Chapter 3-
The Hogwarts Express came to a stop and all the children began bustling out the doors, hugging friends goodbye and rushing to families for hellos. Silence grabbed her trunk and hurried towards the platform exit before stepping through it. Onward she went, out onto the streets, greeted by the warm evening sun. She searched for a cab. Her muggle family never came to greet her because moving 6 children was too much of a hassle, or so she was told. She hailed down a cab, placed her baggage in the trunk and climbed into the back seat, behind the driver.
"134, Yorkshire Lane, on the outskirts of London," she addressed to the cab driver. She caught a glimpse of his piercing black eyes as he adjusted the rear-view mirror. His grubby hand was encased in a glove, cut off at the fingers to allow his dirt laced stubs to poke through. He moved it from the mirror to the seat opposite him, using it as an anchor as he swirled back and looked intently into her eyes, chewing gum with his mouth wide open.
She stared back at him, unsure of what it was he was searching for. Could he somehow sense that she was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's descendant? Or perhaps he had seen her picture in the papers. Whatever the reason for the interrogation he gave with his eyes, she half expected him to kick her out of cab at any moment. No, surely she was being silly. Cab drivers most certainly were jobs left to muggles.
The cab driver turned back 'round and put the car into gear, pulling out onto the road. Silence looked back at the entrance to the train station and longed for the few short months to be over with, when she would be returning once again for her sixth year at Hogwarts.
The drive back to 134, Yorkshire Lane was about an hour. Silence leaned her head against the back of the seat, wondering what sort of chores the muggle family had waiting for her when she arrived home. She then closed her eyes, looking at the back of her eyelids, thinking on the news that Dumbledore had announced to the school on the last day of school.
A seventh year boy from HufflePuff had been murdered during the Triwizard Tournament. Cedric Diggory; a very handsome boy who she, too, had found herself gazing at when she walked past him in the halls. His murderer was an accomplice of the Dark Lord, so told by Harry Potter, who had witnessed his death. Dumbledore had explained to the students that Voldemort had returned and was now alive and well at this very moment.
What did this now mean for the wizarding world? What did this now mean for Silence? She thought back to the first day she had arrived at Hogwarts. As her name was called for her turn under the sorting hat, whispers had broken out among the students.
"Riddle, Silence?" Professor McGonagall had called out. Silence looked around baffled. 'Was there another girl named Silence here?' she thought.
No one stepped forward and then the old witch, dressed in fine robes, a tall black hat placed atop her head, found Silence, as she stood towards the front of the crowd. "Well aren't you going to come forward, Miss Riddle?"
She looked around for a second, to be sure that the teacher had, in fact, been talking to her, before she stepped forward and sat on the stool. Dumbledore's glasses flashed against the moon light shining in from the tall windows as he watched Silence approach the stool. Professor McGonagall had no objections to her appearance and she breathed out in relief.
The whispers grew louder among the crowd and she quickly began to grow hot again. No one had made such a fuss over the other students, why now where they all talking to each other so hushed like? Had word of her being a "freak" reached out this far? She couldn't have been -that- big of a deal.
Suddenly, the school children disappeared as the sorting hat was placed on her head and slid down to the bridge of her nose. The sorting hat was quiet and still for a moment, before it turned slightly on her head. It appeared to be thinking long and hard about something, when it finally spoke "How very strange. It appears as if you have two souls, two hearts nestled within your being. One of clear darkness, one of the darkest I've seen in all my years. The other, much less tainted, strong and stubborn, and a burning desire to find what is important in life and fight for it.
"You have brains, but cunning isn't one of your strong suits. I'd much like to place you in Slytherin, but I'm torn between that and Gryffindor. Something deep in your heart says this is where you belong, but the over-powering darkness calls out to me and demands to be placed in Slytherin." The sorting hat paused and continued to ponder what truths had been found in the depths of Silence's mind.
