Albania
(1947-1957)
January 11, 1949
The Woman was taunting him like she always did. In his dreams, she was more striking than ever. Her blue eyes blazed, her hair was five times silkier and three times longer, and her attitude was one hundred times stronger. Her skin was paler and softer, emitting a light of its own. She laughed musically, but it was like scratching on chalkboard to his ears. "I'm sure you're becoming tired of me Tom Riddle." He frowned and clutched his fists; his normal reaction to this demonic woman.
He gritted through his teeth, "I wish you would just leave me alone."
She acted playfully hurt, grabbing her chest and falling slowly onto the stone floor. This woman was all dramatics. Her hair was falling everywhere as she feigned fainting. She was lying on her stomach. Tom walked over to her body, pushed her with his foot, and flipped her over. Her face appeared tightened with a smirk. He looked back at her with a bored look.
Her face suddenly turned sad: the perfect actress. "Oh Tom! You break my heart when you don't play my games."
"Your games are ridiculous and childish." He crossed his arms, stepping over her into the dark nothingness that surrounded them. Almost every night now since the bear had attacked him, this was his dream. Conversing with a strange Woman who looked exactly like the woman he was trying hard to detach himself from: Eva Smith. This Eva, however, was nothing like the real one. But she was just as annoying – in a different sort of way. Tom could never escape her, so he had learned to go along with her…most of the time.
Tonight she was taking it too far. As he walked away, her soft skinned, firm hands grabbed his hand. He craned his neck to stare at her. He was suddenly caught by her very innocent, pleading face which, this time, did look like his Eva. He groaned softly, "Stop."
An evil grin appeared, destroying her previous face. "You're so easy to upset Tom. Does it bother you, when I look like her?" She laughed hysterically. He shook her off, not wanting to continue appeasing her. Desperately, he wanted something outside to wake him up. Tom knew he was dreaming, yet he could never escape until the night was over. He had been cursed somehow. He knew it.
He walked a few steps further into the abyss. His arms were still crossed when she appeared right in front of him. As he stopped, refusing to look her in the eyes, she placed her hands on his chest, feeling the fabric of his shirt. Her eyes were staring at Tom, with a bit of true sadness. "Tom Riddle... You will eventually have to make a decision. What are you going to do about Eva? Are you willing to sacrifice your pride and your pain for a chance to find happiness?"
He kept ignoring her. She pulled her hands off of him and grabbed his face, bending it close to her own. He lazily caught her glance and frowned. Her eyes were serious and like deep pools. "I know what you want: ultimate power. And it's at your grasp. But I know what else you want: Eva. Don't roll your eyes! The more you keep denying yourself this simple pleasure, the more you'll bleed."
He quickly and forcibly pulled her hands off his face. He was furious with her; he reached his hands out to grab her neck, but she had disappeared. He had tried before to catch her, but it was always futile. In his dreams, he had no wand and no magic. He felt naked. He felt like a useless, pathetic human. It was a true nightmare. She appeared in front of him again, and he pushed her aside. She gleefully laughed, knowing she hit a major vein. He continued walking towards the abyss, always ending up in the same spot. The only noises echoing through this forgotten place was his shoes on the cold stone floor.
"Oh Tom," the woman sang out, calling for his attention. He unenthusiastically turned around, only to find the woman gently feeling the golden frame of a rather large mirror. On top of the frame was the inscription "ERISED." Recognizing it from his studies, Tom eagerly walked over to it. Before he could look however, the Woman jumped in front, her arms outstretched. She mockingly chided him and said, "What you see, you might not enjoy."
He scoffed, "How could I not enjoy what I desire?"
A shrew smile spread across her lips. "You are very odd, Tom Riddle. You are two people in one – the awful Lord Voldemort and the wanting, little orphan boy. I know you fight with yourself. The mirror will not be as kind as I am. Don't say I didn't warn you." She slowly glided away, letting Tom see his reflection.
What he saw made his eyebrows raise and his face turn ecstatic. A tall, foreboding figure stood in the mirror, skin as pale as the moon, long fingers moving with the same rhythm as Tom's, eyes glinting like rubies, a flat snake-like face, and a grin to send chills down any one's back. His dark robe was billowing with an invisible wind, and Tom couldn't stop staring. This, this was what he truly was. This is what he could become. This was what he wanted.
He looked down to his own figure, and realized that the mirror was not reflecting a fantasy. The image had pasted itself onto his own skin. He was truly Lord Voldemort now. A high pitched laugh echoed through the room. The Woman, hiding part of herself behind the mirror shivered slightly, squinting against the wind rushing thought the depths of darkness. The echo of a laugh kept going, and she walked out of her hiding place.
Voldemort caught her eye and said in a chilling voice that was not Tom Riddle's at all, "If you thought I wouldn't enjoy this, I would love to see what you think I would despise."
She smiled, sad this time. "I can do just that," the Woman said quietly. Her hand was at the top of the frame and spun it around. Voldemort stared at the mirror, frowning since he could not understand what else the mirror could show him? The Woman's face was composed and serious as she stared into the calculating eyes of Dark Lord.
Finally the mirror slowed, but he was still not able to make clear any images. With one last flip, the mirror stopped, and Lord Voldemort hissed in a sharp breath of air. His mirror image had become Tom Riddle again, and Eva Smith was wrapped tightly in his arms. Her face was looking up at his, innocent and beautiful as always. Surprisingly, his own face was staring down into hers, his human grey eyes soft and his face impassive. His pale thin fingers were brushing through her blond hair. Voldemort watched as the mirror image of Tom Riddle tightened his grip around Eva. He pulled his eyes away from the image of the two lovers, unwilling to admit a secret that he had been hiding deep in his heart. He refused to accept the thought of love growing in his heart. What had love done for him? It left him to fend for himself, alone and cold with Muggles who despised him. What good had love done for anyone except making them weak? Though the Dark Lord did not tolerate many things, weakness was the pen ultimate.
Still, having seen the vision in the mirror, he was unable to control the feelings surging through his body: anger, regret, and most importantly, jealousy. And he hated himself for all of them.
He told himself that he was no longer Tom Riddle, with pathetic emotions such as love and jealousy, and yet he couldn't seem to shake the echo of them off. The Woman watched sadly as the Dark Lord fought with himself between his two opposite halves. One wanted his dream of controlling the world; with his mind, skill, and powers it was no large feat. Another side of him wanted to risk everything he had previously believed to explore this new feeling that was blossoming with Eva.
With regret yet at the same time an insatiable pull, the Dark Lord turned his gaze back to the mirror. The Tom Riddle in the reflection looked up from the soft young woman in his arms to stare back at Voldemort. His eyes reflected the same feelings that were coursing through the Dark Lord's mind. Instantly something warm and soft appeared in the Voldemort's arms. He looked down to find the replica of Eva Smith in his own arms. To his secret horror, he realized that he had not changed back to Tom Riddle; he was still the hideous monster he had craved to be just minutes before. With Eva in his arms, a surge of desire to become the Tom Riddle he had once been took over his mind. He turned his glance back to Eva, investigating if she was repulsed by his new look, but she herself had changed quicker than he realized.
