Hadriana Potter and Mother Magic: Betrayals Chapter 1

Chapter 16

Hadriana stared as Tom paced, looking more dishevelled than she'd ever seen him. After she had burst into his house and blurted out what Mother Magic had said, they'd knuckled down to dissect the prophesy. Most of it was pretty straight forward, but other parts made her especially nervous.

Mother Magic seemed to be of the opinion that Hadriana and Tom were soulmates; and while such thing existed, it was less about a person's soul and more about their magic. Soulmates were magically compatible. It was something not very deeply researched due to how unbelievably rare it was. The last soulmates said to exist were Merlin and Arthur.

When a witch or wizard found their soulmate, their magic sang. Many barely realised it, especially if a witch or wizard was so powerful. Rumour and conjecture said that if a soulmate fated witch or wizard went without their other half, their magical anchor, their magic began to spiral out of control...as did their mental health.

It sure did explain a lot.

It also explained why Tom couldn't kill Hadriana. It had less to do with Hadriana's ability to survive the Killing Curse and more with the fact that soulmates literally couldn't kill one another. Something about it being an affront to magic itself.

Hadriana thought it really did explain a lot. She sighed and rubbed her aching temples, "Tom, for the love of Merlin, please stop pacing. You're making me dizzy,"

Tom abruptly stopped moving and sighed, "Apologies," he said stiffly, scowling fiercely, "It is clear that you are the betrayed the prophesy speaks about,"

"Yes," Hadriana agreed, glancing down at her notes, "And the deceived. I was born as the Harvest ends. What does 'marked for victory' mean?"

Tom's gaze flickered to her, landing on the lightning bolt scar on her face, "In Ancient Runes, your scar means 'Sowilo' which translates to victory, guidance, mastery wholeness, and 'seat of the soul',"

Hadriana gaped, "Your Horcrux..."

"Indeed," Tom said, jaw clenching, "Dumbledore knew all along what your scar was. What it meant. Probably why he orchestrated your downfall,"

"But he must have known I couldn't kill you, what with us being soulmates," Hadriana argued.

Tom smiled sarcastically, "Technically, I killed myself with a backfired spell both times I tried to kill you,"

Hadriana scowled, remembering vividly the second time Tom had tried to kill her in the Battle of Hogwarts. How the spell had backfired with a bang that nearly deafened her. How she had felt oddly bereft as his body collapsed.

It made a horrible sort of sense, that she and Tom were soulmates. Destiny and fate had conspired against Dumbledore's machinations for decades. No matter how well he planned and plotted and manipulated, she had a feeling they'd have always ended up here, in a second life trying to fix the old man's mistakes.

"The whole 'born to save us from annihilation' also makes sense. Death sent you back to stop the bloody apocalypse," Tom said, sighing, and Hadriana gawked as his usually cultured voice slipped into that of a Cockney accent. He noticed her stare and scowled, "What?"

Hadriana's lips twitched, "Bit of a Cockney accent there, Tom?"

"Shut up," he said with no real heat, "I grew up in the slums of England during the Blitz, Hadriana,"

Hadriana stifled a snort, badly, as his accent slipped further. He glared at her, unimpressed, "Sorry, sorry. You're just not as terrifying sounding like a delinquent. I bet you smoked, too,"

Tom sighed in a long-suffering way, "You never were scared of me, Hadriana, it was quite irritating,"

"But you did smoke?" she asked, ignoring what he said.