The Girl from Azkaban ~ Tom Riddle (18+)

𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖚𝖊

~✧~

For five years, no one had ever come to floor thirty-three of Azkaban.

This floor was completely sealed off from all other floors. An extra new security system with the most powerful spells was designed to keep one person in and dozens out. The prison was a place where many dangerous wizards were held, but never before had so much effort been put into a single person.

Horace Slughorn was the first to enter this floor after five long years. He had had no other goal and after long, hard work he had managed to make all the arrangements to break into the prison.

His nose wrinkled as the unpalatable smell of dead grew stronger. His right hand held up his wand and in his left he carried an old oil lamp that lit up the corridors in orange. He had a queasy feeling in his stomach as he arrived in front of the tightly locked door with five thousand bolts and locking mechanisms. He placed the oil lamp beside him on the damp floor and made a motion with his wand. A few bolts opened and a hexagonal compartment was revealed.

Slughorn swallowed hard once and reached under his cloak. He pulled out a dark green emerald necklace and stared sadly at the stone for a moment. Old memories flashed through his mind. Finally, he placed the necklace in the pre-made compartment and waved his wand again. The compartment closed again and the sound of gears meshing cut through the silence. With watery eyes he watched the high door, afraid of what he would find behind it.

As the door slowly opened with a loud squeak, it slammed against the inner wall. Horace Slughorn gazed into the darkness, still with a queasy feeling in his stomach.

He held his wand protectively in front of him and carefully stepped over a white line drawn in front of the door and further along the walls. His hands trembled as he stepped further into the large room. He could clearly feel his heart hammering against his chest and fear took more and more possession of him. He waved his wand and muttered the word: "Lumos". Immediately a bright white light emanated from the tip of his wand and illuminated a radius of about ten feet around Horace.

A black shadow suddenly flitted past him and he flinched. With wide, fearful eyes, he continued to gaze around the room, spinning once on his own axis. He winced as he suddenly made out two bright green eyes in front of him.

"Mira?" he asked softly, yet in a shaky voice, dropping to the floor in front of the figure hidden in the black shadows.

'What had they done to his great love? How could he have let it come to this?'

She was scrawny, her skin filthy and her clothes tattered.

"Horace?" she asked in an equally shaky voice as she dropped to the floor beside him. You could hear that her voice was rough, she didn't seem to have used it properly for a long time.

"You really can't be here. You can't be." she whispered more to herself than to him. A sad smile formed on Horace's face.

"But my dear, I am here. For five years my only goal has been to come and get you and here I am.", his voice broke as he spoke, small tears rolling down his cheeks.

"How is it that you came here despite all that has been seen?" she questioned his action incredulously.

"Oh my dear..." he began, "...I do know that you are not to blame for anything that is seen. You simply had no choice and I don't judge you for anything you did."

Horace was about to take his Mira in his arms, but before he could even get close enough to her, she recoiled and hid back in the shadows. She was frightened, unhealthily thin and dry blood clung to her skin. Horace was already breaking at the sight of her he could catch through the darkness.
Mira was glad he couldn't get a closer look at her, he shouldn't be able to glimpse all the hubs that littered her body. She knew that her time would soon be up. She deserved it, she knew, she was not a good person, she had caused a lot of suffering, but still, a child did not deserve this...