Previously on 'The Redemption'... Tom speculates about Cho's illness and Orion's odd behaviour, Henry grows concerned about Cho's growing seclusion and Orion and Cho have a talk.

Chapter 33 –A Deadly Duel

Having existed primarily on his own for majority of his life, Tom was reluctant to admit he was bored. Standing in the draftee owlery, he watched as most of the students poured out of the castle, ready to take the carriages into Hogsmeade. Being an orphan, Tom never got to visit the village but he usually did not care to browse childish items and nor did he particularly appreciate sweets.

He continued to watch the streams of students, clad in light sweaters with scarves knotted around their necks until his gaze focused on a trio that huddled briefly outside a carriage. Even from the distance, Tom could distinguish Arlene Stevens' fiery curled hair tucked under a hat and the familiarity with which she hugged a black-haired girl he was trying very hard to forget. The Pollux boy loitered next to them, hands tucked into pockets until he helped both of the girls up into the carriage.

Tom stood there long after the last of the carriages had departed before he began to feel the chill through his robes. Casting a final look around the empty owlery, Tom took to wandering the corridors, finding empty routes where he would encounter as few people as possible while he collected his thoughts and considered his current problems.

For all the ambitions he had constructed for himself, he felt inexplicably lost. He was still going through the motions, ticking them all off as he completed them but it didn't feel as satisfying as it ought to. Perhaps it was because there was still such a long way to go until he could reap the rewards for his efforts, or maybe it was because he had a whole host of other predicaments that distracted him from what truly mattered.

Dumbledore was keeping an annoyingly close eye on him as always and Slughorn was continuously pestering him to apply for a tedious position at the Ministry. On top of his persistently busy schedule as a 7th year student and Head Boy, Orion Black out of all people was acting in the most suspicious way.

And then of course, niggling at the back of his mind no matter how hard he tried to shake it, was Cho Chang and her strange illness. Although he avoided her as much as he could, he did notice that it seemed to be getting progressively worse. He rarely saw her at mealtimes and she seemed to frequent the library far less often than she used to. The only time she seemed to be fine was in classes where he could detect a bit of colour in her face and she seemed to hold enough concentration to pay attention to the Professor for more than a few moments.

Tom found himself in the courtyard, allowing his tumultuous thoughts to guide him there. He wondered whether it was merely an accident, or whether his subconscious mocked him as this was the very place where his plans began to crumble that Christmas morning. Either way, he had no desire to relive those memories and he was just about to return to his dormitories when a dark haired student a year younger, Dolohov he believed his name was, raced towards him with an uncharacteristic urgency.

"Grindelwald and his followers are attacking Hogsmeade. I thought you ought to know."

Tom turned and fled without a word, running out of the castle and past the gates and not caring whether he wasn't technically granted permission to go to Hogsmeade.

With a loud crack he apparated away, leaving only muddy footprints behind in his path.

It had come out of nowhere, when Cho, Arlene, Henry and the Slytherins were still enjoying the warmth of the Three Broomsticks. First there was a loud bang which Cho dismissed as a joke shop product gone awry before it was followed with more, each louder and closer sounding than the previous.

"What was that?" asked Henry, craning his neck to look out the window at the streets outside. Cho caught Orion's eyes who gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head before she got up, taking her wand out of her bag.

"I hope you're not planning to go out there," said Arlene, her sharp eyes catching Cho's movements as everyone else was still preoccupied by spying out the window. "Because that would be incredibly idiotic."

"I'm just going to have a closer look to make sure everything's alright," said Cho though she was not convinced herself "I'm sure it's nothing."

Arlene slung her small cross-body purse across her shoulders, getting up and grabbing Henry's wrist, "Well, we'll come with you to take a closer look then."

Cho saw no room for negotiation in Arlene's face and only mild puzzlement in Henry's before she shrugged. It was not her place to boss her friends around and she knew they could very well take care of themselves although she would prefer to not put them in harm's way at all.

"Let's go then."

The trio shuffled their way out of their little nook next to the Slytherins and out of the busy bar, spilling out onto the streets that soon erupted in complete chaos.

"Merlin's beard!" muttered Henry, pulling Arlene and Cho into the alcove of a building, "Are those Grindelwald's followers?"

Cho peered out, noting that the wizards and witches wore much of the same dark robes that they had worn when they had interrupted the Christmas Ball. There seemed to be more of them this time around though they didn't appear to be on any specific mission.

"Terror raid?" guessed Arlene, echoing Cho' thoughts "They were successful enough on their last one. The ministry heightened security at Hogwarts and it was all over the papers."

"It's a shame they didn't think of securing Hogsmeade too," said Henry wryly though the concern shone through, "We really should make it back to the castle before this gets even more out of hand."

Cho was just about to agree with him when she saw a familiar figure cut through the streets. He appeared to be looking for something, though he was walking so briskly it was on the verge of jogging. He then disappeared from view, moving towards a small clearing behind a row of shops that lined the outer perimeters of the village.

"I just need to check on something. You two go back to the castle first, I'll be right behind."

Before Arlene and Henry could stop her, Cho darted out from the alcove and made her way towards the clearing, making sure she stayed in the shadows.

She followed him, quickening her steps when she heard shouts up ahead. Ducking out of sight, Cho surveyed the scene in front of her, hardly able to believe her eyes.

For all the times that Cho still tried to find the innocence in Tom, she could find no trace of it in him now. He duelled with a cold calculation that clashed against the other man's ferocity, his movements casual, lazy and almost as if she was toying with the wizard who was easily more than three times his age.

