Chapter Twenty-Five: Screaming Through Flames

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We had no choice. Sadness was a dangerous as panthers and bears. the wilderness needs your whole attention.
― Laura Ingalls Wilder

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It was a two against one, and the odds were clearly in our favour. We were two exceedingly skilled students. We could take an old lady.

A roar could be heard in the next second.

Two huge panthers appear out of nowhere, rounding the corner and snarling at us.

My heart stops.

Okay, so the odds weren't really in our favour.

I look at Tom with fear in my eyes, and he shakes his head, giving me a look that said Keep it together, you fool.

He'd seen me camouflage our faces, but he knew our voices were not.

"Show yourselves!" Hepzibah demands. "Show yourselves, you COWARDS!!" She roars, making me eye her warily.

She was an obese old lady. She was huge, and I was incredibly bewildered at her quick movements. She wore an elegant ginger wig that looked utterly ridiculous. Her pink robes were hanging loosely, and I think I threw up a little in my mouth. "Good lord." Abaddon groans in my head. "She could cover herself a bit more." He sounded ready to hurl. Her breast peeked out of her robes, dangling loosely, hence showing her lack of knickers.

Tom looked traumatized. The poor lad looked at her repulsed.

"Attack them!" She orders her panthers and Tom looks at me, pointing at the panthers; Those two are mine.Β 

I nod and step up to meet Hepzibah in a duel. Abaddon comes forward, thankfully hidden by my black cloud of magic that hid my face.

"Hepzibah." Abaddon and I crone at her. Her eyes widen at Abaddon's harsh voice and from the corner of my eyes, I see Tom sending spell after spell at the panthers. They had some sort of enchantment on them that made anything Tom send their way go repelling off.

He'd seemed to notice that early in the fight and begun to levitate things in the air sending them flying at the panthers in an attempt to slow them down.

Hepzibah and I circle each other. I still had the goblet clutched in my hands, so duelling wasn't going to be as easy as always.

"Accio-" Hepzibah shouts, her greedy nature igniting as she sees the goblet. I send a spell at her, throwing her wand away in the process. I send another spell, and she slams into the wall, shaking the very house.

Her eyes widen in fear at my nonverbal magic. Nonverbal magic was severely uncommon in the wizarding world. Only tremendously powerful witches and wizards could do it.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I shriek, the spell blasting out of my wand before I finish saying the words.

"Obliviate!" I murmur and erase her memory of the entire night. She slumps in a deep slumber.

"VALENTINE!" I hear Tom shout, and I'm being thrown into the opposing wall by a very powerful spell that couldn't have come from anyone other than Tom.

I get to my feet, realizing I'd almost been pummeled by one of Hepzibah's panthers.

Holding out my wand, I glare at the panther that stood in front of me, snarling its distaste. "Incendio." I snap, sending a ball of flames at the beast. The flames hit it before flying off and almost hitting Tom, who waves it away with a slash of his wand. He sends me a glare.

It attacks and I doge it, throwing myself to the other side of a table.

I replace my wand in my ponytail and barely dodge another attack. I let out a screech of surprise and stumble back from my place on the floor.

I let out a scream of rage and send two chairs, tumbling into the two panthers with a single wave of my hand. Tom strides over and hauls me to my feet, hands lifting me up by my waist. "We need to leave." He orders, voice firm. He had a massive cut on his face that was dripping blood.

"Your face," I whisper, touching his face gently. He glares at me, waking me up from my shock.

"Come on, Dumbledore. Get us out of here." He snarls, hauling me back towards the door. My grip on the goblet hadn't lessened, and I look at him.

"You have your locket?" I ask, and he nods firmly.

The panthers pounce upwards as one and Tom positions me behind him. "Hurry with the spell." He seethes. I nod, engulfing my body in my magic before Tom sends the panthers flying away by hitting them with a table.

In seconds, I grip Tom tightly, lunging forward to wrap my arms around his neck as I haul the pair of us through the door and outside. We fall to the floor outside the house with groans. I was being suffocated as he lay right on top of me.

I freeze when he seems to realize the position we were in. He stares at me, inquiring, and I find myself unable to breathe.

He snickers, in cruel amusement before rolling off me. "Breathe, Dumbledore." He sneers, eyes hard. I scoff.

"You were lying on my lungs, you imbecile." I hiss at him, making him smirk.

I sit up before getting to my feet. Tom was already dusting his shirt off, the locket in his hand. "Salazar's locket," I announce, trying to catch my breath.

I remember his words from inside the house. "So, you're a descendant?" I ask breathlessly, and he nods.

"As are you, I see." He motions to the Hufflepuff cup clenched in my palm.

"You caught me." I chuckle and then look at him. "Switch?" I ask, and he shrugs, before nodding. He was just as intrigued by the goblet as I was with his locket. We switch relics, and I gaze at the necklace in amazement. It was stunning.

The locket was made of heavy gold with a serpentine rolled up into the letter S on a glittering green stone. I stare at it enthralled and try to open it to no avail. "It doesn't open," I mutter and then I hear a whisper. Tom must've heard it too because his head whips up to stare at the locket.

I glance at it and then at Tom, confused as my eyes widened to show it.

"Ssssssssssss sssssayyyyyy opeeeennnnnn." It hisses, and I blink in shock.

"It's Parseltongue," Tom explains, eyes trained on the locket in my hands.

"Then why can I hear it!?" I demand, making him gaze at me in intrigue.

"I have utterly no clue."

