Friday, June 1, 1995
Head Dorms
"Come, we don't have much time."
Before Eden could even open her eyes, or greet him, Tom had her by the left wrist, and pulled her out of his room. She quickly activated her Ring and jumped onto his back. He easily caught her and helped her adjust herself so he could carry her without it looking funny for those who were unaware of her presence—a lot of sticking charms were used.
"What's going on?" she whispered in his ear.
He shivered and faltered slightly. "You'll find out soon enough," he answered.
Second Floor Girl's Bathroom
The door to the bathroom opened, and instead of finding it empty, like one would assume at eight in the morning—when students should be at breakfast—a few of his Knights, the ones he trusted the most, were all waiting.
Well . . . except for Smith. He wasn't there.
All were extremely uncomfortable, and she had to bury her face in Tom's neck to hide her snickers.
"My Lord," they all intoned with a bow.
"Why are we here?" Abraxas whined, "it's the girl's bathroom."
"Do you doubt me?" Tom hissed. Eden had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing, and almost buried her face into his neck, but didn't. She must have made some indication to her amusement though, because he pinched the soft skin of her inner thigh. She bit his neck in revenge, and he shuddered beneath her.
The Knights shook their heads before they all bowed to him. "No, my Lord. I apologize, my Lord."
That was creepy.
They had all spoken at once.
Even though it should have only been Abraxas.
She almost felt like crying. She buried her face in Tom's shoulder. His head tilted to the side, and he somehow made the gesture look like he tilted his head back and to the side to look down his nose at them, while in reality he was kind of nuzzling her.
She loved him. So much.
"Good," he intoned with a wicked inflection that made her shiver. He moved over to the sinks and looked down his nose at them. "Open," he hissed.
The sinks sunk slowly into the ground, and she watched the Knights jump into the hole after Tom commanded them to. As the last Knight jumped, she remembered what Tom had told her when he first showed her to the Chamber in her second year. It had been one of the first times that he had to leave her alone to go to class because she had been too injured to go with him and couldn't be left in his dorm room for some reason or other—she couldn't remember the reason why.
Why is it in the girl's bathroom, Tom?
Because this was originally Salazar's office, little one.
Really?
Yes. When pluming was invented, they needed to put a bathroom somewhere, and because no one knew that this was once his office, and thought it was just an abandoned classroom, they put it here. The school added the entrance for the basilisk to be able to protect the students.
What about the other Founders' offices?
They have been lost to time as well, unfortunately.
Maybe we can find them one day.
Perhaps, my little one.
The Chamber of Secrets
Soon, she and Tom were down the slide, and leading the way into the main chamber. Once there, she whispered in his ear. "What's going on, Tom?"
"Have patience, my love," he hissed fondly. "Azteca, we have guests."
"Master! You have returned! Where is Small One? I smell her, but I cannot see her. Where is she?" the slightly hyper-active basilisk demanded as she entered the room with the protective film over her eyes for the non-parselmouths.
Eden paid no mind to the Knights who had closed their eyes, nor to Tom who had begun to explain that Azteca's stare wasn't fatal at the moment. She slipped off of his back, and ran over to the large snake, and stood in front of her. "I am here, Azteca."
"Small One!" she hissed excitedly before she nudged her nose forward and knocked her down. "Small One? Where are you? I must see you, my hatchling."
She stood and dusted herself off and looked at Tom. As if he could sense her stare, he nodded. When she did nothing, he spoke. "It's alright, love. Trust me."
Her left brow furrowed, and she shrugged before she conjured a clear goblet of water. She laughed softly when the Knights all flinched and huddled together. She dipped her thumb into the cup and laughed again when they paled as it turned a pale orange and she became visible.
"Hello," she greeted the boys. She turned from the scared teenagers—who honestly looked like they were about to faint—and greeted Azteca who nudged her with her nose. "Hello, Azteca. I have missed you."
"I have missed you as well, Small one. Master has told me of the Tournament. I wish to bite all who have made you suffer. So, in your time, you are to come wake me, and we are going to bite all of those who have made you suffer. Deal?"
Eden laughed at the snake, and then bent over at the waist when Tom loudly protested. "I'll think about it," she laughed.
She laughed for a few more minutes before Tom strung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her over to stand in front of the seven Knights. "Gentlemen, this is Eden. Eden, you already know them."
"How?" Androtheny complained.
She smiled secretively. "I've been around far longer than you realize."
"What's my name?"
She smiled. "Androtheny Selwyn. You're a sixth year, and you prefer to be called Andy. I, however, prefer to call you Prissy."
