The Fire You Touch

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Chapter 34: The Evil Within

Aeryn's skirts slapped wetly about her ankles as she raced down the marble hallways, her eyes hardened into slits, and her hand clenched on the gleaming sword. Her mind whirled out before her, searching the serpentine passageways for a trace of either Lockhart or Harry.

She burst into the great chamber of the main hall, looking wildly about her. He was there...Harry was there, she could feel his fear wafting through the ether. And Lockhart--his triumph, and his sheer, mocking joy--he was moving, somewhere--heading for the--

--Underground harbor, Aeryn thought, sprinting across the corridor towards the oaken gates. He's got to get off Hogwarts property--can't Disapparate here--must be getting a boat, he can sail off the property, then he can--

"Naughty, naughty girl!" crowed a jeering voice, and Aeryn skidded to a halt seconds before a clanking suit of armor screeched into her path.

Peeves the Poltergeist popped out from the knight's helmet and leered at her. "Out of your House, deliberately disobeying--" His voice suddenly faltered, and he looked at her a bit more sharply, as if seeing her for the first time. "Wait a second--aren't you supposed to be in the--"

"Out of my way, Peeves," Aeryn growled, trying to slip around him.

The suit of armor followed her movements with a caustic squeal. "No you don't, missy!" Peeves snapped, the beginnings of confusion gathering on his ghostly features. "I don't know what you're doing out here--when everyone's been saying you're--" As Aeryn again attempted to throw herself past him, he scooched the armor in front of her, blocking her way. "And that sword--" Pure puzzlement had snuck into his snide voice. "What are you doing with--"

An almost-overwhelming burst of fear ripped through the ether, and Aeryn saw red.

"OUT--OF--MY--WAY!" she screamed, flinging out a hand. The suit of armor took flight, slamming up against the stone wall of the hallway with a loud crash. Peeves winced as the metal slid through him, and whirled menacingly towards Aeryn, his eyes flashing.

Before he could do anything, she flung herself down the hallway towards the main doors. She yanked them open and burst onto the front lawn, only vaguely hearing the angry howl of Peeves behind her.

A brilliant bolt of lighting illuminated the sky, followed by a resounding roar of thunder, and Aeryn flinched as the torrential rain suddenly buffeted her skin. She clenched the sword in her hands and looked around her wildly, feeling out with her mind for either Lockhart or Harry. It took her only instants to find their presences--further away, to the left--on the lake--

Aeryn spun on her heel and sprinted across the lawn, stumbling only slightly as her feet slipped on the wet grass. She hurried into the passageway, her breath becoming stilted as she threw her mind out before her. She had to get there in time--had to--if Lockhart was able to get off the school property--she wouldn't be able to follow him--and then Harry--

The rain burst into her face as she stumbled out onto the rocky shore. They were there. She looked frantically around her and saw a loose tether--she was too late, Lockhart had already gotten a boat, he was already out on the lake--she ran along the shore, peering out onto the lake--straining to see through the sheeting rain--

Lightning crackled, illuminating the lake--barely visible through the downpour, the brightly colored figure of Gilderoy Lockhart paddled a small boat through the rough waters, almost halfway across the lake--she could see Harry's rigid body propped up in the stern of the small vessel--

"No," she snarled, throwing up a hand. Her telekinetic power whirled out before her and latched around the vessel. She gritted her teeth, pulling at the boat, throwing back her head as she struggled to keep her grasp, as she felt the sudden burst of surprise and fury explode from Lockhart, but still she held on, until the movements of the boat became sluggish, weak--and then, finally, halted.

"LOCKHART!" Aeryn screamed, and the roar of thunder echoed her words. She could feel the struggle of the craft in her grasp as it writhed, trying to work itself free--the frantic working of Lockhart's mind as he looked wildly around him--and Harry--

Without wasting a second, Aeryn levitated herself from the ground, gliding swiftly across the roiling waters until she was level with the boat. As lightning cleaved the sky, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor looked up from his oars and saw her. For a moment, he stared openly at her, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, and then a horrible spasm of anger darkened his features.

"Miss Blake." His hissed, furious words could barely be heard over the storm. The wind and the rain had plastered his blond coif to his head in a mass of knots, giving his face an eerily skullish look. The oar dropped from his hand with a clatter, and he slowly rose to his feet, rocking only slightly from the waves tossing the craft. His periwinkle-blue eyes smoldered as he leveled his stolen wand at her. "You just don't give up, do you?"

Aeryn wrapped her hands around the gleaming broadsword and readied it to swing. "Let Harry go," she whispered.

Lockhart shook his head curtly. "I don't think so, my dear." The edge of his lip twitched. "He's rather my investment towards the future."

"Your fight's not with him." Her eyes locked with his. "It's with me."

A slow, twisted, horrible smile spread across the professor's features. "Very true." His eyes blazed, and he made a slight movement with his wand. Aeryn reared back to strike, but halted as a gray haze shot out from the tip of the wand and sheeted across the swirling waters of the lake. As the mist touched it, the waves stilled and smoothed until they were flat as plate glass. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor carefully stepped out of the boat onto the lake, the water beneath his feet as firm as if it had been land. "You and that meddling bastard Snape. Fortunately, he's been taken care of." His smile deepened. "That leaves only you."

He raised his wand again, but instead of pointing it at her, the dark wood turned to Harry, frozen motionless in the boat. Lockhart giggled at Aeryn's sudden flinch. "Be careful, my dear," he said merrily. "You wouldn't want to startle me and accidentally cause something to happen to your darling Mr. Potter."

