Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Shared Flame	By : TheLadyMiya Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 58981 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not make any money writing this.

Chapter List
- 41
- 42
- 43
Here we go, new chapter up! Hope you’ll enjoy it.

As always, I’d like to express my deepest thanks to my betas, Nerys and Shan84. Without you, this story would just be another cookie, but you help me add the delicious chocolate into them… mmm, chocolate.

I also really appreciate those of you who take their time to review! They make my day. You can find your review replies here:

http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/20494-shared-flame-by-lady-miya/page__st__40__gopid__291928#entry291928

Chapter 41

Voldemort quickly closed the door to Alexandra’s room and went back to Hermione and the Auror. He would need to get the Aurors to leave without them getting suspicious.

“Sorry about that,” he said, entering the room. “Just wanted to make sure all the fighting hadn’t woken the little one.”

“Is she alright?” Hermione asked, looking worried.

“Oh, yes, slept like a baby,” Voldemort lied, desperately hoping this wouldn’t be one of those times Hermione was able to see through his lies.

She didn’t look convinced, but thankfully she didn’t press him.

“Well, then,” Brennan said, also looking a bit confused. “My colleague will be leaving with Mr Potter. Would you like to go somewhere else to make the statements?”

Voldemort pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “You know what, Mrs Brennan, I’m afraid I spoke too soon earlier. I just remembered—with all that has been going on lately—our attorney has ordered us not to speak to you, for any reason, without her present. Would it be possible for us to come down to the station with her later today to give our statements?”

At once, Brennan looked suspicious. “As I’ve understood it, you were the victim here. You will have no need for an attorney if you are as innocent as it seems.”

“Yes, well, after spending a night in a holding cell for the preposterous accusation of being You-Know-Who, I’m not convinced of your department’s competence in seeing things as they are,” Voldemort snapped. “I know my rights, Mrs Brennan. We will come down when we have had a good night’s sleep and the opportunity to speak with our attorney.”

“Very well, Professor Foster,” Brennan said, sounding much less friendly. “I’ll just do a quick sweep of the area surrounding your house, making sure Potter didn’t have an accomplice.”

“Thank you,” Voldemort said.

It appeared that Brennan wasn’t as stupid as every other Auror. Voldemort knew Weasley was somewhere in the area, waiting for Potter to return. No doubt Brennan was aware of Potter and Weasley’s close friendship as well. Both of them would be behind bars for the night.

Five minutes later, the Aurors had left with Potter, and Voldemort was able to start working on a plan to get both of his daughters back.

“What’s going on?” Hermione asked, clearly suspicious.

“Alexandra Disapparated,” Voldemort said, getting dressed with a flick of his wand.

“What?” Hermione cried. “She doesn’t even have a wand!”

“Well, we knew our daughters were powerful,” Voldemort replied, dressing her with another flick of his wand. “The good thing is that this child, I can track. Hurry up, we need to move quickly!”

Taking Hermione’s hand, he dragged her downstairs to the cellar. Now, she would see the advantages of blood magic. He had collected samples of all his girls, and they made a very powerful tracking spell. All he needed was a map, so they would know where they were Apparating to. It hadn’t worked with Althea, because the fairies had somehow shielded her. It probably had something to do with the fairy magic she had inside her. Alexandra didn’t have that, and hopefully, wherever she was, the fairies hadn’t found her yet.

Ignoring Hermione’s questions, he spread a map of the world over the floor in the basement. It was magical, so it would zoom in on any location he wished it to do. In this case, it would zoom in on wherever the blood was.

Withdrawing the clear bottle with Alexandra’s blood, he uncorked it and summoned one small drop of blood. Whispering the spell, mostly for Hermione’s benefit, he flicked his wand, sending the blood to the map. It turned into a small ball and landed on Ireland. The map grew, showing exactly where in Ireland she was.

He let out a sigh of relief. She was still visible to his magic. That was a very good sign. Yet, there was still no time to lose. Taking Hermione’s hand again, he spun them around and Apparated just north of the town Clonmel.

