Author's Note
This is my first complete fanfiction chapter.
I love Tom Riddle the character. I'm not sure how would I would make him sound like a psychopath and cynical like the way he should be but I'm still researching and learning. WIKI IT.
Timing of technologies is off. Don't mind it.
Fiction writing or writing in general has been my weakest skill. Constructive criticism is great, that is how I would improve. =D
Story: Red Stars
Chapter 1: Crashing the Party
Serah Lancaster tapped her pen restlessly as her biology teacher Mr. Akiyoshi gave another monotone lecture on the female abdomen for the fifth times. Yes. She knew that piercing above the belly button would cause irreparable nerve damage. She swore his eyes brows moves up and down twice whenever he mentions the word "uterus". It was indeed a safe hiding place for a zygote to develop into an infant before it "shoots" out in the real world. How pleasant.
The 1940's study abroad program to Japan was very new to the English Education System. This program was to increase public ties between Japan and England and it worked on certain levels. The younger generations of Japan were fascinated with the culture of the English and vice-versa for the English on Japan. The older traditional folks were naturally skeptical at the aliens.
Lancaster's step-father mentioned to her about the place where she was born. Serah wanted to learn about her origin culture and being one of the first groups to be part of the exchange program, she learned she is nothing but a foreigner. She neither speaks nor writes the Japanese language. She could blend in the crowd with her navy blue sailor uniform. Her long black hair that lie gently over her chest and straight cut bangs that covered her thin eyebrows, she looked like them. But once she opens that English tongue of hers, hell reign over.
She hated the program. She desperately wanted to go home but her step-father insisted that she completes it and persevere.
"There is nothing here for me to do," She sighed as she unshackling her bike from the thick chain.
Thank god the day was over and she could now go back to her student home. Serah dig into her pockets to find her keys to the lock chains. After she hastily checked every pocket, she gave up and took out her wand. She turned her head to check if there was any "muggles" present but the bike yard was empty.
"Alohomora," She thought to herself.
If there was an accomplishment she was ever proud of, beside her 5 ft mosaics, were nonverbal spells. Now all she needed was to learn how to use wandless magic, so she could leave her "single chop stick" home.
Serah pedaled down the paved road. The light breeze hit her hair as they waved like a ribbon and the sun beamed down on the road making the rocks shimmered. The leaves on the oak trees were plumped and green, a sign of youth and rigidity. The road home seem so distant but gratifying. It was a shame for such a beautiful day not to do anything. Serah had piles of Japanese poetry to read up and calligraphy to brush up on. Homework was always the bane to her fun life. A couple of more weeks of this hell, she would receive her award for her "accomplishment" and book a flight asap for Oxford, England.
As she rode on the single road, she pressed hard on her brakes.
A man in black robes stood at a distance. Serah peered hard and noticed he was wearing wizard robes. She raised one her eye brows in confusion.
"What he could be possibly doing here?" She thought.
She pedaled slowly toward the man and acknowledged he was a little pass mid-aged. She gave a quick glance at his appearance. He had specks of blonde hair in the bash of white and gray. His black robes were made with fine velvet and embedded with intricate designs. Serah knew what expensive wizard robes looked like and she was definitely looking at it. He was looking out to the grassy plains and then turned his head towards her. Serah was struck with his magnificent sapphire eyes. There was no doubt he was a wizard.
"Um sir, can I help you?" She asked with some courage but her voice was low.
"Ah, you speak English very well. How old are you?" He said lightly.
Serah was startled by his openness and question.
"17," She blinked a couple of time before she responded.
Rats, she should have made up an age. She'll make up her name if he asked.
"You speak so fluently! I'm quite amazed you're one of the few here to know English so well. It seems to me that you just came from school," He laughed lightly as he stroked his beard.
"Yes sir. I'm attending an exchange program here. My home is in London." She said.
He was a strange person for coming here and wearing clothing that would raises some questions from the locals. He looked as if he just came from a Broadway Show from Time Square.
"Sir, do you know what is a Wingardium Leviosa?" Serah wanted to test him, to make sure he wasn't some crazed cook who happened to take the wrong flight to Japan.