Heart pounding in her throat, Aeryn carefully lowered herself until her shoes were brushing the water. "You've been very subtle with this whole affair, Lockhart," she exclaimed, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the howling wind. "Secretly preparing the Berserker's Mead...carrying on your little relationship with Tom Riddle..." The water felt stable enough, so she gingerly settled her feet upon it. Smooth as ice, it did not give beneath her weight.

She straightened and fixed him with a blazing glare that matched Snape's best. "That's so very unlike you," she sneered. "You're so flamboyant in everything else."

Lockhart s gave a deep, mocking bow without taking his eyes from her. "It's far easier to assassinate with poison than with a battleaxe."

"Clever," she snarled. "Did you think of that yourself, or is it another one of your plagiarisms?"

"That's my biggest pet peeve about you, Aeryn," he snarled back, straightening and staring blisteringly down at her. "You've never taken me seriously, not even after all that's happened." His nostrils flared. "I didn't think that was much to ask for, but apparently that was more than you could afford to give me."

"Was that why you did this?" she snapped, feeling her pulse increase slightly. The rain was sleeting into her face, making it terribly difficult to see, but she refused to squint, refused to show any sign of weakness. "Because you wanted to be taken seriously?"

"Why don't you tell me, songbird?" His features were demonic in the flickers of lightning. "You seem to be so good at figuring things like this out."

Aeryn regarded the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor warily. Had it been any other time, she would have leapt for his throat, but the wand pointed towards Harry reined her back. She paused, thinking quickly. The longer she kept him talking, the more time she had to formulate a plan of action. If he suddenly attempted to attack her--which he would, she was certain--she could probably hold him at bay with her mutant powers long enough to retaliate, before he could do anything to Harry.

Probably.

Very, very carefully, with eyes that never left Lockhart's face, Aeryn knelt and placed the gleaming broadsword on the solid water. "Put my wand down," she said in a low, calm voice. "Do that, and I'll tell you."

Lockhart regarded her with steely eyes. He's not going to do it, Aeryn thought, and her stomach plummeted sickeningly to her toes. But then he shrugged tersely. "Fine idea. Let us discuss this matter like the civilized people we are." He slipped the wand into his sleeve, and Aeryn silently breathed a sigh of relief. But she did not allow it to show as she stood, lifting her chin stubbornly.

"The first day I met you, down in the Potions dungeon." The words came automatically. She saw clearly in her mind's eye the events as if they were playing out that moment. "Snape said he knew how you'd become famous, that you'd used Memory Charms..." She swallowed, remembering Snape's hiss into the other professor's ear as he slammed him against the desk. "You were afraid he'd blab your secrets and then you'd never sell another book. So you started poisoning him, hoping he'd destroy himself."

She drew a breath to continue, but was cut short as a snort erupted from Lockhart. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor put his hands to his mouth, his periwinkle-blue eyes wrinkling in amusement as he began to laugh, first quietly, and then louder and louder until he was nearly doubling over with the effort.

"You thought that was the reason?" he gasped between giggles. "Oh, God, Aeryn..." His voice trailed off in pealing laughter, and it was a moment before he could continue speaking. "It's a good thing you were fucking Severus. You'd never have gotten that A otherwise."

Aeryn stared at him. "That wasn't it?"

"Of course not!" Lockhart snapped, wiping his streaming eyes on his sleeve. He sniffed and tossed his head, the effect slightly dampened by the rain plastering his blond curls to his face. "Granted, if the heroic Harry Potter blabbed my secret, I'd probably be out of a job...after all, if he says it's true, then it has to be true..." He sniggered. "But as for Severus spilling my secrets--oh, no, that was never a concern. Who's going to believe a former Death Eater over a laudable award-winning author?" A pensive look crossed his features, a look that did nothing to warm the awful ice in his eyes. "Besides, when you're a famous author like me, there are always quacks running around, saying that I stole their ideas or some such nonsense...the general public actually expects that to happen..."

Aeryn drew a deep breath, feeling herself teetering on the edge of rage and hysteria. Keep him talking. "Then pray," she growled. "Enlighten me."

"You were right about one thing," Lockhart said, a hard edge creeping into his voice. "Severus never took me seriously. And he still doesn't. The second that people stop taking you seriously...ah, that is the Dementor's Kiss for a writer." He lifted his chin and glared haughtily at her. "Once it begins, your days in the spotlight are numbered. So I knew I had to do something before it spread any further."

Aeryn's teeth were clenched so tightly that the muscles in her jaw hurt. The rain whirled around her, stinging her skin like a cloud of bees. She had to do something. But she remained still. The memory of Snape falling at her feet with blood oozing from his nose echoed horribly in her mind

"The only problem was I didn't know what to do," said Lockhart. A cruel, satisfied glint entered his eyes. "Fortunately for me, at that moment, the little black diary of Tom Riddle appeared in my life."

Aeryn's hands clenched into fists at her side. "Because Draco Malfoy gave it to you." She spat the words from her mouth as if they burned her tongue. "In Flourish and Blotts, the week before school started."

Lockhart stared at her for a moment, for the first time looking puzzled. Then, sudden realization lit his face and he chuckled. "Ah, yes. Young Mr. Malfoy." He flashed her a toothy grin. "I forgot that I told you about that. What precisely did I tell you had happened?"

Aeryn swallowed. "You said that he presented you the diary with a big long speech, and welcomed you to the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for Hogwarts." She gazed levelly at him, trying to keep her voice even. "And that the diary had been handed down through his family, to be used only for someone whose memories were worth retelling."

