A/N: i cannot put into words my excitement to publish this story. I've been quite infatuated with Tom Riddle for months now and thoughts kept on popping up in my mind. This is the result - please have an open mind for this. It's going to take a lot of explaining, and even when it's fully explained it'll need to be broken down. I hope it doesn't cause much confusion. The storyline for this fanfic is something I'm still conjuring up in my mind. And sorry if the French is poorly written, though there is little to none French - i retrieved the words from google translator. The French Riviera is unbelievably stunning.
within the void
There was a peculiar scent to which the batter of the cake claimed, it wasn't at all the sweet and savory aroma that lingered in the air when her grandmother prepared the dish years ago. It seemed bland, and once the girl dipped the her index finger into the dough, she slipped it into her mouth and revelled in the bitter tastelessness. Contemplating her thoughts on continuing whilst staring at the blue bowl filled with the unmade cake, she was never the one for cooking like her muggle-enthused Grams, so stirring the batter once more, she was tempted to ingest the dough fully with idle interest as she was convinced with stubbornness her cooking was much like her grandmothers, alas she decided willingly to toss the bowl into the sink next to the counter where she perched.
"You added too much flour" was a gruff observation from the table, turning her head slightly to stare at her father in the corner of her eye as he brought a white mug to his lips, he slightly smiled at his 11 year old daughter, his eyes crinkling in appreciation in the process, his daughter slightly scowled at her mistake and lethargically strode to the mahogany table with the undeniable pride which she couldn't swallow and sat with such elegance unknown to child in a chair across.
"Flour is a key ingredient, I misjudged the importance of it" she somewhat murmured, her voice almost unheard if it weren't for her fathers impeccable hearing. "Ah, thats true, but being overwhelmed with it ruined the cake" he took a sip of his coffee as his eyes crinkled once more although his grin was sheathed by the white porcelain in his hand, and as soon as he spotted the forced frown on his daughters lips as she acknowledged the blanketed meaning, his eyes darted to the Daily Prophet on the center of the table, "Hogwarts is in a day. Have you packed everything?" he inquired, placing his cup on the table as he took the newpaper in hands, once she parted her lips to confirm his question, a knock echoed throughout the room coming from the door leading from the bookstore which they owned below them.
"Miss Clementine, are you there?" she heard a boy speak solidly from behind the wood, she returned her gaze from the door to her dad and smiled lightly as he shooed away his daughter with his hand, she briskly jumped from her seat with the former elegance broken and walked in her doll-like gentleness to boy.
Shutting the door behind her, she twirled while she portrayed a monotonic expression in her eyes, "the bookstore is closed, how'd you manage to come in?" although her question was donned upon unattentive ears while Tom took hold of her tiny hand and pulled her down the stairs in abrash uncharacteristic manner, and jumped down from the last step in the childlike way that completely threw Aurora completely off guard.
Her eyes hung half open in a somewhat sleepily manner whilst she was tugged along roughly to the back of the section of their bookstore, her hands running along the numerous spines of books, she stared momentarily at Toms back in the midst of his broad stride across the shop, and hastily she noted of the tense mannerism of his muscles.
Spinning on his heel, Aurora collided with his chest at the sudden motion although quickly he peeled his hand from hers and clasped her shoulders and bent slightly to remain eyelevel with the walking French doll in his presence. Aurora was staring into the depth of his grey eyes, she immediately was awed with the particular iris' dilating once he rested his vision upon her.
"I'm a wizard" it was a rather blunt statement, and it took Aurora a few seconds to digest this, albiet once the millisecond past as Tom's status sunk into her mind, she took hold of those warm cheeks as she felt the blood rush to them with the physical contact, and innocently rubbed her thumbs against the soft skin, "chiot obéissant."
chapter one.
It was a peculiar sight, Abraxas thought blandly while consuming his tasteless toast, already being sorted into Slytherin within the first five minutes. His lips slightly tugged into a smirk as he remembered the graze of the hat, and the thunderous applause emitting from the table which his ancestors once occupied. He stared up at how the students were slowly dwindling until the his eyes were perched on a rather spectacle of a human being, after a moments hesitation from the hat, "Slytherin!" it roared, and Abraxas tossed his toast onto the plate as he sluggishly clapped his hands together in a comatose state of boredom, although this was soon taken aback while the young Slytherin elegantly took the empty space next to the Malfoy, he charismatically flashed a well practiced smile into his direction as the clapping soon died down and another person replaced Tom's place. Abraxas immediately noticed the shift of subliminal controlling atmosphere the eleven year old claimed as his smile instantly cracked into a stern, quite concentrated scowl as he somewhat bared his eyes into the student sitting on the wooden stool, and soon the first years surrounding Tom quickly donned their attention onto the student as well. Plucking his toast once more, Abraxas scoffed at the observation and felt a tinge of envy towards the solid boy that sat to his left, and took an unnecessary large bite out of the bread.
