Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter.

Chapter 21

"…then maybe a cup? A golden goblet with an image of a badger engraved on its side?"

A group of young wizards and witches took a second to pause as they wracked their brains, and then as one, shook their heads in a negative.

Albus clenched his hands with force underneath the table briefly before releasing them, keeping his grandfatherly countenance in place as to not let his students sense his near tangible distress.

Have… have I missed any potential Horcruxes? He thought desperately as he wracked his brain.

Ah… I know.

"Have any of you seen any suspicious snakes lurking around her, a caramel Burmese python perhaps? Or maybe even hearing something like a hiss from under her bed?"

The group of first-years and sixth-years looked at each other in bewilderment from the bizarre spectrum of oddly specific questions they were being bombarded with. Again, they thought long and hard about the question, but soon responded chorus of negatives yet again.

Hope was quickly fading as he churned out more desperate and far-fetched questions, only to be met with the exact opposite of the answer he was looking for time and time again.

"…so nothing at all comes to mind? No recent trinkets you may have noticed that have fallen into her possession? Baubles, earrings, hairpins, circlets-"

"Wait," James said loudly, drawing the attention of the occupants in the room as he scrunched up his face in thought, faintly remembering a shiny object that he slipped into Ariana's robes at her request in that one fated night, "I remember there was this one… diadem that she came across a couple of weeks ago," he continued slowly, "I do not know if she still has it."

Albus immediately stood up from the revelation, his words leaving his mouth even before his head had turned to face the teenage wizard, "Would you be able to identify this object?"

"Y-Yes sir," James stammered as he replied, slightly taken back from the brilliant blue eyes that peered over moon-spectacled glasses and swivelled to connect with his. He then fidgeted slightly as a strange tingling started spreading in the forefront of his mind.

After a second of silence, Albus tore his eyes away from the young Potter and took a deep breath before quickly addressing the rest of the group, "Thank you everyone, for coming to my office so promptly and answering me honestly," he started with a pleased look on his face, "Now, please return to your dorms before it gets too dark."

As they were filing out obediently, a small but strong voice suddenly spoke up, "Um sir… Ariana's not in trouble, is she?" Amelia asked timidly, her hands fiddling with strands of hair in nervousness from the sudden summons and what effectively was an interrogation.

Her words caused the moving group to halt as they looked back at their Headmaster in curiousness. "Not in any more than the usual," Albus replied as he plastered a gentle smile on his face, a hollow shell of the truth in his words, "Now, move along please, quickly."

As they bid their good-nights on the way out, Albus put one hand on one moving teenager, holding the person back as he murmured lowly, "I have another task for you, Mr Potter."

The evening sun had already fallen and dipped below the skyline. The twilight skies grew darker with each passing moment, and as its light was slowly being snuffed out at all corners of the horizon, so did the control Ariana held over her mind.

When the rest of the students had finally left and the door was slammed shut, Albus instantly dropped his act. With a loud and sudden clap of his hands, James jumped in shock as a house elf silently appeared out of thin air before them instantly in response. Without pause, Albus quickly knelt down and looked at the new arrival with a stressed look.

"Nolly, go quickly to the Gryffindor first year dorms and bring me Miss Peverell's trunk," he quickly instructed, his unusually bright and burning eyes causing the House Elf to quiver on the spot, "Do not open it at any cost."

Nolly eyes grew large at the urgent tone from the usually benign wizard, "Right away, Headmaster" she squeaked as she frantically nodded back, her large ears flopping up and down from the action. With a snap of her fingers, she vanished as quickly as she came.

James just kept his lips shut, wondering what in Merlin's name was going on as he watched his Headmaster begin to pace around the office with a palpable aura of disquietude. A tense couple of seconds passed before the dutiful creature returned, this time however, with a large brown trunk in tow.

"I have it, Headmaster," Nolly cried proudly in a high pitched squeak the second when she popped back into the office.

"Thank you Nolly," Albus responded with a sigh of relief before continuing in a lower, more layered voice, "It is imperative that no one knows about this."

"I swears on my life not to tell a word, sire," Nolly solemnly vowed, bowing lowly to the floor before vanishing back from whence she came, recognizing the pact to secrecy and the clear dismissal in the same sentence.

