Who Is the Rightful Heir?

Chapter 10

Magic

Salazar's POV

I had finally aced the quiz a Death Eater had given me. Now I was walking down the hall in my training clothes, getting ready to face what my father had in store for me this lesson. I still blamed myself for the mistake I had made…a twitch…a stupid twitch. I had let out the right amount of pain and no one had coached me, but I twitched.

Cautiously, I opened the double doors. Out of habit, I winced when I saw my father, his wand held in his hand, but I never felt the pain of a Cruciatus or any other curse. I relaxed a bit and slowly walked into the room towards him. He had no expression on his face so I didn't know what he was feeling.

"Salazar." Father spoke coolly. It was all he said and he wouldn't make eye contact with me. His head wouldn't even turn my way.

"Father." I bowed to him, wishing he would look my way.

"I see you've changed into your training clothes." He spoke again. "I wouldn't have expected you to."

"Why not, sir?" I asked.

"You seemed to have acquired a liking for those…other clothes. Since you've accomplished releasing your pain, I wouldn't have even thought you to come back to training."

"I thought I hadn't accomplished it."

Father turned and looked at me, his hazel eyes staring straight into my red/hazel ones. Gracefully, he walked closer and pressed his wand to my chest. "You know that isn't true." He told me. His wand traced a path to the side of my head. "You just believe what you want to hear."

"Why would I want to hear that I hadn't accomplished it?" I said confidently even though inside I was terrified of what he would do with the wand still pointed to my head like a muggle gun.

"You are afraid. You don't want to be left alone. You don't want to be abandoned. Your mind is filled with thoughts of what could happen if you don't make me happy."

"That's not true." I denied.

Father scoffed. "Then why have you almost stopped using magic all together? Why do you study nonstop? Why don't you sleep or eat?"

"I do sleep. I do eat. I do use magic. And I don't study nonstop. Who told you this nonsense?" My voice turned cold, almost evil like.

"Names are not important, Salazar. I want to know the truth. Give me your wand."

I stood there not knowing what to do. What could I do?

"Well? What's taking you so long?" Father raised an eyebrow.

"My wand is in my room…"

Voldemort's POV

I looked at my son like he was crazy. Surely he would know better. A wizard never went anywhere, even the bathroom, without his wand. A wandless wizard was like a trapped animal…helpless. Here, my own son was a helpless animal.

"Where is it?"

"I put it in a black box and hid it in my jean drawer."

I didn't bother to talk anymore to my son. Instead I dragged him with me back to his room. Lately I hadn't bothered to check in on him in his room. I had been busy with other work and didn't think I needed to check with him since I saw him already once a day.

"Get it for me."

Salazar walked to his dresser, his head down, and opened the bottom drawer. He rummaged around for a bit before he took out a black box and came back to hand it to me.

"Here, sir." He said, his head still looking at the floor.

I took the black box and opened it. Just lying there was my son's wand, untouched. You could tell that it had been polished. I wondered if Salazar had taken it out occasionally just to look at it…maybe he missed it, but thought it was best if he didn't use it.

"Use it." I ordered him as I handed him the thing that used to be his prized possession.

Salazar took it with a shaky hand. His eyes looked over it slowly and had a look of pain and worry come over them. I wanted to search his mind and check what thoughts were lingering in his head at the moment, but I didn't. A father would never do that to their son.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked softly.

"Make the box float." I held out my hand that was still holding the back box.

He pointed the wand at the box. I could see the wand quivering a bit in his grasp. What was it that made him be like this? Was he scared…worried?

Gradually the box rose a few inches. Salazar hadn't spoken a word, but his eyes didn't look pleased. He almost looked like he had failed…like he was defeated. Before the box could rise any more, the wand slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. The room was perfectly silent until the piece of wood hit the ground. The sound it made would seem like it hit hard enough to break, like Salazar had thrown it to the ground, but looking down, the stick was still in one piece, perfectly intact.

"No…" The word escaped from Salazar's lips. His hand quickly covered his mouth once he said it and his feet moved him backward.

"Salazar, what's wrong?" I asked him, trying to reach out like a normal parent would, but I let my hand fall to my side. I wasn't a normal parent.

"I can't use magic…"

"But…what you just did was magic…"

"I know I can do it…I just can't use it…I'll lose control…You'll be disappointed in me again…" Salazar fell back into a chair and started to cry.

Salazar's POV

What was wrong with me? How could I just let myself break so easily?

Yes, I didn't want to use magic. The thought was tempting, but I knew I couldn't. Father would become disappointed in me easily. It was best that I learn it perfectly before I ever try it. Failing my father wasn't something I had in mind.

When I wiped away my tears and looked up, my father was still there…looking at me with an indescribable look. I couldn't tell if it was bad or good or something else.

"Salazar." Father said before he hugged me tightly. "You can use it my son. Why do you think you are training? I can help you keep it under control. You won't have to worry about it."

"What about Meredith?" I asked. She was still in the concrete room. Father never spoke about her, but I knew they talked every once in a while.

"You and I will be talking with her soon. She hasn't been very…cooperative lately."

"A double strong truth potion?" I asked.

A smile came across my father's face. "I'll give you the honors to give it to her yourself."

A/N: There you have it…the tenth chapter…it's not my greatest I can tell you that as a positive fact, but the next chapter should get interesting…I'm pretty sure

Kamorie: April usually isn't that cold, but this year it's crazy…I never even knew April could be this cold…okay…yeah I did…haha…Meredith is still alive because…personally I don't know either…I just know the stuff I wanted to actually get out about her makes her have to stay alive…and it seemed to early to kill her off when it seemed like I should have…so yeah…sorry about that...I'm not trying to make Voldemort so indifferent, but I guess he sort of really seems that way doesn't he…I think I'm losing my small amount of touch I have…haha…

XcrimsonroseX: I don't care if you don't write much in your reviews…you like my story…that's all that counts!

power214063: He's going to make her tell the truth…as you probably already found out in this chapter…but I don't really think he got two different stories…Matthew's and Meredith's are pretty much the same…

&...& If there really were such things as truth potions we'd have a lot of chaos in the world &...&