A Story of a Short Ending | T.R

Chapter 30 - The Evil

Tanks Go To Battle - Цифей

The next several days in the Manor were spent in almost complete silence. The women stayed in their bedrooms, giving their bodies the chance to rest and for the pain to wear off. The potions Emily made didn't go to waste as the healing was greatly appreciated by the women who felt almost instant relief from the pain that was still haunting their limbs and minds. It was one of the experiences they wouldn't forget any time soon.

It was hard to forget when it was constantly reminding them about itself and coming back to them in the form of nightmares. Some of them even started using silencing spells in their rooms to not wake up the rest of the house during the night where the nightmares were particularly haunting. It didn't go unnoticed by the men, as they noticed the dark circles under the eyes of women who were no longer late for breakfast. It didn't matter much as they still ate barely anything, the memory of the pains that were no longer there still made them uneasy.

The days weren't too uplifting anymore either, the weather severely worsened and now the constant pouring rain stopped them from going outside. They were cooped up inside, preferring to hide away in their rooms alone with their minds and their bodies that seemed to still live through the nightmares that followed them during the night. The lack of purpose, action and entertainment was driving them crazy just as much as the pain was.

They faced a major setback with the book and artefacts gone. The artefacts held the power they needed even to attempt to get closer to the truth and the nature of the ghostly woman who was the one tormenting them even if not directly. They remembered what they knew from the book and made sure to put it down on the parchment to be able to come back to the information even if their memory failed them one day. It wasn't even half of what the book held and it set them back more than they hoped it would, but going onto a hunt right now would be pointless. The woman didn't have a place to reside anymore, they burned it to the ground themselves. They didn't know where she was, what she was doing, or what she was planning. They had nothing and that was the beginning of the troubled times they were about to face.

On the other side of the Wizarding World, the situation was better than theirs. Albus Dumbledore was in the process of gathering his forces and finalising his plans. He knew that he couldn't stay on the sidelines for much longer and if he did, he would be the one 6 feet underground.

The fact itself is that Riddle widened the circle of his close followers and probably had a far wider circle of those who stood at his disposal, who were ready to fight for him, his name and his cause. They didn't know the exact numbers and they didn't need them to understand that in a team like that Riddle was close to accumulating enough fight power to wipe the Wizarding World clean. He could do it himself but the fightback he would force could put him down at one point into his destruction, while with a team of bright wizards and witches, he was nearing unstoppable and it couldn't worry Albus Dumbledore more.

Dumbledore gathered his own close circle at the Headquarters of the Order, the witches and wizards he had known for a long time, people he trusted with his own life and with the mission of saving the Wizarding World from the fate of Riddle. Their scheming and planning stretched for long hours, as many stayed the night and they spent the time in the study of their place, building a strategy and their future steps. One of the first steps they agreed on was the test of their mole in Riddle's ranks. There was barely any contact lately and they wanted to be sure they could still trust the person who was supposed to help them. Dumbledore sent out one of his charmed letters that looked like a standard mail or a bill for some of the services, he knew that the person in the Manor would know exactly who it was from.