Solving Riddles

Tales

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT HAVE AN- SERIOUSLY, WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER? YOU KNOW I DON'T.

The night was silent, owls hooted to one another, flowers danced swiftly to the music of the night wind, and a figure cloaked in black stalked through the deathly silence of the trees within a forest. He had a mission, a one that would take time to complete, but a mission that he'd complete nonetheless.

XXX

Abraxas handed Maximus a rolled up piece of parchment. "There, that's the letter now send it to him," he uttered, who stood at a nearby tree, walked over to the duo and snatched the letter from Abraxas' hands. "Let me read it first," she said while unrolling the letter.

Abraxas held his breath as Hermione's eyes roamed furiously over the parchment, she was smart, but she could be real bitch about things if she didn't like them. He'd have to rewrite it if she didn't think it was good enough, what was worse was that he'd have to write it with her.

Hermione nodded and handed back the letter when she was done, Abraxas let out a sigh of relief when she smiled.

"It's good," she said with another nod. "Inviting him over was the first step, we need to plan out how to ask him questions and also carefully analyse the questions themselves."

Abraxas groaned and Maximus raised an eyebrow. "You're fucking kidding me right? More work?!" Abraxas exclaimed and threw his hands up in exasperation.

Hermione nodded, "Yes, more work."

"Why does that even matter?" Maximus asked, his eyebrow still arched.

"Because, if you're not careful he'll get suspicious and tell his father."

"He's an idiot, Hermione, he wouldn't get suspicious of a crook if he walked up to him with a big "I'm going to con you" sign."
Hermione raised an eyebrow, not because he'd insulted Darnaeus, but because he'd called her Hermione. It sounded odd coming from him, why'd he call her that? She shook the question out of her head and brought herself back to the situation at hand.

"That's besides the point, if we aren't careful this'll all go to shit."
"Fine," the two muttered simultaneously.

"Good. To the library."

XXX

Damien Nott was slightly disturbed by the smirk on Alexander Avery's face as he spoke of how he was going to kill Abraxas. He hadn't intended for it to go this far, he believed that after a few meetings Avery would give up on the thought and move on, he was wrong. The boy had somehow managed to gain the support of the others, all in fear, of course. The other's were terrified of Avery, the boy had a mean side, perhaps gained by years of slaving under Tom. Years longer than any of them had. Avery might not have noticed, but he was only a few fractions better than Tom, anger and hatred boiled under his skin and every once in a while you could see it creep up onto his face, clouding it and hiding away his humanity.

"...and then we'll slit his throat, throw him into the forest and let him be eaten by whatever's out there. The end," Avery finished with a clap of his hands. "Any queries?" It was rhetorical, of course.

Everyone shook their heads, including Nott. Personally, he didn't agree with this, he was quite sure that no one agreed with it. He may not have been on the friendliest terms with Abraxas, but that didn't mean that he wanted the boy dead. He wanted to talk to Abraxas about it but then Avery would find out, and he'd be as dead as Abraxas would be in a few days. Nott was shaken out of his thoughts when Avery tapped him lightly on the shoulder, he looked up at the boy startled.

"Y-yes?" He stuttered, his hands turned cold under the table.

"Pay attention," Avery said lightly, clicking his tongue. "We're discussing the matter of whom the killer is going to be, and I thought that perhaps you, Nott, would like to do it."
"M-me? I don't think so, I'm not capable of th-"
"Sure you are, one slice of a knife and you're done, quick and easy. What's so difficult about that?"

"Nothing, I just- I don't think I can."
"Are you scared, Nott?"
"N-no I just don-"

"You sound scared, doesn't he sound scared?" Avery turned from Nott to look at the rest of the boys seated at the table. They stared back blankly at him. "I asked a question. Doesn't he look scared?"

They nodded, all out of fear of their own safety.

"You see, they all think you're scared. You don't want them to think you're a coward now, do you?"
"I'm not a cowa-"
"Then do it. Prove you're not a coward and get rid of Abraxas Malfoy, and perhaps you'll turn into a hero."
"I can't."

Avery frowned and got up from the table with a sigh, he placed a hand on Nott's shoulder and nodded.

"I really thought you were stronger than this, but apparently you're not. It's alright though, we'll find someone else to be our hero, someone less cowardly." He dug his nails into Nott's shoulder making the boy wince and began heading towards the door of the room of requirement. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

Nott could feel the dread start to ebb into him as he watched the door close behind Avery.

XXX

His hair was growing long now, he could tell because it fell in front of his face, blurring his vision. He no longer wondered about when he'd be let out, he just wished they'd give him some god-damned water.

XXX

The cloaked figure stood in front of a building, staring at it not really wanting to go inside, he already knew what he wanted to know, there was no reason to go inside. He contemplated this for a very long time before, finally, hesitantly opening the termite beaten front door and entering. He walked up a staircase so old that he wondered why it wasn't breaking against his weight. As he walked onto the landing he started down an eerie hallway and sighed to himself, the pains of power's thirst, he proceeded to walk down the hallway and opened the first door to his left. Inside sat a man so worn you'd think he was dead, but alas he wasn't, the man sat up upon hearing the door creak open.

"Didn't think you'd be comin'," the worn man spoke.

The cloaked man let out a wry laugh. "Didn't want to, but you know me," he replied with a shrug.

"Ay, you bet yer scrawny arse I do." The worn man laughed, showing his broken yellow teeth.

The cloaked man sighed again, removing his hat and running a hand through his white hair. "Could you get out of that disguise, it's rather sickening."

The man laughed and waved his hand. "Alright, alright keep yer knickers on."

The colour faded from his skin and in dust began to swirl around him as he transformed back into who he was. He coughed and waved the dust away as his eyes turned from a sickly grey to a blue hue.

"Better?" The accent was gone.

"Much," the cloaked man nodded as he stared at the face of his old friend. "It's nice to see you again, Dimitri."

"Doubt it."

XXX

A/N: Leave review if you liked it. I really want to start uploading more frequently but you all know how that goes, so yeah.