She was no longer young and innocent. Her long, flowing golden hair had dulled and was put up in a tight bun. She was wearing a expensive wizard robes and dress. She had on rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that adorned her like glitter. Her skin was fair and hadn't seen sun in years. Her body had grown thicker yet she was still appealing. Her expression surprised the Dark Lord the most. Her once joyful and happy expression had dissolved into anger, fear and hate. The older Eva pushed herself away from Lord Voldemort fearfully. She tried to stand strong, but the misery in her eyes wouldn't disappear.
Voldemort didn't recognize himself when he stretched out his arm out to grab her again, with or against her will. She backed away, keeping a distance between them. Eva silently shook her head as if she was refusing to come to him. Tears welled up in her eyes but never overflowed.
A click of heels sounded from where the mirror was. Voldemort turned his gaze to the other Woman. Her face was dark but not angered. "This is what will happen if you don't fully choose which path you desire. Fate has already chosen a path for you, but nothing is set in stone with Her. You can make a choice to change this," she pointed to Eva, who was now removing all of the jewelry and outer robes. She was frantic, as if it was causing her pain to continue to wear the items. Then she looked up and opened her mouth to speak, but she only stared into emptiness. As her mouth moved, the dream room became eerily quiet. No sound came from her, but by all other accounts it appeared she was talking to someone She was yelling, then she was struck with something. She recovered and pulled out her own wand. Her hands waved around, as if she was swatting something away. Suddenly, all of Eva's actions were suddenly sped up, and the other two could see she was fighting an invisible person. It sickened Voldemort how worried he was for her, and that feeling only fed into his anger. Why could he not look at her in pain? Why was he feeling weak? Finally, she was kneeling on the floor, under an obvious Cruciatus curse. The Dark Lord looked back to the Lady, wanting this to stop. He had seen enough.
"Keep looking," she said in a harsh tone. Oddly, he obeyed. Eva's actions had been slowed down to normal, and she was still on the floor breathing hard, visibly upset. She looked up to her invisible enemy, trembling. Voldemort wasn't sure if it was out of fear or anger. Her mouth opened to speak but no sound came out. Her mouth moved as if she was confessing to her torturer. She continually swatted her attacker away with her wands, barely ever using her wand. She looked up as she spoke, and Voldemort could see tears growing in her eyes. Then her wrist was pulled up and forcibly down to where she fell into the floor and her wand rolled away. Eva heaved herself back up, swatted her again, and gave a dangerous look to the emptiness. Quickly, her head was slapped away, and she threw her hands up to protect herself. In the next moment, she was up in the hair, being choked to death. Eva clawed at invisible hands around her neck and her feet swung and kicked around. But before it was almost too late, she was dropped to the ground. Eva heaved herself back up but kept her stare to the ground. After a minute had passed, she lifted her head up to look at her torturer.
While the Lady and Voldemort did nothing, a green flash appeared out of nowhere and struck Eva down onto the floor, dead before her body even made a thump. With a deep, he swiveled around questioning the Woman, "What is the meaning of this?" His high pitched voice still caught him a bit off guard. Tom was still hidden behind the façade, and he writhed in an unwelcomed pain after what he witnessed.
The Woman laughed coldly, her harsh voice echoing through his head as she walked back to the Mirror of Erised. Her gorgeous looks were as cold as ice. "Like I have said, Fate has already chosen. But you, Lord Voldemort, also have a choice." She spun the mirror lightly once, and Voldemort's reflection shown through, destruction and ultimate power shining behind him. The world and all creatures were beneath his feet. He was smiling with pure evil as the whole of wizarding kind was bowing before him. "You can have the entire world under your control, a power like no one has had ever. The thing you have desired since the beginning of time. Or," she spun it lightly and the other side had Tom Riddle with the normal, beautiful Eva. Anyone could see by their faces how blissful they were, with the cares of the world behind them and the two of them living forever in each other's arms. "This. Love: the one thing you have been denied so long, and the one thing you will never have again and never understand so long as you live. The one thing you crave and the one thing you push away.
"So what is it you want, Tom Riddle? Lord Voldemort? Everything or one thing? Time is running out to make your decision. I am Lady Fate, Lady Time, and Lady Luck. You should be overjoyed that I am letting you see your future. But if you don't pick one or the other," her eyes turned hard, almost glowing red like his own, "I will get my own way. So make your choice oh Dark One." A ticking noise like a clock started softly echoing throughout the room. As she talked the ticking grew louder, while the room started to slip away into blackness before his eyes. "Otherwise I will slip between your fingers before you even have a chance to realize. Decide! What do you want?" Then her voice was overtaken by the ticking and the blackness engulfed Lord Voldemort, allowing him to fall and drown in the dark, all the while a ticking reverberating in his ears. Tick, tick, tick, tick.
I heard a tapping faintly in my dreams, wondering where it was coming from. I didn't fully awaken until I heard Tom jump up in bed. His jolt shook the mattress underneath my body. I groaned softly and turned myself towards him, opening my eyes to see his frame lit up in the candle light as he crouched over in bed. Groggily I asked him if he was alright. He held his head in his hands, and I could hear his deep breaths and the same tapping from my dream. I had to stop myself from placing a hand on his back, something others would find as a comforting gesture. To Tom, it would probably have been more of a lightning strike. I made a fist instead.
He ran his hands through his raven black hair and sighed. It must have been some nightmare for him to be acting like this. In the soft light of the room, I could see the sweat at the nape of his neck. I slowly sat myself up as well, and glanced out the window on the wall next to Tom. It was still very dark outside, but I saw a small figure that was making the tapping on the window. It was a barn owl, holding a note. I had no idea how long the poor creature was there.
Before I was able to stretch out of bed, Tom was already at the now opened window. He grabbed the letter, but the owl soared away before he was able to tip him. I waited for Tom to rip it open and read it, but instead he handed it over to me. His face was blank, no sign of stress or fear. I wish I was able to wear a stone face like him. I took the letter from him and saw the envelope had a quick scrawl of my first name. It was so quickly written that I couldn't recognize the handwriting. The parchment looked like a specialty kind, something like Norma or Druella would splurge on.
I heard the stove shake gently, indicating it was the top of the hour – probably after midnight. I gently opened the envelop, pulled out the letter, and saw the same quick scrawl which now I could obviously tell was Norma's; except it was much messier than the previous letters. However, I could tell it written in a very formal tone, which was odd for her. Something was amiss.
"Read it aloud," Tom said in a monotone. He was still by the window, folding his arms across his chest. His dark blue pajamas looked black, which made his figure all the more foreboding. The candlelight flickered about his dark face. I didn't question why he couldn't simply read my mind and instead followed orders.