They found themselves in almost complete darkness. The smell, sound, and feeling underneath his feet told Voldemort they were in a forest, even before he managed to light his wand. Hermione lit her wand just a second later, and together, they illuminated their immediate surroundings. Trees, trees, and more trees. No Alexandra. But there was definitely something there. Voldemort took another deep breath and felt the hair at the back of his neck prickle. He would’ve recognised that magical stench anywhere. Fairies.

Were they too late?

“Alex!” Voldemort called. His daughter was here; the map had shown them!

“Alexandra!” Hermione called as well.

But the forest was empty. Or, as far as they could see, it was. The fairies didn’t always exist in the same phase of their dimension. Something told him they were here, but in another plane of existence. Alexandra had somehow been able to cross through, but they hadn’t. Why?

“Alexandra!” Hermione bellowed again.

“We have to get back home,” Voldemort said.

“But she isn’t here!” Hermione cried, sounding as though she was on the brink of becoming hysterical again.

Voldemort grabbed her at once, and Apparated them back home.

“Why did you do that?” Hermione cried.

“There was fairy magic there,” Voldemort replied quickly. “Alexandra somehow found a way into their realm, but we couldn’t pass through. Yet. But now we know where she is! Where they both are! Alexandra would be trying to get to Althea; they are together.”

At least that was what he thought. Children were capable of great magical things if they were in a heightened emotional state. He highly doubted that it was a mere coincidence that Alexandra was in a place reeking of fairy magic.

But how had she found that place?

Could it have something to do with whatever she had grabbed on her nightstand before she left?

“We have to find out how she did it. She couldn’t just have done this on a whim,” Hermione said, sounding desperate. “Oh. Wait. I just … Check her room. I’ll check the library.”

Not even waiting to see if he was going to follow her order, she hurried upstairs. Not seeing any point questioning her, he went to Alexandra’s room. He walked straight to the messy nightstand. It seemed his daughter threw half the things she owned on there. Besides a lamp and clock, there were three of those fairytale books she loved, a small bowl with shiny rocks, toy figures shaped as horses, a teddy bear, a hairbrush, a box with jewellery, hair tassels, pencils … Voldemort growled. Why couldn’t Alexandra just keep her things in order?

He withdrew his wand and cast a scanning spell, trying to see if there was something magical on the nightstand. He recognised his own magic on a bracelet he had given her for Christmas a few years ago. Protection spells. However, apart his powerful magic, there was a small trace of something else. He picked up the friendship bracelets she had made. There was magic on some of them. Just a faint trace.

“She has been reading up on Apparition,” Hermione said, appearing in the doorway with a book in her hand. “She was reading this earlier tonight. She even told me about it. She was wondering why we hadn’t just Apparated to Althea, and I just said we hadn’t been able to. I never would have thought she’d try it out … What if she got Splinched?”

“Then parts of her would be here. But they aren’t. She is in the realm of the fairies—intact,” Voldemort reassured as he mentally added that piece of information to the puzzle of Alexandra’s disappearance. It made sense that she had read about Apparition. Knowing how to Apparate would increase the chances of her succeeding with it.

“Do you know where she made these?” Voldemort asked, holding up the friendship bracelets.

Hermione stared at them for a moment. “Yes, I believe it was her friend Sabina who taught her how to made them.”

“That Muggle from her school?”

“Yes.”

Voldemort frowned and inspected the bracelet. The ones with the magical trace looked very similar to the ones without it. But Alexandra wasn’t good with practical things. She didn’t have the patience. However, he had noticed that she quickly found shortcuts, using magic. She must have used magic to tie these bracelets together!

And she had given Althea one of them. That meant that the same magic he had in his hand was on something Althea wore. It was so faint that it was hardly worth mentioning. That must be why Alexandra was able to Apparate through the fairies’ wards. There was a link!

No, wait, that couldn’t be the whole truth. If the link were there, he would have been able to find it. There had to be more to it than that.

