Chapter Twenty-One: A Duel by Any Other Name

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The trouble with a great sadness is that it doesn't fit inside your body.
― Manuel Rival

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Ariana kept following me.

Ariana kept following Tom.

I was highly concerned that the child took us on as parental figures because we'd saved her life.

"I am one second away from hexing the thing." Tom snarls, grabbing my arm to shove me to the side.

"She's a child! Don't you dare! I know how to chop off limbs. Don't make me chop yours off." I snap in a low hiss. Tom sneers at my words and points at the blonde girl who watched us, a loving look in her eyes.

She stood a few feet away, just staring at us.

"Tell me that isn't abnormal." Tom raises a hand to rub the space between his eyebrows.

"It is. You're right." I murmur and Tom nods almost frantically.

"Then let's just hex her and be done with it!" He hisses quietly, making me give him a look.

"No hexing," I warn and motion Ariana over with a warm smile.

"Sweetheart, come here," I call out, and her whole face brightens.

"So, I can throw you out of a window," Tom grumbles, and I shoot him a warning look, which he answers with a scathing one of his own.

Ariana skips up and grins up at us, innocence and love shining in her eyes. "Hi, mom! Hi, dad!" She squeals and my eyes widen in shock. I fall back, from the crouch I was sitting in and land on the floor in utter surprise.

"W-What?" I gape at the young child who had lunged to engulf me in a hug. She kissed my cheek and rushes over to Tom, hugging his legs, giggling.

Tom was frozen. I don't even think he was breathing

He wasn't moving, eyes not leaving the place where Ariana had announced us her parents just seconds before. A look of pure disgust wraps around his face, and he looks down slowly to stare at the girl grabbing at his legs.

"Dumbledore!!" He roared and whips around to glare at me, wand raised. He was pointing it at Ariana, and his eyes were enraged and filled with utter confusion. He stabs his wand towards the young child and then points it at me.

"Get this thing OFF ME!" He suddenly explodes, and I look up at him from my place on the floor.

"Riddle! I swear, I'm NOT in the mood for your irrational ANGER! Shut up and let me THINK!" I boom back.

"Irrational ANGER! I've become a father at thirteen! I think irrational anger becomes entirely rational here!" He sneers, seeming to want to kick Ariana away like a dog.

"You harm a hair on her head, and what I did to Grindelwald's followers will be child's play compared to what I will do to you." I snap, placing my head in between my knees, trying to breathe.

"So you admit it!! You did the black magic." Tom exclaims.

I felt a panic attack coming, and I was not in the mood to deal with Tom freaking Riddle.

Tom seems to realize I was panicking as much as he was because he actually stays silent.

"Deep breaths, Dumbledore." I hear Tom mutter from above me. "Don't let the fear and panic control you." He says in a smooth voice, a serious tone.

"Mommy?!" Ariana asks, voice quivering in fear. I see Tom haul her into his arms.

"Hush, child." He scolds her lightly, face hard and emotionless.

I raise my head, feeling myself pale even more. "Help me up." I squeak and Tom eyes my hand in utter scorn.

"I'm holding a child." He turns away, and I swallow hard, lying down on my back. I cover my eyes and breathe.

"You alive?" Tom jeers.

"Barely." I croak and sit up slowly.

I look at Tom and almost laugh in amusement. Ariana had her head on Tom's shoulder and her tiny arms wrapped around his neck. I barely stifle a scoff of laughter. If it hadn't been for the utterly grossed out look on his face and the expression that made me think he was one second away from actually throwing her out the window, I'd have thought he was her actual dad.

"Ariana? Why do you think I'm your mom?" I ask, making Tom nod quickly.

"And what gave you the utterly absurd idea that I am your father." Tom spits the word out like poison.

Ariana gives a yawn and shrugs. "You cared for me when no one else did." She murmurs, and I blink. Tom blinks too.

"I'm speaking to Professor Dumbledore. This is absolutely ridiculous." Tom sniffs as I stand up slowly to meet his gaze.

