Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Hunter x Hunter universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Shueisha Inc. (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye – as if that wasn't already obvious since I swapped a few genders), angst, drama, some mild character bashing, and who knows what else.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Twenty-Six: The x Corrupted x Soul
It took Azalea two days to find the courage to open the cedar box that Dumbledore had left her and that was with both Kurapika and Fawkes dropping subtle and not so subtle reminders. Seeing the pensieve brought back memories of the times she'd viewed the memories held within Dumbledore's larger and fancier pensieve without permission; including seeing one of Snape's worst memories. Stuck to the basin was a parchment containing detailed instructions on how to use the pensieve, how to withdraw memories, how to return the memories to one's mind or a vial, and the descriptions, incantations, and wand movements for all of the spells involved.
Aside from the pensieve and memory vials, there was a snitch, several books and journals, Gryffindor's Sword, the silver lighter-like gadget that she recalled Moody using the night she was taken to Grimmauld Place after the dementor attack, a plain brown box, an old black briefcase, a Hunter's Portfolio that was cracked with age, and several small rolls of parchment (each one labeled with the name of an item within the cedar box).
Kurapika was fascinated by the concept of being able to view memories and Azalea introduced the blond to the magical world with the memory of her first night at Hogwarts, starting from the moment she stepped down off the Hogwarts Express that first time and ending the moment the feast ended. The eighteen year old then asked if he could see a few of Azalea's memories of the misadventures she had spoken of not that long ago. Azalea obliged him by showing him the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament where she faced the Hungarian Horntail, her fight against the Basilisk, the only meeting of Lockhart's dueling club, rescuing Sirius in third year, Norbert's hatching, meeting Grawp, and a couple of her more memorable Quidditch matches.
Azalea wouldn't start viewing the memories that Dumbledore had left her until a week later.
The first thing Azalea looked at, after showing her memories to Kurapika, was the Hunter Portfolio and Azalea actually cursed Dumbledore's name when she discovered that the portfolio had belonged to her great-grandfather. Aside from her great-grandfather's Hunter Certificate, the old portfolio held a number of important documents inside of a magically expanded pocket that had been created in the seam between the outer cover and the inner portions of the portfolio. Those documents included birth certificates, adoption certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, immigration forms, and an assortment of medical and educational certificates for her maternal great-great-grandparents, great- grandparents, grandparents, granduncle, grandaunt, parents, and herself.
It was a priceless trove of familial information and Azalea was torn between excitement at finally having a chance to truly learn something about her mother's family and fury at Dumbledore for having hidden that information from her for so long. She settled on excitement as she avidly devoured the names and a brief history of the past four generations of her maternal family; such as the fact that her mother had actually been adopted by her paternal uncle at age three which meant that Aunt Petunia was technically just her second cousin; she was still a blood relative though, and she supposed that was what really counted.
A glance at the parchment from the cedar box labeled as Hunter's Portfolio simply stated that it had belonged to her great-grandfather and made no mentions of the hidden pocket or the documents inside (though Azalea suspected the man had known about both due to hers, her father's, and her mother's important documents being inside). Reading through the rest of the labeled parchments gave her a bit more information about what each item was (for those that weren't obvious) and why they'd been given to her.
The journals held all of Dumbledore's personal notes on Voldemort and a number of known and suspected Death Eaters, his personal account of the war with Grindelwald, and a detailed history Dumbledore had pieced together on the Potter, Black, and Evans families (a large portion of which focused on Azalea and the decisions that Dumbledore had made in her life). The other books included a book of magical fairytales, several pureblood genealogies (from Germany, Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales), a few rare tomes (on magical theory, abilities, and family inheritances), and the Potter, Black, and Evans family grimoires.
The memory vials apparently held important clues that Azalea would need in order to take on an important quest that she was supposed to complete before she could face Voldemort. Gryffindor's Sword was supposed to help her on that quest due to the destructive properties the goblin forged blade had been imbued with after she'd used it to slay the basilisk. The snitch was the one she'd caught in her first ever Quidditch game (the one she nearly swallowed). After learning that the snitch contained something important, she opened it using the charmed penknife she'd bought to replace the one she'd ruined in the Dept. of Mysteries and found an unfamiliar ring with a cracked stone.
