Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If you believe I do, than you need to see a "special" doctor. And if you don't know what "" around the special means, than don't worry about it. Just worship me and pay me lots of well-deserved money.
A/N: Thanks to everyone for reviewing. I know the last chapter was not happy, but it can't all be sunshine daisies and butter mellows. Also, I REALLY wanted to leave Clarona dead, but unfortunately I came to the realization that that would mean erasing Sirius from existence and that is something I hate even more than Clarona.
And, if any of you really miss Fritz, than he is alive and well. I gave him to a fellow writer who couldn't stand the thought of a fan fiction world w/o our favorite ebony-haired-Italian-Lawyer-Vampire. Simply go to my favorite authors page and select Firesolved and read "The Return of Fritz."
This chapter is dedicated to my mentor, friend, and sister-Starbright.
A Future Riddle
Starbright
The Sparkle in your eyes
Like Stars up in the skies
Nothing can compare
What it is we share
Through the fog that enveloped her mind, Jessie felt herself being effortlessly carried.
Fritz
She smiled at the thought of him taking her somewhere. From the moment they met, he had always been her knight in shining armor. A black knight.
The last time he had carried her, they had been near Cairo and Jessie had been ambushed.
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"Look, I can't speak Mumm-ese, and you obviously can't speak English, so why don't we just drop this and walk away?" Jessie gesturing walking away with her fingers to the fifteen or so mummies that surrounded her. The reek from their yellow, matted cloth was strikingly sharp to Jessie's sensitive nose and she wasn't eager to get in a fight.
The full moon overhead allowed the creatures' black eyes to glisten as they began groaning in short, angry gasps and advanced on the lone Vampire.
Pulling out her wand, Jessie gave a short mental message to Trixz and began firing off incendio and diffendo spells.
It worked well enough for the first couple of minutes until one of them managed to avoid her slicing spell and hit her so hard in the stomach that she flew ten feet through the air and landed roughly on her back.
In the second it took for her to regain her orientation, they were all over her.
It's true that Mummies are not the most impressive biters or clawers. They don't even have poison, no. What they have is much worse. The tattered, soiled rags they wear are far more practical than decorative. They keep the essence of the Mummy contained. It is only at their eyes that you can catch a glimpse of the darkness within the rags. Like a self-contained black hole, their soul-less bodies are like the void of space. When a mummy makes physical contact with another creature, that creature's existence, its soul, life-force, entire being, is stripped from them and expelled into the void. They defy the law that matter can neither be created or destroyed.
Created? -no. Destroyed? -most definitely.
Being held down and pounded by three of them, Jessie was unable to do anything but watch in horror as a forth began slowly unwrapping its hand. Or, rather, where its hand should have been.
In its place was a black hole. A sight so disturbing that you couldn't stand to look at it, but felt unable to glance away.
The sheer nothingness of it had Jessie transfixed. She quit moving and relaxed against the cool night sand of the desert. The creatures all backed away from the one with the exposed hand and watched on in eerie, unmoving stillness as the Mummy slowly extended its "hand" to Jessie's calm face.
Jessie just smirked up at the creature and shouted, "One of these days, you're going to regret taking your time!"
The Mummies all paused in confusion for a moment before a black cloaked blur came rushing onto the scene.
Sure enough, it was Fritz sprinting into the congregation, wand ablaze as he gave a sound kick to the offending Mummy's head, effectively knocking the creature to the ground.
He cast a firewall charm around the two of them and turning to offer her a hand, grinned. "I don't regret anything Jinxy."
At her mock pout, he laughed out right and gave her a swift kiss. Drawing back to look at her face he said, "Oh alright, I suuuuupose I would miss your glares, and your tantrums, and your moodiness, and your violence, an-
Jessie swiftly shut him up with a swift kick to the shin and gave her smug, trademark smirk. "So sorry Fritz-y, but you reminded me of violence. What do you say you list the reasons you adore me after we take care of this dirty laundry?"
Grinning wickedly in approval, Fritz nodded and using his raised wand, extended the firewall. At the Mummies shrieks of pain, Jessie fired diffendo.
When the only sound to be heard was the soft roar of the fire surrounding them, Fritz lifted the spell and, still on the alert, made a swift sweep of the perimeter.