"If I'm to have any say," Silence began, "in what house I am to go into, might I suggest choosing the path that will cause you less regret? You seem to want to place me in Slytherin, but the side that tells you otherwise makes you second guess that decision. If it were me, and I was making the decision, I would choose the path that would keep me from second guessing myself. Though one choice may seem simple and obvious to make, usually, it's the hardest paths that are the right ones."
From behind her, Dumbledore stifled a smile and gave a tiny nod in approval of what she had stated. Professor McGonagall had stared with a tad bit of shock on her face and Professor Snape was running his finger along his lips, contemplating what she had said and what it meant for the decision being made.
"A very bright mind indeed," the sorting hat had resumed in speech. "Wisdom beyond your years. It is always the path that is hardest which is the path that is meant to be walked upon, for without hardships we can never grow as a being. For this, I place you in the house of Gryffindor."
The whispering grew louder, as Professor McGonagall removed the hat from Silence's head. A tall boy dressed in robes laced with red and gold got to his feet. "She's He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's daughter! She doesn't belong in the house of Gryffindor. She'll disgrace us all and everything we stand for! She belongs in the house of Slytherin." He pointed over to the table farthest from his own, where students dressed in robes with green and silver embellishments sat.
Some of the Gryffindors who sat around him nodded their head in approval and whispers continued among them. Dumbledore got to his feet and placed his hands upon the table in front of him. "I do believe we've taken long enough in the sorting of just one student. If you will please take your seat, Weasley. Riddle, please join the rest of the Gryffindors at the respective table."
Charlie Weasley sat back down while Silence got to her feet and quickly made her way to the dining table. She sat down and pulled her arms in close to her, trying to avoid people's stares. Once again, people stared at her with disgust and she wanted to force their eyes to look upon something else.
'She's He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's daughter!' The words rang in her ears. In all the years she was alive, not one person had said a single word to her about this. Not even Professor Snape, who had stopped by her muggle house regularly to give her magic lessons and sometimes to admonish her with gifts of which to make potions with or books about wizard fairy tales or history, which she enjoyed very much.
This meant that the Malfoys were never really her parents to begin with. No wonder they didn't come to many objections when they decided for her to live with muggles. The only objection they had come to had been of what the Dark Lord would have thought. It started to make sense to her now; why all the stares and looks of hatred. Realization had begun to sink in and she now understood what she truly was.
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Nearly six years had passed since that day and it still played through her mind vividly. That day had altered her life tremendously. That day, she found out why she had been shunned from her fellow witches and wizards. She found out why the mothers at the playground had ushered their children away quickly. And she found out why the Malfoys had forced her to leave her home to live with muggles who didn't understand her.
She had now completed her fifth year at Hogwarts and the Dark Lord had returned. She thought her OWL tests had been the worst of her school year, but she was very wrong. Fear had been stricken into her heart the moment she realized her real father had returned. She had walked her path to her own wishes for nearly all her life and she thought for sure Voldemort would try to change that now.
Silence opened her eyes and stared out the cab window. It was now pitch black outside and pouring rain was encompassing the car. She peeled her head away from the side of the cab and looked around at the other windows.
"Where are we?" Silence said to the cab driver. "What time is it? We should have been to Yorkshire Lane by now! Where are you taking me?"
The cab pulled up into a familiar driveway. Gravel sounded under the tires and tall shrubs loomed ominously over the grounds. A large house came into view up ahead and the car came to a stop at the end of the drive.
The cab driver got out and pulled open the door behind his. Silence gapped up at the house she hadn't seen in so long. The Malfoy estate; just the same as she had remembered it. It seemed smaller somehow; perhaps it had just appeared larger, as she was much smaller at the time.
She stepped out of the cab and shifted to the side, standing in front of the warm tire. She pressed her calves against it, taking in it's warmth, a small haven in the chilling rain. The driver stepped forward and peered around at her.
"Come."