She would later thread the ring on a leather cord that she tied around her neck so that it didn't get lost because of the importance that Dumbledore had placed upon it.
The silver lighter-like object was actually called a Deluminator and it was a one-of-a-kind magical device that had been designed and created by Albus Dumbledore. The plain brown box held several albums containing photographs from both sides of her family. And, like the Hunter's Portfolio, the black briefcase had belonged to Azalea's great-grandfather; though Dumbledore claimed that he hadn't known what it contained because he'd never been able to open it.
Over the next seven days, Azalea spent the time she'd previously used for research and half of her evenings skimming through the various books and journals; studiously avoiding the memory vials, her great-grandfather's briefcase, the box of photographs, and the family grimoires. She avoided the latter three items because she feared to get lost in them and the former because of the knot that formed in her stomach every time she thought about the 'quest' that Dumbledore had mentioned more than once. She was also far more interested in things that could help fight Voldemort on more even footing or any information about who she would need to keep an eye on as far as Death Eaters went.
Kurapika had been interested in the books and journals as well; though the older teen couldn't read through the grimoires due to the protective magic woven into each of them (only family members could open them safely). He actually focused on the book of fairytales (because he found them interesting) and Dumbledore's journal documenting Grindelwald's rise and the subsequent war. He found the Tale of the Three Brothers more than a little amusing and he often teased her about trying to collect the Hallows because she already had an invisibility cloak and she had often spoken of getting a powerful wand to replace the wand she lost.
At the end of that week, Azalea would finally start viewing the memories Dumbledore had left her.
She ended up spending two full days watching the memories; ignoring her training to do so as she learned about Riddle's childhood, his years at school, what happened to him after he left Hogwarts, and glimpses of his decent into madness as he delved deeper into the Dark Arts – specifically the forbidden Black Arts (those magics that dealt with sacrifice and murder). It was a considerable amount of useful information that allowed Azalea to better understand the wizard that became Voldemort but none of it really told her how to defeat the Dark Lord.
The information regarding the horcruxes (what they were and the proof that Voldemort had made at least three) appalled and terrified Azalea; the concept of purposefully tearing her soul into pieces abhorrent to the young witch. There were also indications that three or four more horcruxes potentially existed. Dumbledore had listed each known horcrux, each potential horcrux, and possible locations where one of them might be found.
The revelation that the diary she'd destroyed in her second year one of the known horcruxes was disturbing. The news that Dumbledore had been mortally injured destroying a second one (which had been made from the ring she now wore around her neck) just a few weeks after Azalea had left her relatives was troubling. But Dumbledore's belief that Azalea herself was a horcrux absolutely horrified the young witch.
The proof was there in Dumbledore's memories and in his journals; the dark residue that had been found on Azalea the night her parents had died, the pain she'd felt in her scar any time she was near Voldemort, the similarities in their abilities (most notably her ability to use parseltongue), the connection that allowed Azalea to receive visions from the Dark Lord, and the ease with which Voldemort had taken possession of her at the Ministry.
Like the day she'd read the hurtful letters from those she'd once thought of as family, Azalea would have broken under the knowledge that she was a living receptacle for one of Voldemort's soul fragments and that the only way for her to destroy the fragment was for her to die if not for Kurapika. The older teen calmly pointed that Azalea had already fulfilled the dying requirement (when Killua had pierced her heart), reminded the witch that Voldemort had not made use of their supposed connection since her temporary death, and drew attention to the fact that Azalea's scar had all but faded completely.
Kurapika had then kicked her out of the tent and ordered her to get back to training as she'd already missed more than enough time. A ten mile run followed by an hour long Nen spar against Mizuken helped Azalea to center her emotions and gave her a chance to really think about everything she'd learned to date about Voldemort and his horcruxes. The two hour long spar against Kurapika using their bokken, hands, feet, and Nen that followed her spar against Mizuken helped distract her completely from everything that had been bothering her and gave her mind (and therefore her worries) a chance to rest.
