Review Comments:

ronin warriors fanatic: I have fixed the spelling mistake.

I did not remember that Flamel didn't know the sword's power, but in my chapter he simply called it an evil sword. I think it still works even if he's wrong about how it became evil so I've decided to leave that in. Thanks again for the review though. I hope these mistakes are not souring your enjoyment of the story. I also hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations of Perenelle.

Disclaimer: I do not own HP, SINF, The National Park Service,

Chapter 53

When Riddle finally stopped, Perenelle was sure they'd flown a hundred miles. Riddle was floating in the air about ten feet in front of her with his back to her. She took the opportunity to land and take in her surroundings. They were above a large mountain with extremely smooth, steep sides. The mountain appeared to have a circular top near where Riddle was floating, indicating a volcano. Perenelle grimaced: her last fight around a volcano had not ended well.

Riddle turning and sent his aura out in all directions. The wind he summoned picked up large boulders and threw them at her. She was barely able to turn her aura into a massive, thick set of medieval armor. The boulders still hurt, and it took 600 years training to keep her balance, but at least they didn't kill her. She fell on the last boulder and slid down the mountain, lowering her auric armor as she did.

Perenelle knew that Riddle had just sent the most powerful attack he could at her. She also knew that he had no idea what she was capable of. Her strongest attack had been the sharks in San Francisco Bay; and that was easy. Now it was time to finish Tom Riddle for good.

She opened her eyes and waited until a spirit found her white aura. After a minute, a short native girl appeared in front of her. Perenelle beaconed the spirit to her.

"Hello," she said to the spirit. It backed away shyly. "I won't hurt you."

"Mom says to stay away from strangers," the girl said. Perenelle couldn't place the accent. "Says they don't understand us. Says they're scared of us dead people."

"She's right," Perenelle said. "But I'm not like most people. I grew up with dead people. They are my friends."

"Swarethin, what did I tell you about talking to strangers?" a woman asked the girl. She was also dead, and would be a little over five feet tall if she had feet.

"I apologize my lady," Perenelle said to the woman. "It was I who began the conversation."

The woman looked at her inquisitively. "What is your purpose on our land?" she asked.

"I am being attacked by the man above the summit," Perenelle said. "I do not wish to destroy your mountain, but I must defeat him."

The woman smiled. "You do not wish to destroy us? You're kind are not often kind to us, as you have been in respecting us. In our culture, before the eruption, kindness was a debt to be repaid. How can we help you?"

"How good at scaring people are you?" Perenelle asked.

The woman smiled. "Haunting is our specialty."

Perenelle was careful not to move as she gently seeped her aura into the ground, searching for what the woman had said was there. At one point she picked up the aura of Riddle, who had landed near the summit and was slowly moving down the mountain towards her. Apparently he didn't believe she was dead.

Two minutes later she found what she was looking for: the lava pit. The volcano was known in this century as Clear Lake Volcano, and it had a small, open lava pit within its large crater. Perenelle focused on this pit, gathering the water in the rocks nearby as well as creating her own. She gently pushed the water into the pit, creating a large cloud of steam and fog. Thanking her alchemist husband silently, she performed a little magic to create a lot more water and soon the entire summit was covered in a thick fog.

Getting up slowly, she felt through the earth to find Riddle in the cloud. The ghosts, if they were doing their job, were currently harassing him. Perenelle always did her research before a fight. The one thing Riddle feared was death and she knew the fog would more than put him, even him, in the mood to be frightened. To add to the effect, she'd told one of the male ghosts to call himself Tom Riddle. The live Riddle's lack of movement told her the ghosts were doing a very good job.

Meanwhile Perenelle slowly made her way up the mountain, passing a few ghosts who looked like they were having fun for the first time in several centuries. When she was within ten feet of Riddle, she summoned her aura and parted the cloud so that a thin clear path existed between the two of them.

Riddle was cowering on the ground in the fetal position but quickly rose to his feet when he saw her. "Who are you?" he asked, failing to hide the panic in his face. Perenelle heard the ghost she'd told to be Riddle's father say something about her being his personal assassin.

Perenelle smiled. "I'm a ghost," she said. "I've been a ghost for 600 years and I intend to keep living as one for many more. Good bye, Tom Riddle. Enjoy death." The ground rose up and encased Riddle's legs as Perenelle placed her hands in front of her and formed a massive ball of energy. The ghosts retreated away laughing as the ball of energy floated toward Riddle. The ball made contact with Riddle just as he managed to get away from the ground. He screamed in anguish as the spell boiled the water in his veins, causing him to quickly explode.

"Impressive, my lady," the same woman from earlier said, approaching Perenelle with her daughter by her side.

"Same to you," Perenelle said. "It's not easy to scare that man. And thank you, thank you all." She thanked each ghost in turn and then replaced her protective colorings in her aura. Now she had to get to the airport and get back to London. She only hoped she wasn't too late.


A/N: The volcano really does exist and does have a lava pit on it, although I suspect that a little extra magic would be required to create the cloud from this chapter.

I think that his father or grandfather haunting him is the only thing that can truly scare Tom Riddle. The reason he is immobilized by fear is he is living a nightmare he probably had many times. I also believe that's why Dumbledore really scared him: Dumbledore could see through everything Riddle did while at school and Riddle would have believed no secret could be safe from him. If Dumbledore could see through his so easily, then Dumbledore could discover his past and his weaknesses; which he ultimately did.