Chapter 6: "You too...?"
Cold sweat trickled down Leena's back as she stared down at her left arm. The mark was black and clear as night: A skull with a snake slithering out of its mouth, like a horrific travesty of a tongue. And it hurt like her arm had a piece of hot metal on it constantly. She flung back the bedcovers and leapt out of bed, full awake and thoroughly frightened; what did it mean? She started to creep towards the door, expecting something else to happen. Of course, nothing did, but she still had every nerve keyed as she tiptoed backward down the hall to the bathroom. Her shoulders started to ache from the constant strain of clenched muscles, but there was nothing she could do about that. *BANG* and muffled screeches flew from each of the twin's mouths. A tangle of arms, legs, and mingled hair could be found collapsed in the middle of the hall and Annie was the one to discover it. "What on earth are you doing?" she hissed, as two pairs of bright eyes peered up at her. "I wanted a drink of water, got a problem with that?" Leena snapped, surprising even herself. Annie glowered at her. "No I don't have a problem with it, but I do want to know why both of you were skulking out in the hallway and then decided to scream outside my door at..." she glanced at her watch "...11:30."
Mina disentangled herself from the mess of arms and legs, then said softly," I wanted to go outside for some fresh air and I bumped into Leena. My apologies." Leena was still sitting on the floor, hiding her left arm in the darkness. "Maybe you should watch where you're going next time, Mina..." she said peevishly. "Maybe some one *ahem* shouldn't wear black at night, so they might be a little more visible," Mina lashed back. "GIRLS!" Annie snarled, silencing both with a blistering stare, "It's almost midnight. Get to bed and don't let me catch you out of it again tonight. One more day of school and you can't even wait until morning to start another fight." Leena leapt off the floor and flounced to her room, cascades of raven hair swirling. Mina took one last look at Annie's countenance and slunk along the corridor until she heard the door close. Then she did a turn-about and dashed to Leena's room, closing the door behind her. She found Leena sitting in the window, bathed in moonlight, examining a horrific mark on her arm. When Leena looked up in surprise, the expression on her face was no less terrible.
***
Leena had reacted so fast that she almost was unaware of her actions. She flew across the room, caught Mina's arm, twisted it around behind her back, and clutched Mina's throat in the other hand, so that Mina was pinned helplessly against the wall. Leena put her face right next to Mina's and whispered, "What the hell are you doing?!?" She loosened her grip on Mina's throat to allow her to speak. Mina choked out in anger, "I had a dream to talk to you about, that's all. Lemme go!" Leena dropped her vice-like hold and stepped back, snatching up her sweatshirt to pull on to hide the mark. Mina rubbed the back of her throat and shook her golden head. "You always were the one to over-react, Leena...This dream I had was odd, to say the least. It had to do with wizards, a huge cauldron, two boys, and a graveyard." Leena sank onto the bed in disbelief as she heard the description of her dream she had tonight. Leena croaked, "Were the two men of different height? With the short one pushing the cauldron?" "Yes they were...how did you know that it was just two men?" Mina asked shrewdly, "I only said that there were two boys." Leena pressed farther on. "Was one boy tall with brown hair and the other short with black hair and glasses?" Mina nodded, also sinking to sit in the bed. "Was the tall one" Leena gulped "killed?" Mina nodded again, then asked, "Did the short boy get tied to a headstone that had Tom Riddle on it?" Leena nodded, looking worried and frightened. "This is so weird... We had the same dream."
Mina chewed her bottom lip, causing it to bleed. "Oh, crap, I forgot for the moment..." She fumbled around, looking for a tissue in her pocket. Leena raised an eyebrow and said in hushed tones, "Your teeth are still that sharp? I thought you grew out of that." Mina ran her tongue over her canines, which were quite a bit longer than the usual standards. Leena was in the opinion that Mina was a bloodsucker at heart; her fangs (for that was the only suitable word to use) were certainly long and sharp enough for one to think so. 'Come to think of it, my own teeth are longer and sharper than everyone else's, as well,' she thought with only half her mind. The other half was debating whether she should tell Mina about the mark on the short man's arm and the one on her own. She decided against it, leaving well enough alone for now. Mina brought up the subject of the dream again, saying, "The part that I woke up at was when that white man with red eyes pushed the short man's arm and the mark turned black." She peered searchingly at Leena, leaving the question unasked: Do you have that mark on your arm as well? Leena got a closed look on her face as she replied shortly, "That's when I woke up, too. Can we discuss this in the morning? I have a headache and sleep would help it." Mina nodded for the last time and stole silently away to her own room to ponder the nights events.
***
Meanwhile, 3,000 miles away, the boy with the lightening-shaped scar on his forehead was in the competition for his life. He clutched the tall boy's body and Summoned the trophy to his hand, leaving behind the frightful "Man with the Red Eyes" shrieking in rage and his band of Death Eaters milling around. Lord Voldemort lived again and was out for blood.