Suddenly, Voldemort remembered how the fairies had tried to kill Alexandra when she was still just a foetus. They must have feared that something like this would happen. They knew they wanted to take Althea away, but why kill the sister? That part had never made sense to him. Now it seemed it had been some form of preparation. Perhaps the only one who could find Althea once the fairies had her was Alexandra?

But why? And how?

No, those questions weren’t important at the moment. They needed to get them back first.

“I believe it’s time to put our plan in motion, then,” Hermione said, apparently reaching the same conclusion he had. He could see that she was trying her hardest not to fall back into panic mode. Good. They didn’t have time for that now.

“I believe it is,” Voldemort answered thoughtfully. “If we manage to distract the fairies long enough, we will most likely manage to use the link to Alexandra to get into their realm and take Alex and Althea out of there.”

Hermione nodded. “Will Ken be of any use?”

Voldemort smirked. “He can bring us coffee.”

xxx

Alexandra landed face first on something soft. Blinking, she saw that it was moss. Weird. She had tried to go to Althea, but why would it be mossy there? Had she failed?

“Alex!” Althea’s surprised voice made Alexandra look up.

There was her big sister, sitting on a stone in the middle of a forest with a lady who seemed to be at one with the forest. Or her clothes were just the same colour as the environment. Even more weird.

“Althea?” Alexandra said, getting to her feet. She knew it was her sister, but there was something strange going on. Althea didn’t look as if she had been kidnapped. Surely you would be sad if you were kidnapped? Althea looked anything but.

Nevertheless, Althea rushed over to her with a huge smile on her face and hugged her tightly.

“I’m so happy you are here! How did you get here? Did the fairies bring you here?”

“Fairies?” Alexandra asked, looking at the strange lady again. She looked nothing like the fairies Alexandra had read about. She didn’t have any wings, and she was normal size. Neither did she look playful and nice. Her mother must have told the truth, then. There really were mean fairies.

“Yeah, you know, like Morgana,” Althea said, making a gesture to the lady who had made her way over to them.

Alexandra grabbed Althea’s hand, and her sister looked at her in surprise.

“Alexandra Riddle,” Morgana said. “Welcome to our realm.”

Alexandra frowned. Who was Riddle? “I’m Granger-Foster.”

“Are you really?” Morgana arched a perfect eyebrow.

She looked so perfect that it was almost ugly, Alexandra thought. Or maybe it was something else that made her ugly. All Alexandra knew was that she didn’t trust this lady one bit, and she would have to be careful.

“Yes,” Alexandra answered, not understanding one bit of what the lady was saying.

“Can Alex stay here for a bit?” Althea asked, seemingly not alarmed by Morgana’s presence.

Morgana regarded Alexandra for a moment. Alexandra stared back, not wanting the lady to think that she was scared. She was, though. Both scared and confused. Why didn’t Althea act as if she was kidnapped and scared?

“I can’t see why not, when she must have travelled so long to get here,” Morgana finally said and made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

Suddenly, they were standing in something that looked like a great hall. A table was set with delicious treats, but Alexandra wasn’t hungry. She just wanted to be able to talk to her sister, alone.

“They have the most delicious ice cream here,” Althea said happily and dragged Alexandra over to the table. “Dad will be so jealous when we tell him.”

Alexandra glanced at Morgana. She was usually good at being able to tell from people’s expression what they were feeling and thinking, but Morgana’s face was unreadable. That scared Alexandra. The only person that she had ever seen having such an unreadable face was her father. Once, she had asked Marcus about it, and he had said it was because he had so many secrets. He had also warned her to be aware of other people she couldn’t read until she found out what their secrets were. Secrets could harm you.

When Alexandra had asked what his secrets were, he had just laughed and ruffled her hair. “That’s for you to find out,” he had said.

“What kind do you want?” Althea asked once they reached the table.

“I just brushed my teeth. ‘You aren’t supposed to eat after brushing your teeth at night’,” Alexandra said, quoting their mother, even though she was really following another quote. “Don’t take treats from strangers”.

