❝ I'm sorry you were not truly loved and that made you cruel ❞ Unknown
Celeste Baker just wanted her home and family to be safe and if that meant travelling back in time to stop it all, she would.
However, she wasn't prepared to be thrown into a gam...
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"𝕭rilliant, Miss Baker! 10 points to Slytherin for that spectacular display of non-verbal magic!" She was still breathing heavily when Professor Merrythought broke the silence that had descended on the room, startled clapping following up when prompted, from the other students. No one seemed to know what to say or do in this situation.
Riddle's cheek flushed red, standing up taller to tower over her as Celeste sheathed her wand and backed away.
"Mark me impressed, Miss Baker." Celeste nodded, bowing her head and putting her back to Riddle in an instant as she tugged her robe back on and retreated to Walburga's side. The teenager's eyes were narrowed, darting between her and Riddle a few times.
"Celeste, perhaps you should apologise to him, he might take offence at being beaten by a woman." Walburga warned, as Celeste tried not to flinch at every spell that was being thrown. She could barely distinguish the people around her from the dead that she had seen and the curses, she could remember those curses and all that they had done.
Celeste could see people's bodies being blown apart in front of her eyes. Of the little girl who's hand she'd been holding moments earlier, to try and get her to safety. She never knew if that girl's parents had found every piece of their daughter.
"Celeste." Walburga touched her hand, as the girl came out of it. "What's the matter?"
"Sorry." Celeste forced the word out, clutching onto her wand a little tighter. "Just reminds me of the war, that's all."
"The wa-" Walburga stopped, her expression dropping as she looked at Celeste. "Are you alright?"
"I'm, I'll be fine. I'm always fine." Celeste smiled, before wincing as a particularly loud scream hit her brain. She took another deep breath. "How badly in trouble am I for beating Riddle?"
"You're not in trouble, but you're one of the first to beat him, ever." Walburga muttered, watching Riddle from over the woman's shoulder. "He's a reasonable man though, I doubt he'll be too upset, but that was incredible duelling, Celeste. It was amazing."
Celeste doubted that he was a reasonable man and that he wouldn't be upset about it. Every story told of Riddle in the future said that he was egotistical and hated being beaten or outwitted and she'd beaten him, she'd beaten him at something that was supposedly his best subject.
"You never said you could cast non-verbal spells or that you were ambidextrous, and the speed? Why, I've never seen anything like it." Walburga complimented, smiling. "It was quite possibly the best duelling I've ever seen. That'll keep the boys on their toes, I'm sure."
Celeste managed a nervous laughter, sitting on her hands as the duels continued. Every crack of a spell made her want to reach for her wand and duel back, her mind still in a hyperactive protective mode. For her, spells being flung around meant that someone was trying to kill her and she knew that this was going to take a long time to get out of her head.
