Stormseeker: Unwanted Destiny

"We're going to kill Voldemort today," Tom says to me quietly.

I give a nod. We head up to the library to make our plans.

Cassie follows along after us and comes inside. "You're not leaving me out of this."

"Ah, good," Tom says, putting up a privacy spell and locking the door. "I was hoping you'd come along. You're going to need to murder someone in order to make the ritual at Halloween go more easily."

"Who am I going to kill?" Cassie asks.

"I was thinking that we can leave the bodies of the Lestrange brothers intact, and burn everything else into unrecognizability," Tom says. "They can still make themselves useful by getting the Aurors off of my back and breaking any remaining ties to Voldemort."

"I'll take Rodolphus," Cassie says, grinning far more wickedly than I'm used to seeing.

Tom nods. "I've already made certain to move anything important from the Lestrange estate to Caer Danas."

"Why are you so eager to have your loyal minions killed?" I wonder.

"They haven't been so loyal since my resurrection," Tom says. "You saw yourself how much they were trying to defy me. They disobeyed my orders and were out causing trouble until I effectively imprisoned them in their own home. They're a liability I can't afford."

"And now you want me to kill for you," Cassie says.

"No," Tom says. "I want you to kill for Lexen."

"I'm not arguing the semantics," Cassie says. "I really don't care. It's not like I've never done it before, or anything."

I've gotten used to her acting, but the way she says that makes me raise an eyebrow. "Cassie? You know there's no reason to act for us. I don't care if you've ever done it before or not."

"Fine, but it's not like I'm going to back down just because it's my first time," Cassie says. "I don't care how painful it might be, and I'm not going to be disturbed by enjoying it, either. I'll do it, and I'll like it. I want to do it, and I want to do it with Lexen, alright?"

"Are we still talking about murder?" I say.

"Should I leave you two alone for a bit?" Tom says, looking amused.

Cassie blushes fiercely. "Come on. Enough talk. Let's do it already."

"Do what?" I say.

"Kill the Lestranges!" Cassie snaps. "What did you think I meant?"

"You were blushing," Tom says, grinning wryly.

"I was not," Cassie says.

"You totally were," I say.

"Never mind!" Cassie says. "Let's go."

We head out, and Apparate over to the Lestrange estate. I find myself a little nervous despite myself, as well as excited. Am I excited about the prospect of killing and destruction, or about the freedom of ending the suspicions against me and Tom?

"Draco's going to complain that he didn't get to come along," Cassie says.

"Probably for the best," I say.

"Set off some spells at the building," Tom says. "Get the Lestranges running out to see what's going on."

"Tom, did you tell Mipsy to leave?" I ask.

"Oh, the house-elf?" Tom says. "Does it matter?"

"She's an innocent bystander," I say. "I won't have her killed for no reason."

"Oh, very well," Tom says. "Mipsy!" The female house-elf pops into view in front of him. "Go to Caer Danas and remain there for the time being. Assist Dobby with the chores." Mipsy gives a nod and vanishes.

"Thank you," I say.

"Incendio," Tom casts, and a fire starts up on the shrubs outside the house.

Cassie and I let off a few spells, bombarding the house and causing a fair bit of property damage. It takes longer than I would have expected for Rabastan and Rodolphus to emerge from the big double doors at the entrance to the house.

"What's going on here?" Rodolphus demands.

"Your service has come to an end," Tom says. "Consider yourselves fired."

"What!?" Rodolphus says in outrage.

"It's payback time, my brother," Rabastan says, narrowing his eyes toward me.

"Fulgoris!" I cast, and a massive crack of electricity throws Rabastan off of his feet and into the wall. My grin of delight fades a little as I realize I'm not sure whether he survived that or not. It would be simply disappointing for him to have died so quickly.

Cassie flings nonverbal curses toward Rodolphus, but she takes a nasty curse on the leg in the process and stumbles.

"Cassie!" I say, stepping up to protect her.

"I'm fine," Cassie says. "Rabastan's getting up."

I think of the winter snows of my homeland, and cast in a cold fury, "Nevischio!"

Needle-like sleet falls from the sky on top of the two brothers, and they slip and fall in surprise. Cassie takes advantage of this distraction to strike Rodolphus with a curse that very nearly takes off his head and slices through part of his chest as well.

Rabastan recovers quickly and flicks his wand at me. A curse throws me backwards, my chest burning. As I scramble to my feet, another curse strikes me in the face. Pain and anger boil through me, and I point the Elder Wand at him for another Lightning Curse.