Abraxas cackled and bent over at the waist when Androtheny started to squawk. "What about me?" he demanded after he got his breath back.
"Abraxas Septimus Malfoy. You hold the position of Prince in Slytherin Politics, and you're Tom's Right-Hand. You're a seventh year, and a Peacock Bastard." She ignored his squawk, and everyone else's laughter, and proceeded to name the rest of the Knights that she knew. "Orion Pollux Black, sixth year—" technically my grand-godfather "—and I call you Starbright." He nodded thoughtfully at the name, but still looked uncomfortable with it. She turned to the next. "Marcellus Avery, you're a seventh year, and I call you either Avian or Birdy. It depends on my mood, and yes, one is a good mood, the other is not. Theodosius Nott, you're a sixth year, and you get the pleasure to be called Theo. Amaryllis Goyal, seventh year. You despise your name because you're male, so I hope you'll like your new name. I dub thee, Gargoyle." Unlike the others, he actually looked pleased with the name, and began to preen like a peacock.
Holy Merlin Abraxas was a bad influence.
She turned to the last. "I'm afraid I don't know your name, however."
"Julian Mulciber. I'm a fifth year."
"Ah, that's why. It's a pleasure to meet you." Tom cleared his throat and pulled her closer into his side. "Where's Smith?" she asked softly. She grabbed his hand that hung over her left shoulder and began to play with his fingers.
"Sick," he murmured softly to her before he turned to his Knights. "The reason that we are all gathered here today, is because we need someone to practice with Eden."
"What do you mean, my L—Tom." Gargoyle cleared his throat after his slipup.
Eden giggled, and Tom pressed a loving kiss against the top of her head. "You see, Eden is my girlfriend." Tom waited for the chokes and sputtering gasps to die down before he continued on. "She attends a different school, and she's entered a competition. She will be going up against her other, older, competitors on the 24th. You, gentlemen are going to be her practice partners, as much as I dislike the idea of her being left alone with you. Orion, Abraxas, because you don't have any classes on Fridays, the two of you will be here with her until she has to leave at 10:30." The two nodded. "The rest of you will be here every day, including Fridays, except for Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I'll be handling the more . . . delicate training on those days. Today, the rest of you will watch Orion, Abraxas, and Eden until you have your classes, and if needed, you will switch."
"Wait!" Abraxas squawked, "we're fighting now?"
Tom's grin was all teeth and thirsted for blood. "Yes, Abraxas. Why else would we be here? In fact, you'll be going first." Eden bit her lips to keep herself from laughing as he squawked once more. "Get into position, both of you."
"Do I have permission to punish the peacock if he hurts Small One?" Eden snorted and covered her mouth.
"No, pet. You are more than welcome to scare him though."
Eden bowed to Abraxas and lifted a brow when he just stared at Tom. "What are the rules?"
"Nothing you can't successfully, completely, and personally heal," he immediately responded. The blonde nodded as if that was normal.
Abraxas finally returned her bow, and she grinned maliciously as she bowed once more, a little mocking. He hesitantly lifted his wand, and she tilted her head to the side. It was never a habit of hers to strike first—similar to many of her fellow Slytherins. "Is he too weak?" she asked quietly. She snickered when the blonde paled at the sibilant tone.
Tom huffed a laugh. "It is not that he is weak, love—" Abraxas paled in anger. "—he's just hesitant to hurt you, as he should be," Tom leisurely explained.
"Oh. I see. Well then, if you won't attack first, I shall attack first." Before she finished speaking, she flicked her wand, and a mild cutting hex mixed with the Boomerang Charm and Slingshot Jinx fired towards the boy whose white hair fell to his mid-thighs—so jealous.
Abraxas quickly erected a shield, and instead of the hex dissolving like it normally would, it bounced off the shield, and raced towards her. Rather than hitting her, it went slightly to her right where it arced ten feet behind her and shot towards the blonde once more, barely missing her left arm in the process. The hex was now much faster, and stronger than it had originally been.
The spell hit his shield, shattered it, and sent him back fifteen feet with a shallow cut across his chest. He pushed himself up and stared at her wide-eyed as some hair fell over his shoulder.
"How?" he breathlessly demanded.
A smirk tugged at her lips. "Like this."
She flicked her wand once more, and the spell careened towards him. A shallow cut appeared on his cheek, as a lock of pale blonde hair—that happened to be the same length as her own (she was very much jealous of his hair length, and wasn't ashamed about it)—was severed at his chin and fluttered to the floor.
The Chamber was silent.
"Oh, hell no," he hissed after he looked up from it.
He pushed himself up with another hiss, and flicked his wand, and a blue spell that she recognized to be a fairly intense flipping curse careened towards her.
