Chapter Seven

A Loss of Innocence

Before

Alina arrived at the sole platform Little Hangleton station had to offer. The train attendants had constantly asked her, "Are you sure you're going to Little Hangleton, love?" Alina had assured them she knew where she was going, and indeed, she was the only passenger left to get off at the smaller town's station, some six miles away from Great Hangleton.

Now what? Alina thought to herself. She had no way of knowing which direction Tom went in, or if he even came here at all. Alina suddenly felt silly, coming all this way just because she found a dusty old map. But Tom had lied to her. He had lied. She had to find out why. She did not come all this way for nothing.

Alina found a pub near the station; for everything in the town was near the station, it was that small. It was a Friday night; loud sounds were emanating from the pub's open doors and, since it was so hot still even in the early evening light, people were spilling out on the pavement and draped themselves over picnic benches; glasses of ale and jugs of Pimms littered around them. The sign above the door read: The Hanged Man. What better place to find out information than a small town pub full of drunken Muggles?

Alina entered and navigated her way around the people to the vast wooden bar, where she ordered a small cup of apple cider. She tried to blend in but it was obvious she was the outsider here. Everyone seemed to know each other and they gave Alina looks that broadcasted their thoughts on her out-of-town appearance. The bartender, a middle-aged man with laugh lines around his eyes asked her, "This your first time in Little Hangleton?" The small town nosiness already setting in.

"Yes, actually." Alina spoke charmingly and smiled at him. "I'm meant to be meeting a friend here, but I think he's late."

"What's his name, maybe I know him?" The bartender asked nicely.

"Tom Riddle," Alina said without thinking the man would recognise her friend's name. Instantly, the man's demeanour changed. His face withdrew into itself and he seemed suddenly closed off.

"Oh, the Riddle lad." There seemed to be a bitter taste in the man's mouth all of a sudden. "You know him well?" Alina quickly realised she should play it cool and be blasé if she wanted to fish for information. What a bizarre day this was turning out to be.

"No, I don't. He's an old family friend who wanted to catch up. I've travelled all this way and he did not have the decency to even meet me at the train station."

"That's typical of Riddle, alright!" The bartender said agitated and the patrons around him murmured sounds of agreement. "Horribly snobby family, if you don't mind me saying, miss. Think they're better than the rest of us because of how much money they have. Hardly ever leave that big old fancy house of theirs." Alina wondered what she had gotten herself into. Her mind spun with an overload of information. Was this where Tom's family lived? Had he found them?

"Do you mind telling me how I might find their house?" Alina asked eagerly.

"You can't miss it. Biggest house in town, right by the graveyard down yonder way." The man pointed to the left of him. "But if I were you, miss, I would hop right back on that train and leave. That family's toxic. They only care about themselves. As you can see, they're not very popular around here." Alina barely heard him as she said thank you, paid, and hurried out as fast as she could.

Once outside, she saw that night had nearly fallen. She looked over to her left, hoping that it had not gotten too dark that she could not find the house or graveyard. However, it was still light enough that she could pick out distinctive gravestones, and beyond them, the biggest manor house Alina had ever seen.

On her way up the steep incline to the large foreboding house, Alina passed the graveyard and a modest cottage. She peaked inside and saw a young man snoozing inside, a cup of tea cooling next to him. She carried on without a backwards glance. When she reached the top of the hill, Alina hesitated. It was not like she could knock on the door. What if Tom was reuniting with his family? From what the man in the Hanged Man had said, it appeared that Tom was named after his father. That would make him Tom Riddle Jr. The thought put a little smile on Alina's face. She was glad Tom had found his family; she hoped they were everything Tom wanted them to be. She decided she would just peak in the window to make sure Tom was alright before heading back to Wool's and pretending she had never followed him up here.