This time, the Lestrange brothers don't get up again. Panting softly, I put my hands on my knees and balance myself, watching them for a few more moments to make sure they're really down.

"Lexen, are you alright?" Cassie says, approaching me. She glances accusingly to Tom, and says, "Why didn't you help us?"

"I did," Tom says. "I took down the defenses. Although watching the two of you was quite enjoyable. You do, however, need to put more trust in one another's ability. Being concerned about the other's well-being could be a fatal distraction in a fight."

"Get the job done, and then worry about the fact that I feel like half my face has been ripped off?" I say.

"It's not quite that bad," Cassie says, "But I'm afraid it's probably going to scar."

"Let's finish up here, and then call Severus to Caer Danas to take a look at it," Tom says. "Give me a moment."

With a demonic incantation from no earthly language, Tom casts Fiendfyre at the house. The blazing shapes of monsters consume the building, leaving only ashes and rubble in their wake. Cassie and I don't dare interrupt him, for fear that his concentration might slip, even for a moment, and the Fiendfyre rage out of his control.

Tom dismisses the spell, and nods. "Alright. Let's go."

We Apparate back to Caer Danas. Cassie helps me toward my bedroom, but I can see she's limping herself. It was foolish to get wounded in a battle that was only for show to begin with, but perhaps our injuries will help to convince the Order of the Phoenix that things really went down the way we'll claim they did.

Cassie pulls off my robes, and dabs at my face and chest a bit with a damp cloth. "Don't worry," Cassie murmurs. "Some people find curse scars attractive."

"Do you?" I say, grinning at her wryly.

"Don't screw up your face like that," Cassie says. "I'm trying to clean it up a bit."

"Stand aside, Miss Black," Snape says from the doorway. "I will handle it from here."

"Cassie's hurt, too," I say. "Could you take a look at her leg while you're here?"

"I'm fine," Cassie insists. "You're far more badly hurt than me."

Snape examines me closely, and hands me a potion. "Drink this."

I take the potion from him and drink it down. Slimy, and tastes like blue. Somehow. I'm not sure how something tastes like blue, but it does somehow. Snape waves his wand over me, and then gives Cassie a small jar.

"Rub this on his chest," Snape says.

Cassie takes the jar and proceeds to dab the burns on my chest with tingly salve. I'm not sure whether I should be disappointed that Snape doesn't seem to want to rub my chest.

"I would suggest trying to duck next time, but I get the feeling that I only end up getting called in when your stupid, careless mistakes aren't fatal," Snape says dryly.

"It was totally not my fault," I say. "Bah, never mind, I'm not even going to argue about it."

He takes a brief look over Cassie as well, and gives her a potion to drink also.

"So, what am I to tell the Order of the Phoenix about this?" Snape says. "Or were you intending on hiding the inevitable scarring?"

"Today was a great victory," I say. "This was the day on which Harry Potter finally defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, with the assistance of Tom Riddle and Cassiopeia Black."

"I would imagine that they will wonder why only three people went to the fight," Snape says.

"A small, competent strike team," I say. "Of course, I wouldn't have wanted to risk anyone else if I could help it. I don't enjoy leading my friends to their deaths. But they would not allow me to go alone, and perhaps it was for the best, since I might not have succeeded but for their assistance."

Snape gives a short nod. "I am certain that they might complain about you going with such a small team and getting injured, but it is consistant with your previous behavior. Is there a battle location that they will be able to look through for confirmation?"

"Lestrange estate," I say. "Send them there to look around. They'll find the bodies of Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, as well."

"But not the Dark Lord, I presume," Snape says.

"No," I say. "Tell them his body was destroyed. Tell them that, when he realized that he could not win, he concluded the battle by casting Fiendfyre. He then proved unable to control it, and destroyed himself with it."

"Very well," Snape says. "I will return to the Order headquarters now and make my report. You need to rest now." He looks to Cassie, and says, "Make certain that he gets his rest. And try to stay off that leg as much as possible yourself."

"I'll stun him if I have to," Cassie says, smirking.

"Thank you, sir," I say, nodding to Snape. He heads out and leaves me alone with Cassie.

"So, Cassie, how was your first time?" I say, grinning at her.

"More painful than I would have expected," Cassie replies.

"But it was still fun, wasn't it?" I say.

"Oh, yes," Cassie says. "I'm sure I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime."

"Are you two talking about killing, or did I miss something?" Tom says from the doorway.

I snicker softly.

"Snape said to rest," Cassie says. "Wouldn't want to disobey the healer's orders, would we?"

"Snape isn't exactly a healer," I say.

