The screaming outside didn't stop. Tom did his best to tune it out. He scowled harshly as he pulled out drawers, threw aside papers and toppled desks all in search for the documents he wanted to find. His eyes quickly scan across each page, searching and searching for the word 'Malumis'. This was all on him now. All on HIM. He'd gotten everyone into this mess. He'd gotten everyone onto his cause. Now it was time for his end of the bargain.
Mia stood petrified in the middle of the room, her eyes locked on Tom as he ravaged through the endless sea of papers. She was completely silent. She just... watched.
Then the screaming stopped. It happened abruptly. Like a turned off light switch. Tom paused his searching.
"Paul!" he yelled out. No response, "Paul!" he repeated again. Realisation dawned on him. He looked away from the door, as if hiding from what he knew was on the other side.
And then, just as Tom expected, the banging started. Like the cracking of whips, loud blasts were heard impacting the two large doors to the office. Tom was more glad than ever that he set up those seals when he had, even if it was a dangerous maneuver. Nobody was getting through those doors any time soon.
"... Is Paul dead?" Mia's whisper was barely heard. Tom paused his searching. He was breathing heavily, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Slowly he turned around and bent down to be on Mia's level. His eyes looked so tired as he gazed into hers. He opened his mouth to speak but words failed him. EVentually he gave up and just nodded sadly. Mia looked as if she was about to cry. Tom, with great difficulty, pulled himself back up and continued searching through the piles.
Never did he imagine it would ever come to this.
How did this even start?
How did he get here?
Just a few years ago he was nothing but a lonely little boy, lost and alone. And now he'd started an uprising. And that all came from what even he only thought was a grudge. But he turned out to be more than that. More than anything anyone could've imagined. The subjugation of his people; the death of Harry Potter and now the death of Paul Layne...
Tom felt his own hands quiver as the weight of everyone suddenly set in. He kept on searching though- mindlessly scanning over page after page. Surely, surely, SURELY something had to be here. If there wasn't then everything would've been all for nothing-
Tom finally grasped it. He held it in his hands. He took a step back in shock and emotion completely overwhelmed him. A large black book, under everything, hidden almost completely with one word written on the cover in bleeding crimson: 'Malumis'. His breathing quickened. Mia could tell something had happened. She rushed over to him to see. Tom quickly flipped through the book. He read certain extracts.
'The Young Family enslaved these inhabitants...'
'These inhabitants had never-before-seen levels of magical talent and prowess. They were harnessed by the Young Family.'
'Many of these riches were originally property of the Malumis People...'
This was it. Everything. Perfect evidence. Tom didn't know whether to burst out laughing or crying. Unable to do either he dropped to the floor, his legs buckling beneath him. He'd lost all his strength. There was no way for him to continue fighting. Mia instantly turned to him, concern brewing on her face.
"What happened, are you alright?" she quickly asked. Tom had trouble but nodded with difficulty.
"This is it," he said, his voice hoarse, "This proves everything we said, this document will set our family free."
Mia smiled at him but still had a face full of concern.
"C-can we go home now?" She knew the answer to the question herself. Tom slowly looked towards the door. The banging outside hadn't stopped. On the other side were more than half a dozen trained aurors shooting spells directly at the door and ready to kill as soon as they entered the room.
Tom's chest raised slightly as he pulled himself to the center of the room. Mia chased after him, worried.
"T-Tom, Tom, please!" she called out, seemingly begging him to stop.
"Mia..." Tom's voice barely made it out, "Come here..."
Mia walked up and sat down on her knees so she was on the same level as Tom. She was already on the verge of tears.
"Mia... I am so sorry," his voice was a whisper.
"No, no, no-"
Tom cut her off, "You didn't deserve to see this... you're only a child... you deserve to be a child..."
"Just stop, we can go, please just let's just go-"
"You don't deserve what happened to me... you're so much better than I ever was..."
"Please," Tears were now streaming down Mia's face. Tom raised his hand slowly and wiped the tear off Mia's cheek.
"Mia... I love you... and I'm so so sorry..."
Tom's face slowly changed...
He smiled. Tears slowly started trickling down his face.
"W-what are you doing?" Mia tensed up as she was this unnatural occurrence for Tom.
"Mia... this is goodbye," Tom was still smiling although with clear difficulty and tears.
"What!?"
"I think everyone knew I wasn't making it out of this alive. I never was going to..."
"What are you saying? Y-you're the best person in the whole world and I don't want you to go-" She pulled Tom into a large hug. Tom didn't resist, in fact he reciprocated.
"Please don't go..." she whispered.
"Mia... I have to..." he pulled himself gradually out of the hug, "We've got to stop the cycle..."
"Wha-"
Tom slowly raised his shaking hands and put them on Mia's temples, "Mia... I'm going to cut off our connection to magic."
"No, no, no-"
"The Young Family and the Malumis will be disconnected forever-"
"But we won't be able to use magic ever again!"
"It will be a blessing for you... this world of magic... you deserve better..."
"But-but- YOUR magic is the only thing keeping us alive!"
Tom nodded, "As soon as I do this, all those people will run in and they'll kill me... but then you have to give them that document... prove everything that we've said."
"No, no!"
"Mia!" Tom silenced Mia and looked directly into her soul, "Y-you're the best thing that ever happened to me... please... just..."
"I-I can't..."
Tom shut his eyes. Mia protested again. Tom tuned her out. It was inevitable now. He knew what had to be done. He prepared himself and let the feeling run through him. It was time to finally put an end to all this.
"I'm sorry."
