Part II: Ghost of Halloween Past
He had barely gotten back to sleep when he heard the clock chime. It was one in the morning. He wished he could AK that stupid clock so he could get some sleep and voiced this aloud.
"Myrtle was right, you really do have a nasty temper when you're woken up."
He jumped up as though electrocuted. Sitting in one of his custom made leather chairs was a girl reading a huge book. She looked about seventeen or so, with bushy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing Gryffindor house robes adorned with a Head Girl badge.
"Great, a Gryffindor," he muttered. As if it wasn't bad enough he was probably going to have huge bags under his eyes in the morning, he had to be sent a Gryffindor.
"Who are you?"
"I suppose I could say 'Who are you?' but that would be counterproductive wouldn't it?" she drawled, tucking her book away in her bookbag. "So let's just handle the situation with grace, hm? I'm the Ghost of Halloween Past." She stood up, smoothing her robes. "And I'm here to show you your life up to this point. Hence, the past bit."
She held out her hand.
"Now, if you'll just take my hand, we'll get started. And leave the wand, you won't need it."
He eyed her hand and gripped his wand tighter. "But if you're a ghost, how could I touch you?"
She smiled, wiggling her fingers. "Just take it."
Against his better judgment, he put his wand on his dresser and took her surprisingly warm hand.
Instantly, he felt the jerk behind his navel that usually signaled a Portkey.
They landed outside an orphanage, right at the front gate. Peering up, Voldemort could see that it said "Wool's Orphanage." With a jerk, he realized that was the orphanage he had lived at for all of his childhood and most of his Hogwarts years.
It was decorated with only a few pumpkins with lit candles in them at the doors, the only sign besides the almost leafless trees that it was Halloween. Voldemort remembered that Mrs. Cole only lit the candles in the pumpkins when the children that had managed to scrap together a costume were going out trick-or-treating.
He followed the Gryffindor as she walked through the gate and the door as if it were nothing but air. It was rather odd, stepping through a solid.
When they entered the orphanage, it was to a rambunctious crowd of children.
"Welcome to Halloween of '36," she said, speaking calmly, yet being heard over the din. "You were just two months shy of your tenth birthday, correct?"
"Yes," he said hesitantly.
"Do you remember it?"
His eyes flickered around the room. "I had been planning to go as the Tin Man that year. The Wizard of Oz had just been released and we had crowded around Amy Sutton, since she could read the best of us and had bought the book when we pooled all our resources. Even I had been curious and put in a bit to buy the book."
He looked around some more. "There I am right there."
She looked across the room and saw a young Tom Riddle sitting on the steps leading to the second story. His handsome face was stony, and he wasn't wearing his costume. One of the women trying to herd the children into a straight line noticed him and hesitantly approached him.
"Tommy?" she asked. "What's wrong? Why aren't you in costume?"
"It's gone," he said simply. "Someone took it."
The woman sighed. "Well, what are you going to do?"
The boy stood. "Back to my room, I guess. I can't go out trick-or-treating wearing my orphanage clothes."
As he went up the stairs, he glanced down at the children. One of them smirked back before filing out with the others. Soon, it was empty but for the displaced ghost and wizard.
"That was Billy Stubbs," Voldemort said. "I found out after Halloween was over that he had had others cause a distraction so that he could sneak into my room and steal my costume. When I demanded to know where it was, he laughed and said he had turned it into the metal plant and pocketed the money from it."
Voldemort grinned evilly. "I gave him a nice Christmas present that year. He woke up to find his rabbit dangling from the rafters. Scared him so bad he never messed with me again. As a matter of fact, nobody in the orphanage messed with me after that day."
He glanced at the Ghost. Her face was blank, except for her raised eyebrow.
"Ready to move on?" she said evenly, holding out her hand.
Voldemort shrugged and took her hand again.
When they landed again, the scene was much more enjoyable. They had just so happened to land in the middle of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It was quite humorous for the children to be running through Voldemort like he wasn't there. Here he was, the darkest wizard of all time, and children were running around, smiling, laughing and generally having a good time.
He looked up. Huge pumpkins were floating overhead and occasionally bats flittered across the ceiling. With a start, he realized he was standing behind himself seated at the Slytherin table.
"Hey, Riddle!"
Both Voldemort and Tom Riddle turned at the voice.
"Hello, Abraxas," said Riddle smoothly. "What can I do for you?"