She returned to the box of clues and tricks that Dumbledore had left her after supper and began compiling a list of the potential objects that Voldemort might have used to create additional horcruxes. There were only three suspected horcruxes (Slytherin's Locket, Hufflepuff's Cup, and Nagini) and one completely unknown horcrux (potentially made from something belonging to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor but really could be anything). When she fell into bed beside Kurapika later that night, Azalea couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something important.
It wasn't until two days later that Azalea recalled seeing Slytherin's Locket at Grimmauld Place and of the locket falling out of Dumbledore's robes on the night he died. The soon to be seventeen year old witch spent nearly three hours tearing the tent apart trying to find the locket while Kurapika watched her in confused fascination before she recalled that she'd tucked it into the pocket of her old cloak. Dobby then ecstatically cleaned up Azalea's messes while the witch hunted for the old cloak (she had kept it for sentimental reasons and as a reminder to think things through before throwing herself headfirst into danger).
Once she dug out the damaged dragon-hide cloak, Azalea methodically emptied the pockets in search of the locket only to be distracted when Draco's hawthorn and unicorn hair wand let off a pathetic burst of silver sparks the moment she pulled it out of her cloak by the handle. By contrast, the moment her hand wrapped around the handle of Dumbledore's old wand, a veritable flood of frozen black and gold sparks burst forth from the wand and swirled around her in a maelstrom of haunting music and magic as the wand bonded itself to her (and unknowingly linked itself to the ring she wore around her neck).
The intensity of the connection formed with that wand far exceeded the one she'd had with her holly wand and Azalea stared at the pale wand in shock for several minutes before she remembered what she was supposed to be doing.
Tucking Dumbledore's wand into the pocket of her new cloak alongside Draco's wand, Azalea resumed searching through the pockets of the old cloak until she pulled out the locket she'd picked up off the Astronomy Tower the night of the attack. The moment she had the locket in her hands, Azalea knew it was a fake. It was far too light, the gold appeared to be tarnished instead of aged, the gems forming the 's' shaped snake too pale (mere green colored crystals instead of true emeralds), and it did not radiate that barely felt feeling of utter dread that the original one had when she'd handled it that day in Grimmauld Place.
Confirmation came when she easily opened the locket and found a scrap of parchment with a scribbled message inside.
To the Dark Lord
I know that I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to
know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real
horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the
hope that when you meat your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B.
Azalea's thoughts ran a mile a minute as she tried to think of who R.A.B. might be and what the person might have done with the horcrux until her thoughts ground to a halt once she recalled when and where she'd seen the original. Huffing at her own idiocy, Azalea wrapped her hand around both locket and note as she called out a sharp, "Kreacher!"
The crotchety old elf appeared with a loud crack and began bowing to Azalea only for him to halt and let out a noise that sounded something like the croaking squeal of a frog that had just been stepped on when his eyes fell upon the locket clutched in Azalea's hands. Azalea immediately knew that the elf knew something about the fake locket; she could see it in Kreacher's eyes. The elf's eyes were filled with despair, anger, guilt, grief, and self-loathing.
"Do you know what this is, Kreacher?" Azalea asked as she dropped the locket so that it dangled in her hands from the chain and swung back and forth just a few feet away from the trembling elf's eyes.
"Yes."
"Do you know who wrote the letter that was locked inside of it?"
Kreacher seemed to struggle with himself for a long minute before he grudgingly replied, "Yes."
"Do you know what happened to the real locket?"
"Kreacher knows," the elf rasped as he reached up and began painfully twisting his ears.
"Stop hurting yourself, Kreacher; and tell me where the locket is."
"Kreacher has the Dark Lord's terrible locket. Kreacher saved it, he did. Kreacher not let horrible witches and wizards steal or throw away the Dark Lord's terrible locket."
"Good," Azalea stated simply as she crouched down so that she was eye level with the elf; her reply shocking the elf enough that he gaped at Azalea for several seconds. "Kreacher, I order you to bring me the locket."