"Let's see what we have," Albus muttered to himself, temporarily ignoring the younger wizard as he inspected the trunk from a distance, swishing his wand in the air as he began to chant something under his breath.

He whistled in admiration after he finished waving his wand, "A most impressive array of wards, my girl," he commended, sensing the invisible traps and delicate countermeasures that were placed on the exterior of the magically expanded trunk. However, they were no match for the powerful wizard as he kneeled beside the object of interest and began to safely deactivate them. When he reached the final layer of defence, he started to mutter a spell under his breath, but clamped his mouth shut and retracted his wand at the last second when he brushed across unfamiliar magic.

"What manner of trickery is this," he murmured as he lightly toyed with the foreign and odd combination of runes with a curious tendril of magic.

The sound of James' tapping of feet upon stone broke him out of his preoccupation and caused him to clench his teeth in frustration as he realized that he was only wasting time, "There is no time to disarm this," he muttered to himself as he pulled his magic back, each passing second putting him more on edge.

"Sir, what are you doing?" James asked nervously as his Headmaster stood up and brandished his wand towards the trunk with purpose.

"Stand back," Albus barked, causing the teenager to scuttle backwards in alarm at the commanding tone. Making sure that he was shielding his student with his body, he then surrounded all the trunk's sides with his magic in a plan to suppress whatever magic was released with his own. Muttering something under his breath, he then proceeded to bend the inanimate object to his will.

"Alohomora Maxima."

The trunk groaned as the powerful spell penetrated through the last line of defence, activating the trap as well as causing the top of her trunk to fly open with a loud creak, the upper half crashing on the stone floor. For a brief second, nothing happened. Just when Albus thought the magical pitfall had somehow malfunctioned, a dangerous hiss suddenly filled the air, heralding the entrance of a large snake as it slowly slithered out of the trunk and reared up to threateningly bare a pair of oversized fangs at the wizards.

"Seems easy enough," Albus muttered after assessing the situation warily, "Vipera Evanesca!"

The spell hit the non-moving animal squarely in its face, causing the serpent – which markings closely resembled a juvenile Basilisk – to speedily vanish in a puff of black smoke, systematically disappearing from head to tail.

James immediately began to move forward with the intent to find the diadem inside the trunk as soon as the snake was banished, confident in his strides as he assumed the seemingly effortless trial was dealt with. He was only able to get forward two steps forward before Albus threw out an arm urgently to stop him in his tracks.

"Be wary, Mr Potter. The danger has yet to pass."

As soon as those words left his mouth, a chorus of hisses loudly echoed around the office as this time two monstrous snakes wormed their way out of the open trunk and onto the floor. They looked almost identical to the previous snake, but were differentiated by a profusion of horrible lacerations on their scaly surfaces that neither bled nor hindered their movement.

"Self-division upon destruction," Albus noted lowly, quickly throwing up a modified Shield Charm as the deformed serpents lunged at him simultaneously, not giving him a grace period as the first snake did. Widening his eyes as he felt a moderate strain on his invisible shield, he peered at them more closely and came to another conclusion.

"Their source of power derives from…" Albus continued as his eyes zeroed in on a small weirdly shaped lump on their underbelly, "…a numeric Hydra rune," he gasped, his eyes widening as he spotted the ancient rune.

Clever girl.

These snakes will only strengthen in power as their number grows. An average wizard… no – even a moderately skilled wizard would have significant trouble against this.

His powerful mind then thundered through several solutions as he kept the shield up to protect himself and his student. His eyes then began twinkling despite the situation when he thought of the perfect answer in this setting, his thought process then slowing down as he turned towards an uneasy looking teenager.

"Mr Potter, I need the object on your extreme left… immediately," he ordered, not confident enough to get it himself since there was a rather important person in this room that he was safeguarding. With Ariana in the back of his mind, he vowed to himself that her young father would not be harmed under his watch.

James nodded fervently and bolted over to get the article that his Headmaster was referring to, looking backwards now and then in wariness as the snakes kept throwing themselves against the invisible shield with sickening crunches. He grabbed it once he got close and immediately bounded back over to Albus, a highly confused look on his face as he internally questioned the use of this odd object.

"Turn it upside down, face it towards yourself," Albus instructed calmly, cool as a summer breeze as he poured more magic into his shield.

