Harry only realized her mistake when the curse slipped off of her tongue.
The sickly green light spurted out of her wand, clashing with a purple spell Riddle had cast at the same time. The collision's deafening noise roared inside the store and was enough to subtract the veil of weariness blinding the girl's judgment. Upon touching Tom's spell, her Avada Kedavra ricocheted, toasting Harry's entire arm in a single slash of searing pain. The girl's wand was punishing her for being forced to try to kill its brother.
The smell of burning flesh and the sight of charred fingers ripped a raw, desperate scream from Potter. Her surprise element had just gone down the drain, and she was going to lose.
There were no questions on Riddle's part. Or pause - deep down, the bastard knew he deserved that sudden attack - just a series of hexes that forced the girl to grit her teeth and keep her feet firmly on the ground, trying to hold him off. When her shields began to shred like paper under the Dark Wizard's vicious attacks, Potter dodged and flung to the left, allowing him to destroy pretty much the whole shop while trying to hit her.
Harriet ended up hiding behind what looked like a strange sarcophagus and pressed her injured hand to her chest. She was already out of breath, with cold sweat pouring down her forehead and the excruciating pain that brought tears to her eyes. The store around the girl was a chaos of dust and papers that still twisted through the air, and the same static energy always present in brutal duels.
'' Didn't you come here to kill me? Stop hiding. Let's finish this. I promise I'll kill you fast if you tell me who sent you ''. Riddle's mocking voice reached her hiding place, and Potter took a deep breath.
She needed to think.
Harry was quick and very good at fighting, DADA was her best subject at Hogwarts, and after three years living in the middle of a damn war, the girl refused to die there. Tom Riddle might even be the prodigal student, the most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time, but Harriet had vast experience escaping from him. She knew how Voldemort fought, probably better than anyone else. Liking it or not, he'd taught her a trick or two, and most of all, to never fight fair.
She had already found some loops on the whole '' brother wands '' thing. She couldn't cast the killing curse. There were no consequences if her or Riddle's spells hit a shield charm, but if two equally powerful hexes collided, everything went to shit.
She could work with that.
Thanking heavens for the charms Hermione had put on her glasses and for not having destroyed her own wand with that stupid attempt to annihilate Riddle, Harry gathers what strength she still has and casts a healing spell on her arm, but the enchantment comes weak and, instead of disappearing with her wound, only leaves the skin pink and sensitive, as if covered in plastic film.
''I won't wait all day. I'm already disconsidering my generous proposal to end your misery quickly''. Riddle was almost singsonging now, and Harriet bitterly realized from who Bellatrix had learned to piss off her opponents with an endless and annoying chat.
— Fuck off. You're not as good as you think - Harry found herself responding. He wasn't nearly as powerful as Voldemort.
Riddle's laugh is deep and dark. He is still trying to find Harry amidst the smoke and mess of broken objects. If the girl concentrates enough, she can hear his footsteps. ''Tut-tut, your manners are as atrocious as your dueling skills''.
Tom can laugh all he wants because as he flaunts through that monologue, Harry non-verbally conjures a series of mirrors on the top of the shop's walls, leaving only a blind spot to hide. Their reflection reveals Riddle crouched behind the counter, predatory eyes scanning every inch of the space ahead in search of her. The reduct Harry sends him bursts the ground all the way to the man, knocking him off of his feet.
Potter leaves the hiding place she was in at lightning speed. Knowing she doesn't have much time, she thrust her jaw, ignores the blinding pain in her arm, and casts spell after spell with every step.
Riddle blocks them easily. Harriet's plan is definitely that.
The air surrounding them is so saturated with magic that Harry can feel it in her veins, pulsing alongside her heart, and even hating him, she needs to admit to herself that he has a grace to his movements that Voldemort seemed to had lost along the way. He swirls and moves around her, his gorgeous features and long eyelashes flaring up with the light of every hex he casts.
She wants the Dark Wizard to attack her with some Dark spell, and when the enchantment doesn't work due to the core that their wands share, Potter will make her last blow, creatively destroying his body with some jinx from the Hogwart's second-year curriculum.
As predicted, Riddle casts a hex that Harry knows destroys its target muscles and vital organs. The ricochet makes him hiss in surprise. Potter grins and then raises her wand, ready to kill him.
Tom Riddle is faster. He kicks her straight in the knees, making her trip over a pile of trinkets. In one second, he is over Harry, tossing her to the ground like an old rag doll and pinning her wrists above her head tightly. She dropped her wand somewhere while struggling against his hold.
From this angle, Riddle looks absolutely insane. A wicked smile twists his mouth, revealing dangerously sharp white teeth. His eyes burn scarlet, and his hair is a mess. '' I'm not feeling so merciful anymore, and unlike you, sweetheart, I don't need a wand. Accio ey- ''.
Potter doesn't let her rival finish that sentence. She turns her face and bites his arm so hard that she feels the flesh peeling away from his muscles. Tom's grip loosens by reflex, and Harry pushes him off, rolling on her stomach over the dirt floor and blindly groping the dirt and objects sprawled there.
— Accio wand - she mutters hoarsely, grabbing the flying piece of wood with her outstretched hand.
Harry only has time to raise the strongest shield she knows before the charm collides with the Cruciatus Curse Tom Riddle has cast.
Their spells meet in the middle, causing something she already knows well after so many duels with Voldemort; The Priori Incantatem effect.
Echoes of Riddle's earlier spells envelop the two of them in a bubble. At this point, Harry feels so much pain in her arm that she knows she could pass out at any moment, so the girl does the only thing that can save her while she still has the upper hand.
She lets go of the spell and runs from the shop.
Some pedestrians stop what they're doing as the girl walks by, her grimy face washed in tears and her arm partially charred against her chest, but the sight of a shabby, injured girl on the run couldn't be that unnatural because no one interrupts her.