She erected a Raw Shield, and the fight truly began.
The two shot curses, jinxes, and hexes at each other for a good three minutes with both either dodging or jumping out of the way or dissolving the spells before they hit shields or delicate body parts—neither were afraid to play dirty (neither stopped moving).
Abraxas flicked his wand in a semi-familiar movement, and a Curse—it looked like the Rotting Curse—flared to life on the end of his wand before it shot towards her. She flicked her own wand, with barely any effort put into it, and her own Curse sailed towards him.
The Rotting Curse, and the Terror Bane met in the middle, and a bright, white light shone from where the two soul-destroying Curses pushed against each other.
The two teens were stuck in an intense battle of wills, with her Curse slowly strengthening as she started to lose control of the delicate Bindings on her Core—who knew an hour of meditation a day turned something once strong as steel into something pitiful and weak (she most certainly didn't). It wasn't until her Curse was so potent that it would kill Abraxas with the slightest brush with him. It wasn't until she had only a few threads of control remaining that she started to think of conceding.
If only her pride would let her.
She rapidly thought—as sweat and Tears began to drip down her face—until she came up with a possible solution—it was too risky, and probably wouldn't work, but the death of Abraxas wasn't acceptable, and it would get Abraxas out of the way.
"Put a shield up. Around the others. I have no control," she hissed.
Tom did as she asked, and she began.
She fisted her left hand before she put it down to her side at a 30-degree angle. In two swift motions, that almost looked like one, she opened her fingers and turned her hand so her palm faced out; she then swung her hand forward, and a baby-pink spell left the palm of her hand and hit Abraxas, who then fell like a rock.
With the Rotting Curse no longer damming the Terror Bane, she whipped it to the right, and the Curse waved, and with movements like a snake, it crashed into the far wall of the chamber, and she ceased the Casting. The ground and walls shook for a moment before a truly unholy scream resounded around them. Small pebbles fell from the ceiling, and the Curse finally ran out of power, and silence reigned once more.
"I'm not doing that again," she panted.
While the Knights stood in shock, Tom helped her reBind her Core with so many Bindings, they might as well have just reLocked it once more. Once she had control again, Tom waved his hand, and she and Abraxas were healed, and the blonde shakily stood. He swayed on his feet, still slightly groggy from his forced sleep.
Once he was awake and at full brain power once more, he stared at her with wide eyes and a deep respect that she had only seen the man give few people. "I take it that Tom has been teaching you?" he asked softly as he held out his hand.
She took it, and like a proper Pureblood, he kissed her knuckles. Tom, ever the jealous and possessive creature, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her into his side. "Yes. He has been for quite some time, actually. I must say, you did much better than I thought you would, Peacock Bastard." The blonde sputtered as Tom laughed deeply before he pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
"Orion, you're next."
The sixth year squirmed for a moment before he stepped into the makeshift dueling ring, and Tom stepped out. The two bowed to each other, and unlike Abraxas, Orion casted first, and he used a Curse.
She cast the Counter to the Phantom Form Curse—why did people like that one so much? —and returned the Curse with the Curse of Mania. A large, manic—psychotic—grin spread across the sixth year's face before he began to babble at a million miles an hour. He did that for a few seconds before he started to cast spells that she didn't recognize, and soon flowers were everywhere. She quickly Countered the Curse of Mania. He fell to the ground in tears as his body shook with sobs and snot ran down his face.
Eden looked to Tom with a lifted brow, concerned for the sixth year's sanity. He merely gestured for her to continue on with the fight. She shrugged, bit her lips from laughing uncomfortably at Orion and shot a cutting hex at him. The sixth year was more aware than she thought he was, because he got a shield up in time, and because she hadn't mixed the hex with anything, dissolved against his surprisingly strong protection.
The sobbing boy stood and shot another Curse at her. She blinked at the unknown spell, and because she wasn't entirely sure what it was, or which shield she should use to best defend against it, summoned a Raw Shield seven feet in front of her. When the Curse hit the shield and hesitated, she jumped to the side, curled into a ball, and created a semi-opaque Dome Shield.
It was a good thing that she did, because her little bubble of protection was soon the meal of a magic-hungry Curse. She rolled onto her back and stared at the small spider-web cracks that started to form in her Shield and viciously thought.
While she thought, the cracks grew, and she unBound her Core slightly, and the cracks disappeared as more magic was given to the Shield. The Curse—whatever it was—grew stronger with her Shield and curled around it until she could see nothing but inky purple. She thought, and thought, and ignored the panic that began to well inside of her. An idea came to her.