Lockhart cocked his head thoughtfully to the side. "Did I really say that?" he asked musingly. "Not bad...there's a few good turns of phrase in there." A flash of lightning ripped through the sky overhead as he shook a mocking finger at Aeryn. "But that really wasn't the way events fell into place at all. You should always remember first and foremost, my dear, that I am a writer." His teeth glinted wolfishly in the lightning. "We tend to embellish the truth."

Aeryn started. "What do you mean--"

Lockhart cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. "A Malfoy did present me with that diary, but not in Flourish and Blotts, and definitely not in the manner you just described." He sniffed and ran his fingers through his soaked hair, pulling the strands away from his face so he could glare clearly at her. "I was in Knockturn Alley that afternoon before the book signing--I was so extremely perturbed at Severus that I thought perhaps I could find something to make him pay for my discomfort--when I happened to see young Draco and his father emerging from a store called Borgin and Burkes. They were arguing, so I immediately listened in to their conversation."

Aeryn's lip curled. It didn't surprise her in the slightest that Draco Malfoy and his father had been skulking around the seedy section of the wizard's London--nor did it surprise her that Lockhart would have gone there. "Knockturn Alley?" Her eyes flitted quickly to the frozen Harry in the boat, and then immediately back to the professor. Keep him talking. "That was awfully sneaky of you to be there. If someone had seen you--"

"--I would have told them I was doing research," Lockhart interrupted smoothly. "It's quite lovely being a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor--you can practically get away with murder if you tell them it's all in the sake of research."

If he noticed the flash of rage that swiftly darkened Aeryn's features, he pointedly ignored it and continued with his tale.

"Young Draco was muttering something about Harry Potter, how wonderful everyone thought he was. 'Famous for having a stupid scar on his forehead,' he said. Malfoy Senior merely glared at his son and said--this I remember distinctly--'I would remind you that it is not prudent to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when most of our kind regard him as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear.'

"There was something in the way he said 'Dark Lord' that made me stop and look at him a second time. There was something in his eyes...a sort of knowing hesitation, as if he didn't wish to speak too much, in case someone was listening."

Aeryn forced herself to remain still as she carefully regarded the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Although he was gesticulating in the air with his hands, she knew that he would be able to draw his wand with lightning speed the instant she made a move towards either him or Harry. Very, very cautiously, trying not to alert him, she gingerly felt out before her with her mind towards Lockhart, keeping her face impassive as he continued speaking.

"My interest was piqued immediately, and just at that instant Malfoy Senior looked up and saw me standing across the street, watching them. I knew I had startled him, for he told his son rather sharply to go into a nearby store and wait for him there. Seizing the opportunity, I crossed the street to speak with him--unfortunately, just like that putrid son of his, he has no charm whatsoever."

She could feel the waves of triumph and condescension roiling from him, and she forced herself to quest further towards him--further into his mind--

"'I don't know who you are,' Malfoy Senior said to me, snarling, 'but if you're wise, you'll forget what you just saw.'"

--and she nearly flinched as she met a blank, solid wall.

"Of course, I had no intention of doing so, especially when I might have stumbled upon someone with the same opinion of the famous Mr. Potter as me. So I took a chance. I flashed my best grin at the other man and said in my most pleasant voice: 'Come now, kind sir, is that the way you always treat your fellow brothers of the Dark, or am I just an exception?'"

Aeryn struggled to keep her face impassive as she spread her mind around his, frantically searching for a handhold. She couldn't comprehend it--his mind was somehow blocked from her, she couldn't reach him--how on earth could that be--she knew, she was certain he wasn't a mutant--

"It was a wild stab in the dark, I knew that, but I was willing to risk the gamble. And fortunately for me, I had guessed correctly." Lockhart seemed oblivious to Aeryn's sudden struggle, and he continued speaking calmly. "Malfoy Senior regarded me warily, and then leaned forward and grabbed my right arm, pushing up the sleeve of my robe.

"'You won't find it, dear sir,' I told him merrily as he looked at my arm, 'it hasn't appeared for ages, not since--' and I let my voice trail away meaningfully."

The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's voice was so filled with smug triumph that Aeryn's attention immediately jerked back to him. "What?" she choked, hoping that her desperation was not as obvious as it felt.

"Don't be stupid, Aeryn," Lockhart snapped. "He was searching for the Dark Mark, of course--the Mark that Voldemort gave all his followers when they became Death Eaters, the Mark that initiated them into his secret society. Granted, I didn't have it, but I knew about it--everyone knows about it--and my bluff worked.

"'I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with your son a few minutes ago,' I said before he could come up with anything to say. 'Fine young lad--he resembles you greatly, and I'm certain you're instilling in him all the virtues that befit his lineage--which is, I'm certain, pure?'" He grinned pointedly at Aeryn. "The pure was more for artistic touch, but Malfoy Senior's nostrils flared and I knew I had touched a nerve."

Aeryn pressed her hands flat against her sides so he wouldn't see her trembling. If she couldn't attack him with her telepathy--how could she--

"'Of course,' he said tightly," Lockhart continued. "'The Malfoy lineage can be traced back over centuries.'

"'I would have expected no less from a servant of our Dark Lord,' I lied glibly. 'It's such a shame that the wizarding world nowadays seems to be steering more in a direction of quantity versus quality. Pure blood is counting for less and less everywhere.'

"'Not with me,' Malfoy Senior snapped.

"'Nor with me,' I replied quickly, suppressing a smile. 'You can be certain, sir, that in my classes at Hogwarts, the students' family trees will be--how shall we say--fundamental to their success?'

