"Rumour had it someone had disappeared, went climbing and never returned," I tell Edwin, my eyes never leaving his face. It's the first time I ever voice it. "I thought the man must be dead – just like my mother. I wanted to find him and see what death does to the living. And unlike the two pests who were determined to accompany me, I intuitively knew how to use magic to get us to an unreachable cave entrance –"

He glares at me in raw surprise. "You were able to apparate, never once being taught?"

"I didn't know what it was called, but it worked. Otherwise, we would have been swallowed up by the ocean, or torn apart by the cliffs."

"And in the cave? Did you intuitively know how to drive people out of their minds with a Cruciatus as well?"

"I knew that long before the cave," I scare him, "there was that cook, a staff member of the orphanage, for example, who'd raise his hand against me but once …"

Edwin is struggling, it's obvious. He can't decide whether to sympathise or demonise me – but I'm used to that.

"I didn't do a thing to either of them in the cave, though. But there was the dead body I'd been looking for. That man didn't know how to apparate, and obviously had little luck climbing. His body was … slightly … disfigured, due to the rough impact of the cliffs. Have you ever seen a cracked skull? Or ribs sticking out of a broken ribcage?"

"Now and then," Edwin admits, "but the sight doesn't get more bearable with time … So they were traumatised by that?"

"That," I say, nodding, "and possibly also from the fact that I intuitively made use of necromancy …"

"You have –" He pauses to look up at the dark night sky in utter disbelief. "That's incredible! An Inferius? You reanimated the dead body of a corpse as a child?"

"It just happened," I admit, "I only know I looked at him and wondered how scared they'd be if he suddenly got up and came towards us, and before I knew it, that's exactly what happened." I shrug my shoulders. "Don't look at me like that, Edwin, I was a kid myself."

"But one taken by a lot of dark magic. You wanted to scare them, and you catalysed your powers to do so at such a young age," he ponders. "Torment might be a more appropriate term. That's …"

"Evil? Yes. Never was, and still am, no saint, I still torment people, I can be manipulative and very cruel and I obviously tend to be secretive. Guilty as charged. But nobody ever wants to believe it …"

"Nobody would've believed those two children either. No wonder they never talked about it – they'd probably been labelled insane."

"I wasn't entirely sure about my sanity either, it seemed clear to me that one day someone from an asylum would come to pick me up …"

Edwin sighs out his last breath and finally nods. "My goodness, Tom … You never had a chance of normality. Basically, it's a miracle you didn't become an Obscurial without a magical caregiver. It must have been highly confusing to grow up with such unusual abilities far away from our world."

"You could call it confusing, among other things."

"You were always on your guard, weren't you? Not to be discovered, not to be declared crazy … You've never been able to trust anyone."

"But Harper," I reply before I can even consciously stop myself.

Edwin smiles. "But Harper, yes … She also dimmed a bit of the joy you get out of being malicious. That's the thing about not going through life alone. You become more balanced."

"Nicely put, yet again. But do you have any further questions about my happy childhood?" I ask. "Now that we're at it …"

"No, no more questions about the past, I've heard enough. Time to talk about the present. Why are you here, Tom? Is this revolution a welcome distraction for you? Why are you putting everyone in danger? Queenie, Vivian, me – Harper and yourself?"

A bloody good question, albeit one that really hurts.
Because the answer simply boils down to pure selfishness.

"You come here looking like a young Dumbledore, conversing about the Deathly Hallows in front of one of the most dangerous men of our time – are you that tired of living? He's holding the Elder Wand! Whoever holds a Deathly Hallow has an inevitable advantage over everyone else –"

I pull out Marvolo's ring in exasperation, to put it right under Edwin's nose as I make the engraving visible with my illuminated wand.

His jaw drops.

"Where and how the blazes did you –"

"Doesn't matter," I say, "only important is –"

"You want the Elder Wand!"

"No," I correct immediately, "I don't. At least not now. If the whole world wants a duel between him and Dumbledore – who am I to interfere?"

"I don't think you quite grasp the situation," Edwin grumbles, "Albus cannot fight him, his hands have been tied for 17 years, even though he already holds the key. He's made –"

"A blood pact and has the pendant. I know. But Nagini and I may have found a way to destroy it. And when the time comes – I'm only too happy to let Hogwarts' favourite wise professor take the lead in getting rid of that reformist. I haven't noticed any peculiarities in his dueling behaviour yet because he hardly ever comes out of his tent, but –"

"He always loops backwards with his wand whenever he lunges to attack, and for defense shields he takes a barely noticeable step forward with his right leg. It goes against all intuition and is therefore typical of his character. Right into it for defense, retreating from an attack. But if your plan to destroy the phial is half as bad as strutting around in front of Grindelwald with a blonde youth's face and watching him for a bit, we're all doomed! Not one soul has broken a blood pact in the last millennium, Tom. What makes you think you could?"

