So,
at the momment this will be updated daily. I would really love some
more reviews, even just a quick hi and a little comment saying what
you think, it'll really help me as a writer. I hope it's not
going to slow or fast for any of you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter
three – False Alliances.
Sitting
on her bed late at night with the book
'Manipulation of the Brain volume 1'
in hand Alice lets out a long, audible sigh. She'd gone through
every chapter in the dam book, and hadn't uncovered anything that
could help her. All it had told her was that the spell that could
have been used was an 'obliterate'
spell, but she already knew that. There must be something in
Hogwarts, a book or person that can help her remember exactly what
happened that day. It's bad enough having lost her parents, but
loosing the reason that they died? That's a fate worse than death
itself. Placing the book under her pillow and rolling over Alice Abel
falls into a dreamless sleep. The last dreamless sleep for a long
time.
On an empty corridor on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, a
lone figure stands staring at what could only be described as a blank
wall. Slowly he paces back and forward three times and as if by magic
a small door appears. With one quick glace down the corridor Tom
Riddle opens the door and steps in.
"Finally," Lestrange
almost yells from his position on one of the seats, and Tom Riddle
glares at him wondering if killing him right now would ruin the
plans. Walking over to the only empty seat he sits down and surveys
the room, glad to see all this loyal followers are present and on
time.
"I thought since school has begun again it would be good
for us all to meet up and have a little chat," he begins, "I'm
currently working on the plans for this year, but I assure you when
they are ready to be set in motion you all shall be informed,"
folding his arms he looks around willing for someone to speak up.
"Thank you my lord," Rosier mumbles in reply.
"I was
wondering if there is anything you would like to talk about, or ask
me?" at this Avery perks up.
"My Lord, I was just wondering
what our impression of this new girl is?" he asks almost
hesitantly, not sure if Alice Abel is an appropriate topic or not. A
long silence follows as Tom mulls over his thoughts of the new girl
who has spent the last week trying her best to wind him up.
"She
is one we will all have to keep an eye on," is his first statement,
"she comes from a very powerful family line so can not be
underestimated," the three other males nod in unison.
"Although
her mother was a muggle, so ultimately we can't forget that at the
end of the day she will be in our firing line. A dirty half-blood,"
he speaks thoughtfully, "of course if she crosses the line I will
deal with her, so you all have nothing to worry about,"
"Well
spoken master," Rosier reply's, knowing that the only choice they
have is to obey him.
"If that is all I'd really like to get
some sleep," Tom concludes, standing up and heading out the door,
not allowing a chance for anyone to reply.
Heading to the heads
dorm room he can't help but feel that Alice is going to be a big
part of whatever happens in the future. She has the power to put a
spanner in the works, and that is something he cannot tolerate.
Walking down the steps he concludes that he only has two options.
Inilate her now, or win her over and destroy her when she least
expects it. The second of course is fail safe. He needs to get close
enough to judge just how powerful a witch she can be.
Sitting
in the library on one of the rather hard leather sofa's surrounded
by books; Alice close's the last one frowning down at it. After
spending the whole of lunch and dinner reading all the books in the
memory section of the library she still couldn't find anything to
help her. Leaning her head over the back of the sofa and closing her
eyes she can't help but feel the irritation run through her veins.
There has to be a way.
"I would never have pegged you as a book
worm Abel,"
"That's what you get for pegging people in the
first place Riddle," she snaps opening her eyes slowly and leaning
forward to shoot an especially evil glare at him. Sitting down on the
couch next to her he leans over the table reading the titles one by
one.
"Why so interested in the memory?" he asks.
"Didn't
anyone ever tell you curiosity killed the cat,"
"Didn't
anyone ever tell you that your foul attitude is going to get you in
trouble one of these days,"
They both sit back, arms folded,
glaring intently at each other.
"Have you always been this
snippy?" he asks, finding himself a little bit more intrigued by
this amusing girl than he should be.
"Have you always been this
irritating?"
Riddle unfolds his arms letting a small chuckle
escape his normally pouted lips catching Alice of guard.
"What
are you giggling at?" she snaps narrowing her eyes at him.
"Nothing," he almost smiles deciding not to tell her the fact
that he finds the way she avoids answering anything he asks adding
her own little comment, kind of cute. She lets out a long sigh,
something that she seems to do often, piling the useless books up on
top of each other.
"You know, if you tell me what it is you are
looking for, I could probably save you the trouble of raiding the
library for the information,"
"I don't need your help
Riddle," she reply's curtly, standing up with the big pile of
books balanced unevenly in her hands, leaving Tom on the couch
shaking his head at her stubbornness.
"Was that Tom Riddle I
saw sitting next to you in the library today?" Sam asks as her and
Alice head down to the kitchens to get some well deserved food.
Stopping outside the portrait of the fruit bowl Alice watches as Sam
tickles the pear causing the canvas to swing open. She'll have to
remember that for the future.