"No, Kreacher has to destroy the Dark Lord's locket. Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to not let anyone touch the locket. Master Regulus's last order was for Kreacher to destroy the locket but Kreacher failed. Kreacher will not fail his beloved Master Regulus again!"
"What if I told you that I knew how to destroy the locket? What if I told you that I wanted to help you destroy the locket?" Azalea countered; her eyes glittering with specks of gold as she held the elf's gaze.
Kreacher trembled again before he suddenly disappeared with a sharp crack and Azalea felt a moment's uncertainty over whether the elf's departure meant he was going to cooperate or if the elf was going to hide the stupid locket someplace she'd never find it. She received an answer two minutes later when the elf reappeared with the locket in hand and Azalea smiled in both relief and satisfaction as she accepted the locket from the elf and tucked the fake one into her pocket.
"Thank you, Kreacher; Regulus would be proud of you right now. Give me a minute to gather the things I will need and then you may follow me out into the forest so that you may witness the locket's destruction."
"I'm going with you as well," Kurapika insisted as he briefly snagged Azalea by the elbow in order to get Azalea's attention.
"You will stay well back out of the way because if you get hurt, I will never forgive myself," Azalea ordered in a no-nonsense tone as she briefly met Kurapika's eyes before she hurried into the other room to grab Gryffindor's Sword from the cedar box.
Twenty-three minutes later, Azalea was standing in the middle of a clearing two miles away from camp while Kreacher, Mizuken, and Kurapika hovered on the edge of the clearing. Using her Conjurer's aura, Azalea created a stone alter that she placed Slytherin's Locket on top of before she tucked Gryffindor's Sword beneath her arm so she could button up the front of her graphorn robes. Next, she flicked her right hand in the direction of her audience in order to raise a wandless shield to protect the three of them from any backlash that resulted from the destruction of the locket.
The teen was not certain what would happen since the only experience she had with horcruxes had been when she destroyed the diary (she'd not been conscious when she died, after all).
Taking a deep breath, Azalea closed her eyes and drew deeply on her magic and her rage as she mentally prepared herself for what she had to do. Azalea then shrouded herself in an aura of pure magic as she palmed Gryffindor's Sword and twirled the sword once so that it was facing point down as she clasped it with both hands. The not quite seventeen year old witch then gave voice to a loud battle cry just seconds later as she slammed the blade home through the center of the locket hard enough to embed the sword into the conjured rock nearly all the way to the hilt.
There was a mighty pulse of foul magic and a shrill scream of pure agony filled the clearing as an inky black cloud of smoke poured from the locket. The cloud formed itself into the image of a twenty-something Tom Riddle and the shade's hands stretched out as if to strangle Azalea as it screamed a second time in fury before it shattered into a million pieces and vanished like smoke. Silence soon fell over the clearing once more and Azalea almost felt disappointed over the rather anticlimactic destruction of the locket. She'd half expected an explosion, an attempted possession, or at least a verbal cursing filled with promises of retribution; something more than a little blast of magic, an annoying scream, and a vanishing shade.
"That was almost too easy," Azalea muttered as she casually withdrew the sword from the stone and leaned down to study the locket for a moment as she released the aura surrounding her and let her magic withdraw back into her core.
"How much longer is this going to take, King Arthur?" Mizuken called out from the forest line.
"Sorry, Mizuken; but I'm not exactly the kingly type and in case you've forgotten, I'm the wrong gender. I always considered myself more of a Merlin or Morgana type personally; you know the whole I can transform you into a newt and turn you into potions ingredients if you continue to annoy me thing sort of goes hand in hand with my magic."
Kurapika burst out laughing at the indignant look on Mizuken's face while Kreacher popped up beside Azalea's knee and wrapped his arms around the witch's leg as the elf bawled loudly. Azalea awkwardly patted the emotional house elf on the head a few times. She then pulled the fake locket out of her pocket and draped it around Kreacher's neck.
"I think it only proper that you keep the fake locket as a reminder that you finally completed Regulus's last order. And later tonight, after you finish your chores for the day and when you are feeling up to it, you can come back and tell me Regulus's story; how he discovered the Dark Lord's horcruxes, how he stole the locket, and what happened to him."