Breathing in the refreshing night air, (even though he didn't need to), Fritz said, "Weeeeell...that was a right party. You should get captured by mums more often Jinx."
Fritz turned around to look at where Jessie had been only moments before. His expression fell as panic began to take over. "Jessie?"
"You called?" A silky, playful voice erupted behind him as its owner wrapped her pale arms around his waist.
"You Jinx!" He turned around and glared at her a second before dissolving into laughter and kissing her soundly.
After both their lips were slightly blood stained, and Trixz trotted up to separate them before things got too out of hand in the middle of the desert where more Mummies could attack at any moment, they decided to find Armenius and get out of the accursed region.
"Why don't we just apparate to him?" Jessie said as she glanced down worriedly at her leg. In the process of pounding on her, the Mummies had managed to break her left fibula. She wouldn't have even noticed except that Trixz began to stare at the blood dripping down from the gash where the exposed bone protruded. It would heal quickly, thanks to her Vampirism, but not if she continued to use it.
Fritz noticed where she was staring and said, "A, we don't know where he's at. B, you know this is a Mummy haunt and Mummies make natural apparition wards where ever they go. And C, well, I don't really have a C, but A and B prove apparition impossible. We just need to walk a few miles away from this zone." At Jessie's wince of "miles", Fritz pressed his hand to her cheek and said, "I'll carry you."
Putting a finger to her protesting lips, Fritz continued, "Don't even argue. You know either of us would have no problem carrying the other." Giving a winning smirk he added, "besides, I won't take no for an answer. -Not even from you."
Jessie's eyes softened and she whispered as he bent to pick her up, "Thanks."
Fritz gently scooped her up into his arms and looking deeply into her eyes whispered back, "Anytime."
The moment passed, and they began walking into the dark vastness of the surrounding sands. Fritz cracked a grin and said, "Well, except for during the day, I'm not much of a daytime person."
Jessie laid her head against his icy-cool chest and laughed, "You're not much of a person, but I wouldn't want you any other way."
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As the fog cleared, Jessie's sea green eyes made out black hair and pale skin. Her lazy smile widened and she managed to mumble, "Just like old times huh?"
The icy voice that greeted her however- "I assume you're referring to your deceased Vampire friend?" -was not the one she had expected.
The fog vanished completely as Jessie's eyes opened wide and she identified Tom Riddle to be the one holding her as they traversed through the torch lit halls of what appeared to be Hogwarts.
Her back still broken, Jessie struggled in vain to free herself from his long-fingered cold hands.
"What on EARTH do you think you're DOING!" She shrieked. Several of the portraits awoke from their slumber and began murmuring threats under their breath at the two.
His expression, ever the ice-man, remained completely unpreturbed by her wrath as he calmly said, "Why, professor. Surely you can't be this dense? I'm carrying you to the Astronomy tower of course."
Unable to do anything more than glare, which she did rather well, Jessie gritted out, "You insufferable prick, WHAT HAPPENED? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?"
"Well, after disposing of your 'friend', I-
"WHAT?" Jessie's unbeating heart gave a sudden lurch.
Tom gave a smirk as he went in for the kill, "Oh, that's right, you were unconscious when I used your want to stab him through the heart. He seemed most distressed at leaving you, but ashes to ashes, dust to dust and all that rubbish right?"
Jessie vamped out. The hatred escaped her amber eyes in waves as she hissed in the most deadliest of whispers, "You will die for that."
Tom looked less than scared at her threat as he shrugged his shoulders and in a voice dripping with sarcasm said, "I'd really hate to see what a crippled, paralyzed, sad little girl is going to do to me. I'm shaking already."
Jessie's features returned to human and in a honey voice that would make your toes curl she said, "I'm going to rip out your heart and eat it in front of you. Then, after I'm done licking the blood from my fingers, I'm going to dump your disgusting, vile carcass in a heated cauldron of undiluted bubotuber puss. After nothing is left in the cauldron but the contaminated puss, I'll dump it in the front lawn of the orphanage where you grew up and then bury it. That way, you'll get to spend all of eternity in the place you love best surrounded by you favorite kinds of muggles."
