Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my laptop and a few ideas that tend to swirl in my head. Everything else belongs to the wonderful woman known as JKR.

Author's Note: Hopefully Voldemort isn't too out of character for you.


Chapter One.

She knew she should have eaten that bag of candy before she left. If she had know things would have ended up this way she would have even brought it along with her. The day had started out like any other day: running from store to store, pockets filled with various food items that she was not privy to on a normal day. She had been lucky enough to grab a bad of sweets before one of the employees caught her. In the middle of the musings she looked around her, once again taking in the particulars of the cell. The bars reached the ceiling and looked sturdy enough even though over half of them seemed to be rusted over. The ground was slightly damp, with what she wasn't sure though water would be preferable. The chains that bound her were heavy and bit into her wrists, but that was part of their job so she wasn't entirely surprised. Although there were many other cells around her she was curious as to why it was relatively quiet with only the occasional whimper reaching her ears. There was no sunlight in this place and she found that she missed it.

April had watched a program on the television once about kidnappers and their victims. Nothing like this was on the show, but it did say that victims had to keep her mind alert and that if someone tried to suffocate her by putting a hand over her nose and mouth she should turn her head so they would lose their grip. She wasn't sure if that would work but it was worth a try. April rattled the chains slightly; there really wasn't much else for her to do in this cell besides go to the bathroom in the corner and pick at the questionable food they had given her earlier. It looked a bit like moldy bread but it was far too hard to be so. She wondered about the possibility of escaping. Looking at the chains again she pulled against them and did not feel any weakness in the make. Sighing she lay on her back, facing the cracked ceiling and the few cobwebs.

It was probably day three or so since she had been here, but she had no real way of telling besides that they had given her food three times. She had to admit the people that help her captive looked a bit odd. They all had dark cloaks but besides that they all looked a bit different. One had fairly long platinum blonde hair and seemed to always sneer at her, one of those aristocratic-I-think-I'm-better-that-you types. He had on pretty fancy shoes too. Another one had dark greasy looking hair and black eyes that seem to look through her instead of at her. He had a funny looking nose but he didn't seem like a completely terrible person, he just seemed to give off that mysterious, intimidating air. He had looked at her with a sense of what she would call pity. The last person she had seemed a bit pathetic in her opinion. He had on ragged clothes and his hair was balding. Truthfully, he looked more like a rodent than a person but she had decided to keep that to herself. He had a frightened look about him that made her wonder what exactly he was afraid of.

Slowly, the occupants of the cells near her had been taken away, pleading and screaming for release but she never knew what happened to them. Sometimes she would hear sounds from above her that could only result from a large number of people, but she could not hear much besides that. A few times she had woken up to the most disturbing shrieking she had ever heard and it made her somewhat afraid to sleep. As the hours passed her mind was filled with thoughts of torture and various way a person could die, but thinking back to the three men who had visited her she wondered if her purpose was for something more perverted. She looked down at her eighteen year old body and wondered if they thought her that attractive. Her hair was dark and straight, her skin pale, but her chest was average in her opinion. Movement from down the hall caught her attention and she watched as a crazed looking woman looking from cell to cell. April thought that she was probably very beautiful at one time but at the moment, she just seemed a bit loony. Her eyes landed on her and a sadistic smile graced her lips and April wondered if Alice felt this way when the Cheshire Cat looked at her.

"Such a lucky girl to have the Dark Lord grace her with his presence." Her cell was opened and she was harshly brought to her feet and pushed towards a set of stairs which she vaguely remembered coming down. She could feel something poking her in the back, a stick maybe? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to have a gun? As she walked down the hallways that seemed to make up the place she had been taken to she found that a lot of things seemed to defy what she knew. Portraits on the walls moved and talked as if they were real people and she would give each of them curious glance which some would return with a nasty comment or a rude gesture. People seemed to always wear cloaks here, always black but everyone seemed to carry around sticks which she found very curious. A few she had passed had white skull looking masks which she wondered about for a long time. Surely, Halloween was still a few weeks away according to the last time she had checked.

They stopped in front of a large, mahogany door which had a few strange symbols carved into the wood but she didn't have much time to look at them because the woman had pushed her through, closing it behind her with a loud click. April wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do at this point so she opted for observing her surroundings. The room was furnished well, a large ornate four poster bed with white sheets and dark burgundy comforter was around forty-five degrees to her right. Off to her left was a sitting area with two comfortable looking armchairs set facing each other while a fire roared to their left, illuminating the rug beneath them. Behind the bed was a large bay window and she could see the full moon along with what looked to be a large property of land. Along the far wall were shelves upon shelves of books, most with strange titles and names that were unfamiliar to her. Furrowing her brow she turned to find a figure a few centimeters from her face. Taking a few steps back she took in his face and her eyes widened at the serpentine features.

