Charmolypi

Chapter 80

Riddle was about to dispute her claim when a music started coming from somewhere, causing Tom and Thea to freeze. The music kept growing louder, creating a spine-tingling feeling. Flames erupted at the top of one of the near pillars. A crimson bird the size of a swan appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle. A second late, the bird flew straight at Thea. It dropped the ragged thing at her feet and landed on her shoulder.

Dumbledore looked closely at the bird, trying to identify it.

"Is that Dumbledore's phoenix?" Evan asked an attentive looking Regulus. The Black boy just shook his head, knowing very well that it was not Fawkes.

"That's a phoenix..." Tom said, staring shrewdly back at the bird. "And that...that's the old Sorting Hat..." Riddle started to laugh so hard that the dark chamber rang with it. "A songbird and an old hat!"

"Sometimes things aren't as obvious as you think they are, Tom," Thea told him, sobering him up from his laughter.

"She knows something," Remus said, squinting his eyes as if it were going to help him see the meaning of her words.

"She sounds like Dumbledore in that moment," Pandora told her fiancée that was seated by her side. Xenophilius smiled at his beloved, not really invested in the story as others were.

"Back to business, Thea," Tom said, smiling again. "Twice, in your past, in my future, we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you and your brother survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

"The longer I talk the stronger you get," Thea answered softly. "No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me and my brother," said Thea abruptly. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother," she added. "She stopped you killing me and my brother. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're nothing more than a mere parasite —"

Everyone was silent and sitting at the edge of their seats. Thea Potter had just dragged Voldemort.

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now . . . there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered; you see. Because there are strange likenesses between us, Thea Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike... But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know."

"There's no such thing as luck," Regulus said, and his friends looked at him weirdly.

"There's only fate," Sirius continued under his breath, knowing the words his brother had said.

James looked between the two brothers, worried for the fate of their relationship in the future.

"There's no such thing as luck, Tom," Thea told him, causing the smile to fade slightly as she stepped closer to him. "You were meant to lose that night. You were meant to lose last year, and you're meant to lose tonight. I'll make sure of it."

Marlene jumped from her seat, cheering like crazy, and many joined her. Voldemort's followers looked nervously at one another.

Tom raised Harry's wand, his smile widening again. "Now, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Thea Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give her..."