"He healed us," Cassie says.

"He shoved potions down our throats," I say.

"Resting would be a good idea," Tom says. "Rather than engaging in... other activities."

"Alright, alright," I say. "You think we played our roles well enough?"

"I believe so," Tom says. "It's been high time for the curtain to fall on Lord Voldemort. Hopefully, there won't be any further leaks or similar issues. But if there are, we will be prepared."

"Will Moody be hanging around next year?" Cassie asks.

"I do hope not," Tom says. "I don't think he could even find anything wrong with what was being taught. I've made quite certain that everything is on the up and up."

"I really don't want to have to deal with him another year," I say. "Who're you going to get to do History of Magic?"

"Anyone but Sirius Black," Tom says wryly.

"Well, best leave you here to rest a bit," Cassie says, going to get up.

"Hey, he said you should stay off your leg, too," I say. "So you shouldn't go walking around yourself."

"Do I need to stun the both of you?" Tom says.

"Nah," I say.

Tom levitates Cassie over to her own room, much to my disappointment, and leaves me there to rest on my own. I get Dobby to bring me some food and a book to keep me from being bored.

Sirius and Remus check in after lunch to make sure I'm alright. "You went there with just Cassie and Riddle?" Remus says. "At least you didn't run off by yourself."

"Take a Dark Lord to take down a Dark Lord, I guess," Sirius says. "That's still just really weird."

"I'm just glad that Voldemort is finally gone," Remus says.

"He really is gone this time, isn't he?" Sirius says.

"I certainly hope so," I reply. "We made sure to destroy the means he used to survive before."

"How was that?" Remus asks.

"A Horcrux," I say. "Anchored his soul to the world so he couldn't die. But without it, he was mortal again, and could die like anyone else."

"Good riddance," Sirius says. "I just wish I'd been there to see it, to help. Why didn't you take us along?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt," I say. "I'd hate to lose you guys."

"And instead you come back to us looking like this," Remus says. "You could have been killed yourself, you know."

"I'm immortal, remember?" I say.

"And yet you were willing to risk Cassie!" Sirius says.

"She wouldn't let me leave without her," I say. "You'd probably have done the same if you'd actually been awake when we left."

"You're damned right we would," Sirius says.

"And if any of you died, I'd just wind up killing myself to try again without losing anyone," I say.

"Wait," Remus says. "Did you?"

I smirk. "You don't need to know that." I smile at them. "But I'll take some scars over losing anyone I care about anyday."

That makes them ease off. "Alright, Harry," Sirius says. "I'll trust that you did things the way you thought was best."

Then, after dinner, Gerard comes in to see me. "Laid up in bed and covered with scars? I warned you about going after him as you are. Why didn't you wait? I would have told you about the rituals you'd need to perform to become a Dark Lord. Of course, you'd be best off waiting until Halloween to do it."

"I didn't even take him down myself," I say. "This was from fighting Rabastan Lestrange."

"Still, that was foolish and impatient," Gerard says.

"And what would you say if I told you that I knew he was going to make a move today?" I say. "That we needed to make a pre-emptive strike in order to prevent him from doing so?"

Gerard frowns. "Time Magic must be nice to have. If I had the chance to know about anytime there might be trouble, even only hours in advance..."

"Oh, yes," I say. "There's disadvantages, too, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"So, are you still interested in knowing what I know?" Gerard asks.

"I already have plans for Halloween, unfortunately," I say.

"How about the Winter Solstice?" Gerard asks.

I nod. "That should be free up."

"What are you planning for Halloween?" Gerard wonders.

"Secret," I say, grinning at him. He doesn't need to know about the Soul Bonds yet, if at all.

"I see," Gerard says. "The ritual is pretty complicated, and you'll probably want to perform it at a node as well. Someplace where magic is strongest. Like Hogwarts. And, of course, there is a price that must be paid."

"What price?" I ask.

"Magic gives nothing for free," Gerard says. "I can't tell you what the price will be, however. It's different for every person. You are, however, free to reject it, but if you do so, you will never get another chance at it."

I give a nod. "And what are the benefits?"

"You can use dark magic more easily, and it's more powerful," Gerard says. "You can also sense it, feel like. You're more attuned to magic in general. You're especially able to use soul magic and demonic magic more readily. Some spells might affect you differently. You have some resistance to life-draining magic, but some light-based spells may be more harmful toward you."

I frown faintly. "Is this ritual demonic in nature?"

"Yes," Gerard says. "Do you have a problem with demonic magic?"

"I don't think I want to do this," I say.

