Heart and Wings

Chapter 19. Heart and Wings

"This school is stupid." Astoria announced as she stomped towards them with Ginny in tow.

The Gryffindor house was full of chatter and buzz at the moment. Most of the students were gathered together with their friends in the early evening.

Harry and his friends had occupied a corner of the Gryffindor common room, where they were sitting and talking among themselves.

"And how did you reach that conclusion, Tori?" Harry asked her as she and Ginny dragged two empty armchairs across him and plopped down. The other redhead girl strangely didn't seem to be nervous being around them. She didn't appear skittish being in the presence of strangers and older students. She shot them confident smiles whenever they glanced at her. It looks like Astoria had found herself a friend. A bold one at that.

"Because of Lockhart. That's it. You should know the rest just from that name." grumbled Astoria.

"I see. So you have finally met the new incompetent DADA teacher. It's so bad that Dumbledore didn't choose to continue teaching us. Last year's DADA classes were great under his tutelage. Understandably, he is too busy with his other official posts to spend his time teaching us." Harry replied thoughtfully.

"I say we should still give Professor Lockhart a second chance before declaring him incompetent. Maybe his antics in the first class were just to make us less nervous and lighten the atmosphere. I am sure that he will surprise us with his competency in the next class." Hermione defended weakly, not absolutely sure of her own claim.

Iris rolled her eyes. "We are not having this debate again. We have already wasted a couple of hours on it."

"Yes, Hermione. Say what you want. But from what we have seen, Professor Lockhart is a very poor teacher. As bad as Professor Snape." Neville shrugged unapologetically.

Harry nodded in agreement. Although Snape at least knew his subject well enough, unlike the idiot who was their new teacher. Still, Neville's comparison wasn't totally untrue. Both Snape and Lockhart didn't have a single teaching bone in their bodies. One was an antisocial bat while the other was a glorified clown.

"What? Hermione really thinks that the narcissistic blond mirror-fucker is a good professor?" Astoria couldn't help blurting out incredulously.

Neville winced seeing how various pairs of eyes fell on them, how their group became the centre of attention. He wished Astoria wasn't always so loud.

"5 points from Gryffindor, Miss Greengrass, for using bad words." Percy said as he passed by them on his way to the exit, shooting them a mild glare. He would have given them a lengthy lecture if he wasn't in a hurry to meet his girlfriend.

Astoria blinked owlishly before showing him her middle fingers. She was absolutely unrepentant and unashamed as she scoffed in derision, "Bad words, you say? Go suck a dick, ginger."

Ginny giggled at the reddening face of her elder brother and waved him away, "On your way, Percy. You don't want to mess with the Queens of Gryffindor, do you?"

The students around them snickered at their interactions and a flustered Percy went away mumbling about spoiled immature kids.

"I see that Professor McGonagall's detentions aren't doing anything in curbing your foul mouth, Tori. And who is this another Queen of Gryffindor?" Harry smirked at the other girl, shaking his head in amusement. Being around Astoria was always fun, if a little chaotic.

"She is Ginny Weasley. My new best friend. And together we are going to be known as the Queens of Gryffindor. We shall rule this house someday." Astoria proclaimed proudly, ignoring his remark about her crass language. There was no Daphne here to snitch on her so she saw no need to filter her thoughts.

"Nice to meet you, Ginny. I would have liked to save you from this little monster, but it seems you are already far gone." Iris smiled at the fellow redhead, easily ignoring Astoria's cute pout.

"I don't care. Astoria is the best anyway." Ginny grinned, slinging her arm around the blonde.

And no, Astoria didn't blush from the direct praise. Not even a little bit. "Getting back to the topic. As I was saying, this school is stupid. Because it hired Suckhard to teach us. And I know that Suckhard won't teach us anything useful because he doesn't know shite. But I have to learn everything or else my dream to rank first won't come true."

That monologue brought a moment of silence as everybody looked at her with disbelieving expressions. Even Ginny Weasley, her newly titled best friend.

Harry questioned her with a sceptical look. "Really? I didn't take you for a studious girl, Tori."

"I am not. But I want to rub my rank in Daphne's ugly face. Some time ago when I made fun of her for losing against you on the rankboard, she just sneered at me and said 'little nincompoops shouldn't make fun of geniuses'. Can you believe that? I don't even know what the fuck is a nincompoop. That stupid bimbo. I want to shove her bitchy face on the bulletin board where my name would be beside number 1. Will you help me, Harry? Will you help me show Daphne her place?" Astoria's voice had progressively gotten louder and louder until she was yelling angrily.

