me again in the future. Just so you know, I kept some of your blood. So I can track you anywhere in the world and even curse you from afar if I want to. Remember that in case you get some stupid idea again."

Frank's eyes bugged out in fear, signaling to Draco that he understood him.

Even though he was still petrified, Frank's pain and fear were obvious for all to see.

His eyes screamed the most.

But Frank was also as pale as a vampire and sweating like a pig.

His miserable appearance didn't bother Draco at all, but out of consideration for Paul, Draco decided to help out.

With a wave of his wand, Draco made Frank fall asleep.

Only afterwards did Draco lift the Full Body-Bind Curse.

And because Draco was so nice, he transfigured a cot and a blanket for Frank to rest on.

He even transfigured a clean bandage and animated it to wrap around Frank's wound.

Draco's heart was really as gold as his hair.