The Noctiphany Terror •Tom Riddle•

Chapter Ten

~Soothing storm~

Grey clouds pilled up over London's once blue sky and the wind was blustering through the crowded streets, ruffling people's hair and clothes, making them shiver. The old buildings remained stoic in front of the upcoming storm, while the tree branches bent down to the merciless wind that swirled around a rainbow of fallen leaves, bringing a splash of colour to the monochrome city.

In front of Hydra towered a red-bricked building with sickly windows, a condemned department store called Purge and Dowse, the magic gateway for the renowned St. Mungos's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The young witch felt a strange feeling of belonging, not knowing why this place felt like home.

Missing home is how Hydra grew up. She felt forgotten by her parents, unloved. She wished their cruelty hadn't caused her to build up steel walls around her fragile heart, she wished that she hadn't gone on the path of becoming who she hated the most: her father. Unfortunately, at that moment, Hydra didn't know that it was too late to change ways, but it was hope that was burning in her heart, more vehemently than other feelings.

Her tousled curls fell on her shoulders, brushing softly her cheeks at every gust of wind as her eyes skimmed the surroundings. She looked broken. Her plump limps were slightly parted and discoloured, while her eyes missed the deep caramel and juniper green hues, looking rather like a lifeless brown.

There was something imperishable about the lips as much as the eyes, for they too are a mirror of the soul and a way of communication. Nevertheless, duplicity was the keyword for describing them as both were more than capable of deceitfulness, of coating a lie in a layer of fabricated truth or disclosing something that was supposed to be buried deep deep down.

Cold raindrops cascaded ferociously over the quiet city, the storm bringing an electric sky and the song of rain hitting the rooftops and drumming on every window. Hydra tilted her head back, smiling at the rhapsody she thoroughly missed and extending her arms, welcoming the rain, embracing it. She had her eyes closed as the cold water soaked her from head to toes, however, she loved the feeling.

Hydra felt all her worries being washed out as peace and clarity took over her mind and body, she felt light, like she weighed nothing more than a feather. Hydra thought she might be happy now, but she wasn't certain of it. How could she know? She couldn't recall a moment in her life when she was truly happy because her trauma never left her.

Perhaps it was in her supposed happiest moments when she was the saddest because she knew it would be soon over and that she would go back to her damned life.

She slowly opened her eyes and straightened her posture and pondered whether she should enter the building or apparate to the Black Manor. If she entered people would question her presence and her parents will eventually find out about this, but she didn't want to go back either.

Hydra stood there in the pouring rain, trying to find a solution and then, as a bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, she spotted it: a small and probably abandoned room on the top of the building. The witch quickly apparated there and watched the city and the storm becoming one entity. She stood close to the edge as she took in the surroundings. The room was small and made out of bricks like the rest of the building and it was covered by a pyramidal roof made of red tiles.

Hydra opened the wooden door and stepped into an empty and dirty room that had only one broken window. In a flick of her wand, she cleaned and fixed the room, then sat down on the cold concrete. She would definitely like to decorate the room, but not before bewitching it so the muggles and even other wizards won't be able to see that someone was coming there.