Willingly allowing his eyes to dawn the young girl, he immediately stopped chewing as the hat continued to inwardly bicker with the young, comatose-facial-expression looking girl. Her lips were slightly moving to respond to the Hat's intrusion into her mind, and watched as her eyes turning a shade deeper.
It was a hatstall. Six minutes and forty-two seconds.
"Ravenclaw!"
Abraxas shifted his gaze down rapidly to Tom's clenching hand as it flexed, his knuckles turning white, and unclenched as his eyes continued to follow the young girl towards the Blue & Silver adorned students as they roared with approval to their new first year.
"She your friend?" Abraxas asked after he swallowed his hearty chomp of bread, his eyes watching the back of the girl that now conversed with her fellow classmates. Tom turned his face towards Abraxas, a twisted well-perfected smirk plastering his lips, Abraxas felt an eerie shiver tumble down his spine as Tom just stared at Abraxas, although Tom broke the eye contact with staring at the appetizers placed in front of them on the table, "somewhat" was his response. Then, randomly Abraxas felt the air he was holding in seemingly waiting for a reply escape his nose.
Once the ceremony was over, and 13 more additional Slytherin's were included in their tiny circle of first years, a grand and lavish feast was summoned by Headmaster Dippet following a greeting to the first years, and with that, Abraxas was quick to take a slab of mashed potatoes onto his plate.
Aurora shamelessly and greedily claimed four legs of chicken as the girls surrounding her cringed visually at the seemingly beast of a girl, their plates showing more of the plate rather than food, Aurora dipped her chicken sheathed fork into her side of gravy and ate the food with the dignity she attained. The girls felt more at ease with her ladylike mannerism of devouring her food, though still disgusted at her amount, a blonde girl with her hair knotted together into a french braid smiled dazzlingly as her ocean eyes shimmered, Aurora blinked and felt a magnet attraction to how this girl so effortlessly was attractive. "Aurora, right?" she asked, her smile still smothering her face, Aurora felt the need to rub the girls teeth - they were perfect. "Ah, yes." she replied, her fork pushing around her chicken as she grinned at her, trying fruitlessly to remember the beaut's name, but was surprised as she leaned over the table and extended a hand, "Constance Brown" Aurora was starting to question her genuine smile, although pushing the lingering thoughts into the back of her mind, and labeled it was simplistic envy and banished the feeling from her core. The realization of this made Aurora remember the jealous feeling, and to never experience this again.
Constance returned to her meal satisfied with her introduction whilst a calm and expressionless girl whom held a book in her right palm as the cover was folded back settled once more into her seat, "washroom's a damned journey" she huffed causing the girl to Aurora's left to drop her spoon, "Jacqueline Prince" the girl scolded.
Aurora noticed the crooked smile that Jaqueline shot at the short,chestnut haired girl to her left, and remembered how red the blushing girls face was when she was getting placed into a house, "Valerie Noel" she murmured, and quickly, her short hair whipped around her head as she spun her head, "Aurora Clementine" she replied stupidly. They both continued to stare at each other uselessly as if there was a meaning behind their meeting, although Valerie was the first to break the stare as her frown cracked into a smile, and a soft chuckle escaped her lips, "you discovered Valerie's liking to playing pretend" Jacqueline muttered while she flipped a page in her book, Emma was the title.
Jacqueline was dainty, Aurora concluded, it was the way how she thought out briefly every action she performed, and the ever-calculating eyes she attained, it was a glossy grey, not like Tom's dark wondrous luster which one could stare endlessly into and still be stunned at their sparkle, no. Jaqueline's resembled a shiny pebble of stone. She was reserved, and that was quite a trait that Aurora was bedazzled by, there was a sense of mystery behind the young girl, and she easily held back whatever was inside her mind of hers.
