𝐢𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑋𝑋𝐼𝐼

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β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€βŠ° ✧.*✦*.✧ βŠ±β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€

γ€€γ€€ π€πˆπƒπ„π 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐃 π‡πˆπ’ 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 around the wall, though quickly retracted again when he saw people walk by. He glanced at the group of fourteen people behind him and slowly exhaled. 'Does everyone remember the plan?' he asked quietly and was met with a few nods. 'Alright, let's get moving.'

The faint smell of supper still floated through the corridors of the castle as the students were retreating to their Houses for the evening. Shoesoles clacked over the stone floor, though it was almost impossible to hear over the chatting students. The wind that some groups of students brought along seemed to almost blow out the candles that were magically lit, its light crawling back and forth over the floor in an attempt to enlighten the corridor.

It wouldn't take much longer for the corridors to be emptied of the students and except for an occasional professor and the ghosts of Hogwarts, there was no one roaming around the corridors. It was the perfect time according to Aiden.

The plan was simple; once all the students had retreated to their Houses, they'd sneak through the corridor in the formation of a snake. They had to stay together as closely as possible and use the shadows to their advantage since there were many. Several people had their wands ready for when a professor would cross their path.

Aiden had decided that it was best if none of them would be spotted, especially since almost everyone had been dressed in Archenlander robes and garments. They stood out like sore thumbs and changing clothes was not included in the plan.

Caspian and Peter's leadership together with Erin's hunting instinct formed a strong force to move their group through the castle and they were at the very head of the snake. At first, Aiden didn't like to give the lead to the two of them, however, he quickly realised that he had to utilise everyone's strengths and Aiden's strength was not to lead, but to make sure everyone stuck to the plan. Caspian and Peter's strength lay in leadership as the two had led several armies to victory. They'd taught everyone multiple signs so they could communicate with the rest of the group without speaking and Erin would alert them there were people near with a fist in the air.

Aiden found it remarkable how well her instincts and ears were developed. When Aiden was explaining his plan and solutions to every problem he and the others could think of, Erin had suddenly told them time and time again that they had to be quiet until the students or professors had passed their hiding spot.

She stopped the group whenever she heard footsteps, even in the far distance. She didn't understand why everyone was so impressed by the skill, since the footsteps were quite loud to her compared to the ones of the animals she'd hunt. Though, she was happy to have a role in their plan, to have a purpose and to help while they were here.

Aiden's eyes fell on Chrys, who was behind the two leaders and the huntress together with Kiano and Alexis. Chrys was the one to give most of the directions, since Alexis was in charge of wand duty and Kiano seemed lost in his thoughts. It was odd for Raiden to not be the guide, but he'd also gladly given that honour to the three of them. Kiano had started to act up during Aiden's explanation, because he hadn't been given any role. It was Raiden who stepped in and suggested that he was one of the people in charge of giving directions.

Though Kiano had great leadership skills, Raiden knew that the group would be less likely to follow him than Peter and Caspian. However, he was also aware that Kiano needed to have some type of control instead of blindly following someone else. Even now that Kiano could help with the directions, he didn't.

He couldn't stop wondering about Victoria nor wrap his head around the fact that she might've read his thoughts in the past. She'd never given him such an intrusive look that touched his soul. He'd seen her do it with those they'd hunted, but he didn't know whether or not that meant that she was reading their minds. Perhaps a simple glance gave her access to one's personal thoughts and the one she was reading would've never known she was even in their head to begin with.

His logical side reasoned that she trusted them so much, because she'd read their minds. Though there was a part of him that refused to believe she'd ever done it. If she had, she must've known about Tom's sick and twisted identity that he'd shielded from all of Hogwarts. Too many questions were hurting his head and the phial in his hand hopefully held some answers he was seeking.