Althea rolled her eyes, but didn’t push it. “Do you want to see the magic I’ve learned here? It’s really cool. I can make it rain!”

Alexandra glanced at Morgana again. For some reason, she had gone very still. It almost looked as if her focus was elsewhere. She wasn’t even looking at them anymore. Alexandra took the opportunity to lean closer to Althea.

“We have to get out of here,” she whispered. “Mum and Dad think you have been kidnapped by the fairies! They are really, really worried. You have to come back with me!”

Althea’s eyes widened in surprise. “But I’m just here learning magic. It’s better than Hogwarts. You’ll see. I’m sure the fairies can teach you, too.”

Alexandra opened her mouth to answer, but Morgana suddenly appeared next to her. “You need not worry about your sister, Alexandra. She is happy here.”

“But our parents worry,” Alexandra said, her eyes narrowing. “Why haven’t you talked to them about taking Althea?”

“It is of no concern to them,” Morgana answered, her voice even. “This was Althea’s choice, and she chose to come with me.”

Alexandra looked at her sister in surprise. Althea shrugged. “It seemed nicer than Hogwarts. You know Lupin is at Hogwarts.”

Alexandra grimaced. “Lupin is elephant poop. I don’t care about him. And if you don’t wanna go to Hogwarts, come back home with me. I miss you.”

Althea hesitated, seemingly confused.

“Please, Althea, come home with me,” Alexandra begged. “Things have got so much worse since you disappeared. Mum and Dad are acting really strange, and there are people who have tried to attack them! I need you.”

Alexandra had never spoken those words before. It had, from time to time, been an unspoken understanding between the sisters that they needed each other. Their parents were busy people, and more often than not, it was easier to just go to your sister with a problem, instead of them. To actually admit it, though, spoke about the severity of the situation.

Alexandra could see that Althea made up her mind to return back home. Unfortunately, Morgana could see it, too, and stepped in.

“Your sister could stay here, with you, if you want her to, Althea,” Morgana said. “You can protect her here.”

“I don’t wanna stay here!” Alexandra whined. “Please, Althea, let’s just go home.”

Morgana turned directly to Alexandra. “If you stay, Alexandra, you could do whatever you wanted to do. Learn magic together with your sister, hear stories at the fireplace, perhaps even … learn a few secrets.”

Alexandra frowned in suspicion. “What sort of secrets?”

“You both know your father has secrets. I know them,” Morgana admitted, smiling.

Althea gasped in surprise. “Why haven’t you told me them?”

“You never asked,” Morgana said, shrugging. “But if you aren’t hungry, we can go to the library instead.”

With another sweeping motion of her hand, they found themselves standing in a huge library. It still looked as if they were in a forest, but the enormous oak trees were hollow and filled with books and other objects. Alexandra saw crystal bowls, swords, stuffed animals, and a lot of other things she didn’t recognise. There was a soft green shimmer over the whole library, and it still smelt like a forest, but of something else as well: fire. Following her nose, Alexandra turned around and saw that they were standing next to a small fireplace. Big plush pillows in different colours were spread around it. It seemed too cosy to be true, so Alexandra decided not to drop her guard.

Althea dragged Alexandra down on a purple pillow while Morgana summoned a crystal bowl. Althea looked very enthusiastic. Apparently, she had done this before. Alexandra couldn’t help but feel a bit curious as well, but no matter what the lady said, she was sure she couldn’t trust her.

With the crystal bowl in her hands, Morgana graciously sat down on the pillow next to the sisters. “You are aware, I trust, about the defeat of Lord Voldemort?”

“Yes,” Althea said. “Mum was there when he was defeated. She helped fight him with Harry, Gin and the Order of the Phoenix.”

“Indeed she was. Do you know what happened to Lord Voldemort after the fight?”

“He disappeared,” Althea said. “Harry’s still hunting him.”

“Do you know that wizards can change their appearance?” Morgana asked.

Alexandra rolled her eyes. If there were something she hated, it was when people asked her stupid questions, just because she was young. “Everyone knows that.”