"Well, Malfoy Senior certainly wasn't expecting that. 'You're a professor?' he asked, and I could hear the skepticism in his voice. I merely flashed my signature grin and winked confidingly at him.

"'As professor, of course, I'll have to keep my bias on an unverifiable rumor level--but you'll see that I can work wonders in the art of subtlety.' I could see he still wasn't quite convinced, so I added, 'The Mudbloods won't be able to do anything about it.'"

Telekinesis. That's got to work. Aeryn again sent her mind questing towards him, trying to inconspicuously nudge the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"His face immediately darkened at the words. 'Ah, yes, the Mudbloods.'" An evil look spread across Lockhart's features, making him look terrifyingly like Tom Riddle. "'It's a shame there is no one left alive to carry on the work of the great Slytherin,' he said slowly, and he looked sharply at me, as if he was...trying to test me."

Aeryn almost screamed. She couldn't push him. She couldn't even nudge him. It was almost as if there was a huge bubble surrounding him, blocking her from reaching through with her mutant powers.

"I had no idea what he meant by the work of the great Slytherin, but I figured it would be in my best interest to play along. 'Ah, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four,' I cried, nodding knowingly. 'There was one who knew the worth of pure wizard blood. It is a true pity that all who could continue his work are...unable to do so.' Then, after a pause--more for drama than anything else--I added: 'At least for the moment.'

"Malfoy Senior stared shrewdly at me. 'Do you truly mean that, sir?' he asked finally.

"'Would you believe a fellow Death Eater to feel any differently?' I whispered confidingly.

"His body stance changed completely. Languidly, he straightened, and regarded me with a calm gaze. 'So you are to be the new teacher at Hogwarts,' he said in a louder voice. 'I wish you the best of luck, sir. Allow me to shake your hand.'

"I was a little confused at this sudden change in the conversation, but it never does any good to be rude to a direct request, so I held out my hand. Malfoy Senior took it, and then suddenly pulled me close to him and slipped something into my free hand. 'For the glory of our Lord,' he whispered fiercely into my ear, and then he was suddenly gone, disappearing up the stairs of a nearby shop to retrieve his son."

"I looked down at my hand and saw a little black diary, tattered and well-worn. As you can well imagine, I was more than a little puzzled at the whole exchange, but it was nearly time for my book signing at Flourish and Blotts--so I put the diary away in my pocket and completely forgot about it until that evening. And then, of course...well..." He looked at her pointedly, his signature toothy smile chilling his face. "You and I both know what that diary truly was."

Aeryn stared openly at him, stunned beyond words. Malfoy's father had been behind it--how the hell can this be happening, why can't I reach him with my powers--how simple, how clear--God above, what am I going to do, without my powers I won't be able to--why on earth hadn't she thought of it before--

"Funny that I told you Draco had presented it to me," Lockhart said musingly. "I don't believe he ever knew I had the diary."

Aeryn suddenly remembered Christmas evening, when she and Harry and Ron had gone to the Slytherin chambers robed in illusion, to speak with Draco...I wish I knew who the Heir of Slytherin was, he had said. No--of course--he hadn't known--

"I quickly discovered that there was more to the diary than the tattered cover promised, and oh, how fortunate it was for me," Lockhart said, chuckling. "I told Riddle about my problem, and he was quick to offer a solution. I already knew the aversion that darling Severus held towards your precious Mr. Potter, and also the events of the past year at Hogwarts. What would be better, I thought, than the brooding Potions master attempting to take the life of the celebrated Harry Potter? Of course, he wouldn't have succeeded--for, at the last moment, Gilderoy Lockhart would have rushed in and saved the day, and everyone would have celebrated my bravery. Even Harry Potter"

His lip curled, and a cold, hard glint echoed in his eyes. "So, Riddle explained to me how to prepare the Berserker's Mead, and I introduced Severus to the poison."

Aeryn did not move--could not move. Her mind was whirling frantically. Harry--her eyes darted to the boy lying motionless in the stern of the boat, his eyes wide and helpless as the sheeting rain streamed from his face. Her hands were knotted tightly in her skirts, and she swallowed with a mouth that had suddenly gone dry. Lockhart--without her powers, she was nothing against him, nothing--

"Unfortunately," Lockhart growled, "it didn't work out quite as I'd planned." Aeryn's gaze jerked back to him in time to see a hideous expression twist the professor's face. "Thanks to a voluptuous young chit named Aeryn Blake, the poison had a slightly different effect."

Aeryn did not dare to move as she watched the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor attempt to smooth his features into a normal expression. "Although I was dismayed at first, I took it well. I'm a flexible man. I thought, perhaps, if I was kind to her, sympathetic, willing to help her out, she would come running to me for help." He spread his hands and shrugged. "My heroic deeds would be of a slightly different vein, but they would be no less spectacular."

The glint in his eyes turned murderous, and his face was suddenly demonic in the driving rain.

"But what I didn't realize is that you--just like Severus--have an infuriating habit of never acting in a predictable way," he snarled. "You refused my help, suffered through it on your own--and--"

His voice broke suddenly, and when he was able to speak again, Aeryn nearly shrank away at the acid lacing his voice. "You helped him." He pointed a shaking, accusatory finger at her. "I wouldn't have pegged you to develop Stockholm syndrome," he hissed, "but you're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

The breath was shallow in Aeryn's throat as she stared at him, stunned beyond words. All but the barest remnants of Lockhart's handsomeness had been washed away, and Aeryn was able to see for the first time just how tenuous was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's grasp on sanity. Her head was whirling. To be taken seriously--he had done it all to be taken seriously--

"So now, it comes to this," Lockhart said softly. "All my plans have been totally blown away, and I'm rather playing it by ear." An awful smile twisted his lips. "Impromptu was never my forte."