Hermione had her doubts about going to the Headmaster's office, because there was no guarantee that Dumbledore wasn't there himself. However, when she'd voiced that concern, Kiano immediately sneered at her. He'd regretted it as soon as he'd done so, but it had slipped out before he'd realised it. There was a reason they were at Hogwarts at that time and place and he knew Victoria meant for them to go to the Headmaster's office.

He began to wander away from the group without realising it, breaking the snake-shaped formation they'd created. He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a small hand slide over his and hold onto it. His eyes shot to the person holding his hand and he obediently followed her back into formation.

'We almost lost you there,' Lucy whispered with a sweet smile.

Once he was walking along with the rest again, Lucy let go of his hand and continued to follow after him. He didn't look back at her, but glanced at his hand instead. He could feel a soft tingle tickling his hand and he clenched and unclenched his hand to get rid of the sensation.

Harry, Charlotte and Hermione had no problem following the others. Harry was rather glad that someone else took the lead and he could take some time to play the scenes of his parents and their friends in his head over and over again. Seeing them so carefree and happy made his heart ache with both pain and happiness. Since he was face to face with the younger version of Voldemort, he'd wanted to go home and forget about it as soon as he could.

But then he saw his parents. His godfather. His favourite teacher and mentor. It gave him a reason to want to fight. For all of them. One by one they'd all died because of Voldemort and this time, he was not going to let that happen again. They'd given him a purpose. Victoria had given him a purpose.

Alexis would've normally said something about Kiano's rash behaviour, but not this time. For once, she let him feel whatever he felt and express it however he needed to. She knew Kiano had his fair share of problems of trusting people and now, he wasn't sure who he could trust anymore and whether or not he could still trust Victoria.

Peter couldn't resist the temptation of thinking he knew the way and took a left where they needed to take a right. 'You're going the wrong way,' Alexis whispered to him and pulled him into the right corridor by his sleeve.

'Leave it up to Peter to take the lead and lead us the wrong way,' Edmund retorted quietly behind them.

'He has quite some experience with that, hasn't he?' Lucy added with a short giggle.

'Shut up already,' Peter scoffed at them and proceeded to lead with a deadpan glare on his face.

Erin's fist in the air made the Pevensies' already soundless laughter stop. 'Someone's coming our way,' she whispered and plastered herself against the wall.

Wands were whipped out by the witches and wizards as others squeezed themselves against the wall in the shadows of the flames. The disillusionment charm's incantation could barely be heard since only a few needed to whisper it in order for it to work. One by one, everyone morphed into the colours and textures of the background, much like a chameleon could do. They were swift and efficient, because Aiden had made everyone practice to quicken their time. While everyone had sighed and huffed, they were glad they'd done it now that they'd needed it.

Coming from around the corner came a familiar face for many. It was an old man in long, colourful robes, with his silver beard covering up most of his front. He had many names and was feared, loved and admired by many witches and wizards. Albus Dumbledore was the Headmaster at this point in time and yet, he didn't look much older than what Harry, Hermione, Charlotte and Aiden were used to.

Kiano, Alexis and Chrys, however, had to take a double glance at the man. He'd ditched his neat, three-piece suits and his short, brown locks were something of the past as well. However, they all recognised the bright and sparkling eyes that he'd always sported.

They all stood like statues in the hopes that he wouldn't notice with some even holding in their breaths. Dumbledore's crescent-shaped glasses reflected the dancing fire as he walked past the group hiding against the wall and disappeared again into another corridor. Everyone waited for Erin's signal before rushing into the corridor that Dumbledore just emerged from to find the sentient gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. An impressive, bronze eagle stood in front of them, its wings almost touching in a perfect circle.

'Does um. . . anyone know the password by any chance?' Harry asked when he realised that Dumbledore changed his passwords regularly. He could name several passwords that had been used throughout his time at Hogwarts, but this was far before his time.

'We have been sent here for a reason. All of it ties together somehow, but I'm not sure that this is part of that,' Raiden said as he scratched the back of his neck.