"Excuse me Sir, I didn't see you there." She apologized but she couldn't help but be captivated by the color of his eyes. She had never seen contacts so bright red. The figure said nothing but its eyes studied her with a curiosity that made her feel slightly uneasy.

"I'm not quite sure why I'm here. I haven't any money and I'm an orphan so you won't be able to get any ransom, though I'm not really sure if that is exactly what you want." The figure had been slowly walking around her and she stilled when she heard it take a long sniff of her hair. Why she had no clue, she hadn't washed it in days. It couldn't smell all that wonderful.

"Interesting." The voice was deeper than she had expected but his presence had gone from behind her only to move towards one of the chairs. "Would you like to have a seat?" It was awfully polite she thought.

"I wouldn't want to ruin your nice chair, I seem to be quite dirty at the moment." A second later he had waved a hand over her and she had an odd tingling sensation on her skin and she looked down to see that she was clean. Confused she looked at him.

"In your present state I'm sure my chair will be quite alright." He motioned to her again and she took the seat with a thank you. He looked at her for the longest time, a finger moving along his bottom lip as if he were in thought. April wasn't sure what was supposed to happen next.

"You are quite an interesting person Miss Thornwood. I must admit I have not encountered a mind such as yours in quite a while." His eyes seemed somewhat amused.

"Excuse me, Sir, but I'm not quite sure what you mean or how you know my name." April was wondering if this man-creature had some sort of special powers if such things existed.

"Do you believe in magic Miss Thornwood?" His question caught her slightly off guard.

"Magic? As in wands and spells and potions and such?"

"Precisely that." April thought for a moment, such things had never existed where she was but she didn't know what happened throughout the world.

"I suppose such a thing is possible. I mean, Merlin was thought to have existed didn't he?" Yes, Merlin seemed like a good example. Surely, such a thing could not be made up.

"He did exist. He was quite a powerful wizard in his time." He pulled out what looked to April to be a white stick. "This Miss Thornwood is a wand. Thirteen inches, yew, phoenix feather core. We wizards use such things to perform magic." She eyed the stick.

"Can you do anything with that?" His eyes glinted dangerously.

"Almost." April knew that this was a bad situation to be in.

"So, you could potentially kill me with that wand?" He chuckled darkly.

"Not potentially Miss Thornwood, I plan on doing so eventually." April let out a breath before smiling, an act that apparently confused the creature before her.

"You are quite the child." April just continued smiling at the situation she was in. "I cant seem to find why you are so amused. I believe I just told you that I would kill you and yet you smile as if I hadn't."

"Sorry, Sir, it's just that I would rather die by that wand in this wonderful looking room than on the streets back home, or that cell I was in now that I'm thinking about it. At least here I have something interesting to look at, no offense, Sir." Lord Voldemort looked more keenly at the girl. Her mind was quite an intriguing thing, she was clever for her age and looked at things either logically or in a completely different view from most people. If only she had not been a Muggle, then maybe magic would have filled that curiosity she had for life.

"You are not scared by my appearance?" She thought for a moment, taking him in again.

"Not really, Sir. You surprised me, yes, but I can't say that I am afraid. Maybe I don't know that I should be? I'm sure you appearance would make more of an impact if I had magic like you did." Lord Voldemort nodded at her answer. When she put it that way it did make sense. His form would be considered hideous to common people he would agree, therefore they would be afraid because he were different, but he also had to acknowledge that they knew not of the significance of this form. Instead of seeing the power and magic involved to change himself like this they would see only ugliness.

"You mentioned that you would rather die here than on the streets back home, would you care to elaborate?" April figured that since she was going to die soon she might as well talk to her soon to be murderer a bit.

"Well it was just mom and me for a while. I have no idea who my dad is, but I think it's okay that I don't know. When I was about seven, mom brought me to a park and never really came back. I have no idea what happened to her or where she went, I've always just concluded that she abandoned me. I've been living on the streets of London since then. I've never went to a home but I figured that I wouldn't like it if I ever did."

"A young woman like yourself shouldn't be living on the streets. It's a dangerous place." Lord Voldemort's smile was feral.

"I suppose so since I ended up here. But, that's okay. My life til now hasn't been so bad." Lord Voldemort really could not figure out this girl.

"Death does not frighten you child?"

"Should it?"

"It frightens most people?"

"Does it frighten you?" The response took the Dark Lord by surprise.

