AN: oh I had fun with this chapter!
Chapter 29: Let me tell you something
I am not a snowflake. I am not a sweet, infantilising symbol of fragility and life. I am a strong, fierce, flawed adult woman. I plan to remain that way, in life and in death. - Stella Young
Joelle frowned upon the words she read in the diary. Tom wanted to show her something. But what was it? Just when his words sank into the paper, the pages started to turn over quickly. Joelle glanced up to see a date appearing at the topmost corner. 26th of January 1943.
And then Joelle fell.
She screamed and called out Tom's name, she fell and fell and fell - but landed softly on the ground. Her heart raced so fast against her chest that she thought it would stop beating any moment. She glanced up to see where she had fallen out of, then looked around with startled eyes. Joelle wasn't in the hotel anymore. This room, but yes, of course; this was the Slytherin common room. Joelle rubbed a hand through her hair, she got up from the cold floor, wondering where to walk off to; her first idea was to see Dumbledore again, but just then she heard voices.
"Unbelievable! The jinx was so effective!" Said a male voice. Joelle bent her head closer to the scene. It was Lestrange. But he looked different. And there! Could it be? Was that Tom? He looked slightly younger and was followed by the rest of the gang.
"Marvolo?" Joelle asked in disbelief when the guys sat down on the couches, ignoring Joelle.
"Marvolo! Speak to me right now! What's going on?!" Joelle yelled, but nobody even seemed to hear her; they merely continued talking all the while she tried to grasp their attention. Infuriated, Joelle got up and stood in front of Tom, trying to grab his collar to shake him, but her hands merely went through the fabric - as if he was a ghost. Joelle frowned and shook her head in disbelief again; she looked at Tom with eyes wide open. He really did not see her. This was indeed the past. This was 1943.
"Yes, good night. I will be off to check the castle for some students strolling around," said Tom to the others while the boys walked over to their dormitories. Tom kept sitting in the armchair, rubbing his chin in a thought before his cold eyes swept over to the door. He got up and marched out. Joelle followed hastily, it was difficult keeping up with Tom; he was quick and his long legs carried him further ahead than her shorter legs could.
Tom glanced to the left and right as he walked upstairs to the first corridor in the darkness, some torches lit up the castle sparingly. Only now Joelle noticed that Tom was carrying a large book with a heavy leather cover and something that looked like a green serpent printed on it. Tom leaned closer to the walls, the firelight reflected a red gleam in his eyes as his face contorted into a beastly grin; it was as though he was hearing something while his hands moved around the bricks, feeling them up, as if he was looking for a secret door. Joelle shook her head, wanting to ask what he was doing but even before she realized that Tom couldn't respond to her anyway, she heard some strange sounds coming from his lips. They sounded like hissing; an ugly, foreign language. And then he was quiet, his eyes glanced to the left and right, he was waiting for an answer it seemed. Whatever it was, Joelle heard nothing, but Tom acted like somebody was responding - he nodded and grinned more.
Was Tom possessed by a demon? Did demons really exist? Could it be? Was that the language of a fallen angel? It would explain the red gleam in Tom's eyes - it would explain his possessive and obsessive nature, everything. Just when Joelle was sure that her conclusion was right, Tom walked into a room. Looking around, Joelle realized it was the girl's lavatory.
What a stalker. Joelle shook her head. Tom never cared much about privacy; maybe he heard a specific girl outside and wanted to meet her here. Even though the toilet did not exactly seem like a nice place for a date, it was probably one of the few places where students could be alone at night. And the strange sounds were their secret language. So Tom wasn't possessed by a demon. He was in love. Easy as that.
But where was the girl? Joelle glanced into all cabins - nobody was there. She spun around to Tom and backed away when he was right behind and walked through her, causing Joelle to yelp in shock. He seemed to look for someone. Or something. Whatever it was, he must have found it somewhere near the the hand basin; his hands reached out to the with snakes decorated water tap. Joelle stood right next to Tom when he touched it and his eyes lit up once more before he stepped away. And then there were these strange sounds once more. Joelle crossed her arms, trying to shield herself from whatever happened right now. Her eyes widened when the hand basin and mirrors moved to the side, revealing a dark hole in the ground. She gasped when Tom stepped closer; she tried to tell him not to go there, but of course it was pointless. Not only because Tom could not hear her, but because he seemed most pleased and determined to go exactly where the darkness may lead him. He pulled out his wand and whispered "Lumos", causing light to shine from the tip of his wand, showing that it was some kind of tube or pipe; impossible to simply climb down. But then he was gone. Joelle gasped when Tom simply jumped as if that couldn't mean his death - she looked to the left and right in hope to see him next to her any second, but that was not the case.