"Nincompoop means a stupid person." Someone from the other side informed her since the whole house was listening in to their conversation. Not that Astoria made it particularly difficult with how rowdy she was being.

Astoria's head snapped towards the older boy and she practically looked like she was going to murder him. "Gee, I couldn't have guessed that, you fucking nincompoop."

"Come here, Tori. Calm down." Harry said, fighting off a smile, giving the amused older boy an apologetic look.

Shooting a last glare at the 'nincompoop', she proceeded to climb into Harry's lap. She wrapped her arms around him and hid her face on his neck.

"There, there, Tori. You are not a nincompoop. You are a cute and clever girl. So, don't worry, okay? I will tutor you. I will make you the smartest witch of your year. And we will show them. We will show them all." Harry smiled, hugging her close and patting her head in an encouraging gesture.

Astoria nodded and looked at him with barely contained glee. "Really?"

"Really."

She cheered happily and went back to hugging the life out of him.

QUEST:

– Make Astoria rank first in her end of the year exams.

REWARD:

– Perk [Mentor]

"Is this normal?" Hermione elbowed Neville who was rolling his eyes at the sappy scene. Was it weird that he was so used to Astoria's behaviour that he knew this was exactly how it was going to play out?

It was an exasperated Iris who answered Hermione instead. "It is."

~xXxXx~

Voldemort stood in the castle's storage room. The air was frigid, but it didn't affect him much. He looked down on the ground. There was a single row of dead bodies lying on the cold grey floor in front of him.

These bodies were his tickets to get out of this damn castle, to get out of this cage. And he was grateful for that, even when he knew he wouldn't be able to last long in these bodies. A day at max before the body would disintegrate and force his mind back here in his true body.

He had to give credit where it was due. Peter Pettigrew had been an important asset who brought him the news from the outside world along with anything he ever asked, including dead bodies. Alas, Peter was no more. Voldemort was sure of it. He had underestimated Lily Potter and had paid a hefty price. He had lost his only underling as a result.

It was annoying, obviously. The loss of that asset had disrupted his many plans. Now he truly was alone (not counting Her) with limited resources. Still, he would survive and win. While he couldn't go out directly as was ordained by Chaos, he could use indirect methods. He was pretty sure that Chaos was playing games with him. That he was acting as a puppet master. After all, why would Chaos even leave open an obvious window of opportunity to be so easily exploited?

If he hadn't known that already, Quirrell getting lost in the forest and stumbling into his castle was as clear proof as any. It couldn't have been a coincidence that a man who worked specifically at Hogwarts came to him. And if that still wasn't enough then the fiasco with the Philosopher's Stone was the dead giveaway. Chaos must have known that Voldemort could have used that magical stone to gain or give some degree of power and independence.

And like a fish on a hook, he had been pulled after the Stone with the help of Quirrell, even when he knew that the chances of the Stone being fake were too high. At least he met that ruthless boy. That was a silver lining. Maybe that boy could become his new asset in the outside world. Or maybe he would need to be killed if he decides to keep opposing him. There was also the prophecy about them which complicated the matters.

'But what if that was the intention of Chaos? Does he want me to meet his counterpart again? This child Harry Potter? Was this Chaos' plan all along? Does he want me and him to fight? Was the future set in stone? Was I walking down a fixed path? Were all my actions and decisions I had taken in life even my own?'

He immediately dropped that line of thought. Those were some dangerous things to think about. He would continue on his own path without questioning the freedom of his own mind ever again.

Ignorance is bliss and he wanted that bliss to keep on existing. Ultimately, what was even the meaning of this life if he couldn't trust his own mind, his own self?

He had to believe in individual freedom. He had to. There was no other choice.

Chaos could go fuck himself. He could control the entire world. But not his mind. Never his mind.

He was lord Voldemort. And nothing could change that. He would find a way and show Chaos why making him an enemy was his biggest mistake.

He selected a male body and levitated it behind him and walked to the ritual room.

~xXxXx~

Lily tilted her head to the side and a blue jet of light tore through the air where her head was earlier. Then she slid away, missing another spell and snapping her own wand at her sparring partner.

Alice ducked under the stunning spell and flicked her wand up. A stony hand rose from underneath Lily, its claw-like fingers trying to capture her. The redhead simply used the upward momentum to jump up, effortlessly escaping the claws. Even mid-air she didn't waste a single fraction of second and trained her wand at Alice. The stony protrusion beneath her morphed into two wolves and ran towards Alice.

