Here's the sequel to the Desicion. You don't have to read it to understand. To Lady Jam, here's a cookie for guessing right. Sorry you were too late. To Siren of the Sands, hope the OC was to your liking! Now, hope you all enjoy!
It was a warm Saturday morning. The sun was shining and a cool wind blew across the castle grounds. The day found various groups of students lazing about seemingly without a care in the world. Homework and studying were the last things on the students' minds. For now, the most important thing on everyone's minds was enjoying the sun. Except for one young man, although he had an outward appearance of being calm, inside his mind was racing, trying to find a solution to his problems.
This young boy was the current resident of Slytherin, future Head Boy of Hogwarts and a genius in his own right. His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. Unlike the rest of the students, he did not seem to be enjoying the day; instead, his attention was focused in another direction.
He had managed to wonder to a secluded part of the castle grounds. It was shaded by the shadow of the castle and was devoid of any students, who preferred basking in the sun than hiding in the shade of the castle. Suddenly, an unsettling feeling came over him and he paused. Looking around, he saw nothing amiss, the voices of the other children could still be heard and the scenery peaceful. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving.
He turned around quickly hoping to catch whatever it was by surprise. There was nothing there. Confused and a little wary, he stayed that way before turning back. To his surprise, he was faced with a wooden gate. Over it, he could see the top of a building, but nothing else could be seen.
Shocked, and a tiny bit curious, he reached out to touch the gate. Before his hand could make contact with the wood, a strange sort of power started pulling at him. The more he resisted, the harder it pulled. In his panic, he forgot about his wand, and his magic. The gates opened, but there was no one on the other side.
Whatever it was kept pulling him through the front garden and up the steps. Once again, the door of the house opened with no visible help. He was pushed inside and the door slammed close behind him. Two female children suddenly appeared before him.
"Welcome!" they both chimed in unison.
They each grabbed one of his hands and dragged him even deeper into the house. Despite the outer appearance, the inside of the house was larger than it seemed from outside. However, it barely took a minute before they reached a door.
The two girls slid the door open for him before skipping away merrily. He walked in and immediately he saw a young, black haired man lounging on a couch. Beside him, there was another man sipping away at what looked to be alcohol of some kind.
"Ah, greetings, good sir. How has your day been? The weather has been very pleasant lately no?"
"How did I get here? I am quite sure that I was on school grounds a few moments ago ... I know that there aren't any strange buildings occupied by people like you there."
"You are a wizard are you not? Figure it out yourself." The man said an amused smirk on his face. "Now, enough with the pleasantries. Do you have a wish?"
"Excuse me? Do I have a what? Who are you anyway?"
The man sighed.
"If you must know, my name is Watanuki; I am the owner of this shop. I sell wishes."
"What? Wishes? Hah! Wishes can't be sold! That's impossible."
"And yet here you stand, a man who can do magic." He said lightly
Tom stayed silent, a bit disgruntled and wary of the strange man. The whole time, the other dark-haired man kept pouring and drinking, just staring at him. This only served to disgruntle him further, the close scrutiny of both the men was making Tom worried. He did have a wish, and it was one he was unsure he would be able to accomplish.
"Come now, what can you lose by telling me? As far as you know, I don't exist, who can I tell if I do learn of your wish?" He asked soothingly.
Tom growled with frustration.
"Fine, I don't think anyone would believe you anyway, except for maybe that annoying professor. I want to become immortal. The things I have planned will take too long otherwise. And what's the point of all that work if you can't enjoy it?" He asked smirking.
"Hmm, you are a troublesome man aren't you? Alright," he sighed "unfortunately, I cannot give you immortality, fulfilling that wish would cause you your life which would go against what you asked for, but all those who enter this shop shall have their wish granted one way or another. However, what I can do is provide you with the path to near immortality." He said lifting one eyebrow.
"What can I lose right? Very well, that's good enough ... for now."
The man, Watanuki, smiled at Tom. Seemingly releasing a large amount of power. Tom narrowed his eyes at the man. How had he managed to hide such a formidable amount of power this whole time, Tom wondered. At that moment, he had a strong foreboding feeling, his instincts screaming at him that this man was not someone to be trifled with.
"Wise choice." He said turning to the other man "Doumeki, go to the store room, there you will find a book bring it here."
Doumeki left the room briefly before returning carrying a large and dusty tome. He handed it to Watanuki and the man blew the dust away revealing the title of the book.
"In here," he said to Tom "you will find the knowledge you are searching for. Through it, you will be able to extend your life even in the event of death. However, there is one condition to me handing this over to you, and a price of course."
"What? A price?"
"Of course, nothing on this earth comes without a price. Now, the condition: You must not allow anyone else to know of the contents of this book, once you are done with, walk to the edge of the forest, there you will find a tree stump. Leave it there. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes, and the price?"
"Ah, the price, I will require a piece of your soul."
"What? A piece of my soul?"
"Were you not willing to sell your soul for this piece of magic? Don't worry, it'll just be a small piece, you won't even miss it." Watanuki said smiling at Tom.
After thinking deeply about his predicament, Tom eventually came to a decision.
"I accept your conditions and your price."
"Good, good, now close your eyes. Tonight, reach under your pillow, you will find the book there, for now, you need to return."
The next thing he knew, Tom was back on school grounds exactly where he thought he was before he entered the house. He quickly looked around, but the house was nowhere in sight. Wondering if he was beginning to lose his mind, he was ashamed to say that he might have gotten a bit twitchy. He was pulled out of his thoughts when a familiar voice called his name.
"There you are! We've been searching for you everywhere. Come on in, it looks like a storm's coming in, we need everyone safe and in the castle."
The girl, Ariana Makara, looked dishevelled, her long black hair ruffled by the strong wind and her grey eyes wide open in worry. It was then that he noticed that the noise from before had disappeared and the castle grounds looked abandoned. The sky was quickly darkening and he could smell the rain.
"Makara."
"Yes?"
"Was I there the whole time, I mean, before you called me I was there the whole time right? Nothing out of the ordinary could be seen? No strange houses, nothing like that?"
"Umm, no you were just standing there the whole time. In fact, you had a funny look on your face. What's wrong, were you daydreaming again?" Her face had morphed from worry to mischief as she peered at him from the corner of her eyes. "Starting to hallucinate Tom? Who knew, Tom 'the Great' Marvolo Riddle, hallucinating in the middle of school grounds. What did you see? Rainbows and ponies?"
The walk back to the castle was filled with a sullen silence from Tom and laughter from Ariana. Needless to say, by the next morning, nearly everyone in Slytherin had heard of the incident and, while they may have still shown a united front to the rest of the school, were quite willing to tease him mercilessly for his slip-up.
However, none of this had any effect on Tom, for you see, that night, as he laid his head upon his pillow, he felt something hard under it. Slipping his hand under his pillow, he grasped the object and pulled. It was the book that he had seen earlier in the day in the hands of that strange man. This proved to him the authenticity of an event which he had thought to be a mere figment of his imagination.
Now, Tom thought to himself, all he had left to do was to find a way to check that the contents of the book were true. The only people he thought would have the needed knowledge were the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore and perhaps Professor Slughorn. He knew that his best chance would be with Slughorn.
So he started plotting and thus, the path to the future had been opened.
Somewhere far away, in what was probably another time, a man held up a vial. In it a swirling green smoke could be seen unfurling its green edges. Watanuki smiled.
"What a beautiful colour for one doomed to such a horrible fate."
Don't be afraid to alert me to any mistakes, this fic was not beta'd.
