The withered, yellow grass blades swayed slightly.
The large pit Tom had blasted out had already been filled in by Dumbledore.
It was silent here,
making it impossible to imagine that a fierce battle had occurred here only an hour ago.
Sizzle!
Dumbledore suddenly appeared in this spot.
Since there were no portraits here, there were naturally no eyes or ears, forcing him to employ a back-and-forth tactic.
Dumbledore looked around, seemingly searching for something, a look of doubt on his face.
Based on his understanding of sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle, faking death to escape was exactly the kind of thing he would do, but there were no unusual magical traces here now.
Shaking his head, Dumbledore left helplessly.
Could it be that he was overthinking it?
...
Another hour passed, and the buried soil shifted slightly. A small, earthy-yellow snake crawled out from the ground.
It looked around cautiously. After confirming no one was nearby, it immediately fled toward the Forbidden Forest.
The snake, less than a foot long, was extremely inconspicuous. Gliding through the grass, it was even harder to notice.
However, at that moment, Audrey, lying in her dormitory, suddenly opened her eyes.
The dream was over; it was time to get to work.
'Dumbledore, my authority is higher than yours!'
...
...
The small snake appeared very weak and moved slowly. It took a long time to navigate around roots and debris.
The Forbidden Forest was vast. It wasn't until eleven at night that it finally reached its destination.
A ruin of a stone cave deep within the Forbidden Forest.
One of the pillars of the archway in front of the ruins was broken, and half of the cave entrance had collapsed.
The small snake crawled into the entrance, which could only accommodate a cat, and disappeared into the darkness.
A minute later, Audrey descended from the sky.
Audrey had been watching him since the moment the small snake broke through the soil.
She had followed him from the air, the keen insight of her dragon eyes ensuring she wouldn't lose track of him.
Although this fellow was a piece of her 'father's' soul, she had ultimately decided to eliminate him.
Because if she didn't kill him, there would be endless trouble later.
Sirius, Hermione, and Ron would all be in danger,
and she obviously couldn't watch over them twenty-four hours a day.
If she had to find a reason for this action, it was that Audrey didn't want to see Molly's sad face.
Not at all.
Of course, keeping her stupid uncle away from danger might also have played a small part?
This stone cave entrance had likely been collapsed for hundreds of years. Soil almost covered the entire entrance, and thick moss grew on the exposed parts of the stone pillars.
Audrey waved her wand, and the soil moved as if it had come to life, surging in chunks toward the surrounding open space.
Once the dirt was cleared, a ruin entrance was revealed before Audrey.
The steps wound down, vanishing into the pitch-black underground.
Audrey did not hesitate and walked forward confidently.
As she approached, the collapsed stone pillars and archway quickly restored themselves, revealing how they looked a thousand years ago.
A faint lion crest could be seen on the archway.
Audrey was very familiar with this crest; it was everywhere in the school...
So this might be Godric Gryffindor's secret vault?
Audrey smiled.
Dumbledore used the information about Gryffindor's inheritance vault as a bargaining chip to get her to work as a part-time professor. But if she obtained Gryffindor's inheritance before he fulfilled his promise, wouldn't Dumbledore have to exchange it for some other equivalent reward?
...
Just after Audrey disappeared into the entrance,
A light moved at high speed from a distance toward this location.
A glowing paper crane led the way, followed by a large, entirely silver bird.
A young girl sat on the bird's back, her hands forming seals and quickly changing gestures.
"We're here!"
The girl jumped down from the bird's back. With a wave of her hand, the bird turned into a talisman and flew into her hand.
The paper crane circled the entrance twice before diving straight inside.
The girl followed closely, entering the ruins.
...
...
Audrey floated forward without making a sound.
The combination of Demiguise and Dementor was perfect for infiltration.
Soon, Audrey arrived at a spacious hall.
With a ceiling height of seven or eight meters and walls built from a large amount of red stone, the style here was vastly different from Slytherin's secret vault.
Chapter 134: How Could This Be Considered Patricide? (2 / 2)
There were burning lamps in the four corners of the hall. Audrey focused her eyes and saw that these were magical flames powered by magic.
The magic flames illuminated the hall, yet it felt as if they didn't, as the hall was simply too large.
A small yellow snake was curled under the eternal lamp in the northeast corner, looking very listless. It completely failed to notice Audrey's arrival.
A thick diary was beneath it, serving as its bed.
"You're actually quite good at hiding, Tom Riddle."
Audrey revealed herself, startling the small yellow snake so much that the upper half of its body jerked upright.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" [It's you! How did you find out I wasn't dead!]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss." [From the moment you made Horcruxes, it was obvious you value your life very much. How could a person who values their life so much perish along with another? Tom Riddle, that is your biggest flaw.]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss?" [You're a Parselmouth!! But I'm the only one left with the Gaunt bloodline! Who exactly are you?]
The Tom-snake's head jerked back suddenly.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss?" [Could it be that you are my daughter?]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss." [Something like that. But to be precise, I am the daughter of the creator of this Horcrux. You, however, are merely a soul fragment.]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss?" [What do you want to do?]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss." [Destroying the Horcrux.]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" [You can't do that! How could you commit patricide!]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss?" [Sorry, I don't remember my father being a diary. I'm just destroying an object; how can that be called patricide?]
"Hiss, hiss, hiss?" [Why? Why do you want to kill me? I haven't provoked you!]
"Because you burned the castle with Fiendfyre. That's my property. No one can destroy my property, no one!"
The Tom-snake didn't understand why Audrey suddenly stopped using Parseltongue.
He wanted to say more, but Audrey had already begun her move.
With a beckoning gesture, the diary flew into her hand.
Its bed pulled away, the Tom-snake fell to the ground.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" [No, you can't!]
"Who says I can't?"
Audrey chuckled.
"I can."
She had already switched to her Basilisk constitution. She opened her mouth and, with a look of slight disgust, bit down on the diary.
The Tom-snake was stunned.
This 'daughter' was a bit of a dimwit; did she actually want to use her teeth to destroy a Horcrux?
But in the next moment, black water began to leak from where she bit the diary, like oil gushing from a well.
Audrey threw the diary onto the ground; she didn't want to touch this filth for even a second.
Meanwhile, the Tom-snake began to roll on the ground, looking extremely agonized.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" [No! No!!]
He couldn't understand why a Horcrux could be bitten to pieces. Was the Horcrux he had spent so much effort creating actually that fragile?
A wisp of black mist drifted from the Tom-snake's forehead, transforming into the phantom of sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle.
He struggled, he wailed, his face was distorted, and his gaze was venomous.
However, none of this could change his impending fate of soul-dissipation.
The diary Horcrux was completely destroyed.
Audrey guessed that Tom Riddle hadn't had time to detach the soul fragment from the diary, which meant his soul still needed the Horcrux as an anchor.
Or perhaps it wasn't a matter of time, but that his soul wasn't yet strong enough to exist independently of the Horcrux.
Regardless, the current result was:
The Horcrux died, and he died.
Having personally destroyed a piece of her 'father's' soul, Audrey felt no guilt at all.
How could this be considered patricide?
Which child doesn't rely on biting to learn about the world when they are little?
She just wanted to see if the Horcrux tasted good!
Who knew the Horcrux would be so flimsy, breaking with just one bite?
She's just a child, after all!
...
She put away the yellow snake from the ground and clapped her hands, very satisfied with the outcome.
"Another troublesome matter resolved! The school should be peaceful before the summer break!"
She turned her head and looked toward the entrance.
"I am someone who hates trouble, so I hope you won't cause me any, Kamo Tsuruko."
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]