"Kreacher will do as Master James asks," Kreacher promised in an almost respectful tone as he cleaned his snot and tears from Azalea's dueling robes before he vanished in a crack; the elf addressing her with something akin to respect for the time since she'd first met him.
Azalea shook her head and collected the ruined locket before she dismissed the conjured stone, dropped the protective shield she had raised, and made her way to Kurapika's side. The taller teen gave her a critical once over, to make certain she was unharmed, before he grabbed Azalea in a headlock and dragged her back in the direction of camp. Azalea yelped indignantly and promptly threatened to hex the older teen in tender places if he didn't let go while Mizuken followed along behind them laughing and shaking his head.
Azalea spent the rest of that day and part of the next searching through all of Dumbledore's journals for all of the information on the three potential remaining horcruxes and possible locations that Voldemort might have stashed them.
Once she was finished with that, Azalea turned her focus back to her training as the knowledge that she had less than a month remaining before she'd need to leave haunted her day and night. During that time, she pushed herself physically in an effort to increase her speed and stamina even further. Her Nen training focused mainly on mastering those things she'd already learned and increasing the length of time she could hold each aura or all six auras at once. Her self defense training focused on predicting her opponent's attacks and moves as well as decreasing her reaction time. And finally, her magical training once more incorporated wanded spells on top of her wandless casting.
Using Dumbledore's wand felt weird at first but the more Azalea used it, the more comfortable she grew wielding the strange wand. Draco's wand, on the other hand, was tossed into her book bag and ignored since she was afraid of having it burn up in her hand like her holly wand had months earlier. If her not-quite boyfriend and her Nen instructor had been impressed with her wandless training displays, they were down right speechless and more than a little nervous after the first time they saw her let loose with a wand.
Part of that was the absence of the bindings on her core, part was the newfound control she'd gained over her magic through her wandless casting and Nen training, and the rest was the actual wand she was using; though Azalea wasn't aware of that last bit yet.
Azalea had carefully tested the wand before she actually used it to cast a spell, simply channeling her magic through the focus a little at a time until she'd sent the full weight of her core into it while prepared to withdraw her magic the instant she felt the wand heat up in her hand; it hadn't. Once she knew the wand could bear the full brunt of her magic, she no longer had to hold back when it came to casting wanded spells since she didn't need to fear overpowering the wand core. It made her wonder what the wand was made from because she didn't think there were many wands out there that could handle the sheer volume of magic that Azalea channeled into the pale wand.
Her holly wand had been a powerful wand, after all, and it hadn't been able to handle the full weight of her magic; then again, her magic had been completely wild and her control non-existent at the time. In the end, she chalked the wand's ability to handle her magic down to the fact that it had belonged to Dumbledore previously and in her mind, the old wizard had been far more powerful than her.
Alongside relearning how to use a wand without overpowering everything, Azalea continued practicing transforming into her animagus forms and incorporated her wandless casting and Nen training into the process; in order to slowly build up the ability to use wandless spells and her various Nen abilities while in animal form. It wasn't until Mizuken stumbled across Azalea the tiger using Ren that the older Hunter finally put two and two together and figured out that both the tiger and the cat were actually Azalea.
Azalea had a good laugh over the man's shock before she calmly requested that the knowledge that she could change forms not be passed on to anyone for any reason. The man agreed with her request only after Azalea assured him that she would personally inform Chairman Netero the next time she saw the old man.
Additionally, Azalea worked on consciously controlling what she'd taken to calling her Flash Step; the ability she'd developed to travel soundlessly between two points in the blink of an eye with nothing but a small flash of gold to herald her arrival and departure. She originally thought the ability was apparation but after speaking with the twins, Bill, and Fleur she'd learned that what she was doing was something completely different.
When she used the Flash Step, she felt no discomfort, made no sound, displacement was instantaneous, and produced a brief flash of gold. On the other hand, apparation was supposed to be uncomfortable (like having your body compacted down and stretched through a straw), made a soft pop or a loud crack as the wizard displaced the air (the level of noise dependent upon the skill of the wizard), took any where from five to thirty-five seconds to travel (depending on the distance involved and power levels of the wizard), and had no visible side effects.
