Something to Wish For 48

Seeing the Light

"Tom, please, we've been walking for hours," said Abraxas tiredly. "I'm beginning to think this was a very bad idea."

"Keep concentrating," Tom insisted. "I don't think I can do this without your help."

"Aren't you afraid my Horcrux might be distracting yours?"

"Why would you think that?" Tom wanted to know.

"Because yours keeps distracting mine," he admitted with a slight blush.

"Brax, you've got to be stronger than that," Tom admonished him. "Only think how foolish that will sound once that Horcrux is out of you again."

"Would it?" Abraxas smirked. "And here I thought you liked things with a bit of shock value."

"That is a bit more shocking than I care to be," said Tom. "Now concentrate so we can get out of here."

"What are you going to do if we never get out?" Abraxas wanted to know.

"Never is a word I don't care to use," Tom said in a persistent tone.

"My feet are aching, Tom," he insisted as he fell to the cave floor right where he was and proceeded to rub his calves. "I must have a rest."

Rounding on him, Tom shouted cruelly, "Your lord has commanded you to walk."

"Do you really think that's going to work down here, Tom?" Abraxas scoffed. "That was a child's game, and we are not children anymore. This is serious—"

"I am serious," said Tom as he brought out his wand and pointed it toward him.

"If you use a Cruciatus on me now, you'll only make it worse," said Abraxas tiredly. "I can barely move as it is, my lord."

Sighing deeply, Tom sat down as well, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Do you think we're any closer to seeing the light of day, Brax?"

"I'm more inclined to wonder how much closer we are to becoming some creature's meal," he scoffed. "We've been lucky so far, but luck can only last so long before it tends to run out."

"Don't we make a pair?" Tom scoffed. "A vindictive optimist and a jovial pessimist. It's quite lovely, really. But it won't get us where we're going."

"Quite right," Abraxas agreed as he pushed himself back on to his feet. "Let's go, then."

)0(

Hermione and Edmond stood outside the crumbling old house of Hepzibah Smith, surrounded by a mass of decaying rose bushes. She took a deep breath and glanced at her companion, readying herself for the part she was about to play.

"Come inside, the Mistress will see you now, " said a very old-looking female house elf with a distracted air. Hermione knew she must be the elf, Hokey, who supposedly would tell everyone that she'd accidentally poisoned her Mistress if she did not find a way to stop the events of this day.

The trio trudged through the dusty foyer and on into the equally unkempt parlor, where old Hepzibah sat ensconced on her chair. Edmond wrapped an arm about Hermione's waist as they stepped into her line of sight.

Hermione smiled lovingly up at him, and then the pair of them sat down close beside each other on the couch, pretending they could barely keep their hands off each other as they settled into place.

"Ah, young love," Hepzibah sighed as she watched them.

Hermione blushed and giggled as she set Edmond's hand away from her knee.

"What can I do for you young people?" she asked briskly.

Smiling shyly as she took Edmond's hand in her own, Hermione leaned forward in a calculatedly sweet manner.

"Miss Smith, Edmond and I are both Hufflepuffs, and we are about to be married," she explained with another blush. "Our fondest desire has always been to have Helga Hufflepuff's famous cup in our wedding, and we have it on good understanding that you are in possession of it."

"My dears, believe me when I tell you that I wish I could help you," she replied in a watery tone. "Unfortunately my old artefacts were stolen not two months ago. I had them all, you know. The sword of Gryffindor, the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflpuff's cup, and even a locket that once belonged to Salizar Slytherin himself. I would have gladly lent the goblet to your little celebration if I could."

"Stolen?" Hermione gasped in dismay, schooling her features lest she reveal her surprise. "Who would do such a horrid thing?"

"I've no idea, child," the woman said. "Not too many people even knew I had them. In fact, I wonder how you knew of the cup at all. Who told you I had it?"

"Albus Dumbledore, ma'am," she said, figuring she might believe her if she used that name.

"It's funny that you should mention him," Hepzibah replied. "He was here almost a year ago, trying to get me to sell the set to him."

"Really?" asked Edmond, speaking for the first time since they'd entered the room. "That is peculiar."

"No more peculiar than the sight of you two seated so cozily on that couch," said a familiar voice from the doorway, where Hokey was hopping from one foot to the other in dismay.

"Hokey is sorry, Mistress," she said. "He would not wait to be announced."

"Dumbledore!" gasped Edmond, springing to his feet.

"It was very foolish of you two to come here, Miss Granger," he said as he stepped into the room. "You must know that I am in possession of all your memories of the future. If you hope to best me, you cannot hope to do so using any of them."

"Thanks for the advice, sir," Hermione hissed as she got to her feet as well.

"Here now, what's all this about?" Hepzibah wanted to know.

In a flash, Dumbledore held up his wand at the exact moment Hermione spun on her heel and Disapparated. She had tried to grab Edmond's hand, but Dumbledore's spell somehow separated the two.

"Well, now, that was something new," said Dumbledore with interest. "She didn't know how to avoid an anti-Disapparation spell when I last looked in her mind."

"I demand that the lot of you leave my home at once!" Hepzibah bellowed.

"You know, Edmond, I'm going to have to figure out what I should do with you," said Dumbledore amiably. "I mean, Granger does not recall who fathered the husband of Bellatrix Lestrange, but then again, that bitch didn't welp anyway so the whole line is potentially irrelevant. Maybe I can dispose of you with little repercussion."

"You'll never succeed with a girl like Hermione and all her Slytherin friends to stop you," scoffed Edmond as he aimed his wand at the older man.

"Avada Kedavra!" Dumbledore shouted, and Hepzibah crumpled up in her chair as the green light struck her.

"What the—" Edmond began as Albus stepped forward and grabbed him by the shirt.

"You and I have some unfinished business," he told him, and with a sinking feeling Edmond feared he knew exactly what it was.