Chapter Twenty-Five

A Changing of Seasons

Present Day

Days passed into weeks, weeks blending into months. Soon, the balmy summer had turned into bitter winter, and Alina was still stuck at Malfoy Manor.

Ever since the Dark Lord had possessed the Elder Wand, Alina saw him less and less. She waited patiently for his next arrival, always eager and ready for him. She would float around the manor house, bored and alone, except for the company of Nagini if the Dark Lord had not taken her with him.

Alina and the giant snake both yearned for him on the times he was gone, but kept each other company in his absence. They would explore the vast grounds, play trickster games on the other Death Eaters, or spend hours in Alina's bed, hissing at each other, Nagini's body entwined around her mother's.

Alina's mind was disordered. She knew that she wanted to be near Tom and to be with him, for she loved him, no matter what he appeared to her as.

Yet, she could not escape the beast he had become. Although, there was a growing darkness inside of Alina that she had called forth more than once, she still clung on to her innocent past self; the parts of her that liked to draw and to tease, the parts of her that would never hurt another person, the parts of her that had morals. Alina still held those parts of her in her mind, for they were her, no matter how good it felt to unleash the darkness she possessed. Indeed, Alina was also malicious if she wanted to be, was also dark like her lover at times. She could not condone his murders and other hideous crimes, but she did not want to leave him. She could not leave him, even if she wanted to.

So Alina spent her days living a half-life. Half alone, half with the Dark Lord. Half of her lightness, half of her darkness. She was at a war within herself, not knowing how long it would last.

When the Dark Lord did stopover Alina was elated. On one such visit, Alina was presented with a gift. It was rose-water hand lotion.

They sat on the bed in their room at Malfoy Manor as Alina fingered the dainty bottle. She opened the cap to take in an excited sniff and sighed in pleasure. Alina rubbed a small amount of the floral-scented cream onto her graceful, slim hands, savouring the sensation and smell. Alina would forever have had a bottle next to her nightstand, ritually applying the lotion to her skin nearly every night. Tom had always associated the smell of roses with Alina.

She was touched that he had remembered her preference for the ointment from when they were younger.

Indeed, Alina spent the rest of the night thanking him for it.

One night, he brushed her silver blonde hair in a true sign of shared intimacy. Lord Voldemort had watched her struggle to reach the knots lower down her back as he lounged on the opulent four-poster bed behind. He gave in to his body's demands with a frustrated hiss before tending to her sleek, yet slightly wavy golden tresses. Tom had always been obsessed with her locks, which now gleamed in the candle light like spun white gold.

Alina purred at his ministrations, relishing the feeling of his hands on her head. She tilted her neck backwards, pressing into his touch.

The Dark Lord ran his long fingers through the strands of her fine hair over and over, long after he had put down the hairbrush.

Wormtail cowered under a thick shrub, its brambles tearing at his clothes, but he hardly cared; too wrapped up on the scene he was witnessing. He was spying on the Dark Lord. He knew he should go away before he was caught and punished, but he could help his twisted curiosity. He shivered in the cool nighttime air, but his eyes were too enraptured.

Earlier on that night, the man who had once been called Peter Pettigrew had observed his lord and master slink out into the darkness of the woods with his petite, shining companion. Wormtail knew he should not trail them, but his rat-like body had twitched and he had followed the dark couple.

Now, he watched on fascinatingly as Alina pleasured his sinister master.

From his vantage point in the tangled bush, he could tell that she was nude but his view was of her backside and he could not see much of her young body, much to his disappointment.

Alina was sitting atop the Dark Lord, moving her sensual body in its full naked glory dreamily against his, her silver-blonde hair cascading down her arched back at each languid thrust.

Wormtail watched as the Dark Lord tore his upper body off the snow-covered forest floor to grab the back of her silver head in a dominant, hungry kiss, before leaning back down and smiling at her, revelling at the sounds of her breathy moans and occasional little yelps.

The Dark Lord's grime-caked, sharp nails dug into her plush bottom, sending rivets of dark red blood streaking over her pale skin.

Wormtail scurried away before seeing anymore, too scared of being reprimanded, and in slight shock and awe at what he had just witnessed.

The Dark Lord had called his most loyal and ruthless Death Eaters for another meeting at Malfoy Manor.

Alina was sitting down next to him on his right-hand side, much to the displeasure and confusion of some of his troops. She sat there regally in black cloak that was done all the way up to her throat. Her blonde hair was plaited down over one shoulder, a glowing contrast to her dark demeanour and dark company.