She reminded herself. This wasn't real. Joelle couldn't really be hurt. She inhaled deeply, then simply sat by the hole and slid down, screaming loudly all the way through the pipe. She landed in a cemetery of little animal skeletons and quickly jumped up to dust herself off, but nothing really stuck to her body. She glanced around and saw Tom standing right in front of her with his back, his wand resting loosely in his hands as he made these strange sounds again. Something like a big gate opened and when it did, it revealed a large, dark hall-like place with snake statues and columns in a water-surrounding. The most prominent detail was a stone statue in the back of the room; an old bearded man with empty eyes. It was gigantic. Joelle rubbed her arm in discomfort, wanting to get out of this place, wanting somebody to pick her up. She watched how Tom walked around and inspected the stony, wet place, his wand still shining, the water reflecting its light. And then Tom suddenly turned around.
"I know you will be seeing this one day, Joelle," said Tom. Joelle gasped, wanting to call out to him again but Tom merely went on. He did not look at her; she was not exactly there after all.
"Certainly you must be wondering about what you have witnessed until now. I found the book in a very interesting store that I seek to work for after school. The book read that Salazar Slytherin left the school behind with a chamber that can only be opened by his true heir. Would you like to guess where you are? Well, we will see how far I can go now," Tom looked around again, his normal speech replaced by the strange hissing sounds from earlier. Joelle just stood there with a shocked expression when suddenly, the eyes of the statue in the back of the room lit up with the familiar red gleam that she so often saw in Tom's eyes these days - the statue's mouth opened slowly. Joelle gasped, but just before she could see what came out of its mouth, she found herself ripped back into reality. She screamed when Tom grasped her shoulders tightly.
"Enough to satisfy your curiosity, my dear?" Tom asked dryly. It took Joelle a few seconds to realize that she was in the hotel room again. She glanced over to the diary's open but empty page, then back at Tom.
"What did you find there? What happened after the statue opened its mouth?" Joelle asked, still panting. Tom shook his head.
"I found what my ancestor has left me to find."
"But how did you even know it was there? The chamber?"
"Do you remember when we sat in the library and I have been very unfocused because I seemed to hear something?" Tom asked. "Or when I so often abruptly stopped in front of the girl's lavatory?"
Joelle closed her eyes and tried to remember, but couldn't recall at first; then after a while she nodded. Yes, it happened sometimes.
"Can you imagine what kind of voice I have been hearing?" Tom asked. "It whispered."
"Did you hear a snake? Or...perhaps Slytherin's ghost? If he could speak the same language, and l mean, ghosts exist-"
Tom interrupted her with a chuckle. He shook his head. "Now, that was cute," he said. Joelle blushed. "I'll leave the detective stuff to Bryan..." She murmured. Tom's face hardened upon the mentioning of Bryan's name, he cleared his throat.
"Why didn't you show me the whole memory?" Joelle then asked.
"Not even I was sure if it could kill you or not...I did not want to risk it. I knew what was waiting there for me."
"But nothing of it was real - I mean for me. So nothing would have happened."
"It's not that simple in that case, Joelle," said Tom, but he could clearly see the curiosity glowing in Joelle's eyes.
"But what was in there? Why won't you at least tell me?" Joelle grumbled with a disappointed tone.
"Are you pouting?" Tom asked. Joelle scoffed and looked away, but she got nervous when Tom scooted closer to her. She quickly wanted to continue talking so to not leave enough space between them for something else. The atmosphere turned from frosty cold to unbearably warm out of nowhere.
"You knew we would meet again..." Joelle whispered. "You always knew..."
"I never doubted it," Tom whispered back. Joelle felt his breath on her neck, causing her to quickly shake her head in a shudder.
"You didn't want me to come with you today because you knew I would try to find the diary," said Joelle. Tom started to smirk faintly, he looked down into her eyes and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
"Very observant," he said.
"Did you find what you were looking for today?" Joelle asked, but Tom shook his head.
"I scanned the southern region of the forest today. Nothing. You will come with me tomorrow, we will check the west. I'm positive to find it then," he said and got up, nudging his chin to a plate. "Eat something."
It was already late in the afternoon when Joelle checked the time; around ten. Tom and Joelle both sat on bed. There were some more questions in her head now that the both of them talked again; still yet, none of these questions seemed addressable. Tom was always so annoyed upon hearing a certain name - but they had a deal, after all. He had to cope with her questions.