"Sir, why-"

"James, please trust me."

James nodded hesitantly and followed the given orders, looking back up Albus expectantly when he was done as he awkwardly held the object.

Albus' eyes, never leaving his opponents, briefly flashed toward the mystified teenager. A confident smile sprung on his face as he gave out another instruction, "Now put your hand inside… and pull."

"This doesn't even make any-"

James' sentence died half way on his lips as he felt his hand inexplicably touch something definitely solid and bitingly cold. Grasping it firmly, with his trust in Albus absolute, he tugged with all his strength to pull out a glittering sword that gleamed and sparkled under the candlelight in his hand, the Sorting Hat all but forgotten as it was dropped to the ground from shock.

"The Sword of Gryffindor," Albus said happily with an internal sigh of relief, feeling his heart grow lighter as he knew the sword only revealed itself to those which possessed qualities of utmost valour and selflessness – the qualities of which he knew James possessed.

Noticing that the young wizard was still enthralled by the scintillating blade that was made of pure silver and its excessively ornate handle that also housed an egg-sized ruby on its pommel, he gave one final order, "Smite these creatures before you, with all of the will you can muster to save Ariana," he commanded in a strong voice.

Save Ariana? James thought as his breath quickened, his heart leaping into his throat as he finally was enlightened as to what they were trying to achieve.

As if a switch was suddenly flicked within him, all traces of hesitancy, doubt and tension vanished from his face, only to be replaced by an unwavering look of grim determination. Turning towards the two snakes that were still relentlessly striking the shield, he raised the florid sword high above his head, holding the blade in an even, perfect, and undaunted stance, and then swung it down in a swift and clean stroke, his form so perfect one could assume that he had been trained in swordsmanship his whole life.

A pair of unearthly hisses stained the air as it cleaved both the snakes in twain with one fell swoop, the enchanted blade shivering under the brutality of compelling magical strength as it tore through the cores that powered these grotesque serpents, the cut splitting the runes cleanly in half.

James watched dispassionately as the thrashing snakes slowly melted back into non-existence. So fixated was he on the unsightly bodies, that he failed to notice a loose fang had dislodged from one of the snake's thrashing and vanishing maw and had flown high into the air. With gravity as its pathfinder, the fang soon reached its zenith and began plummeting back down towards a distracted teenager.

"Masterful strike, Mr Potter," Albus beamed with pride, his watchful eye noting that the rune was all but destroyed by the magic nullifying effect the sword possessed. "Goblin-made swords are truly second to none."

As Albus was talking, James suddenly felt something sharp dig into the side of his right forearm. A burning sensation immediately started to spread across his entire arm from the point of contact as a wave of nausea instantly washed over him, threatening to empty the contents of his stomach.

"PROFESSOR!" he cried out in fright when he looked down and realized what was embedded in his arm, dropping the sword to the ground with a metallic clang and using his now free hand to yank the razor-sharp fang out.

Albus' heart rate quickened as he whirled towards the source of noise, his eyes flickering between the fang James was holding in one hand and the envenomed forearm that he was cradling in the other. His panic then increased tenfold as a delirious looking James suddenly crumpled to the ground, his quivering form now spasming in agony as the venom started to spread to the rest of his body.

"FAWKES!" Albus bellowed urgently as he rushed over.

The loyal phoenix appeared in a flash of fire from the urgent summons and fluttered to the floor beside him, feathers flared as it noticed the obvious distress on the aged wizard. When it then looked quickly around to find the source of it, it trilled loudly in dismay from the sight of the convulsing teenager on the floor.

"Fawkes, I'm in need your help once more," Albus implored as he spoke breathlessly, giving obvious alludes to the healing powers which lay locked behind the bird's tear ducts.

When the phoenix remained silent and unmoving for a few seconds, Albus cried out in confusion, "What are you waiting for?"

My powers are almost expended. Fawkes whispered in his mind, the first signs of moulting on its greying feathers a testament to its statement.

If I aid the boy, the Child will no longer be under my protection.

All that remains will be a single light… left unguarded in the darkness.

"She will not be taken," Albus vowed fervently in an undertone as his sky blue eyes gripped hold of the phoenix's beady orbs.

