Story: Moira
Chapter Twenty Nine: A Swipe of Destruction

Perfectly at midnight, Harry heard a crack. Lucius Malfoy, looking frightened, greeted him and bowed to him. Harry merely acknowledged the respect.

"Lucius. I don't want to swivel around the topic. Has Master given you anything to keep safely? Anything at all?!" Harry asked, irritation taking the better of him. The reason being Bellatrix unable to show up that night due to some errand for the Dark Lord.

Lucius gave out a tiny yelp before recomposing himself. "Young Master, I do recall him giving me a diary to keep in the basement of my mano–"

"Imperio!" Harry hissed. Malfoy's eyes glazed over. "Go and fetch me the diary Master gave you! Make haste!" Harry ordered. Lucius left with another pop.

Minutes of waiting impatiently, he finally turned up with a black book which looked quite tattered. Harry snatched it from the imperiused Malfoy. "You may go," he dismissed. Malfoy nodded but before he could spin around, Harry hit him with yet another spell. "Obliviate!"

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That morning, Harry woke up to the rapid beating of his heart; or rather the locket's rapid twitching. He groaned and got up, stretching lazily. After several days of midnight visits and reading, he hardly had time to sleep, causing his irritation to triple over.

The book, which looked like an empty diary, was tempting him to write something in it but he was wiser.

Deciding to finish off both the annoying horcruxes, Harry skipped breakfast and scampered to the seventh floor stealthily. He looked around then closed his eyes, thinking of the same room from before. When he opened his eyes, a door was standing in front of him. He pushed it open and walked in, closing it behind him. The mess was still there and a crater was formed in the middle of the room where he had destroyed the tiara.

"This is it for you both," Harry told the two things and placed the diary on the spot beside the crater. He tried to take the locket off but it started tightening around his neck. Thrashing and suffocating madly, he scrabbled at the chain, finally taking it off.

Choking and retching, he threw it on the ground beside it. He was sure the locket had burnt a scar on his chest and a cut around his neck.

After taking deep breaths he raised his hand, wishing to get the Power of Destruction in his palm. It was only starting to form when the locket twitched madly.

"Stop!" Harry hissed in Parseltongue. "Open now!" 

Without disobeying his orders, it opened. Nevertheless, it did not stop twitching. Harry opened the diary with his free hand and closed his eyes to concentrate harder.

"Harry Potter. . ." Harry opened his eyes sharply at the name. He looked around to see a scarlet eye looking back at him from the locket. "I have seen your fears. . . Least loved by the godfather who prefers his adopted son. . . Least loved by the girl who prefers a foreign boy. . . I shall give you anything you wish for, just wear me."

"NO!" Harry shouted at it. Suddenly, two grey, misty figures emerged from the locket, making him talk back. Harry's eyes widened when he saw Ginny and Nathaniel in front of him. Ginny laughed shrilly at the way he was kneeling in front of the locket. He looked to his side and found another handsome boy on her other side, smiling wickedly.

"Tom Riddle; Harry Potter, too bad I can't express my pleasure to have met a traitor," the handsome boy spoke. Harry started suffocating: it was his Master, only the younger version of him.

Sensing his discomfort, The Riddle-Nathaniel spoke. "Always thought you had a girl at your disposal huh? Never, Potter–"

"Don't call me that!" Harry shouted but Riddle-Nathaniel continued as if he had never been interrupted.

"Always the silent boy at the corner. Who would even prefer you to a handsome one like me?"

"Yes!" the Riddle-Ginny interjected, throwing herself at the Riddle-Nathaniel. "Who would prefer you, Potter?"

"No one really can experience true love, Harry. I thought I told you that," Tom sneered as Ginny smirked. Harry shook his head then pointed his wand with his left hand, an inch above Tom's head.

"Fiendfyre!" he hissed. A raven of flame shot out of his wand. It missed Riddle and hit a stack of books instead. The fire started spreading but Harry was losing control due to using the dark curse. His eyes were turning scarlet and the dark aura was back again to surround him.

"I hate you, Harry!" Riddle-Ginny jeered.