***
Voldemort was pacing like a caged panther, nostrils flared and eyes flaming through the darkness. His plan had foiled, yet again, by that dreadful Potter boy, yet again. He took his wrath out on each Death Eater for the simple act of venting, but it didn't help in the slightest. His rage was so great, the Cruciatus Curse was ten times worse than it usually was. Each Dark Mark bled after its owner had the curse preformed on them. Lucius Malfoy quickly healed his arm and then stepped forward as the Dark Lord went back to pacing. "Master...what of the project that you had planned the last time you were with us?" he asked hesitantly. Voldemort stopped pacing and a slow smile spread itself across the blank face. "Lucius, I think you unlocked the door on my recent predicament...This could very well be the solution. You are to draft a letter to them and say that 'after long last, their father has found them and wants them to come live with him in England, immediately, no questions asked. Everything will be answered when they arrive at the Manor'. Send it tonight and you will collect them in two days; they'll play an important role..." Voldemort turned back to the rest of the circle and spoke harshly to them: "Those of you good enough to remember the magnificent plan that I disclosed to only two Death Eaters? Now I'm ready to tell all of you. I had a pair of twins made as an experiment from gene-splicing 15 years ago, just this past month. June 6, to be exact, was when they were born. I had the twin girls placed in a surrogate home to be brought up-" He was cut off by a swish of a cloak and a faint pop, by a straggler Death Eater. "CRUCIO!!!!!" Voldemort shrieked, anger boiling in his eyes once more.
The screams that were heard were the most terrible of the night of torturing so far. Voldemort lifted his wand after 5 minutes, still seething, nostrils dilated in fury at being interrupted. The broken figure on the ground was quaking madly and was hesitant about getting up. A ripple of restlessness waved through the Dark Circle at the figure crouched on the ground started to get groggily to its feet, breathing hard and swaying. Voldemort walked over to the figure slowly, cocking his head suspiciously as the figure approached him, then kissed the hem to his robe. "You're late, Severus..." Voldemort snapped, "I would have had you killed in a fortnight had you not returned home." The hooded figured bowed his head at his words, mumbling in a shuddering voice, "I was at Hogwarts and could only just get away now. The whole school is in a seizure over the death of Cedric Diggory. It's chaos over there and I had to sneak to Hogsmeade to-" But his words were broken off as he was flung against the headstone of Tom Riddle with a sickening crack. The crumpled heap twitched ever so slightly as Voldemort turned back to the rest of the Circle. "Let this be an example of the minimum punishment that I will inflict you with should you be late for any reason at all. Rise up and take your place while I go on with my explanation. As I was saying before, the twins were placed in another home to learn specific skills. They are ready to come home and you are to treat them with the same respect that you treat me with, as they are my heirs. So you can identify them when you go to retrieve them..." He raised his wand and a blossom of light sprung out of the tip, growing as large as the forgotten cauldron. A picture of a girl pacing her room late at night, raven hair flying as she swung around, appeared. Severus gasped softly as he recognized Leena, his daughter, who was now almost a carbon copy of him: She had the same thin face, delicate cheekbones, and cold, brooding eyes as he did. She also had the vampire's fangs, by the looks of it, but the look of rage on her pale visage was completely from Voldemort himself. "This is Leena..."the picture changed to a golden haired girl, sitting troubled on the bed, "...and this is Mina." 'The girl has Draco's appearance almost exactly,' Lucius thought, brow furrowed. It was true, she had the same freezing slate-grey eyes, same face, but with softer lines. The hair was quite a bit darker and as she chewed her lip again, the sharp teeth were visible to the Circle. The unreadable look on her face was yet again recognisable as one of Voldemort's expressions.
The Dark Lord clapped his hands once and the light went out, sending them all into darkness once again. Voldemort had obviously calmed down a great deal as he was no longer pacing. As the night went on, the plans were carefully laid in full as to how the retrieval of the Riddle Twins was to go, business transactions on buying the Riddle House in Little Hangleton were set and ready to be signed the next day, and Voldemort was growing anxious. The next two days were imperative. Lucius would have to be quick tomorrow, if he planned to question Annie. Lucius signaled that the letter to the twins was done and he was ready to deliver it. "Severus, I want a word with you. Remain here when the others leave," Voldemort said in a dangerously soft voice, "You too, Lucius..." To the others, he said in a triumphant voice, "The trap is set, this meeting is over! I shall call you when the time comes for my daughters to return home to me. Disperse!" He turned back to the two left behind. Wormtail set about cleaning up the debris around the grave, trying to be inconspicuous. "Lucius, go to Annika's house and leave the letter with the morning paper. Stay for the day to question her and to poke around the girls' rooms for indicators of their personalities, likes, dislikes, and hobbies. Go now, it's nearly midnight." Lucius bowed low and Dissaparated. Voldemort turned his eyes to Severus, who stood more than a head taller and was quite an imposing figure to behold, but Voldemort could see that he was frightened. Inwardly he laughed at the towering figure before him. No doubt he thought that more pain and punishment were in store. Lucky for him that they weren't, for now. "I understand that you can't drop everything and run to my side the instant I call simply because of where you are positioned. However, tonight should have been an exception. This was the first meeting back and you should have come immediately. I expect better service in the summer and in the future. Understood?" Voldemort said in clipped, icy tones. Severus muttered back a response, shoulders hunched. Voldemort raised an eyebrow, then watched his pet snake, Nagini, circling the two of them, hissing softly. Severus watched also as she circled incessantly in the grass, tongue flicking in and out occasionally. "Come to Riddle House in two days time; I'll have a mission for you then," Voldemort said with the same iciness as before. "Yes, my Lord," Severus muttered, bowing low, then he too Dissaparated with a swish of the black cloak.