"'Eva,'" I started, "'I apologize profusely if this reaches you at a bad time. I had the owl leave as soon as possible. I am humbly writing this letter in the hopes that you and Lord Voldemort will be able to help me. My cousins, Indus and Dorado Selwyn, who are like brothers to me, have been arrested and taken to Azkaban. They have been put on trial for torturing Muggles and attempting to kill another wizard, but I know that has to be some sort of mistake. They would never go as far as that. I am begging that you can get them out of there. I fear for their souls. The Minister's son has hated them ever since Hogwarts, and they are now at his mercy. He won't give it a second thought to throw them at the Dementors. I ask you, for the sake of my eternal devotion, please spare them from this fate worse than death. They are currently being kept in Azkaban under high protection. I beg of you, please, ask Lord Voldemort for his help. Their lives are so precious to me!'"
I looked up to Tom as I finished her last sentence. His eyes were staring off, far into his own mind. I desperately wanted to help my friend, despite the fact that her cousins probably did commit the crimes. I only hoped that my lord remembered they were good followers all during Hogwarts. Plus, this would give us an excellent excuse to go to Azkaban and meet the head Dementor. Tom would have to say yes.
I saw his dark eyes still mulling over the prospects, his hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully (which was recently clean-shaven yet again). I glanced back down the letter and reread it in my mind. Poor Norma. She was really upset about the whole ordeal. Though, I doubted that they would be sent to have their soul's sucked. I tried to recall the Minister's son. Albert Snitch, I believe his name was. Or Alfred – I couldn't remember. He was in Ravenclaw, in Dorado's year which was a year above Tom, and a huge know-it-all. The brothers acted as relentless bullies to him. But I still doubted that the Minister would allow his son such reckless behavior.
My eyes were looking at Tom for an answer. I watched as his eyes danced around the room: he was going through the possibilities, or so I could only assume. Finally, after five or ten minutes, he spoke to me. "Go back to sleep Eva."
As he walked around the bed going towards the dresser to retrieve a coat, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "Why? We need to go and help them. Please my lord. This is a grand opportunity."
Tom's hands clenched as he turned slowly towards me, his face angry. "You think I don't realize that?" He let his words sting me a little and continued on, "Of course I see the opportunity. That is why I'm going outside to my study to do something productive so that we will be able to convincingly break them out. What would I do with a worthless sack of bones like you if you stayed up to help me? Fulfill my daily quota for complaints? I think not."
After, he threw on his coat, marched to the front door, and slammed it behind him, I tried to ignore the wetness in my eyes and the pain in my chest. My breath was heavy as I laid down to sleep again. What he had said was extremely bitter with an edge in his voice. I hoped that it was just his nightmare that had caused him to act so irate with me. I should just be happy that we are leaving tomorrow, or today I suppose. At least he was kind enough, in a certain light, to let me go back to sleep.
My thoughts were a jumbled mess as I fretfully closed my eyes to sleep once again.
The candles were out and the sun was shining onto my face by the time I sleepily woke again. I rubbed my eyes and swung myself out of bed to tuck in the sheets. After I changed into my work clothes, I proceeded towards the kitchen. Tom was nowhere in sight, so I took my time to make breakfast. My mind was clouded and foggy, most likely from not having a good night's sleep. I barely remembered what happened a couple hours ago, only that Norma wanted us to break her cousins out of Azkaban and that Tom was irritated with me.
I wasn't sure if Tom heard the eggs sizzling on the pan or if he read my tired thoughts and realized I was up. I turned to look at the door from where he emerged. As his eyes caught mine, I saw his face was emotionless. "You're finally up," he said with a tone of boredom. I cracked two more eggs into the frying pan, assuming that he wanted breakfast as well.
He sat down at the dining table, patiently waiting for me to serve him, twiddling his wand through his fingers. We ignored each other while I set the table. As I put the plate of eggs-over-easy in front of him, I asked as casually as possible what the plans were for today.
He said nothing and instead jammed his fork into the oily protein of the eggs and began eating. I sat down as well, and began eating, used to his prolonged yet annoying silence. My fork cut swiftly through the center, letting the yolk spill out. I couldn't help but to imagine that the yolk was Tom's head. While I was still looking at the mess of egg on my plate, I heard Tom place his fork down. He started his sentence with his mouth still filled with food. "Well," he swallowed quickly, "I've been working on a forgery of an official Ministry-ordered document allowing us within the premises. However, I doubt that it will get us very far. We might have to resort to more physical means of getting through. I'm almost finished, but I have to make another layer of spell protection…but I'm getting too detailed." Tom waved his hand around and continued. "Once I'm done, I'm somehow going to have to create replicas of the Selwyns' bodies. It is a bit difficult in the fact that they have to emit a small amount of life or happiness so that the Dementors will be fooled – for a while at least."
I caught his eye, impressed that he had done so much and thought so far ahead. I asked, "Is there anything I can do, my lord?"
He grabbed his chin with his long fingers and pretended to be thinking. "In fact, I do. Why don't you go and look for my diadem until I call you."
What a surprise. I nodded humbly, hoping he wouldn't chastise me for my mental sarcasm. It was unfair that he could read minds. He would be less angry at me all the time if he just kept to himself.
I looked at him again and his eyes were staring back, but his lips were pursed trying to control the small curl of his lips. I gave a soft humph in response to his apparent joy from making me go and search. I finished my breakfast and started clearing the plates from the table. I dumped the silverware into the sink and went back to the table to put away the salt and pepper. Tom was still sitting in his chair, watching me put the shakers away with an intense gaze. I swallowed nervously. Now that I was finished, I tried to dash away to the front door, but his grip caught my right forearm as I opened the door.
Tom flashed me one of his charismatic smiles and held onto me gentler. "I don't know why you complain Eva. Searching in the woods is one of the easiest jobs in the world. You don't even have to think about it."
I swallowed again, finding myself lost by his suddenly seductive voice and deep silver eyes. "I-I wasn't complaining." His grip tightened around my arm, and I felt the burn of the Mark. It hurt quite painfully. After hearing my yelp, Tom let go slowly, and I heard the shuffle of the chair against the dirt floor as he stood up. He placed his hand on my shoulder and looked at me seriously with a twitch of a smile on his lips.
"You can't lie to me Eva, don't you realize that?"
I numbly nodded, caught in his eyes like prey. I soon found my voice and said, "Searching is just so…incredibly and utterly boring. I'd rather spend my time here…with you," I whispered the last words, suddenly unable to keep my eyes locked with Tom's.
His hand dropped from my shoulder as he sighed. I still couldn't look at him for fear of being caught up in eyes, so I stared at the table next to us. His voice had become hard and impassive yet again. "I need to get back to work if we are going to Azkaban today. Clean up and do as you're told. I'll call you when we leave." He spun past me and walked quickly through the open door. I waited to leave, unable to slow my racing heart. Tom just loved getting me worked up, didn't he? He loved to toy with my emotions, but I just become more and more confused. Is his apparent attempts at seducing me real or was he trying to get a rise out of me? If they are real, does he just want my body or by some miracle, does he truly love me? There was no way for me to know, which drove me further into my fluttering insanity.