Alina navigated her way around finely groomed rose bushes. She speculated that Tom's family must have a caretaker to keep the Riddle's garden in tip-top shape. Perhaps it was the young man snoozing in the cottage she had passed? She was elated that Tom had finally tracked down his family and she was curious to see what they were like. Alina was fiercely protective of Tom; she hoped his family treated him well at their reunion. Alina pulled her weight up so that her elbows rested against the thick stucco sill and peered inside.

The scene presented in front of her filled Alina with such horror she could not even move or tear her gaze away.

Tom must have arrived moments before she did. He stood there in the centre of the stuffy foyer with a wand that was not his own in his hand. He held the wand steadily, yet there was a certain poise and grace to it as he brandished it in front of who could have only been his father, grandfather and grandmother. They were cowering in the corner of the room in between a bookcase and a cabinet filled with crystal tumblers and decanters. Tom said something that Alina could not hear; his voice muffled by the thick glass window. The Riddle family screamed as a green light flashed in front of their eyes, their mouths wide with horror. Alina's stomach plummeted as it dawned on her that Tom had just used the killing curse on them. Even though she could not hear him inside, her head was screaming Avada Kedavra, like a cuss word you could not help but think about again and again. Alina must have made some sort of noise or movement because Tom's eyes flashed to hers across the room. His own eyes widened in shock but his body trembled with anger. Alina knew she should make a run for it but her legs felt numb and she collapsed onto the rose bush behind her, the thorns piercing her skin.

Tom appeared outside in a blaze and grabbed a hold of her arms to lift her aggressively from the shrubbery. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" He screamed at her, his eyes nearly closing from the force of his rage. Tom shook her so hard her teeth rattled against together.

Alina had never seen Tom so incensed. Fury crackled the air around them.

"Go ahead, Tom. Kill me. Kill me because there is no way I can ever forgive you for this." Alina spoke fiercely. "You murdered your family!"

"They were not my family!" Tom yelled at her. "They were Muggle scum who looked down on me as if I was dirt. My stupid witch mother made him fall in love with her with a love potion. When he found out he dropped her so hard she had wanted to die. What a weak, pathetic excuse for a witch. He never gave a damn about me." Tom's face was so clouded with anger that his bones seemed to pull together, making him look almost skeletal. His grip on Alina's arms was so tight she knew she was bruising and losing blood circulation. A part of Alina felt sorry for Tom that his family were not who he wanted them to be, as it was every orphan's dream to be reunited with their loved ones. However, most of her could not overcome the horror of what he had done. How had Alina been so blind to not see what her best friend was capable of? Alina felt so sick, she was sure she was going to keel over at his feet. Tom saw the look of repugnance on her face and reviled her even more for it. Alina was sobbing. She could not help it. The entire situation was too much for her. She could not believe this had happened. That it was still happening.

Tom watched her cry in a detached sort of way. Alina hardly ever cried. He could count the amount of times he'd seen her cry on one hand. One time, when they were nine years old, Alina fell out of a tree in the orphanage's courtyard. She cried then too. Tom held her close to him and refused anyone else to touch her. This was when his magical capabilities were manifesting, so he was taken aback by the power he felt coursing through him. With this power, Tom had healed her arm, which had broken. Afterwards, the matrons thought Alina was making a fuss over nothing, as there was no break or any sign of injury whatsoever. Alina had kept their secret.

During the present moment, Tom did not want to heal Alina's tears. He wanted her to hurt as much as he did at her betrayal. Indeed, Tom felt betrayed. Betrayed by Alina who should have loved him no matter what. Why could she not understand his need for revenge? He felt no pity or remorse for the act he had just committed on the Riddle family. For the first time in his young life, Tom felt free. This was who he was always meant to be.