"Why?" The word tore from her throat, rough and choked with desperation. In her mind's eye, she saw him that cold Christmas evening, taunting the writhing Potions master--his face framed with yellow fire as he bent above her in the deserted hallway--she forced herself to level her gaze at him, feeling her body quiver with pent-up misery. "What did Snape or I ever do to you--why did you do this to us?"

Lightning ripped through the sky.

"Haven't you been listening at all, Aeryn?" Lockhart roared over the resounding thunder, throwing his arms out wide as if to embrace the driving rain. "You were never a part of the equation! If Severus didn't have such a wandering eye, you never would have become involved!" The lightning and thunder crackled again, barely masking the cruel laugh that rasped suddenly from his throat. "And as for your cherished Potions master, well...he was just the means to an end."

Aeryn was unable to speak. The means to an end. The blood thundered in her ears, and she could feel a stinging surge of blood into her cheeks, as if she had just been slapped. Her lips moved as if to form words, but she made no noise. Lockhart regarded her calmly and then raised his eyebrows haughtily.

"I really don't expect you to understand," he said loftily, folding his arms across his chest. "You've never been famous. You probably never will be famous. I, on the other hand, have sipped of the exquisite nectar of stardom." He raised his eyes to the stormy heavens and heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Once you have tasted that, you are doomed forever to thirst for its taste. It is a long and lonely road, and it is not for those who are unwilling to make sacrifices--which sometimes include other people."

Aeryn finally found her voice. "Sacrifices?" she gasped, her fingers tightening in the fabric of her robe. "You've sacrificed nothing--absolutely nothing--" She choked the words from her throat and felt them replaced by a blistering rage. "All you've ever done is lie, cheat, and steal--"

"Oh, I could have done it the conventional way if I had wanted, Aeryn," Lockhart interrupted. A chill smile twitched his lips and he gazed piercingly down his nose at her. "It's just that I found it much easier to let everyone else do the hard work for me."

"You're loathsome," she hissed.

His grin deepened. "Thank you." Her wand suddenly appeared in his hand and was leveled menacingly towards her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a rather pressing appointment with Mr. Potter. You can either leave, or I can kill you." His eyes glittered. "The choice is yours to make."

Aeryn's eyes narrowed. The lightning crackled and the roiling thunder rocked the sky. "Let Harry go," she murmured.

For a long moment, neither of them moved. Then the edge of Lockhart's lip twitched away from his teeth in a bestial snarl. "You're just so damned stubborn. In everything." A barking, harsh laugh rasped from his chest. "I suppose that was part of Sev's fascination with you, being able to bend you into submission...."

Aeryn lifted her chin, fiercely determined not to let him see her quake.

"And yet after all he did to you, you helped him," Lockhart whispered. Another branch of lightning illuminated the night sky, and Aeryn was able to clearly see the anger locking his muscles, the puzzlement warping his features. He bared his teeth. "Are you always a martyr? Or is it that you secretly enjoyed being fucked by him?" He chuckled, but the sound did nothing to warm the deadness in his eyes. "Is that it, pretty wren? Bit of the Electra complex controlling you, perhaps? Your own father's dead, so you symbolically transfer your affection to others...."

She could feel the blood drain from her cheeks as her hands spasmed into fists at her side. He must have seen the slight movement, for a cruel, knowing leer darkened his face. "Bet your daddy was lean and black-haired just like Sev," he murmured. "Did he molest you, Aeryn?"

Her breath choked in her throat, leaving her gasping furious, shallow breaths.

"Sneak into your bedroom late at night, when your mommy was sleeping, when no one would hear you cry for him to stop, stop?"

A red miasma of rage blinded her, and she gave a strangled shriek. Lockhart giggled, and it was all she could do to keep from launching herself at his throat. As she dug her teeth into her lip, trying to garner control of herself, she suddenly heard a smooth voice in her ear:

Do not allow the words of others to control you, Miss Blake.

With a tremendous effort, Aeryn swallowed the fury suffocating her. She fixed her gaze on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and willed her head to clear. She drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders, idly wishing in the back of her mind that her robe would not cling to her so, it hindered her movement--

--robe--

--body--

You know, Miss Blake, as grand as it is being Magical Me, there are moments when I ache to be that foul black-haired Potions master--

And, suddenly--just as she'd always suspected--she knew.

"You're jealous, Lockhart," she said quietly.

Had she not been looking for it, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's flinch would have been otherwise unnoticeable in the flickering lightning-light. He tossed his head, as if almost to mask the barely-noticeable movement. "Jealous?" he snorted, but his words rang false in Aeryn's ears. "Unlike Sev, I don't need blackmail to get sex. With just the snap of my fingers, I can have any witch I want, without hesitation!"

"Except me," Aeryn replied quietly.

Lockhart's muscles tightened as if she had struck him across the face. After a moment, he tried to right his signature grin on his face, but only succeeded in a warped grimace. Aeryn watched him warily as he shoved a hand roughly through his matted curls. "Why should I settle for second-hand goods?" he muttered finally in a voice as brittle as over-tempered steel.

"That's what it was," she whispered. "Even though you didn't want me at first, it infuriated you, didn't it, that for all of your power over us, over the situation...for all your fame, your looks, everything...I didn't choose you."

