Chapter 144: See You Tomorrow
The pungent scent of Skele-Gro and sterile potions finally faded as Tamara Riddle stepped out of the hospital wing. She did not immediately turn toward the Dungeons.
Outside the arched windows, the weather had violently turned. A clear afternoon had surrendered to bruised, overcast clouds. Rain began to lash against the glass in heavy, angry sheets. A jagged flash of lightning illuminated her pale face, casting sharp, grim shadows across her features. Her expression looked stormy enough to summon a hurricane of its own.
Her mood was infinitely fouler than the weather. It was not merely the inconvenience of Hermione Granger's sudden petrification. No, what truly made her stomach churn was the nauseatingly passionate display of Gryffindor bravado those two dunderheads had just performed by the hospital bed. Utterly foolish. The so-called Savior actually believed he was in a position to cooperate with her?
'Overestimating his own worth.'
Tamara sneered inwardly. Her thumb habitually stroked the smooth wood of the wand hidden within her sleeve.
She had initially assumed that the fractured piece of her soul, severed from its diary vessel, would lack the capacity to cause genuine disruption. She was wrong. That arrogant little remnant had entirely lost its mind. It had not only inherited Voldemort's most extreme, volatile thirst for vengeance, but it had also chosen to direct that insane hostility squarely at her—its original, superior self. First came the petty provocations. Now, it had openly struck down a tool she found moderately useful.
This was no longer a desperate parasite clinging to life. This was usurpation. A slave raising a hand against its master. A pathetic shadow attempting to swallow the true dark.
'It seems I have been far too lenient.'Her footsteps clicked rhythmically against the cold stone of the empty corridor. Each sharp echo sounded like a heel snapping an enemy's spine. She had planned to let the remnant run wild for a while, allowing it to turn Hogwarts upside down so she could quietly reap the benefits from the chaos. But since this rabid dog had decided to bare its fangs at its owner... there was no reason to keep it breathing.'I will rip it out tonight.'
A violent, bloody glint flashed through her dark eyes. She would hunt down Ginny Weasley, extract the Horcrux by force, and teach that brainless fragment exactly where it stood in the hierarchy of power.
She was just mentally mapping out the most efficient way to corner the red-haired girl and properly calibrate the intensity of her Cruciatus Curse when a set of light, hurried footsteps echoed from the corner ahead.
Tamara halted. Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. The entire castle was on high alert. The faculty had ordered every student to huddle in their respective Common Rooms like frightened quails. Who dared to wander the halls?
A small figure detached itself from the shadows. In the dim, flickering candlelight, a mop of startlingly bright red hair came into view. A strange, unnervingly brilliant smile stretched across the girl's face.
Ginny Weasley.
Tamara froze for a fraction of a second before a cruel, mocking arc lifted the corner of her mouth. She had just been wondering which dark alcove she would have to drag this little mouse out of. To think the prey would eagerly deliver itself to the serpent's jaws. How incredibly convenient.
"Weasley."
Tamara's voice dropped several degrees, carrying the biting chill of a frozen lake. She did not even bother to paste on her usual mask of the gentle, perfect prefect. "It appears you do not take Professor McGonagall's detention orders seriously."
As she spoke, her arm moved with lethal grace. She slowly drew her wand, the tip angling subtly toward the center of Ginny's chest. A single, silent Stupefy would end this ridiculous farce right here.
Yet, staring down the barrel of the Dark Lord's wand, Ginny displayed absolutely zero fear. Instead, the smile on her face widened until it bordered on grotesque. Her normally warm brown eyes burned with a fervent, feverish glow that made Tamara's skin crawl with genuine physiological disgust.
"Senior Sister Tamara!" Ginny chirped, darting forward like a cheerful little bird. She completely ignored the lethal piece of wood aimed at her heart. "I have been waiting for you! I saw you did not return to the Common Room, so I guessed you must have gone to check the hospital wing."
She closed the distance, her posture practically vibrating with a fawning, desperate energy. She looked exactly like a hunting hound that had just dropped a bloody carcass at its master's feet, eagerly awaiting a pat on the head.
