Chapter 14 (2/2)

Two hours later, Edmund returned after having a filling dinner. Seeing a fully healed Alden, he grinned. ”Ready for another dose uncle?”

Alden screamed and tried to free himself from the chair. The last two hours were so agonizing that the thought of suffering through all that pain again terrorized him. The process of healing back to normal was much more painful and he was horrified of the thought of experiencing it again. He was ready to answer any question Edmund wanted to ask but couldn't speak as his mouth was bound.

Edmund injected another dose of the poison into him, this time more concentrated than the last. ”This one's effects will last for six hours. It's effects will be slower but the pain it'll cause will be much worse. Enjoy.”

Alden struggled to get free and tried to beg for mercy, but Edmund had already left the room.

(ROTS)

Two days of continuous agony had completely broken Alden and had left him as a trembling and sobbing mess.

Edmund didn't hold back and exhausted all his supplies of the special poison. Approaching Alden, he undid the cloth on the man's mouth which was now soaking with blood. He then healed Alden's jaw and sat on a chair in front of his uncle.

”Now that you're subdued, let's begin. Why were the Potters targeted by Voldemort?”

Alden answered immediately in a shakey, monotonous voice, ”A prophesy was made that said about a child being born who will kill the dark lord.”

A prophesy? Hmm... ”Who made the prophesy and how did Vodemort learn about it?”

”It was Sybil Trelawney while giving her job interview to Dumbledore. Snape eavesdropped on their conversation and was able to hear the first half of the prophesy. It was him who informed the dark lord.”

”Does Dumbledore know about this?”

”Yes.”

Crap. Dumbledore knew Snape was responsible for Potters being killed and had still defended him, saying Snape was his spy.

”How does one obtain the dark mark? Can someone be forced to accept it?”

Alden answered in the same monotonous voice, ”The dark lord used to cast a spell in parseltongue. Then we were required to kill an innocent soul for the mark to appear. It cannot be forced upon anyone. The dark lord wanted his followers to be loyal to him.”

Moldy had used a spell in parseltongue to give his dark mark to all the followers. Thus, it was a dead end for him. There was something in the dark mark that caused it to have a similar aura as that of Moldy's soul. This similarity was even shared by the scar on Iris' forehead, but it was much denser than the dark mark's aura.

Deciding to think more about it later, Edmund asked Alden of all those who took part in the destruction of Whirlpool family. He wasn't surprised to know that Snape was there. He had personally killed one of Clair's brothers and her new born nephew with a cutting curse. Undoubtedly, Snape was added into his kill list.

Edmund had been getting frustrated day by day before the World Cup. He had to kill Altair before he turned fifteen to get emancipated by activating the end of line clause. With Alden in his grasp, he could finally get the location of Altair and get his revenge.

”Where is your brother hiding? Where is Altair Vulpis?”