I walked outside, seeing that Tom had indeed gone into his study room, and I decided to check on my now hibernating garden. It had rained a lot last week, yet the garden was clearing up well. My winter plants were doing well also, to my pleasure. Meniscus, the goat, was grazing on what little vegetation he could get his mouth, while the chickens were roosting contently. Tom and I ate one of Henry's wives for Christmas dinner. I felt bad about killing her, but at the same time, I was overjoyed by Tom's compliments about the food. That was a lovely evening.
I had to march out of the protection boundary to be able to Apparate to the last spot I searched. As I walked, my thoughts teemed around how we were going to get through security at Azkaban. Tom had said something about a Ministry pass, but he also said something about it failing. Not knowing much about the prison, I wasn't sure if it was totally controlled by Dementors or if there were wizards guarding as well. I told myself, however, that there would have to be wizards, simply because Dementors are too stupid to organize a prison like Azkaban. It was where the whole world sent their worst criminals. And here I was, helping two of them get out. But Indus and Dorado weren't strangers. We regarded each other with a sort of fearful respect. They knew that Tom trusted me the most, and I knew that Tom found them to be the best lackeys.
Out of all of the Slytherins, the two boys were the only ones who truly enjoyed doing the evil that Tom sent them out to perform. If Tom had ordered Peter Avery to put a curse on another student, he would do it, possibly out of fear but more likely that he would gain respect from the Dark Lord. The Selwyn brothers were the only two that, if given the same task, would enjoy the process of hurting another student.
Respect and fear were the only things I could ever give to them.
Finally I made it to the border, and I Apparated. For the rest of the morning I wandered around aimlessly through the forest, half searching through the trees, half imagining what my life would have been like if my mother was alive. After a couple hours, the Mark began to burn on my arm. Quickly, I Disaparated to the border of our home and waited for Tom to come and get me. About ten minutes later he showed up and bade me silently to follow him. When we had made it within sight of our home he looked me over. "Go make us lunch and something to eat coming back." I nodded and went inside to scrounge up some food.
Once I had gathered a meager lunch of boiled eggs, salad, and some dried fruit for both of us in a basket, along with nuts and cheese for the way back, I made my way towards Tom, who was fiddling in his study with the door open. I knocked, and he swiveled around to look at me. Immediately he jammed a broom into my hand and commanded, "Get on, but don't take off."
I obeyed and floated on my broom sidesaddle with the basket in my lap watching him pull a large, human sized sack of something very heavy. He dragged it over to where I was and tried to heave it onto my broom. I had to help him balance it to where I wouldn't flip over. We were both grunting, and I huffed when we finally got the sack onto my broom. It lay behind me, so I had to turn around to investigate it properly. As I picked at the sackcloth, I saw out of the corner of my eye Tom trying to get a second sack onto his floating broom. I wanted to laugh at him, but I wasn't in the mood to have curses flying towards me. Or be left at home.
Once Tom had the bag situated, I couldn't help but ask him, "What, exactly, are these things?"
He looked up at me, his eyebrows raised quizzically. "These things are what we will replace the Selwyns with."
"What were they originally?"
Tom sighed as if he was tired of the interrogation. "They were the potato sacks from the potatoes you picked this year."
"These are my potatoes?" I grabbed a piece of the sackcloth as if I would ignorantly recognize them to be my potatoes once I touched it. "Tom, what are we going to eat for the rest of winter?"
He gave me an angry stare. "Will you stop worrying about trivial matters? I need to go inside and grab something, and then we'll go."
I gave a sigh and watched as he marched towards his study door. I hooked the basket handle onto the front part of my broom shaft, since I wasn't about to sit with it on my lap the whole time. It was less than a minute before Tom came back out. I noticed a black, leather bag strapped across his chest as he climbed onto the broom. Wordlessly he took off into the sky, and I followed. The potato sacks definitely weighed the both of us down, making the brooms slower, despite the capacity charm Tom put on the brooms. We were quiet, and I decided to spend my time watching the scenery change. There was snow all atop the mountains while the forests below stayed green. The sea started to fade away behind me. I enjoyed watching the spiraling smoke stacks from the villages. It made me feel less alone in the world. After what seemed to be almost an hour of silence, and floating behind Tom, I decided to speed my broom up and strike up a conversation. "So…why couldn't we have just shrunken these things?"
Lord Voldemort sighed, showing his disturbance at the idea of having to converse with me about such trivial things. "It is because I have infused them with particles of life that should fade away into oblivion after a few months. If I were to shrink them, the life source it contains would simply vanish. Where would we be then Eva?"
I hated the way he made me feel so ignorant. "I'm sorry for asking, my lord," I said in a not very sorry tone.
There was more awkward silence as we flew through the cold air. Thankfully, I had worn a coat, gloves, and warm hat out into the forest, so I wasn't as chilled as I could have been. The wind bit at my nose and made my eyes tear, even though Tom had put up charms to lesson it. I hoped that Azkaban wasn't too far away.
Tom answering my unannounced question told me, "We'll be there in about twelve hours."
"Twelve hours!" That was ridiculous. It was half a day. We would spend a whole twenty-four hours flying. I did not prepare myself for this long of a trip. "We can't go any faster?"
Tom didn't answer me, and I couldn't help but whisper incredulously under my breath, "Twelve hours?" I glanced up at him to see if he had even heard me. Tom was staring in a completely different direction than I was flying. It almost seemed as if he was trying very hard not to even look at me. A sudden wind picked up right at the time I was going to ask my question again. I yelled, "Tom! We can't go any faster?"
The breeze shook my hair around my face, so all I could see was his outline. His hair was blowing wildly too. He turned back to me, and I heard him yell out to me. My ears were filled with only the whooshing sounds of wind. I shielded my eyes and tried to see why it was so windy all of a sudden. I grimaced when I realized we were headed into a storm. I whipped my head to see what Tom wanted me to do, but the clouds had appeared out of nowhere. It was as bad as fog, but even wetter; I could only see a one foot diameter around me. Suddenly, an arm extended from out of the nothingness and grabbed onto the front part of my broom.
Tom's form emerged from the clouds. He was trying to yell instructions at me, but I couldn't hear him. However, I could read his lips: "Fly higher." I obeyed, although he still held onto my broom. He kept himself close to me, and I could feel our legs bumping into each other because of the wind. It felt like we were constantly flying in circles despite the fact I knew we were flying at an upward angle. Then the clouds became lighter and white colored. The fluff slowly disappeared, and I felt the warm sun on my skin.
I grinned at Tom as he let my broom go and glided a couple yards away. In a normal voice I told him, "Thanks for saving me."
He let out a small laugh. "Save you from the weather? You thank me for the strangest things."
I shuddered from the dampness of my clothes. Tom instinctively pulled out his wand and performed a drying charm on me and his own clothes. I felt better instantly.
"Tom, you never answered my question. Can't we just go faster? I doubt you and I could spend twelve hours with each other doing nothing but flying without driving each other mental."
He titled his head towards me, and gave me a superior look. "Do you know how fast we're going now?"
It wasn't fair how he tried to answer my question with a question of his own. "No."