The Curse was eating her magic.
Could she eat at it?
She uncurled her right arm from where it pinned her knees to her chest and fisted her right hand and almost pressed her white knuckles against the once-again cracking Dome Shield. With her left hand, she tightly gripped her right upper arm, just above her elbow, and began to summon Black Fire. A small lick of it formed over her middle finger knuckle, but it wouldn't be enough to absorb the Curse once the Dome Shield either failed—which it would soon, unless she gave it more magic—or dropped.
Hey, Tom? What's the deal with Blood Magic?
What do you mean, little one?
Why do people say it's evil?
Because blood makes spells stronger. It doesn't matter if you're casting a spell classified as Blood Magic or not. If you're bleeding, the spell will be stronger. It's one of the few ways that you can strengthen a spell that has a single power-level. Because of this, it's why a lot of professional duelers, or Aurors allow themselves to get cut or injured while working.
Eden smiled fondly as she recalled how proud Tom had been of her that day. It had been shortly after she had returned to school after Yule holidays in her first year, and it was one of the first times that she hadn't labeled a Branch of Dark Magic evil due to something she had heard.
It had helped that she had just read a book on Blood Magic Healing Spells a few days prior to that conversation.
She released her arm and transfigured the fingernails of her left hand into dagger tips before she drug them down her arm from her knuckles to her elbow. She bit her knee as the pain raced through her with a fiery intensity, and the cuts began to glow. With a painful jolt on her Core, four thick, Black flames licked against the Dome Shield, and soon it dissolved after she stopped pouring magic into it, so she wouldn't diminish her own reserves with the Black Fire.
The Curse lunged towards her, but the Black Fire quickly devoured it.
Once the Curse was gone, she flipped back onto her feet. Orion had moved to her right, and Tom had moved a few steps towards her as well, and his magic snapped violently around the room. She smiled at him, and in one, swift movement, she pressed the tip of her wand against her left shoulder, and with a wave in the middle of the line she created as she flicked it to her right, a bright red Curse formed, and Orion was soon launched into the air by a red ribbon. The ribbon wrapped around him, and every five seconds, blood would squirt from one of the ribbons edges.
"I concede!" he shouted after a minute.
She dropped the Curse of Ribbons and sent the counter for it at him. He fell to the ground and laid in silence as the Cure of Ribbons healed him. Tom took her arm into his hands and quickly healed the still-glowing cuts while she returned the knife points back into nails. "You did well," he rewarded her as he wrapped her close in his arms. "Smart thinking."
She breathed in his addicting scent and reBound her Core. She left the same amount of magic that she always did and pressed a kiss to Tom's racing heart as she mentally Scanned her Core. The bundle that curled and flickered in her center was smaller than it usually was when she Bound it, but she didn't pay too much mind to it.
The man holding her took a few deep, shaky breaths before he kissed the top of her head and released her. She moved to Orion and offered him her hand to help him stand. Once standing, she spoke, "You did really, really well, Starbright. What was that curse?"
"The Curse of Devoured Magic."
She smiled and turned to Tom. "You need to teach me that one."
He smiled softly and inclined his head as he wrapped her in his arms once more. "How did you get rid of it?" Orion demanded as he bounced on his feet. "It's been in my family for generations, and as far as I'm aware, there's no Counter for it."
"Black Fire. It eats at magic," she explained as his confused look. "Tom taught me."
"As much fun as this is," Tom broke in, "we have classes that we need to attend. Abraxas, Orion, keep practicing with Eden. She'll lead you out at 10:30."
"Yes, my Lord—Tom."
Eden giggled and waved them off. Tom turned her in his arms and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I love you," he whispered softly. He nuzzled her nose with his.
"I love you, too." She kissed him again, and he reluctantly left after sending his Knights a pointed look.
Once the three—technically four (she could never forget Azteca)—were left alone, Eden grinned ferally. "So, who wants to go now?"
The two paled. Orion pushed Abraxas forward.
Wednesday, June 7, 1995
Hogwarts Grounds
"Do you smell that?"
Eden, who had her face tilted to the sun, sniffed. "Other than grass, sunshine, and dirt, I smell nothing," she answered Ambrosia.
Draco sniffed the air next to her. "No, there's something else there . . . something . . . something . . ."
"Tangy?" Theo asked after he sniffed.
"No . . . it's kind of metallic," Millie added after she sniffed.
"Yeah, and—" sniff "—sweet . . ." Septimus trailed off. He pulled away from Evanius' 'snuggling'—it was more possessive than anything else—embrace and continued to sniff.
"Sweet . . . yet . . . pungent at the same time," Blaise finished.