"Say it." I nudge him with my elbow. He grabs my elbow, shoving me away.

"I can speak perfect Parseltongue. How about you say it?" He decides, eyes twinkling in interest.

"I don't know how?!" I hiss at him, and he shakes his head in amusement.

"We've been speaking in Parseltongue this whole time Dumbledore."

I literally jump away from him in horror, almost dropping the locket in the process. My hands were shaking. "I'm not a descendant of Salazar though," I state in cold tone. "How do I turn off the Parseltongue!!" I realize I was still talking in snake language.

I was panicking.

"Open the locket first," Tom tells me, voice smooth, his Parseltongue switch turned off. Tears were seconds from spilling down my cheeks, so for the sake of my sanity and dignity, I say it.

"Open," I mutter in Parseltongue, watching in fascination as the locket makes a hissing sound and several clicks before it swings open in my palm.

"Now, just breathe and stop panicking you, stupid girl. Speak English."

"DON'T you think I would if I COULD!" I screech, realizing I was speaking in perfect English again before blushing. Tom just gives me a deadpanned look.

Tom had moved to stand closer. He was staring down at the locket as if mesmerized. There was a portrait of Salazar himself and a note. I take the note in-between my fingers, noticing it before Tom did. Tom takes the locket from my hands, so I could open the note up.

I read it out loud. "It is with deepest regards that I write this letter. Tom-" I stop looking up at him. His eyes were trained on mine, hard as ice. "Continue."

I clear my throat before reading again. I don't know why he wanted me to read it. Why he trusted me enough to read it. We hated each other.....sorta.

"Tom, Marvolena... I wish I could've been there. I wish I could've cared for you like a mother should've. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I fell in love. I'm sorry your father cursed us all. I'm sorry you both have-" I choke reading the next sentence, and I look up at Tom.

"You want me to keep reading?" I ask, making him nod. "Read." He says through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry for conceiving you under a love potion," I whisper, looking up to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry you can't feel love. I'm sorry for ruining your lives. The only thing that can numb the pain... numb the darkness you feel is to break the curse I've put on you unknowingly. Find the right person, and from there, the cure begins." I finish, staring up at the thirteen-year-old boy in front of me.

He was seething, and he holds out a hand for the paper. I pass it to him, almost dropping the two relics he shoves in my hands.

His eyes scan the paper again, and he sighs, looking devastated. It was the first time I'd seen Tom look like this. So flustered and exasperated. "What's the point?" He scowls and holds out the paper in front of him. I had a feeling he was going to burn it, so I swipe it from his grasp, giving him a look.

"Don't. You'll regret it in the future." I tell him, folding it awkwardly back into the locket. He looked like he was trying to control his anger.

He loses the fight.

He lets out a heartbreaking scream, flames shooting out from his hands like he was Mother-freaking- Teressa.

I stay silent, putting the two relics in my jacket pockets.

"She's an IDIOT!" He seethes, shooting flames at a nearby tree. "Stupid woman falling in love. What good did that do??!!" He kills another tree. I wave my hand as I followed the broken boy on his rampant, sending the fiery branches far away from his head.

Everything he set fire, I put out.

I walked behind him silently, just letting him take out his pent outrage and anger.

He was utter destruction, I realized. This boy was broken into a million pieces.

His heart was doused in darkness and loneliness. He was alone. He'd always been alone.

I thought I would hate him. I thought it'd be so easy to kill Lord Voldemort. I thought I'd set the curse upon him the second I saw him.

But Tom... Tom wasn't Lord Voldemort. He was still just Tom Riddle... the boy that only knew pain.

I understood, I realized as I walked behind Tom, protecting him from his own flames.

I understood why he became Lord Voldemort. His heart had been made for breaking and for pain. But weren't we all made for that? For pain and heartbreak and loneliness.

He stops, still screaming out all the profanities he could. I stop too.

From the moment he'd been born, the darkness was all he knew. He was stuck in the dark. He was blind.

I walk over to his side, brushing his shoulder with mine.

He looks at me then, and this time, I didn't squirm under the intensity and coolness of his glare.

Pain had conquered him. Pain had made him become Lord Voldemort. He'd never had love to even know what it was in the first place.

I would follow him into the dark. The thought comes to me without warning but contemplating it... I found myself agreeing. "I'll follow you into the dark Riddle," I whisper, making him look away. A look of loathing and disgust was drawn on his face.

"Infatuated with me that much, Dumbledore." He sneers the words. I don't respond, moving to stand in front of him. I notice a flaming branch heading towards our heads and I send it away with another wave of my hand.

Tom's head follows the direction of the fire. I don't think he even noticed the flame on his jacket. I brush it off, quickly wincing at the burn.

His eyes whip around to meet mine, falling to my hand.

"Why?" He scowls.

"I'll be the flashlight to guide you out of the dark." I smile up at him. He glances down at me, shaking his head at me.

"I've been lost for too long." He admits.

"Then, I'll get lost with you."

"I don't want you getting lost."

The words have me tilting my head slightly at him.

"Too bad... I've stepped into the darkness, and I'm not looking for anyone else but you."

"You won't find me." His expression was like it was cut out of stone.

I knew this would be the last time he ever showed me this side of him.

I grab his hand, interwinding our fingers. He lets me this time, gazing at me curiously as I lift our fingers to show him.

"I already have."

Because pieces of your heart clearly weigh more when they're sitting shattered at the bottom of your stomach.
― Heather Brewer

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