The creature, a paragon of the light, dipped its head in respect with his master's wishes and turned towards the young wizard that was starting to foam at the mouth. Turning its head sideways, it let out a few mournful chirps as hot tears spilt out of its glassy eyes onto the wound on James' forearm, the miraculous liquid effortlessly sealing up the wound without leaving behind any trace of a scar.

Fawkes realized its time was up the moment it released those tears and turned back to Albus, its warm voice skirting across the top his mind with one final sentence as it slowly disintegrated into flames.

Trust your heart… and your mind shall follow.

Albus processed the cryptic statement in his mind as he waited for phoenix to fully transmute into a pile of burning ash before gently scooping out the cheeping chick that was left and pocketing it in the never-ending layers folds of his robes. He then turned back to the now groggy but uninjured teenager that still remained supine on the floor.

"P-Professor?" James asked in slight disorientation when the haze on his eyes dissipated and the pain in his body vanished into nothingness, unsure if he was dreaming as he blearily looked up into the concerned face of his revered Headmaster.

"James Potter," Albus started in a quiet voice, his eyes downcast as a shadow of guilt flashed over his face, "I swear on Merlin's name that you shall not be harmed under my watch again, for as long as I have the power to prevent it."

Before James could respond coherently, Albus gently but firmly reaching out with one arm to bring him unsteadily up to his feet before immediately leading him over to the now open and safe to access trunk.

"Time runs short. Do you recall what the diadem looks like?" Albus pithily continued as they leaned over to peer into the trunk.

What they did not except when they looked in however, was to be greeted by a breath-taking collection of shining trinkets, bizarre curios and exotic apparel. This cache seemed equivalent to a treasure chamber of the Gods, where petrified roses that gave off a pulsing throbs of magic stood beside polished diamonds that were cut to perfection, where handfuls of soft iridescent crystals that gave off an ever changing display of light lay adjacent to leather cinctures that encompassed each other, each one untouched and quivering.

Ariana had truly been having the time of her life, as Albus recognized this hoard was comprised of the priceless and innumerable number of objects that were originally housed within the Room of Requirement.

"James, which one is it?" he asked with a strong sense of urgency in his voice, his eyes then averting away from the trunk for some unknown reason.

"There… there are so many," James breathed in slight panic as his eyes flittered from each dazzling object to the next, "I-I will need time to find it."

He then looked back up with a question in mind, tilting his head in slight confusion as he noticed that his Headmaster had his eyes cast away from the chest, "Umm… sir? Why don't you help me find it?"

"There are reasons which I do not have time to explain," Albus immediately responded, his eyes still fixated on an object in the far distance, "Ariana needs us, you need to make haste, please."

James nodded grimly from the unfeigned plea and dived into the heart of the opulent hoard, tossing objects out of his way and even chasing some with his hand as sentient teacups, daggers and even a loincloth scuttled away from his grasp.

A tense couple of minutes passed before James retracted his head from inside then trunk and triumphantly raised a shining diadem in the air, "Professor, I have it," he cried triumphantly.

Albus' face grew tight as he nodded, still not looking at the object as he bounded over to a nondescript wall in the far end of his office, muttering something under his breath after to open a secret passageway that was cut into the side of the wall. It was more of a hidden sepulchre really, as potions and other outlandish ingredients were housed on a wooden table in the centre of a shallow room.

He quickly counted past a row numerous vials along with his fingers, moving along the edge of the table as he scanned the contents of each bottle to search for the one he needed.

Let's see… Veritaserum, Felix Felicis, Mopsus Potion, Grand Wiggenweld Potion, and the Basilisk venom should be…

"No," he gasped in horror as he fingers enclosed onto empty space, the vials all but present.

Albus froze on the spot as his mind raced through all the times he had even touched the vials after he had placed them here, "No, no, no. This is impossible," he muttered to himself in dread, his still hand outstretched and frozen in the air, "The only people who know where the vials were kept are me and…"

His eyes widened in terror as a rush of adrenaline kicked-started his body back into gear. He turned towards the door and rushed through its doorway with the Elder Wand already prepared in his hand, only now noting that it was gone strangely quiet in his office.