'We've done all of this sneaking around and all of you forgot that we need a password to enter?' Erin spoke wryly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. 'What now? We just guess the password?'

Everyone remained silent for a few seconds, before every random password that they could think of was blurted out, even old ones that Harry could remember. Sherbet lemon, cockroach clusters, toffee eclairs, fizzing whizzbees. Nothing that anyone said made the gargoyle step aside.

While the group tried to figure out the password, Chrys stepped towards the gargoyle. She swallowed, not wanting to say what was on the tip of her tongue. She'd never liked the word, but somehow it made sense to her that it could be the password. In a whisper, a short exhale of air, she said it. Bellicose.

The gargoyle sprang to life and stepped aside for everyone to reveal a slowly ascending staircase. Chrys smiled relieved and glanced back at the group, catching Aiden's gaze and sharing her relief with him with a simple glance. Erin and Raiden didn't waste another minute and ushered the group upstairs when they heard faint talking in another corridor and didn't want to risk being seen.

Alexis confidently opened the two oaken doors and entered the Headmaster's office with everyone following suit. It didn't matter how often any of the witches and wizards had been in the Headmaster's office, it was still a magical room. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, was calmly sitting on its usual spot and had seemed to accept that they'd entered the office. On top of one of the vast, oaken bookshelves was the Sorting Hat, which sorted every Hogwarts student into their House. The Hat, much like Garrick Ollivander, remembered everyone they'd provided their services to. It was either sound asleep or didn't bother to respond to them breaking in.

In the middle of the circular room, which contained so many books it made Hermione jealous, was Dumbledore's desk. A hand-made constellation proudly hung above it and would move along with the actual milkyway it mirrored. Alexis opened the closet to the pensieve, which always opened elaborately, grabbed the pensieve and pushed it to the centre of the room, where it floated peacefully.

The first thing that Kiano noticed was Headmaster Dippet's portrait. He scrunched his nose and clenched his jaw at the memories of all his visits to this office when he was still in school and hating his demeanour towards him. He always acted as though Kiano was some silly, little boy that had anger issues because he wanted to be cool in front of others. Whatever had happened, it was always Kiano's fault, he never even tried to figure out the actual truth behind what had happened.

He made his way through the group towards the pensieve that was floating in the midst of their circle. It was a magical object that appeared as a simple shallow basin with a silvery substance swirling in it. The engraved Saxon runes of the pensieve lit up brightly blue when Kiano's gently poured the phial's contents into the depthless sea. He wasn't sure how they could use the pensieve all at once, since one would stick their head into the substance to relive old memories that had been poured into the pensive, but he immediately retreated towards the group when the pensieve lowered itself onto the ground.

The room darkened as their surroundings slowly lost their colour. Pieces of parchment swooshed around causing everyone to only see fragments of what was written on it. Neatly written in cursive, the same words could repeatedly be read. My love.

Every letter started with those two words and there were a lot of letters floating around the room. Showering from the ceiling came thousands of dark green roses that glided through the letters towards the ground. One rose broke free and magically fell into the hands of a younger Victoria.

Her features weren't as vivid as she was a mere reflection of her own memory. Her hair was dull, nowhere near the brightness of her auburn locks. Even though this version was only a few years younger than her present self, she seemed much younger and so much more naive. She no longer possessed the innocence she had at the age of sixteen.

Her cheeks slightly coloured whenever she caught Tom looking her way and she couldn't even control her grin from showing. She was looking down at a small piece of parchment in her hands that read "my love, meet me at the room of requirement at eight o'clock tonight."

As the people around her sped up, Victoria slowly walked towards the entrance of the Room of Requirement and entered at eight o'clock exactly. Tom was there, his darkly handsome smile forced onto his face whereas Victoria's genuine excitement radiated off of her.