"Perhaps it does." April looked at him curiously.

"Even though you have magic?"

"Well, currently I am working on a plan for immortality with the help of magic. But given the circumstances I have had to push back my research."

"Why?

"I am known as Lord Voldemort in the magical world and my plan was to rid the Earth of all Muggles and Muggle borns so that only those with magic would have the right to live, superior beings if you will. Muggles are those who do not have an ounce of magic in their blood, you for example. Muggle borns are witches and wizards born to Muggle parents but have somehow acquired magical abilities. More and more of them are being introduced to magical society, but not many see the danger."

"You don't want magic to become discovered. I understand." Voldemort had to slightly praise the girl for her intelligence. "People would want it no matter what. It would result in war throughout the world. But even if you get rid of all the Muggles won't there be wizards who don't think you are doing the right thing?"

"There are always those who take different views. Currently the side of Light had been fighting my forces and have put their hopes on a boy who is slightly younger than you are whose name is Harry Potter. Our battle had been prophesized since before his birth." April nodded.

"So, even wizards fight? I suppose that makes sense since you aren't really all that different from the rest of us. Though, I'd imagine wizard fighting contains more finesse than fighting with guns or weapons of that nature."

"Yes, I would agree. While magic can be dangerous and deadly, it carries with it a beauty that most people fail to see." Lord Voldemort had not planned on talking with this girl for so long, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him which could be a very dangerous. April wondered as to why she felt more and more at ease talking with this man who was obviously very dangerous even to his own people. In the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder if this is what it was like talking to a father figure. Having conversations by the fire in such a comfortable manner.

"Can magic bring people back from the dead?" Lord Voldemort looked at her with that curious stare that she was becoming accustomed to.

"Although magic can prolong life and take it, bringing people back directly from death is still an area that has not been tampered with. Though, magic can put a stopper to the effects of dying and there are things in the magical world that have properties that can keep a man on the brink of death if only to prevent him dying until further help can be attained the idea of bringing people directly back from the dead is still an unknown as far as I am concerned." April nodded.

"So there are things that even magic cannot do?" Magic was such an interesting concept and April could not help but wonder more and more about it. Voldemort nodded. He looked at the time and felt slightly off put that it had gotten so late so fast.

"I'm afraid my dear that your time is up." April nodded before sighing. "I appreciated the conversation, it was refreshing."

"I must say that I've never had such a social interaction as this one. It was quite an experience."

"I'm sure it has been." Voldemort raised his wand to her eye level.

"May I ask your name? Surely you weren't given the name Lord Voldemort." Voldemort looked at her for a moment before deciding.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Thomas." She smiled, it seemed like a good name for a father figure. "My name is April, but you probably already knew that. It was nice meeting you." She smiled again. Voldemort looked at the strange child a long while before repositioning his hand so that the curse would be aimed at her heart. For some reason he felt that it was the least he could do.

"Avada Kada— " He was interrupted as Snape burst through the door looking disheveled. He looked somewhat surprised to find April still alive but quickly recovered.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion my Lord, but Potter and his team seem to have infiltrated your wards. They are currently fighting in the dining hall." Voldemort cursed in parseltongue before lowering his wand.

"It seems that your life has been prolonged Miss Thornwood." With that he quickly exited the room but not before telling Severus to lock Miss Thornwood back in the dungeons on his way to the dining hall. April stood there unsure of what to do. She had escaped death but a fight was going on. Severus took hold of her arm and quickly pulled her along with him. But instead of going back to the dungeons he pulled out something from his pocket and thrust it into her hand.

"This is called a portkey." She looked at the small ring with confusion, she was sure it wasn't a portkey. "I've modified it so that if you twist the stone and say where you wish to go you will be transported there and away from here. Consider yourself very lucky Miss Thornwood." They were running now but for some reason April didn't want to leave.

"Why are you helping me?" Severus looked at her and wondered as to why the Dark Lord had kept her alive for so long.

"Because Miss Thornwood, I am a spy for the other side and I suggest you take my advice and get yourself out of here before you get caught in the crossfire." They reached what she assumed to be the dining hall because that was where various people were fighting. The man next to her had disappeared and she stood unsure of what her next actions were. In front of her people were dying either from injury or curses. The room seemed to consist of different colors of light which she assumed to be different spells. Thomas had been right, magic did have a certain beauty to it. She was brought out of her thoughts when a purple spell whizzed past her ear. She looked at the ring and came to a quick decision which was mostly selfish on her part. She placed the ring on her right ring finger before running out into the middle of the battlefield, eyes searching for one person in particular.