His Light In The Darkness

Chapter Forty - The End

Chapter Forty

The weeks had seemed to drag by, but finally, it was the day. It was the day that Tom was going to meet up with Elayne at the Leaky Cauldron.

When he entered the pub, there were a few others inside. A large group of witches and wizards sat in the middle of the room, all laughing and having a good time.

Tom sneered in their direction as he walked over to the very same table that he and Elayne had sat at when they got back from Hogwarts.

He sat there for a few moments before one of the bar maids came over and took his order. He ordered two butter beers, one for Elayne and one for himself.

As he looked around, Tom noticed a few other witches gathered in the corner. A couple of them kept glancing over in his direction, looking as if they were giggling.

Brown eyes narrowed at them for a moment before he looked away, picking up his drink and taking a sip.

From somewhere close behind him, Tom heard someone clear their throat.

Tom looked over his shoulder, expecting to see reddish brown curls and blue eyes, but what he saw was the opposite. A young man was stood behind him, hands in his pants pockets.

"Hello, Tom." Eli spoke.

Narrowing his eyes at his girlfriend's twin, he slowly stood up. "Eliyis." His gaze darted around the pub. "Where's Elayne? She was supposed to meet me here."

Eli bowed his head for a moment before looking back up at Tom. Pulling a hand from his pocket, Eli gestured to the empty chair across from Tom. "Mind if I sit? I'll explain everything."

Eli's words made Tom set his jaw, giving a short nod and sitting back down.

Eli sat down in the chair across from Tom, folding his hands on the table. The younger boy let out a sigh before looking up at Tom.

"What is it?" Tom asked, eyebrow raised. "What aren't you telling me? Where's Elayne?"

Eli shook his head. "She's not coming, I'm afraid."

Tom's hands curled into fists. "What do you mean she isn't coming?"

Sighing again, Eli ran a hand through his hair. "You know that Elayne and my dad went away, right?"

Tom nodded. "She told me that they were going looking for some sort of creature."

"Yeah..." Eli began. "Well... Something went wrong while they were out searching for it."

Slamming a hand down on the table, Tom hissed, "What happened?"

"She got attacked." Eli began and before he could continue, Tom cut him off.

"Attacked? By what? Is your father not one of the best magical creature experts? How did that even happen?" Tom all but roared at the boy in front of him, his lip pulled back over his teeth in a snarl.

Sitting back in his chair, Eli held up his hands. "My dad IS the best there is, but Elayne... When she got back home after the school year ended, Gwen and Maddison cornered her at our house. They had heard about what Elayne and my dad had planned, because Leon had been telling anyone who would listen." Eli shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. "They... They dared her to go off on her own to look for this creature. They told her that if she found it all by herself, they would forgive her for what happened with Caleb." Eli squeezed his eyes shut. "You know my sister... At the thought of being forgiven, even if it wasn't her fault, was something magical. She obviously agreed right away, not thinking clearly that the creature they were going to go find was extremely dangerous."