Killing Horcruxes
I looked around. My eyes were red from lack of sleep.
My throat moved, gulping down the air around me. I felt it flow into my lungs, filling their expanding volume.
My left lung was a bit smaller than my right one. Asymmetrical.
Some days, I just didn't want to stand up. I didn't want to walk around. I didn't want to do anything.
All I wanted was to stay where I was, laying down on my back and staring at the blank white ceiling for hours and hours, until I finally fell asleep again.
But I couldn't.
Well... I could. But I'd be sacrificing a lot to do it.
There were things I needed to do today. Important things.
I'd managed to assemble some very important items.
A black diary, blank as the day it was bought, but rife and full of memories.
A golden cup, brighter than the sun, empty, yet filling the room with false exuberance.
A locket on a chain, shaped like a small coffin, colored white like iron and serpentine green.
A simple ring with a single dark stone, banded in dragon's gold and jeweled in death's blackness.
A snake, still alive, causing the table it was coiled on to creak and groan with its great length and weight.
A dainty crown that glowed a moonlight silver and blue, as if it were the product of some faerie's craftsmanship.
And lastly, a boy, asleep and unable to wake. A scar ran across his forehead, marring what would have been a perfect face.
I wiped the sleep from my eyes and grasped the bone dagger from my bedside table.
Resisting the ever-growing curse of lethargy, I made my way over to the table on which the items rested. I raised the dagger once, and brought it down on the black diary.
It screamed, flailed, and died.
I raised the dagger again, and brought it down on the golden cup. It too died screaming.
I repeated the action for the other items.
The locket refused to open, sensing its fate. I pried it apart, and plunged the dagger into its heart.
The ring made no movements, but it attempted to fill me with pain as it withered away.
The snake died peacefully, asleep and unaware.
The crown tempted me, showing me visions of knowledge and power. I was too sleepy to pay it much attention though, and it died like the rest.
And lastly, the boy. I paused for a moment, but steeled myself. He had to die, no matter what.
I couldn't bring myself to care at such a critical juncture.
The knife came up, and then back down. It plunged into the boy's forehead, right through his scar and into his brain, his skull cracking apart under the blow, causing blood to fly.
A wispy black spirit came tumbling out of the ruined head, screaming in terror, fear, and pain. Before it could move any farther, I slashed through it with my knife, and it disintegrated.
And with that, my job was done.
Succumbing to the heaviness of my eyelids, my vision went dark, and I knew no more.