Sorry these Chapters are short, I'm new at this. Keep with me and I promise they'll get longer. ^.^ Read and Review please. -Noah
Disclaimer: These Characters, minus Alex, do not belong to me. JK is their homegirl and all names are copyrighted by her.
Now.
"Fuck."
It was all I could seem to repeat.
How was I to know that it would get this far?
How was I to know that the Dark Lord would ask this of me?
How was I to know I'd fall in love with her?
All these questions flew through my mind as I ran across the grounds of Hogwarts. They would find me soon enough, but first I had to let her know. I had to tell her how much I loved her, and that I meant it. I had to tell her that it wasn't ALL a lie.
I can hear voices behind me, quickly becoming louder. They were catching up. But I was close. So close I could see her standing by the lake in our usual meeting spot, her back turned to me. I feel a hex hit me, then another. I am strong, but not strong enough for much more. As I begin to black out, I stumble and trip. I fall to the ground and quickly begin my descent into unconciousness. "Hermione...Hermione...Her-" I feel a sharp pain as someone kicks me in the side of the head.
"That should do it," I hear Draco Malfoy mumble to himself and the other death eaters, "Remember, we can't hurt him. He IS the Dark Lord's son."
And then all was black.
The Beginning.
They tell me it was destiny that the Dark Lord fell on that day.
They tell me it was destiny that Lucius Malfoy found me in the wreckage of that orphanage, the same age as the fated Boy Who Lived.
They tell me I was destined for greatness.
My name is Alexander Marvolo Riddle.
I hate my middle name, but I've heard that it's a name carried by great wizards in my family. Great pure-blooded wizards. I don't honestly know if I am a pure-blood or a half-blood or even muggle-born. I don't know who my parents are, and I've been told to not question it. To the best of everyone else's knowledge, I am the son of the Dark Lord himself. The very flesh and blood of the most powerful wizard of all time. I was raised by the Malfoy family, a quiet secret that was not disclosed to anybody outside of the Death Eater circle, until I turned 11. While I stayed at the Malfoy Manor, I was instilled with the finest behavioral teaching pure-bloods had to offer. Naturally, I hated all muggle-borns, I knew most spells and magic, I got basically anything I wanted when I wanted it, and I was dead set on being a Slytherin when I was finally old enough to go to Hogwarts.
The day Draco got his acceptance letter, he ran about the Manor with a sense of pride. I sat by the door the entire day, impatiently awaiting my own letter. When it did not come, Lucius feared the worst. A Death Eater meeting was held that night to debate what to do. After several hours of Draco and I sitting just outside of the door, desperately trying to hear what would become of me, the door was opened.
"Pure-blood's do not eavesdrop, boys." Lucius mumbled, his eyes piercing through the both of us, "But we need you to come inside Alexander. Draco, go inform your mother that you will need new robes for school." Draco's eyes screamed protests as he stood there, but he was not stupid, and soon turned towards the stairs to his mother's room. "See you later, Alex." Draco whispered as he began his ascent. I was left alone to face a room full of Death Eaters, and yet strangely I was not nervous. Even the best of wizards quaked in their boots whenever they were to face the Dark Lord's servants, but I knew that I was to be their master, so I stood unafraid before them. Most of them smiled warmly at me, as I had spent time with all of them growing up, honing my wizarding skills and learning the ways of my father. Lucius motioned for all to sit, and I found myself at the head of the table, facing the group as a whole.
"Alexander," Lucius rumbled, finally breaking the silence. Not many of the other Death Eaters ever talked in these meetings, as Lucius was himself a close friend of the Dark Lord. "We fear that you may be an unkown entity in the magical world, known only in this household and to these people. We fear you are too unknown to even be accepted into the school. Even too unknown to be on record with the Ministry." I glanced down at the table. Did this mean I wasn't going to go to school?