Theo started to snap his fingers as he perked up. "Hey! It kind of smells like lightning!"
Ambrosia 'oohed' as she began to nod, and Septimus, Evanius, Pansy, Daphne, Millie, and Draco—the other fourth years were in Divination (such a useless subject)—eagerly agreed with him.
"Now that you say it," Draco started, "it does."
Eden tilted her head to the right and sniffed again and realized that they were smelling Dark Magic—her magic. "That's ozone," she commented lightly before she silently cooed at Septimus and Evanius who were snuggling once more—they really didn't realize how they looked to everyone else, and she found that more adorable than the cuddling.
She hadn't even noticed the scent because she was so used to smelling it around Tom that it no longer processed unless she tried to smell it, or someone was casting.
"What?"
"What's ozone?"
"It's something in the air," Evanius and Septimus said at the same time. The two flushed a deep red and buried their faces in each other's necks.
"It's also what Dark Magic smells like," she added.
"You can smell magic?"
"If you know what it smells like, yeah. It's too subtle to really notice if you don't know what it smells like, or if the person casting is weak. Light Magic smells like roses or orange blossoms when it's being used by a Light or Neutral type Core. Dark Magic smells like ozone when it's being used by a Dark Core type, and slightly bitter when someone with too Light a Core is casting it, and it's acrid when someone with a Light Core type casts it."
"What does Neutral and Gray Magic smell like?"
Eden shrugged. "No one knows. A lot of people think they're scentless, but personally, I think that they're just used so much that we can't really tell what it smells like because we smell it all of the time."
"Oh, kind of like when our houses stop having a smell because we get used to it?"
Eden nodded. "Exactly."
"But . . . why do we smell it right now? No one's casting."
She shrugged, more than unwilling to admit even to herself that even tightly Bound, her magic was that strong.
"I'm not sure," she lied.
The lie was bitter on her tongue.
Thursday, June 7, 1945
Chamber of Secrets
A blasting curse rocketed towards Eden from the opposite side of the room.
She did nothing but let it slam into her impeccable Battle Shield. The Shield wrapped around her, and she was sent into the air as she flipped multiple times as if she were doing a muggle cartwheel. Her body stayed straight, and when she neared the wall, she cast another Battle Spell.
Immediately, her body stopped flipping, and she was pulled to the wall as gravity around her shifted. First her right foot connected with the stone, and then her left. She wiped the dust off of her sweaty stomach and slightly damp sports bra before she walked down the wall and stepped off of the wall and onto the Chamber's floor. Her head swayed for a moment as her personal gravity returned to normal.
She tilted her head to the side, and with a wide, harsh flourish of her wand, Orion was sent back five feet as he dodged the Dark curse sent his way. He fell to the ground as he ducked to dodge it once more when it came back around with the Boomerang Charm.
He stood and spat blood out to the side before he wiped his mouth and glared at her. Her head tilted to the side as a smile tugged at her lips. "What's the matter, Starbright? Are you too tired to keep going?"
The sixth year snarled and started on another volley of spells that she blocked and countered easily. With another shout of rage, Orion sheathed his wand, and ran towards her. His hands gripped harshly onto her shoulders, and she immediately had her hands wrapped around his left arm before she threw him to the ground.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and a spasm jinx formed on the palms of her hands before it immediately oozed into the boy, and he began to flail. As he jerked against the ground, she held her right hand out to the side and summoned a knife, which she quickly pressed into his neck as the spasm jinx wore off. With still trembling hands, Orion pressed the tip of his wand against the quillion of the dagger and blasted it out of her hand and to the other side of the room.
Despite the heavy bleeding in her hand, Eden picked him up and threw him across the Chamber and to left of the entrance with some of the hand-to-hand with Battle Magic. Orion hit the wall and cussed violently just as Tom walked in.
His class either got out early, or he was skipping the end of it.
He stopped and blinked for a few moments before he grinned ferally and leaned against the doorway as he settled in to watch the fight.
Orion groaned and laid on the ground for a minute longer before he stood and ran towards her. With a grin at Tom, she proceeded to thoroughly trash Orion. For ten minutes he kept trying to tackle her to the ground or get her wand out of her hands.
For ten minutes, she constantly introduced him to the floor.
(by the end of the day, she expected the two to have a sexy date together)
"What—was—that?" he gasped after she finally claimed his wand.
Both teens were covered in blood and sweat, and both were exhausted. "Hand-to-hand fighting mixed with Ancient Battle Magic."
He frowned as he continued to gasp for breath, and almost curled closer into the floor—see? (the sexy date was inevitable). "Fighting . . . like a muggle?" he panted.
