Voldemort's only love
It's strange to think about Tom Riddle loving anyone. After everything he did it's understandably difficult to think that any one loved him in return.
Tom met Anna at the orphanage when he was eight. She was five when her parents died in a car crash and was six when she finally came to the orphanage. At first he couldn't be bothered with her. She was just another child in his personal hell.
He saw her play with the other kids and felt the familiar taste of contempt rise in his throat. She was just like the rest of them, he thought. He never knew what she was doing for him; he didn't know that when the other kids would talk about him and call him names she was silencing them. She was defending a boy she didn't know.
It was about a month after her arrival when they finally met. She was playing with the other children across the room while he was starring at the wall in sulking anger. Why was he never invited to play?
"hey," the voice came from behind him where the children were. At first he thought they were talking to each other but then it continued, "hey Tom!". He turned in confusion to see her stand up among them, looking at him.
She smiled when he looked at her, "Tom you have to clear the record for us"
He frowned looking at her closely. She was small in frame with a thick main of black curls cascading down her back. Her skin was pale like his but hers didn't have the same sickly green undertone that his did. Her's seem to glow; warmth under the snow. Her eyes where what held him though; an amazing light blue with what looked like purple fire wrapping around her pupil. They were amazing, hypnotizing eyes.
"what do you mean?" he asks standing up and facing her.
"they say you're evil" she said gesturing to the kids behind her. "I told them that you're not but they don't believe me still." he grew angry then. Not at her but at the kids who said those things. But then he pause in his rage; she didn't believe them, she didn't think he was evil.
Maybe she wasn't the same as them.
"why don't you believe them?" he asked her suddenly, "why don't you think I'm evil"
She smiled again, "you cant be evil when you're little, only-" she paused thinking "-only bad" she decided with a smile.
"isn't that the same thing?" he asked and she shook her head.
"adults can be evil" she said. "kids don't know any better that's why they are bad. You can be a bad boy without being evil Tom." no one ever believed in him like she did; no one has since.
They became great friends and he was almost happy for the first time in his life. But he started school at Hogwarts and the space between the friends started to wear on them. Tom found it difficult to write to Anna because he couldn't tell her about Hogwarts but he cherished her letters. She would babble on for pages about anything that came to her mind. At Christmas she sent him a decretive card with a picture of the two of them standing near a pine tree. His wizard friends saw the card and started to laugh "Tom and the Muggle! Tom and the Muggle!" to silence them he threw the card away and paralyzed them. After that he hid Anna's letters from the world. It was then that his embarrassment over his muggle friend was born and the seeds of evil were placed in his heart. The end of Anna was coming.
It started on the first day of his final year at Hogwarts when he said words that changed everything. He was walking briskly away from Anna who was giggling and taking note of every pair of shoes that passed them.
"keep up Anna," he hissed as he paused on the platform to wait for her. "you don't need to see every shoe that goes by"
"they interest me," she giggled again. "like you are interested in that stick of yours" he blushed at her joke and how she degraded his wand in front of a few passing wizards he recognized.
"please Anna," he hissed. "not today"
She laughed hugging his arm, "lighten up Tom, this is the last time you'll see me for a whole school year! It makes me sad to think about."
"you've survived in the past why would you be sad now?" he sneered and she rolled her eyes.
"because you're my best friend Tom, I miss you when you're gone" he wasn't paying attention anymore. All around him his wizard classmates were watching them. He could feel their eyes baring into his skull with burning contempt as he continued to mingle with the muggle.
"of course you will Anna, but I have to go now" he turned to leave and she stopped him.
"I want you to leave your school" she said it so suddenly and bluntly, she must have been thinking about it for a while.
It didn't change the amount of shock he felt though. "wh- what?"
"Ever since you started going there you've changed Tom" she said with a strangely strong voice. "You treat me like I'm dirt compared to you; like you're a god and I'm some unworthy mortal. I want my Tom back, I miss my friend. I hate watching you run off to board your train knowing that when you come back you'll be even farther from my reach"
He almost growled as more students passed them he knew that they could clearly see the slytherin emblem on his robes and they could clearly see Anna is all her muggle ordinariness.
"this is ridiculous" he said. "I don't have time for this right now Anna! I have to get to Hogwarts!"