He'd put on an old song that softly sung its melody in the background. Victoria's eyes lit up more when she thought that he would ask her to dance. He called out her name and reached out his hand for her to take. When she did, he kept her at arm's length and glanced at the old record player. His smile disappeared for several seconds as he pretended to be busy.

'I brought something with me,' Victoria said and grabbed a simple, black leather notebook from her pouch. 'You've gone to great lengths to keep the letters you give me a secret, so I found a way to make it easier.'

She sat down on one of the old, wooden chairs and placed the book in front of her. 'I want to show you something,' she said while retrieving a feather and some ink and tapped the other chair.

Tom hesitantly sat opposite her and watched her write something onto the parchment. As she slid the notebook towards him, her message faded away until the parchment was perfectly blank once again. 'You made the ink disappear?' he asked, trying his hardest to appear surprised instead of utterly frustrated that she made him sit down for that.

'Write your name,' she told him.

With disguised reluctance, he penned his name and saw it disappear too. His eyes shot over to Victoria, who excitedly nodded down to the notebook. Ink came back to the surface of the parchment and formed the letters that were gone only seconds ago. All of our secrets will be safe.

Tom's half-smirk faded away and morphed into short moments. Both Edmund and Harry had to look away when Victoria's memory of her first kiss with Tom flashed before their eyes. They watched as Victoria taught Tom everything she knew about the Dark Arts, feeling happy that there was someone she could share that interest with.

Suddenly there's a girl screaming and Victoria seemed beyond distraught. Harry recognised the memory. The limp hand of the dead body that was covered in white sheets, Tom staring at her being taken away and blaming young Hagrid and his Acromantula named Aragog. He watched in horror as Tom lied to Victoria's face and consoled her, wrapping her tightly in his arms and making sure that she stopped trying to figure out the truth.

Victoria knew Hagrid rather well, despite being two years above him. He was incredibly kind and Victoria loved to discuss magical creatures with him. He was in Gryffindor too like Alexis and Chrys, which is how she'd met him. Victoria almost spent more time at the tables of the other Houses than her own. She'd met Tom the exact same way; by spending way too much time with Kiano at the Slytherin table.

The memories after this vivid memory felt different. They weren't as exciting and rose-coloured as before and neither was Victoria. Her prominent smile had made way for curled corners of her lips and her posture had matured greatly.

As the world was spinning around her, the euphoria that once resided in her eyes had changed into a deep-rooted fear when she looked at Tom. She was speechless. Not a word had been said since Tom had revealed the truth that had always been there. The truth about the dead girl and the ring he'd suddenly started wearing. His disgust for Muggle-borns and his mission to purge the Wizarding World from everyone who was not worthy to conjure magic.

'Youβ€”used me,' Victoria whispered as her voice cracked from the sobs that came out.

'Don't act so stupid. I thought you'd understandβ€”'

'Understand?!' Victoria scowled and arose from her chair to be face-to-face with him. 'You pretended to love me, you lied to me, you killed your own family and an innocent girl and blamed Hagrid for it!' She gasped and placed both her hands in front of her mouth as the tears rolled over her cheeks. 'You held me and told me that everything was going to be okay. . .'

Tom had taken a step back when Victoria had approached him, her finger in his face startling him slightly. 'I could've had you killed or petrified and I did not. I'm asking you to join me, will you or will you not?' He tightened his grip on his wand, keeping it at the ready for when she would reject his offer.

'You're a murderer and a liar,' Victoria hissed at him and closed herself off by crossing her arms over her chest. 'Why would I ever join you?'

Tom bared his teeth as he couldn't control his rage anymore. He started to shout and lifted his wand. She was just like the rest, when he'd always thought that she was different. That he'd made her different.

A sudden sting in his mind made him drop his wand, however, and he grabbed hold of his head with both his hands. He grunted in pain as he slowly lowered himself onto his knees, his gaze never steering away from Victoria's tear-stained eyes.

He knew she was in his mind and he tried the hardest that he could to get her out of there, but he

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