A blast of white light immediately greeted him upon exiting, causing his aged heart to pump more viscously as he gave out a yelp and automatically conjured a translucent silver shield in the air to protect him. The hostile beam of light then rebounded upwards off the shield with a hollow gong and sputtered out harmlessly when it reached the stone ceiling. Albus narrowed his eyes through the diminishing brightness, noticing that the teenage boy he had just pledged to protect was – what he hoped – unconscious on the floor. Next to him however, soon a figure that he knew oh so well.

"Hello Professor, what-"

"Get out of her body, Tom," Albus spoke in a strangely even voice as he cut off the poised young witch, the cold and cruel eyes alongside the arrogant manner she carried as she spoke not fooling him in the slightest.

Ariana's – no, Tom Riddle's eyes lit up in satisfaction, "Quick-witted as always, Albus," he smirked. "By the way, don't worry, I've already taken care of all your venom, thanks to all the knowledge up here," he continued as he tapped on the side of his new head.

He then gave a predatory grin that stretched from ear to ear, "And the answer to your question is… no," he softly crooned, "I will not get out of her bod-"

He never got to finish his sentence as a beam of powerful red light thundered towards him, causing his eyes to widen by a fraction as he dived out of the way. He looked back at Albus as he leapt agilely to his feet, shivering in an unidentifiable emotion as he spotted undiluted fury in his opponent's eyes, one that changed the visage of gentle Professor into a terrifying machine of war and ruination.

"Do you seriously not care for the girl? You would risk-"

He clamped his mouth shut as a large sickly bolt of orange suddenly hurtled towards him without any precautionary indications. Hastily drawing upon the wells of power stored deep inside this small body, he instinctively managed to create a shield of pure light that simply absorbed the incoming spell, the effect not leaving a single trace of magic after.

Tom looked down at his small hands after he deactivated the shield, "Fascinating," he murmured in wonder, "What limits to untapped magic does this girl have?"

That brief distraction was more than enough time for Albus to leap forward as his Elder Wand recognized the opportunity and energized with him a surge of overflowing magic, "I WILL DESTROY YOU FROM WITHIN," he roared, his powerful voice resonating around the room as he thrust his wand towards the possessed girl with the intent to enter the mind, "LEGILIMENS!"

The intimidating sight causing Tom to unconsciously freeze in terror for a millisecond before scrambling to reinforce his Occlumency shields. However, this second time where his guard was lowered punished him more severely than the first, as he felt the most powerful presence he had ever come across in his mind brutally tear through the first layer of his mental defences as if it were made of wet paper.

Although his second layer of protection put up more of a resistance than the first, the rampaging intruder soon caused it to crumble into nothingness like chaff left on the summer threshing floors. Gritting his teeth in rage, he then plummeted into his mind to meet the seemingly unstoppable invader, the only person he truly feared on this planet, head on.


James gave a soft groan of annoyance when he regained consciousness, rubbing his blearily eyes for the second time that evening as his mind was suddenly kick-started into activity by something unknown after being rendered unconscious . With squinted eyes, he looked around the room after pulling himself to his feet, immediately spying two unmoving figures in the far end of the office.

Blinking twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, his legs unconsciously started moving on their own as he approached with curiosity. His movement became more cautious as he almost tiptoed to the two still figures, noticing as he drew closer that each person was staring into each other's eyes with a look of utmost fury.

"Err… Professor Dumbledore? Ariana?" he asked in a nervous tone, totally bewildered with the strange position they were both in.

After getting no response after calling their names a few more times, James suddenly remembered the task he was assigned to and furiously whipped his head around in order to search for the object that he was last clinging onto before his world turned to black. As he bounded over to the other side of the room, near the entrance to his Headmaster's office, he tripped over something that he could have sworn was not there a few seconds ago.

"Bloody hell," James swore as steadied himself. He then gave a grunt of surprise as he recognized the offending article near his foot. Picking it up gingerly, he held it to his eye-level and ran his eyes over its shining surface in admiration, appreciating the expertly inscribed name that was etched into the steel along the blade as he read it out loud.

"Godric Gryffindor," he whistled, his mind temporarily forgetting what was at hand as he looked over the ancient sword once more, the grip perfectly snug in his hand – as if it were somehow meant for his palm.

His absorption was then interrupted as an object suddenly rolled out from underneath the couch next to him with a tinkling sound, causing him to give a start of surprise from the sudden movement as it came to a stop at his foot. Observing that it was a vial that contained a green mixture that swirled within its glass confides, he deftly snatched it up and raised it high in the air to inspect it under a nearby candle, the viscous liquid giving off an eerie and dangerous vibe.

