Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Twelve

She couldn't take her eyes off of the hallway before her. It occurred to her that this was where she had seen Ron last-- they had run into each other after the chaos that ensued after Harry's body was paraded through the crowds. The redhead had been a mess, completely hysterical after losing his older brother and his best friend on the same day, and yet she hadn't had time to comfort him-- all she had done was mouth 'It'll be okay' to him before finding herself back in the thick of battle, fighting off the army of Death Eaters that had outnumbered them that day.

She hadn't seen Ron again after that. If she had known that would be the last time she'd see him maybe she would have spent a little longer with him, or told him how much their friendship meant to her, or at least hugged him. She never did find out what happened to him-- his name was never among those listed as dead, but nobody that she spoke to had heard from him. He had become another one of the disappeared wizards. One among thousands of those that they didn't know were dead or alive.

She wanted to believe he was alive, but only if he was hiding in a safehouse as she had been. It pained her to think that he might have been put through the same inhumane torture at the hands of the Death Eaters that she and Hermione had already endured. To her, that may be a fate worse than even death, itself.

But, no. She didn't want to think that way. None of that mattered. Because she was going to save them all. Save the fallen, save the lost, save the hurt, and save the living. She was going to end their misery before it began by putting a stop to the wizard responsible for all of their pain.

She just had to figure out how.

Her feet dragged forward, carrying her through the walls of the castle. She didn't feel like taking her usual route, too many haunting memories were sneering at her, so she chose to walk a different path that didn't take her through the main halls. Her footsteps were so quiet that they were almost nonexistent-- too many months of fearing for her life and sneaking under the noses' of Death Eaters trained her into muffling the sound of her own steps out of pure habit. What little noise she did make was drowned out by the battering of the rain against the castle's exterior.

She turned a corner and walked through an abandoned corridor, staring out at the dark sky as she passed by window after window. It wasn't until a few moments later when she saw a familiar head of blond hair just barely peeking out from behind a pillar. She wasn't sure if it was him at first, but as she walked closer, it was undoubtedly Orion, so she playfully called out, "I keep running into you in the dead of night."

He whipped around, startled, immediately taking a step back and exposing a petite girl that had been wrapped in his arms. Avalon's eyes widened when she noticed the girl, followed by the realization that Orion's face was flushed a soft rosy pink, his lips terribly swollen, and his hair tousled into a disheveled mess at the hands of the strawberry blond girl before him.

Avalon recognized the girl: she was a sixth year Hufflepuff-- Clara Bell. They shared Herbology together, and the Professor had made it more than clear that Bell was the best student he had ever had in the subject. Her doe-like brown eyes were wide as she looked between Orion and Avalon, her fingers still wrapped in her lover's.

Orion turned to Clara and hushedly whispered something to her before she quickly scampered away, keeping her head low and avoiding Avalon's gaze as she left the two of them alone in the corridor. Avalon looked at Avery, confused. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was interrupting." He looked flustered: a mixture of panicked and agitated as he walked towards her, running his hands through his hair anxiously. "So Bell is your girlfriend?"

"What are you doing out so late?" he asked, his voice much more bothered than usual.

"I was just studying with Riddle-"