Silence stepped forward, stopping yet again for just a quick glimpse of the tall building. She wasn't sure if she dared go inside; her fate was unclear. However, deep inside herself, Silence understood what was happening before her. Her legs stayed planted were she was. She wasn't sure of what to expect. Was she to see the Dark Lord again? Was she to lay her eyes upon her biological father?
There was no sense in trying to pull away from this fate. But why would she want to? Perhaps this man held answers for her; answers to questions she wasn't quite sure of how to say. She stepped forward and followed the driver up onto the porch. The front door opened and she was lead into a hallway, brightly lit by chandeliers lined with candles, swinging from the ceiling.
A tall figure dressed in a pure black robe and a hood pulled over his head approached the driver. "Have you brought the girl?"
"Yes," he glanced over at Silence, who still stood next to the entrance way. "Now where's my reward?" He held out his hand to the hooded man as 100 galleons were dropped into his hand.
The driver then stepped away and proceeded to exit the door. Silence stared at him, moving forward a bit to clear the opening door. She watched as he left, the door shutting behind him.
"It's so good to see you, my Lady." Silence turned 'round and spotted the hooded man bowing before her. "Please, this way, my Lady." He extended his hand to a doorway at the end of the hall and Silence slowly stepped forward.
"My Lady?" she whispered under her breath.
As she walked, she glanced into the sitting room, of which everything look nearly the same. She brushed her hand against a vase full of flowers and the small desk on which it stood. She thought back upon all the times in which she had snuck pieces of candy out of the drawer. She opened it once again to see if there still remained any, but she was disappointed to see nothing but a notepad and a quill.
The Death Eater had moved ahead of her and now stood at the end of the hall with his hand on a doorknob that led down into the basement. He cleared his throat in a manner that suggested he wished her to hurry with her business. She looked around at him and quickly shut the drawer. As she walked toward the basement door, a picture caught the corner of her eye.
Standing before her was a miniature sized version of herself, taken when she was just five years old. She was dressed in a frilly dress, the same one she had worn on her fifth birthday. One of her front teeth was missing as she grinned widely at the camera. It was a shocking sight to see that her picture had been kept, even though she herself had severed ties with the Malfoys during holiday of her first year at Hogwarts. But there she was, waving to the camera, stuck forever in the time of that picture.
She quickly hurried forward, her eyes still fixed on the photograph. She nearly ran into the man, but caught herself inches from his chest. He turned and proceeded down the staircase. She walked behind him, down the winding stairwell. Even now, this place scared her. She used to play down here with Draco, but after a time in which he had hid behind a keg of wine, pretending to be a ghost, she had run screaming from the place and hadn't returned since.
As she reached the bottom of the steps, she was unable to remember anything of the place really. Her memory was fuzzy at that point, she was surprised she'd remember the assorted candy that was kept in the hallway desk above her.
The Death Eater walked to the far end of the basement and opened a door to a small room, sitting off to the side of it. "She's here, my Lord," he said as he gave a deep bow.
Silence grew closer to the door, stopping at the entrance. Inside, the walls were lined with Death Eaters, all dressed in the same black, hooded robes as the man bowing next to her. There was a lone chair in the middle of the room, across from it, a wide oak desk and a swiveling chair, currently faced with it's back to the door.
A woman dressed in a fancy suede black dress, her hair pulled back into a taut bun, approached her from her side. She smiled warmly at her.
"My word, Silence, you're soaked to the bone." Narcissa waved her wand at Silence and a warmness encompassed her as every inch of her clothes dried. "Please, come in and have a seat." She ushered her into the room and Silence saw that just next to the open door stood a tall man with long, flowing white hair, dressed in a jet black suit, his black gloved hand resting upon a newly polished cane. Next to him, a tall boy with short white hair stood, dressed in a similar black suit, his hands crossed in front of him. Lucius and Draco Malfoy.
She took a seat in the chair presented to her, her heart beating slightly faster.
