To Hurt and To Heal

For My Unmatched Wishes

Always hope for the worst, the little voice inside my head tells me.

"You're not the type to take the coward's way out, are you?"

I hear the voice bellow, but I can't find where it's coming from.

I turn around and see my father standing now in front of me.

"I was never afraid of you."

"Not then and not now, not even once."

"I know what you can do, I've been watching you," I say, grasping onto my wand in one hand and my knife in the other.

"Oh yeah?" The Dark Lord questions.

"And what do you see?"

"You want what you can't have," I yell out, sticking to my plan.

He sighs, pacing around the floor.

He says something that sounds like, "the problem is you never learn."

"What about Annie?"

"What about her?"

"Don't you want to get your revenge?"

I stay calm, "no, revenge is just a word- she doesn't deserve harm."

"You're desperate, Delphi, your pain isn't going to heal."

"Congratulations."

"You've cracked the code- was it pity?"

"Good wishes," he responds.
My smile becomes vicious, "you weren't exactly cheering in the stands for me."

"You never cared- you never loved me- what kind of power do you have?"

"It was never about power."

"It was what came from it."

"I've always loved to win, Delphi, ever since I was little."

"Whether it was a deck of cards or a game of chess, I loved what came from it."

"There is nothing sweeter than victory," he walks closer to me, his breath hitting me in the face.

"Victory?" I scoff with the energy I didn't know I had.

"What about luck?"

"Luck has no play."

"No poker face- no rule book."

"I make my own rules."

I keep my stance, my feet firmly planted on the floor, my gaze ahead.

"What's your story, Delphi Riddle?" He asked me.

"I'm guarded when it comes to information," I responded.

"Then go ahead and lie to me," he admits, "it doesn't matter anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"Everyone has a story to tell."

My body shivers, the back of his hand striking my cheek, "like I said- just like your mother."

He hits my back. Hard.

"Then we discovered you and we knew- we knew what you could do."

"The wonders!" The Dark Lord exclaimed.

I wouldn't call it wonderful.

"But there was one thing we couldn't figure out," he sighs.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"You could go home, yet you choose to be here and fight," he cringes at the last word.

"There's nothing for you here."

"I'll be the judge of that," I say, pulling my wand out from under my robes.

Her father laughs aloud, nearly falling to the ground.

"You never learned the lesson," he states.

"This is the last place you should be!"

I walked towards her once more, "I came here to fight."

"I'm so relieved," he says, sarcastically.

I press my wand up to his neck, "Don't be silly, girl."

"If you keep up with that, you're going to get your tongue cut out."

"So be it," I say, my wand digging deeper into his skin.

"Not so nice now..."

The Dark Lord circles me like a shark, grabbing onto my ponytail and yanking me backwards.

He laughs, "you thought you were actually doing something, didn't you?"

"Try not to get yourself killed," I mumble.

"Crucio!"

In a flash, I shot a curse from my wand, headed towards my father. I watched as he fell down, but shortly recovered.
"Crucio!"

I am slammed into the wall, left spitting out blood on the concrete.

He moved closer, fury in his eyes.

I glance as I see a shadow become foggier until I am devoured by it.

It went through me, saw everything within, then disappeared.

He yells again, "Crucio!"

All I can see is red, blood rushing to the surface everywhere I can see.

Get up.

I grab my head, pain rupturing my scalp.

The Dark Lord points his wand above me, moving higher and higher until my body is lifted up into the air, left dangling on the tip of my toes.

The pain ripples across my face, making the ache even stronger.

Come on.

I reached for my wand, it was too far away from me, I couldn't get it, there was no way out.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The water fell on me, condensation from a snowflake I suppose. It hasn't been long since I was here last. It was either that or I had imagined it, which seemed less likely.

I was given a choice- a choice that was long coming.

I could just about reach and when the grandfather clock struck twelve, I did.

I raised my wand and smiled, avoiding eye contact, I yelled, "Crucio!"

He sprang up quickly, pushing his followers away from their pleas. He stumbled, knocking over a table, the others turning to face him. I pulled my wand back, shifting my steps a few feet back.

In a split second, he raised his wand once more, he threw the curse forward with a force that knocked me backwards.

Our wands connected, the blue light hitting the centre of the room.

"Avada Kedavra!"

When I heard a dull thud and gasp for air, I confirmed I had won.