“That is how Voldemort has stayed hidden. He changed his body, so he looked like someone else. Do you want to see how?” Morgana asked.

Althea looked at Alexandra, who shrugged. Alexandra was very curious, even though she still had the feeling that they should leave this place as soon as they could. But she had no idea how they were going to do that yet. Better play along, as her father always said when they were stuck at the Weasley’s.

Morgana did something that made the crystal bowl glow. The mists in it cleared, and they saw a scary figure sitting somewhere dark. It was a person, and at the same time, it wasn’t. It had white skin under a long dark robe, no nose, and glowing red eyes. It reminded Alexandra of a snake. A snake-human. It must be Voldeydorks. Ron had said he looked like a monster.

Voldemort held a cup in his hand and stared at it for a short moment before he drank it all. Once he did, his body immediately started changing. Dark brown hair grew from his head, his face became rounder, and a nose appeared. His eyes were still red, but they didn’t look as scary when they were framed with dark eyelashes and eyebrows. There was no sound coming from the crystal, but Alexandra could see him trying to say something and being surprised with what came out. His hands, much smaller now, came up, stroking his face and hair.

Then, his eyes turned from red to dark-blue, and Alexandra’s heart sank. She had recognised him before as well but didn’t want to believe it. With these different eyes, however, there was no denying who he was.

Next to her, she heard Althea gasp. Alexandra became angry.

“You lie!” she growled, flying up from the pillow, smacking the crystal bowl from Morgana’s hands.

Morgana simply blinked. “The truth can be hard, Alexandra Riddle, but it is nonetheless the truth. You know it, deep down. You know that your father isn’t who he says he is.”

“Our dad isn’t You-Know-Who!” Althea cried. “Why’d you say something like that?”

Morgana became slightly annoyed. “I am telling you this so you won’t go back there. Your father is a Dark Wizard. It’s only a matter of time before he does something evil to you. Don’t go back there, please. We can keep you both safe here.”

“You are a liar, and we won’t stay here,” Alexandra hissed. “Come on, Althea, let’s get out of here.”

She held her hand out for Althea to take, but all of a sudden, there seemed to be a wall between them. A wall which stung to touch. Alexandra withdrew her hand quickly from the invisible wall, nursing it.

“What was that?” Althea asked, sounding surprised.

“It’s time for you to sleep, Althea,” Morgana said in a soft voice. There was something magical about her voice. Something that made even Alexandra yawn.

Althea was even more affected. She dropped back against the pillows at once, seemingly fast asleep.

“What did you do?” Alexandra screamed, trying once again to reach her sister, but the wall was still there.

“It’s time for you to leave, Alexandra Riddle,” Morgana’s voice was at once hard. In fact, her whole appearance changed, making Alexandra jump back in fear. The fairy’s body seemed harder, colder, and angrier. “You will leave and don’t you ever, ever come back here. Your sister is one of us now, and nothing will take her away from us.”

That made Alexandra angry. Althea was her sister, and no stupid poop-fairy would ever tell her differently. For the second time that night, Alexandra felt like a fire had lit inside her chest. She would not let anyone stand between her and her sister.

With a high-pitched scream, she threw herself at the wall which shattered like it had been made of glass. It hurt her, but she didn’t care about it. All she cared about was getting her sister home.

Morgana lurched for her and grabbed her lower left arm, hard. Alexandra, however, had grown up wrestling with other children bigger than her. Most of the times, it was for play, but in those times it wasn’t, Alexandra had always been able to do one thing: get away. Another handy lesson from her father: If you don’t seem to win the fight, retreat and get them another day. This was clearly a moment for retreat.

She slithered her arm away, Morgana only managing to give her a few scratch marks with her nails before she lost her grip. Then Alexandra grabbed her sister and forced her magic to obey her, taking both of them to where she wanted to go most of all: home.

