Modification || T. Riddle || Completed

Chapter 45: The Final Encounter

"chapter song choice: heal - tom odell"

Chapter 45: The Final Encounter

She was on her feet. "A week?" Estela exclaimed, her eyes darting between Grace and William.

She was moving in a week. Seven days. 168 hours. That's all she had left.

"Why can't I stay here at Hogwarts? I'll be fine, I'll-"

"There's no way we're moving over 3,000 miles away and leaving you behind, Estela!" William said, a line forming between his bushy brows that was the first sign of warning.

"Why not? It's not like it would make any difference! I'll rejoin you during the summer! Please, this is my last year, I'm Head Girl... I -"

She noticed the upset look that Grace wore as though she understood what Estela was feeling - that she had to leave behind her school, her family history, her memories, and some of the people she cared for most. What she didn't know is that it ran so much deeper than that.

"I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore," Estela suddenly announced, turning to Dippet and finally acknowledging the Headmaster properly for the first time. "He'll understand, he knows I have to stay-"

"Professor Dumbledore is already aware that you're leaving, Miss Markorp," said Dippet softly from behind his desk.

Of course. She had told Dumbledore that she couldn't continue with her task, so why would he fight for her to stay? If only she'd left it later to tell him...

She slumped back into the chair in which she had been sat with a thud, every ounce of hope and energy draining from within her. It was over, then. Truly over. She thought she still had time. Time to make a difference. Time to change him and show him that all that had happened was true. Now she realised that she didn't. And that reality hit her hard.

It had all been a waste. She'd wasted an entire year trying to change him and it had all amounted to nothing. In fact, it might have even fuelled him to become the monster she'd seen in the future. If he was feeling the same pain that she was, it wouldn't surprise her if he'd want to see the rest of the world crash and burn around him as he made them feel his pain.

***

That evening, she had a meeting with the Prefects about the opportunity to volunteer to help decorate the castle for the upcoming Halloween festivities. It saddened her to think that she'd never again witness the castle in all its festive glory. She'd never get to attend another one of Slughorn's lavish dinners or hear the suits of armour sing Christmas carols as she walked through the beautifully decorated corridors.

But right now, her mind was focused on the meeting. All of the Prefect meetings went the same since her argument with Tom: they'd both turn up, speak separately, and Tom would leave the Prefects' Common Room without so much as a glance in her direction. And although they sat beside each other as they spoke to the Prefects, it was as though there was a solid barrier that separated them, as though they were both living in separate worlds where neither one existed to the other.

Estela was the last one to arrive, and after she greeted the Prefects and sat down beside Tom silently, he began his speech.

The students listened to him intently, as they always did. He didn't speak to them as harshly as he had during their first meeting, but still his tone was authoritative and full of a charismatic power that enticed them all.

The fact that he was so close to Estela made her feel terribly tense. He was so close she could just about feel the warmth radiating off of his body and feel his arm brush against hers as he sorted through some bits of parchment. But the fact that they were so far at the same time made her feel as though he could never be reached, no matter how far she stretched.