readd finish work inpatreon ilham20
"1"
Quirrell jumped at the sudden reversal. He tried to dodge the incoming fireball on instinct, but under Norberta's precise control, the flames shot straight at him anyway.
As the baby dragon got the hang of it, the fire picked up speed. Quirrell twisted awkwardly, lost his balance, and slammed face-first into the dirt.
"You useless fool!"
The raspy voice from the back of his head snarled. Quirrell's wand flicked up, a blue glow flashing at its tip. The flames vanished instantly.
"Avada Kedavra!"
No hesitation. Voldemort went straight for the Killing Curse, hurling the jet of green light right at the group.
Ron's legs nearly gave out. Harry felt a sharp stab of pain rip through his scar. Flashes of broken memory exploded in his mind—green light, screaming, death. His parents had died under that same curse.
If this had been future Harry, he would've answered with Expelliarmus and tried to blast the Killing Curse right back. But right now he was just a first-year who hadn't learned the spell yet.
All they could do was watch the green light hurtle closer.
Tom shook his head, stepped forward, and planted himself in front of them.
As the green bolt closed in, something mischievous sparked in his eyes. He shrugged, turned around, and started digging a hole in the ground like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Time seemed to stretch. Classic cartoon timing: until Tom finished digging, the Killing Curse would never quite reach him.
Voldemort, Quirrell, Harry—everyone—could only stare as the green light slowed to a crawl, inching toward Tom but never quite touching him.
It wasn't really the curse slowing down. Time itself had slowed. Voldemort tried to raise his wand for another spell, but his arm moved like it was underwater. His brain was racing, but his body couldn't keep up.
Of course, the effect didn't last forever.
Once the hole was done, Tom tied a blindfold over his eyes, casually stuck a cigarette in his mouth, and the green light snapped back to normal speed. It slammed straight into him.
Tom's body went rigid. He toppled stiffly into the freshly dug grave. The loose dirt he'd piled up slid neatly back into place, filling the hole and burying him with perfect, almost considerate care.
To top it all off, the Killing Curse's green light didn't fade like it should have. It stayed planted on top of the little mound like a glowing tombstone.
Only Tom could pull off something this ridiculous.
"Tom!"
(Mama!)
Harry and the others had no idea what was really happening. Sure, they'd seen Norberta burn Tom to ash a few times, but the Killing Curse felt different. And the fact that Tom had even dug his own grave made it look way too final.
Everyone exploded with anger—well, everyone except Ariana.
She had first met Tom inside the Mirror of Erised, a place only the dead could reach. A normal living person shouldn't have been able to walk in there and pull a ghost out.
Maybe this was just another one of his games, like when Norberta burned him. He'd probably pop back up completely fine in a minute or two.
At worst, he'd just taken another trip to that mirror realm and would come back dragging a few more ghosts with him—right?
That's what she kept telling herself. But staring at the little grave with the green Killing Curse stuck in it like a headstone, Ariana couldn't stop the cold panic rising in her chest. What if this time it was real? What if Tom couldn't come back?
And with that fear came something darker.
An Obscurus was part of a young wizard or witch, normally impossible to separate. Tom had managed to pull hers out because, well, he was Tom—rules didn't really apply to him—and because he'd exploited a loophole.
An Obscurus was born from a child's terror of their own magic, a fear so strong that magic itself made it deadly. But Ariana was different. She was a ghost, not a living witch anymore.
She had been terrified of magic once, but after dying and spending time in the Mirror realm, that fear had faded. The Ariana who had wished for magic had died. The new Ariana wasn't afraid of it anymore.
Once the original Obscurus was removed, she shouldn't have been able to produce another one.
But now fear, rage, and worry were twisting together inside her. Her magic began to riot on its own. Black, smoky tendrils of an Obscurus started to rise.
"What—? An Obscurial?!"
As the Dark Lord, Voldemort spotted the danger immediately. His face twisted with disgust.
Under normal circumstances, a mere Obscurus wouldn't have worried him. But right now? He was just a weak fragment of a soul clinging to Quirrell's failing body. The power he'd managed to scrape together had already been burned through twice.
First, when Tom had blown Quirrell's clothes off—he'd barely managed to hide himself in time.
Second, when he'd stepped in to save Quirrell from the three-headed dog on the fourth floor. If he hadn't, Quirrell would've been torn apart.
Those two uses of magic had forced him to come after the unicorn early, drinking its blood to stretch out his miserable existence. And now—
He wanted to hit Ariana with another Killing Curse, but he could feel Quirrell's body about to collapse. In the end he settled for a Stunning Spell, knocking her unconscious.
Then, glaring at the baby dragon in Harry's arms and feeling Quirrell's strength fading fast, Voldemort shot the group one last hateful look. He dissolved into a wisp of black smoke and streaked back toward the castle.
He couldn't get the unicorn blood now, and Quirrell was finished after using the Killing Curse. Only one option left: the Philosopher's Stone.
The moment Voldemort fled, Harry and the others collapsed to the ground. They stared at unconscious Ariana and Tom's little grave, faces pale with grief.
None of them were ready for someone to actually die.
Meanwhile, the freshly "respawned" Tom was hiding behind a nearby tree, watching the whole scene. He saw Ariana passed out and the heartbroken looks on Harry, Ron, Hannah, and the rest.
His expression turned complicated.
He'd only wanted to do the classic "Tom dies dramatically" bit for a laugh.
Who knew it would blow up this badly?
Especially the Obscurus. If that thing wasn't handled right, someone could actually get killed!