Lord Voldemort was busy scheming and plotting. His strategic talks filled the room, whilst his Death Eaters tried to provide useful suggestions, all the while eying the Elder Wand in his right hand apprehensively and in wonder. One of the Death Eaters, Yaxley Alina thought he was called, suggested something that the Dark Lord did not heed or like. Alina remembered how the stoat man had grabbed her hair that first day and how Tom had hated him immensely ever since. Every time Yaxley spoke up, she noticed her friend's hands digging into the chair, hardly restraining himself from hexing him.

The Dark Lord had no such restraint now.

"Why do you constantly provide ridiculous suggestions, Yaxley?" His malicious voice slithered across the table to the poor man, who was now shaking in fright. "Don't you have a brain?"

Before Yaxley could utter a word in his defence, if he was stupid enough to talk back to the Dark Lord, he once again fell from his high-backed chair in disgrace.

The onlookers in the room watched uneasily as Yaxley was crucio-ed over and over again. There was no reprieve for him. He screamed out in absolute agony as he endured the torture curse. His body bent unnaturally and his facial muscles had no restraint as to what he looked like. True anguish spread across his features. Alina did not dare look away, like some of the others did, knowing the Dark Lord would be mad at her later if she had.

The Dark Lord halted his movements, the Elder Wand slashing back down to his side. He was hardly out of breath, so used to enacting such a powerful curse.

"Take this poor excuse for a man out of my sight," he hissed to the room malevolently. A couple of Death Eaters sitting nearby Yaxley's now unconscious form dragged him out of the room to where Wormtail was waiting outside before returning to the meeting.

The Dark Lord was quiet and every one, including Alina, waited for him to say something. Alina could not help but look back into the past. Whenever Tom was upset or agitated, like the time he thought Professor Dumbledore had come to the orphanage to take Alina away from him, Alina would only have to place her hand on his arm to sooth him. Her presence had always calmed Tom down, even in his most darkest of moments.

Now, it seemed like Alina's presence did more than comfort the Dark Lord.

Lord Voldemort cast his eyes to hers, sitting down next to him. Alina met his gaze and knew he was about to do something alarming once again. There was a taste of brutality in the air that would not subside. The Dark Lord was always dangerous when this black, sadistic mood of his would surface.

"Yaxley is weak," he said conversationally, his eyes on Alina as he spoke. Although his tone was casual, Alina could feel the vehement emotions stirring through their bond. "Shall we show them, Alina, what it means to be superior?"

Alina could see which direction his cruel thoughts were taking him. She hardly had time to gasp out a, "Don't you dare!", in Parseltongue before he used the cruciatus curse on her as well. The Dark Lord held her very still as she orgasmed at his torturous spell, but made sure no sounds erupted from her throat to betray her. Lord Voldemort preferred it that way, as he did not want other eyes in the room seeing how intimately her body reacted to his dreadful hex.

The Dark Lord said crucio again and again, but Alina did not appear to be in any pain. Instead, a rueful smile lit up her beautiful face and her eyes half closed in delight.

Lord Voldemort halted the curse, which had lasted a lot longer than the one he had inflicted on Yaxley.

His hand reached up to hold Alina's face dearly before speaking out to the Death Eaters watching the exchange, "I have trained Alina well."

All the occupants in the room were in absolute shock that Alina could not feel pain from the most fearfully macabre torture curse in sorcery. The Dark Lord only had eyes for Alina as he watched the anger and bliss light up her eyes in equal measure. He laughed. The sound was chilling and everyone shuddered at the high sound. Everyone, except for Alina.

Lord Voldemort finally turned back to the meeting to discuss the whereabouts of Potter and his friends, as if none of the torture had ever happened. Alina squirmed in her seat, wanting out of this room, so that she could clean herself up, but not daring to when Tom was in such a mood.

The Dark Lord seemed to think Godric's Hollow might be a location Harry Potter could visit. "For sentimental reasons," he sneered at his troops, who all guffawed at his words. Nagini arrived in the room, as if summonsed, and she probably was. The large snake twined her serpentine form around Alina, draped like poison ivy. Lord Voldemort watched his two girls, wanting to be alone with them, but knowing he could not lose sight of his goals, he could not have them as distractions.

He whispered instructions to Nagini. Alina's body tightened at his words. The Dark Lord was sending his snake to Godric's Hollow, to lie in wait for the Potter boy in the home of Bathilda Bagshot. It was a trap and Alina shivered, knowing that Harry would not have a chance against Alina's serpentine companion.

Alina watched on wretchedly as Nagini was sent from the room, sad to see her friend go.

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