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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Third Pov~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The whole castle awakens to screaming. Deafening screaming. Screams that one would only hear when someone was being tortured.
Tom's eyes flicker open at the scream. It was a scream, he knew. A scream coming from a person he knew. In a single, curious moment, Tom Riddle follows the running of his classmates until he reached the Great hall.
"What the hell is going on?!" Lestrange yawns. "Who the hell woke me up?" He scowls, making Tom roll his eyes.
Avery instantly comes into his line of sight. "What happened to you?" Tom demands, eyebrows raising up at the amount of blood covering the boy.
"Abby was shot with a damn arrow." Avery seethes, through gritted teeth. "Valentine and this snake chick are probably being burnt alive, and I was stabbed with a fucking sword." He rages, eyes wide and frightened, his hand going to his side, which was drenched in blood.
"Holy shite," Nott demands, pointing into the Great Hall.
Someone was on fire.
Tom moves through the students easily. They let him pass without question for fear of him. Avery races after him, and Tom sees the flames dance as a reflection on Avery's brown eyes.
"Oh, dear Lord." Avery breathes.
Tom whips around at another heart-wrenching scream. He looks closer at the person, and his heart seems to squeeze in distaste and something else.
"VALENTINE!!!!" Tom yells in anger.
Anger.... such horrid rage fills the young Riddle. Valentine Dumbledore was on fire.
Fiendfyre, to be exact.
Professor Merrythought was freaking out. No one knew how to control Fiendfyre properly. Only exceedingly powerful people were known to control such cursed flames. "It's going to spread! EVERYONE STAND BACK!!!" Merrythought bellows.
"SOMEONE get the headmaster!!!! AND PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE!!!"
Tom shoves his way through. He could probably control the flames. He knew he could. He was powerful enough. He could stop Valentine from letting out those god awful screams that seemed to raise goosebumps on his arms whenever he heard them.
"Let me through!!" He roars, but Nott and Slughorn both grab him tightly.
"ARE you mad, boy!! That's Fiendfyre!!!" Slughorn looked like he wanted to smack his student.
"Someone has to help her!!!" Avery seethes. "DUMBLEDORE!!!" Avery screeches, clutching his side in pain. "LET THE DAMN THING GO!!!"
"She went back to save Nagini," Avery mutters, eyes growing haunted. "I cast that spell, Tom. ME!" He whispers in a horrified tone.
"Congratulations, Avery." Tom snarls at him, dark eyes growing more foreboding in his anger. "You've proven to everyone here how much of an idiot you ARE!" Tom shouts, wanting to wring his neck.
"You imbecile Avery! You've killed three people!" Nott hisses, shoving his friend.
The ground beneath them starts to shake. Valentine lets out a blood-curdling shriek as all the flames from Nagini slam into her and then dissolve into the floor.
Then everything explodes.
Students were sent hurling back, and teachers were thrown to the side in their surprise.
"Protego!" Tom demands, casting a protective shield in front of himself and his fellow Slytherins crowded behind him.
In seconds everyone was casting the Protego charm because Valentine Dumbledore has cast an enormous whirlwind of black magic and Fiendfyre. It circled the two victims in circles of fear and black waves.
"STAY BACK!!" Slughorn orders his students.
The professors send every spell they could think of at the mound of wind, magic and flames, but nothing worked.
Tom eyed the whirlwind in distaste. He could see outlines of Dumbledore and her friend from within, and he sighs. "Why am I always fixing your mess, Dumbledore?" He scowls and then sends out an insanely dark curse. "Displodeo."
The professors had not thought of using dark magic as an equal to the hurricane of black, but Tom Riddle had. Tom had because himself and Valentine had something ghastly in common, and that was their affinity for the dark arts and power.
He knew that to break apart the tremendous amount of power being thrown around in front of him, he needed more of it.
The second the dark curse slams into the prison of wind, it blasts apart.
Tom felt the arrogance alight inside him for a second before the smirk on his face is wiped away by the fact that every ounce of black magic was headed straight towards Nagini.
Nagini's body absorbs the magic like dessert sand drinking water.
"NOOOO!!" He hears Valentine scream and witnesses as Merrythought pulls the burnt girl away from her friend.
Tom's eyes instantly go to her petite stature, and his mouth curls up in a sneer.
Her whole body was covered with third-degree burns and blisters that looked like they were exceedingly painful.
Her hair was in tangles down her back, sticking on end due to being burnt off. Her clothes were in rags, and it was a wonder how she wasn't naked in front of everyone. Most of her skin was showing, and it was all singed.
"VAL!!" He hears one of her friends scream. It was that Ollivander girl he and Dumbledore had saved from death a while back.
Valentine collapses, being caught by Slughorn, who lowers her to the ground gently. Tom looked at her eyes and felt a slight chill. They were dull and dead. Alight only by the flames that danced around in front of her. The girl with oceans in her eyes was drowning, and she sat defeated, staring at the disaster in front of her.
Was that it? Tom thought with a curious, disgusted look. Was the girl that was filled with such power and fight in her as good as dead?
Had Valentine Dumbledore finally cracked under pressure?
Tom scoffs in disdain. Of course, she cracked. No one could hold on as much as he did. Of course, she snapped and decided to give up.
Nagini was being raised into the air, the magic encircling her and then going inside her.
The professors were flabbergast. They'd seen nothing like it.
Nagini drops and starts to vomit out blood.
The magic then decides to attack everyone else.
Professors line up as a first defence against the darkness that was threatening their students. They stood ready to die, protecting their pupils to the very end.
But Tom's eyes were on the slight smirk on Valentine's lips and the new flicker of light that had appeared in her eyes.
She slams her palms on my floor....her very burnt....very distressed palms. Tears erupt like a geyser from her blue eyes, and she stands, stumbling slightly.
No Valentine Dumbledore had not cracked. She was just getting started. She had not given up so futilely.
Respect booms in Tom's chest as he watches the girl so tattered and wounded stand up for another round.
No Tom's little nightlight had not been blown out. She shone like a star in the maze of his evil, malicious intent, and he stares enchanted, as she stops the attack by absorbing every ounce of the dark magic into herself.
She drops like a bag of hay and starts to convulse.
No....Valentine Dumbledore was still fighting.
She starts to vomit blood, a pool of red bubbling around in the Great Hall for everyone to see. No one said a word, everyone staring at the brave young child who was in so much pain.
No.....Valentine Dumbledore was not drowning.
She swam. She was swimming in her own blood.
She collapses, and her body grows still.
Everything goes to chaos.
A small smirk makes its way to Tom's lips. Tom steps back and retreats away from all the screaming and crying.
She'd be alright. She always was.
She was his light, after all.