Sound of flickering flames could be heard because there was not any other disturbing presence to it which was producing its own sound. And if there was any then it was dominated by fire's own. The sound had an identity of its own ...a voice of its own because it was coming from the same element. Fire.
And if you listened closely, it had a tale to tell. A story of its own. A story of how it came to be here of all places. And for one to know such a tale one just had to only open one's eyes.
The scenario was that of the Great Hall of the Ancient House of Nott. There were only two beings breathing. A woman and a man.
One who was at its knees while the other stood, with its back to the other, just a few steps away. They were at the center of the big hall. All around them, things were on fire.
Let it be the banners of the house, the ruined tables, the broken chairs, the curtains and... the bodies of men around. Yes, it felt like a calamity had laid waste to the house. There was not a single thing which had escaped its clutches. Except the two of them.
The man, with wand in hand, turned around and assessed his surroundings while the woman, on her knees, had a blank expression on her face with tear streaks running down her cheeks.
The man removed the hood from his head and moved towards the woman.One half of his face was covered in scars. But his green emerald eyes stood out as they always had.
When he was close in proximity to her, he sat on his toes and put his lips close to her ear. His wand hand sat lazily on his knee. As did the other. Like he had no fear of being close to her.
He began speaking in a very low raspy voice. It was more of a breath than voice.
" You once professed to me that what use I was to you if I couldn't even speak for myself knowing fully well I was left bereft of such ability by my own kin.I was mute not dumb. Silent but blind". His voice remained neutral but his face resembled a cut stone." Today I made them sing to my tone while fire danced on it." He pointed at corpses around them.
Heiress of the House Greengrass took deep breaths. Her face remained a stone while her eyes were astonished for she heard him for the first time in her life.
" I was condemned as you were. Helpless as you were. I didn't blame you for that accursed contract that put us together. I was well aware that I was not the equal you deserved. You were not supposed to be with a deformity. But I was not a cruel husband either. I didn't let my distortion become a limitation of yours. Hell, I held you through everything. Your pain was my pain. Your sister was my sister too. Your family became my family". While his face remained blank his eyes contained the pain and suffering. Tears began to stream down but there was no expression on his face.
" You told me that we only had each other in our circumstance. You promised me your presence. On my part I vowed to always honor you. I gave away my whole being to make us work. I trusted you with my heart. I loved you because it was so easy to do so knowing fully well that you will never love me."This time his eyes spoke volumes of the pain he had been carrying for so long.
"I found the cure for Astoria's pain. Thought that maybe it will make you happy because if I couldn't then let it be by something else which I did. I didn't expect anything from you. I just wanted to see you happy. I prayed for your happiness... for your well being. Only to have this on my face."He pulled his head back and showed the left side of his face to her. "What did I ever do to you to deserve such hate... Such contempt? What did I do to deserve such betrayal? Why put a facade when all you wanted was me to be gone from your life? You could have just asked for it. I would have left. You just had to ask. And all that pain and hurt for what? For them? These deserters? These cowards who kill helpless children and women alike? Who hide behind their masks to remain the cowards they are?!"He asked in the same raspy voice which was hard to decipher but there was no other noise except the sound of burning wood.
" I have beaten them in their own element. I have taken the payment House Potter was owed 20 years ago when the fathers of your friends laid waste to my home and fore fathers of my House. And I've done so by cleansing the whole lines of their Houses from the esteemed Sacred 28. Yes. Not so innocent and docile now, am I? You love monsters, don't you? See, I have butchered the monsters they deemed themselves to be. So, does that make me a monster, Daphy, eh? Have I become the wizard you seek"? Now he had wrapped one arm around her. His other hand one her face. His thumb gracing the tear streaks of her. His face, so close to her. His questions mocking her.
New tears began to stream down her face. Her chin quivered."If you wish... to hurt me, you have every right to do so. I have treated you horribly since the beginning. I have misled you. I deceived you. If killing me makes it even then so be it. Know that I have lived in torment since the day ... you died... No!.. Since the day I ordered your death. I was delusional. I thought that getting you out of the picture would make it easy. But it wasn't so. It made me vulnerable. It made me alone. It made me naked to those who wished to have my...our family robbed. You were my only constant who remained the same no matter the circumstances. You were the wall who bore every strike without hesitance. And I thought you were an obstacle. You don't know how happy it makes me to have you here. They were not my friends. They were vultures who would pick on my flesh when the opportunity had risen. They had me do things after you. And I knew I had no choice. I had done an unforgivable sin. And I was paying for it. I still am. I have ruined something beautiful. Something that was yet to come". She took his face in her hands.
She too graced his cheek but the scars on it." I am sorry for what I have made you. For what I did to you. You are Beautiful. You are not a deformity. You are complete. It is we who are a deformity. A disgrace to the name of our ancestors. You are precious. You were a gift given to me which I didn't deserve. I took you for granted. Compared you to those around me who were as flawed as I. I just came to my senses a little too late. By that time you weren't by my side which was a consequence of the deed of my own. And I knew what my ego had cost me. What my stubbornness had borne".She gave a bitter smile.
" Astoria doesn't speak to me anymore. She came to the knowledge of your assassination not much later and who was behind it. I have never seen a more disgusted expression on her face. I hurt her too. She loves you as though you were her own blood."She nodded to herself. Her gaze faraway.
Then she shook her head. "There is no going back for me now. I have made peace with my choices. I am not as invincible as I thought myself to be. You can do what you came for. I am tired of all this treachery and deceit. Please! Tell her that I love her." She closed her eyes and put her head on his chest.
Then she hesitantly looked up and opened her mouth then closed it. Her eyes not matching his. It looked like she was second guessing what to say.
"And I... Love you. I know it's...too late. And you don't have to believe me. You won't. It's ridiculous, I know. And it's easy to love you too. You gave me everything a pureblood will restrict his wife from having. The fault lies in me and my delusion of power. I don't know what made you love me for I did no such thing to earn it. But I yearned for yours. Your absence made me long for you". She looked into his eyes one last time.
Her voice hoarse," Be done with it, Harry. I can't live with myself. Take your vengeance".Her breaths, laboured. Her face, full of emotions for the first time since he first saw her.
" I am not going to kill you, Daphne. I am not you. It will leave me hollow. And you will be free from the choices you made. These people are of no consequence to me. Their deaths mean nothing to me. But yours will.So, you will live. Live with the choices you made. It will be all up to you how you go from here and how you make the best of the chance now that you have it.This will be your sentence. Taking the easy path is convenient. But you will find the answers you seek only if you follow the right path".He said in the same voice. He released her and took some steps back. As he turned around...
She asked, " How am I going to make the best of it"? Her face, gobsmacked. Her arms moving forward to find his.
" Atone",He said in a monotonous raspy voice.
"And Where will you be?'' she asked urgently.
" At home", he said simply.