Unexpected Encounters | Tom Riddle

VIII: Collateral Damage

Lilia's movements were precise despite the pit in her stomach. She eventually pulled out the source and destroyed it before it decided to latch onto her once out of Penelope's body.

Penelope slumped forward against the cool wall, tears streaming down her face. Lilia watched as she fell to her knees, the mark on her back now looking like an old faded scar. The girl turned to look back at her, eyes glassy and lips quivering.

"How.. How did you..?"

"I dealt with something similar before." The words engraved on her palm stung.

"I am sorry for everything they did to you." Lilia whispered, voice hoarse.

"Thank you, Lilia. That was... You didn't have to."

"How could I let you be, knowing that you were always in pain because of my friends?"

"They don't deserve you." Penelope took a deep breath. "Be careful, Lilia."

"I will."

Lilia turned away to walk out of the tower, hand going up to wipe the tears that had already started to fall down her cheeks.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Lilia didn't care when she got questioning looks from the other Slytherins as she stormed into the boys' dormitory, going to find Riddle. The root cause of everything that went wrong in her time. It had already started. She had been a fool for ever believing that they were her friends. They probably did not feel any remorse about what they had done to Penelope. Their descendants certainly did not feel any remorse when they destroyed Hogwarts and attacked hundreds of young wizards, killing many of them, including people she loved.

As soon as she came across the door that was ajar, she slammed it open, startling the occupants inside the room.

She felt hurt when she saw that everyone was in the room that Tom, Abraxas and Tiernan shared. Evangeline, Celeste, and Icarus were there, without her . Everyone looked alarmed as she walked in with calculated steps, eyes colder than they ever remembered.

"Lilia, what are you-" Celeste began to ask and Lilia clenched her teeth as she stared at her roommate. "Penelope Johnson." She began in an icy voice. "What did you do to her?"

Celeste's eyes widened just like the others. Even after what she had done to help Penelope, Lilia was praying that the brunette would deny it.

"I.. I didn't mean to-" Celeste began to lie and Lilia sent a curse her way. There was a brief spark as it left the wand which Lilia found strange but she attributed it to the anger she felt.

Celeste had the reflexes to dodge just in time because the curse burned the wall behind her.

"What are you doing?" Icarus asked, alarmed as he took out his own wand.

"I will ask you this again, Meadows. What did you do to her?" The brunette stared at her, wide-eyed on the ground and eyes watering. "I cursed her."

Lilia let out a sharp breath. "What gave you the right?" She asked quietly and she was about to point her wand at her again but she noticed a flash of purple before she drew up a shield.

"What the fuck are you doing to her, Lilia?" Icarus asked, face clearly red from anger and disbelief.

"Why don't you all tell me what the fuck you did to that girl?" Lilia seethed, glaring at the six of them.

Everyone else in the room had their wands drawn, watching her like she was crazy. This should have been the least of her concerns but it hurt.

"Celeste cursed her for being a mudblood." Abraxas intervened in a calmer voice and Lilia glared at him. "With what right?"