Nevertheless, try as he might, he could not bring himself to kill her for what Alina had just witnessed. He knew he only had a small frame of time to rectify the situation before returning his uncle's wand to the small shack on the outskirts of the village. He had planned this deed perfectly; Morfin Gaunt would be framed for these murders and sent off to Azkaban, no one would suspect Tom Riddle: Upstanding Hogwarts Student and soon-to-be Head Boy. Alina was the only fly in the ointment. Tom's mind spun with ideas. He had planned to use these murders to conceal a part of his soul in the Gaunt family ring, which had been passed down over the years in Salazar Slytherin's noble blood line.

Tom pushed Alina down onto the ground and she was sure he was going to kill her too. Instead, Tom kissed her hotly before breaking away and muttering a dark incantation that was so complex and evil, Alina felt confused and lost. Tom released one of her arms to hold the back of her neck. A piercing pain Alina felt like no other emerged from his branding palm and the pain coursed throughout her entire body. Her brain had turned foggy, but not before she heard Tom murmur against her ear, "Obliviate." Alina sobbed "no!" This was the worst betrayal Alina had ever received from Tom. She saw a swirling mass of coal black clouds and acute green light. She felt more pain. And then she felt nothing.

Alina woke up to the sounds of thunder. She was in her bed at Wool's and there was a storm raging outside. She immediately jumped out of bed and crept her way upstairs. She did not bother knocking on the door; she slinked into Tom's bedroom and closed the door quickly. Even though she was so quiet, Tom roused from his sleep at her presence. There was a buzzing in his ear at her close proximity. Tom could not tear his gaze away from Alina. She shed everything else into shadow, as she was the brightest thing to hit his view. Her white-blonde hair gleamed in the pale moonlight and her fair nightgown made her appear like a spectre. You're a ghost, love, he wanted to whisper to her. He wanted to devour her.

"Tom," Alina sighed. He knew what she wanted.

"Come here." Obediently and without a word, Alina rushed under his covers to lie next to him. A flash of lightening illuminated the drab room briefly in white before switching off to black once more. Alina shivered and Tom put his arm around her to hold her close to him. Alina had always been afraid of thunderstorms for as long as Tom could remember. As young children, she would creep into his room at night and they would huddle under the covers while the sky flashed and rain pelted down on the windows. Now, Alina wrapped her soft body around his warm one. Her nightgown rode up and Tom entwined his pyjama-clad legs through hers.

They lay like that for a long time, just listening to the tempestuous storm raging outside. Tom noticed Alina gaze down at her arms curiously, for there were scrapes and bruises painted across them. Her brow furrowed and Tom felt a slight panic that she might remember –

Alina sighed again and snuggled even closer to him.

"You look so tired," Alina broke the silence softly, running her fingertips over his shoulder. "You were ill! Oh, Tom, I had forgotten completely. Are you feeling better? Do you want me to leave?" Tom's stomach clenched at that.

"I'm fine. I'm more worried about how you're feeling."

"You don't need to worry about me all the time, Tom." Tom wanted to protest. He cared about himself primarily, then Alina second. Yet, he could not help but wrap her closer to him and make her feel protected from the storm raging outside.

Tom remembered what was now inside Alina and smiled darkly to himself. She was oblivious to the highest honour he had ever bestowed on her. Tom turned over fully and slowly, seductively, lifted her nightgown higher up so that it bunched around her slender waist.

"Tom," Alina whispered, her voice full of sleep.

"Shh, it's alright." He reassured her.

"What are you doing?" She mumbled as he took her dress of her entirely. She trembled, now bare. Tom covered her body with his own.

"Just admiring you." Tom looked at her naked body appreciatively. Tom could not envision his life without Alina, and now, he did not need to. She was the perfect vessel, his now most coveted possession. She did not know it but Tom would never let Alina go free now. Before tonight, she might have had a chance at a normal, happy life, but not anymore. Now, she was his completely.

Alina's eyes were closed and she could feel herself slipping off to sleep. However, she felt something else too. She could feel Tom. Not just physically, but emotionally too. His contentment and satisfaction bloomed over her. Alina fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Please review! I'm very needy and insecure and it makes me feel all warm and goo-ey inside :)