"Hate - me - as - much - as - you - want," Harry stuttered and fell to the ground, his hand merely swiped on the diary as Tom's frantic screams of 'no!' was heard. Harry tried to hoist himself up and destroy the locket but the sight in front of him was too much to take in with his temptation to curse the Riddle-Nathaniel.

Riddle-Ginny and Riddle-Nathaniel were locked in a fierce embrace, a white mist surrounding them. Behind them and around him, flames were closing on, catching fire with every thing it touched. Harry knew it then – he was going to die.

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"Harry! Harry! Harry!"

Harry woke up suddenly when something cold hit his face. He blinked rapidly. Rubbing his face to prevent the water from entering into his eyes and got up.

"Harry!"

"Ginny?" Indeed it was her. "Ginny! Where are we?" Harry asked, looking around. The room he was in was void of flames besides the small fireplace which was crackling in front of him. There was a Gryffindor touch to the room. He looked down and saw that he was on a sofa whilst Ginny was kneeling down beside him, looking relieved. She took out her handkerchief and slowly wiped his soaking face.

"I'm sorry, I just – those flames – you fainted and I just couldn't think straight. Oh and we are in the Room of Requirement. I just made it look like the common room because that was the first thing that came to my mind after watching you –"

"Ginny calm down. And where is the diary and that locket?" Harry asked, panic overtaking him. In his state of temptation, he did not know whether he destroyed them or not.

"They are right here," Ginny said and passed the diary and the locket to him. He put the locket around his neck again and tightened it. Immediately, he felt the weight settle on his chest. He looked wearily at the diary in his arms and found a deep hole on the book bind. Still, his spirits did not lift. The locket horcrux made sure of it. "What are they? And how was I there with Nathaniel?!" she asked in a suspicious tone.

"Ginny, it's for the best that you don't know about it," Harry replied. His voice came out harsher than he would have liked. He met her eyes for a second before turning away and looking at a spot above a portrait with an old man.

"And why not?" she pressed. "You would have been dead if I didn't cast my hatred away and come save you!"

"I KNOW!" Harry shouted, then took deep breaths to calm himself down. He did not want to dig deep into the already deep argument between them. "Ginny, look. I can't–"

"Don't you trust me then? It's probably why we aren't able to control our powers," she said, rather coldly.

"Well then, why didn't you allow me to talk the day before yesterday?" Harry retorted.

"You ask a girl to a date then you are in your own world! Do you call that a date, even?" she asked, crossing her arms and legs as she sat down on the sofa adjoining his.

"I told you I'm sorry! How many times do I apologize to you?! I was under the pressure of finding something which is more urgent yet I apologized to you numerous times!"

"Then tell me what is that urgent? Maybe I can help?" she asked. This time her voice was soft but the locket's constant ticking combined with the burns on his body irritated Harry under the pretence of her probation.

"I'm telling you over and over again! I can't tell you! It will be much more dangerous for you as well as me!" Harry retorted.

"You have suddenly started acting odd, haven't you? Have you even realized that we speak medieval English no more?"

That was when it occurred to Harry. He wasn't saying 'thou' instead of 'you' or 'm'lady' instead of 'Ginny' but for now Harry wasn't bothered. "Ginny, why don't you understand? It's dange–"

"Dangerous? Dangerous! The word it self is my best friend if you didn't know!" Ginny retorted.

"You still don't understand! You can get killed for all I know!" Harry shouted. Her lip quivered in suspicion.

"Well then, I don't care! I want to help you even at the stake of my life!"

"But I care!" Harry said keeping his voice as low as possible.

"Then trust me. Trust me with whatever is bothering you, Harry."

Harry half considered telling her but the horcrux made him think otherwise. What if she gets killed because of him? He would never be able to withstand it. He shook his head vigorously, the cut on his neck freshly bleeding.

"I'm sorry, Ginny but no. Thank you for sav–" Harry started but was interrupted.

"Then don't thank me! If you don't even trust me, why bother to thank me?!" Ginny retorted harshly before getting up and leaving the room. Harry bent his head in frustration. He felt too weak to be able to destroy the horcrux so he simply laid down on the very same sofa and spent his night curled up in anguish in front of the merry fireplace.

That was a dramatic chapter, wasn't it?

I made a new cover for the story for hitting 500+ reads and 100+ votes! Thank y'all!

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Miyoko x