Story: Moira
Chapter Twenty Five: The Cursed Tiara

As promised, Ginny met up with Harry that Saturday, the fourteenth, for their date at Hogsmeade. However, he looked really distressed instead of happy.

The weather was moderately cold as the February breeze pinched their exposed cheeks. Ginny was wearing her sweatshirt and her jeans instead of dress robes. Harry was in no formal dress either with a blue shirt and black jacket to go along with his jeans.

Fortunately, the duo had managed to keep the past few days away from their friends by spending time either in the library under the pretext of learning new spells for the final task or spending time with each other. They were still annoyed for the way their words came out but long since gave up the irritation at each other.

"Brr. . . what do thou reckon keeping dates at 'tis cold weather?!" Ginny asked. Harry shrugged. Despite the cold weather, he was perspiring. "Anything bothering thou, my Lord?" she asked as they boarded a carriage together.

"Nay. Nothing, m'lady."

They silently gazed out at the passing sceneries, not even uttering a word until they clambered down the carriage after reaching the bubbling wizarding village of Hogsmeade.

Shops had been specially designed, for love was in the air. Many students of the upper years were holding hands and talking loudly as if they would never see each other again.

Mixed with the white snow, Ginny could see several shades of red and pink on the displays of the shops. Wanting to visit Honeydukes first, she suggested the idea to a nonchalant Harry who agreed. They entered the highly crowded store and Ginny brought several candies.

"Why don't thou takest one?" Ginny asked in a low voice so that no one would hear their medieval language. Harry shrugged then bought himself a candy cane which was lying next to the heart shaped apple lollies.

Ginny suggested Zonko's next in hopes of rising Harry's dull mood but her tries became futile and she became irritated. He was the one who asked her out for a date on the Valentine's day and now he was in a low mood and not even reciprocating her attempts to better his mood.

"What on Merlin's pants is wrong with thou?!" she shouted at him when they were on their way to The Three Broomsticks.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Thou asketh me on a date and thou pretend like 'tis a friendly visit!"

"What do thou want me to do?" Harry asked irritated. "Fetch thou new roses and tell thou art beautiful more than 'tis enough?!"

Ginny felt hot tears in her eyes but she forced herself to retort in kind. "If thou art not interested in goin' out with me, then tell it outright 'stead of pretending thou don't knowest me at all!" She ran away from him, throwing the apply lolly she had brought at him as she did. Harry stood there momentarily confused.

"M'lady! Damn it!" he swore then left the sight in an instant via Apparition. When he opened his eyes after the similar queasy feeling, he looked at the giant castle towering above him. Walking in a quick stride, he passed the great gates and the huge grounds only stopping to open the door of the castle.

He walked around aimlessly, the thing on his mind etched still fresh. Although he had spoilt his date with Ginny, there was an even more disturbing thought occupying his mind. Just a few hours ago, before he set forth for the Wizarding village, he received a letter. The very same parchment was in his robe pockets and he gripped it so tight it would have crumpled unseen by anyone.

I wish, he thought, I wish I had some lead on how he's alive.

Out of nowhere, a door appeared to his left. Startled slightly and cursing himself for letting his guard down, he examined it carefully. It looked like a normal wooden door, carved with intricate patterns and all but something inside seemed to be calling to him. Slowly and cautiously, he approached the door, wand in hand, then opened it. He was met with a totally different scene.

In front of his dark emerald eyes was a messy room. Unusable and unused things laid haphazardly to his left and right, piled up on each other. There was a dark feeling to the room and Harry could feel his heart beating fast. His brain was out of its usual thinking capacity and he was tempted to use some dark curse and bring the whole room down in his frustration. The door shut behind him with a tiny 'clink' and he moved further.

He sat himself on a sofa and pulled out the severely abused piece of paper which spoiled everything. His eyes glazed over in thought, merely glancing at the neatly slant handwriting written in ink on the parchment.

Young Master,
Master is alive. The AK you accidentally hit weakened him but he's all alive! He isn't able to talk much other than hissing so I think you ought to visit him once just to clarify about his well being. If you are OK with it, we shall meet in the Forbidden Forest tomorrow night.