"Marvolo," Joelle started so to grasp Tom's sincere attention. "I need to ask about Bry-"
"All taken care of," interrupted Tom, but his stern gaze seemed to bore into Joelle's, daring her to ask along. Joelle didn't. She left him alone to read again. Her eyes fell out of the window, then to Tom. Joelle wasn't necessarily bored but enormously clueless about her future, which caused her a lot of mental strength to ignore.
"Hey uhm, how was it even possible for me to see you in the diary?" Joelle asked. Tom closed the book, he stared at her for a few seconds, maybe thinking about punishing her for interrupting him once more, but he sat upright and put the book aside. Joelle did not know why, but she felt a tad better having his unshared attention.
"I preserved a part of me in the diary when I was sixteen," said Tom.
"Did you visit the chamber often?" She asked. The corners of Tom's lips twitched up in slight amusement; Joelle wasn't sure if it was because of a memory or because of her question. He nodded.
"Yes. The rest of the usual pack and I used the chamber to practice magic," said Tom.
"Dark magic," added Joelle dryly, turning her face away. Tom did not respond.
"Why weren't you caught?" Joelle asked. "I've learned that the ministry can keep track of the spells that underage witches and wizards use."
"Slytherin himself taught his students in the chamber," said Tom, and at once Joelle knew what that meant. The ministry wasn't able to track any kind of magical activity that happened in the chamber, giving them plenty of opportunities to practice their dark arts. Her eyes swept over to Tom, he had one leg pulled up which his elbow rested on, he sat there so casually, a faint grin on his lips. He reached out to the nightstand, opened the drawer and pulled out a book that he dusted off and held out to Joelle. It was one of her beloved unicorn books. She wanted to smile at first, until she understood what Tom tried to tell her with this. Here, Joelle. Naive Joelle. Better read your unicorn books where the world is alright. I will take care of reality meanwhile.
Joelle narrowed her eyes - her gaze caught that of Tom and they stared at each other in a silent combat.
"Marvolo, how exactly did you know you could find me that day in the orphanage?" Joelle asked as they walked around the forest the next morning. Tom glanced at her, but his eyes wandered over to her exposed neck. He took off his green scarf and wrapped it around Joelle, not saying a word when his hands went into his pockets again and he continued walking. Joelle did not give up yet.
"I really wonder. Because nothing happened the past few years, I thought you had forgotten. I made sure to be gone whenever you were on summer break. I was in-"
"Bristol. With Bryan," said Tom. Joelle frowned but Tom merely stared ahead as he walked.
"Yes," she said, even though she knew it wasn't necessary to say anything now that Tom probably knew everything about her.
"Bryan and I-"
"Aren't dating, I know," finished Tom. Joelle frowned again.
"Quite in fact, I haven't been dating anyone since Bryan," Joelle looked ahead. She saw Tom's eyes narrowing in delight, a smirk on his lips. But it wasn't a mischievous kind of smirk. Did he know this as well?
"You knew that, right?" Joelle asked.
"But yes, I did," Tom purred. Joelle did not question how, Tom always kept his methods to himself - Joelle merely received he results. Strangely enough, Tom did continue to speak.
"Have you never wondered why no date lasted for long?" Tom asked, stretching his neck. Joelle's eyes widened.
"Or why it just did not work out with Bryan again? Never wondered why the bus was late, an accident got in the way, never wondered about the plenty of times that kept you from even receiving a single hug from another man?"
Joelle's lips parted, anger grew in her chest. "You...you cursed me?!"
"Hm. I would like to say used a jinx instead, sweet Joelle," said Tom, eyes flickering over to her to suppress any kind of plans to attack him.
"Is there something you did not control about me?!" Joelle hissed. "Something you did not know?!"
"Not everything about your life of course. As much as I tried. I tried to reach you for years, but couldn't. In my fifth year I asked headmaster Dippet's permission to be able to stay at Hogwarts so I didn't have to come to the orphanage where I would hopelessly wait and look for you for eight weeks. But I knew you came there...I felt your presence. Smelled your perfume. I knew you never left and only avoided me, because you had teamed up with Dumbledore."
"No-no, you don't understand-"
"Enough talking," said Tom, his eyes full of silent fury when he looked at her. Joelle frowned but decided to keep quiet for now. But then he stopped abruptly. Tom and Joelle stood in front a large tree that was easily as wide as six people.