"How is it? That... Granger girl. Can she still speak?" Ginny dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, a twisted, breathless anticipation dripping from every syllable. "Will she never be able to bother you again?"
Pure, unadulterated killing intent exploded behind Tamara's eyes. It really was this lunatic. How dare this parasite flaunt its petty vandalism in front of her?
'You are begging for death.' Tamara's magical core flared violently. She slashed her wand through the air with vicious intent.
"Expelli—"
The incantation was already burning on her tongue. She was going to tear this ignorant child apart. She would show her the true, suffocating weight of absolute terror!
But just as the magic surged to the tip of her wand.
A familiar, agonizing surge of electricity violently detonated through Tamara's entire nervous system.
A muffled grunt escaped her lips. Her arm instantly went entirely numb, convulsing with such a violent tremor that her wand nearly clattered to the stone floor.
[Warning! Warning!]
The damned System's voice exploded inside her skull, ringing with that sickeningly cheerful, self-righteous tone she despised more than Dumbledore himself.
[Detected that the host's killing intent towards a "close friend" has reached critical levels! Action determined: Severe Violation!]
[Based on the host's historical behavioral logic: You have consistently maintained an educational philosophy of "strict love" and "disappointment in unaccomplished aspirations" toward Miss Ginny Weasley.]
[Current scene analysis: Miss Ginny Weasley is expressing her most sincere concern and deep attachment to you. She displays zero aggression.]
[System judgment: This is a clumsy but extremely sincere expression of friendship! The host's current aggressive behavior is an overreaction triggered by embarrassment and has been forcibly intercepted by the Virtue System!]
Tamara's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. Her usually composed, arrogant facade physically cracked under the sheer, unadulterated absurdity of those glowing blue words.
Close friend? Sincere concern? This braindead piece of magical garbage actually classified this psychotic, obsessive display as 'concern'?
By that logic, the two Avada Kedavra curses she had gifted the Potter family a decade ago should be classified as the 'supreme education'of'allowing the Savior to develop independent survival skills from a young age'! When she had systematically slaughtered the bloodlines of her political opponents, sending them neatly into the afterlife, should she have been awarded a First Class Order of Merlin for Charitable Deeds for 'helping families reunite forever'?
'She was literally flaunting her crime.'Tamara coldly interrogated the System within her sea of consciousness. She ruthlessly suppressed the volcanic rage threatening to boil over, keeping her internal voice sharp, logical, and unyielding.'That Gryffindor just confessed to attacking Granger. Even if it was only a Petrification curse, it constitutes a serious Black Magic assault. And I, as a model student utterly dedicated to maintaining peace and order at Hogwarts, am simply attempting to subdue a dangerous Dark Wizard. Is this not righteous retribution?!'
[System logic rejected.]
The electronic voice remained infuriatingly steady and perky, dripping with a stiflingly patronizing tone of 'understanding' that made Tamara want to rip her own brain out.
[Miss Ginny Weasley did not admit to any attack. Based on vocal tone analysis, she was merely inquiring about a fellow classmate's health.]
[Given the host's previous teaching methods, her current dependence on you is entirely genuine. Please do not overinterpret the situation. You should use tolerance and love to influence her, guiding her gently back onto the right path.]
'Influence...?'
Tamara let out a breathy, hollow laugh of pure, unadulterated fury. Her lips only managed a stiff, jerky twitch due to the lingering paralysis of the electric shock.
The greatest Dark Lord of the century was supposed to use the power of love to 'influence' a deranged pre-teen controlled by her own Horcrux? This was the ultimate, unforgivable insult.
Tamara mentally unleashed a string of venomous curses, violently mobilizing every drop of her magical core to forcefully shatter the System's paralyzing blockade.
But Ginny had already closed the gap.
"Senior Sister, you look so pale." Ginny stared up at the trembling, ashen-faced Tamara, her brown eyes practically overflowing with cloying concern. "You must be too tired, right? Or are you just upset about... Granger's unfortunate situation?"
Before Tamara could step back, Ginny reached out and clamped a hand around her wrist.
"Come on. I will take you back to your dormitory."
Tamara instinctively jerked her arm, her voice dripping with revulsion. "Get off me! Do not touch—"
The words died in her throat. A wave of absolute horror washed over her.