"Are you asking me if I am a wizard?" He asked as he folded his arms.
She didn't reply. Serah gripped hard on her bike handles. He had somewhat of a strange but light demeanor. The robe was a giveaway and the wand on the side of his belt was obvious. She focused on his wand and was in awe shock. That was no ordinary wand, it was the Elders Wand. The only person who currently posses it was- Gellert Grindelwald. Oh no, Serah thought, why haven't she spotted that sooner.
"Why are you here?" She said in a defensive tone.
"I'm here to bring you out of your misery," The man in black simply said.
With one hand, Serah took out her wand from her pouch that was attached to the side of her leg. She pointed it at him.
"I know who you are Gellert Grindelwald. You are the most wanted by the Ministry of Magic. Whatever you're actually here for, get out," Serah stood firmly.
He wasn't standing in the middle of the road just to embraced nature, he was purposely waiting for her.
"Don't you want to leave this dreaded place? Don't you want to be accepted for who you really are?" He pushed on.
"I'm happy living among the muggles," Serah said truthfully. She enjoyed the hard earning rewards and the normalcy, something the wizard world could never offer. "And I don't need you to take me anywhere. I want you to leave now." She snapped.
"I am not bringing you to an abominable place; I'm bringing you to a grand institution. You always wanted to at least visit it," His tone remained lighthearted, yet it gave Serah shivers.
"Hogwarts," She thought as she breathed in heavily when he took his wand and waved at her.
Tom Marvolo Riddle sat on the table as his date, Vanessa King, constantly wining for him to get up to dance. The Yule Ball was happening in the Hogwarts's ballroom and the only thing he couldn't stand beside Beauxbatons Academy of Magic girls hitting on him was a bitchy date.
"Oh Tom, this is the time of our 7th year. Let's dance, I love this song," The blonde date purred close to his ear and placed her hands on his shoulders.
He restrained himself from hexing her in public's eye but he managed to "politely" push her away from him. Tom only went out with her as a Yule Ball date because Slughorn asked him to. The King family was affluent and was well known for working in top positions in the Ministry of Magic. It wasn't a surprised for Tom when Slughorn asked Vanessa to join his club regardless how much she was a pure idiot.
The Yule Ball was at its' mid pace, students from the three magic academies were dancing in modest formality. The boy would gently lift, twirl and lead his female companion. All the girl had to do was to look elegant and noble.
"I'm exhausted from the planning of this event," Tom lied.
"Tommy! Please," She whined.
This made him wanted to gag.
"Abraxas could dance with you, he's free at the moment," He suggested.
"Well since you're tired, I'll just keep you company then," Vanessa said perkily.
"Perfect," He thought in disdain.
Tom hated the Yule Ball. Because he was headboy-he had headboy duties. He has to be present at every school event and show the good image of Hogwarts. An event at this scale, he had no time plan for his future to rule over the Wizardry World. The security had been amped up because of the presence of the other magic academies. He cramped majority of his free time and after school hours with meetings to plan this event.
From a view, he could watch over the student body, making sure Hogwarts students follow behavior protocols.
Suddenly Vanessa placed her head on his shoulder; such contact caused Tom to twitch and possibly possess urges to vomit his dinner out. He had strong incentives to place her designer dress on fire and addition to that tiny brain of hers. Tom knew she was only getting close to him for the sake of boosting her reputation and typical teenage hook up.
She wrapped his arm firmly as if they were a lovebird couple.
"Oh my gawd," Tom thought to himself as he turned his head to another direction to roll his eyes. "Restraint, restraint, restraint."
Vanessa was probably the luckiest girl in the eyes of other female student body. People who were dancing on the stage floor were whispering about them. It was nearly impossible to get close to Tom Riddle without him ever forming up an excuse or abruptly leaving the area. The event was a perfect moment to latch on to him. Tom gave a couple of glances for her to get off but she didn't respond to any of them. What a leech.
Tom's frustration grew but his face shown no sign of emotions. He waved his latched arm, signaling her to get off.