"Everte Statum!" yelled the other wizard, intensity driving his features into a look of concentration.

Tom seemed to be borderline bored by him, his lips twisting into a smirk he repelled yet another spell.

"Is this the best that the great Grindelwald can do?" he laughed, the sound chilling and full of mockery before it turned hard "What a disappointment."

Cho momentarily blanched at what she heard. Grindelwald? As in Gellert Grindelwald himself?

She needed to get Tom out of there before anything happened to him but before Cho could, Tom pointed his wand towards the dark wizard and started his incantation, the intent on his face as clear as day.

"Cru-"

Cho burst out of the clearing, shaking out the paralysis that had seemed to seize her earlier, "Tom, Stop!"

His head whipped towards her, the spell dying on his lips as he turned around with an unmistakeable look of horror in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something to her, probably to tell her to run, when a jet of orange light hit him in his momentary distraction. Cho screamed as his body crumpled to the ground, his leg twisting at an odd angle with blood immediately blooming from several deep gashes across his torso.

She ran towards him, forgetting that Grindelwald was advancing towards them with a feral smile and yellowing teeth. She leaned over him, pressing one hand over the deepest wound to slow the flow while the other hand smoothed back his hair from his forehead to reveal blue eyes that were slowly closing. In her preoccupied state, she didn't notice the slight tingling sensation as she touched him, only that the flow of blood was not slowing down beneath her palms.

"I'm sorry," she muttered frantically, panic gripping her in a chokehold "I'm sorry. Just stay with me alright?"

His hand went to clasp hers, resting against his chest before it slackened and fell to his side.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

Cho looked up through blurry eyes, not realising that she was crying. Gently letting go of Tom for the time being and wiping the tears away with the sleeve of her jacket, she got up and faced Grindelwald, her wand hand trembling from fear. Whether the fear was born from Grindelwald standing a few paces away or due to the fact that Tom was bleeding to his death beside her, she was not sure.

"What do you want?" demanded Cho, trying to instil some calm into her tone. She had never seen Grindelwald up close before now, and he was striking even in his age and far more so than in photographs she had glimpsed in history books. With blond hair and large pale blue eyes set against bleached parchment coloured skin, he was thin but far from fragile.

He sneered, "For the greater good of course. Now step aside and let me teach this arrogant boy a lesson."

Cho stepped directly in front of Tom's prone form, "Leave him out of it."

"Protecting your beloved?" he cackled, his tone cruel "Well, I would have let you go but now? Let's see if your wand work can protect you both!"

His reflexes were quick but Cho was prepared for the first spell.

"Flipendo Trio!"

Cho hurled back a spell of her own, yelling "Protego Horribilus!" just in time to shield both her and Tom from being thrown back like rag dolls. She pointed her wand towards a dilapidated structure nearby, using a quick murmur of "bombarda maxima!" to bring it crumbling to rocks before hurling them at Grindelwald to temporarily distract him while she thought of a plan. She was clearly no match for him and he was too sharp to be outwitted. Cho could see very little ways she could save Tom and make it out alive herself.

Her despair sharpened as he disintegrated the rocks that flew towards him with ease, looking mildly amused as his spells rebounded from her strong shield charm. Cho could feel the shield weakening and she knew it wasn't going to last much longer…

The charm shattered and Cho turned away from the force of it, inching away from Grindelwald.

"Not a bad effort but not nearly good enough I'm sad to say," said Grindelwald, crooking his head to inspect her "But, with a little bit of training, you may make a good soldier for the cause."

Before Cho could respond, she heard a soft voice from behind her and the faint rustle of long robes.

"Gellert old friend, that is quite enough. "

Dumbledore's voice was grim and full of regret as he greeted the dark wizard and Cho could almost detect the barest hint of bitterness in his tone.

"I've been waiting for you Albus. I wasn't sure you were going to come."

Never taking his eyes off Grindelwald, Dumbledore quietly spoke to Cho and gestured towards Tom.

"Go and take Mr Riddle somewhere safe. I'll take care of this."

Cho nodded silently and rushed to Tom's side, putting her arms around him and hoisting him up into a standing position as best as she could despite the dead weight that threatened to topple her. Concentrating on the first place she could think of, she apparated away from Dumbledore and Grindelwald, remembering the hard look in their eyes as they faced one another.

A/N: Well, that escalated quickly.

Special thanks to followers, favourites and those who reviewed the last chapter:

JessebelleSilver – haha, Malfoy is an idiot but I've always had a soft spot for the Malfoys in general for some reason or another (it's probably Lucius' hair or something)

Immigrant14 – I agree! If JK Rowling intended for Cho Chang to be a fairly one dimensional character or not, I still believe she is way more than what she was portrayed as in the books and movies. I will also defend her to my grave – I cannot believe people actually gave her flack for crying about her boyfriend passing away! Ridiculous.

Guest #1 (Jan 15) – Thank you for liking my story! And as for which time travel theory is true… well, I already know exactly what happens at the end so you'll just have to wait and see ;) (When I write, I always write the last chapter first. I don't know why but that's how it happens)

Orangefingers – the orange markers makes sense! (more so than excessive twistie/Cheetos eating) And as for Orion, he can pretty much swing either way which is why I like his character. Out of all Tom's followers, he seems to be the most logical, intelligent and worried about his family and their future. So will he do the right thing? Time will tell…

Guest #2 (Jan 16) – Your ex is called Orion? I had no idea it was a (kinda) common name! Thank you for reviewing

As always, let me know what you thought of the chapter and story as a whole. Till next time!

Love,

DecoyDream x