She could not shake the girl off.
This seemingly fragile, pint-sized Weasley daughter possessed a grip like a vice! Her small fingers locked around Tamara's wrist like bands of solid iron.
While Tamara possessed the soul of a dark god and a terrifying mastery of magic, her current physical vessel was, undeniably, just a twelve-year-old girl. A girl who had suffered years of severe malnutrition in a Muggle orphanage and utterly despised physical exertion. Worse still, her muscles were currently reduced to useless jelly by the System's high-voltage punishment.
And Ginny Weasley? She was a Gryffindor raised in the wild, chaotic environment of The Burrow. She spent her days sprinting across hillsides, wrestling with six older brothers, and secretly wrestling broomsticks into submission. Tamara had completely overlooked one vital, humiliating fact: this was a country girl who could casually strangle a struggling farm chicken with her bare hands.
Couple that raw, rural muscle with the unnatural, Troll-like physical enhancement provided by the dark magic of the Horcrux currently possessing her, and the result was an immovable force.
"No need to be polite, Senior Sister." Ginny completely ignored Tamara's furious struggles. Without an ounce of hesitation, she hooked her arm through Tamara's and began half-dragging, half-carrying the paralyzed Slytherin down the corridor toward the Dungeons.
"Let go! Weasley! I command you—" Tamara desperately tried to transfer her wand to her free hand, but the aftershocks of the System's punishment still danced across her nerves. Her fingers were too numb to even curl into a fist, let alone cast a spell.
An utterly bizarre, deeply humiliating spectacle unfolded in the dark corridors of Hogwarts. Tamara Riddle, the untouchable, high-and-mighty prodigy who struck fear into the hearts of countless students, was currently being forcibly towed away by a Gryffindor first-year who barely reached her chin.
"Damn it... the second I recover... I will kill you..." Tamara ground her teeth together so hard her jaw ached. She dug the heels of her leather shoes into the stone floor, desperately trying to generate even a fraction of friction to slow their progress.
It was completely useless. Ginny simply adjusted her grip and walked even faster, her steps practically skipping with joy.
"Senior Sister, you are far too light. You really should eat more at the Great Hall." Ginny babbled happily as she marched, her tone dripping with an eerie, suffocating sweetness. "Do not worry. I will take care of you from now on. Those people who bother you... I will deal with them in places where you cannot see."
Ginny's grip tightened slightly. "You just need to watch me."
Listening to the deranged ramblings of her own corrupted soul fragment, Tamara felt her stomach violently churn. The sheer degradation of being physically overpowered by her own prey, of being bitten by the very lies she had spun, made her want to carve the girl into pieces. She, the mighty Lord Voldemort. When had she ever been subjected to such pathetic indignity?
But her physical resistance remained entirely futile.
Finally, the damp, familiar chill of the Dungeons washed over them. The heavy stone wall concealing the Slytherin Common Room loomed ahead.
"Here we are." Ginny stopped, her tone tinged with genuine reluctance as she finally released her iron grip.
Tamara instantly stumbled forward. Her legs nearly gave out, and she had to throw her shoulder against the damp stone wall just to stay upright, desperately clinging to her last shred of dignity. She took a ragged breath, violently straightened her wrinkled robes, and snapped her head up. She fixed Ginny with a gaze of pure, murderous venom, her mouth opening to deliver a threat that would curdle the girl's blood.
But Ginny spoke first.
The red-haired girl stood half-swallowed by the shadows of the corridor. A brilliant, innocent, yet utterly insane smile slowly bloomed across her pale face.
"Get some good rest, Senior Sister Tamara."
Ginny reached out. In an act of unfathomable audacity, she actually dared to tuck a stray lock of dark hair behind Tamara's ear. Her cool fingertips brushed deliberately against Tamara's cheek. The touch felt exactly like the flicking tongue of a venomous snake tasting the air.
"Have sweet dreams tonight."
Ginny leaned in just a fraction closer. Her wide, dark brown eyes perfectly reflected Tamara's rigid, furious face.
"We will..." Ginny whispered softly, the words melting into the dark, damp air. "...see you tomorrow."
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]