Broken Wings / tom riddle

Chapter 42 - Lost and Partially Found

"I was beginning to think you'd let me rot in this room," Briar said, tugging at her shackles.

"Well, after you foolishly threw away your wand, I considered it. But then I realised what you did it for. Quick thinking darling." He smirked then looked down at her shackles. "Let's remove them, shall we?" He blasted a shot of light out the tip of his wand. The shackles hit the ground, finally freeing her aching wrists.

Briar launched up and threw her arms around Tom. She inhaled his scent, memorised the sensation of his breath on her neck and replayed his voice over and over, the tone, the pitch, the accentuation on certain syllables. She never wanted to be without any of it again.

"Yes whilst this is all very heartwarming, Lestrange is pretending to be a chef, so it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong," Abraxas said.

"Yes, we must move." They climbed the stairs and found themselves standing in the hallway. For a moment, Briar thought they may make a clean escape, but that's never the case, is it?

Running down the hallway in full speed was Gabriel Lestrange. "Get out! Run! They're coming!" He was panting heavily.

"Shit," she heard Abraxas swear. They began to run towards the other end of the corridor. A harsh curse landed beside Briar's foot as she ran.

"Masks on!" Tom commanded. Briar was the only one with her face exposed. It looked rather strange she must admit, being broken out of a basement by three men in black cloaks and skull masks.

Tom turned around and fired a spell, the wall crumbled down and blocked the path of the men that were chasing them. It bought them some time. "Go!" Tom said.

"What?"

"Go Briar, it's you he wants. Get out of here I'll handle this," Tom said, raising his wand and destroying another wall, buying more time.

"Merlin Tom, you make things ten times more difficult then they need to be. I'm not leaving you!"

"Lestrange, Malfoy, make sure Potter and Rosier are okay. We'll meet you outside," Tom spoke quickly.

"Why would you bring Rosier here Tom? Merlin I'm going to kill you when we get out of this place!" She took a deep breath in.

Abraxas and Gabe jumped out of the nearest window. Briar ran towards the group of men as they tried to shift some rumble out of their way. She moved her hand and allowed her magic to take over one of their bodies briefly. Then, Tom blasted another curse which removed some of the blockage, just enough so she could squeeze through. Briar grabbed the wand of a young man and kicked him backwards.

A man with the long beard who had been Briar's previous kidnapper, reached for her ankle. "Not letting you get me twice sweetheart," she said. "Bombarda!" He was knocked back and crushed under some stone. Alive or dead? Briar was unsure, nor did she care.

She moved back towards Tom. "Let's tear this place down."

He smiled, "Gladly." They raised their wands together, with their combined power they chanted the phrase.

The men looked around, everything was silent. No one knew what was going on.

A the large chandelier in the centre of the hallway hit the ground, glass shattering everywhere. Grindelwald's followers stepped back, but that was just the beginning of the destruction.

The roof soon caved in, crushing the men one by one. "We need to leave now before we join them!" Tom said running off with Briar's wrist in his grasp.

She looked back as she ran, hearing the screams coming from underneath the stone. Six months ago, the screams of people dying might have haunted her dreams, but now, they gave her satisfaction. Maybe Tom was right all this time, maybe she was born for greatness.