"Afraid of what price it might ask of you?" Gerard says.

"No," I say. "Just something about this is raising alarm bells in my head. I've heard about something like this before. I want to cross-reference some things before even considering this."

"Suit yourself," Gerard says, shrugging.

I wish Keolah were here. I'm no Seeker myself. She could look at him and Tom and tell me right off if my suspicions are true. If these people have actually turned themselves into demons. The appearance means nothing. It's the state of the soul that matters. But I already have a piece of Tom's soul inside of me. If it's true, then I've already been infected, and it doesn't matter anyway.

I'm needlessly worrying, I think. It might be something else entirely. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm very, very wary about performing any soul-altering rituals.

The next morning, the Daily Prophet's front page is taken up with a story about the supposed great battle, along with a picture of the destroyed Lestrange estate.

Tom comes in to check on how I'm recovering. "The burns on your chest are starting to heal up nicely. The face might not be as bad as I'd feared, as well."

"Tom," I say. "What do you know about the ritual to become a Dark Lord?"

"I wouldn't do it," Tom says. "It's one of many reasons why Voldemort was insane. Although the Horcruxes were probably a bigger factor. And the ritual that turned him into a serpentine creature didn't help, either."

"I'm asking because it reminds me of something I heard about from my homeworld," I say. "Does it actually turn your soul demonic?"

"That's one way of putting it," Tom says.

"Did you turn me into a demon!?" I exclaim.

"Relax," Tom says. "I've done nothing of the sort. That sort of thing doesn't transfer in a Soul Bond unless done so explicitly, which I did not do."

I sigh. "I still don't like it."

"Is there some particular reason for this paranoia?" Tom asks.

"My family warned me about demons," I say. "My grandmother had some especially nasty cautionary tales about them."

"Do you know much about demons?" Tom asks.

"Not really," I say.

"Does it bother you to think that I might have a 'demonic' soul?" Tom says.

I sigh. "It probably shouldn't, but it does. But you obviously don't think it's such a great thing yourself, if you're warning me against it. Tom, what price did you have to pay for it?"

Tom looks away and stares out the window. "You probably won't like this, either."

"Tell me anyway," I press.

"I paid the price of love," Tom says. "I am incapable of actually experiencing this feeling. Lust, certainly, fondness, vague affection, but not actual love."

I blink at him. "Seriously? Why?"

"I never experienced it before then," Tom says. "I felt it to be a weakness. So I tossed it away, and thought myself stronger for it."

I shudder a little. "Is there any way to undo it?"

Tom looks at me. "Would you ask that of me?"

"I would," I say. "You're damned right I would. That's horrible. I can say right out that... that... I love you, and I would not trade that for anything."

Tom lets out a heavy sigh. "You know I can only take your word on that. But... I'll believe you. I've probably become a fool, but I believe you."

I smile at him, and relax a little. "I'm glad for that. I would hate for you to miss out on the sort of happiness you've brought me."

"Why am I even considering sacrificing power for happiness?" Tom wonders.

"Because there are more ways to gain power that don't ask that of you," I say. "And I will be happy to share them with you."

"There is an appeal to that..." Tom says. "Alright, come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" I wonder as Tom drags me out of bed.

"Today is the Summer Solstice," Tom says. "This will be the last chance to do it this year. So we've got to go and get things set up before noon. And I'll need your help with it."

I quickly get dressed, ignoring the pain from my healing wounds, and we head over to Hogwarts. While the dark rituals we performed here were done in the dungeons, now Tom is getting things set up by the lake, in broad daylight. No candles or runes carved into the ground, but seven bowls of water.

"What do you need me to do?" I ask.

"You're the anchor," Tom says. "You're here to remind me of why I'm doing this."

Sunlight shimmers on the surface of the water in the bowls as the noonday sun shines down from high above. Tom murmurs some arcane words, and touches his wand to each bowl in turn.

"Darkness, I reject your gifts," Tom says. "I reclaim that which was taken from me."

Searing, blinding light erupts from the ground in the circle between the bowls. Tom collapses, screaming in agony.

I rush up to him and grab his hand. "Tom!"

He can't answer, in the midst of screaming. The light floods through me as well, burning a little, but not nearly as badly as him.

"Don't hurt him," I murmur. "Hurt me instead, if you must hurt someone. I will take this pain for him."

My vision is filled with strange images. Light and darkness, clashing. And then I see the faint image of seven angels floating above us.

The Abyss does not give up its own easily, whispers a voice in my mind. Stay with him. He will need you to pull him out of this.