"Then you don't need to tell me how fast we should be going. There are a lot of effects from the speed that I am preventing us from feeling. If you wanted to judge how fast we are actually going and then try and tell me how to fly, I could easily arrange it," Tom said as he aimed his wand towards me with an evil smirk.
"No, no! I apologize for trying to tell you what to do. It won't happen again."
Tom tucked his wand away and rolled his head around, trying to pop his neck. "You keep saying that, but you never stop trying to control me."
"My lord! I'm not trying to be controlling. I'm just trying to point out ways to be more efficient." I didn't think I was bossy at all. I just felt, at sometimes, Tom missed obvious ways to conserve his energy. But he saw it as interfering.
He was still smirking as he turned his gaze away from me towards the expansion of clouds in front of us. "More efficient," he repeated. He looked back at me again, his smile gone replaced with a contemplative face. "What would I do without your valuable insight?"
Knowing he was being sarcastic, I smirked and replied, "I don't know. Live a better life?"
"Probably," he mused, "but it would be less pleasant."
A silence hushed itself over us as I relished the light air around me and the warmness of the close sun. Tom flew perfectly straight while I zigzagged above and below him. He probably thought I was showing off, but I wasn't. I was enjoying this freedom. I felt weightless, as if I wasn't human; I had become a part of the sky itself.
Tom woke me out of my dream like state. "Talk to me." I had closed my eyes during my floating adventure, but I opened them as I was shocked by what Tom said. He looked back at me, and repeated himself.
"Talk to you about…what?"
He waved his hand around airily. "It doesn't matter."
"Well, all right." I thought of something I could ask, but my mind kept going towards questions about his family, which pretty much was a dangerous subject. I had only talked about it with him once, the night of our first encounter with the vampires, and he acted as if I was stabbing him with needles with every question. But his family was the only thing I really didn't know about him. I think it held the answers to many of my questions: one being why he boasts he would never love.
I tried to dance around the subject by asking, "What does your name mean? I know Tom is a pretty common name, but I was just curious why you were named Tom."
I could sense he immediately regretted making me talk. Seeing his body language turn cold, I decided he wouldn't reply. So I was a bit taken aback when he answered. "My mother named me that, after my father. Marvolo was her father's name."
I jumped at the chance to continue the conversation. "Which do you like better? Tom or Marvolo?"
"I like Voldemort better."
"That wasn't an option," I frowned at him, grabbing the front of my broom tighter as I sped past him.
"It's an anagram, you know."
I glanced back at him, letting my now long hair flip around. "What is?"
He sped his broom up to catch up to me and gave me a tight smile. He licked his lips and then said, "I am Lord Voldemort."
I gave a nervous chuckle, trying to understand what he was explaining to me. "Yes…you are."
Tom gave out a barking laugh, smiling at me. "You can be so dense," he said through his laughter. "My name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is an anagram for 'I am Lord Voldemort'." I gave him a skeptical look, yet knowing full well my lack of grammar and spelling skills. Those spell-checking quills saved my life at Hogwarts. Once Tom had stopped his laughter, he pulled out his wand from the bag he had strapped across his chest. The words 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' snaked out of his wand in a green smoke and flew in the air, speeding along with us as if we were standing still. I looked to Tom, and he gave me a playful smile, flicking his wand around. The words in the air rearranged themselves, slow enough for me to follow, into 'I Am Lord Voldemort'.
I let myself giggle at my own idiocy. But I felt I also had to tease Tom. "You sure had a lot of time on your hands at Hogwarts to come up with that, and a spell too!"
Tom tucked his wand back into the bag and answered me, "When classes are a breeze and you find friendships a waste of time, you tend to dedicate yourself to other activities."
I swayed a little closer to Tom, giving a half questioning smile. "And what do those activities include? Thinking all day about what evil name you want to have when you grew up? Or was it trying to woo all the girls (and some professors) in the school with your handsome face and your charming demure?"
Now it was Tom's turn to roll his eyes. "Please, I did not woo anyone and neither was I trying. I didn't woo you either; you are just abnormal."
"Oh I'm very abnormal. But there was quite a lot of gossip my second year that you and the Zabini girl had a fling."
He looked at me with his eyebrows high up in his forehead, his mouth slightly open. Even with a shocked expression on his face, he was still utterly good looking. But I needed to ignore that for now. "You really believe that I would go after Zabini? First of all, she followed me, not the other way around. And the only reason she started those lies was because I threatened to tell all her new friends that she wasn't truly pureblood, as she had tried to claim. I knew she was Muggle-born from the sight of her. But there was never any fling."
I tried to hold my laughter in, finding it so strange to hear Tom argue about some school drama. I accidentally let out a small snort, imagining teenager Tom telling off Shmi Zabini. She had moved from Africa with her older brother and was a coffee-skinned, lovely girl one year above me. However, in the beginning of our first couple of years, she assumed she was the queen bee. Her popularity rose even higher after she spilled those lies about her and Tom. It was when Tom's meetings became top priority did the girl slip onto the sidelines.
"What does your name mean? Eva?"
"My mother named me that – she said it meant 'life.' I was her life, she used to say. But, ultimately, I suppose I am the life-taker. She should have named me death." I let out a dry laugh, but tried to gain my composure. "Amora, however, was my grandmother's name. She was Aunt H's sister. She died before I was born; which was actually why I was born. My mother didn't have the courage to openly admit her relationship with a Muggle until her mother had passed away. I sometimes wonder if I would have been here if my grandmother didn't die young."
Tom, despite the fact he could have easily read my mind for the answer, looked at me with real curiosity and asked, "How old was she when she died?"
"Sixty, I believe. Everyone claimed it was because of a broken heart caused by my grandfather's death a year earlier. Very romantic, yet tragic all the same."
A cool rush of wind caught me off guard. We were still above the clouds, but the storm seemed to have subdued itself but below us was a floor of grey clouds with ground peeking through here and there. The breeze ended and Tom continued the conversation. "Would you want your romance to be tragic?"
I turned my head to stare at him with a simple look. "It already is."
He made a face, telling me I gave him the wrong answer. "If you weren't chasing after me. If I didn't exist."
"If you didn't exist," I whispered to myself. If Tom didn't exist, where would I be? Probably stuck in London, working some menial job at Diagon Alley. Rockwood would probably still be after me, but would I hate it as much? Sigh, yes I would. But I would most likely stay with him. That would certainly be a tragedy but not a romance. I don't believe I could ever feel the way I feel about Tom towards anyone else. He was so special to me: if he didn't exist, I probably wouldn't either.
"If you didn't exist, Tom Riddle, I wouldn't want a romance at all. I either live with you or I don't live at all. You or nothing."
He laughed without smiling. "I hope you enjoy nothing."
I flew closer to him, trying to catch his beautiful grey eyes. "I wouldn't know. I have you now." I unconsciously smiled at him, happy with the truth of my words.
Tom started to rummage through his bag, obviously done with our conversation. He pulled out a book that was small in size yet thick in pages. He handed it over to me like it was garbage to take out. I grabbed it from him, stroking the cover, watching the title words fly around. The hardcover was dyed red, and the words "Magnetic Magic: An Empty Heart" written in gold fluttered across the book. "What is this?"
