"Haah.. All you magical people, always uncaring of us non-magicals.. you know what? Fuck you! And fuck your wizardry!" he spat his final curse, then closed his eyes, quietly waiting for death to come.
The events of the past had left a shadow over him that he could never shake. Maybe it was better if it all ended here…
"Avada Keda—"
"Sectumsempra!"
Splurt!
A hand holding a wand flew off and landed several feet away on the floor.
"AAAH!" Morfin clutched his arm and collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.
Tom flung off the Invisibility Cloak and floated in from the window, landing silently in front of old Tom.
Old Tom opened his eyes and saw a boy who looked strikingly similar to himself.
But after just one second, he turned his gaze away, fear written all over his face… as if the one who had just cursed Morfin out, risking his life to do so, was someone else entirely.
"What's going on up there?"
"That useless old man didn't get taken out by a Muggle, did he?"
"Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised."
"Enough! Let's go check. We don't want anything messing up the plan!"
The voices drifted up from downstairs.
Then came the sound of heavy footsteps on the staircase.
"Let's go… Tom… we need to leave.." old Tom said in a defeated tone.
He had never felt anything for his son. In fact, every time he thought of him, he was reminded of that terrifying time in his life, and so he always avoided him, unwilling to meet face-to-face.
But blood ties are strange things.
Now that he'd finally met his son, he realized the resistance he expected in his heart… wasn't really there.
Tom stared at him for a long moment, then gave a sharp flick of his wand.
Swoosh!Boom!
The staircase immediately collapsed with a loud crash.
"Oi! What the hell?! The stairs just collapsed!"
"Watch out! There's another wizard upstairs!"
"Apparate up there!"
As the staircase collapsed, Tom had already thrown the Invisibility Cloak back over himself and vanished into thin air.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A series of sharp cracks rang out like whips lashing the floor — several Dark Wizards had Apparated directly upstairs.
But aside from a few Muggles, the only thing waiting for them was a one-armed Morfin, howling in pain.
"Where is he?!"
"You useless old man! Stop screaming! Who chopped your arm off?!"
"Waaah… It was him! The boy! That boy!" Morfin wailed.
"For Merlin's sake, stop crying and answer me! Where is he now?"
"Invisibility Cloak…"
"You pathetic old fool, getting your arm sliced off by a kid!"
Though they cursed Morfin as a useless waste, the Dark Wizards didn't dare let their guard down.
They each cast Protego, then positioned themselves back-to-back.
If that kid could slice off Morfin's arm, he could just as easily slice off theirs.
The Dark Wizards exchanged glances and immediately launched a coordinated attack on their surroundings.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada ke—"
Jets of green light swept across the entire dining room, blasting up clouds of dust and debris.
To their surprise, not a single person had been hit.
Logically, even if the boy had an Invisibility Cloak, as long as he was still inside the room, there was no way he could have dodged everything.
They had even covered both the ground and the air!
What they didn't know was — Tom had already cloaked himself and floated right outside the window…
At that moment, the Flying Charm proved to be a life-saver.
Praise be to Wade Reynolds — even if he was a total bastard.
Tom silently floated down to the first floor. After estimating the position, he raised his wand and aimed at the ceiling.
"Confringo!"
Boom!
"What the..!" A massive hole blasted open in the ceiling.
Two Dark Wizards screamed as they fell through—
Crack!
"Avada Kedavra!"
Thud!
A body hit the ground.
Tom, face grim, quickly stowed his wand back under the Invisibility Cloak.
This sneak attack had been sudden, but those men were seasoned Dark Wizards. No matter how fast he was, spellcasting still had a delay.
At most, he could only take down one of them.
Tom's spell had barely finished when the remaining Dark Wizard didn't even hesitate—he Disapparated on the spot and fled.
Tom stood grim-faced, but upstairs, the surviving Dark Wizards were even more shaken.
A "young wizard"? Like hell he was!
A wizard who could cast the Killing Curse wasn't some child!
If they'd known he could use Avada Kedavra, only an idiot would've gone after him with nothing but a Shield Charm.
A Shield Charm couldn't block a Killing Curse!
Thwack! The fleeing Dark Wizard stormed back upstairs and punched Morfin square in the nose.
"Morfin! You nearly got me killed! This is your eleven-year-old little wizard?!"
"Argh…" Morfin howled in pain from his broken nose. "He… he really is only eleven!"
"You mother fucker!!" The Dark wizard no longer believed a word Morfin said.
"H-How did you know?" Morfin muttered in shock.
"Eww, fuck off!" He slammed Morfin to the ground and yanked up Old Tom, dragging him in front to use as a human shield.
At this point, all he wanted was to get out of here, even if there were still places in the Riddle Manor left to loot.
They had already grabbed plenty of valuables—this trip hadn't been a total waste.
But staying wasn't an option. There was a wizard hiding in the dark who could use the Killing Curse. He didn't want to die.
The other Dark wizards immediately followed suit, using Levitation Charms to lift the barely breathing butler August and the two elderly Riddles into the air as shields in front of themselves.
Since the attacker was clearly related to this family of Muggles, as long as they held these Muggles hostage, he probably wouldn't dare cast another Killing Curse.
Two others, who didn't manage to grab hostages in time, picked up nearby chairs to use as shields instead.
In their minds, as long as the opponent didn't dare use the Killing Curse, it didn't matter if he was hiding in the shadows—they had numbers on their side.
"Now how do we get downstairs?" someone asked.
They were currently on the second floor, but the staircase and half the floor had already been blown apart.
Since they were carrying hostages, Apparition was out of the question.
Apparition left a brief window of vulnerability even under normal circumstances, let alone when bringing along unconscious Muggles.
"There's a flowerbed down there! We'll jump down in turns while the rest keep watch!"
"Alright… whoever's on watch, be extra careful! The ones jumping will be completely defenseless!"
Half of the wizards stayed on the second floor, levitating some furniture with spells, ready to throw it down as makeshift shields against any possible Killing Curse.
The other half grabbed the hostages and cast Levitation Charms on their own robes, slowly floating down into the flowerbed outside.
Once they landed, the group upstairs repeated the same process and joined them in the flowerbed.
What surprised them was that the hidden wizard didn't attack during this golden opportunity.
This could only mean one thing—the Muggles must be very important to him.
Realizing this, the Dark wizards clung even tighter to the Riddle family, refusing to let go.
Heart pounding, they made their way from the flowerbed out toward the nearby main road.
After walking some distance without being attacked, the Dark wizards finally allowed themselves a brief moment of relief.
Just as they began to suspect that the hidden enemy might have left—or was still lurking somewhere waiting to ambush them—
Suddenly, two or three small metallic spheres rolled out from the roadside.
"Silver balls? How did we not notice them before…" One of the wizards bent down to pick one up.
"Wait! Something's not right—" another wizard suddenly shouted.
~~~
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