Valerie was innocent. She was clueless and due to this and her shy demeanor she always sported a tinge of pink on her pale cheeks, she was the more playful and less serious of their tiny group. She had shoulder length mousy brown hair which contrasted greatly with her emerald eyes. Her skin was slightly tanned more so than the people around her and she carried a sense of a womanly atmosphere - she'd most likely be the first to wed out of all of them.
Aurora twirled a stray hair from her waist-length abundant mess of locks and briefly muffled a chuckle at these mere observations, she held no question as to why she was placed into Ravenclaw.
"Where do you come from, originally?" Constance asked, the silence obviously unsettling her, she blinked her eyes up at Aurora and quickly remained them onto her plate once more, "Ah, I was born in the South of France… Muggle Nice" she knitted her eyes together in a wicked splendor as her smile turned more crooked, "so you're muggle-born?" she questioned, "no need for racism, Constance" Valerie hummed gently, Constance only tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear and halfheartedly smiled, Aurora pressed her lips into a line, she felt the yearning to keep the bombshell assuming she was born from a muggle just to spite the racist comment, though the image of her father lazily preparing dinner with a flick of his wrist made her think otherwise, "pureblood" she replied bluntly, "You're accent is subtle" she heard Jacqueline add, another flick of her finger as she continued a page in Emma.
"Mothers British, moved to London when I was 2" she nonchalantly added, Constance's attitude completed its 360 and was now throwing her calm smiles, "I see".
Soon the feast was over, and the night sky above them faded with each growing moment, "first years with me" a Prefect said sternly to the end of the table, all 9 of them lifted from their seats and obediently tagged along behind the Prefects back, "stick together now, don't want you wandering off." The students watched as their surroundings consisted of wide hallways until the blonde-haired Prefect abruptly came to a halt, "this is the Grand Staircases, best watch your step. These stairs are bipolar" he explained solemnly, walking briskly up the steps, taking glances behind his back every 5 seconds to hastily headcount the small group of first years.
Aurora stared in awe at the portraits hanging lovingly on the walls, each of the characters ever so unique, her breath was hitched in her throat as she caught eyes of a young maiden smiling splendidly sitting at a desk, "well aren't you quite the sight!" she boomed, her voice echoing slightly, highly out of character seeing as how her body was tiny and frail, though her voice was large, Aurora stared blankly at the portrait, containing her abundant amount of astonishment that the portrait even looked at her, let alone speak to her.
"Me?" she whispered to the portrait, stopping her movements to stare at the German woman in the painting, "yes, yes! You're eyes. Its dawn in the left, and dusk in the right" she explained as she peering almost through the painting, Aurora smiled thoughtfully at the woman, slightly resting her fingertips upon her porcelain cheek, she nodded sharply at the woman, "my house is leaving me, see you!" she bid farewell and waved while sprinting up the stairs to the Prefect whom was already waiting for her, "Aurora, stay within the group" he scolded, which produced muffled chuckles within the first years.
Reaching the fifth floor, the Prefect turned into a corridor which led to a stunning spiral staircase. Each student took their time as they examined their surroundings once nearing the top of the staircase, some leaning over the ledge to watch the length to which they were arising, while others busied themselves with the moonlit sky through the aged windows, Aurora stared ahead whilst they neared the Ravenclaw Common room, and brashly stood to the Prefects back as he knocked on the exquisitely crafted Eagle knocker, and it simply came to life.
"Poor people are this, the rich need this - and if you eat it you die." the bird crooned, its wings flapping slightly as it cawed once done its sentence, "nothing" the Prefect replied, and then the door slowly opened to reveal the spacious room it sheathed.
"Dormitories are located behind the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, I trust you to be in bed by curfew. Your luggage is already brought up to your rooms" the Prefect explained solidly as he sat on a plush seat that was perched near a huge arch window that overlooked the landscape of Hogwarts.
Aurora was convinced that this tower held the most beautiful sights of the campus, as she walked broadly over to the elegant windows, she peered through the glass to don her attention on the water that glowed brilliantly in the night, casting a mirror effect upon the sky, Aurora smiled bitterly down at the lake and spun on her heel to the dormitory.
Upon entering, she was welcomed with a sight of her cat snuggling the pillow of a bed deepest into the room.
"Cow" she called its name as the cat ignorantly remained still, she bit her bottom lip at the disobedience of the animal and strode over to the bed.
Stripping her robes, she crawled into her thigh-length nightgown and decided to tie her hair up into a ponytail, she sighed as she broke the perfection of the bed and tucked herself comfortably into the blanket, and effortlessly fell into a slumber.