Instinctively turning back to Professor Dumbledore for help, he then walked with purpose towards the stationary figures with the legendary sword in one hand, and the strange vial in another. Increasing the volume of his voice in a the small hope that this mysterious trance would be somehow broken, he yelled ambitiously, "PROFESSOR, WHAT DO I DO WITH-"

His tongue caught in his throat as the two motionless figures suddenly doubled over on the spot, life finally infusing back into their physical bodies as they both regained mobility of their bodies – both of them also panting hard for some unknown reason. Misunderstanding the situation, James gave a large grin and was about to get another word in, but something stopped him and chilled him to the core.

"Is this all you can muster, old fool?" he heard Ariana snarl with a cruel smirk that spread across her face, a torrent of sweat that meandered down her pretty face causing hair to stick to her skin as she pushed herself off her knees to stand up straight.

"I am both the Alpha and the Omega in the domain of the subconscious," she continued in the same tone, leering up at Professor Dumbledore in triumph, "You had no chance of winning from the start."

James' mouth opened and shut silently a few times from the bizarre utterance. Noticing that Professor Dumbledore had pointed his oddly shaped wand at the young witch in response, he suddenly realized that something was very, very wrong. Ariana's eyes carried none of the gentle softness she unconsciously displayed – no matter the situation – but instead held an amalgamation of malevolence, spite, and perversion.

His musings were interrupted as vivid green eyes that were a constant reminder of Lily suddenly swung towards him, swiftly noticing his presence from his close proximity. The cold eyes then moved downward and were instantly filled with unsuppressed rage as they recognized the objects he was holding in one of his hands.

"I made sure that all of the vials were destroyed. Where did you get that?" Ariana hissed in rage as she pointed his wand at the vial in his hand faster than anyone could react, "EXPULSO!"

Albus roared in response as he swished his wand to block the spell, but was too late as the spell sped across the room and caused a carefully controlled explosion in James's hand, knocking the vial high into the air before shattering it mid-air and spraying its contents across the room in his James' general direction.

James howled in agony as the spell shattered every bone in his hand. However, his primal instincts were stronger than the current pain as he still remained conscious of the situation thanks to a massive surge of adrenaline, shutting his eyes and holding up the only thing that was available to shield his body from a deluge of what he deduced to be something harmful in nature.

I should be dead. I should be dead. I should be… dead?

After hair-raising sounds of sizzling finally subsided, James slowly opened one eye in trepidation, only to notice that the stone on the floor around him was pockmarked with little depressions where the liquid had eaten straight through the floor. He patted himself down with his uninjured hand and assumed – with a burst of elation – that he had somehow, miraculously avoided every single droplet of viscous fluid that rained from above.

"Of course," he heard Professor Dumbledore murmur with a gasp of realization, "The sword imbibes only that which strengthens it."

A growing coalescence of light originating from the young witch in the room caused James to yelp and instinctively dive to his right, landing roughly behind a sofa as he narrowly avoided a beam of bright green. Quickly casting a numbing charm on his mangled hand in the brief respite, he sighed in pleasure the pain swiftly vanished, offhandedly noticing after that he was tucked up against the same sofa where he found sword and vial together.

The sounds of inhuman growling and objects being destroyed soon picked up and peaked as the office was slowly destroyed in from an intense duel that ensued. He then heard Professor Dumbledore shout something that caused the young girl to almost scream in a maddened frenzy.

"JAMES, USE THE SWORD TO DESTROY THE DIADEM!"

James was not an ignorant nor a slow-witted teenager. His library back in Potter Manor housed many books on ancient tomes and scrolls about dark artifacts, and had perused through almost all of them in his spare time. He knew that the shiny trinket that was chanced upon on that fateful day was the source of the madness that was happening.

He leaned heavily into the sofa as he peered over the top to spot the diadem. He then frowned briefly in confusion as he could have sworn in Merlin's name that he felt the sofa squirm and audibly groan when he propped himself up against it. Shaking his head and dismissing it as a figment of his imagination as he had other dire issues to worry about, his keen eyes roved about until he finally spotted the object of his interest near one of the bookcases near the duelling pair.