The moment he activated the Anti Magic Equation, the seal dropped instantly. A stream of aurors burst in. Tom immediately pushed his whole body over Mia, blocking her for all the upcoming fire that was about to be sent their way. Streams of sparks shot everywhere. The whole world seemed to slow down as if it was in slow motion. Tom's smile and tears remained on his face.
He thought back to when he was in the orphanage. He had just been a child. A tiny child locked in an even smaller room, the lone dangling lightbulb and the window too high up for him to reach- it was like a prison cell without a bed and too cold. Even now the screeching sounds of the train-line from the bridge opposite his window were etched into his brain.
The matron: wasn't she a character? Tom couldn't make head nor tail of her. Every part of his brain screamed at him to hate her but... he couldn't. The woman was the closest thing to a mother to him. She gave him food, clothes, a place to sleep... Tom couldn't help but be attached.
Then at Hogwarts... to Tom, this was when his life got even worse. His school life was like a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Even in times where he should have been 'happy' he was sad. And then even that was snatched away from him.
'My life was so short,' Tom thought to himself, 'I never got to do anything I really wanted to do... or anything I liked doing... or anything that could be fun in the slightest... but it's ok. I deserved it.
All I can hope for is that... my sins don't bleed onto Mia. She is a good child. She doesn't deserve what I deserve...
I'm sorry.'
A flash of blinding green light hit Tom directly in the back. In an instant all life disappeared in his body. His body went limp and toppled over lifelessly.
Protected by Tom's body, Mia hid shivering until the sounds eventually stopped. She shut her eyes tight, grabbing onto the document Tom had given her for dear life. The aurors walked around the room, inspecting the corpse they'd just made. Crawling out from under it, Mia still clutched the document. Upon seeing the little girl, the aurors lowered their wands. Mia's eyes widened as she turned and saw Tom. Her mouth opened to scream but no noise came out. It was all gone- she was too sad to even yell out. Instead she just collapsed. She leaned into his body and let everything she'd been holding in come out. She couldn't even form words, it was just pure grief.
It took 2 of the aurors to tear her away from the body. And it took 2 hours for her to stop crying.
Walking through the wreckage of the ministry was haunting for Mia. Carnage, paper, destruction and occasionally even bodies were strewn across the floor. Mia was escorted by these nameless aurors through the building, the images of chaos being imprinted on her mind. She looked shellshocked. Even still she clutched tight onto the document given to her. She wasn't going to let go of it for the world.
Unbeknownst to her, two figures came up to the aurors and started talking to them. After a heated yet brief exchange, Mia changed hands and started being taken away by someone else. She didn't recognise them or care to but the two figures were Professor Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
"You don't have to worry anymore," Ron's words fell on deaf ears.
"You're going to be safe with us," Hermione might as well have been talking to a brick wall. Mia was completely unresponsive. She didn't even register that people were talking to her. All she'd wanted to do was live her life ... and have him by her side, watching over her. She'd already lost her father, her mother, her whole family but... he was there for her... and now she really did have nothing.
In many ways the day after was worse. At least on the day she had something to do. Mia felt empty. The days seemed to just pass by. Then weeks. It was pointless. There was nothing.
One Year Passed.
The whole Malumis document had been leaked completely to the public. The full history was now completely available. All remaining members of the family had been arrested. The condition of the surviving Malumis' was still unknown. There is still civil unrest in the streets: Protests, riots; a spark had clearly been lit by this movement. However Mia didn't seem to be interested. She had completely disconnected herself from the Wizarding World. Now that she had no magic, she'd been basically thrown out by all wizards. She now found herself in an orphanage, all alone and by herself. The world was in turmoil and so was she. She doubted if she would ever even feel real happiness ever again. It felt as if she'd been cursed- cursed to be born of this bloodline- cursed to be born into this world at all. She couldn't even smile or cry anymore.
There was a sudden bout of thunder. The grey skies suddenly lit with lightning as rain pelted down to the ground below. A large square building, surrounded by high black railings stood tall. The walls were clean and white and despite the generic look to the building, the inside was warm looking and lived in. A large man dressed in a dark brown trenchcoat that covered his whole appearance stood by the entrance and pressed on the buzzer. After a short wait, they were allowed entry and walked into the reception calmly.
"Good afternoon sir," the matron of the orphanage said politely, "Sorry to have kept you waiting."
The man didn't reply.
"If you could come this way please."
The man nodded and followed the matron, a young woman, down the hall.
Mia sat alone in her room, shadows under her eyes and a perpetual frown on her face. Her room was sizeable with a large bunk-bed, a comfy-looking red couch, a snug wardrobe and a nice carpet on the floor. A knock from the door startled her as she'd been daydreaming by herself on her bed.
"What is it?" she called through the door.
"Sorry to bother you Mia!" the matron called back, "It's just... we have someone here who wants to adopt you!"
Mia scoffed and walked over to the door, opening it and saying, "I've said a thousand times I don't want to-"
She stopped.
The matron and the large man stared back at her. She was practically gaping at them.
"Mia, this kind man has said that he wants... well... he wants to be your father."
Mia took a step back in shock. She blinked before her face then suddenly morphed into a large smile. She ran up to the man and embraced him in a large and friendly hug.
"I'm... so happy."
The matron beamed and looked over to the man proudly, "Wow! I've never seen her so happy! This... this really is unexpected!"
The man looked down at the young girl who was now his daughter and smiled to himself.
'Maybe... maybe all that pain, all that suffering...
Maybe it was all just about worth it.'
---THE END---