Abraxas Malfoy smirked. "Rumors are going around that the Heir of Slytherin will attack for the first time tonight. What say you?"
Riddle pretended to ponder the question, then grinned back.
"Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Depends, I guess."
"On what?"
"Which poor innocent Mudblood do you think Slytherin would want wiped from his world most?"
The two teens glanced at the other tables. Then Malfoy pointed out one.
"That one."
Riddle raised an eyebrow. "As far as I know, the Weasleys are Purebloods. Why should I attack one? Granted, there are enough of them."
"No, not the Weasley, but he is courting a Muggleborn. Even Bloodtraitors should have their place in society, ensuring our survival. Pure blood is pure blood, after all. He should know better than that."
Riddle hmed. "We'll see."
The Great Hall suddenly faded out, the students and holiday decorations disappearing.
"And what did we learn from that?" said the Ghost, who had placed herself at the Ravenclaw table.
Voldemort whipped around. "That when you tell a basilisk to kill someone, it is to kill them in the hallways, not petrify both of them when it catches them two seconds away from having a full out bout of sex. The boy was standing behind her, unlatching his girlfriend's bra, when they both gazed into the mirror. It was funny when the parents came and found their children almost naked together. Even funnier when they were unpetrified and realized they had been caught."
Even to this day, this thought made him laugh. The Ghost frowned.
"Do you have any remorse about those two Halloweens?" she asked.
"Nope!"
She sighed. "Moving on, then."
And the two of them disappeared again.
When they reappeared, Voldemort was surprised to see they were still in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. And it was almost Halloween again, judging by the decorations.
"Oi, Evans!"
Voldemort winced. That tone could only mean one person…
"What?" snapped Lily Evans, snapping her book closed. It was a thick book on Charms that Voldemort remembered reading in Sixth Year when trying to find ways to live forever.
James Potter slid himself right next to her and drew her into a big hug. "Tomorrow's Halloween."
"Yeah, so?" she said, shoving his hands away.
"And tomorrow's also the Hogsmeade weekend," he hinted in an obvious way.
"For the millionth time, I am not going with you," she said, exasperated.
"Actually, Prongs, I think that was the two millionth time," said a cheerful voice.
Sirius Black plunked down on Evans's other side. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew sat across from them.
"Well, it's not like she's going with Snivilleus, are you?" sneered Black, his handsome face twisted in disgust.
Evans was quiet.
"Ooh, for once she doesn't jump to defend him!" said Potter. Black laughed, sounding like a dog barking. "Well, isn't that a nice change!"
Something seemed to break in Evans's face. She glanced over her shoulder at the Slytherin table. Even at this distance, Voldemort saw her make brief eye contact with Severus Snape. He remembered his promise to Snape to spare the woman, his only request for his few years of loyal servitude.
"Fine, Potter, I'll go, if it'll make you leave me alone."
Potter and Black froze. "You – you said yes?" said Potter hesitantly.
Her eyes hardened as she turned her back on the only one who had truly understood her since she was a small girl.
"Nothing would give me more pleasure."
Snape bolted from the Slytherin table, clutching his heavy Potions text to his chest.
The scene dissolved, leaving them in empty black space, lit only by the Ghost's ethereal glow.
"Ah, the perils of teenage youth," said the Ghost. "You are, of course, wondering why that particular scene was shown when the other two were of your Halloweens?"
He wasn't about to say that that was exactly what he had been thinking.
"It's very simple: You intend on murdering at least one of those people tomorrow night and ruining the lives of the others. On a Halloween."
"That was five years ago, according to your timeline. The next day, you massacred a bunch of Muggles, including Lily Evans's parents. It was Potter, not Snape, who comforted her when she received the news. This was the final straw between Lily and Severus Snape, the latter of which joined your Death Eaters as soon as he could after that.
"Her older sister was granted control of the properties until Lily graduated from Hogwarts. Of course, being as she married the month after she graduated and left the Muggle World to fight against you and your Death Eaters, Petunia got everything. Made a nice dowry when she married that fat pig of a husband of hers, but I shall say no more on that subject. That will be for the other two Ghosts to show you."
She turned and started walking away, taking the light with her.
"Wait!" shouted Voldemort. "Where are you going?"
She didn't reply and soon the darkness consumed him.
Finally getting your attention? Then review!