"Yes."
"And a wizard?"
"Yes."
"Teach me. Please. Teach me to fight like that!" He crawled to his knees and continued to pant in front of her. "Please, Eden."
She glanced up at Tom and breathed deeply as she suppressed/hid a yawn. He straightened when he caught it and started towards her. "I don't mind him joining us on Sundays."
Sundays were when they worked on their hand-to-hand, Saturdays were the days they worked on spells and Curses, and Wednesdays were the days that they worked on Veiling her Core.
Tom nodded his assent and frowned when she suppressed another yawn. "Fine." He flicked his wand, and the time showed that it was almost eleven.
"Tom? Tom teaches you?"
"No, I teach him."
His shoulders slumped before he smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you," he gasped before he fell onto his side, dead asleep before his shoulder even connected with the ground.
Tom quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her close when she yawned again. "That was very impressive," he murmured into her ear before he kissed it.
She smiled tiredly and yawned once more. "Thank you."
He smiled softly and kissed her. It was to his lips pressed against hers that she fell asleep and awoke in another time.
Thursday, June 15, 1995
Room of Requirement
"You can do it, Eden. I believe in you."
Eden took a deep breath, nodded her head, and tried again. Her Core was entirely unBound, and she had grown weary of doing the same thing over and over again, with little changes in results. She wasn't Drained—she was nowhere close to that type of exhaustion—she was just frustrated.
The room glowed softly as the Dome Shield formed, and her magic took on a faint glow of its own. Another Dome Shield appeared in front of her, only it was upside down, like a boat, almost . . . a really, really round boat. The two Shields grew until they covered the entire mass of her magic, and then their edges extended until they touched, and something in her mind hummed as the Shields groaned softly.
She had gotten to that point many times, but she hadn't gotten any further.
"Alright, good. Now, you need to try and keep the Shields around your magic when it's Bound. What you'll need to do is Bind your Core, and as it shrinks, you'll need to shrink the Shields with it."
She sighed and nodded once more. She started the tedious process of Binding her Core, and she ignored the blood that dripped from her nose and onto her lips as her Core began to curl back into her body. The already herculean task was only made worse with attempting to shrink two Very Large Shields at once and trying to prevent a Lash-Back from happening at the same time.
She was honestly nearing the point that she'd take the Lash-Back if it meant finally Veiling her Core. Despite that desire, whenever she'd feel the Lash-Back start, she'd pause, unBind her Core a little bit, wait until the danger passed, and then she would continue on.
She was doing it wrong, but she was to the point that she didn't care if she did it wrong.
It was a very good thing that Tom wasn't there, or he'd have her head.
It was nearly forty minutes after she started the Veiling process before the room turned dark as her magic finally became encased entirely within her body.
She ignored the praise from Snakey-Snape as she proceeded to tightly Bind her Core until she was left with a slightly larger-than-usual amount of magic and left it within the Veil before she looked up at Snakey-Snape.
"I did it?" she asked breathlessly before her legs collapsed from exhaustion.
Tata was there in an instant. He began to check her over as he spoke. "Oh, yes. Might I suggest leaving a little bit of your magic outside of the Veil . . . something unTainted, perhaps."
"Why?"
He pulled her into his arms, and she leaned into the warmth. "Because, my dear, if I didn't know better, I'd say that you were a muggle."
Her mouth fell open, and due to the Strain and the shock, she fainted.
Friday, June 15, 1945
Chamber of Secrets
The words spoken to her over the years echoed in her mind.
You're worthless.
She shot the Curse of Despair at Abraxas.
You're not my daughter.
She shot the Terror Bane at Orion and dropped it after he pissed himself.
You'll never be as good as your brother.
Evan Rosier fell to the ground as he clutched at his throat as the Strangulation Jinx wrapped around his neck and started to choke him. She canceled the Jinx and blocked the multiple spells launched at her from Abraxas and stuck him to the ceiling after a moment of intense fighting.
(she didn't know it, but those whom she fought against were quite terrified at the blank look on her face, and the pain in her hard, emerald eyes)
Orion ran at her and grabbed her arm in a poor attempt to throw her over his shoulder, and only succeeded in getting puss-filled sores on his hands. He cried out and kicked his leg towards her. She grabbed it and threw him across the room where he stuck to the wall. He laughed and began to heal his hands.
I wish you had never been born, Noah.
The words would have hurt less had they been said by her mother.
The last person in the room who was still able to stand limped in front of her and held his wand in position next to his head, while hers was brandished like a sword at her side. "Are you ready, Eden?"
