Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Twenty-Six

"He's going to start running out of days," Xavier shrugged before grabbing his flask off the bed and taking a sip, offering it up to Avalon afterward. She took the small metal container from him and raised it to her lips, feeling the familiar warmth of the alcohol as it burned its way down her throat.

"I have to admit, you're a lot more sober than I anticipated you'd be at your own birthday party," she said.

Xavier looked around the room before letting out a hearty laugh. "Love, the party hasn't even begun yet."

She shook her head. Perhaps it had been foolish to think Xavier Lestrange wouldn't throw himself an extravagant event for his birthday. "Well," she said, snapping her fingers and lighting the candles on the cake. "Now that we are all here... make a wish."

"Whatever could I wish for? Everything I could need is sitting right here," he said.

Everyone, including Avalon, let out a collective groan.

"Booooo!" yelled Demitri.

"Oi, fuck off," Xavier protested, a joking scowl on his lips.

"My hair's turning silver, mate," Adonis chimed in. "On with it!"

"Fine, fine," Xavier said, pausing a moment to think before a flash of realization came across his features and he leaned over towards the cake, blowing out the candles and grinning to himself.

"What did you wish for?" Avalon asked.

"Well if I told you, then it wouldn't come true, would it?" he replied, kissing her cheek.

"What happened to having everything you needed?"

"I thought of something," he said with a wink.

"Can someone cut the bloody cake before those two make me lose my appetite?" Orion joked as he playfully frowned towards Avalon, who rolled her eyes and laughed in return. Avalon flicked her wrist towards the cake and from within the parcel that the elves had bundled up for her, a knife levitated upwards and began slicing a perfectly cut piece before it floated slowly onto a plate and then shot towards Avery's face.

He let out a gasp and grabbed the plate just a moment before it hit him, but the cake still flew forward, smacking him on the side of his cheek. Avalon burst into laughter, as did everyone else in the room, as she watched his fingers reach up and scraped the remnants of chocolate frosting back onto his plate with a disgusted look on his face. For a moment, Avalon's eyes met Riddle's, and she watched as he shook his head, a ghost of a smile lingering on his lips as he watched the scene before him. Avery paused a moment before his eyes narrowed on Avalon and he laughed, "Oh, you're so dead!"

He sprung onto his feet, pouncing towards her and she let out a yelp before jumping off of Xavier's lap and fleeing towards safety, Avery chasing after her with a glob of frosting on his finger.

An hour later, the cake was gone-- largely due to the Quidditch boys inhaling it in one sitting-- and the bottles were nearly drained. The room was buzzing with a lively energy as they laughed, talked, and joked the time away. Xavier and Demitri had each taken a knee, locking their arms through the other's as they chugged the last remaining bottles of firewhiskey.

Orion and Axel had invented a game of trying to toss tiny balls of torn-up, clumped napkins into empty bottles around the room. They would eye their targets carefully, focusing all of their concentration into perfecting their aim before they would shoot the tiny bits of trash and watch in anticipation as they would just barely miss their mark.

"How the bloody hell have we not made a single shot?" Axel groaned, frustratedly throwing his hands up in the air before he begrudgingly took a swig from his drink.