"The fact that no one has been able to control a basilisk in a millennium either."

I let that sink in until he tilts his head. "You are a descendant of Slytherin."

"The last one alive." I take a deep breath and say, "Slytherin's catacombs are indeed reigned by the mother of monsters, and her poison –"

"Can destroy a Horcrux and therefore certainly also a blood pact," he adds, flabbergasted. "Oh boy …" He looks up and, for the first time since we've been talking, I recognise a hint of euphoria and triumph on his face. "If that isn't fate …"

"Thought so, too."

"But that's not why you're here," he urges. "It's just an incredibly practical side effect, isn't it?"

"I will split my soul," I admit, "and I can't believe who I've had to tell exactly that to get here in the first place."

"Well, Tom – the best revolution won't work if you're all alone."

"Might be true," I reply, "but I'm not looking for a revolution."

"No, obviously not, you much rather seek to devote yourself to dark, evil magic."

"Edwin, I have nothing left to lose. What good would it do me to think in terms of good and evil if, as you say yourself, only the latter could apply to me?"

"I never said that," he protests. "I don't believe in dichotomy. Good and evil have intersections. I was only talking about evil magic …" He lets out a muffled groan. "However, there is indeed a lot of darkness surrounding you currently. Please don't forget that we all need light. And that you've already found yours!"

"That's what you recommend?" I hiss. "That I overshadow Haper's life just to force a bit of sunrise for myself? I'm not that selfish … Just selfish enough to never want to feel anything again if I'm incapable of good anyway."

"Heavens, what are you talking about?" he asks, genuinely confused.

"Amortentia. My conception was the result of abuse."

He pauses, stunned, sincere concern marking his features. "Tom, that … that's terrible."

"Obviously …"

He breathes out in dismay. "Children of such a union are supposed to be incapable of love."

"Exactly the crux of the matter!" I praise him cynically. "And to cite Goethe, And here, poor fool! With all my lore. I stand, no wiser than before!"

"But the textbooks must be wrong," he thinks aloud. "It can't be any other way –"

"Edwin – trust me, I'm so tired of discussing that, on top of everything around here …"

He hesitantly nods, crossing his arms. "All right … Well, then – to further stick with Goethe – here comes a Gretchenfrage. How are you going to get out of here alive without putting anyone else in danger?"

"Not at all." He holds his breath until I explain, "Nagini bites me – I'm immune to her poison –"

"Is that a Slytherin side effect?" He raises an eyebrow, signaling me to continue. "Never mind …"

"Queenie and Vivian could excuse themselves to bury me. And that's as good as the plan gets …"

"Might work." He nods, but not for long. "Still, there's a gaping hole."

My look challenges him.

"You're assuming he has a Horcrux of his own."

I nod, already suspecting disaster.

"Well, he doesn't. He wants to become immortal with the Hallows …"

"Bloody hell," I groan, massaging my temples. "But surely he'll know how –"

"Maybe, yes. But what are you going to do? Ask him at breakfast?"

"Do you seriously think I look like my own professor by choice? I'm relying on remnants of old memories …"

Edwin can't help but frown. "You're really up to every trick in the book, Tom, but –"

"Edwin, I've killed and I want to shred my soul to pieces – I'm better up to every trick!"

"Who did you kill?" he asks, looking almost sad doing so.

"We found my uncle," I reply, weary as ever. "He was completely insane thanks to all the inbreeding for blood purity's sake. He sent snakes after Harper, I killed him. Quid pro quo."

Rather composed, he asks, "Did he seriously hurt her?"

"He tried."

Edwin nods, gulping. "All right, then. I sympathise with the rabbit, but I can't feel any grief for someone who attacks young girls."

Apparently the murder of Morfin never shocks anyone …

"Back to the topic at hand –"

"Well," he murmurs, "let me warn you – don't underestimate the Dark Lord. He's highly intelligent and not the most notorious occultist of our time for nothing. He's been one step ahead of any opposition for years. And do you really want to go to extremes? Do you really want the darkest magic –"

"I do."

"Heavens, Tom …" He buries his face in his hands and then looks at me almost taken aback. "I really thought you could make the right decisions."

"Me, too," I say. "Before I realised that it doesn't matter what I do. So the only question that remains now is whether you can help me or not."

"You want to talk to him alone."

I nod.

Edwin lets his gaze wander into the distance for a moment, then he finally groans and says, "I'll get him there."

"As soon as possible, if you please – I'm starting to run out of Polyjuice Potion."

"Don't you have to go back to school also?"

"Edwin, I beg of you – as though that was important now!"

He squares his shoulders. "Well, you could die – and that would break her heart. Unless, of course, you've already done that yourself …"

"Let's just go."

"You first, I'll follow in a couple of minutes," he sighs, "we mustn't cause a stir or we won't live to see the morning …"