She smirked viciously at him, more than ready for another challenge. "Oh, you're so on, Noah."
She took in the fresh-faced form of the teen and could see where Ambrosia got her unique coloring from. Hell, they were nearly twins. Noah's skin was snow white, and he had silvery-pink eyes—a different shade than Ambrosia's neon pink eyes—that marked his line to be more than just human.
She wasn't entirely sure where in the line the Creature Blood had been mixed in, and she wasn't sure what the creature was—she didn't think the Smiths even knew what creature it was—only that the Blood affected them with unique coloring.
In sharp contrast to his milky skin, was his short, pitch-black hair that was neatly combed back and into a short ponytail that flounced with every movement the seventh year made.
He kind of looked like Snow White, now that she thought about it.
Noah Smith was second to Tom, in only that he had less Raw power than him. Other than that, the two seventh years were practically equals in their fighting style. Both adored hexes, jinxes, and curses. Neither shied away from Curses nor potentially killing their opponent.
There was a reason he was Tom's Left Hand, after all.
Their similarities became increasingly obvious as she had to go from mostly offensive to completely defensive about two minutes into their fight as she had to continually Counter the Phantom Form Curse, the Curse of Desire, the Curse of Amber, and the Curse of the Hallowed Ones. He eventually moved on from those and started to throw the Cruciatus Curse willy-nilly, and then moved onto what she assumed was the Imperius, only based on the fact that he had faltered just long enough for her to put him on the defensive.
She continually shot Curse after curse, after hex, after jinx, after charm at him. Most she combined with either the Boomerang Charm or the Slingshot Jinx, and some—like cutting hexes—she combined with both.
As they fought, Noah grew more tired, and Eden was forced to continually unBind her Core until it was nearly unBound completely. He hit her many times, but she would forever blame that on the fact that she was struggling to ignore the Veil and not worry about it coming undone—something that would only happen if she forcefully did it.
It was about fifteen minutes after the two started before he was on the ground panting while his wand was in her hand.
Unlike Noah, Eden wasn't Drained in the slightest—she was exhausted though. She dropped the sticking spells on Orion and Abraxas and gently levitated them down so one wouldn't die, and the other wouldn't break something.
The five sat in a weary circle as they all slowly recovered from the fight.
She turned her head to Evan and looked at him from where she laid on the ground. "How's the throat?"
He glared playfully at her as he rubbed it. "I still feel violated. What did that even choke me with?"
"Your blood."
He paled, shivered, and she giggled while she sat up and began to stretch before she could cramp.
The five continued to idly chat while she and Orion stretched, and it was after a joke that Noah told her—more like a crude prank he saw played on a Hufflepuff by a Ravenclaw—that arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Her laughter turned into a shriek.
She activated a Battle Magick spell, and a thud and a muffled curse was soon heard after. She turned and doubled over in laughter when her eyes landed on Tom in a ruffled heap next to Azteca with a scowl on his face.
She stumbled over to him, unable to walk in a straight line due to how hard she was laughing and helped him up while she ignored the snickers of the Knights that she called her friends. "I'm so sorry, love," she giggled, "you—you—you scared me," she cackled.
He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Yes, I could tell," he replied drily.
"I am sorry," she repeated. He continued to scowl, so she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He quickly softened, and when she pulled away, he put his hands on her hips and chased her lips with his own and kissed her softly, both were mindful of their company. "I'm sorry," she tried once more.
"I know." He pressed another kiss to her lips, and then another to her forehead, and they turned back to the Knights who looked anywhere except for them, and they had bright red stains on their cheeks—except for Abraxas and Noah. Both were quite pleased, and smug. "You all did well, especially you, Noah—"
Logically, she knew that he spoke to Noah Smith, one of his closest friends, but something in her stirred at hearing her birthname leave his lips—as it always did since she had officially met the seventh year two weeks prior (hearing Tom say his name had never affected her before then—granted, he hadn't said his name since they had started dating, and she realized she was in love with him). Hearing her given name fall from his lips made her tingly inside, and for the first time since Diagon Alley before her first year, she didn't mind hearing it.
Would he perhaps say it differently if he knew it was her given name, the name he had begged for since he figured out that 'Eden' wasn't her first name. Would he say it differently if he was speaking towards her?
"—and of course, Eden, my love, you did marvelous as well with the Banana Jinx to gain Noah's wand." He kissed her softly once more. "I have complete faith in you come the 24th."
She grinned and leaned into him, her face a light pink. "Thank you, love."
Friday, June 16, 1995
Riddle Manor
Barty shut the door softly behind him and knelt at his Master's feet.
