April 6th, 1944
Lina set her jaw as she stood her ground and stared across the large, mahogany desk at her older brother. Her hands quivered by her sides, nervous. She put them in her lap and folded them over each other, silently begging her nerves not to give her away.
Landon Fawley was overjoyed when his younger sister had shown up unannounced to his office in the Auror Department just a few moments ago. He had engulfed Lina in one of his warm, older brotherly hugs and lifted her off the ground, not letting go until she giggled and lightly pounded her closed fists against his back. He put her down, and when Lina turned immediately and went to sit in the velvet armchair across from his desk, he tried to hide his confused frown and settled into the chair across from her.
Right to business then, he thought to himself.
"I wasn't expecting you, little sister! What can I do for you?" Landon smiled brightly, brushing his messy, sandy-colored curls out of his vision. Wide-framed glasses made his chocolate eyes stand out vividly against his freckled skin. His toothy grin was just as warm and comforting as it was when they were both children a decade ago, and a dark wave of guilt swept over Lina.
Why was she doing this again? She took a shaky breath.
"I need help with this essay I'm writing...for my Defense Against the Dark Arts class." She had started.
"Oh, of course...What's the topic?"
She forced the most normal, nonchalant smile she could manage.
"Horcruxes. It's, um, extra-credit work for Professor Merrythought." She lied through her teeth.
It was uncomfortably silent as Landon stared at her, the grin on his face vanishing only to be replaced with a rare grimace. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.
Her words hung in the air, limp and heavy. Lina shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"...Horcruxes?" Landon finally managed to say. "You...you can't be serious, Lina."
She swallowed. "No, I am. I was wondering if you could lend me a tome or something."
"No."
"...What?"
Landon had always jumped to help her with her schoolwork. He spent hours with Lina whenever she had an upcoming essay, exam, or project she was struggling with, scouring the books he had special access to as a Auror archivist and quizzing her on the contents until her brain felt numb.
But he had never denied her before. Landon had never spoken to her in such a cold, strained voice either. The warmth and loving tone from earlier was gone, replaced by discomfort and frostiness.
"No. I can't. I'm sorry, Lina. I think you should ask Professor Merrythought for a different topic."
"...I don't understand. Why not?" She prodded. Landon had taken off his glasses and was turning them over in his hands, refusing to look her in the eye.
"I'm sorry, I can't. It would be improper. Horcruxes..." He said the word reluctantly, like he was afraid the syllables might jump out and burn his tongue, "are a terrible, forbidden subject. Horribly taboo, most Aurors here won't even talk about them. Hogwarts banned any curriculum referencing them; frankly, I'm not sure why Professor Merrythought even mentioned the subject to you." Landon rambled.
Lina's face burned. She felt like she had overstepped herself, like she had betrayed herself and her brother by talking about something that was supposedly so horrifying and illicit. She swallowed again, her throat unbearably dry.
Her mind was loud with white noise and hazy imagery. She remembered the feel of Tom Riddle's ice cold hands against hers and the silkiness of his elegant words, the way he had asked her for something yet still made her feel like she had to thank him for it. The thought of returning empty-handed made her hands begin to shake again and nausea settle in her stomach. What was happening to her?
You do want me to succeed, don't you?
She couldn't decide if she did.
"Lina, are you alright?" Landon's voice snapped her out of her racing thoughts. He was staring at her now, concern etched across his face.
"Yes, I'm just...I'm just feeling a bit sick-" She started to get up.
"I'll get you some tea." Landon swiftly stood and crossed over to her, gesturing for Lina to sit back down again. "I'll be right back; stay here."
The door shut behind Landon, and she was alone in his office. Lina's heart pounded.
Her eyes fell on the massive, ceiling-high bookshelf covering the entirety of the wall on her left. She stared at it, a terrible idea lodging itself in her mind.
She couldn't come back to Tom Riddle empty-handed. She knew she couldn't.
Before she had a chance to talk herself out of it, Lina had gotten up from the armchair and had quickly crossed the room to the bookshelf. It towered over her, the rows upon rows of books and tomes tall and disapproving, like they knew too she wasn't supposed to be putting her fingers where they didn't belong.
Thankfully, Landon had alphabetized his collection. She skimmed the 'H' section, desperately searching for something satisfactory.
Most of the books on the shelf were big, bulky, and had intricate gold and silver patterns twisting around their spines. Suddenly, her eyes fell on a tiny, unassuming black book. She slowly took it out from its place, her fingers curling around the fragile, beat-up cover. This book didn't have elegant patterns curling around its cover and spine, but instead, it was nearly falling apart at the seams. Lina carefully turned it around.
The only thing of interest on the front cover of the book were tiny and peeling silver letters. No author's name, no illustrations, nothing. It looked appallingly ordinary, except for its title.
HORCRUX.
Lina's heart jumped into her throat. She didn't have time to page through it and see why Tom wanted it enough to ask a complete stranger to obtain it for him, or why Landon was so horrified by its contents that he didn't even want to discuss the topic with his sister. She needed to act, and fast.
She fished her wand out of her bag, clutching it with unsteady fingers, and pointed it at the book.
"Geminio." She pronounced. A perfect replica of the book appeared, Lina catching it in midair before it fell to the ground. Shoving the new copy hapzhardly into her bag, she quickly replaced the original on its shelf and hurried back to the armchair across from Landon's desk.
The door opened, and Landon slowly walked in with a steaming cup of tea. He offered the cup to her, and she took it, sending her older brother a small, familiar smile as the aroma quickly filled her senses.
Chamomile. Her favorite.
"Thank you." She said softly.
Landon sat back down in his desk chair. He smiled back.
"So, how's everything at Hogwarts? Tell me everything."
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"This morning I told the flowers what I'd do for you, and they blossomed."
-Rupi Kaur
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