"Vanessa, I just recall I have some duties to take care of. Would you mind?" Tom said in his most polite voice but had a slight hint of annoyance.
She looked up with her factitious depressed look, blinked her long fake eye laces at him and pouted her mouth. This was probably second to the worst moment of his life when he found out his muggle father left him.
"But don't you have prefects handling your job? I don't want you to go," She said daintily.
Even a pathetic troll could see through her transparent actions. Tom didn't care for what consequences ahead of him. He was going to publically push her off, even if she smacks hard on the ground. He could always come up with reasonable explanations; a rat went between them or something. Tom could always charm his way out of trouble and with such reputation and trust formed between his professors, he could always leave with a clean slate.
Just when he was about to get up and shove the leech off him, a black hole appeared and was swirling above the tall ceiling ballroom. The students instantly stopped dancing and looked up. Some screamed and hurled away from the area where the black hole was hovering over. While others stared in awe, the professors and security guards were speechless but cautiously drew their wands out.
"What is that thing?" Slughorn shouted as he almost pour his own drink on himself.
Luckily Vanessa back away from Tom and ran with her other hysterical girlfriends. From a far, he watched observantly at the black phenomena. He was baffled at why it sudden appearance and who. He found it strangely amusing how this happened at this particular day, the Yule ball and who.
The black hole swirled with a tint color of fuchsia and small golden orbs were discharging from the center and dissolving in thin air. It was actually wondrous and mysterious phenomenon to the viewers. The entire ballroom that was occupied by the trio magic academy was silent but it was broken when a hand stretched throughout of the dark phenomena. It was a girl in a navy blue sailor uniform. But when the students believed she would smack on the ground which was calculated to be about a story high, she floated.
Her black hair was in a flowing motion as if she was underwater. She held on to her skirt to prevent it from rising up. Her face was emotionless and focused. Another object fell and it was a bike, but it too floated near the ground. Both landed gently on the dance floor.
The girl stood up and calmly dusted her navy blue uniform. She then looked around and was surprised to see so many dressed up people surrounding her. She came to a realization she had just crashed a party.
"I am SOOO sorry if I interrupted something," She said as she clasped her hands together and lightly bow.
The students were silent; they couldn't make out of what had just happened. A girl in uniform just fell from the mist of the ceiling and suggesting from her landing, she was a witch. There were whispering among the student who was confused about her presence.
"Is she supposed to be here?" Someone said whispered to their mates.
"She's a witch!"
"Is she a Beauxbatons student?"
"No way, I never seen her in our school,"
Serah looked around uneasily but was astounded by the fine attire everyone was in. She noticed some girls in rhinestone studded dresses, peacock feathered fabrics and fine animal furs. Judging by the vast population in formal wear, she interrupted a very important occasion. A wedding perhaps? But who would invite a shear amount of students to a reception?
A crowd of men in uniformed robes, guards, marched through the crowd. A man that followed behind them carried an unease expression; he was probably a person of high position.
Headmaster Dippet followed behind the group of security guards. He constantly kept wiping his sweat from his forehead. He never seen her before and he was definite that she was not a student of Hogwarts. With the uncertainty, mystery and unanswered questions sparking throughout the ballroom, she would be treated no different than an intruder.
Without a word from the guard, they grabbed both of her arms and roughly dragged her out of the ballroom. Serah didn't want to struggle against the arrest and looked like a fool in front of hundreds of students. She stared at the ground for a moment and then back at the crowd who were quietly watching her.
Serah attempted to stare behind for her bike, but one of the guard hooked on her left arm, elbowed her.
The blow on the side of her chest caused her to finch in pain.
"Ow, hey! My bike-" She was cut off by him.
"Remain silent unless you are permitted so," He stated loudly in an emotionless tone.
Serah was speechless and it had been a while since she felt a deep feeling of hopelessness and distress.
She was escorted to the Headmaster's Office. All the House Masters was present, along with the two headmasters from the other schools. Her first experience of Hogwarts would be the most unforgettable-interrogation.