Featuring That Dune Quote (for Thematic And Character Development Reasons) - Tumblr Posts

Chapter Twelve: Litany Against Fear

He had just risen to his feet when a cold presence entered the room. It was felt before it was seen — icy despair encasing the room — five hooded figures like great, black coffins, chilling Tee to the very bone. It was the library in London all over again. His fingers reached for his wand in an almost instinctive movement, but they were as numb and clumsy as if he had been walking through a snowstorm. His heartbeat was quick in his throat, like an animal before the butchering blow, mouth dry—

And then something soared through the air, warm and silvery, spreading light throughout the room, which had suddenly gone dark. The phoenix Patronus repelled the Dementors, sending them stumbling back in a rush to wherever they’d come from.

How? wondered Tee, shaky with relief, still trying to catch his breath, to catch up with his heart stuttering in his ribcage. The silver phoenix had perched on the table, folding its wings, refracting light like liquid opal.

“Just the beginning, I fear, Tom,” said Dumbledore, assuming a defensive position, his gaze shrewd, all the levity drained from him. “On your guard.”

Tee slipped his hand into his pocket, fingers brushing the warm length of pine, still unsettled. The room looked a little darker than it had when they first entered, and the cherubs had that same sinister quality.

Dementors in the Ministry — where did they come from?

And he was incapable of calling forth a Patronus. Though they weren’t very interested in his shattered and torn soul, that didn’t protect him from their other effects. He was helpless against them; as helpless as a boy from a lifetime ago, curled under an iron bed as bombs shook the earth and heavens, hiding from Death.

“I think it best that we find our way to Narcissa’s office.”

Tee nodded, trying to regain his composure as Dumbledore’s attention turned from the wall that the Dementors had disappeared into to the door that they had come through; or rather, the space where it had been. He just couldn’t shake the feeling of being led into a trap as Dumbledore raised his hand to the wall, and the door slid open at the slightest touch.

When he mentioned this to Dumbledore, the latter only said with a wry smile:

“Well, Tom, then surely we must spring it.”

T.M. Riddle and Albus Dumbledore are summoned to the Ministry, where they discover a deadly trap. Mafalda starts her first day as an Auror trainee (and double agent) and encounters a familiar rival. To survive... well, they'll have to overcome fear itself. Read from the beginning at FFN|AO3!