Extreme Unction (Tom Riddle saga)

Chapter 12

"Aurors are the Wizarding World's best defence against the practitioners of the Dark Arts. Well-versed in offensive magic, because their very lives depend on it. It takes courage, wit and guile. Not many have the stomach for it"

~~~~~~~

The world was scary than he expected.
Richard fastened his pace as the night was falling.
He used muggle means of transport and avoided to use his wand so no traces were left behind.
His heart craved for the warmth and the safety of his house, for the steaming meals and all the comforts.
While out there, he was on his own.
But fear and uncertainty didn't dissuade him from his mission: hunting those who claimed to be rebels in the name of blood purity.

When he was offered to join them after graduation, he declined it.
How awkward it was if the son of a professor of Defence Against Dark Arts would join the dark army.
And how silly he was to accept the graduation gift from Regulus and drinking that potion believing that it was just for fun, like getting plastered.
Regulus, his friend.
How foolish it was to believe in their friendship.
Regulus surrendered to his noble family's desires, becoming one of the knights who had to change the world and place the pureblood wizards in the right position, on the top of society.
Richard had been a rebel for all his teenage years, but he wasn't reckless enough to challenge the world out of Hogwarts, where he couldn't count on the protection of his father.
Richard sacrificed that unbalanced friendship for his family and as reward he destroyed also that relationship, by sullying the most sacred thing he owed: the love of his mother.

Anger boiled in his veins, fueling him to fasten his pace, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the guilt.
He wished to realize his mother's biggest dream, to stop the suprematists. He had enough hints to seek their secret quartiers and cause a mess that would attract the Aurors there.
Although he wasn't sure he could trust the wizards from the Ministry, except for his relatives.
Probably becoming a hero wasn't enough to earn forgiveness, but Richard took a decision and it was already too late to change his mind.
He couldn't come back and see that he became his mother's new Boggart.
While his new one would represent his mother unable to forgive him.
Richard wished to see the Mirror of the Erised again, but Hogwarts was the last place he could come back to. He wished to see how it would be if he had a chance to be forgiven.

*

"We should camp and take some rest. It's getting too dark".
Evelyn ignored that suggestion. She couldn't find peace when she couldn't know where her son was and in what troubles he was planning to put himself into.
Tom kept following her, taking care of her and hunting traces at the same time. He was doing all the job while she could just complain and wasn't calm enough to understand how to track their son.

It was a nightmare.
Although she loved travelling, that trip was the most bitter one she ever took. She had not enough clues to find her son and felt totally helpless.
She could travel the whole world screaming and calling her son until her final breath. But that didn't seem enough to bring him back.
Richard knew how his decision could hurt her and yet he left.
"Stop tormenting yourself. It won't help" Tom insisted, knowing the agony she was bearing in silence.
Evelyn sighed and accepted the hand he offered to support herself.
She missed when they traveled around the world together, just the two of them, without nothing to chase except for their happiness.
They had traveled for three years after their graduation, when living in the same country with her newly found parents became unbearable after their betrayal.
Evelyn accepted a break and chewed a sandwich that Tom offered.

Her mind traveled back to their younger years, when his plan seemed so insane and exciting at the same time.
They had packed together and her only worry was that they forgot something. Although all she needed was Tom by her side.