❝ 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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𝕮eleste slumped backwards, sighing as sweat beaded at her brow and trickled down past her temple.
"Again." Dumbledore nodded. The teenager forced herself to stand back upright, shaking her limbs out. Celeste ran through the movements, feeling the magic curling up and down her arms, spreading into her fingers as sparks began to spit from the tips. It took another moment before the spell finally manifested, arcing across the room and hitting the target. Well, not the centre, but at least it was on target for once. "Good, good. We'll have a rest and then try it again. We need to improve the efficiency of the spell casting, the timing and perhaps the accuracy."
Celeste sighed again, before sitting down and accepting the glass of water that was handed to her. Rolling up her sleeves, she scratched at where the thorns were forming, the skin raised beneath her fingernails, before shaking her head.
It took another few moments to catch her breath.
"Mr Riddle is close to you." Celeste froze, twisting to look up at Dumbledore. He was sitting opposite her, watching and analysing, and Celeste did not like it. "Is that fair to say?"
"He is my classmate?" Celeste replied slowly, trying to work out where this conversation was going. "We live and work closely together, his friends know mine. We run in the same circles."
"You have integrated yourself well into this life, then?" Dumbledore checked as Celeste hummed. "That is good. It is good that you have friends, have a credible backstory that he can not delve into, that you are settled here."
"I know that." Dumbledore's eyes were piercing and Celeste tried not to let herself shift in her seat.
"But, Miss Baker, do not fool yourself into thinking this is any less dangerous than before." Celeste tensed, turning to face Dumbledore as he spoke. "I know you are well aware, but if what you said about your future is true, then we might all end up like that should Mr Riddle ever find out who you are or what you have done."
"I have done nothing."
"Let us hope it stays that way." Dumbledore shook his head. "I met Mr Riddle, invited him to this school and I am ashamed to say that I did not know that he would become a monster then. If I had known, well, I'm not sure what I would have done differently but perhaps, offered more help. Now, you are our only hope in this matter, Miss Baker. You are the singular thing that stands between the destruction of peace as we know it."
"I know all of this." Celeste was growing annoyed with this topic of conversation that felt as if it was going absolutely nowhere. "I was there at the final battle, I watched what happened and I watched your champion fall at his hands. Do not preach to me about the dangers of Tom Riddle, I am well aware of them, more than you at this current point in time."