She stopped him again, "please... Tom, don't go." he looked into those blue and purple eyes that have always been there for him and he didn't understand. Those eyes... Why did they have so much power over him in the past? They were muggle eyes, a disgrace to have in his presence.
"you know why I think I'm better than you Anna?" he asked in a oddly calm voice, "because I am better than you. I am amazing and you are ordinary. I am powerful and you are weak, why do you think I was pushing you away? I don't need you."
She didn't get angry with him. She didn't start to cry or scream, she only looked at him with disappointment before he turned and walked away from her.
She didn't stop him this time.
He regretted what he said at christmas when he didnt get her normal christmas letter. His owl came back empty handed when he told him to go look for her and get the letter. He was slightly confused, what was wrong? Was she ok? He didn't relies what he had done yet.
when he came back after the end of the year she was gone. Her room was empty and dust covered what was still there. On the book case, under a copy of a novel he'd seen her read a few times, was a small white seashell, the size of his thumb. He remembered when they found the tiny thing; it and a bigger one rolled onto the beach before her feet and she smiled as she gave him the bigger one.
"you and I match Tom" she giggled looking at Them in wonder. "don't you dare loose it! It's our special connection to each other!" he promised her he wouldn't lose it or throw it away and she promised him the same thing. But now However it apeared as if she left it behind when she left the orphanage; breaking their promise.
Suddenly throwing the shell against the wall he let out a howl of rage. The little shell shattered into dust and he stocked out of the house.
That stupid Muggle, she would pay for breaking their promise. Why did he even care that she left a stupid shell? She was just a muggle while he was a god!
That was the night he made his first horacrutz. He put his soul into a pearly white seashell that had been placed on a thin black string. He carried that piece of himself with him everywhere.
It was a few years latter when he found her again. Snape had told him about the prophecy and wormtail told him where to find the Potters. He was walking down the street dressed in black with his hood pulled up.
"you look like death" a voice behind him said and he turned slowly to see a woman with a bag of groceries walking towards him slowly. "has my old friend become death? Tom?" she walked into the light and he finally saw the purple and blue eyes and the warm glow behind the snow white skin.
"Anna" he breathed, lowering his hood. "it's been a long time"
"what have you done to yourself?" she asked taking in his new appearance, "oh, Tom!"
"don't concern yourself Anna," he hissed. "I am no longer that friend you knew"
She sighed, "you've finally done it haven't you tom? You're finally evil"
"I've always been evil Anna" he hissed. "you were just to naive to notice"
"hopeful" she corrected him. "I was hopeful that you being a bad little boy wasn't the start of an evil man." she spied something then that brought a small smile to her lips.
"you still have it" she said setting down her groceries and walking forward. She slowly raised her hands to pull out the porcelain white seashell that she found all those years ago. "i couldn't find mine after I moved out of the orphanage and when i called they told me they couldn't find it either. I was so sad to lose our connection Tom"
He sucked in a breath and took a step away from her. "I- I thought you left it there" he confessed. "I thought you were angry about what I said to you and that was your way of getting back at me"
She shook her head, "no, never! I knew that, even though you meant it at the time, you were still my friend; my best friend"
The cry of a baby caught his attention and he remembered why he was there. He sighed and pulled off his necklace, "take this Anna, keep it safe."
"what are you going to do Tom?" she asked taking the shell into her small hands.
He turned away from her and pulled up his hood, "I am going..." he started as she shifted nervously behind him. "...to do something evil." and then he drifted away from her, into the night.
sixteen years later Harry Potter was standing in his headmasters office. He was confused by what the old man had just said.
"say that again professor, I'm not sure I heard you right"
"we are going to learn about Toms' only love" Dumbledore said again.
"I hope you mean his love of death" Harry retorted.
"no" he laughed. "believe it or not Harry, Voldemort loved a woman and she loved him"
"how can anyone love him?" he demanded in disgust. "after everything he's done?"
"she loved him before all that Harry," the old man chuckled. "and she was gone by the time he turned truly evil"
"I thought the point of all this was to show me that he was always evil"
"oh no Harry just the opposite I want to show you that even Voldemort was once human" he went to the memories and pulled out a small bottle whose contents seemed to almost glow golden under the silver shell of the strand. He pulled out one of the many strands Harry now saw in the glass vile and placed it in the pensive. They fell into the memory and Harry recognized Voldemort immediately but there was someone with him. A little girl no more than ten with long black curls falling around her face. They were standing on a beach looking out at the ocean. Harry could even see the ghost of a smile on the young Tom's face.
