Broken Wings / tom riddle

Chapter 13 - Lions and Snakes

The weeks after the ball flew past. Briar spent most of her time alone, some days she would seek out Cordelia, others she would spend her time wishing she was anywhere but Hogwarts. She stayed clear of the Slytherin boys, every so often Aleks would try to catch her on the way out of the common room or when classes were ending, but she'd always ignore him and walk away.

As the plants outside started to cover with a small layer of winter frost, so did Briar's heart.

She'd opened it for the Avery heir, and she would now pay the price. Briar wasn't dumb, part of her was always worried the day would come where he'd break her heart, but she never expected it to happen so soon or that he'd been conspiring against her the whole time. She cared about nothing and no one at Hogwarts anymore. She approached the transfiguration classroom door and knocked three times.

"Come in," said Dumbledore as he rummaged through his desk, papers flying everywhere. "Ah, Miss Emeralds, what can I assist you with today?" the wizard asked.

"I want to leave," Briar demanded firmly, the professor sighed loudly as he leaned back and relaxed into his chair. "My mind is made up."

"You are still 17 Briar, so you are under the care of the school," Dumbledore said. "You cannot leave. Unless you want to be thrown back into another orphanage on the streets?" he raised an eyebrow. Briar just continued to look deep into his blue eyes, they seemed so full of trust, or was it false hope? She was angry. At Dumbledore, at Aleks, at Tom, but the worst was knowing that there was no escape from it all, she had to stay.

She walked back towards the common room fiercely, she almost took out a few second years that got in her way. She had a free study period and she decided it was time to hide the stones, if she was being forced to stay here, they needed to stay well hidden until she worked out what exactly they were.

Briar wandered out front of the hallway where she had seen the door appear for Tom and Aleks a few weeks ago, but nothing was there. She paced out front of it a few times, back and forth but still, nothing happened. She leaned up against the wall and with a sigh, she lowered herself down to the floor where she buried her face in her palms. She thought long and hard about how precious these stones were, and how desperately she needed to make them disappear. Suddenly, she heard clicks coming from behind her and something dug into her back, rubbing up against the broken structures that were once her wings. She turned around and saw a large door emerging from nothing. She opened it.

Inside was a sight to see. Objects upon objects were piled up on each other miles high. Small and large object coming together to make up one gigantic mess, a beautiful mess that Briar needed. The room seemed as if it extended beyond what the mind could comprehend, it looked endless. Briar walked around the room, stones in hand, searching for somewhere they would be safe, when suddenly she came across a statue of Merlin, the great wizard. He stood with his palms open as if they were just waiting for something to be placed on them. She hummed and slowly placed the stones in the old wizard's hand. She stepped back and observed, they didn't look like anything special, they just looked like they were a part of the statue.

Briar felt content with her decision, and slowly made her way back to the entrance of the room. She stopped a few times to observe objects that were in there, it was hard not to get distracted, she could spend hours in here exploring if she wanted to. She reached for the door handle and gently opened the door to make sure no one was passing by. When everything seemed clear, she stepped outside of the room and closed the door, before she had time to turn around and look again, the entrance was already gone.

____

History of magic had quickly become one of Briar's most hated subjects. With the assignment set on the fae and her being partnered with Tom Riddle, it was hard to find any positives about the class.