A Puppet on a String-(Tom Riddle x OC)

Chapter 1

Heading out of the commons Reese sat by herself to eat breakfast and read a new book on the dark arts when she was moved out of her seat. By moved, it meant wandlessly pulled over to the side of Eli where the rest of the boys were eating. They were all trained in wandless wordless magic, but performing both at once was a challenge for difficult spells.

It was no surprise that through Reese's flattering looks and being the only girl for miles that some of the boys had taken a liking to her, but she knew it was nothing more than physical.

"We have our woods assignments today you know" Kasper mumbled with food still in his mouth.

Kasper was shy, unlike many of the other boys, he tended to keep to himself like Reese, but had kept quiet to not be tortured by Eli and his gang.

"Oh" was all Reese could mumble, Eli visibility smirked at how uncomfortable she seemed in their seating arrangement.

Eli was Reese's first kiss, first everything, but it was all through manipulation. She was scared of him, and she felt like prey among the many men outside of school grounds.

The group stood at the sound of church bells and made their way into the forest. The forest outside Erehnoll was dark, and full of creatures unknown to most of Europe. One of the main dark teachings was how to banish these animals. Today they were going to conquer a banshee.

Banshees were powerful if one did not react fast enough. Its scream could pierce ears from yards away if it is not gotten rid of before eye contact is made. Fire was the main technique for this but it could be done other ways.

Such rituals required a sacrifice, of blood or the soul, and Reese did not prefer cutting her palm often so today she would simply lose some more of what little she has left of herself.

Going into the woods with the group felt safe, but an aura radiated off the woods of darkness and of unwelcoming creatures.

She was starting to get worried until Lindler came from the shadows. Lindler was Reese's one and only professor off campus if he could even be called that. He was obviously a devoted follower of Grindelwald trained in powerful magic, but he had an upper hand coming from Ireland.

"You must break off today, you know what to do at this point, if you come back alive and unharmed you pass, if you do not come back or come back injured you fail. Go."

The commands were simple but still sent shivers down Reese's spine, she knew failure resulted in punishment by crusade, as she knew all too well, scars on her body were marks to never fail again and submit to fear.

She continued to wander through the woods knowing she would see a banshee soon. With intentions in mind she spotted the ghost-like figure hunched over the body of a traveler. Before the banshee noticed her she wordlessly mouthed the fiendfyre incantation controlling the amount of damage she wanted done.

Though it was exhausting on her body, Reese was able to put the same amount of damage from a fiendfyre into a smaller version of the spell, trying to avoid burning the entire woods down. Banshees were affected by gold, which she infused into the spell by her own means to completely banish the entity.

Reese slowly approached what was left of the fay-like creature and bottled the ashes of it for evidence of completion. Then turned to make her way back to the commons where Lindler was waiting.

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Being first to return to the comments was normal for Reese, she was at the top of all of her courses for the group, but her skills still remainder underestimated as the members of her group did not fully grasp the extent to which her gift reached.

"I bottled the ashes sir" Reese mumbled to Lindler, standing before him with fear masked by confidence only few could see through.

"Very well, you have passed, you may return to your room" Lindler said. Reese was not necessarily on his bad side, but he was never afraid to punish someone for failing an assignment.

It took several hours for all the members of the group to return to the room, two of which came back with cuts and wide eyes. It wasn't hard to tell they had faced Lindlers punishments. The entire group was exhausted from the days assignments so after eating the same bland dinner they are served every night, they all retreated back to their room at 10:00 to go to sleep.

Staring at the ceiling, Reese contemplated her entire school years at Erehnoll. Sure she loved the feeling of power, which being separate from the main school gave her, but she couldn't help but feel suffocated, like her fate was determined for her. It wasn't that she wanted to do more with her life, she actually wanted to do less. Maybe move into a quite town far away from all the chaos, where no one knows about her gift and can exploit her from it.

Suddenly Reese heard the creaking of a door. Not her rooms door, since everyone would wake up, but somewhere seemingly far away. She wasn't sure if it was a vision coming on, but the sound of muffled voices confirmed her thoughts that this was indeed happening in real time.

Slowly and carefully getting up from bed, she took slow steps down the hall. In the key hole of her room she saw two men standing together seemingly having a tense conversation.

"We don't know the repercussions of going with this, we could just not tell her" Lindler said.

Though his back was turned, Reese would be able to recognize that voice from anywhere. The man that was in her view was tall, menacing, and the only man it could be was her head master. She was utterly confused on why the main headmaster was off campus, usually he would never come just encase someone followed them to their remote location.

"It was signed with magic, it was in her will with the school, she has to leave tomorrow."

Reese thought about who they could be speaking of, but she was the only girl in their group, and Lindler would have gone to the main castle if it concerned an issue over there.

She was pushed out of her thoughts when she saw a shadowy figure approaching the door. Quickly she ran back to her bed, laid in it and pretended to be asleep when the door creaked open. Groans sounded around the room from the light that flooded through the door.

"Reese Cliodna up. Now."

Lindlers voice commanded.

She pretended to groan and roll over as if she had been awakened from a deep slumber, then got up and shuffled over to the door. Lindler lead the way and showed her out of the room, leaving each of the boys confused and grumpy from being awakened at such late hours.

"May I ask what you woke me for Mr. Lindler? I'm assuming it must be important" she said with the upmost respect. Curiosity can be seen as nosy by her professors.

"Begin packing your bags once you return, you are leaving Erehnoll tomorrow morning."