[1] prophecy → tom riddle [EDITING]

Chapter Forty-four: Acceptance of the Mark

It was early morning the following day, everyone was sound asleep all except one group in particular.

They walked in silence through the shadows of the castle, trying not to make a sound.

The moon shone on them as they walked through the courtyard towards the forbidden forest, yet not one of them looked at each other as they continued on their mission.

The leader of the group had a stern look on his face, he was in a predicament with his brain and his heart, although the boy could not produce love his heart always skipped a beat when he betrayed the one person who he gave affection to.

Once they arrived at the forest, he settled the pieces of parchment and his wand on the old stump of the tree that had been cut down in previous years.

He leaned his hands on the stump as he closed his eyes to concentrate, he could end it all right here right now and go back to her or he could remain where he was and carry on with his ancestor's mission.

He took in a deep breath, opened his eyes and turned to the group behind him.

He was greeted with several pairs of eyes but he remained calm.

"You all know why you're here today, after all you all agreed to be here," he started, his voice was stern and confident, "but if I have to remind you all, we're here to carry out a mission that should have been completed years ago, and honour a great wizard's legacy."

One member of the group felt his heart skip a beat, he too was in the exact same predicament as his leader, he was struggling to choose sides; his brain or his heart, he didn't want to betray any of his friends, but by being here he would betray one of his truest friends but by leaving the group he'd betray more than half of his friends.

"If you're having second thoughts you may leave now, but may I say you will be a fool and our enemy," the leader continued, "now I, as the heir of Slytherin and the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin himself, stand here today with all of you in front of me, as we all want the same thing in out wizarding world, can someone tell me what that is?"

"Blood purity," Odgar Nott called out from where he was standing as he locked eye contact with his leader.

"That is correct, Nott. However, after last year's incident with Myrtle Warren, we cannot use the Chamber of Secrets to fulfil this mission, it's not safe, and Dumbledore himself is on to me, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the new professor known to me and you as Emory Oliphant would be on my case as well," he looked at the group, a small smirk on his face, "yet again, she may not be here nor will she ever be here, but we have our greatest weapon against those who will do anything to stop us in our path. Ophelia Lockwood, as you all know, is not here, but she is our safe haven, she will be the passage way between our work, after all, one of her best friends is indeed a filthy little mudblood."

The group looked back to the twin cousins of Ophelia Lockwood, smirks on their faces as the two brothers looked at each other in fear of both Ophelia's and Dove's safety, they never meant for it to go this far, they didn't want to be there with them and they knew they had betrayed their cousin's trust, but it was too late, they couldn't go back knowing that everyone in the group would torment them for the rest of their school life.

"Why is that putrid girl our safe haven? After all you know she doesn't agree with what we do, nor will she ever, so please explain," Abraxas Malfoy spat as he crossed his nose and turned his head, his nose pointing to the cloudy moonlit sky.

Her twin cousins tensed up as the horrible remarks coming from one of the many followers.

"If I do have to enlighten you as you seem to be so idiotic to see, Malfoy," the leader said through gritted teeth, "Ophelia Lockwood is our safe haven because she is and will always be Emory Oliphant's weakness, if anything happens to her, Emory will be nothing, and without Emory, Dumbledore will have no source to inform him what is happening within the year group."