"I missed this," she said to him, "while you were at school. I missed spending time with you"
"I missed you to Anna" he said softly looking sideways at her. "Hogwarts would be even greater if you were there with me"
"but it's a school for people like you Tom" she laughed. "you are so smart. I'll never be smart like you." she looked at him, "you like it there, don't you?"
He really smiled now, "it's like a home I never dreamed of, It's amazing Anna"
"I'm glad" she said, her blue and purple eyes lighting up at the delight on her friends face.
The memory ended and Harry was back in the dusty office. He looked at Dumbledore in confusion. "that was so... Normal" he said. "a normal conversation between normal kids"
"this is what I was trying to tell you Harry" he said looking back at the vile of memories. "Voldemort is truly evil but Tom... Tom was just a little boy. Anna put it in a way I very much agree with"
"and whats that?"
"children cant be evil" he smirked.
as Harry and Dumbledore continued to pick threw the many memories Anna had of the young dark wizard they saw her love for him growing; And they saw him push her away. Tom cared for Anna but he couldn't show it to her properly and Dumbledore believed that Tom wasn't quite sure what Anna was to him until it was to late.
He also believed that Anna was hiding something when he asked her about the young tom she knew. She was keeping one last secret for him.
When Dumbledore died and Harry started the search for the horacrutz thoughts of Anna danced around his head. He told Ron and hermione about her and they agreed that she was a good place to start. But things with the locket picked up and their search for her faded away.
They found her on Christmas eve in godrics hollow. They were searching for harry's parents in the grave yard when he stumbled across a lady placing flowers at a grave as he got closer he saw that it was his parents grave.
"um excuse me" he said stepping forward.
"yes?" her voice was smooth but tired.
"did you know them?" he asked and she stood slowly.
"I knew of them and their son" she said turning to look at him. "just like you know of me Mr. Potter" he gasped and took a step back. He was looking into blue and purple eyes; this was Anna.
"Harry?" hermione's voice called as she came around the corner and spotted the two locked in what appeared to be some sort of odd starring contest. "harry?" she said again, softly, and he jumped in shock.
"you were here the whole time" he said to Anna. "you've lived here the whole time"
"yes" she said looking off into the distance. "since the people who adopted me lived here, I never felt the need to leave"
"Harry?" Hermione's voice was shaking now as she backed away from the two. "Harry come here"
"what is it Hermione?" he asked turning to look at her. "this is her! The one we were looking for; it's Anna"
"you never said that she was a siren!" Hermione hissed and he paused in confusion.
"you can relax young one" Anna sighed, "I've never used my call on anyone. I am no harm to you or your friend"
"sirens lie" she said quickly. "they will do anything to get their prey"
Anna smiled, "you are very smart aren't you?" she chuckled.
"wait, you're a siren?" Harry asked with a frown.
"I'm only half" Anna said looking off into the distance. "how old do I look mr. Potter? Fifteen? Twenty? Sirens age very slowly compaired to humans Mr. Potter, I am sixty-five years old. I will live to be almost two hundred and fifty and then I will die alone because everyone I love and have loved will be gone. You are here to ask me to help you kill the man I have always loved and I will help you. I need to preserve what, if anything, is left of the child I knew."
Hermione took a step forward, "why did you love him? HOW did you love him?"
Anna sighed before looking up at the sky, "what you have to remember about me and Tom is that we were young; and as i told Dumbledore when he asked me the very same question; children can't be evil.
"mr. potter I will help you in every way that I can but I want you to take me with as you embark on your journey"
Harry looked from her to Hermione and back again, "you do relies that we will run into Him, and when we do we will kill him"
Anna nodded, "I've known for a long time now that you will kill him Harry, I just want to be there when you do"
They went forth to find the horacruxs and with help from Anna they found the cup in bellatrix's volt at greengots. After that they rushed to Hogwarts. Harry had a hunch that a horacrux was there. The moment they got there all hell broke loose. Harry was standing in the great hall dressed as one of the students, Snape was telling them that they would be severally punished for hiding him. Before Harry could step forward Anna did. She was also dressed as a student, a Slytherin to be exact.
"and you are?" he asked not recognizing her.