"Yeh, but don't worry he was
only attempting to aggravate me even more than he already has,"
They walk down the long passage way and eventually end up in a
huge room the size of the big hall, where four long tables exactly
the same as the ones in the great hall sit.
"What exactly has
he done to annoy you so much," Sam smiles sitting down in the
corner of one of the tables as they tell one of the house elf's
what they would like to eat, "as far as I've heard you're the
one he should be annoyed at. You used an extremely un-necessary spell
on him, you made a mean joke about him in Divination, and every time
you speak to him you're rude,"
Alice glares at her anger
slowly boiling her blood.
"The spell was an accident; it was
the only thing that sprung to mind at short notice. I'm sure he
wouldn't have hesitated to cast something equally as embarrassing.
The jibe in Divination was just a joke, I didn't think everyone
would take it so seriously,"
"Look, I don't mean to be a
spoilt sport or anything, but Tom has a lot of followers in this
school. A lot of people who wouldn't hesitate in getting rid of
anyone who challenged him, so just watch your back ok?"
Alice
mumbles something under her breath while studying Sam. She would hate
to admit that in the last week it has looked like most of the girls
in the school have been planning to attack her and rip her hair out.
Who knew an annoying, stubborn, twit of a male could have so many
admirers.
"Ok," she agrees, moving back a little to let the
house elf place the food they ordered in front of her. Something Sam
said Alice found very intriguing. How come most people in this school
would do anything to make sure Riddle is safe? Is it because he's
really such a lovely person, or is it because he has some sort of
hold over them? Betting on the second, Alice makes a vow to find out.
Even if it means being civil to the boy for a while. There is some
funny business going on that she has to find out. Plus after having
made no head way on her mission to uncover her family truth, he had
said that he could help her.
On the way back up to the common
room Alice suddenly had a very dangerous but possibly effective idea.
Being well aware that tonight sleep will be hard to come by after her
failed attempt to extract information from the library, she needs to
know how to get her information, and pronto. Toms head boy, won't
he be on one of his nightly patrols?
"Hey Sam I've just got
something to do, can I meet you back in the dorm in a bit?" she
asks biting down on her lip, hoping that Sam won't become too
suspicious.
"I guess, but it's almost after hours?"
"Yeh
it's ok, I won't be out long,"
With a small nod Sam heads
on up the stairs without her.
Standing in the empty hall Alice looks around cautiously. Where would he be patrolling tonight? Deciding that it defiantly won't be in the dungeons she heads up to the first floor, walking down every corridor and being disappointed to find no one at all. Climbing the stairs to the second floor, feeling a little exasperated she finds herself marching down the corridors daring for someone to come and find her. Turning a corner she stops abruptly, hearing a distant wailing coming from one of the rooms down the hall. What could possibly be making such a horrible noise at this time of night? Tip toeing closer to the noise and feeling a little on edge she stops face to face with a door. The wailing is louder now, muddled with high pitched sobs and desperate sniffles. Out stretching her hand she's just about to turn the handle when a voice echo's through the corridor.
"What on
earth are you doing out of bed at this time?" Tom Riddle hiss's
causing Alice to jump through the air in surprise. Holding her hand
to her heart she turns around surprised by how happy she is to see
the boy she'd been searching for.
"Looking for you actually,"
she smiles watching Tom as a taking back expression falls onto his
face, "then I heard this weird noise coming from behind this door,"
she pauses listening for the familiar wail, but all she can hear is
silence.
"You were looking for me?" he asks ignoring the
second part and walking towards her. She turns back around to face
him in the dark corridor, noticing how the dark shadows dance on his
face making him seem hauntingly beautiful. He's a good looking guy;
nobody can deny that, not even Alice.
"Yeh, I was being
horribly stubborn this afternoon in the library when you offered to
help, and I was wondering if the offer is still open?" she asks
through gritted teeth, hating the way her voice sounds so sickly
sweet. If only being nice came naturally to her. He takes a second to
study her face, his deep blue eyes searching her own.
"Of
course, how about we meet tomorrow during our free period?"
"In
the library?"
"Sounds good,"
The corridor falls
into silence once again as they both stare at each other, wondering
if the other person is being sincere. Alice smirking at the fact he
thinks he's going to find out all her dirty secrets and that she
may actually trust him now. Tom surprised and suspicious at what the
reasons behind this U-turn is. He can't have her tripping him up
when his plan to destroy her is not even under way yet.
"Now
you shouldn't be wandering these corridors so late at night, so
I'll walk you back to your dorm,"
"Who knew Tom Riddle was
one for following rules," she almost smiles and he peers at her
from the corner of his eyes as they head up to the seventh
floor.
"Who knew Alice Abel actually has a sweet side," he
reply's causing her to frown at him and walk a few paces ahead. The
rest of the journey they walk in silence finally arriving outside the
portrait to the common room.
