* (-.-)*A/N: Warning; this chapter may include different things from the book and things that never happened.* (-.-)*
Chapter 6: Masquerade
It had been 3 months, and the Phantom had not been seen since the murder. It was soon time for the New Year's ball. This year they were holding a Masquerade. And, as this was an opera house, no one questioned the logic when everyone broke into song.
It all started with the managers. "Monsieur Andre!" Firmin called.
Andre called back, "Monsieur Firmin!"
Firmin then sang. 'Dear Andre, what a splendid party!'
Andre sang back. 'The prologue to a bright new year!'
'Quite a night, I'm impressed!'
'Well, one does one's best,'
Andre and Firmin both sang, 'Here's to us!' and clinked their glasses together.
Andre raised his glass and sang, 'A toast for all the city!'
Firmin answered, 'What a pity that the Phantom can't be here!'
Inside, the song was continued through the audience. 'Masquerade! Paper faces on parade! Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you. Masquerade! Every face a different shade. Masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you.'
They then went into verses. 'Flash of mauve, splash of puce, fool and king, ghoul and goose, green and black, queen and priest, trace of rouge, face of beast; faces! Take your turn; take a ride, on the merry-go-round, in an inhuman race! Eye of gold, true is false; who is who? Curl of lip, swirl of gown, ace of hearts, face of clown; faces! Drink it in; drink it up, till you've drowned, in the light, in the sound; but who can name the face?
Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds, masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you. Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads, masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you.' As though they all saw an invisible cue, they all lowered their voices. 'Masquerade! Seething shadows breathing lies, masquerade!' Then, they brought the volume up again. 'You can fool any friend who ever knew you. Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes, masquerade! Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you.'
Erik watched from a distance. He smiled bitterly; did they honestly think he had left forever? Well, Christine wasn't his yet, so he was not done. He took pleasure, however, in some small things Christine had done over the past few months. She still went to the chapel, lit a candle, and listened, as though waiting for him to sing. She still looked unconsciously over to Box 5 as she sang. Oh yes, another reason he was here, her singing. She had been moved back to chorus, and that toad had taken back his Christine's limelight. Speaking of the toad, he heard a sound like a wailing cat broke through his thoughts.
Carlotta sang loudly, (amazingly, only Erik and Christine winced. Of course, he didn't notice Christine… yet) 'What a night!'
Firmin (thankfully) interrupted, 'What a crowd!'
Andre continued, 'Makes you glad'
Firmin took back the 'stage', singing, 'Makes you proud! All the crème, De la crème'
Madame Giry overlapped, 'watching us…'
Angel sang, in what Erik believed was a voice that could not begin to compare to Christine, (he was quite opinionated) 'Watching them…'
Carlotta, sadly, returned with, 'All our fears are in the past…'
Andre sang, 'Three months'
Piangi overlapped, 'Of relief!'
Carlotta interrupted, 'Of delight!'
Andre returned with, 'Of Elysian peace!'
Piangisang, 'And we can breathe at last.'
Carlottascreeched, 'No more notes,'
Piangi intruded, 'No more ghosts,'
Madame Giry continued, 'Here's a health,'
Andre, went on, 'Here's a toast, to a prosperous year,'
Firmin sang, 'To our friends who are here,'
Piangi and Carlotta carried on, 'And may the splendor never fade!'
Firmin and Andre intruded, 'What a blessed release!'
Madame Giry finished, 'and what a masquerade!'
Someone else went through the door and Erik whirled round. And there she was. Christine. Erik stopped breathing for a moment, and his mask nearly slipped off; you see, it was molded to his face, and if he changed his facial expression too much it wouldn't match the pattern of his facial features and slip off. At least he didn't get sweaty; his skin was too alike ice. Nevertheless, he felt his forehead beading ever so slightly at the sight of her. She was wearing a pink dress, that had a slight frill, but, as though shouting 'CHRISTINE!' in dress form, it was not fluffy, or revealing, or low cut. It hugged her figure, and then cascading down from her waist. You couldn't see her shoes, and I'm not going to bore you with a large description. But, even with minimal make up, I must express, she was beautiful, and Erik nearly fell down at the sight of her. Nearly. He listened closely to the conversation weaving between her and that fop, the patron, de Chagney. He couldn't help but notice that she got a little tense when de Chagney put his arm around her, and she would occasionally look hopefully around the hall. Then, she turned back to the fop.
"Think of it! A secret engagement. Look, your future bride. Just think of it." She said. Erik was quite disconcerted by this, but didn't hesitate to think of a snappy comeback. 'The fop should be the one wearing the dress, he's more girly than you and you know it.'
Raoul replied, "But, why is it secret? What have we to hide? You promised me." And he leaned in to kiss her. Erik grits his teeth, but smiled when Christine gently refused Raoul.
Raoul sang, in a voice that could not compare to Erik like Angel could not compare to Christine, 'Christine, what are you afraid of?'
Christine and Raoul continued in parenthesis, 'let's not argue, (Let's not argue) Please pretend, (I can only hope) you will understand in time! (I'll understand in time!)'