"I'm here, Tom," I say softly. "I'm here for you. I won't leave you. I love you. Stay with me. Come back to me. I won't let them hurt you. I won't ever let them hurt you again."

Tom stops screaming after a moment, his eyes snapping open and staring at the sky. Gray eyes, human eyes, not demonic red any longer. "Thank you..." he whispers.

The angels float away, and the light fades. "Tom, are you alright?" I ask.

"I think I've never been better," Tom says, and then pulls me into a passionate kiss.

As we break off, there's the sound of a throat clearing. I look over in surprise to see Hagrid standing nearby with his hideous pink umbrella. He must have noticed the light show.

"Headmaster? What're you doing?" Hagrid asks.

"Oh, hi, Hagrid," I say brightly.

Tom laughs softly. "We've just finished performing a Ritual of Purification."

"You were kissing a student," Hagrid says.

"Er, yeah, never mind that," Tom says.

"At least he's one of the older students..." Hagrid says.

"Why do you have that umbrella?" I say. "There's not a cloud in the sky."

"Oh, er, I'm rather attached to it," Hagrid says.

"Accio umbrella," I say. The umbrella flies toward me and lands on the ground beside me. "I really need to practice that spell..." I pick it up and examine it. "What is this?"

"Looks like he keeps the broken pieces of his old wand in there," Tom says, pulling them out.

"Huh," I say.

"I'm not supposed to use it," Hagrid says. "You won't tell anyone, will you? I won't tell anyone what you were doing, either."

On a whim, I tap the Elder Wand to the broken pieces, and say, "Reparo." The long, oaken wand snaps together again, looking whole and good as new. I hand it over to him. "There you go, try it out."

"What? How?" Hagrid says, taking it from me with wide eyes. "Aguamenti!" A small fountain of water flows out from the tip of the wand.

"You just repaired a wand?" Tom says, looking at me incredulously.

"Must be all the light magic around today," I say. I decide to take advantage of this, and pull out my own pine wand. "Reparo." It fixes itself as well, and I put it back in my bag for safe keeping.

"But, I'm still not supposed to use magic," Hagrid says.

"Eh, don't worry about it," Tom says. "You only got in trouble because of me. I'll get it cleared up for you. It's the least I can do."

"You would do that for me?" Hagrid says.

"Sure, why not?" Tom says, laughing lightly. "I'm in a generous mood today."

I beam happily, and hug Tom tightly, planting another kiss on him.

"Definitely not telling anyone about this..." Hagrid mutters, turning to head back toward his tent, shaking his head.

"Lexen," Tom murmurs, looking at me. "I think I can safely say now... I love you."

I feel like a Patronus could burst from me. "Was it worth it?"

"You were right," Tom says. "A thousand times over."

After a little while longer, we return home to Caer Danas. I can hardly believe that just happened.

"You two are buzzing with light magic," Gerard says. "What did you use the Summer Solstice for?"

I laugh softly, and reply only, "Secret."

"Fine, fine, keep your secrets," Gerard says. "You're all giddy on a light magic high... That stuff's just as addictive as dark magic, you know. And even more insidious."

There's a pile of letters waiting for me by the end of the day, all regarding the events of yesterday. Thanks and congratulations from various people I don't recognize, Rita Skeeter asking for an interview, and one from the Malfoys wondering what really happened. They aren't fooled for a moment.

"It's funny," Tom says, glancing over the stack. "In a way, Voldemort really is dead now. We really did defeat the Dark Lord."

The next day, the Draco comes over. Once he's secure in the library with Tom, Cassie, and me, he asks, "Okay, so what really happened two days ago?"

"We killed the Lestranges and burned down their house," Cassie says. "Tom obviously isn't dead."

"But Voldemort is," Tom says lightly, chuckling. "And I'm not even a Dark Lord anymore."

"How is that?" Draco wonders.

"We performed a Ritual of Purification yesterday," Tom says.

"What?" Draco says. "Why?"

"Because, in order to be a Dark Lord, I had to sacrifice my capacity for love," Tom says. "I was not willing to hold to that any longer."

Draco blinks at him. "Seriously?"

"Indeed," I say.

"You redeemed the Dark Lord by the power of love?" Draco says. "Ugh, I thought that sort of thing only happened in the bad romance novels my mother reads."

Tom laughs aloud. "It really does sound kind of like that, doesn't it?"

"I won't complain," Cassie says. "Maybe he'll be a little less of an arse now."

"I probably deserved that," Tom says, smirking.

"I think I should just give up on the world ever making sense," Draco says, shaking his head.