Potter is dizzy and knows she'll splinch if she attempts to apparate, so she doesn't even try.
She runs until her lungs burn, her legs protest, and the whole world turns to a gray blur. Harriet keeps moving. She slips into Muggle London and holds her wound out of sight.
Her chest rises and falls rapidly, her vision clouded with tears, and as she looks around, still panicked and numb at the same time, Harry feels seized by the thought that she must look like a scared animal. Potter needs to get out of the open. The girl needs a plan since she was stupid enough to lose the surprise element.
Maybe if she can reach Dumbledore and explain everything, he'll help her. No, she isn't a child anymore. She can't run to the headmaster's arms when things go wrong. It's just that she is tired, she hadn't slept for the past 48 hours, and the prospect of Hogwarts and an alive Dumbledore seem like the answer to all her problems.
The buildings of central London are still waving around Potter when she feels a hand grab her arm from behind.
The apparition compresses the whole atmosphere, and Riddle's glamour fades, turning him visible again. He throws Harry against a slimy brick wall so brutally that she tastes blood in the back of her throat.
Despite Harriet's efforts to attack him, Riddle banishes her wand with a lazy wave from his hand. She doesn't know where he took her to. She can only see the open countryside and the outdoor ruins of the house they are leaning against.
'' Who are you? Who sent you? ''. Tom Riddle demands, sticking the tip of his wand against the girl's neck. He has Potter's hair painfully curled in his fingers. His nails cut into her scalp as she fights in vain. The Dark Wizard has already pinned her against the wall. Potter can't move, can't breathe, and her arm burns like hell.
— Dumbledore sent me - she lies because even if it were true, Riddle wouldn't be able to do anything against Dumbledore. The boy smirks at her pathetic response, releasing her hair to pinch the burns on her arm.
'' .You''. Tom insists, and the girl's knees soften with the pain. Riddle is still smiling with a manic glint in his eyes. All that good-guy facade is gone, and the distorted expression he wears makes his unnaturally perfect face transform into something monstrous.
''Now, you made me run until here... It's not polite to lie to me either. If you're a good girl, I promise your death will be almost painless''.
— You can't kill me - Harry whispers the first thing that pops into her head because she needs time, needs to distract him, needs to get out of this shitty situation.
''I saw what happened over there, but I don't need a wand. I can just twist your neck''. Riddle threatens, and she shakes her head.
— Go ahead and see what happens - she says because if she entertains him enough, he won't kill her on the spot. Riddle is crazy like that.
Riddle looks at her with something like interest. His eyes slide over the scar on Harriet's forehead and the gold chain disappearing into the neckline of her blouse. Harry senses when he tries to force legilimency to find out what she's hiding, but she turns her face away, irritating him.
''Imperio''. Riddle murmurs, and Potter feels her consciousness wrapped by a sweet, soothing mist. It would be so much easier if she just gave in, but no. She grits her teeth again and lifts her chin in defiance, freeing herself from the influence of the unforgivable curse before spitting in Tom Riddle's presumptuous face.
He closes his eyes and exhales heavily, slamming the girl's head against the wall again before grabbing her jaw. There is saliva oozing from one of his perfect cheekbones, but he doesn't seem to notice. '' Who are you? ''. Riddle questions, almost dazzled now, and then tries legilimency again, this time getting what he wants.
Memories dance behind the girl's restless eyelids. Draco's plan. The Time-Turner, the name Voldemort. Looking pleased with himself, Riddle pulls away and grins monstrously. ''A time traveler... My, my, I don't even want to imagine what I must have done to deserve such a visit''. His timbre of voice could easily be mistaken for flirting.
His mood swings were exhausting to follow. Feeling defeated and exhausted, Potter fell silent. Tom didn't look particularly impressed with her sudden silence and, after summoning her wand, apparated them both away.
He continued to Apparate them farther and farther away. Potter knew this because of the bumps. Her entire body felt crushed, her muscles protested in discomfort, but as her complaints would surely fall on deaf ears, the girl just squinted her eyes and prayed it would be over soon.
Time and space split before her until they both landed in a village filled with stone houses and cobblestone streets, surrounded by a verdant valley covered with dark, dense forest. When the light became visible again, Harry only had time to turn her face and vomit into some bushes.
''You have five seconds to start walking before I lose my temper and drag you by the hair''. Tom says, keeping the long fingers of one of his hands curled just above her elbow. His grip is hurting Harry's arm, so she lifts her head and scowls at him. The girl wasn't afraid of Riddle. She wouldn't allow that monster to treat her like an old, unwanted bag.
However, before any further arguments between them could start, the pair were interrupted by an oldish man, who eyed them suspiciously, taking in Harry's hideous clothes and her grimy face with visible trails of dry tears. The man asked something in a different language, and Tom responded instantly, the tone of his voice composed and confident. But the fingers he kept around Potter's elbow tightened his hold to something almost unbearable.
She felt tempted to punch him in the face and make a run for it. But she didn't want to risk that man's life.
While he digested the information offered by Riddle, the Dark Wizard turned to mutter quickly to Harriet as if telling her an amusing secret. ''I told him you're my troubled little sister. If you try to run away, if you think about asking for help, I'll make you kill him, I'll make you rip off every inch of this Muggle's skin with him still conscious.'' Harry felt a shiver of nausea run down her spine.
The man took a few hesitant steps towards them. Potter's facial muscles tingle as she forces a nervous smile, leaning stiffly against Tom as if she wanted his support. '' Good girl ''. Riddle whispers against her temple, leading her away from the Muggle, who no longer looks so suspicious.
Harriet was at the mercy of a younger but equally cruel version of Lord Voldemort. She didn't even want to think about the horrors that surely awaited her.