Riddle's Windowpane
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or storyline. All rights go to the brilliant mind of JK Rowling.
AN: Riddle's Windowpane is a short story I wrote for a writing contest that correlates to a one shot my friend and I co-wrote, called Tom Riddle's Daughters. It is currently uploaded to AW Science Geek, one of my amazing friend's accounts, so please check it out and read it first! It's about two badasses going all Inigo Montoya on Harry, and it's pretty funny (at least we think so!). This story will make a lot more sense if you read that one first! Enjoy!
As I sat in the corner, I decided to kill Harry Potter.
Aidra looked expectantly at me from her chair, the light from the fire in the fireplace dancing across one side of her cheek and making her dark eyes dance with little flames. The study walls were lined with volumes of leather-bound books, thousands of chapters containing the tricks and trades of the Dark Arts. Between us, Aidra and I had read them all and learned their secrets. I recalled the countless hours the two of us had spent in this room, surrounded by the four walls of seemingly infinite possibilities, pouring over inky words on old parchment.
Now, what had once been a safe haven from the world brought little comfort to me as I pondered the implications of Aidra's plan. It seemed so simple, so devious and bold, yet so fulfilling. I wasn't surprised; Aidra had always been the cunning one.
My twin sister hadn't taken her eyes off of me for a second. "Well?" she asked finally.
My eyes drifted to the far end of the study, where a break in the bookshelves revealed an old, warped window. As I watched, the rain beat down on the windowsill…
The rain beat down on the windowsill of the stone mansion. A little girl with beautiful long blond hair and big green eyes sat on the window seat, gazing out into the rain, her legs tucked up underneath her. Her reflection glowed in the window, but she paid it no attention. She was lost in the pitter-pattering of the rain on the glass, like little drums that kept uneven time, thinking.
A knock on her door announced a presence. The girl was unfazed as the door swung open, her eyes still trained on the window, as she already knew who it was.
Her sister climbed her way onto the windowsill and sat down beside her.
"Aresme? Mum wants us to practice our Locking Doors charm."
The blonde girl named Aresme raised her hand and gave it a mild flick. The door that her sister had left opened closed at the wave of her hand.
Her sister smiled, "Yeah, we mastered that months ago."
Aresme looked at her sister. Although they were twins, the two looked nothing alike. While Aresme had long blonde hair and green eyes, Aidra possessed beautiful dark brown hair and pretty brown eyes that she received as a combination of her mother and father. Both girls were extraordinarily intelligent for their five years.
Now Aresme turned and repositioned herself so that she was facing her sister. "Aidra, what's that?" she asked, nodding to the book next to Aidra's hand.
"The Book of Mischievous Charms" She read off the leather cover, "Stole it from the study." She grinned. "I was thinking we could learn a few and then try them on those boys down the street."
The little blonde girl gave a half-hearted smile and turned back to the window. She could feel her sister's eyes on her.
"Aidra?" the blonde girl whispered. She turned her head back around. "Do you think Daddy ever thinks about us?"
The room went silent except for the drumming of the rain on the windowpane.
Her sister sighed. "I don't know, Aresme," she answered in a soft voice.
Aresme looked out the window again. "It's just nice to think that he does once in a while," she murmured, half to herself.
Her sister remained silent, staring out the window too. Aresme wondered what her father was doing right now. Her mother always told them he was off gathering followers to fight a war, trying to rid the world it of its filth and restore it to its rightful hierarchy. "He is a powerful man," her mother would say, "Trying to do an important and righteous mission. He has no time for family."
Even though she was proud of her father for serving such a noble cause, she still wished he could be in her life more. From her sister's expression, she knew she wanted the same thing.
"Well," Aidra said, turning back to face her twin, "When Daddy does come back, we can show him all the awesome stuff we can do. He'll be proud, I know it." Her brown eyes lit up.
Aresme smiled at her sister, "Especially if we set the wardrobe on fire."
Aidra's grin widened, "Of course, sister dear, of course!"
The two twins sat grinning at each other mischievously.
A voice from downstairs called up, "Aidra! Aresme! Get down here now! We have to practice your charms!"
The two girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Coming!" They shouted together.
"Race you there!" Aresme said, hopping up and opening the door with a flick of her hand and racing out.
"Uh-rez-may!" Aidra drawled out her sister's name in annoyance as she got up and ran out the open door, closing it behind her as her sister had done before, with a flick of her hand.
As the two girls ran by, a piece of paper fluttered from Aresme's desk and found its way to the floor, drifting slowly downward, twirling in mid-air in graceful swoops.
The parchment was old, scribbled with the loopy writing of child, perhaps, or a messy adult
It was a letter.
The letter was addressed to Aresme and Aidra Riddle.
My mind wandered back to the dim lighting of the study and my green eyes found Aidra's once again. I took a deep breath, knowing what I was about to say would change my future- and the future of my slandered family name- forever. We would be brought out of the darkness of hiding and into the light of the eyes of many who had long since forgotten our once-feared name.
All the hatred for his name, the one who killed my father, boiled up to the surface at once. My tone was stoical as I said, with absolute certainty, "I want to kill Harry Potter."