The Tale of Azure - Book I: Shades of Green and Blue

Chapter Twenty-Three: Riddles and Secrets

A/N: In this chapter, we see a different side of Azure, Riddle and for the first time, our favourite flute-bearer, Rubeus Hagrid. Lots of foreshadowing as well!

Warnings: Myrtle's self-harming (implied) and suicide attempts. Myrtle also realizes she likes Azure as more than just a close friend. She thinks it is a one-sided kind of thing. Their closeness is almost on a romantic-level by this point.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Harry Potter", or the magical creatures mentioned, only my original characters.

It was a very chilly day, the kind that Myrtle preferred to spend with a blanket and a mug of cocoa. But, as Myrtle had noted two weeks after meeting Azure, all days were reason enough for the Slytherin to smile like an idiot. This year, the low temperatures had come earlier than usual, which gave her friend the perfect excuse to practice spells and punish those who had been unfair towards Myrtle, namely Olive Hornby.

"Azure!" Myrtle cried in alarm. Her bully's robes were on fire, courtesy of the a spell cast by her best friend. "Isn't that too much?"

Azure shook her head, wand at her side. "Hornby hurt you more than anyone else at school. She caused you pain, made you go through psychogical and emotional hell. So, no. This is not too much."

Her overprotectiveness was as comforting as it was disturbing. Azure had a vindictive side; some days before, Myrtle had left her usual bathroom crying, only for the older girl to confront her, arms crossed and mismatched eyes glimmering with something sinister. Some part of her unconscious believed that Azure would avenge Myrtle for what had been done to her...

Torturing the entire classroom until she discovered the true culprit behind her friend's pain?

Of course not. Azure's threat didn't mean she would cast the Cruciatus on her classmates. But after Myrtle had finally admitted the reason for her gloomy behaviour, Azure had proclaimed it was due time that Olive Hornby learned about karma.

"HELP MEEE!"

"London Bridge is falling down...falling down, falling down..." Azure sang softly. Myrtle looked in morbid fascination as the blonde struggled to take off her clothes, the horror plastered on her face as the flames ate the hem of her skirt and burnt her skin. "London Bridge is falling down, my fair Olive..."

"Finite," a familiar dry voice said, cutting into the air like a knife.

Myrtle stood in front of a pillar, all the too much mortified to open her mouth as she took in the scene: a trembling Hornby noticing with relief that the spell had not harmed her before pointing her manicured finger at Azure, whose eyes were focused on the newcomer. She held her breath, sensing the oncoming death match between Azure and Tom Riddle, the latter nicknamed by the former as the "Perfect Prefect" or, when she was in a very sour mood, "the twit".

"50 points from Slytherin," he said coolly, his wand placed threateningly on the older girl's chin. "This time, there will be more than just a weekly punishment, Ashlane."

"Conjured flames are only real if the caster wishes it, Riddle," Azure reminded him flippantly. So, Hornby's well-being was never in danger in the first place. "This is Charms beginners' level Laws."

But the damage was already done; the frightened Olive Hornby walked away from the scene, holding her shirt and gymslip. Riddle pulled her best friend by the arm who struggled to break away from his vice-like grip, both of them striding along the corridor.

Finding herself alone, Myrtle began to think about what had just happened.

Azure had never hurt another student with her magic. Well, except that one time with Myrtle's former Potions partner, Lorena Fortescue, the self-proclaimed number one admirer of Tom Riddle and also the most irritating person Myrtle had met after that Olive Hornby.