Lily's red knee-length skirt flared up as she landed back on her feet, on the levelled ground. By then, Alice had already taken care of the distractions. The wolves lay still around her with rocky stalagmites piercing through them.

They both shared a smirk and whipped their wands at the same time. Two rays of light collided between them in a blinding flash of red, promptly cancelling each other out.

Her neck-hair stood on their ends and Alice instinctively dodged another spell by jumping to the side. But the momentary disturbance was enough for Lily to mutter her signature spell.

Alice's eyes widened in horror as an all encompassing menacing aura erupted around Lily.

Lily's beautiful emerald eyes were now poison green while her silky red hair turned into jumbles of crimson slimy snakes with obsidian eyes. The slithering reptiles glared at Alice hatefully, hissing and writhing on Lily's head. Lily's once white skin was now a hideous shade of pale blue, giving her a sickly appearance. She also had a pair of ugly black leathery wings sprouting from her back.

Lily looked as if she was some unhinge evil creature who had crawled out from the deepest depths of hell. There was this presence around her which made it hard for Alice to even keep on standing, to even breathe in the same air as her. There was just so much bloodlust that it made her suffocate.

This was the acclaimed Crimson Witch. The one who was feared by many.

Even knowing that this was just an illusion, that her friend was still only a human underneath this veil of demoness, didn't stop Alice's fear from consuming her. She couldn't slow down her fast-beating heart or stop herself from falling down on her knees. She shuddered when the demoness looked at her with those narrowed gleaming eyes and the sharp-fanged grin.

Lily raised her wand and shot the basic disarming spell. Alice fell back on her butt and her wand soared towards Lily who snatched it out of the air.

"I win." Lily giggled. Usually, her laughter was soft and soothing, but right now it came out as a sinister maniacal cackle.

Alice quivered in disgust and terror.

"Drop it, Lily. You are scaring me." Alice groaned, trembling all over and keeping her face away from her demoness friend.

"Fine. Be a spoilsport." Lily mumbled childishly in her normal voice. Her appearance was now back to normal. She walked up to Alice and helped her to her feet.

"Even after all these years, it still blows away my mind how a simple illusion can massively help in handicapping opponents." Alice said with a relieved sigh as she was freed from the malicious atmosphere.

Lily shrugged. "Yes. But my spell isn't exactly a normal one, is it?"

"Definitely not a normal one." Alice mumbled, twitching uncomfortably from the thought of the illusion.

Lily's 'Purgatory Domain' was her own created spell. With the help of it she was able to appear as a demoness. While a mere illusion might sound too easy to fight against, it was totally different in reality. Lily's illusion was truly a masterpiece.

The speciality about it was that it couldn't be countered or shielded against. It was like an Unforgivable in a sense that it could only be avoided. If a person stood within a certain range from her then Lily's illusion would always work, no matter what. And it wasn't just an optical illusion, the Purgatory Domain used every sense available to establish itself as real in the opponent's mind and spark unrestrained fear in the victim's heart.

Of course it wasn't unconquerable. A man or woman with a will of steel could always ignore what they were feeling and look at the illusion as a lowly illusion instead of a hopeless reality. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded. It was mightily difficult to overcome the fear one's own senses so readily provided. It was like being trapped in a nightmare. Knowing that you were in a nightmare didn't free you from it.

This spell had saved Lily's life numerous times during the last war. And it never got old seeing her enemies cowering before her. She hadn't earned her nickname 'Crimson Witch' by being nice. She had more than enough times played with the Death Eaters' minds before giving them the sweet release of death. Psychological torture was a thing and it was just as effective as a physical one.

"That was an interesting match," said Proserpina. She had been standing in the corner of the duelling room, observing the friendly spar between her friends. "Although a predictable one. It is nice seeing that you are still in the peak form, Lily. Alice on the other hand was very sloppy."

"Yes, I know. I would like to see you try, Proserpina. It had been more than a decade since we fought seriously, making me rusty. But, please, show me your expertise, oh great one." Alice grumbled sardonically, moving towards her and leaning against the wall beside her.

Not deigning her whining any response, Proserpina walked to the one end of the duelling ring, standing opposite her friend. She pulled her cascading blonde hair up in a tight bun and took off her violet robe, dropping it behind her, now standing just in a pair of form-fitting white trousers and a black sleeveless top.

Lily and Prosperina shared a nod and the fight started without much fanfare.

