Slytherin Roar: Through the Maze || Tom Riddle's Era

Chapter 11 || Troubling Revelations

My skin prickled against something invisible, something powerful as one of Zeus' lightning bolts, and something that wasn't actually there. The weight of this revelation was far worse than the ones we had a few months ago, more than I realised when Headmaster Dippet started to speak after a hard silence.

"How is the barrier, Albus?"

"It is getting significantly weaker," the transfiguration professor replied gravely.

This was all that it needed for dread to start creeping up my body to bristle the hair on my neck, and I could tell the others were feeling it as well.

"The Sorting Hat," Tom said, eyes widening at the realisation. "The sword inside it must be gone as well."

It was all overwhelming. If the Sword of Gryffindor was somewhere away from the grounds of Hogwarts to who-knows-where, it meant that almost nothing but a weak amount of magic was protecting against the monsters from all the students here. And most of all, it was—

"It's all my fault, sir."

The headmaster faced me, his jaw tense. "What are you implying, Ms Pearce?"

"I... I was here when it happened." The words tumbled out weak, timid, and fragile, even a soft sound of a person breathing would have broken my voice into shreds of pieces. "I felt something in the hallway around the route to this office when I was roaming around in the night after curfew—that was when I saw a woman. She was heading here and I-I didn't really know what happened, but it was my fault for letting this happen. I'm so sorry, sir."

My eyes were on my lap as I gripped at the loose cloth of my pyjama pants, nails delving through my skin as if to eventually claw out the bones underneath the skin and all the blood. The pain was not as noticeable as the clench on my chest as the guilt surged in through every vein in my body, the emotion pumping to the heart just to stay there without getting released with the other blood cells as oxygen. Nothing could've stopped that clench for it was true—I was too weak to fight. The edges of my eyes started to become warmer, hotter until it felt like boiling water was poured into them, hot and painful.

I sucked in a breath. Nimble and pale fingers crept over my hand and slipped their fingers through mine, holding it tightly. Trailing the hand up to the arm, I looked at Tom through a tint of blurry vision. Even though my gaze was hazy, his handsome face looked clear, his dark eyes sharp yet soft as he smiled tenderly at me.

Handsome. Gods of Olympus, my cheeks burned.

"This is the biggest problem that has happened to Hogwarts," Headmaster Dippet said, and I faced him. "Yet, this is never your fault, Ms Pearce. However, please describe to us the woman that invaded here."

I recounted every single detail about the woman, and when I was done, the headmaster and Professor Dumbledore walked away to talk to themselves quietly.

Thoughtfully, I stared at the empty space on the shelf. "Where do you think the Sorting Hat is?"

"Most likely with the woman you've seen." Tom placed a finger on his chin. "But we actually don't know exactly who she is, so I doubt we'll be able to track her down."

"Isn't there a spell to search for something?" Abraxas asked me.

I shrugged. "Maybe, but as far as I know, I haven't seen anything related to a searching spell."

"So you have been reading that book?" One of the corners of Tom's lips tugged upwards, an irritating smirk curling triumphantly as if he caught something that brought him into a victorious advantage.

I exhaled sharply, imagining steam coming out of my nostrils. They were too perceptive for their own good. "You're such a pain sometimes."

"So are you." He nudged the keen edge of his elbow against my arm, chuckling breathily at the reaction I gave him. "A lot of the time, really."