Introduction
I watch with feigned interest as droplets of rain intricately make their way down my bedroom window. The streetlights illuminating my plain room in a brilliant and somewhat calming orange glow.
I lay there in my crumpled bed sheets staring up at the ceiling with tired green eyes. One hand resting gently on my stomach while the other is arched behind my head. A scrunched up copy of the Daily Prophet lying lifeless near my feet. The harrowing words of which I have studied over for countless hours tonight now seemingly tattooed across the inside of my skull.
THE DARK LORD RETURNS
A none existent voice whispers inside my head. Those words we have feared since he was deemed dead all those years ago. My family having more reason than most to be afraid when murmurs of his return have been mentioned. They have not been the most loyal of servants since his demise. By not searching for him, they failed in the worst of ways.
"Father?" I call out when the sound of our stairs creaking reaches my ears.
"Go back to sleep child, all is well," he assures from the other side of my door, the edge in his voice not going amiss by either of us. My father is many things under the mask he likes to wear, but underneath he is as much a child as I am.
I toss and turn for the remainder of the night. My childlike imagination running wild behind closed eyes. Images of the Dark Lords work playing out like a black and white film as the night grows ever more fearsome.
At some point I manage to fall into a deep, unwavering sleep that is menaced by faceless figures doing unspeakable acts. It is a terrifying nightmare, one I am certain everyone in the wizarding world is rightly consumed in at this precise moment in time.
The next morning the atmosphere around our table could be cut with a knife. My mother's usual bright and carefree face is now pale and drawn with worry. I watch with concern as she waves her wand aimlessly over the stove, her attention anywhere but the current task in hand.
My father rambling at the head of the table suddenly registers in my head and I quickly turn my attention toward him "-we can go today if you like?"
"Go where?" I ask having only caught the last few words.
"Diagon Alley to pick up your school things," he repeats, his brow furrowed in slight annoyance at my ignorance. My father has always been a man who believes in being the head of the house. A man with strict rules and a somewhat cold manner, but as the years have gone by and his dark brown hair begins to riddle itself with grey flecks he has mellowed out slightly.
"Sorry father," I say as his eyes bore into mine. The same shade of green as my own, but unlike mine his have seen things no man would ever wish to bare witness "that sounds like a good idea"
"What does?" my mother interjects a moment later. I watch in dismay as my father shakes his head and opens his mouth getting ready to fire. But before he can he is interrupted by the insistent rapping of an owls beak against the kitchen window.
As one our heads turn toward the light grey tawny staring back at us with its black beady eyes. My mother is the one brave enough to step forward and open the window, her hand trembling however as she unties the letter attached to its leg. Her eyes flicker towards my father before she breaks the seal and begins to read the contents.
"Annabelle?" my father urges, his voice nothing but a whisper across the eerily silent room.
A nervous trickle of words quickly spill from my mothers mouth a moment later, "we have been summoned," her grasp on the sheet of parchment now so tight that her knuckles are beginning to whiten painfully.
The sudden sound of my fathers chair scraping across the concrete floor breaks the stretch of silence that has descended upon us "Try not to worry," he reassures whilst prizing the parchment from my mothers grasp. He steps away a moment later with his eyes cast downward, re-reading the words my mother has just uttered seconds ago.
"Don't worry?" my mother suddenly shrills "the Dark Lord wishes to see us after all the years we spent hiding under the pretense of the Imperious Curse and you expect me not to worry?"
"We were not the only ones to turn and hide that night Annabelle. The Malfoy's did as much and he has forgiven them," he counters, his words coming out a little more clipped than he would have liked. With a huge sigh he lays the crumpled parchment down on the table and looks over at her imploringly.
"The Dark Lord does not know forgiveness William"
My hands are slick with sweat as I stare intently at the smallest of imperfections on what is otherwise a perfectly made ornate table. The tiny scratch has been my focus point since we arrived, and it is most likely the only thing that is stopping me from rising from my chair and fleeing this cold and unforgiving room.