"PROFESSOR, COVER ME!" James yelled over the sofa as another round of adrenaline began to surge through his veins, the hero complex within rearing up and promptly expelling any traces of doubt and fear that were lingering within his subconscious.

With every ounce of trust in his headmaster invested, he leapt out from behind the safe confines of the sofa and made a dash for the glittering diadem as a terrifying duel raged on, ducking and dodging past bits of flying debris, pieces of razor-sharp glass and wayward spells. However, the creature that had possessed Ariana had instantly noticed his intentions out of the corner of its eye and turned it wand towards the sprinting teenager.

"Avada Kedavra!"

James dived to his right as soon as he heard the incantation but soon realized that he had severely miscalculated the distance of his lunge a millisecond after, and watched with growing horror as the Unforgivable spell rushed towards his body that was slowly falling to the floor.

His surprise was then replaced by confusion as his world sudden turned a rich, earthy brown. As his brain sped up its mental processes, he realized that his saviour came in the form of a glad slab of rock that was conjured out of thin air to block the spell.

"JAMES, I HAVE YOU," Albus bellowed as he deflected another spell that fired off in rapid succession at the young wizard who was still stunned on the floor, "GO!"

James nodded and made one last charge at the diadem, raising the Sword of Gryffindor up high just as he did with the serpents he destroyed earlier this evening, but this time with only one hand as the other was broken and unusable. His grim countenance neither flinched nor wavered as he felt a multitude of spells come dangerously close to his back, his near tangible faith in in Professor Albus manifesting in his steadfast stride as he still refused to look back at the dangerous witch.

Ten more steps… five… three… two…

James finally reached within striking distance of the object with a breathless gasp and looked back, the sword held high up in the air. The duellers paused their battle as they stared at him, one face showing a look that promised utmost pain and death, while the other exuded only compassion and hidden strength.

"Ariana belongs to no one… but HERSELF," James roared loudly in finality as he swung the sword down with every last bit of strength he had left, the sword humming as it slashed through the thick air.

The possessed witch gave one final spine-chilling scream of rage as she hurled a foul-smelling, yellow spell at his exposed back, but was too late as the blade struck the diadem just before the spell reached him.

A blinding flash came from the point where the tip of the sword had struck as a white cloud of smoke instantly engulfed the office. Windows shattered, books hurled themselves off bookshelves from the gale force winds that ensued, and thousands of pieces of fragmented wood rained down from the sky onto the opaque mist that consumed the room.

Thirty seconds had passed after the calamity ended, and only then did the loud ringing in James' ears finally start to settle down, the pervading mist also beginning to clear as his incessant coughing subsided. The swirling blur of dust that had been kicked up by the unnatural gust of wind slowly calmed down as gravity grasped onto every dust particle and dragged it towards the floor in an unyielding grasp.

"P-Professor?" James coughed weakly when he saw a hazy silhouette against the backdrop of the lessening fog, its tall, shadowy outline suggesting that it was carrying something small in its arms.

A tired face soon emerged from the murkiness and gave James a smile so sincere and warm that he felt tears pickle at the corner of his eyes as he grinned madly back in return.

"Well done, James Potter, proud son of Charlus and Dorea Potter," Professor Dumbledore whispered as his emotions ran high, hugging an unconscious girl that carried a look of complete peace on her face even tighter in his gentle arms.

"Well done."

Thus, the Horcrux, a diadem that originally belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw, which carried within its recesses a fragment of Tom Riddle's very own soul, was the first of its kind to be destroyed. Unknowingly vanquished by a young wizard that stood tall as he looked upon the scenes of his first battle, barely noticing the destroyed interior of the room as his hand still held the sword in an iron grip.

As the last fragmented remnants of the diadem were lifted up and swept away from the gentle breeze that lightly wafted through the room, James gave a soft smile as looked upon the slumbering girl, memories flashing in his mind of her radiant smiles, ones which would always light up any room she was in, and the strange way she would often look at him – a soul-piercing look that would often give him comfort, even if he didn't know why.

Ariana...

...you're safe now.


A/N: Thank you everyone for the recent feedback, you have given me a lot to think about!

P.S. A special shout-out to Nemesis13 for giving me extra motivation to write!