Yours,
Bella

The letter was abused even more now and thrown at a sickening pile of souvenirs. That was when Harry heard something twitch. He looked to his right and left but found no one. There was nothing alive besides him in the room of items. To clarify, he took his wand out and muttered an incantation. "Homenum Revelio."

Nothing happened.

The twitch was heard again and he stood up, facing the pile in front of him. Cautiously, he approached the pile. There was a stack of old souvenirs, jewels of all sorts and piles of books. One jewel, however, caught Harry's eye.

It was an intricately designed tiara with a blue gemstone. Dark aura seemed to be radiating off of it as he placed a hand, about three inches away from it. He touched it recklessly and memories started rushing to his head. The arrival of the letter, the failure of his first date, Ginny's anger at him, his Master still being alive, his medieval language predicament, his unstoppable temptation to use Dark magic and bring down everything; he shouted out in frustration and pain. Why was he the one who always suffered?!

Suddenly, he felt the tiara tell him to destroy the whole castle.

You can destroy the whole castle if you want, Harry.

"That would lead to the massacre of the students and the staff," Harry spoke in a cracked, hollow voice; the one which he usually used to convince himself he wouldn't turn dark like his Master.

Only then will they know not to interfere in your complicated life. Bring them down. Bring them down, Harry.

Harry fell to his knees, the tiara falling along with him. He knew it. The tiara was a dark artifact.

Bring them down, Harry. Kill them. Enjoy the thrill of using Dark spells.

Without even thinking, Harry raised his hand. His eyes turned red and a black aura surrounded him.

Kill them. They deserve it. She deserves it.

Harry screamed and thrust his hand, bearing a small black energy, on the tiara. A dark wisp of black surrounded him before whispering an almost incoherent 'no' and fading away. His eyes unfocused and he sagged to the ground, limp.

_________________

Silently sobbing in her dormitory was no comfort to the usually outgoing Ginny Weasley so she decided to not let her feelings rule her and grabbed her broom.She

Mounting it and leaving via the girls' dormitory door, she flew out into the cold, grey sky. The wind pinched her bare skin but she did not care. Her red hair fluttered and hit her face but she did not care.

She drove recklessly through the Quidditch hoops, did a lazy mid-air somersault and rose above in high speed then dived down just as recklessly, endangering her life if she were to lose control of her old broom.

Before she could touch the ground, however, she pulled up, her feet barely touching the fresh green grass below them. She floated up again and let out a deep sigh. Finding solace with the dive, she did several reckless stunts until she was completely tired out.

She had a quick meal and left the Great Hall before Hermione or Neville (who had, as of late, started questioning her) could probe further about her silence. Having no companion to talk to, Ginny retreated to her dorm in frustration. She quickly freshened up then slumped onto her bed, tiredly and fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillows.

____________________

Harry fluttered open his tired eyes. His body felt numb and he began gasping for air as he turned over to his back. He had somehow toppled down onto the stone floor. When his oxygen levels were back to at least, a bit normal, he slapped himself. The events of some time before had just occurred to him. He looked at the tiara and found a crack on it's gem. Otherwise, it remained unharmed.

A question popped up in his mind: if his power of destroying things was capable of reducing a person to ashes as seen in Gryffindor's memory, how was this little, weak looking tiara still in one piece besides the crack?

Harry held his head as a mild headache started to set in, prickling his forehead annoyingly.

He put his hand, sparing a few inches, over the tiara and tried to detect any trace of dark magic but it never showed. He touched it gingerly as though it was some old, unwashed and stinky sock, but nothing happened. The whispering voice was all silent and the whole room, by extension was eerily quiet, the only sound being his ragged breathing and the rapid beating of his heart. He sighed then gingerly placed the tiara in his jacket's pocket then stood up. As expected, he toppled over and fell down again.

A sudden stroke of idea occurred to him and he acted on instinct, turning into his animagus self: the raven; and flying out of a nearby slightly opened window.

He flew, with as much strength as he could muster to the Durmstrang ship. Wobbling slightly, he reached his dorm and perched himself on the mattress of the abandoned bed before transforming back into his human self.

Weak from the flight, he collapsed again, never to be woken up for a night.

Long chapter again! Sorry if it bored you out although I'm being modest. ;)

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x