"Severus has proposed a solution of sorts to this problem, however. And though I am reluctant to agree, it seems to be a reasonable and intelligent solution." Lucius drawled on, meeting the eyes of the Hogwarts professor that I adored.
Severus had been a close guardian to me ever since I was a small child, and I had always trusted him. Severus was my godfather, and it was his word that was always taken as law when it came to my well being. "Well, what is it then?" I asked, both curious and impatient with the group. "We think that you should be found." Found? What did that mean? I kept my mouth closed, but frowned as I attempted to decypher my godfather's plan. "What he means to say," Bellatrix Lestrange chimed in, "Is that you will have to be cast away from the life you know. Like your father himself, you will have to be found by someone who can give you access to the school. Then you will have to live without the close connections of the Death Eaters. I know this is hard, love, but you will have to befriend Harry Potter." I glanced up immediately at the name, protests already at the tip of my tongue. Bellatrix cringed, ready for the scolding I was surely going to give her. She acted like a mother to me, and was especially sweet to me at all times. Severus liked to call her "the biggest suck-up the world has ever seen", and I never took Bella's, as my father called her, kindness to heart.
But before I could even begin to speak, Severus cut in. "I know this is difficult for you to understand Alex, but it is the only way we can get you in secretly. You are your father's greatest weapon, and in order for your father to return you must face the challenges given to you and bear with us. You will be of great use in the future, but until then you must live among the enemy." I met Severus's eyes, pleading with him with my gaze. "I will be there to help you if you are ever in any danger." I glanced back down, tears of anger stinging my eyes. I nodded once, accepting my place as I had been taught to do. "So, how do we do this?" I asked curtly, my hands clenching into fists as I tried to calm myself. Lucius once again took the floor. "We will dirty you up and send you, apparently bewildered but unharmed, to the house of one of Dumbledore's allys. Which one has not yet been determined. You will be marked with the dark mark, so you will have to be kept. They will have no reason to suspect that you are anything other than a scared little boy, unharmed but permanantly damaged by a Death Eater attack. You will rehearse a story, one that answers where you are from and who you are. You will be closely watched by us at all times, and you will never be in any danger, I assure you." I nodded, immediately understanding the enormous task ahead of me but knowing the importance of my success."We have many things to discuss now Alexander, you may go to bed." I stood up from the table, and with one last look, stormed out of the room.
That night I did not sleep, thoughts of the future and what was in store kept me wide awake.
The next day at breakfast, Draco questioned me on the events.
I told him everything, as he was my best mate. "It's not bloody fair," Draco said, his head dropping. "We were supposed to be best mates all through school. We were supposed to be in Slytherin together." I nodded and reassured him that I'd see him there, even if I had to act like a stranger to him, and even his enemy if needed.
That afternoon instead of practicing my Quidditch with Draco, I began my lessons with Severus. He was a patient and kind tutor, and taught me how to mentally block myself from spells. He taught me how to resist truth serums. He taught me the basics of Parseltounge, an ability I had apparently inherited from my father, althought no one really knew how I had obtained this gift. I was matured in those weeks well beyond 11 years of life. I learned to make quick decisions that would keep my cover from being blown, I was given knowledge of Hogwarts and it's secret passages. I studied day and night until I collapsed from exhaustion.
Over the next few weeks, I was required to spend my afternoons preparing mentally and physically for what was in store for me. Soon I was ready. I was stronger than any 11 year old should be. I was mentally blocking spells even Severus could not block. My ablilities were uncannily good, supposedly a mark of my father and my great destiny. My mind and body were at their peak. I was 11 years old, and I was the weapon of the Dark Lord that no one suspected. It was decided that I would be found by Professor Mcgonagall, as she was close to Dumbledore and head of the Gryffindor house.
Ten weeks after that night at the Malfoy Manor, I stood in front of Mcgonagall's house, beaten and tattered, the Dark Mark burning into my forearm.
It was now or never.
With a deep breath, I stumbled towards the front door.