The time Azalea and Kurapika spent in each other's arms during the witch's final month of training held an edge of desperation to it as they both knew that their time together was coming to an end (though they still had not yet taken that final step). It didn't help that there was no way to guarantee that they'd ever see one another again once Azalea left. Azalea was the most bothered by fast approaching day of departure; the witch well aware of just how dependent she'd allowed herself to become on the older teen. That didn't mean that Kurapika was looking forward to saying goodbye either and the blond made his displeasure over the situation known by pushing Azalea harder in her training.
Kurapika was bound and determined to make certain Azalea could protect herself since he wouldn't be there to protect her himself.
Mizuken split his time evenly between pushing Kurapika and testing Azalea repeatedly over that final month. Those tests mainly involved Azalea pulling up a specific aura on command and verifying she'd pulled up the correct one using water divination. He also attempted to determine how much control Azalea had over using all six auras at the same time by requiring Azalea to perform six simultaneous water divinations while focusing each aura into a different glass (no easy feat). He even tested Azalea on her ability to use and maintain Ren (something Azalea had had considerable difficulty doing not that long ago) and taught her how to use several advanced Nen techniques (such as Shu, Gyo, In, En, Ryu, Ken, and Ko).
Kurapika, on the other hand, spent his time conjuring chains over and over again; working to perfect the conjuration before he applied the conditions and constraints that he'd set for himself.
Azalea disliked the vow that Kurapika had made in regards to using his chains against the Phantom Troupe almost as much as Kurapika disliked the prophecy to which Azalea had been tied. She understood why Kurapika was willing to place such constraints on himself though and knew she would no more try to stop Kurapika in his quest for vengeance and justice than Kurapika would try to stop her from fulfilling the prophecy. That didn't mean the witch was happy about it; just that she accepted the fact that they each had a destiny they needed to face.
Long before either teen was ready, the thirtieth of July arrived and Mizuken congratulated them on passing their final exam as he pronounced them to be full-fledged Hunters. The man then calmly gathered his things, said his goodbyes, and walked out of their camp right after breakfast; leaving the two teens alone once more. Azalea watched the man go with mixed feelings.
She had grown to trust the man up to a certain point, though Azalea had been less than pleased when she'd learned that the Hunter had manipulated her with his Nen in the beginning in order to prevent Azalea from truly panicking over his presence. She had learned that little tidbit the same day that she learned Mizuken was an Emitter with a partial mastery over Manipulation which he used to discern the truth of someone's words or compel them into opening up and trusting another individual enough to spill their life's story.
Still, Azalea would sort of miss the man and there was no doubt in her mind that the man had been a far better teacher than Snape, Umbridge, Lockhart, Quirrell, Binns, or Trelawney had ever been. On the other hand, she was quite pleased to know that she'd have Kurapika all to herself for their final two days together.
Long standing tradition had Azalea waking up a half an hour before midnight later that night and she silently slipped free of Kurapika's embrace and threw on a pair of pants and one of Kurapika's shirts before she silently padded out of the bedroom. Fawkes gave a sleepy trill of inquiry as she crossed the living room but Azalea softly assured the phoenix that she was fine before she slipped out of the tent. The soon to be seventeen year old then made her way to the stumps that were arranged around the cold campfire pit, sat down on the ground, and settled back against one of the logs.
Hedwig swooped down out of the night to land on her knee as soon as she was comfortable and Azalea murmured a soft greeting to her first feathered familiar as she gently scratched the owl beneath her beak. After a few minutes, she used a time spell to conjure a set of fiery numbers in the air beside her to count down the minutes remaining until midnight and her birthday. She tipped her head back at that point and stared up at the starry sky as she mentally reflected on her coming majority, the past year, and the long stretch of birthdays she could recall from years past.
It was something she'd done every year during the minutes leading up to midnight on the night before her birthday.