"A book, obviously."
I looked at him seriously as he burrowed through the bag again, probably to pull out a book of his own. "But why this book?"
I saw him shrug. "I just picked it up. It looked like something you would read, about love and the like. If you don't want it, I'll kindly take it back from you," he said not so kindly.
I grabbed the red book to my chest, as if he was going to pry it away from me. "No, it's just fine. Thank you my lord."
I flipped through the first pages, slightly watching Tom pull out a much larger book with a banded leather cover. He had to speak a spell to open it properly. He didn't seem like he was in a good mood anymore, so I decided to keep my questions about that book to myself. As I read the first couple of sentences of my own, I realized this was not some sort of novel. A wizard, the author, had gone out to evaluate all of the Dark Arts and the wizards behind them to find what makes it so, as he put it, "magnetic."
"It is as if the words 'Dark Arts' has in themselves an embedded charm which, to the reader or the listener, makes themselves either fearful or attracted. The road one takes towards the pull does not matter. What lies in both the fear and attraction is the curiosity behind it. The Dark Arts is a world of unknown, and that is what causes us wizards pursue almost all of our efforts into it."
The author's writing style kept me engaged the entire time. Although he treated the Dark Arts like it was something of great importance, he was not necessarily a dark wizard. I felt his words to be very unbiased, which was refreshing compared to Tom's incessant love of all things dark magic. The first chapter explained what the Dark Arts were and the many myths around how they came about.
"No one expert is entirely devoted to one or all of these explanations for how the Arts originated. However, we do agree that in a time long ago, there was no separation of magic. I believe that even in this day, the line that separates the 'normal' magic and that of the Dark Arts can be and is very much blurred. For example, two sorts of wizards are allowed the use of the killing curse with very little to no consequences: Aurors and Dark Wizards; two very different ends of our social spectrum. And yet they are free to wield the deadliest curse known to man, (understanding that the 'punishment' that Dark Wizards can receive is easily avoidable if they are knowledgeable in their craft.)"
The second chapter delved into creatures of the Dark Arts. It was almost four times as long as the first chapter, but it was quite more fascinating. He discussed why there were certain "good" animals and certain "evil" ones. He explained that his theory about the magnetic curiosity of the Dark Arts is what contributes to the way we view those creatures: the ones we understand fully, their actions clear with meaning, are dubbed as good; whereas the creatures that do harm with no pure motive behind it boggle our minds and thus placed under the evil category.
I stopped reading after his quick discussion about how Dementors were a perfect example of the reasons why we do our unconscious categorization. I started thinking about our goal for the day. Tom had made all the plans, but I was very clueless about the whole ordeal. He was flying a good twenty feet away from me very into his own book.
"My lord?" I called out. He turned his head slightly, indicating he had heard me. I flew faster to be next to him. "My lord, you have not informed me on what exactly the plan is for tonight. I think it best if I was informed, at least on what my part is."
Tom snapped his leather bound book shut, shoving it in his bag, and gave me an "are-you-happy-now?" look. "I was going to tell you later, but with you, I suppose it's better to constantly bombard you with the idea." He ignored my perturbed face. "The first part is going to dictate how well we can accomplish the second. You and I are going to arrive to the entrance. There will be, if my assumptions are correct, two wizards, well trained I might add, guarding the entrance. You are going to say nothing while I hand them the warrant I created. Of course, that's just to distract them long enough for you to blast the bigger one. I'll handle the smaller one."
"Why do I have to deal with the big one? You're taller than me."
"The bigger one is always slower, believe me. He will be no match to a well prepared stun spell." Tom cleared his throat, and then continued. "After we have them incapacitated, you guard them, making sure they don't wake up, and I'll get the brothers. I'll also stop by to make arrangements with the head Dementor. Let's hope to Merlin that no Ministry officials decide to visit tonight as well."
For the next nine or so hours, the two of us would talk sporadically, read our books, or just stare off into the sky. We were able to finish the small lunch I made as well, and decided to keep the snack for the return back. Tom had repeated the plan, and also made me recite it back to him, quite enough times. We were hoping for no problems tonight. Once we reached the Baltic Sea, I was much more tired than I had expected. The sea was dark and dreary, waves crashing high, and the smell of a storm on the horizon. It was an omen; but whether it was good or bad, I couldn't tell. I followed Tom as we lowered our brooms towards the ocean. The salty, wet air sprayed my face.
I looked to Tom, and I found him already staring at me. He yelled over the crashing of the waves, "Azkaban should be within our sights relatively soon. Can you maneuver a quick cloaking spell on your sack?"
I pulled out my now damp wand from the pocket of my coat and looked at the potato sack laying behind me. I turned back to Tom and nodded. "I believe so," I yelled back.
He nodded as well, and turned to cast his own spell. I followed the gesture and the sacks disappeared. In the next moment, a black fortress appeared a couple miles away in the distance. The closing in storm didn't help me feel any better. I heard Tom yell at me again, "Eva? Do you think you can make a Patronus?"
I made an exasperated noise that he couldn't have heard. "Well…I'm not exactly sure."
His eyes were frowning, "Just try Eva."
I glared at him. Why couldn't he make his own? Wand still in hand, I yelled out, trying to imagine very, very happy memories, "Expecto Patronum!"
To my surprise, and Tom's, a small, silvery mongoose eased its way out of my wand. The little creature whirled around my head then decided to cling onto the broom. I laughed at it. Tom's face was pleased. "Here," he said to me, handing me the bag that he held around his shoulder the duration of the flight, "Wear this for me." I obeyed, throwing around my own shoulders.
We were almost fifty feet away from the building when I saw a part of the fortress' black walls jumble apart like building blocks. It made a perfect opening for Tom and me to fly into. We landed on black stone flooring. In fact, everything was fashioned out of one giant onyx stone. The opening was a few feet taller than us. We were in some sort of dimly lit hallway. At least it was dryer than it was flying over the ocean. My heels clicked on the stone as we walked further. The stone entrance scraped and closed behind us. There was no light source, yet I could see things as clear as an overcast day. We continued walking, letting our brooms float next to us with the invisible sacks. Then the hallway opened to a bridge, created out of the same stone. On the other side was a landing with two very large doors carved into the inner fortress.
Tom made me walk in front of him as we crossed over the narrow bridge in the huge expansion. The roof of the ceiling seemed to extend into nothing, too high for me to imagine. Underneath the bridge was utter blackness; I became somewhat frightened of falling off since it was only a few feet wide. My mongoose strode confidently in front of me. As we eased our way into across the bridge, I saw the two guards that Tom warned me about standing on each side of the doors. A rush of cold swept across me. Although I did have my Patronus, there must have been too many Dementors here to prevent the side-effects. I stumbled a bit but caught myself before anything dangerous happened. I either slowed down or Tom read my fear, because he placed a hand on my shoulder, pushing me forward.