"My dear, Silence," came a chilling voice. "How long it has been since we last saw each other." The chair on the opposite side of the desk, swiveled back 'round. Sitting in it was a pale skinned man, long, boney fingers held pressed together in front of his face. His nose didn't exist, Instead, there were two slits which allowed for breathing. His eyes were blood red, the pupils also just slits which suggested something snake-like about him.
"Over fifteen years since we last saw each other. You were just a baby then. Barely came up to my knee. I trust that you are in good health."
He paused and waited for Silence to speak, but she said nothing and instead continued to stare at the man before her. Her mouth hung open slightly, shock filling her every pore. There he sat, right in front of her. The man who had murdered countless wizards and muggles alike in the name of purifying the human race and he addressed her with formalities.
"Lucius has taken the liberty," he continued when she did not speak, "of filling me in on your endeavors. He has informed me that he sent you to live with muggles in your fifth year of life and that you were placed in the house of Gryffindor upon attending Hogwarts." He paused for a moment. A slight static filled Silence's head and a stab of anger filled her. It quickly dissipated and Voldemort continued.
"If it had been up to me, you never would have had to live with second-class creatures such as muggles. But you needn't worry about that any longer. From now on, you will be staying with me. And beginning the training you should have started from the moment you could walk."
"Please, my Lord! As I stated to you earlier we tried to train her, to train her to take your place and become who she was always destined to be. We wanted for her to come live with us again during the holidays and in the summer after her first year at Hogwarts, but she refused us!" He clicked his cane on the ground with a look of fury on his face.
Voldemort raised his wand to Lucius and he flew backwards through the door and into the opposite end of the basement wall. Narcissa hurried to his side and Draco stared on through the doorway, horror showing in his face.
Voldemort's gaze did not falter from Silence's face and he continued to stare for a few moments. "Why was it that you refused them, Silence? What could you possible have gained from continuing to live with muggles?"
Silence continued to remain quiet for a few moments. She wasn't sure if she was really allowed to speak in the presence of this man, after all, look where it had gotten Lucius. But Voldemort's staring eyes urged her to speak and she finally found her tongue again.
"They're not my parents. The moment they saw their raising me as a threat, they shipped me off to live with people I'd never even met. They banished me. Whatever their reasons for making that request, weather out of guilt or what have you, their intents were to use me. I choose not to associate myself with people of that nature."
Silence felt her chest tighten all the while of saying this, but also relieved that she was finally able to tell the Malfoys what she really felt towards them. She heard them resume their position at the wall behind her and knew they were now staring at her with anger lacing their eyes. Narcissa most likely holding in tears at the words she'd heard, but Silence didn't care. It was a small justice she'd finally given to herself and the Malfoys deserved to feel whatever discomfort, pain or anger they did.
Silence stared at her father's red eyes. It was slightly chilling to see his face as it was; it didn't look very human. But, in the depths of the unending sea of blood red that shone there, she found hope. Finally, she was allotted the place in society she always knew she deserved.
No matter where she went, the glances from people she got always angered her. Whether it was fear, disgust, or hate, she had grown quite tired for it all. And now stood before her the time in which that would stop. People wouldn't dare look at her in such a way if the Dark Lord was ruler over them all. She would have power over them, the power they had all frequently sought to use so carelessly on her. Perhaps, she could finally find vindication.
A/N: I'm not 100 percent happy with how everything turned out in this chapter. I didn't realize that "plot-holes" (as my friend told me) would come up. It caused me to have to think long and hard on how I was going to set things up. I had to alter a lot of things with this chapter more-so than with the previous one, but I didn't want to fuss with it any longer because I was afraid I might wreak it in the process. There were two instances, however, that while writing Silence's dialog I felt pulled into the story and was writing fully from the heart. I hope someone will learn something from some of the things I've written. I'm enjoying writing this story, and if you're enjoying reading it, please tell me so! I like to know that my story is worthwhile to someone else and it's what helps keep me writing.