They crash-landed on the floor. Alexandra winced as Althea landed on top of her, crushing her chest. She pushed her sister off of her at the same time as someone came running down the stairs. The moment Alexandra saw her mother, she began crying. She hadn’t realised how scared she had been until she came home.

Hermione scooped her up into her arms, comforting her at the same time as she checked on Althea as well. Marcus was also there, but Alexandra hardly saw him because of all the tears in her eyes. She was just so glad she had managed to get home. She had never been part of anything so scary in her entire life. Not even when Potter and Lupin dared her to go down the basement of Grimmauld Place. She had done that without crying.

Suddenly, she felt foolish for crying. She had made it, hadn’t she? She was home, and so was Althea. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she tried to calm herself, but she didn’t let go of her mother.

“You’re hurt!” Hermione gasped, taking Alexandra’s arm.

Four short, but bleeding, scratches were seen on her lower arm.

“That mean fairy did it,” Alexandra said, drying her tears at the fabric over her mother’s shoulder.

“A fairy touched you?” her father asked, sounding concerned.

Alexandra nodded and looked up at him.

“Are you sure it was a fairy? Not some other human there?” her father pressed.

“Yes, she said her name was Morgana,” Alexandra said.

Marcus dropped her arm as if he had been burned. He looked down at Althea, whose head was now resting on Hermione’s thigh. She was still sleeping soundly.

“Was it Morgana who put Althea to sleep as well?” Marcus asked darkly.

Alexandra nodded. “She just said ‘sleep’, and Althea fell asleep. Is she alright?”

“Yes, she is perfectly healthy,” Marcus said. “She is just asleep. Magical sleep. I hope she’ll wake on her own.”

“Can’t we do anything to wake her?” Hermione asked as Alexandra slid down from her other thigh, poking Althea.

“No. Not yet, at least. If it is like a normal sleeping spell, it will wear off by itself. If it isn’t … well, there are other things we can try. But I would rather wait a day at least,” Marcus said and gathered Althea up in her arms. “I’ll take her to bed where she will be more comfortable.”

Hermione rose as well, helping Alexandra up in the process. “Let’s heal your wound, love.”

Alexandra followed her mother into the kitchen and suddenly another thought hit her. “Why was those mean Aurors here?”

“They were here to take care of Harry. Harry tried to hurt us,” Hermione said darkly and placed Alexandra on a chair, starting to inspect the wound.

“Why did he do that?”

“Because he still thinks your father is Voldemort.” She did a quick movement of her wand, and Alexandra’s arm felt hot for a moment, before the wounds closed.

“Isn’t he?” Alexandra asked, more as a test than anything else. Morgana’s words had made her think, even though she still wasn’t sure she believed it. Voldydorks would have had to hide somewhere; be someone else; and who wouldn’t want to be her father? He was awesome. And her father did have secrets. But she wasn’t sure, and she thought it was best to ask her mother for confirmation.

Hermione’s reaction startled Alexandra. Hermione dropped her hand and stared at Alexandra in absolute horror. “Wh—why … what makes you say that?”

Alexandra’s eyes narrowed, but before she had time to answer, her father entered the room. He marched over to her and pulled out a chair, sitting down next to her.

“I have to find out exactly what happened, Alex. I’m going to go into your memories; do you understand?”

“Are you sure you have to?” Hermione asked, still staring at Alexandra, but the look of horror had changed to one of doubt.

“Yes,” he replied, moving his hand to Alexandra’s chin, tilting her head upwards. “Just think about what just happened, Alex. I’ll see it all through your eyes.”

“How?” Alexandra asked.

“Magic,” he answered, and in the next moment, she couldn’t see her father’s dark-blue eyes any longer. Instead, she was back in the forest with Althea.

She could feel that her father was there with her, watching as the scene unfolded. At once, she felt worried. What would he say when he found out what Morgana had told her about him? Would he just laugh and say that the fairy was stupid, or …?

Before she had time to think that thought through, her father had already arrived at those memories. She couldn’t tell what he thought about it because he didn’t pause; instead, he just kept going until she Apparated home.

