Chapter 5: Unveil
[Houa POV]
There was no use avoiding the discussion which was why Houa followed the Slytherin. Thank goodness she commanded her mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual body to be strong because she did not expect Tom to physically touch her!
Immediately when he grabbed her arm and thrust Houa into whatever room they were in, she felt Death sliced through her body and falter onto the floor.
Flashes of faces crossed her vision. Two elderly, probably a couple and another man. The man who looked like a grandfather lied slanted on the armchair near the fireplace, his form lifeless as there were no aura pulsing around him. The elder woman's aura was no different, her body lay still against the armchair of the elder man. A wanded hand drew back from the last figure.
Her breath became heavy in recognizing the final man, his features unmistakably like that of the young Boy before her now even with a face of terror, dead on the luxurious rug.
She fisted her hands in an attempt to calm down her fear. Everything makes sense about Tom now. His aura, the way he is. It all makes sense now!
I'm in the same room as a CRAZY MURDERER and I MUST NOT let him know that if I am to SURVIVE!
And CRAZY he was in demanding answers she has no clue about! What angered her most was even when she was telling the truth the lunatic had shot a nasty curse at her.
Was Aunt Songly sure they were protected from all spells, good or foul, because it felt like a nail jammed into her right shoulder and abdomen when Tom called out Crusio!
I'M DEFINITELY GOING TO SPILL HIS CRIMES TO THE HEADMASTER!
Then she couldn't breathe properly, Riddle's hand closed around her neck lifting her off the ground demanding her to tell him who she is, which if the psycho had half a brain would know no one would be capable of replying back in that situation.
Dear God why'd you make me only five feet and the psycho so tall?
All at once Houa saw Death as his pitless dark eyes barren of life and all things good locked onto her own caramel ones, paralyzing her body instantly.
And just like that, all of the young Dark Lord's futures came crashing into her. The information came first in sequences of images then increased in a fury, flooding her mind incessantly like a film fast forward at full speed. Using her lung's oxygen as its fuel, every cruel deed he committed along the way robbed her soul's sanity and ravaged her heart of its beats.
When Tom only pressed further, the entire ocean of knowledge regarding his future life was transferred right into her brain, permanently saturating every cell of it and continuing further into the rest of her body, drowning her completely! As if sealing it all in place in one final mark, lightning struck her blood and Houa screamed begging for Death.
[TOM POV]
The young dark lord had expected to penetrate the weak student's mind and uncover secrets he knew not of, however when there were no memories of her fluttering before his own mind, he questioned if she was perhaps occlumening him.
Pressing forward relentlessly to find out, he glared into those dirt eyes with tears streamed down onto his fists, begging him for mercy. He only tightened his palm around her throat when he continued to see nothing else minutes after.
She screamed then! Her voice ringing his eardrums as she placed both her hands onto his crushing hand tightly.
Suddenly Tom was feeling everything about him as if he were her! The tightness around her throat cuts off her oxygen and in this case his oxygen! Immense pain, fright, loss, overwhelm and agony made their way into his system, something he only ever experienced once before and vow never to again.
He released her neck just in time as he felt an excruciating shock pierce his brain as if tearing it apart from the inside. His other hand grasped his forehead in an attempt to push away the blackness catching at the ends of his consciousness. Something he was sure happened to his legilimency victims, not the caster!
After moments of recollecting himself he turned to curse the Girl for an explanation, but found her motionless on the floor.
"Rennervate!" he cast at the unconscious form that continued to remain unmoved.
Why is nothing working?!
Furious, he tossed her lame wand from his pocket on the ground near her and muttered the incantation to recreate the door calling upon two of his Slytherin Knights.
When they arrived inside he tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse and Legilimency continuously until they lost consciousness then cast Rennervate on them to which they both awakened confirming his thoughts.
It's only the Girl...
He glanced at her, "Clean up the mess and see Miss Songly to the infirmary. If Madame Cara asks, say you found her collapsed down a flight of stairs. Let the Girl remember this when she wakes up. If she's smart she won't mention it to anyone."
"Yes, my lord," the two Slytherins managed to mutter from the ground as Tom walked past them.
With a flick of his wand his appearance became perfectly adjusted, not that much fell out of place. The Head Boy walked swiftly out towards the Headmaster's Office.
I need her file now.
Dream 2
He was dressed in otherworldly clothes she has never seen before with long raven hair that embraced him like the ocean waves as the breeze passed by. Lying so still amongst the flower bed, it looked as if he was left for death.
