Chapter One
"And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles its a very, very
Mad world"
-Mad World, Gary Jules
"Do you really think this the wisest choice?" Asked a man in a dark cloak.
"Yes, I do. I have finally found someone who I think can change history. Someone who will stop thousands of deaths from occurring. Someone who-"
The man in the dark cloak cut him off. "But sir, weren't those deaths meant to happen, to bring us to this point. I mean, it is not as if the Dark Lord is still in power. Potter defeated him over ten years ago-"
"ENOUGH!" The other man shouted angrily. "You did not lose your only child and your wife in the war as I did. You do not know how it feels to lose everything! You will help send this girl back in time and you will not tell anyone about! It will go as planned and that's final!"
The two men looked at each other for a few tense moments before the man in the cloak spoke again. "Very well. But what makes you so sure this girl can do it. How do you know that she will be able to kill to him?"
"Because, her parents were killed in the Battle of Hogwarts and that gives her incentive, the only remaining family she has are her sisters and that will give her reason to come home. She is the most intelligent young witch since Hermione Granger, but unlike Granger she has a taste for the Dark Arts." He paused, "Yes I believe she can do it, I've made my choice. She will be out flying tonight. I want you to find her and when you do, use the spell I taught you. I'd do it myself but I'm afraid my old body cannot harbor the power needed to administer the curse. If all goes according to plan, she should arrive during his fifth year and once she realizes when and where she is, she'll seek him out and get rid of him before he ever murders a single soul." The old man smiled a toothless smile and lay down in his bed.
"Now go! Change history my boy, when you return I'll give you what you asked for. Now be gone."
The younger man left with a curt nod, his dark cloak billowing behind him.
Mrs. Cole would always remember the day that Diana came to the orphanage.
It was during the summer of 1944 and the children were all in bed early that night because it was the day Tom Riddle came back from that odd boarding school. And everyone knew to stay out of his way, especially in the first few days he was back.
There was a light knocking at the door. Mrs. Cole hurried over to answer it and there stood a girl with pale, uncommonly long hair. She was obviously a teenager but stood no higher than five feet. The girl's feet were bare and the only possession she had other than the flowery dress on her back was a strange white sick that she held so tightly her knuckles were the color of exposed bone.
"Please." The girl had said with a hoarse voice. "May I come in?"
Mrs. Cole quickly regained her composure and ushered the girl inside.
"What's your name dear?" Mrs. Cole asked as she pulled a thin quilt out of a closet and wrapped it around the girls shoulders.
"Diana," She cleared her throat, "Diana Morgan"
"Well Diana I'm afraid you cannot stay here unless you live here in which case you'd need to be an orphan, I'll let you stay and get warm, but protocol states-"
"I am an orphan. Would it be possible if I could live here?" Diana asked with a hopeful expression.
Mrs. Cole nodded with new understanding and retrieved a clipboard and pencil. "Okay. I'll just need to ask a few questions."
The elderly woman readied her pencil and began.
"What happened to your parents?"
"They died in an air raid a few days ago."
Mrs. Cole scribbled something down and continued.
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"When is your birthday?"
"October 28th, 199-"
Mrs. Cole looked up at her curiously.
Diana coughed.
"October 28th, 1927." She corrected herself and Mrs. Cole resumed her scribbling.
After another few minutes of interrogation Mrs. Cole had completed Diana's charts. She gave her a verbal tour of the building and told her meal times.
"I'm afraid that there is currently only one vacant room available and it's on the top floor. Unless of course you'd like a roommate?" Mrs. Cole asked.
Diana gave her a charming smile. "I would much prefer a lone room if that's alright."
The old woman nodded and knitted her eyebrows together. "Very well, but I must warn you. There are only two bedrooms on the top floor and the reason that one of them is vacant is because people tend to steer clear of the other occupant. He has quite the...personality."
"I'm sure I'll be fine. Thank you for the warning though." Diana said, then excused herself for the night.
Mrs. Cole looked after her with a slight worried expression. "Yes, goodnight dear." She called as Diana climbed the stairs and out of sight.
Tom Riddle sat on the edge of the hard mattress that that old hag Mrs. Cole tried to pass off as a bed. He had a scowl on his usually emotionless face.
He was thinking of how much he hated the orphanage and the lowly muggles that he was forced to live with. 'Only one last summer' he reminded himself, then he'd never have to tolerate muggles ever again.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs interupted his thought process.
Who would be stupid enough to bother him? He asked himself annoyed.
He didn't move as he waited for the knock that never came. Instead he heard the door across the hall creak open and then shut with a soft click.
A new orphan? Just great, another disgusting muggle to make his life a living hell during the summer.
Perhaps he could make a con into a pro. Across the hall lay an unsuspecting victim and he hadn't used an unforgivable in a while.
Tom stood, not bothering to put a robe on over his pajama bottoms. He strode to the old paint chipped door with his wand gently clutched in his hand.
With a non-verbal Alohamora he entered the room.
