Extreme Unction (Tom Riddle saga)

Chapter 18

"Take your eyes off of me so I can leave
I'm far too ashamed to do it with you watching me
This is never ending, we have been here before
But I can't stay this time 'cause I don't love you anymore

Please stay where you are
Don't come any closer
Don't try to change my mind
I'm being cruel to be kind

...

You have given me something that I can't live without
You mustn't underestimate that when you are in doubt
But I don't want to carry on like everything is fine
The longer we ignore it all the more that we will fight

Please don't fall apart
I can't face your breaking heart
I'm trying to be brave
Stop asking me to stay

I can't love you in the dark
It feels like we're oceans apart
There is so much space between us
Maybe we're already defeated
Everything changed me

We're not the only ones
I don't regret a thing
Every word I've said
You know I'll always mean
It is the world to me
That you are in my life
But I want to live
And not just survive

That's why
I can't love you in the dark
It feels like we're oceans apart
There is so much space between us
Maybe we're already defeated
'Cause everything changed me
And I don't think you can save me"

Love in the dark, Adele

~~~~~~~~

Evelyn looked down and checked again her costume, no more embarrassed, but proud to portray Rowena Ravenclaw again at the final play for the end of another school year at Hogwarts.
She turned to glance at the tall boy standing by her side, her arm linked with his. His regal posture, his well combed hair, his confident gaze.
Nobody could fit better for that role. Even Salazar Slytherin would have been proud to be portrayed by his Heir...

Evelyn gasped for air, coughing on the cold, wet floor she was lying on.
That vision didn't belong to her memories, there was something sinister in it.
"There's too much darkness in you for being a Ravenclaw" Dee had once said.
She moved her head, her grey hair falling around her. Since she lost her husband, she felt decades older and also her hair lost its normal color, sucked away by her sorrow.
The happy teenage self of the vision was far away in time.
Evelyn looked up at the tall statue towering her.  The familiar face of Salazar Slytherin was rigid stone, but she could imagine it smirking at her.
She moaned, feeling her body and her magic failing her again until she blacked out.

***

Nature was so cruel.
Why would it create pests like mosquitos and muggles?
Salazar Slytherin had spent some boring hours in spying the muggles who were so arrogant to challenge the wizardkind, until the muggles decided to hunt him down.
Salazar was moving through the woods like a shadow, until by the stony wall that protected the outer territories of his school, he bumped into a girl.
She was laying on the ground, like she had slipped in her run. She lifted her knees and Salazar got a glimpse of her skin under her skirt.
The hunting was making him so excited that the first idea he got was to take revenge against his enemies by ravishing that ingenuous creature, knowing how it would have disgusted his friends more than himself.
It was nature after all.
If nature created muggles, why he couldn't enjoy that freak of nature that was offered to him?
The girl stood up and looked around in confusion as the muggles were running closer as a herd of bulls.
She could have screamed for their help, so Salazar thought she was dumb.
She didn't even notice him approaching her until his wand was aimed at her.
Her eyes crossed his curious ones and lingered in them.
Salazar felt confused by how she seemed recognizing him, but in a blink of an eye he had to take a decision and grabbed her wrist to make her run with him before the muggles could reach them.
If she was a muggle, he only had to obliviate her and leave her behind, but something about her had teased his curiosity.
He wanted to know more about that stranger.
He hurried to reach the first haven available, where muggles couldn't find them, and was finally free to scan his new prey.
The girl touched her weird clothes and pulled out a wand.
It left him petrified.
She was a witch.
He had lustful impure thoughts for a young witch.
What a shameful mistake.
"So you are a witch? Why on earth didn't you use your wand before? I was about to obliviate you!" he snapped angrily to blame it all on her.
She blinked with confusion.
He shot another glance at her weird clothes, for which he had desired to rip them away and unveil any tricks from that stranger.
"And what is it that you're wearing?".
She scanned his attire, mirroring his confusion.
"Are you a Scottish lass?" he kept asking, getting annoyed by her silence. He had so many questions and she didn't say any word yet.
The girl shook her head, making her dark hair wave around her face.
That was already something. Maybe she wasn't so dumb.
"Then you can reply to me?" he kept asking to force her to say something.
"I don't understand what's going on".
Salazar froze in surprise. Something about her voice, or about the tone she used, woke something in him. He felt the urge to protect that little girl from any harm.
If she was a witch, she was welcome to his school. His duty as a teacher was to protect his students.
"That's a bad thing" he replied glad to having heard her voice and to have the chance to teach her something "You won't survive long if you can't understand something so obvious".
Before he could asks her other questions, she startled at approaching noises and Salazar jumped out ready to protect her.
But it was just Godric. Bad timing as always.
"Salazar, there's another group!" he announced the bad news, then his eyes spotted the stranger and shot to the wizard a shocked face "Seriously? Do you think it's the right time for having fun with females?".
Salazar grumbled. He had no time for anything enjoyable for years. Only duties, only battles, only survival.
He wanted to live.
He wanted to unleash his thirst for some real living and some pleasures.
"Shut up, Godric" he hissed "I came across her while I was doing my duty. She looks weird for being a spy, but she is a witch".
He shot her a provocative look, but it didn't raise the reaction he expected.
"She looks sick" Godric gave voice to his suspects "Let's go back to the camp. The muggles won't fight much today. And you..." his wand pointed the stranger "Need some less suspect clothes".
Salazar stiffened with offence as his friend transfigurated her weird costume into a more decent dark green dress.
That was something he wanted to do himself.
But he appreciated the choice of color.
Although he wished to undress her.
He grabbed her arm, impatient to get rid of the muggle menace and reach their camp "No time for sleeping, dear. Let's run!".
Watching her running next to him was a pleasant thing. Also running was helpful to free himself from his unsatisfied lust.
"So lost girl, who are you?" he asked impatiently as soon as they were safe in their camp.
"Are you Salazar Slytherin?".
She replied with a question but it didn't angered him, because it was so full of surprise and admiration that it flattered him.
"I am" he said to confirm it, feeling proud of himself.
"The Salazar Slytherin? Of Hogwarts?" the girl insisted with disbelief, like it was too good to be true.
"The one and the only" Salazar said, already adoring that little girl who wasn't dumb after all.