We arrived only a short while ago and yet it almost seems like an eternity has passed. Having been one of the last of his many guests to arrive we had no other choice but to sit underneath what the Dark Lord deems his mantle piece for the evening.
The Dark Lord himself sits; like my father in his house, at the head of the table so as he can look over his subjects freely. I have only glanced upon his face once this night, and it is an image that I will never be able to forget.
His pale white skin illuminated by the roaring fire behind him, his snake-like features, slits for nostrils and eyes so violently red they send a shiver through your very soul. It was only one look, but it was a look into a kind of darkness I never want to see again.
The Dark Lord is currently in conversation with my professor of four years about none other than Clarke Griffin, the girl who defeated the Dark Lord when she was no more than a defenseless babe in her cot "I shall deal with the girl myself, there have been one too many mistakes where she is concerned"
"If that is your wish My Lord," Professor Snape replies obediently before falling silent. The room is now deadly quiet, the only sounds that can be heard are the crackling of fire burning brilliantly in the hearth and the hushed sound of whimpers coming from above me. I hoped beyond anything that they would just stop so as to not bring attention to the very person sat below them, but tonight was not a night where wishes come true it seems, because the figure above me comes to life.
"Do you recognize our guest, Severus?" The Dark Lord asks.
"Ah, yes I do as it happens," he replies as the woman begins to scream.
"And you Alexandria?" when he says my name I fight the disgusted shiver threatening to wrack my body. I nod my head jerkily, my eyes never moving from their spot on the table.
"Lexa…please…Severus," the woman begs above us, and at the sound of her trembling voice I clench my jaw tightly and try my best to block her out.
"Yes…you see our guest here is none other than Professor Burbage…she taught the children of witches and wizards all about Muggles," at the his words the Death Eaters around the table sneer whilst she continues to revolve.
"Severus please…please,"
"Silence," the Dark Lord hisses and the sound of her crying suddenly seizes "just last week she wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. She says that the dwindling of pure-bloods is a most desirable circumstance…she would have us mate with these Muggles," a nervous trickle of laughter sweeps the room at his words, but it dies down soon enough.
For the first time since sitting down I glance up at the woman I have known since I started school, and as she revolves back around to face me I notice the tears pouring from her frightened eyes which are now pleading with me, but I can do nothing more than to stare into them.
"Avada Kedavra"
The flash of green light illuminates the room and several Death Eaters, including myself leap back in our chairs as her body falls with a resounding crash, onto the table before me.
I stare dumbfounded at her lifeless body as my heart pounds erratically against my chest. It is the first time I have seen someone killed, and I fear after tonight it will not be my last.
"Dinner, Nagini," The Dark Lord purrs softly, and out of nowhere the huge snake begins to slither its way down the table towards her. Its jaws quickly closing around her wrist with a sickening crunch before dragging her body off the table and towards the corner of the room.
The atmosphere around the table has changed slightly now, and it is more than likely down to the horrifying sounds of Nagini digesting her latest meal that has everyone on edge, or maybe it is the Dark Lord who now moves amongst us menacingly.
"Why is it that the only ones around this table that look so displeased to be here are your family William?"
"My Lord?" my father questions shakily from beside me.
"After all this time, all this waiting, is my return, my rise to power not the very thing that you professed to desire for so many years?"
"It is what we desire the most my Lord,"
"How much do you desire it?" the Dark Lord questions and I watch out of the corner of my eye as my father's hands begin to shake uncontrollably.
"Above all else," he sounds out bravely.
"Then it is decided," he says to not just my father but also everyone around the table "Alexandria will be the one to infiltrate Hogwarts, and not only that, but she will be the one that brings an end to Dumbledore"
A/N - Had this idea stuck in my head for awhile so I figured why not write it down and see what happens. Let me know what you guys think.