My name is Hadrian Aeetes Pheidippides. I am dead.
That wasn't quite the right way to start, was it? I suppose I shall have to begin at the beginning. These things are so tiresome.
I was born 21 April 1987 to Maryam and Christos Pheidippides. My father was the Greek ambassador to Morocco at the time, and he met Mama in the Moroccan Ministry. She was his secretary for a year and a half, and then they were married. Then I was born. When I was only ten months old, I had a sister. Nicola. Little Niki. But I'll get to her later.
When I was only three or four, Mama started to teach me the Dark Arts. You see, my mother was a Death Eater, one of the most loyal to Voldemort. I learned a great deal from her. She tried to teach some of her skills to Niki, but Niki was not interested. Niki never valued the purity of blood the way Mama and I did. She used to talk to our Muggle neighbors, didn't even mind when Mama slapped her or chastised her for doing it.
When I was six years old, some time after Voldemort's fall, Mama was caught. She had participated in the torture of a Mudblood Auror, and one of the other Death Eaters turned her in. I was not, of course, allowed to watch the trial, but I could read the newspaper accounts, and I could see what it was doing to Papa. The day before she was sentenced, Mama asked to see me. I was taken to the Ministry of Magic, and she spoke to me. She soothed me, calmed me, and told me this: "Hadrian, when I was a child I was told that my mother's husband, Jacques Augier, was my father, but this was not true. My mother was married to a man named Daoud al-Sudairy before she married Jacques Augier, and it was that man who was my father. Now, Hadrian, what I am about to tell you is very important. You must never tell it to your father, do you understand?" When I told her I did, she continued. "The al-Sudairy family is descended from Salazar Slytherin himself, and from this family Lord Voldemort had his relationship to the great Serpent-Tongue. Now, he thinks that he is the only descendant of Salazar Slytherin still living, but he is wrong. You and I and Niki are all Slytherin's descendants, and this fact could cost you children your lives. You must protect your sister, Hadrian, and yourself."
The next day, Mama was sent to Azkaban. She died there, and I only saw her once again. She was thin and pale, and slightly mad from fear of the Dementors, but she reminded me of my promise.
I learned far more about the Dark Arts than Mother had ever known or ever taught me. I tried to share my knowledge with Niki, but she wasn't interested.
One morning in October of 2000, Papa told us that he had accepted a position at the Greek Embassy in England. We would, he said, be moving in December. Niki was very upset. She loved our house, even our poltergeist, Achmed.
Mama had the gift of the Sight, and I had a little of it. I could see that times would be hard ahead, and I knew what I had to do. There was a book, written by Salazar Slytherin himself, which detailed how to trap a piece of one's soul in a book. I decided to do this. I contained a piece of my soul in an old diary, and put it in with my things. In order to contain a piece of my soul, however, I needed a blood sacrifice. I killed Niki's cat. It hardly felt the pain. I used the Killing Curse.
In December, we did move to England, and Papa sent us on the train to Hogwarts. While we were on the train, I explained to Niki about our relationship to Slytherin. She was very frightened, and on that train ride, I began to see my sister in an entirely new light. She is very beautiful, my sister. She is short, but slender, and her hair is long and lustrous. Her eyes are clear and dark and long-lashed, and her face is delicate and lovely. I love her very much, and she, for a time, loved me.
When we arrived at Hogwarts, we were immediately sorted into Slytherin. I was quite pleased, Niki less so. Before we went to bed, she told me that she could speak to snakes. That was the ancient skill of Salazar Slytherin, and I told her as much. She was quite frightened, though why I do not know.
The next morning, Niki left me a note saying she had met some other students in our year and giving me directions. I didn't like the idea of my beautiful little sister going off alone, so I followed her. There was a spell on the castle, and all the students were asleep except for a few. I followed her into the room where they were waiting, trying to decipher the answer to a riddle. It was so obvious, I couldn't believe none of them understood it. So, while those stupid children were trying to find the answer, I slipped out the door unnoticed.
I made my way into the forest. It was so quiet. I knew there was something wrong. I had stayed in with the students long enough to hear that a powerful Dark wizard, Quetzalcoatl, was hidden in the forest, and I had it in mind to find him myself. If he was indeed powerful, I would ask him to allow me to join him, if not, I could easily have defeated him.
Soon, however, I could hear the other students approaching. They made so much noise! I could move quietly, thanks to my spells, but I could hear them coming several minutes in advance. I waited, hiding in the bushes, listening. I heard them enter a clearing where a man stood, heard him talk to them … and then I saw a girl step forward. She had all the signs of acting under the Imperius curse. She spoke, and then she saw me. She dragged me forward with a spell, and then she killed me.
It was agony beyond anything I had ever felt. I was separated from my body, floating up into the air … but then I was in the diary. I was so relieved that I had trusted my Sight and prepared myself a hiding place. Then, all I had to do was wait for someone to open the diary.
I waited and waited. Finally, the chance I was waiting for came. Niki, my sweet little Niki, was writing in the diary. She wrote how unhappy she was that I was dead, and I wrote back to her. I gained her trust, and she wrote of many things. How Rita Skeeter wrote an article about her, claiming she had put a love charm on another student, a Welsh boy named Dylan. How Dylan later asked her to the Valentine's Day Feast.
When she wrote about Dylan … that hurt. I could tell she loved him, in a way she had never loved me, though I loved her. I love her, still, but she has forgotten me. She gave her love willingly to him, instead of to me. I, who truly loved her, who was of her own blood and knew her secrets, just as she knew mine … And over me she chose this Mudblood? This Mudblood who cannot even do magic? A half-witted Taffy, a Muggle? That was when my love for her began to turn to hate. And so, I formed my plan.
What I wanted was threefold. I wanted to revenge myself on Dylan for stealing my sister's love, I wanted to destroy Niki if she no longer loved me, and I wanted a body. And so, when a girl stole the diary, I was very pleased. You see, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. And such was my luck that the girl who stole the diary was the daughter of the Mudblood Auror Mama killed. I found I could control her, and I set my plan into motion. First, I had the girl steal Dylan's knife. He kept it in his trunk, along with several other knickknacks; a rugby ball and the like.
Then, I waited for a time. When the time came, and Niki told Dylan the diary was missing, I made her be cruel to him. It gave me great satisfaction, though it was hard to do. The other girl was far easier to control, for Niki has a strong will.
I made Niki insult Dylan's magical ability, which was what he was most ashamed of, and with good reason. He could not cast even the simplest of spells. Niki ran off, and I had the Concinni girl follow her. She was sitting alone in a window, and I knew what I had to do.
It was strange to be in a girl's body. She was not as strong as I had been in life, but her strength was sufficient for the purpose.
I could see Niki sitting there. She was crying, and the sound of it tore at my heart. She was crying for Dylan, for her Mudblood, shedding tears she had never shed for me. She loved him. I could see it. I wanted to make her see how much I loved her, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything. Finally, I raised my hands, and closed them around her neck. That beautiful neck, with skin as smooth as silk … and I squeezed. I raised the knife in my hand, and I stabbed her in the side, and she crumpled, blood getting everywhere. I managed to keep the Concinni girl's robes out of it. I took a little of her blood, then I dropped the knife, Dylan's knife, and fled.
I knew little of what happened over the next few days, save that Niki had not died. She could not quite bring herself to believe that Dylan had tried to kill her, but I believe I was able to convince her of the lie that I would have her believe. She still loved him, though, and that stung. Even if she believed him guilty of her attempted murder, she loved him. And so, I knew that I had to truly destroy his love for her. The mere fact that she believed him guilty was not enough. But I knew how to do what I had to.