Lost | Tom Riddle ✔

Chapter 90

"Who are you?" Alexa asked in a deadly calm tone. "And what do you want?"

Sition's smirk widened as he took in her posture. For him, her protectiveness over the boy beside her was amusing. The chit didn't know the danger she herself was in, he mused to himself. His gaze flitted to the boy. Despite being in trouble and practically cornered, the cheeky boy had the nerve to look nonchalant and hold that chit firmly by his side. Being a nosy and supercilious bat that he was, he couldn't but feel curious about that peculiar young Prefect. When you have to live for eternity, it becomes your habit to judge other corrigible humans on the basis of their actions. And that vampire had been living long enough to read any person like an open book, however, the Riddle was still a riddle for him.

Vampires might not be able to wave a stick around to make things happen, but like Centaurs, they had their own expertise in various arts. One of them was judging and predicting a person's actions by their aura. These bloodsuckers were considered creatures of the dark, and hence anything that had even a pinch of it attracted them. This was the reason why Sition came into the services of likes of Grindelwald in the first place. This was the reason why Tom made him so curious. Alexa's aura was nothing special. She was a goody-goody just like her mother, and her father. It was Tom's mysterious personality that had guided him in the Forbidden forest the night they met for the first time. There was something peculiar about that young wizard and it unsettled him greatly that he couldn't pin it.

"Answer her," Tom demanded. His observations didn't miss how that bloodsucker looked at him in calculative fashion. It reminded Tom of Dumbledore, and strangely enough, he found this creep even creepier than that old magical creep.

 "Why, I am just an escort today." Sition grinned maliciously, as he announced, "hold on to each other tightly."

Not giving them any time to comprehend, he literally blurred across the floor and roughly grabbed Alexa. The young couple could feel the ground disappearing beneath them as a whirl of wind cocooned them and muffled their screams. They battled to keep their eyes open as their hearts pounded across their chests with a speed that rivalled that of Hogwart's express. Alexa held on to Tom tightly. 

For the first time, Tom panicked. He had no wand with him. Yeah, he knew wandless magic, but it was not an expert yet. In the end, helplessly, he closed his eyes. His subconscious mocked him for his hopelessness. Tom clutched Alexa to him. Protectively. At least he had her.

For realizations, sometimes even a millisecond is enough and many times even eternity isn't. The last breath of a dying person is said to show them a flash of their whole human life. The person in question is said to remember their wrongs and rights. And many times, they die with nothing but regrets. It isn't like they can do anything else. That swivelling wind made Tom feel the exact thing. 

Tom recalled his first victim. A small injured rabbit of his bully from an orphanage that he had hung on the roof. Then he recalled all those students that he had petrified during that year. A face of Yoshi Yamada, two Gryffindors flashed in a blur. He was then haunted by the faces of an elder couple sitting on either side of a middle-aged man. The man who looked exactly like him. They all were different people. However, all of them had the same look on their faces. Their features were pulled into ugliest smirks that taunted him about his impending future. They terrorized him with all the worst possibilities. They mocked him for the sins he had committed. For the first, Tom felt scared. Truly. He clutched Alexa to him. Tightly. At least she didn't hate him.

Alexa was no different. She had no idea who this man was and where was he taking her. Her lack of knowledge filled her mind with all wild ideas. A person's creativity becomes their bane in the clutches of uncertainty and anxiety. And at that moment, her mind was full of both these ugly emotions. To make her more restless, they flashed before her eyes. She saw all of them. Her aunt. Her cousin. Her mother. And her father. All of them were the people whom she had wronged. Directly and indirectly. Except for her cousin, all of them paid price for her life by sacrificing their own. She didn't want to lose another soul because of the darkness of her past. Give me the strength to be what you believed I can be father, she prayed. She clutched Tom to herself. Protectively. Tightly. At least she had him.

The blurry wind blurred away as their feet touched to the ground. The couple stumbled to keep themselves on their feet while holding onto each other for support. The scent of burnt grass evaded their senses. They gulped a bulk of it to nullify the sudden lack of air in their systems. Alexa managed to open her eyes before Tom to look at her surroundings. Her violet eyes widened as she looked around them. The air that had recently entered her system left. She stumbled into Tom as if she was still swirling into the gyrating wind and the land was still far away. She shook her head. She denied believing that she was where she shouldn't be. The distant cry echoed in her ears. The painful memories blurred her vision. The wetness layered her skin as she shook her head again. And again.

"Where are we?" Tom questioned, as he took in their surroundings too. Absorbed in doing so, the storm that was brewing inside his girl left unnoticed. Yet he continued to hold Alexa to him.

His nose twitched in distaste, but his eyes didn't hide curiosity. He had no idea why they were in the middle of woods, in front of some abandoned-looking poorly-maintained wooden cottage. His ears perked up as he heard muffled footsteps. His eyes narrowed as he realized the wooden cottage was not abandoned after all. They turned into slits when he saw him. 

It was an elder man whose skin tone rivalled that of his snow-white hairs and a small moustache that separated his nose and lips. He had an average height with a body type leaning towards fit. He couldn't see his eyes, but even from the distance between them, Tom could see his stance. Unlike their unwanted vampire companion, this other man stood tall and proud. Like he was the king and everyone needed to bow down to him. The young wizard envied him instantly.

"Welcome home, my sweet grand-daughter." The man spoke as he came into the light. Tom stiffened when he saw that pair of mismatched eyes.

Great! Another family reunion. Tom sneered to himself. He was not fond of them at all. 

Miles away, in the ancient castle made of stones, the footsteps echoed. The owner of them ignored grumbling portraits of the corridor as he rushed to one of the men he admired the most in that building. Without knocking, the young teen barged in the warm and cosy office. His warm blue eyes connected with calm yet sharp twinkling ones urgently, as he spoke.

"Professor!" He exclaimed completely out of breath. "Save them."

Dumbledore stood up from his place. He rounded the table and placed his hand on the teen's shoulder as a gesture to calm the young boy down. 

"Save whom, Mr Avery?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Tom and Alexa," Anthony blurted in panic. "They are in danger, sir. I saw it."

Dumbledore looked at the boy seriously. The dome of his calmness cracked when he saw nothing but the truth in his eyes. 

~*~*~

Fact #1: The wooden cottage mentioned in this chapter is Alexa's home mentioned in chapter 17. It's the same place where her mother was killed. 

Fact #2: The prayer "Give me the strength to be what you believed I can be, father" has been done by Alexa before. You can check chapter 22 for details.

What is going to happen now? Do you think Grindelwald will leave Alexa alone? What about Tom? Do you think Dumbledore will make it in time? Will he be able to save either or both of them? Please let me know. I love reading your theories. You never know how your theory might help me in improving.

I hope you liked the chapter. Please vote, comment and share.

My semester is finally over. I am hoping to finish this story by the end of this year. I am also hoping that you will keep motivating me to keep up with this plan. 

Thank you all!!!