Lockhart's shoulders clenched. The blood surged back into her cheeks, and her lip curled slightly. Was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor not good enough, he had snarled that evening, and now--with startling clarity--she knew why.

Her eyes hardened into jeweled slits and she spat the words towards him like tiny, precise darts. "I chose the odious, greasy-haired, sallow-faced Death Eater over 'Magical Me.' That's why you wanted me."

A bitter, knowing smile warmed her lips. "And that's why you hate me so."

There was a long, horrible silence. The rain pounded into her face and Aeryn held her breath, not daring to move.

Lightning split the sky, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's face became clearly visible. All beauty had fled from his features. His periwinkle-blue eyes were wide with rage, and his face was bone-white. Aeryn clenched her teeth together as he fought for control, a myriad of horrible emotions crossing his face.

When he finally spoke, his hissed words sent shivers slithering down Aeryn's spine. "You haven't answered my question, little sparrow." He pointed his wand at her and tilted his head to the side. "Why did you help that snake?"

Because I had no choice. Because he, at least, was honest. Because I had already seen the worst he had to offer--I knew he could only improve from there. Because he cared about me, that to him I wasn't merely an object or a conquest--as I was to you. A hundred different reasons leapt into her mind, all equally true and untrue. But she voiced none of them, and instead glared balefully at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Better to side with a snake than a rat," she snarled.

The thunder roared.

A bestial expression gashed Lockhart's face. "How very poetic," he whispered. His eyes blazed as if lit from within by the fires of Hell. "Well, then. Let us see what this rat is capable of."

With slow, deliberate movements he lifted his arms and spread them wide; a brightly colored crucifix in the sheeting rain. "I'm feeling generous today, meadowlark. Go ahead. I give you the first strike." A satanic smile twisted his lips. "Smite me for all you're worth."

A desperate rage filled her, and Aeryn threw up her hands and hurled with all her force towards him, her smoldering fury blistering the ether. But she could do nothing. She reared back, her heart plummeting, and again let fly her powers. But nothing happened, not even the slightest waver of Lockhart's multicolored robe. As the cold grip of hopelessness spread through her body, she heard the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor chuckle slightly.

"What's the matter, Aeryn?" he asked jeeringly. "Can't do anything?"

She clumsily took a step backward.

"Tom Riddle may have been a master manipulator, but he was also very generous to those who helped him willingly." Lockhart dropped his arms and smiled evilly at her. "I'm sure you already discovered that he was a mutant."

The smallest of whimpers escaped her lips.

"Being a mutant, he understood all about your petty powers, Aeryn." The wand lifted again and pointed at her with a deadly accuracy. "Several months ago, he was generous enough to teach me a little spell--very simple, really, but not well-known at all...." He raised an eyebrow, and a glimmer of handsomeness began to creep back into his face. "It grants the caster immunity from the two most common mutant abilities." He winked knowingly at her. "Telekinesis and telepathy."

Aeryn choked.

"How fortunate, don't you think?" Lockhart asked, a humored edge tinting his voice. He waved the wand menacingly at her. "I believe he created it himself."

Her chest jerkily rose and fell with her half-formed, shallow gasps. She couldn't attack him--could do nothing--her eyes flitted from the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to Harry, then back to Lockhart. Frantically, as an afterthought, she sent her mind whirling towards the wand he held, pulling at it to see if she could loose it from his hand--but it was also frozen from her telepathy, as motionless as if it had been encased in ice--

"Nothing more to say, pretty bird?"

Her gaze scanned around them, searching through the sheeting rain--for anything that she could use--anything at all--

--and her eyes fell upon an oar, lying forgotten at the bow of the boat.

"Time's up, Aeryn darling."

She quickly looked back at Lockhart. A triumphant smile warped his face, slick with the pouring rain. She struggled to smooth expression as he giggled, weaving the tip of his wand through the air like a conductor's baton. "Alouette, gentille alouette," he sang in a wavering, high-pitched voice. "Alouette, je te plumerai...."

Drawing a deep breath, Aeryn lowered her chin and glared valiantly at him, at the same instant sending her mind whirling out towards the boat.

"Go to hell," she growled.

Her hands snapped open into blades at her sides.

Lockhart shook his head. "You really should have been nicer to me, Aeryn," he said tightly.

In the bow of the boat, the oar snapped up as if grasped by an invisible hand.

"Had you been, I'd kill you painlessly. As it is..."

Aeryn's slate-blue eyes did not waver from the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's face.

With a furious snarl, Lockhart raised the wand high over his head. But before he could speak a word, the oar hurtled through the sheeting rain towards him and smashed clumsily into his skull. Lockhart grunted and staggered backwards, putting a hand to his temple.

A feral scream tore from Aeryn's throat, and she launched herself towards him, her hands moving with lightning speed. Lockhart looked up quickly at the sound, jerking the wand level towards her, but he was not quick enough.

"Haii!" she shrieked, slicing her hand through the air and knocking his arm harmlessly to the side. A furious expression crossed his face and he punched towards her with his free hand, but she easily deflected it with her other arm and drove a knee into his groin with all her might. Lockhart groaned and doubled over, his face twisting in pain.

Before he had a chance to recover, Aeryn's leg whirled through the air, solidly connecting with his face in a roundhouse kick and knocking him backwards across the water. She leapt after him and frantically grabbed his wrist, trying to force open his clenched hand. But his free arm suddenly shot up and wrapped swiftly around her neck, locking her head in the crook of his arm. Aeryn gagged as Lockhart roughly twisted her downward, trying to break her grasp.