This time Lily used her Purgatory Domain from the beginning, going full out, knowing she would need it against her blonde friend.

Proserpina stiffened at the sight of the crimson demoness and fought against the temptation of giving up. She shook her head stubbornly before shifting to the side reflexively, dodging the incoming spell.

Although she wasn't unaffected, Proserpina with some effort got into the rhythm of ducking and parrying her opponent's spells. And the longer she fought, the easier it became to ignore the illusion's creepy and terrifying effects.

Seeing that her spell wasn't working much and was needlessly using up her magical reserves, Lily ceased the Purgatory Domain and went for a straightforward fight.

The illusion disappeared and the normal Lily was back in place with a part-annoyed and part-proud look. It was good knowing that Proserpina was still just as headstrong and stubborn as before. But it was also irritating how easily her friend got through the Purgatory Domain.

As the fight got faster and more intense, Proserpina began using her special spells. The elemental spells. That was her strong point.

She shot spears of ice, trusting Lily to be able to counter them instead of getting skewered. This was a mock duel of course, she wasn't intending to kill her friend. Lily didn't break her trust and a wall of fire erupted between them, vaporising the ice constructs before it could even reach her. The momentary loss of the view was the greatest chance for them to surprise their opponents.

And surprise Lily did indeed. She flung herself through the fire and stopped only a couple of metres from Prosperpina.

Even the unflappable blonde couldn't stop her face from twisting into an expression of horror as the Crimson Witch grinned viciously with fire dancing all over her skin and hair.

"It's over!" Lily hissed, her voice like the noise of nails dragging on a blackboard.

Proserpina somehow was able to conjure up a shield even when her heart jumped into her throat. But it was unnecessary. Lily's spell missed her by a huge span of space.

Assuming that Lily was getting tired and weary from the fight, seeing how her aim was way off, Prosperpina gathered all her courage and started moving again. She bombarded Lily with elemental spells. Air, water, fire, ice and earth.

Their fight again set into a rhythm of dodging and trading spells. But this time in extremely close proximity.

She caught Lily off guard and sent a gust of wind which threw her back to the otherside. The fire which had been going on for a while, conjured earlier by Lily as an answer to her ice spears, sputtered out from the air wave. Before Proserpina could use the advantage of Lily's dazed and weak state, something unexpected happened.

Something soft and cottony coiled around her ankles and yanked her legs backwards, making her fall forward, causing her to faceplant on the hard floor. The crunch of her nose colliding with the marble ground made her hiss in pain. She sluggishly rolled on her back and groggily touched her nose, her eyes brimming with tears. Her fingers came out coated with blood. She winced as the red liquid trickled out of her misshapen nose.

"I win." Lily said as she came to her. She winced at the bloodied face of her friend and quickly used some minor healing spells.

Proserpina gritted her teeth and bit her tongue as her nose snapped back in its place and the blood stopped flowing out of her nostrils. She took Lily's hand and heaved herself on her feet.

"Yes, you did." She agreed, keeping her face blank as she looked down at her legs.

Her beautiful violet robe was the thing which had lost her the match. She nodded gratefully to Lily as she undid the spell, as it uncoiled from her legs and lay down innocently on the floor.

"That was an interesting match," Alice parroted mockingly. "Although a predictable one. It is nice seeing that you are still in the peak form, Lily. Proserpina on the other hand was very sloppy."

No, Prosperina didn't cuss out loud like a sailor. Absolutely not.

Alice and Proserpina did look on curiously when Lily put back the silver necklace around her neck.

~xXxXx~

"You are now tutoring Astoria?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Harry and his friends, including Tracey and Daphne, were on their way to the Charms class after breakfast. They were going together since both the houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin, had the same class.

Daphne and Harry were walking a little behind their group, softly conversing with each other. Tracey and Iris were busy with their own talks at the head of the group, the same as Neville and Hermione, to bother them or listen in to their conversation.

"I am. Astoria wants the rank first. And I will do my best to give her that." Harry answered with a soft smile, his expression turning amused at the thought of her younger sister.

Daphne nodded, the corners of her mouth turning up. "Good."

"She wants to shove your bitchy face on the bulletin board where her name would be beside number 1." chuckled Harry.

Daphne's eyes narrowed, but her tiny smile still remained. "We will see."

They fell silent after that, getting lost in their own thoughts. Surprisingly, Daphne's thoughts revolved around the very same boy who was walking beside her.