"Here it is," Tom looked up to the tree. It radiated a lot of energy. Joelle had no idea how to describe it, but it felt like the tree invited her to philosophize; as if it enhanced her skills. One particular question ignited her thinking process: Why was Tom so talkative? This was very unlike him. On a second thought, it was not unlike him to plan ahead. It clicked once more. Tom told her these things because he could. Because no matter what Joelle could hear, it would not be enough to make a successful escape. Tom had her; and he had the confidence that it would remain like that. Joelle stared at him, trying to think no more about who Tom now was because she was still too focused on who he was not anymore.
"Joelle," Tom frowned when Joelle seemed to be somewhere else. He shook his head as he walked around the tree, looking for something. But it was Joelle who spotted it.
"The beauty lies in the detail," she said, pointing to the tiny Ravenclaw crest carved into the bark. Tom came closer with his eyes, narrowing them, then nodded, grinning widely as he stepped away. He tapped the tip of his wand onto the crest and the tree started to shake as though it shivered, causing Tom to stretch his arm out in front of Joelle in an instinctive urge of protection. The tree continued to shake until suddenly, there was a golden eagle on top of a branch.
It looked more like a decorative element, but nevertheless it was enough of a reason for Tom to move Joelle behind his back, his hand around her wrist. The eagle's eyes turned a sapphire blue. It looked down to Tom and Joelle.
"Wit without measure is man's greatest treasure. Two souls have arrived, but can you pass? I shall test you with a riddle."
"Oh I have enough riddle..." Murmured Joelle, causing Tom to nudge her with his elbow when the eagle spoke.
"A place we seek to flee,
but where we start.
A place that stops where it it begins.
A place of endless beauty, or imagined dread.
A place that we all will have met.
You may enter once you know. But one wrong answer will stop the show."
Tom frowned, crossing his arms, thinking for a while. He shook his head upon a lot of thoughts that came to his mind. Joelle looked up to the eagle. She opened her mouth to speak and Tom wanted to stop her, but the words have already left her lips.
"Death," she said. Tom's eyes were widened with rage, he grabbed her wrist firmly, hissing at her "we only had one go!" And the eagle spread its wings. Tom pointed to it and looked at Joelle to prove his point, he was about to yell, but the eagle did not fly. Instead, a part of the bark disappeared by raining down like feathers. A twinkling something was revealed behind the wood. Tom let go of Joelle's wrist, his eyes were shining in excitement. He reached in and grabbed it.
"A diadem?" Joelle asked. Tom seemed to be somewhere else when he stared at the piece of Ravenclaw history in his hand. His eyes flickered red, causing Joelle to step backwards. Tom looked demonic.
"Marvolo, let's-let's go back..." She whispered when Tom's eyes were fixed on her face, eyes narrowing steadily, lips curving up into a grin.
"Do you know what I'm holding here in my hand?" Tom asked. Joelle wanted to respond but Tom walked her against a tree. He stared into her eyes deeply, hot and damp breath dancing on Joelle's bottom lip, melting the coldness between them. But despite that being the case, Joelle still shuddered.
"Marvolo...Let's go..." She whispered. Tom kept staring, his eyes narrowed, but he nodded. Joelle glanced up into Tom's face in disbelief and fear. She did not know why it happened now but the urge to run activated in her core and brought her senses to life. She pushed past Tom, who, taken aback, stumbled to the side before he took off after running Joelle.
"It's pointless to run!" He called out to her. "Remember Bryan!" He added, but Joelle heard no more. She screamed for help and tried to dodge the spells that were shot at her but she was very fast. She had come to some sort of driveway by now and just when Tom was about to wave his wand at Joelle ahead of him, he saw how she ran into the arms of a man stepping out of a car. She pleaded under tears and pointed to Tom, then ripped the man ahead to the car and he got in, driving off with the loud screeching sound of the tires in Tom's ears when he casually stepped to the place where the car was. He sighed to himself and shook his head, chuckling lowly.
"Drive! Just drive!" Joelle yelped. The man kept on driving, he looked back into the mirror, but Joelle was so tense that she could not even dare to do that.
"Do you speak English?" She asked the man who was probably in his early thirties. He shook his head at her, responding in what Joelle guessed Albanian to be. They kept on driving together and all that Joelle could think of was how she just wanted to get as far away from Tom as possible. The man kept glancing at Joelle, he reached out his hand to rub her shoulder, smiling heartily. Joelle looked into his brown eyes and saw nothing but fatherly warmth in them. She could not help but to smile back. She did not know why, but she nodded at him. Maybe things would be alright.
"My name is Joelle," said Joelle slowly. The man nodded.
"Ah- my name,uh Tarik," he said and smiled once more. Joelle repeated his name, trying to pronounce it the same way he did.
