Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Avalon had felt the pain of grief before-- many times. But, nothing had ever compared to the way her soul ripped apart when she saw Orion's lifeless hand hanging from beneath the covered stretcher.

Sharp shards of broken glass rained down on the hallway when she fell to her knees and screamed, shattering the lanterns around them as her unbridled torment overtook her senses.

She lost control.

Of her restraint. Of her pain. Of herself.

Of her power.

Every single ounce of heartache she had ever endured came rushing back to her the moment her eyes landed on Orion's still body. Every single repressed emotion flooded back, shattering her from the inside and leaving her completely broken.

The pain of Orion's death. The pain of Clara's death. The pain of Harry's death. The pain of Fred's death. Sirius's death. Remus's death. Tonks's death. Lavender's death. Cedric's death. Dumbledore's death. Dobby's death. Hermione's torture. Her own torture. Memories of the war. Not knowing where her aunt was. Not knowing where Ron was. Not knowing who had lived, and not knowing who had died. Watching the bodies of her friends be paraded through the streets. Listening to the radio and hearing the names of their allies in lists of the murdered.

She couldn't contain it anymore.

She couldn't.

Because no matter how strong she was, she had hit her breaking point.

The sound of her screams didn't reach her own ears, but the burn of her throat was enough for her to know that they were ripping through her. Her entire body was violently shaking, but she couldn't take her eyes off the body of her best friend.

It felt like she'd lost a part of herself.

The ground beneath her began to shake, the stones starting to crack as her irrepressible power tore through her body in a wave of rampant grief. She couldn't make sense of the world around her, nor could she feel Tom quickly fall to his knees beside her and try to calm her down.

Tom was afraid. Not of her, but for her.

Her fists were balled so tightly that he could see drops of crimson seeping out from where her nails were clawing relentlessly into her flesh. Her eyes were completely empty-- no semblance of anything hidden behind the blank stare adorned on her face. The veins on her arms slowly changed color, a horrific, inky black tainting her bloodstream as the darkness of her overwhelming anguish overtook her senses.

"Avalon, please, look at me," he begged her, trying to get her attention off Orion's lifeless body. But, she couldn't even hear his words. Her mind was in shambles, the world around her fading to nothingness. When he saw the veins beneath her eyes starting to turn black, he was overtaken with dread-- he had never seen her like this.

Tom had heard of wizards and witches losing control of their magic in times of full-blown grief, but he had never seen it happen to anyone he knew. Watching as her own power consumed her was heartbreaking and horrifying all at once. Because he knew that she was putting herself in danger, too.

He tried to wrap his arms around her, but her skin scorched him the moment he touched her. She had willingly burned him twice before, but this time was different. This time, she wasn't in control of it. And the burn was unbearable.

His eyes widened when he saw the way her own skin was starting to singe itself-- her flesh began to burn in patches, leaving a trail of blisters and discolored skin as her agony slowly began to eat herself alive bit by bit. It was destroying her from the inside out, and she couldn't control it.