Her eyes watering in pain, Aeryn gritted her teeth and wrapped her free arm around Lockhart's waist. She threw her weight down, and the sudden motion was enough to pull both her and her opponent to the water. The breath wheezed from Aeryn's lungs as they fell atop each other and, gasping, she clumsily tore herself from his grasp and sprang to her feet.

Get the wand--the wand--

A wet rustle warned her as Lockhart got to his feet, and she spun around, her fists flashing out before her. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor snarled as he raised his wand, rearing back to strike, but Aeryn struck his arm, knocking the wand away from her. Several times he tried to cast a spell, but she deftly batted the wand away each time he raised it. Her hands jabbed out, dancing towards him in an intricate pattern as she struggled to land a well-placed punch, trying to knock the wand from his hand, or incapacitate him, somehow--

As she whacked his wand away yet again, she dove forward and slammed her other fist into his jaw with a powerful uppercut. He groaned and reeled backwards, but not before she clamped her fingers around his wrist and twisted as hard as she could. His fingers spasmed open in agony and the wand clattered to the solid water.

Lockhart shrieked and tore himself from her grasp. As he threw himself desperately towards the wand, Aeryn leapt in front of him, knifing her hand towards his neck. But his own hand shot up to block her blow, and at the same instant he let fly a punch towards her face.

Aeryn deflected it at the last instant, but it was suddenly as if she was faced with a snarling tiger. Now that his hands were free, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor turned his full physical force towards her. Adept Aeryn was at karate, but Lockhart was significantly larger and stronger than her, and the blows he was able to land on her body were strong enough to make her whimper in pain.

"Acc--"

Aeryn smashed her hand across his face, cutting off his voice before he could spit the rest of the spell and call the wand to him. With renewed desperation, she drove him back, striking out towards him with all her might. Slowly, agonizingly, she pushed him backwards until he was teetering on the edge of the hard water, trying to hold his ground. If she could get him to step back--he would stumble, lose his balance--then perhaps she could--

With lightning speed, Lockhart knocked her hands away from him and with an inhuman roar he leapt forward, striking his forehead against hers in a powerful headbutt. Pain exploded behind her eyes, and Aeryn crumpled with a cry. Her shoulders struck the water--panting, she struggled to rise--but Lockhart swooped upon her, pinning her arms down with his knees, and suddenly his fingers were clamped around her throat, and her neck was being crushed in a vice-like grip.

She gurgled in pain and writhed beneath him, clawing towards his face with her fingers. But she could not reach, and though she tried to buck him off, he clung stubbornly to her, his face twisted in a rabid anger.

The fingers around her throat tightened even further, and her heart leapt in her chest--she labored vainly to draw breath, blinding black spots began to eat away at her vision--

"Die," Lockhart snarled, his voice burning with the blistering fury of a forest fire. His face was bestial in the flickering lightning. "Die, you bitch, why won't you just fucking die?"

With the frenzy of a drowning cat, she thrashed beneath him, but he was too heavy, and the pain--her throat--she could feel consciousness slipping from her--

"You will die," he growled. "And then I'll kill Harry--and then finally, finally you'll all be out of my hair--gone forever--and then I'll finally have the fame I deserve--finally--"

Her vision blurred...there was a dull roaring in her ears, as if she was standing close to the seashore...she gathered all her mental strength and sent her mind whirling towards him, scrabbling for a handhold...but all she met was the solid wall of blankness...a strangled moan slipped from between her lips...she could do nothing, he was protected from her telekinesis and telepathy....

--Telekinesis and telepathy--

Wild, sudden, desperate hope flooded through her. Her fingers snapped around Lockhart's wrists tightly, and, enfolding the last shreds of strength around her, Aeryn rolled her eyes back in their sockets and directed all her concentration upon the hands wrapped around her throat--

--and pulled--

It was as if every drop of blood in her body had suddenly caught fire. A horrendous scream split the air, and Aeryn barely noticed that it was coming from her lips. His being flooded into her, siphoning through her veins with unbelievable speed, and with it crackled his emotions, his thoughts, his memories--

He raised his wand high and screamed "Obliviate!" and the Armenian warlock crumpled to the ground, his face a mask of stunned surprise--his quill pen moved over the diary, his words sinking into the white pages with frightening speed--he drew a small bottle from his sleeve and tipped a few drops of the clear liquid inside into one of the goblets of butterbeer, and then fixed a merry smile on his face before kicking open the door to the Potions dungeon, where two figures looked up in surprise--

--she could not breathe--

She vainly tried to pull his hands away from her neck, but the locked fingers were immoveable. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's face had blanched white in the driving rain, and Aeryn groggily registered the stupefied shock and terror lancing through her veins coming from him, as every fiber of his being was tapped and drawn into her body--

--and at the same instant an unknown door in the corner of her mind was suddenly flung open, and Aeryn's eyes widened as a tingling rush surged through her and a hundred words--a thousand words--burned into her consciousness, and with them a strange lightness, the first stirrings of--magic--

--she could not breathe--

Even as his life-force flowed into her, he would not loose her. Aeryn could feel her own strength melting away, and her vision darkened. Drawling the last remnants of her power about her, Aeryn yanked her arm out from beneath his knee. Hesitating for only a second, she gritted her teeth and jabbed her finger into one of the periwinkle-blue eyes above her with all her might.

There was a sickening slurping as warm moisture suddenly rushed over her hand, and an inhuman sound erupted from Lockhart's throat as his blinding, white-hot agony seared through her. The hands disappeared from around her throat as he stumbled away from her, clawing at his face.