Placing her flower wreaths on his chest she called out to him, "Wake up Mister!"
When no words or movement came from the stranger she poked his cheek, chest, then belly, "I know you're not dead. Wake up!"
She paused her ministrations momentarily to see if he would open his eyes and noticed how still his face was, so still, like papa's face had been.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she burst out crying, "Please don't die! Don't die! Come back!"
"Silly child! I'm not dead!" came the man's frustrated voice.
Rubbing her tears away she saw his grey eyes open up at her and smiled, "I knew it! I knew it!"
"Did you now?" he sounded annoyed at her.
"Yes, I did, but you were so still like papa when he died, I thought maybe you did die."
"Well I'm not dead. I'm just resting," he said softly and she knew he was trying to console her.
"Why are you resting?"
"Because I'm tired."
"Why are you tired?"
"If I answered that, would you be quiet?"
She nodded laying down beside him.
"Because I'm traveling…"
[Houa POV]
Houa had no idea how she was still living and functioning when she woke up feeling like millions of glass shards sliced through her brain while crushing it under a boulder at the same time. Luckily Madame Cara had been present to help her vomit in a prepared bucket. How she even had food to regurgitate was a mystery to herself.
Apparently she fell down a flight of staircases and nearby students found her unconscious. She has been in the infirmary for a day and a half already, with her Aunt and April stopping by to see her while she was unconscious. It was too painful to think so she just agreed with the mediwitch who helped her to the restroom to rinse out her mouth and shower quickly.
She changed into a fresh patient pajamas and settled back against the bed drinking draughts for her headache pain and for strength. Merlin (as April had said), she was absolutely famished and the matron immediately requested the House Elves to bring her lunch and to fetch Houa's black notebook and magic quill from her room.
After eating the lunch, Houa found her strength returning and the pain almost gone. She finished writing the recent Dream in her journal just as April showed up in the infirmary.
Once given approval by Madame Cara, the Hufflepuff heads over to her bed cox.
"So good to see you finally awake," the prefect sat down on the stool near the bed, "How are you feeling?"
Houa smiled at her friend, grateful to have someone care for her, "Much better now after eating. Thank you for coming to see me."
"Of course! Just glad to see you look more alive," sigh April in relief.
"You have no idea, falling down a set of stairs? Even I couldn't believe it myself. And now I missed so many of my classes. Hope I'm not behind."
"That's alright. Just talk to your Professors and borrow notes from others. I'll lend you my Divination Notes."
Houa hugged April, "You're an awesome friend do you know that?!"
April laughed, "I know you'd do the same for me."
"Of course I would!" Houa pulled from the hug, "So how's everything since I passed out?"
"Good. Your roommates were concerned when you didn't attend the classes they had with you. I told them you were here because of the stairs which they understood given the circumstances."
Houa wrinkled her eyebrows at that, "What do you mean?"
"Well Vivienne and Estelle said anyone would have been too scared and also fallen down a flight of stairs later on the day if they had also vomited on Tom. I have to agree with them there. Honestly, I was so scared Tom was going to hex you when you threw up on him. I was apologizing on your behalf after you ran away. Strangely he just vanished the spew and informed Professor Kagani of the situation before he walked out of class to shower and came back with a different set of shoes according to our classmates. I thought you were going to be ok because Madame Cara checked on you already. I didn't think you would be so afraid of apologizing to Tom that you would have slipped down a flight of stairs while going to class."
Her prefect friend had continued speaking unaware that Houa had completely froze after hearing the Head Boy's name.
The name set something off within Houa's brain and like a jigsaw puzzle attaching themselves swiftly into place, memories came back in a flurry into the forefront of her mind starting with the vomit scene, infirmary, then dismissal from magical creature class.
Then that room! That horrendous room where Tom had thrown her in. Where she saw the faces of the people he murdered. Where he tortured her and almost killed her when his deathly eyes—!
Tom! Tom Marvolo Riddle!
A selected memory resurfaced at his name: A young Tom talking in the future with a little boy about the age of twelve or so in a dungeon. Talking about how he abandoned his filthy Muggle father's name and created one that would bring fear to all witches and wizards as he ruled over the Wizarding World.
"I am Lord Voldemort!"
"OH MY GOD!" Houa's voice left her without her even realizing it as more images pop up from the mental word Voldemort. She jumped off the bed and ran barefooted out of the infirmary before Madame Cara or April had a chance to even stop her.
I need to speak with Aunt Songly now!
TBC
There you have it! hahaha, see you all in the next Chappy!