ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Serpentine, ch. 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Harmony went straight to her old room across the hall. She could think of nowhere else to go since she didn't want to encounter any of the Death Eaters that were waiting below. She wouldn't be able to stand looking at any of their faces, not now that she finally knew what they had always known, that she was intended to be their leader someday.

What a joke, she thought. It could never happen. If they ever found out I was Muggle-Born, they'd murder me.

Feeling as though she'd been taken on an emotional roller coaster, Harmony was shaken by what had happened between her and Master. Surely no one had ever talked back to him in the harsh manner she just had. There was no way he was handling it well.

Not sure what she was supposed to do in the middle of this catastrophe, Harmony simply wanted a place to sit and think. Glancing around the lonely, forgotten room she found a seat and dragged it over to the window.

When she pulled the dirty window open she was greeted by a soft breeze. The starlit, nighttime sky twinkled innocently down at her, and Harmony closed her eyes and allowed the cool breeze to chill her face.

For a few short seconds she wished she could take back what she'd said, but at the same time she knew that something had needed saying. All the while she had been here with "the most feared wizard of all time," she felt as though she were being kept on a leash, and as it turned out she had not been far from wrong.

Harmony looked back on the day in the labyrinth when she had nearly given in to death while she was looking for the mysterious room with the woman, but had lost her way. She had a choice of when and where to die in one of the countless rooms. As far as she could tell, that was the last time she had truly felt in control since coming to the mansion.

Hurried footfalls approached from down the hall. She twirled around in her chair the exact moment Lord Voldemort came charging in. The look on his face made her jump up in alarm. His blue eyes were intense with what she first thought was anger, but by the way he chewed brutally at the inside of his cheek she figured that he was more annoyed than anything else.

"What did you mean by what you said?" he demanded. "Hm?"

Harmony could only gape at him. She was speechless at his ire, which was seldom directed at her.

"Of course I always get what I want," he insisted through gritted teeth. His face had turned red now, as if something within him had snapped. "Why did you say-?"

"Me! I was talking about me!" Harmony shouted before he could say any more. At this exclamation, Master's posture straightened and he gazed at her questioningly. Harmony took this as incentive to keep going. "I'm not just some slab of meat you can use as you please. You can't just take me away from everything I've known simply because you wanted me."

"I made you into what you are now. Like I said, it was your destiny to become my heir. It was always going to be you, clear back when I made the charm, and it always will be you. You can't avoid that," he explained. "You should feel grateful."

"What I feel is used," Harmony spat back. "You endowed me with something so life changing, and you didn't even tell me. You didn't even ask if I wanted it."

"I was quite surprised by your ignorance when I first gave you the charm, Harmony, but it gave me the idea that perhaps it would be better if I waited to explain. That way I could prepare you magically and mentally. You're more ready now to handle the responsibility. Imagine if I'd told you on the very first day you came. Don't you think you would have handled it differently then? Do you really think you were ready to know?"