The Dawn of Darkness || T. Riddle

Chapter 21: Rise and Rebellion

Chapter 21: Rise and Rebellion

Estela choked back a cough as charred incense filled her lungs. "You," she said in a sound so faint it barely managed to escape her lips. "How? You're supposed to be dead! Tom killed you!"

But here she was, standing above her with her heavily defined eyes, her patched up robes of plum and that inky black curtain of hair that flowed down the length of her back: Cassandra Vablatsky.

The seer laughed, idly shuffling a few darkly patterned cards covered in ancient symbols and runes - the graphorn, the unknown and the mark of Merlin. "I possess the Sight, child. Did you really think I was incapable of foreseeing that the young Lord was going to kill me once I'd given you the prophecy?"

"But he poisoned you - I saw the moonseed in your blood! You were dead!" She said, her eyes landing on the very spot on the desk where the seer had been slumped over in her own blood.

Cassandra thrummed her long, red fingernails along the wood of the table upon which Estela sat. "I consumed the antidote to the moonseed poison just before you and Riddle arrived." The seer snickered, her feline features twitching. "He overplayed his cards. He underestimated me. And his ignorance for any form of power other than his own made him naïve. Besides, haven't you been taking notice of my signs?"

Estela frowned in confusion, before the seer stirred her cat-like gaze towards the window, where a beautiful, glowing crescent moon was still hanging in the sky. It seemed close enough to touch, if you were brave enough to risk the silver pinpricks of the stars that were thorned around it. And when Estela looked back at Cassandra, it startled her how similar the seer's captivating smile was to that of the moon. It curved in the exact same way – just like it had done at Malfoy Manor, moments before the Dementor attack.

Then it hit her.

"It was you?" She questioned, straightening suddenly. "You sent the dementors to attack us?"

Cassandra nodded, the beads and jewels that covered her clothes and body clinking as she moved. "I did."

She had to know they were safe. Tom, Alden, Travers... She needed to know what had happened. She hoped to Merlin that they'd all apparated and escaped to safety before the Dementors could swoop in and doom them all. She knew that they were damned otherwise, because despite Alden being able to produce an impressive patronus, one of the last things she remembered before everything went black was that he was tiring. And she knew that nobody else stood a chance against the dementors.

"Why?" Estela demanded.

"As a punishment!" Said Cassandra, a sudden look of rage marring her beautiful features. "And also as a way of getting to you."

Estela shifted as the seer moved closer. "Why did you want to get to me?"

"To see if you keep your word, stea. To see whether or not all you told me when we last met is true. To see if you truly want to stop Riddle before his reign of terror really begins. My only question is, were you telling the truth?"

"You want revenge and nothing more," Estela said. "A selfish pursuit full of empty promise."

Cassandra's eyes narrowed seriously. "Revenge? I speak of justice. I speak of defending the innocent by ruining their tormentor." She said through somewhat gritted teeth. "I see that anger is still fierce in you, Estela Markorp, but I believe you'll learn to temper it with wisdom."

The seer stepped closer to her, the candles around the room flickering with her every movement. "He tried to murder me. And I have seen what he will become – as have you – but I see more of what the future holds for Tom Riddle, and it isn't appealing."