She held her chin high as she sucked in a breath. When she released it a sound flooded the hall. It was light, like a faint voice riding the wind, but it was the most powerful and beautiful voice Harry had heard. He saw Snape's face relax, he took a step forward as if pulled by an invisible string. He was muttering something that Harry couldn't quite make out but whatever it was, Snape clearly treasured it.
And then his face turned incredibly sad and he stopped moving. Anna stopped as well, her eyes wide and full of sadness for the man before her.
"what are you?" he hissed threw his teeth as he shook with anger and sorrow.
"that was a beautiful story Severus, I'm glad you shared it with me" Anna said with a small smile. "you've done so much in your life that you regret, and you missed your chance at love... Much like your master"
"what do you mean?" he hissed at her.
"do you know who I am?" she asked him, "does he ever talk about me?" Snape just continued to look at her for a moment before his eyes went wide and he took a step back.
"Anna?" he asked and she laughed once, a hard helpless sound. "but- what are you doing here? You're a muggle!"
"I am here to stop him Severus" she said in almost a pleading way. Like she was desperate for him to understand her. "I have to, I'm here with Harry to kill Voldemort" there was a gasp that ran threw the crowd as she spoke the name and Harry quickly walked out into isle.
"you seem to have a security problem headmaster, I'm afraid its quite extensive" just then the doors burst open and the order of phoenix walked in. Snape tried to curse Harry but MaGoneagul blocked it. They went back and forth a few times before Snape fled the castle.
"Harry!" Anna said running towards him. "harry he's coming you have to know that! Your time just ran out!"
"what did you do to him?" he asked her. "what did you do to Snape?"
"I used my call" she said. "I want him to tell Tom what I can do"
"but then he'll know you're not human!" Hermione said in confusion. "he'll think you tricked him"
"and he'll hate me for it" Anna nodded before cracking a small smile. "trust me Children, I know what I am doing. This plan has been forming for seventeen years, now is the time to act on it" Before they could question her she vanished into the crowd.
She was right however, their time was up. Voldemort and the death eaters arrived and he said that anyone who brought him Harry would be rewarded. While that was going on Anna was lowering herself into the chamber of secrets the sound of Tom's voice sent shivers down her spine but she pressed on. She needed the fang, it was the only way.
Voldemort and Harry rolled onto the ground and their wands went flying away from them . Anna in the cool calm way she walked stood above Voldemort's wand before slowly reached down to grab it. She picked it up and looked at it carefully before walking over to him. Tom watched her as she sat on her knees across from him and he searched her face for a reason why she was here, why after all this time she was still so young and vibrant with life.
"Tom" she said letting the wand slide threw her fingers and onto her lap. "Tom stop this, you can stop I know you can"
"I-I can't" he stammered. "Anna, wha- what are you?"
"that doesn't matter now Tom" she said cupping his cheek with her small hand. "you remember that last night? When you gave me this?" she pulled off the necklace that she has worn for seventeen years. "you said that you were going to do something evil and the you left to murder this boys family" she gestured to Harry who sat watching this interaction. He was in shock to see not Voldemort the evil leader of the death eaters, but Tom, the little kid from Anna's memories.
"I remember" Tom said slowly his eyes locked on hers.
"I said something then that is still true now" she said. "you are still my friend Tom"
"I know Anna" he said
"remember that as I do this" she said placing the shell on the ground. She pulled out the smooth white fang from her pocket and before he had time to react she stabbed their precious connection and it shattered.
"no!" Voldemort shouted taking the fang from her grasps. He sunk it deeply into the flesh before him and watched the light leave the eyes. The body fell back against the ground and a water fall of black laid across the face of the woman. The warmth that had been visible just below the surface of her skin faded until there was only the snow white layer.
"Anna!" Harry shouted grabbing his wand.
Voldemort's hand shot out and grabbed the elder wand. Their spells met in the middle but this time harry's spell over powered Voldemort's and the ever faithful killing curse rebounded.
As he died, Harry watched Voldemort dissolve into the young Tom Riddle who loved Anna the siren. Tom crawled over to her as he died and she smiled weakly.
"did you know that if you love and are loved by a siren you live forever?" she asked in a small voice. "But only if your soul is intact. I love you Tom..." her eyes rolled back and her head fell to the side. Anna was gone, Voldemort's only love was gone and he soon passed as well; letting the darkness have him