"Charming. Now-" He began up the winding stairs to the tower. "How is it you know so much of me? You're going to die. Either by the sun that's going to rise in a short while or by your own oak wand. I'll be the gentleman and let you decide how. Your feat in the chamber was most remarkable."
Jessie concentrated on her link with Trixz for a second before replying to Riddle, "I'm not telling you anything Mr. Riddle. And by the way, one hundred points from Slytherin for keeping a Basilisk under the school, two hundred points from Slytherin for hoping to kill muggle-borns, three hundred points from Slytherin for touching me, five hundred points from Slytherin for killing Fritz, and one thousand points from Slytherin for being a slimy, power-obsessed git!"
He arched a black eye brow. "Are you quite done?"
"Five points from Slytherin for disrespecting a teacher."
"Oh, ouch. However will I live with myself now?" The sarcasm was nearly tangible. He continued in a mock excited voice, "I know! I'll simply tell all my brainless followers that you're a moron and they'll believe me and continue to worship the ground I walk on."
They had arrived at the entrance to the Astronomy deck. The crisp Scottish air assaulted Riddle as he walked over to one of the benches and carelessly dropped her.
Jessie held back the whimper of pain in the back of her throat as her fast healing spinal nerves protested the sudden attack.
Riddle stepped back from her, a sadistic smirk of enjoyment plastered on his lips. "Now tell me Professor Pandora, why did you convert Clarona into your spy? How did you know of the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk? How did you know of my intentions, which I did not even reveal to the Knights or that simpering fool Clarona?"
He took a step closer to her and bent down to look her in the eyes. Shades of green fighting each other in a battle for dominance. Finally he said, in a quieter, almost human voice, "And how did you learn of the orphanage and my personal hell there?"
Mentally kicking herself for revealing her knowledge of his childhood Jessie kept her eyes glued to his in a fierce glare as she quipped, "I'm psychic."
Riddle's calm continence disappeared as he straightened up and gestured to the still dark horizon. "It appears you have chosen your end. Farewell Professor."
He leveled his wand at her face.
But after several seconds, nothing happened.
Jessie chanced a glance at him in confusion as she waited for the spell to end her unlife. She was shocked to see the flicker of an inner struggle taking place behind his eyes. WHAT is going on?
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Perhaps I could keep her in the chamber? She couldn't get out of there.
Yea..and maybe while you're at it, you could adopt a fanciful unicorn to keep her company. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM! Simply incinerate the creature and vacate the tower before the old dingbat Dumbledork gets here!
But she isn't scared of me! She doesn't like me! In fact, it's rather safe to say she hates me! That's so refreshing! I could just keep her alive a few more days down in the chamber. That would be plenty of time to administer some Veritaserum and see what she knows. Someone spreading my secret would be devastating!
Just like you falling for some filthy creature. Now THAT is disgusting. She's not even a witch. She's not even a HALFBLOOD! No! She's a creature. An ANIMAL! QUIT MAKING EXCUSES AND KILL HER NOW!
The evilier side of his thinking finally winning the battle, as it usually did, Tom shook his head wiping away all useless emotion and commanded, "INCENI-
BOOM! Tom abruptly spun around to see Dumbledore, auburn hair flying everywhere and wand ablaze, burst through the heavy oaken door leading to the Astronomy tower.
Thinking quickly, Riddle put Jessie's wand to his chest and silently cast Expeliarmus, effectively throwing himself through the air to crash into the railing of the tower. He grinned in agony as he knew several of his ribs to be broken. Ignoring the pain, Riddle looked around to see the bench he had deposited the Vampire and chunked her wand, as fast as his aching body would allow him.
The wand made it to the bench just as Dumbledore came upon the scene.
"It seems we have missed quite the party," Dumbledore said to the cream colored cat who appeared from behind him and dashed toward the wounded Vampire.
Upon reaching her master, Trixz purred and began to lick the blood away from the compound fracture on Jessie's shin.
Jessie sighed, and letting her head fall back in exhaustion told her feline friend, "One of these days, you're going to regret taking your time."
Choking back a sob, Jessie allowed a single, blood-red tear to roll down her ivory cheek as she thought of a clear, Egyptian night decades ago, when all she had to regret was not meeting Fritz Romani sooner.