Erik regretfully turned away from Christine and looked at the crowd which began to sing again, 'Masquerade! Paper faces on parade, masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you. Masquerade! Every face a different shade, masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you. Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads. Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you. Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds, Masquerade! Take your fill; let the spectacle astound you…'
They led off as Erik made his entrance. The lights dimmed. He looked around. De Chagney glared at him, then whispered something to Christine and walked off. That bloody coward! Christine didn't seem to notice though, as she was staring at her angel, her features mainly shocked, but, Erik was elated to find slight joy surrounding it almost undetectably. There were traces of fear, but way more joy.
Of course, no one could see his happiness through his mask, except perhaps that insane Auror who was visiting – Mad Eye Moody. He was appropriately named, as he had a single robot (magic) eye that was looking straight at Erik, and Erik was sure he could see blotches of amusement on his face.
Erik stepped forward, and began to criticize the managers through song. 'Why so silent, good monsieur's? Did you think that I had left you for good? Have you missed me, good monsieur's? I have written you an opera. Here, I bring the finish score. Don Juan Triumphant! Fondest greetings to you all, A few instructions just before rehearsal starts; Carlotta must be taught to act, not her normal trick of strutting 'round the stage. Our Don Juan must loose some weight. It's not healthy in a man of Piangi's age. And my managers must learn that their place is in an office!' Here, Erik took out his sword and began waving it close to Andre and Firmin's faces, after throwing down the Opera when it was mentioned. 'Not the ops. As for our star, Miss Lily Evans...' No one missed how here, he put away his sword, or how his eyes and voice softened drastically. 'No doubt she'll do her best; It's true, her voice is good, she knows, though, should she wish to excel, she has much still to learn, if pride will let her return to me, her teacher. Her teacher...' There were gasps and murmurs as this last statement echoed throughout the hall; he was her teacher? It was also noticeable that he took a tone of pride when he sang it.
Sweet music started playing out of nowhere. No one questioned it. Erik took a cautionary step forward and nearly beamed in relief when she did the same. Another step… Another step… Soon they were mere inches away from each other. Everyone watched as though in a trance. Not even Hagrid, the large clumsy groundskeeper, made a noise to disrupt the enchanting scene that was playing before their eyes. It was as though they were under some kind of spell. Perhaps they were, perhaps Erik had cursed them all and none of them had even realized. Nether the less, no one moved, and Erik slowly put his hands on her shoulders. Then he moved them to her neck. Then he finally kept them in her hair. He looked down slightly…
…And noticed her engagement ring. That was when the rage took over. He grasped the chain it was dangling from and tore it off, making Lily hiss in pain as the chain originally dug into her neck then snapped and tore into her skin.
'Your chains are still mine! You belong to me…' He half-sung and half-shouted. But, before anything else could happen, there was a smashing sound from above. Screams were heard as people realized what was happening. Black smoke-like figures poured in like rain through the roof, and materialized on the floor. Then, when the figures had stopped falling, a new one fell in. It seemed to demand attention and respect. It was Voldemort.
He raised his hand, and with a lazy wave, explosions happened everywhere. Erik went to grab Lily, but Angel had run to her, gripped her hand and pulled her away.
Then there was another explosion, however, and the two were separated. Before they could re-unite, Angel was swept away by the masses of swarming people, who were attempting to escape before they were slaughtered.
Silently cursing the fact that Dumbledore was at the Ministry for this and the next month, Lily crawled to the sanctuary of an overturned table.
Outside, the marauders and Angel had found each other. They spoke only in panicked urgent whispers.
"Where's Christine?"
"Did you see her leave?"
"I thought Angel had her!"
"We got separated! Where is she now?!"
"I see her! She's in there!" They looked into the great hall, where the entrance had been bordered to stop people from going in, but stopping Christine from getting out. She was the only one left.
Tom Riddle advanced slowly towards the scared girl, who had her eyes trained on him fearfully. He slowly took out his wand. He had heard a lot about this girl. She was talented in magic, she was beautiful, and she could have boys falling at her feet by simply singing one aria. The best part was: she had no idea she possessed such power. She had an innocent air, which just made it all the more effective. She could easily disrupt the Death Eaters with any of these powers, and if she was on his side the world would crumble at his feet, but he also knew she was strictly on the good side. So he would have to dispose of her.
He pointed the wand at her head and in one swift motion began to shout, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" however; he never got to finish the spell, because something made his wand fly across the room. He looked over and smirked. So this was the famed Phantom of Hogwarts.
Erik put his wand back in his pocket, then ran full speed at Tom, slamming into him with all his body weight. They toppled to the ground. Erik rolled onto Tom and smashed his fist into his face. He vaguely remembered the promise he had made to Nadir Khan, an old acquaintance, that he would not kill anyone anymore but then he remembered the face of that gruesome Joseph Buquet, and he felt no remorse. Joseph, like Tom, had threatened Christine by making obscene remarks, and when Christine caught his eye, he would send her dirty looks. Erik had gone to great lengths to stop them from ever bring alone for his own sake as well as Christine's, and as he had strangled him, Erik had had the small relief in the back of his mind that Christine would not be a victim as so many girls had been before.
He continued to punch Tom until he was unconscious. He would have liked to have kept going, but he needed to get to Christine immediately.
He jumped up and stared at Lily, who stared back at him for a moment, before passing out. Erik raced over to her in a second and scooped her up in his arms. He began to run back to his lair, kicking Death Eaters and doors out of his path on his way.
*(*-*)* A/N: There you go! Sorry about the time it takes to update. *(*-*)*