"Is something wrong, Zalea?" Kurapika inquired softly as he stuck his head out of the tent after he been unable to find her inside and noted the witch's current position; Azalea's departure from their shared bed having woken the blond.
"No; just following tradition," Azalea replied as she briefly glanced towards the older teen before returning her eyes to the stars. "For as long as I can remember, I've always greeted my birthday at the stroke of midnight in order to celebrate the fact that I was officially turning one year older. It was the only opportunity I had to celebrate my birthday when I was living with the Dursleys and celebrating it while they slept allowed me to get through the rest of the day; no matter what my relatives called me or how many extra chores they gave me. Since I turned eight, the minutes leading up to midnight have become a time of reflection for me; that was especially true after I reentered the wizarding world six years ago."
"Does it bother you to greet your birthday with so few people this year?"
"No; the only one who has ever greeted the day with me has been Hedwig."
"Oh, would you prefer that I leave you be then?"
"No, I don't mind you joining me. If I'd known that I'd woken you up when I got up, then I wouldn't have crawled out of bed; I just didn't want to bother you."
"That is a really annoying habit that you have," Kurapika complained with a trace of mild exasperation as he exited the tent and made his way over to sit beside the witch.
"What's annoying?"
"The way you constantly worry about other people's feelings without bothering to consider your own."
"Sorry, habit."
"That's another thing that annoys me!"
"What is?"
"Constantly apologizing for everything."
"Sorry, that's a habit too," Azalea retorted without an ounce of shame and more than a little amusement only to have Kurapika grab her in a headlock and give her a noogie. Their antics promptly disturbed Hedwig who transferred herself to the stump Azalea had been leaning against with a small bark of complaint.
"Incorrigible brat."
"You wouldn't have me any other way."
"Actually, I'd take you any way I could get you but I have grown quite fond of you as you are now."
Azalea chuckled as she settled herself so that she was lying perpendicular to the older teen with her head in Kurapika's lap. A glance at the glowing numbers hovering off to the left above her let her know there were only fifteen minutes left until midnight. She sighed softly as she draped on arm over her stomach and the other one reached up to slip her arm around Kurapika's back. Her sigh soon turned to a humming purr as Kurapika buried his fingers in Azalea's messy locks and began massaging the witch's skull.
A comfortable silence fell over the two of them and Azalea found herself reflecting on her relationship with Kurapika as her spell continued to countdown the time remaining until midnight. She soon reached the conclusion that she was glad that she'd not held herself at a distance like she'd originally intended to do. It wasn't just the physical aspects of their confusing and complicated relationship that she enjoyed either.
She'd come to appreciate the way Kurapika pushed her into improving herself, how the older teen could read her moods, knew when to give Azalea a bit of space or when she needed cheering up, and the fact she felt comfortable when she was with the blond no matter what they were doing.
A soft bark from Hedwig let Azalea know that she had less than two minutes left until midnight and she lifted her arm from her stomach to draw the image of a fiery birthday cake in the air above her complete with seventeen candles (the witch using a wandless variation of the same spell that Tom Riddle's shade had used down in the Chamber of Secrets to show Azalea how his name was an anagram of the phrase I am Lord Voldemort). She finished drawing the cake with just seconds to spare and she silently counted the last few remaining seconds while she focused on her hopes and dreams for the first time in years.
The moment her counter disappeared, Azalea took a deep breath and murmured a soft, "Happy birthday to me," before she blew out the candles on the hand drawn cake; the light breeze causing the entire cake to fade from view.
"Happy birthday, kitten," Kurapika added a heartbeat later as he leaned down to kiss Azalea softly on the lips while Hedwig echoed the sentiment with her usual snuffling barks.
When Kurapika pulled back, Azalea sat up to murmur her thanks to Hedwig and give her a kiss on the beak before she turned to give Kurapika a proper kiss. Just before she lost herself in the swell of emotions that the older teen always stirred in her, Azalea's last thought was that it had been nice to share the moment with Kurapika as well as with her familiar. Half an hour later, the two of them retreated back into the tent to return to their bed where Azalea curled up in Kurapika's arms before drifting back to sleep.
10-31-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.