Okay, so his magic was still working just fine.
All this ti, he'd been afraid of what might happen if he fed the Horcrux to the shop. The answer? A nasty headache and a slideshow of Riddle's life.
Sure, living through those flashes sucked, but at least his magic hadn't gone haywire like it had with that soul-sucking ritual he'd tried before.
Ben rubbed his temple, still reeling from the fragnted mories. Young Tom Riddle—charming, cunning, empty-eyed. Watching him twist Myrtle's death into his own triumph, feeling the way he poured his soul into the diary—it made Ben's skin crawl. Every ti he saw Riddle's smirk, it felt like looking into a cracked mirror.
Both thods were flawed.
Maybe... maybe there was a third way. Sothing that combined the best of both.
Ben was about to spiral into theoretical nonsense when a small voice cut through the quiet.
"Ben..."
He turned.
Cho's eyes were half-open. Her voice was barely a whisper. She looked pale, exhausted, and scared.
Ben was at her side in an instant. The torches on the wall flickered faintly, casting eerie light over the damp stones. A few feet away, Marianne lay unconscious.
"Ben..." she whispered, her voice weak. "You're okay…"
"Yeah," he said, crouching beside her. "We're okay now. It's over."
Tears welled in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ben," she said, her voice thin, trembling. "I tried to stop him. From attacking you, from hurting Marianne. I tried. But I couldn't. I—I couldn't move. I was still in there, but I couldn't stop him."
Ben felt the weight in his chest grow heavier than ever. "I know."
She looked at him desperately, like she needed him to believe it.
"I tried my best, trust ," she whispered.
"I know, Cho. I know," he said again, more gently this ti. "You were trapped in your own body. It wasn't your fault."
Cho's eyes watered, but she blinked it back.
Ben let the silence sit for a mont, then spoke—quietly, like a confession.
"I'm sorry too."
She glanced at him and shook her head slowly. "It wasn't your fault. Marietta took the diary from your room, and I didn't give it back; you didn't even know what it was."
"I did," Ben said. "It was my fault you ended up in this position."
Cho looked confused now, eyebrows knitting. "What do you an?"
Ben didn't answer right away. He looked away, eyes fixed on a crack in the stone floor. The guilt he'd buried since sumr rose like bile in his throat. No matter how nonchalant he acted, it ate at him that he'd let an innocent suffer—just to test Dumbledore. Honestly, it made him no different from him.
"I lied, Cho. I didn't find it amongst used books."
"Lied? Why? Where did you get it then?" she asked, wide-eyed.
Ben took a breath. "I saw Lucius Malfoy put the diary into Ginny Weasley's cauldron back at Flourish and Blotts. I knew it was cursed, so I took it from her that sa day."
"How could you have known it was cursed?" she asked.
"I—I saw it, in glimpses. The diary twisting Ginny, turning her into sothing else. That's why I took it from her. But I just couldn't destroy it, it had a sort of influence over too," he said.
Technically not a lie; it helped that he'd spent a year building credibility as a Seer.
"When Marietta Edgecombe stole it during the holidays, I didn't go looking for it. I was scared it would ss with my head, so I just… I stayed away."
"You couldn't have known it'd be , you couldn't have stopped it," she said, less to reassure Ben and more to reassure herself.
"I did know. I was just too much of a coward to face it, to face you," Ben said, lowering his head.
Cho lowered her head. "You saved in the end."
Ben shook his head. "That doesn't change what you went through."
She didn't speak. Didn't have to.
Ben could see it—how she turned that over in her mind. Realising that the boy she'd once had a crush on had made a choice that led to months of her life vanishing into soone else's control.
He waited for the anger. The hurt.
But there was none. "Why are you telling all this?" she asked finally.
He ran a hand through his hair, voice low. "I don't expect forgiveness, Cho. Just thought you deserved the truth."
Cho was quiet for a mont, eyes flickering with sothing unreadable. She looked like she wanted to say more—but wasn't sure how.
There was a long pause before she spoke again, her voice quieter this ti. "You know, I saw you Obliviate Lockhart."
Ben blinked, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips despite the gravity of the mont. "You saw that, huh?"
"You didn't even hesitate. Just wiped him clean."
"Yeah, well, he deserved it."
"I… I didn't think you'd be capable of that."
He looked at her. "It's not about what I'm capable of. It's about what needs to be done."
Cho looked down at her hands. "Are you going to Obliviate too?"
Ben's heart stuttered in his chest.
"What? No! Of course not!" he said, taken aback.
"Why not?"
"You're my friend, Cho. I would never do that to you," he said, a bit hurt.
"Even if that ans I could get you into trouble?" she said.
"I don't mind getting in trouble for it," he said.
"What if I ask you to make forget?" she asked.
"NO. Why would you want that?" he said, shocked.
"Wouldn't it be better for both of us if I forgot about the whole thing?"
"What do you an?" Ben had a bad feeling.
"This whole thing has been a nightmare. It would be best if I could forget it like one," she said, holding her face in her palms.
"Hey," Ben said gently, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's been a lot. And I know forgetting might feel easier right now. But you made it through, Cho. You're here—and that has to count for sothing, right?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle, holding it out to her. "Here—drink this. It'll help. I promise."
-To be Continued..
Reviews
All reviews (0)