I nod my agreement at him, and he literally throws Ariana in my arms. "Follow." He orders us. Both Ariana and I stare at each other.

"Is dad always this mad?" Ariana asks, and I nod.

"Yup pretty much." I muse walking after Tom.

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"I'm not that young child's father!" Tom demands as all three of us sat around a highly amused Albus.

"Well, Mr.Riddle, no one is forcing you to be a father to young Ariana. The child has just begun to call you by another name. You can choose to ignore the meaning that the name gives you or accept it. The decision is yours to make." Albus tells him, and I'm gaping along with Tom.

"You expect us to be parents?" I ask industriously, making Albus shrug.

"If that is what you wish to be, then become it."

He was seriously pissing me off, and I knew Riddle felt the same. "We are both thirteen." Tom deadpans like he couldn't believe Dumbledore was this daft.

"You've been marvellous help through all this. Really cousin." I snap, sarcastically.

He shrugs. "A good parent isn't defined by mere age. It's by their actions." Albus continues. He actually expected us to be parents to this traumatized five-year-old. I couldn't even take care of myself. Now I had to care for another human?!

"I don't know why we are even debating this? This is preposterous." Riddle snarls, and I nod.

"Albus. We are kids. It'll be children raising a child. I don't understand what you're asking us to do." I stay as calm as I could.

Albus shrugs. "And I don't know what you're asking me to do." He replies, having us all go silent.

Ariana was in the corner, watching us with a happy grin on her face. I couldn't help but send her one of my own smiles.

Tom marches out of the room.

"Ariana, stay here sweetheart," I say and race after him.

"Riddle!" I yell, but he ignores me, marching away.

I sprint after him. "Riddle!!!" I demand and almost ram into his back. He whirls around eyes seething in pulsing black and red anger. I take a step back instinctively. He was utterly frightening, his gaze looking like he wanted to rip me apart.

"You did this." He snarls, and I realize his wand was aimed at my neck.

"Riddle. Riddle calm down. She's just a young girl!" I exclaim, honestly stunned at how he was acting.

"I don't care." He seethes. "You've been nothing but a thorn in my side since the day you've arrived here. I despise you. I would rather you jump out of this castle window and break every bone in your body then have you talk to me for another second!" He roars and sends the reducto spell at me nonverbally.

I flew back and hit a wall, parts of it actually falling off and almost hitting me. I let out a groan of utter pain but the throbbing anger I felt....the firing rage filled me, and I was sending a spell straight at Riddle's back. It was the same spell he'd thrown at me, and he meets the same fate I had.

He hits the wall with a loud explosion and then strolls away from the debris like Jesus coming back from the dead. His eyes were trained on me and mine on him. I realize we'd made our way to the Hogwarts Courtyard, and we stood dead center.

"Is this how you want to play, Dumbledore?!" He seethes, and I raise a brow.

"Bring it, Riddle!" I sneer at him. "You're acting like an absolute child!" I demand as we begin to circle each other. Each one of us acting like a predator when, in fact, we were both prey. Prey to our anger and prey to our darkness.

We let it fester inside of us like a disease.

I wasn't duelling Tom Riddle at the moment.

I was duelling his future.

Only Lord Voldemort was left standing.

I was so angry, tears of rage spilt down my cheeks.

"Ariana is more mature than you are!" I snap at him, and that was the last straw because he lets out a scream of pure malice attacking me with every ounce of power he had. He had a lot.

I was dodging and blocking with my hands, using my wand to send equally powerful spells in his direction.

"Stupefy!" I shout, and Riddle deflects it instantly, smirking.

"That all you got, Dumble?" He hisses, sending a spell my way, "Reducto." He shouts, causing me to roll to the side to risk my head blowing up.

It explodes, shattering the statue behind me. "Avis!" I shriek, and my wand lifts to the air, conjuring a flock of birds from its tip. "Oppugno!" I direct all the birds at Riddle who snarls in anger at my attack. The flock of birds zip towards Riddle like bullets.

