Poking in the Dark

Toru led Aveira by the hand past the ropes of the Restricted Section. The books welcomed him back.

Aveira followed him, dreading what was to come next. The books here liked her as well. She had long since discovered how to make them stop screaming when opened.

He closed his eyes and felt around the bookshelves. Not looking, but feeling. His hands came to rest on a dusty tome, faded red velvet. He ran his finger down the broken spine, then blew the dust off of it.

Aveira looked away, grabbing her messenger bag. She pulled out a potion and drank all the little bit that has left. She sighed as the memories turned vague and fuzzy.

Toru opened the book, old parchment rustling. "Horcruxes," he whispered to the middle, then stood back. The pages started fliting, four left, five right, thirty left, ten more left, five right. When it stopped, Toru closed in again.

Aveira looked at him, wondering what they were doing here. Oh that's right! Looking up...something?

Toru noticed the blank look in her eyes. "Aveira, what are we doing here?" he said, moving his hand to her forehead.

She shook her head and smiled at him cheerfully. "I don't remember," she said happily.

"I see," he murmured, slipping a vial out of his robes. He handed it to her, muttering, "Drink that, please."

"'kay," she said and took the vial. She drank it.

"A great antidote to any memory loss, caused by spell or potion," Toru muttered, throwing the empty vial to the fire. "I need your memories."

As the memories came rushing back, Aveira sank to her knees, eyes clentched shut and whimpers of pain coming from her mouth. "I fucking hate you for that," she hissed in pain.

"I'm sure you will come to forgive me," Toru muttered, back to the book. "'As the definition of Horcrux goes, it is to vile and evil to speak of.' Big help, thank you," Toru slammed the book shut. "Last resort, best book there is."

She looked up at him, still on the ground. "Secrets of the Darkest Art has the spell written in detail," she mumbled.

Toru nodded. "Thank you," he said, closing his eyes again. He found a black book, with what looked like bloodstains on the cover. He smiled as he touched it. It felt...warm.

She looked at the book. "It has the darkest spells known to wizardkind," she said softly.

"Comforting to know it's at Hogwarts, then," he muttered. He repeated the process with this book, whispering, "Horcruxes." The book responed eagerly, flipping hundreds of pages until it stopped on one.

Aveira closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

As he read, it was hard to contain his excitement. His eyes shone, but he hid that. He also stopped from smiling too. "Aveira, look at me."

She looked up at him, keeping her expression blank. "It hurts. Ripping your soul apart."

"What do you expect me to do? Call you a monster? A freak?" he asked quietly.

She looked away again. "Worse. Evil. It's alright, everyone else does. I can hear the talk about me when they think I can't hear. I'm used to it."

"Well, all I have to say to that is..." he pulled her to her feet, looking her directly into her eyes. "My opinion of you hasn't changed." Then he leaned in and kissed her softly, for a second, then pulled away. "Just try not to kill yourself."

She blinked, surprised. "What was that for?"

He smiled and brushed her hair back lightly. "If you can do that and survive, I admire you. But, like I said, don't kill youself, okay?" he leaned closer, "For me?"