"Master," he greeted, "I have news."
"Oh? I do love to hear news. What is it, my friend?"
"It's about Noah Potter."
His Master's head tilted to the side as something flashed across his face before it faded away with a slightly furrowed brow. "What has the darling hellion done to earn such level of respect from you, Barty?"
He flushed slightly. "I am faithful to you, and you alone, my Lord," he begged. He kissed the blanket keeping his Master warm and recast the warming charm. "Please, my Lord."
Magic brushed through his hair. "Calm yourself, Bartemius. I am aware of your loyalty to me, and me alone. It is not every day that someone is able to gain your respect. Now, pray tell, what has she done?"
"She's Veiled her Core."
His Master blinked and sat forward slightly as his familiar curled around him and stared at him with unsettling intelligence. "She's what?"
"She—she's managed to Veil her Core. Honestly, if I hadn't met her before, I would have thought that she was a squib, or even a muggle. It's so strange, my Lord," he couldn't keep the awe out of his tone as he continued to explain everything he had noticed. "She had been messing with some Darker Magic's that leave Stains on the Core, but . . . I hadn't been entirely too sure due to the Expansion she had in February . . . but, my Lord . . .. She's Veiled her Core entirely. At the age of fourteen. That's only proof that she's playing with things that she doesn't entirely understand, right? And someone is protecting her."
"Yes, all of that is true. Thank you, Barty." His Lord stared off into the distance with a pensive frown on his face, and Barty took that as his cue to leave, and he did so silently.
When Voldemort was alone once more, he opened the trunk. A moping Abyss slid out of it and stumbled his way over to him. The hound curled on top of his body like usual, and tears that burned his sensitive skin landed in large, heavy drops.
He pushed some Raw Magic into the Hellhound and fought to blink away the tears that threatened to fall when the beast whimpered and howled softly. "My Human!" he wailed.
Voldemort's heart broke. "I know, Abyss, I know."
Thorin flew out of the trunk and landed on the pouting hound's head. "If you would be so kind as to give me some Magic, Human, I would be grateful. All he does is cry now since he thought he smelt his Human on one of your three men. I'm going to go get some damn sleep now."
He gave the Dire Raven some magic, and he was quickly left with the Hellhound after he received a fond nip to his fingers.
He turned his attention back inside his mind and ran his fingers through fur that was rougher than straw and thought.
Something was missing.
Other than Eden. She had been missing for nearly fifty years. She had gone, and she took his sanity with her.
But still . . . there was something.
"My Human. My Human," the hound wailed, "let me go find my Human. Please, Creator, let me find my Human," Abyss begged.
The beast had long since stopped using names.
"We don't even know if she's alive right now, or if she'd even know you if she was alive. I can't let you go, Abyss." It broke his heart to say it.
It broke his heart to hear the mourning howls.
Location Undisclosed
He stepped into the room and was confused. He had seen the miniature Hellhound many times. He'd even seen the shrunken Dire Raven many times as well.
Never before had be heard such heartbreaking sounds, nor had he seen the tears on his Master's face.
"My Lord?"
The deformed man shook his head. "I apologize for my state, —. Are you here to work on the Ritual?"
"Yes, my Lord."
He moved to his station on the far side of the room, removed the potion-grade stasis charm, and worked in silence for quite some time. The only sound was the occasional sniffled huff from the beast, and the occasional deep, shaky breaths from his Master.
"What is your opinion on Noah Potter?"
He continued to work, even as his shoulders tensed. "I believe that she is quite strong, my Lord." He kept his voice neutral, and he desperately hoped that his Master didn't pick up on anything.
"I hear she has Veiled her Core entirely," he commented a few minutes later.
Pride welled in him, and he tilted his head forwards, so his hair hid his proud smile. "Has she?"
His Master hummed yet stayed silent.
|}(){|
He glanced at the clock as he finished placing the usual stasis charm on the cauldron. It was just after nine, and he thought about what his daughter could be dreaming about.
Hopefully it was something that made her deliriously happy
He moved to the next cauldron, removed the charm, and began to work.
"I believe," the Dark Lord started an hour later, "that once upon a time, Noah Potter would have made a great ally."
His hands began to shake. "And now, my Lord?"
His throat was tight, his eyes burned, and his hands began to shake near uncontrollably. He glanced up at the Dark Lord and watched the man run fingers through the whimpering hound's fur while Nagini wrapped protectively around them both and watched him with an unsettling awareness.
"We'll have to see."
He turned back to the potion and Prayed that his Master didn't see the tear that fell, or the tear that he discretely wiped away.
(the snake did, and the connections she made . . . how delicious)