"Musik?" He asked. Joelle nodded at him when the music started to play in the same language that she heard him speaking. There was some awkwardness because of the whole situation, but not for a single second did Joelle feel unsafe. Tarik had a very nice aura, and he possibly saved her life; a circumstance he may or may not be aware of.
Tarik and Joelle tried to make a simple conversation by drawing lines in the air or producing familiar sounds so they had a clearer reference. After a while, Tarik pointed to a picture of a woman and a child; Joelle smiled brightly. The three of them looked incredibly cute.
They drove for about an hour until they finally came to what looked like a village. Tarik said something to her again as he stopped the car in front of a house; Joelle looked to the left and right in confusion until she saw a sign that read "policia", and it was easy to guess what was inside. Tarik looked at her and smiled, saying something to her in Albanian and patted her shoulder to tell her to stay back or stay calm, whatever it was, he got out of the car and walked off.
Joelle observed her environment, the village was completely grey and very shabby and poor. She glanced around a little more hastily when even after five minutes, nothing happened. Nervousness grew in her. Joelle's legs wobbled up and down in some kind of coping mechanism, she rested her elbow on the side of the window, her hand shielding her eyes. She tried to calm down while she massaged the bridge of her nose. How crazy was her life? Joelle knew of people that experienced absolutely nothing for years - why did Joelle get so much of the thrill? She leaned back and cowered down a little, crossing her arms in discomfort and maybe even fear. Her eyes wandered from the very left of the scene, to the center, then to the very right - Tom.
Joelle screamed and pressed her back against the seat when the door flung open and Tom's hand instantly went to the back of Joelle's head where he grabbed her hair firmly while she screamed for help yet again, but Tom only ripped her over to the police station. He walked into the building with him and stopped in a small room that could be an office. Joelle screamed more when she saw some uniformed men on the ground, motionless, and most definitely dead.
"Marvolo, Marvolo, please! They're innocent!" Joelle pleaded but Tom shook his head and pressed the palm of his hand to her mouth.
"Shh. You don't want to miss our guest of honor, do you?" Tom chuckled and waved his wand so that the armchair in the distance turned around; Joelle stared right into the warm but scared eyes of Tarik, magically bound to the chair and silenced.
"Nwh, nwh!" Joelle screeched under Tom's the palm of Tom's hand, trying to wiggle free, but Tom kept her close to him.
"Now, I did not plan on showing you, my dear. But let me put into perspective why I needed the diadem..." Tom purred, then aimed his wand at Tarik who sat there with widened eyes that started to reflect green light - until the brown color died out and the warmth was replaced by coldness. Tears streamed down Joelle's cheeks when Tom turned her around to his face.
"He had to die," he said, wiping away her tears. Joelle shook her head. Tom pushed her down onto another chair, pulling out the diadem before he stared at Joelle for the longest while until he glanced over to the lifeless body of Tarik, then aimed his wand at the diadem and closed his eyes.
Joelle did not know what exactly she witnessed there but it looked like Tom had some sort of seizure; his head shot back and faced the ceiling, and then there was this dark nebula around him, creeping up in a forbidden dance while the diadem rustled on the surface of the desk. Tom's eyes glowed red for a moment just when the nebula sank into the diadem. Whatever ritual it was - it was done. Joelle sat there with round eyes, her lips were parted, nostrils widened. Tom walked over to her, kneeling down in front of her, resting his elbows in her lap.
"Always very troublesome to do that," he whispered. "Shhh. No. I am not angry. I know you ran because I did not provide you with enough answers. I deemed you unready to know. But now you will know everything."
"What-what did you do!" Joelle yelped.
"That, my dear, was the ritual of soul splitting. I have now sealed a part of my soul into the diadem of Ravenclaw. I have created another Horcrux."
"What! What for?!" Joelle yelped, but at this point, Tom had already picked her up and apparated back into Riddle manor with her; Joelle recognized the bedroom. He tucked her into the bed and something in him seemed even less human than before. He carried an aura that was purely evil. Tom smirked, rubbing her cheek with the back of his hand as he sat by the edge of the bed and pressed Joelle down.
"That part of me won't die," said Tom. Joelle frowned, not understanding a thing. He split his soul and put it into an object so he could stay alive?
"I don't understand, I don't understand! Then what's the soul binding for?! Why binding our souls?!" Joelle yelped. Tom chuckled, shaking his head at her. He leaned closer, eyes staring right through her very being.
"So you can stay with me," he whispered, pressing his lips against her out of nowhere. He kissed her hungrily, squeezing on her shoulders but his hand went to her hair, ripping her lips away from his mouth only to whisper against her.
"You will be immortal, Joelle."