He has changed, she thought. The mischievous gleam in his eyes had disappeared. She still remembered the days when he would be with Tracey and the two loons would concoct a prank or cause havoc just for giggles and laughter. She could still recall the time when there was a perpetual grin etched on his face. The times when he tried to annoy everyone for fun.

He did not grin enough anymore.

He smiled. Oh he smiled a lot nowadays. Sometimes with a hint of mischief, reminding her of the older days, but most of the time his smiles were gentle and affectionate.

His smiles were far more frequent than his grins, she had noticed.

She had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, his smiles filled her up with tingly warmth and unbridled joy, but she also missed his carefree and playful grins.

She guessed he had grown. There was an air of maturity around him which there wasn't before. And the catalyst for this change was the near death of Iris.

A fiery rage suddenly bubbled inside her stomach like a dragon's roar. It was so cruel and devastating that she wouldn't have batted an eye in killing someone.

She suppressed the anger.

Her face remained blank throughout this.

Voldemort. The man who killed the child in her dear friend. The man who almost killed Iris, her sister all in but blood. The monster whose men took away her father's sanity. She hated him. Then again, Voldemort wasn't anything special. She hated everyone with few exceptions.

'Soon, I will be powerful. Soon, I will have my wings and untold strength. Then I will kill Voldemort and free Harry from his heavy destiny. Soon, but not now. Maybe next year.'

Harry bumped his shoulder against her and looked at her in concern. "Are you okay?"

She knew her expression was still the same, placid and emotionless. And yet he knew what she was feeling. It made her happy although she didn't know why.

She nodded. "I am fine."

He gave her a gentle smile, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze, their fingers intertwining firmly.

As he tried to pull back his hand, she resisted and tightened her hold, wordlessly insisting him to keep his grasp. Harry's eyebrows arched, but he didn't say anything and held her arm as they walked.

She knew she was blushing. Harry though just smiled and swung their joined hands between them.

She wished he would tease her for her flustered face. She wished he would grin. The old Harry would have done that. But now he just smiled tenderly and held her hand until they reached the class.

She decided that his smiles weren't too bad either.

~xXxXx~

She woke up to find herself alone in the bed. Tom must be out in the castle or in the throne room. She heaved a weary sigh, now having understood why he spent so little time in her room.

Being in here made him feel inadequate. It made him realise how powerless he was that he couldn't bring his wife out of her cell. When he had told her everything, when he had revealed that he wasn't her jailer, but just another prisoner, she hadn't known how to react. All her life, she had thought that Tom was the one who bound her to this room. That he was the one who tore off her wings and locked her in this ostentatious cage.

And that turned out to be false.

All her hate and bitter feelings shifted from Tom to the Creator. She hated the Ruler so fiercely that her own eyes turned blood red like her husband's whenever she thought about him.

Surprisingly, she had never really hated Tom as much as she should have. That always was so mysterious and confusing to her. Why wasn't she able to hate her captor? Why didn't she ever try to kill him or hurt him? She never knew the answer to these simple questions. But now she finally got it.

He was her. Tom was the other part of her soul. She never was meant to hate him. She was fated to love him and cherish him just like he did to her.

It didn't matter that she could never get out of this room. It didn't matter that her dreams would never come true. She didn't care that she would never breathe in the fresh air or feel the Sun's warm light on her skin or get to jump in the beautiful sea. All these wishes didn't matter.

She had Tom. And that was enough. More than enough if she was honest. He had chosen her over his freedom. He had chosen her over his own visions and desires. She could do the same. She would do the same. She would choose him over everything else.

She loved Tom and Tom loved her. That was more precious than her dreams of freedom.

Love was more important than the fresh air and the radiant sun.

She slipped out of her dress and underclothes and stared at the corner. A small rectangular cabin suddenly materialised in front of her, a comfortable function of her prison. She went inside the bathroom and let the hot water rain over her from the shower head.

"Goodbye. I have everything I need." She smiled in a pained melancholy, her tears and water intermixing on her pale face, her sorrow and relief overflooding her as she bid farewell to her dreams.

When she stepped out of the cabin and into her room, she was surprised to find a man sitting lazily on the edge of her bed.

"I have an offer for you, Voldemort." The green-eyed and black-haired man smiled beatifically. She was momentarily surprised, not knowing who he was or how he got inside her room.

Then her white face reddened and so did her eyes. She pointed her hand at him and snarled viciously, "Creator!"

~xXxXx~

OMAKE

She loved Tom and Tom loved her. That was more precious than her dreams of freedom.

She stiffened when she felt someone whisper something in her ear.

"TATAKAE!"