Alexandra’s vision cleared, and she could see her father again. He wasn’t angry, at least. Instead, he seemed thoughtful. Alexandra’s eyes narrowed. What did that mean?

“Morgana told you I was Voldemort?” he asked, his voice even. It was hard to tell if he found it funny or not.

Alexandra nodded slowly, feeling uneasy. Was her father angry?

“Marcus …” Hermione’s voice held a tone of warning.

“She has already figured it out,” he answered her. “Haven’t you, Alex?”

He stroked her hair slowly, but he didn’t seem angry. Alexandra looked up at him in silence for a few seconds, then she nodded. She did know. A part of her had probably always known, ever since her mother had told her she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone she could speak Parseltongue because of You-Know-Who. But it didn’t matter; he was still her father. They ate ice cream together, and he read books to her, and he taught her magic. If he were Voldydorks, then it could only mean everyone else was wrong about him.

“Are you scared of me?” he asked.

Alexandra snorted. What was there to be scared about? He was her father!

He smiled. “Good. We can talk more about this once we have taken care of the fairies.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Alex?” Hermione had come around the chair and was looking at her daughter, worry in her eyes.

“Muuuuum,” Alexandra groaned, rolling her eyes. Her mother could fuss so much sometimes.

A blinding light flashed through the kitchen, and suddenly, Alexandra felt very much scared. She cried out and reached for her father who had been standing right in front of her. She felt his hand grabbing her shoulder, pushing her down onto the floor, underneath the table. Blinking rapidly, her sight returned to her, and she saw that the window had been destroyed. Behind the window, it was completely dark. Darker than it usually was at night. Where were the streetlights? And where were the Christmas decoration lights that the neighbours next door never removed? And hadn’t she been able to see the moon through the window a second ago?

Above her, her father was muttering a spell underneath his breath. He was holding her mother’s hand and both of them had their wands out. They didn’t look scared, and that comforted Alexandra enough to dare to crawl out from underneath the table and get a better view of what was outside.

There was nothing there. Only darkness.

Someone came running down the stairs, and Alexandra spun around, frightened. But it was only Ken, with Althea in his arms.

“Is she alright— Oh,” Hermione gasped and made an attempt to get to Althea, but Marcus held her back.

That was when Alexandra noticed it as well. There was a faint green glow around her sister’s body.

“They are using her magic,” her father commented, his voice hard. “And they seemed to have pulled us into another dimension. Or maybe we are just out of phase with the rest of our dimension.”

“She began glowing just before the lightning happened,” Ken said quickly. “Fairies?”

Before her parents had time to answer, a face showed up on the other side of the broken window. Alexandra recognised her at once: Morgana.

“Blood magic won’t hold us back for long, Tom Riddle,” she said in a tone of triumph. “Give us Althea, and we will spare your other daughter’s life.”

“Don’t you dare—” Hermione began, angry.

“Spare Alexandra’s life? Somehow I doubt that,” Marcus interrupted, his voice calm. “You have wanted her dead since she was barely a foetus. Is this … gracious offer another lie, or are you just incapable of killing her yourself? And why do you need us dead?”

Morgana laughed. “We know you like talking, Tom Riddle. You talk and talk, and then, give your opponents a chance to regroup. Do you think we will make your mistake?”

Then she disappeared, and the whole house started to shake.

“How long will the wards hold?” Hermione asked, sounding worried. Alexandra crawled closer to her and took a hold of her hand.

“A couple of hours, at most,” Marcus answered. “But there are more wards around the basement. That will buy us another hour, I hope. Let’s gather everything we will need.”

He finally let go of Hermione’s hand. “Take the children down to the basement. Mizuro, get the supplies from your room.”

Hermione took Althea from Ken. “Come on, Alex.”

Alex followed her mother down to the basement. Even though she was scared and worried about what would happen, she felt comforted that her parents were with her. Somehow, they always managed to make things right, and she was sure that if she just waited, they would fix things here as well.
- 41
- 42
- 43
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Shared Flame