Soon, I was able to distinguish between the two guards and also see their Patronuses. The larger one, which was my target, was a man made more of muscle than anything else. He might have been almost forty or so with salt and pepper hair. He held a staff in his hand, probably a super-wand of some sorts, while the shape of a silver gorilla patrolling around him. The other guard, Tom's target, was also fit, but not as buff as the gorilla man. He had sandy hair and beady eyes and was also holding a staff. An eagle Patronus was resting on his shoulder, flapping its wings at us. Neither of them seemed pleased to see us.
As we walked upon the landing, Tom still behind me, they held out their staffs to block the door. "Halt!" commanded the smaller one. "By orders from the Ministry of Magic, only those with proper authorization are allowed upon the premises!"
Tom slide his way past me, flashing one of his oh-so charming smiles at the both of them. "My apologies. Here is the documentation you require. I am here on behalf of Tiberius Ogden of the Wizengamot to interview the two Selwyn boys."
The announcer grabbed the document Tom had forged earlier this morning and searched over. The muscular man demanded, "I need to look through your bags ma'am." I gave him Tom's leather bag and my basket, hoping that he wouldn't detect the invisible potato sacks.
We heard the fair-haired man with the certificate mumble, "This is strange. Second person today to come and see those men." I nervously went back to watching the large one say, "Aparecium," inside the bags to reveal anything we had hidden. I tried not to glance back at the brooms in case I would appear guilty looking.
Tom replied good-naturedly to the other guard, "I wouldn't be surprised. The Ministry departments never seem to communicate with each other. I've sent a couple of memo's myself to complain about double visitations. Still, I'm just following orders."
The large one had finished his searching and handed the basket and bag back to me. He still frowning at us, unsure of our presence while the fair-haired man was nodding agreeably to the document. He relaxed and handed the paperwork back to Tom. "Indus Selwyn is on floor 2, block C, room 10. Dorado Selwyn is on floor 1, block B, room 7. Wait, let me check on that." The man pulled out a long piece of parchment out of his robes. While he did so, I placed the back and basket onto the brooms and silently checked to make sure the bags were still invisible. The guard began mumbling, "Selwyn. Selwyn. Here, yes Indus is on floor 2, block C, room 10 but Dorado is on floor 7, block B, room 1 – I mixed up the numbers. Do you know you're way there? You look new."
The large man spoke, "I've never seen him before." Suddenly, his face glared suspiciously at Tom. "Where's your Patronus?"
My wide-eyed look caught Tom's nonchalant apperance. In the blink of an eye, I turned towards the thick man and yelled out "Stupify!" The red flash coming from my wand caught him off guard and knocked him to the ground, his staff clattering to the floor. At the same time, I heard Tom scream out, "Incarcerous Alarte!" I heard a muffled scream from the other man and spun around to see what Tom had done. The other guard was silently screaming as snakes wrapped themselves around his whole body. The more he squirmed, the tighter they coiled. Then I heard shuffling back where I had blasted the other man and saw my mongoose fighting with the other animals. Tom pointed his wand at the other two silvery creatures and destroyed them.
As quickly as we could, I helped Tom drag the two, now visible, sacks off the brooms and towards the doors. My mongoose flittered around me, almost eager to help but knowing he couldn't all the same. Tom placed both hands on the door frame, his wand in one, and whispered some incomprehensible spell. A clunking sound came from inside, and then the doors, like building blocks, shuffled themselves away. A blast of cold whooshed its way out. Moans and cries could be heard from the depths, and I became nervous. Even my Patronus couldn't stop the small amounts of fear trickling into me.
Tom cast the anti-Dementor spell we used before, and it was strange for me to be on the outside of it. It was like peering into a tinted window; I couldn't tell Tom's form very well, but I could still see his body moving around. Two catches of light appeared inside, and I saw the sacks transform into human bodies. Then Tom dragged the two dummies inside the inner hallway. He should have just used a floating charm, but I assumed he was too afraid that he might damage his life-casting spell. As he faded away down the hall, the massive doors stacked back up again, leaving me stuck in the outer hall with one unconscious guard, another one choking to death, and the silver mongoose.
"I doubt my lord would want you to die, so why don't we just let you go to sleep for now?" I told the choking guard. He tried to shake his head but it was no use as the snake wrapped tighter around his neck. "Stupify!" As he slunk to the floor, the large snakes peeled off of him and slithered towards me. I jumped around them as they crawled down the side of the cliff into the deep abyss below.
I had been waiting already fifteen minutes, and Tom still wasn't back. I had decided to sit on the floor with my knees to my chest between the two guards; my eyes switched back and forth between the two, knowing my stunning spells could wear off any minute. The mongoose simply flitted around, exploring the area. A couple times, he let me touch him, if only for a second. It felt very tingly. But I was growing impatient; something that I should never grow since it leads to either anger or worriment. This time, I was edging towards worry. Either something went wrong with Tom or he was taking his precious time.
The larger guard suddenly caught my attention as he fidgeted on the floor. I pointed my wand at him and cried, "Stupify!" I heard his head hit the wall with a crack. Perhaps I was saying the spell a little too hard.
Almost forty minutes had past and I was fretting. Our brooms were lying on the floor next to me. I had rolling them around in utter boredom, watching as my mongoose would hop over them. Between that and reading a few pages out of my book, I nervously listened for any sound of the door. Finally, I heard a clunk from the doors behind me. I pushed myself off the floor, grabbing the brooms in my hand as the doors slowly disappeared block by block into the walls. The Patronus soared around my head. Tom's protection spell was gone, and I saw his thin figure balance two other men on either side. The screams and darkness followed them as they emerged. Once his face became clearer, I could see he was less than happy having to bear most of their weight. However, once the three men were past the doorways, the Selwyn brothers seemed to have gained back their own strength.
It had been almost six years since I had seen either of them. Dorado, the older one, had become much brawnier than I remembered. To my surprise, I was almost a hair taller than him. His face had become harsher than it was during his school days. His dark hair had grown out to his shoulders, and he was unshaven. His eyes looked greedy as he realized he was finally free.
His brother, on the other hand, looked genuinely happy to simply be away from the Dementors. He had changed much more than Dorado. Indus lacked the mischievous look he always had at Hogwarts. It seemed in his years gone, he had matured somewhat. He was taller than both Tom and I, probably standing six feet or so. His straw colored hair was disheveled, but not as long as Dorado's. He seemed to be much thinner and paler than his brother. Azkaban had treated him much worse it seemed.
As I was overlooking the Selwyn brothers, I saw Tom crouching over the guards one at a time and pointing his wand to their foreheads, whispering something to each of them. He was modifying their memories so that they would not be able to describe who broke in. In fact, I believe he was making the story that we had never arrived. If everything went according to plan, which I was sure it would, the two potato sacks, which would seem to a Dementor or a human's untrained eye to be the Selwyn brothers, would eventually "die". Their "bodies" would be thrown out, and it would be like Indus and Dorado never existed.
As the brothers were realizing they were free from the horrors of Dementors, Tom walked over to me. "My lord, you took longer than expected. Did everything go according to plan?"