He was met by the silver eyes of a girl who sat cross legged on her bed, and to Tom's surprised she had a wand pointed right at him.
"May I help you? Or were you just planning on coming in and cursing me while my back was turned?" Her voice was bored and cold.
Tom was intrigued. This would be fun.
"The latter." He informed her with a smirk.
The girl lowered her wand and gave him a calculating look.
"Is it really wise to lower your wand directly after someone admits planning to harm you?" Tom asked disappointed, he had been hoping for some entertainment.
"Why would you want to harm someone who can help you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tom lowered his wand and leaned against the door frame. "And pray tell, how a repulsive mudblood like yourself would be able to help me."
She giggled in a childish way. "Mudblood? Is that your backwards way of asking my blood status?"
Tom was surprised that she realized what he was doing, but he of course kept it from showing.
"Impressive, most witches and wizards would let emotion get in the way of logic after hearing that word. Either offended because they are actually pureblooded or angry because their blood is indeed, muddy." He raised an eyebrow at her in question, "So which is it?"
She uncrossed her legs and stood, offering her hand she introduced, "Diana Morganstern, pleasure to make your acquaintance." She smirked at him.
Tom eyed her up and down with a new interest, so she was indeed a pureblood. Maybe he'd get more pleasure this summer than he had originally anticipated. The girl was indeed quite a bit shorter than the witches he usually laid. But she had pretty voluminous curves for her small frame and her face was quite nice to look at as well.
"Thinking of sex already Mr. Riddle?" Diana asked with an amused tone.
Unknown to Tom, Diana had given him a once over as well, though not as eager as his was. She did notice, however, the light layer of muscle stretched over his torso.
Before Tom could reply she walked toward him with a suggestive sway in her hips and placed a finger on his shoulder. "Maybe later, I'm too tired for that tonight." She whispered and trailed her index finger down his chest and his stomach, stopping at the hem of his pajama bottoms.
Before he knew it she had shut the door on him and he was left out in the hall with a chill where her finger had been moments before.
Had she just kicked him out? He chuckled, tonight he would let her sleep, but that would be the last time he would let her get away with being a tease.
Diana closed the door and fell to the floor with her hand over her mouth.
What am I doing? She thought frantically. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized how lucky she was to still be alive. It was a good thing she had held her composure, at least she waited to freak out until after the situation had passed.
So that was what the great and gruesome Lord Voldemort used to look like? That was not how he was depicted in the history books!
Diana pulled a crumpled note out of her pocket and read it for the fifth time that evening.
'Dear Miss Morganstern,
I apologize in advance for the briefness of this note and for the situation I'm about to put you in. My master would not have me give you any explanation whatsoever, but I cannot stand sending you seventy years into the past without some sort of Intel.
I am going to use a spell to send you back to the year 1942. This is the year that Lord Voldemort was fifteen, at which age he had yet to commit a single murder. My master has chosen you because of your intelligence and your skills in the dark arts, he wants you to kill Voldemort before he becomes the monster everyone remembers him as.
My master hopes the death of your parents will be incentive enough for you to commit the murder. If everything goes according to plan, directly after he dies you will be sent back into the future with your parents alive and no recollection of your time in the past or that your parents were ever dead.
The only thing left for me to offer you is how to find Voldemort. You should arrive in London on the morning of the day Voldemort returns from Hogwarts. He resides at the address written on the back of this parchment, which is an orphanage. Even at the age of fifteen Voldemort was extremely dangerous. I'm fearful that you must gain his trust before you kill him in order to have the element of surprise. For in a head on duel you would not survive, even being a witch of your subsequent talent.
I'm afraid that's all I can give you. I pray that something inside this note will help you. Again I am so very sorry, espeacially if you do not suceed.
My sincerest apologies,
a friend
P.S. Before he was Lord Voldemort his name was Tom Riddle.'
"a friend'? Yeah right. She crumpled the note once again.
The arse who sent her to this place didn't even send her to the right date. For one thing that was not a fifteen year old boy. Second, the calender in the foyer had big black numbers stating the the year was 1944, not 1942.
Maybe she could do this. No she couldn't. She had to. She couldn't stay in 1944, she had a life in her real time. What about her sisters? She had to get back. Somehow...
God! This isn't fair!
After a few more minutes of worrying she got up and climbed onto the hardest mattress she'd ever slept on, her wand safely tucked under her flat pillow.
In the room across the hall Tom sat contemplating the girl just feet away.
She could certainly be used as bed company for the summer, for she wasn't just some dirty muggle.
Or she could be used as a stress reliever for whenever he got disgusted with the muggles. He could merely privately torture her and the ministry couldn't get him for using magic on or in the presence of a muggle.
Yes, both options were quite appealing.
Although, she could turn out to be a defiant slag. Hmm, then he'd just dispose of her.
"We'll just have to see how things turn out won't we, Nagini?" He hissed to the large scaly creature that wrapped itself around his arm and neck.
There was a quite 'pshysshhh' in reply. To which Tom smirked.
"Yes, if it comes to that you may eat her."