"Tomorrow," he nods turning
around and heading back the way he came. She nods in reply watching
his tall figure as it strolls into the distance and then turns the
corner. Tom Riddle is some piece of work. There has to be some reason
he is the way he is, and Alice just has to find out. Knowing that she
is way to curious for her own good, she mumbles the password and then
crawls through into the Gryffindor common room.
The next morning starts with Potions and Alice teams up with Sam and Ruby for some Gryffindor support. Being the most inpatient person she knows, Alice has always hated Potions for the small fact that it takes time and patience to end up with the finished product. Of course she was good at the subject, but she found more quick thinking work much more fun. As the three of them get to work on brewing an Elixir to induce Euphoria, Ruby chats animatedly to their neighbours about her favourite topic, boys. Leaving Alice and Sam to fall into quiet discussion.
"So
Alice, I know it might be rude of me to ask, but I was just wondering
exactly what happened with your parents?" Sam ventures, glancing
sheepishly at Alice, "I mean the details are a bit shady,"
Looking at Sam for a moment, Alice wonders how to proceed. In the
last few weeks Sam has become what Alice would call a best friend.
It's only right for her to know at least some of her background. Of
course she'd miss out the important parts, the parts she's still
to uncover.
Little does she no that a pair of ears in front of her
have picked up on the change in conversations and are waiting eagerly
for the reply. Yes, Tom Riddle is doing what he does best, spying in
on other peoples private matters.
"It was the day before my
eleventh birthday, and my father was going on about how he had the
best present for me. That I'd just love it," she begins,
referring to the time-travelling apparatus he had invented, "he had
been going on about it for months and months, how he was going to use
it to put the world right again, rid it from evil. I was eleven I
didn't really understand what he was going on about, all I saw was
his animated expressions when he spoke about it," sitting down and
allowing Sam to stir the potion she continues, " as I was saying,
it was the day before my eleventh birthday and we were all sitting
around the dinner table talking, and the next thing I know I'm
standing in the middle of the room in of the room and my parents
bodies are lying lifelessly in front of me,"
Sam glances over
at her, seeing the sadness at reliving the memory taking over. Tom
Riddle could hear the quiver in her voice as she spoke, and can
almost see the tears clouding her eyes.
"Was it just with an
unforgivable?" Sam mumbles, and Alice looks down at her quivering
hands, knowing straight away that she's talking about how her
parents were killed.
"In the end it was, but there was a lot of
blood and injuries," she reply's not really wanting to go into
the finer details.
"How come you survived?"
Alice takes a
moment to answer this, standing back up and dropping some crushed
leaves into the cauldron.
"I have no idea,"
Tom
wanders into the library after potions looking around for Alice.
After the conversation he over heard the last time he saw her, she
had stormed out of class once it had finished. He had felt the need
to glare at Sam for making her relive the pain, but had then mentally
hit himself. If it wasn't for her he wouldn't now have the
advantage in this mental duel between them both.
Finally seeing
her in the corner he saunters over placing his bag down on the table
and taking the seat next to her.
"You ok?" he finds himself
asking as she sits slouching forward with her head leaning on her
hands, and a fowl expression planted on her otherwise pretty
face.
"Fine," she mumbles taking a note pad out of her bag and
placing it on the desk, more for the action of actually doing
something rather than needing her notepad.
"You sure?" he
asks again, feeling strange at the fact that he is actually concerned
about her well being, and isn't just saying it to keep up
appearances.
"Yeh, sorry just caught of guard over something,"
she says sitting up and flashing him a smile, which he returns a
little half heartedly.
"So what is it you need my help with?"
he asks, hardly able to contain his curiosity. His face however
remains silently composed. She hesitates before answering.
"Let's
say you needed to find out some information. Some information that
isn't easy to come by, that the library here doesn't seem to
contain. Where would you go to find it?"
He study's her now
desperate face quietly, seeing that whatever this is that she needs
to find out is extremely important to her.
"If you could tell me
what it is you need to know I would be able to help you better,"
"The thing is, I don't think I can trust you enough to tell
you what it is," she says matter of fact, and he frowns at her,
knowing to well that she's right, but still feeling hurt for some
reason. He needs her to trust him.
"But..."
"But
nothing, can you help me or not?" she snaps, and he lets out an
over exaggerated sigh as if it's more bother than it's worth.
"Yes, but I can't tell you now. Will you meet me later on
tonight?" he asks catching the small smile that plays on her lips.
"While you're on head patrol?"
"Yes,"
She nods,
and for the first time since starting at Hogwarts he see's a glint
of what could only be happiness spark in her eyes. It's as if the
whole room is suddenly eluminated and he can barely stop himself from
smiling back at her, instead he graces her with a small elegantly
placed smirk.
"Thank you," she almost grins, and he watches
as she places the unused notepad back in her bag.
"It's my
pleasure,"