His eyes were dark, yet satisfied when he looked at me. "I had a difficult time finding the head Dementor. When I did find it, it seemed to be expecting me. Overall I believe it was impressed with the effort I made." I nodded in understanding as he grabbed the brooms from my hands. He started marching down the bridge and waved for the three of us to follow. I threw Tom's leather bag around my chest and held onto the basket of food in my hands. I let the brothers follow Tom before me, and as Dorado passed me he caught my eyes. He peered at me like I was the only woman he had ever seen before. It was a lecherous look. I frowned back at him, half wanting to hide from his glare and the other half wanting to hex him.
After walking carefully over the bridge and silently through the tunnel, we reached the end. The stone blocks jumbled open revealing the dark sky above and the grey ocean below. The storm I had seen almost an hour ago was now right above us. We were still protected by the fortress so the rain did no soak us. However the platform in front was being beaten by wind and rain, and an arctic wind blew through us and ran its way down the tunnel behind. Tom spoke loudly enough for them to hear over the thunder and waves, "It would be safest for both you to come with us instead of return to England. I would suggest you not go back until a year has been completed." They both nodded in response.
Tom continued, "I'm going to Apparate us back. I'll take you one at a time because cross-continent Apparating can result in splinching if there are too many parties." Tom was being modest since, in general, most wizards couldn't even do cross-country Apparating. He grabbed Dorado's arm first and with a loud pop they disappeared. Indus and I stayed quiet. He was looking into the ocean like it was a beautiful painting, admiring it from different angles. Watching him made me realize that I never wanted to be sent to Azkaban.
Tom returned with a crack, looking even more tired than before. He touched Indus's shoulder, and they Disapparated. I was by myself for much longer than I had been before. Almost five minutes had gone by and I was becoming worried. What if the guards woke up and Tom's memory charm hadn't worked? Was Tom too tired to come back? Didn't he know I couldn't Apparate to the cabin because of his Anti-Apparating charm?
After another minute of pure panic as I tried to think of what to do, I heard the comforting sound of Tom appearing in front of me. His handsome face was the most tired I had seen. It must take a lot of energy to keep Apparating back and forth. Wordlessly he touched my arm lightly and my surroundings were disappearing as we were squeezed to our destination by magic.
This time we landed in the main house. Indus was already lying down on the couch while Dorado was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table. Tom walked past me and fell into the bed, dead tired. He didn't even take off his shoes. Although I was very pleased to be home, we had never entertained guests before. "You have anything to eat?" came Dorado's raspy voice. I looked at him, and his made me feel exposed. I turned quickly so he wouldn't see me blush. It was not a blush like how Tom made me feel – quite opposite in fact. I really did not like the fact that we four would be sleeping here tonight, or this morning.
I quickly made some eggs and while they were cooking I handed him our snack of cheese and nuts. He devoured them within minutes, while Indus and Tom were fast asleep. Dorado saw that I only used two eggs and he demanded, "Six eggs – I'm starving!" After I cooked enough to his liking, I placed the overflowing plate of eggs in front of Dorado and went over to the bed. However he caught my arm in his thick, rough hand. I pulled away from him, but he held on tighter. "Who are you?" he asked in an interested yet gruff voice.
"I'm Eva – Eva Smith. You don't remember me?"
His eyebrows raised, and his face looked incredulous. He continued talking to me. "You have really grown Eva. Last time we saw you, you were still a bony little girl. But now look at you!" he laughed darkly. "You are actually a woman." Though his words may have been complimenting, I felt nothing but shivers go down my back. I didn't want him talking to me like that, and I turned myself around and walked towards the bed.
I heard him laugh louder. Then it turned into a chuckle as he began eating the eggs. I reached for my pajamas in a hurry then made my way into the bathroom before Dorado could talk to me further. I took a long bath although I was very tired. I just wanted to make sure that Dorado would be asleep by the time I exited.
I finally felt brave enough to exit after being in the bathroom for almost thirty minutes. As I slowly opened the door, the house was dark and it seemed like everyone was asleep. Dorado had found some blankets and was currently snoring at the foot of the sofa. I went over to the bed and gently pushed Tom over to give me room. He was still in deep sleep, so he just grunted and rolled over to his side. I let my head fall on to the pillow and within seconds I was fast asleep.
AN 9.2017 Hello, I just wanted to inform you that I removed a part of this chapter and replaced it. It was the future scene of Eva's green light vision. I'm so frustrated at myself by putting in these "vision" chapters because if I decide to change the future scene, I'm bound by what I wrote in prior chapters. But in this instance, I'm just going to take it out and replace it. I've put the original scene below to read if you are curious how it was before.
Happy readings, mrsk
-She was no longer young and innocent like she had started out to be. Her yellow hair was streaked with black stripes and her face had turned gaunt and white like she had not been out in the sun for years. A snide face had replaced the once joyful and happy expression. There were deep bags under her eyes, and her skin was clinging to the bones like a man gripping the edge of the cliff. Her dress was not the common green, cotton one she had sported so many years in Albania. Instead it was expensive, blue silk wizarding robes. The older Eva pushed herself away from Lord Voldemort as if she was disgusted by his touch. Her face turned into a repulsed frown which made Voldemort wonder what on earth happened. He didn't recognize himself when he held his arms out to grab her again, with or against her will. She threw his outstretched arms down and yelled, but no sound came out of her mouth.
A click of heels sounded from where the mirror was. Voldemort turned his gaze to the other Woman. Her face was dark but not angered. "This is what will happen if you don't choose. Fate has already chosen a path for you, but nothing is set in stone with Her. You can make a choice to change this," she pointed to Eva's now screaming face. All of Eva's actions were suddenly sped up as if she was having a seizure, and the other two could see she was fighting with an invisible person. It sickened Voldemort in a way that made him even more angry at himself for feeling anything but joy in her pain. Then she was kneeling on the floor, under an obvious Cruciartus curse. The Dark Lord looked back to the Lady, wanting this to stop. He had seen enough.
"Keep looking," she said in a harsh tone. Oddly, he obeyed. Eva's actions had been slowed down to normal, and she was still on the floor breathing hard, visibly upset. She looked up to her invisible torturer with tears in her eyes. Her mouth opened to speak but no sound came out. Eva picked herself up and started accusing the unseen person silently.
She suddenly turned, an audible laugh emitted from her, and she stared hard at Voldemort, as if there was no longer an invisible person causing her pain but only the flesh and blood of the Dark Lord. She spoke out again, but this time, her voice rang throughout the other-worldly chamber. "You don't care about anyone except yourself! You're a monster – and I won't let you continue."
While the Lady and Voldemort did nothing, a green flash appeared out of nowhere and struck Eva down onto the floor, dead before her body even made a thump. With a deep frown buried into his eyes, he swiveled around questioning the Woman, "What is the meaning of this?" His high pitched voice still caught him a bit off guard. Tom was still hidden behind the façade, and he was writhing in an unwelcomed pain from watching Eva die.-