Aeryn raspily drew a huge breath into her lungs and struggled to her feet, reeling slightly. She put a hand to her throat, wincing as stabs of pain rushed through her body. Lockhart had fallen to his knees, and the air was rent with his high-pitched, tortured sobs. Aeryn cast her gaze around her, frantically looking for something--the wand--anything--and her eyes fell upon the glittering sword, lying forgotten upon the hard water.

Quickly, Aeryn threw out a hand and pulled the sword to her with one hard yank. The jeweled handle flew into her hand. But as she straightened, clutching the sword in her two hands, Lockhart's lifted his head and saw her.

"Accio," he snarled brokenly, and her wand soared through the sheeting rain and snapped into his palm. His hand dropped from his face and Aeryn had a terrifying glimpse of dark blood gushing from between his closed eyelids, staining one side of his face and giving him a ghastly double-faced appearance.

He jerked the wand up to point at her, and Aeryn leapt forward desperately, swinging the jeweled sword with all her might.

Blade met flesh as the sharp edge sliced through the air and caught Lockhart's wand arm, slicing deeply into the muscle. Lockhart screamed and the wand clattered from his hand. He folded over, grasping his bloodied arm--his head swiveled towards her, and his one remaining eye was filled with blistering fury--his ruined hand stretched out, and his lips moved--

The gleaming sword flashed through the air and connected with horrific force.

A geyser of blood erupted through the pouring rain as Lockhart's head was severed from his neck. His blond locks stained red as his head bounced to the water and rolled away, his mouth open in a wide 'O.' With a wet rustle, Lockhart's decapitated body crumpled to the solid water.

For a second Aeryn stood there, her heart thudding in her chest as she stared at the lifeless body. It twitched spasmodically as a pool of blackish blood oozed slowly from the ragged stump that had been Lockhart's neck. The torrential rush of the rain was all that could be heard.

The sword dropped from her hands. Aeryn slumped suddenly to her knees and began vomiting uncontrollably. Her stomach was emptied far too quickly, but still she heaved, as if she could somehow purge the rest of her system through the action. She felt Lockhart's memories whirling through her blood, and the soft give of his flesh as the sword had sliced through him, and she continued to retch until tears were flooding down her cheeks and she could scarcely breathe.

Finally the heaves subsided. With a low groan, Aeryn pressed her forehead against the hard water. It was cool, cold as the driving rain, and as she felt it leach the heat from her suddenly-flushed skin, her throat constricted and a blistering pain welled behind her eyes, and she began sobbing, quietly at first, and then with increasing intensity until her body was quaking hysterically, her moans punctuated by the dissipating rumble of thunder.

It was a long while before she found the strength to shakily push herself into a standing position. She forced herself to look at the bloody mess that used to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Her wand, now slick with blood and rain, lay next to his curled fingers. Aeryn swallowed, trying to loose the tense knot in the base of her throat. She slowly stretched out her hand.

"Accio," she whispered brokenly, and as easily as if it had been telekinesis, the wand rose from the ground and soared through the air to snap into her palm.

With halting footsteps, Aeryn turned and stumbled towards the little boat, bobbing forgotten in the waters. The sheeting rain had slackened, and she could see Harry, still lying motionless in the stern. She jerkily lifted the wand to point at the boy, feeling a sudden surge of foreign power flow through her as the words rose to her lips.

"Fin--fini--" A sob shattered her words, and Aeryn strained a breath through her teeth, fighting for control. "Finite--Incantatem," she whispered finally.

The boy jumped slightly as if he had been pricked by a pin. He made an indistinct noise in his throat, and she saw his hands move clumsily, reaching up to grasp the sides of the boat and pull himself up to a sitting position. Aeryn watched him motionlessly as he wiped a shaky hand across his wet face. Then, slowly, he turned his head and his bottle-green gaze found her.

A keening whine gurgled from Aeryn's lips, and the control that she had tried to keep cemented in place was washed away as a fresh wave of tears overtook her. She moaned heartwrenchingly and buried her face in her hands.

Then, as her body rocked with the force of her sobs, a pair of arms slipped around her waist and Harry held her to him. With an even louder wail, Aeryn flung her arms around the boy and buried her face in his shoulder, squeezing him as tightly as she could. He patted her awkwardly on the back as she wept, and murmured comfortingly to her as she clung to him, crying away the bottled-up emotion that had flowed through her veins for the past eight months.

Overhead, the last fading echoes of thunder rattled away into the distance.

Finally, Aeryn hiccupped and pulled away from the boy. Her eyes were swollen halfway shut, and her body still shook with the remnants of sobs. She drew a deep, shuddering breath, and rubbed the back of her hand perfunctorily across her face, attempting to wipe away the accumulated moisture.

"Aeryn."

Aeryn looked at Harry. She could barely see his luminous green eyes behind his rain-splattered glasses. The face beneath his unruly black hair was pale, accentuating the thin lightning scar on his forehead. A small, sad smile curved Harry's lips as he stretched out a hand to her.

"Let's go back, Aeryn," he whispered.

The memory of Professor Snape crumpling to the floor after shielding her from Lockhart's spell, his face blanched and blood flooding from his nostrils, rose into her mind's eye.

Aeryn slowly reached out to grasp Harry's hand and gave a tiny nod of agreement.

They stepped into the little boat and Aeryn tapped the bow with her wand. The boat leapt forward as if spurred by a strong breeze, and without a backwards glance at the crumpled remains of Gilderoy Lockhart, they wordlessly steered the craft back towards Hogwarts.

~*~*~*~*~*~