In a fit of rage, he waves his wand like a sword slashing it in front of him a serpent of fire shoots out and begins roasting all my poor birds. My lip curls in a sneer, and when I realize the massive snake of fire was headed in my direction, I match Tom's curse with one of my own. Whipping my wand around, an enormous ring of fire erupts from my wand, I whirl it around and send it straight at Tom's damned snake.

I was really starting to hate snakes. "YOU UTTER CHILD!!!" I shriek.

The serpent slams into the flames and I scowl, seeing it be engulfed by the flames I'd made. Riddle sends another spell at me, seeing his serpent go down. "Childish!? I'll show you childish!" He screeches and starts sending a flurry of spells. Some of them were really dark. I couldn't see where he was and was dodging spells blindly.

Letting out a scream of pure livid anger, I raise my arms up, making the flames blast upwards in a curving streak of fire, and I slam my fists into the floor, sending the fire out sideways in every-which direction.

Tom uses the Partis Temporus spell, and I meet his eyes from the small section of parted flames he stood in. "Weak Riddle. So utterly weak." I taunt him.

We both attack at the same time.

The strength of our powers blow up the tiles of stone we stood on. We both screamed, and everything was blowing around us like a hurricane. Fire zipped around us in a whirlwind of death. Magic sparks of red burst from our fingers and wands, neither of us allowing ourselves to break it. Our arrogance and pride working in union against us.

"Let meeeee finish him!!" Abaddon yells in my head, but I refuse.

"This is MY fight!"

"Technically, we are the same person." He was pouting

I didn't answer Abaddon. I was too busy trying to not be annihilated by Tom Riddle.

We look at each other and then an outburst of power we'd been battling for control of, shoots upwards and erupts into a thousand magical fragments.

A reminder to anyone that too much power could destroy.

We were panting and circling each other, the hurricane of magic whipping around us. It was so powerful, my ponytail becomes undone, and my mane of black hair whips around freely.

We point our wands again at the same time but freeze at the person who'd just strolled in-between our duel like he was taking a damn morning walk.

Albus looked in-between us with furrowed brows. "ENOUGH!" He thunders, his voice causing the very ground we stood on to shake.

Our wands whipped through the air and slammed into Albus's hand, without him having to even move. The fire was put out with a snap of his fingers. With another wave of his hand, all the destruction and chaos we'd caused was in array.

"My office, NOW!!" He booms and walks back in the direction he came in.

I wanted to cry. I could've killed Tom. I could've killed him had been done with all of this utter madness. Lord Voldemort would've been dead, and everything would be right in the world.

I wanted to go home! I wanted to go back so badly it ached. I wished for Luna, Harry and Ettie so much my hands begun to shake.

"WHY ME!!" I screamed at Albus's back. Albus pauses in his steps, freezing in place. "WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE SENT SOMEONE ELSE! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE DONE IT!" I shriek into the night. No one could hear me except Albus and Tom.

Tom was staring at me like I'd gone mad.

"I refuse!" I snap, my eyes blazing. "I REFUSE!!" I scream so loud, my vocal cords ache.

"All you ever do is cause pain.. you know that, Albus." I accuse him, marching up to meet my cousin. "LOOK AT ME!" I explode, in a voice that was not my own. Abaddon had come up to full power in my anger and was causing a tornado of black magic to swirl around me as I spoke. My eyes were flickering in-between Abaddon's and my own like a broken recordset.

Dumbledore whirls around to see Abaddon and me in our full glory. He pales and looks at a frozen Tom Riddle behind me. He hadn't moved from our duelling spot from moments ago, but he was staring at us. I knew what his gaze would look like. It'd be calculating. So damn calculating.

It wasn't me that was speaking right now... It was my pain.

"YOU HURT, everyone! Everyone! ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOURSELF YOU SELFISH BASTARD!" I scream, bending down, clutching my stomach as if the words caused me internal torment.

I walk up to him and look him dead in the eyes, "I should've been sent back in time to kill you instead."

And with those words, Abaddon and I walk away.

The trouble with a great sadness is that it doesn't fit inside your body.
― Manuel Rivas

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