The Girl Who Loved Tom Riddle 6
Bad Omen
Disclaimer: I do not HP, but Sarah, all those other kids at the orphanage, Carrie Star and characters you would not see in the books are mine. On another note, I don't know how far medical science was the year Tom was born and I don't know if they had heart monitors and things like that or not so I'm using heart monitors anyway, to add more drama to when Tom's mother died.
For Christmas Holiday, Tom stayed at Hogwarts and learned all he could. Poor young Sarah did not understand why he didn't come to visit her for Christmas but tried not to let it bother her. 'He probably just made a lot of new friends,' she told herself quietly. A new girl named Elle came to live in the orphanage and became good friends with Sarah. Some young orphans were adopted, more where brought in and all these changes kept Sarah busy but her heart still ached for Tom. What was he doing over there in that magic school? Was he ever to busy to think of her?
"Oh Tom," she said. "Please...don't forget me while you're there."
--
Tom learned a lot at Hogwarts and worked hard, just like Mr. Paten told him. All the students in his house respected him for being the heir of Slytherin. The girls loved him—the boys envied him. Tom simply loved this. Since hearing the myth about the Chamber of Secrets, he tried finding everything he could on it and searched for the entrance.
It was the last week of Christmas Holiday and Tom took the opportunity to have a look around. A lot of students went home for the holidays and the halls were more deserted. While searching the castle, he found a mirror inside a room. As he got closer to the mirror, looking at his reflection, it changed. His dark brown eyes were the same in the mirror but then a lady with long straight and silky blond hair was looking back at him wearing dark green robes, a silver necklace with a snake dangling from the chain, and holding a wand. Tom tilted his head.
"Mother?"
The woman nodded, smiled and reached through the mirror to smooth Tom's hair and touch his face. Tom closed his eyes and smiled. Tom stayed at the mirror of Erised for what seemed like an eternity and he forgot about the Chamber of Secrets.
--
"I found something," Tom said to Alaric when he returned to the Slytherin room that day.
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?" Alaric inquired hopefully. "You found it?"
"No," Tom replied. "I found a mirror. I saw my mother in it."
"You saw your mother in a mirror?" He asked. "What kind of mirror was it?"
"It shows you things," Tom explained. "There was something written around it Erised stra erhru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."
Alaric looked at Tom as if he just went mad. "What the hell did you just say?"
"It was another language," Tom said irritably. "Latin probably."
"Sounds like you found the Mirror of Erised, Tom," Olive said, leaning toward him. "It shows you your innermost desires when you look into it. My father found it when he went here. It showed himself as Head Boy. What did it show you, Tom?"
"It showed me my mother," Tom said and Olive sighed.
"Oh, that's so nice…" she said.
"Your mother?" Alaric asked. "Why didn't it show you the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Shut up, Alaric!" Olive shouted. "He will find it someday. Tom never knew his mother and seeing her was a desire stronger than the Chamber of Secrets. That's really sweet, Tom. What did she look like?"
"She had my eyes," Tom replied. "And blond hair, tall, thin…real pretty."
"That's really nice," Olive smiled. "What was your mother's name?"
"I'm not sure," he answered with a shrug. "They never told me. She died right after she gave me my name…my no good muggle father's name…"
"I wonder why she gave you his name," Olive said.
"She was dying," Tom said, "she knew she was about to die…my mother didn't know what to name me."
"Maybe we can find out what her name is," Olive suggested. "I'm sure if she was your mother…she had to be really popular."
Alaric groaned and rolled his eyes. "How do we know that?"
"That's where he got the blood of Slytherin," Olive snapped. "Whoever Tom's mother was…she had Slytherin blood!"
Tom couldn't take this. He stood up. "I'm leaving."
"Tom, where are you going?" Olive asked. "Want me to go with you?"
"No," Tom replied. "I need to be alone."
"But…"
Before she could get another word out, Tom left the Slytherin Common Room. Olive sighed and narrowed her eyes at Alaric.
"What?" Alaric demanded.
"All you care about is finding the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" she hissed.
"Well, if I was the heir of Slytherin," Alaric muttered, "I would put in more of an effort. You can't even tell he's a real Slytherin."
"Of course Tom's a real Slytherin," Olive said, "He's the heir of Slytherin. He will find the Chamber of Secrets someday. I know Tom will. It will only be a matter of time. Maybe if he learns more about his mother, he'll find a way to find the Chamber of Secrets! Perhaps she left him clues! Would you give him a chance? The heir of Slytherin has lived in a muggle orphanage for all his life. Not everyone has the pleasure of living in a mansion, you know!" She stormed out of the dormitory to try and find Tom.
As Tom was walking down the halls, he heard a voice call to him. "Tom, over here…Tom…"
"Who said that?" Tom inquired.
He heard the voice again. It sounded like a woman's voice coming from the trophy room. Curious, Tom followed it and answered it back.
"Hello, anyone in here?" Tom asked, looking around the trophy room.
"This way, Tom…here…"
The trophy room was empty but he could've sworn he heard a voice coming from it. He walked around, looking at the different awards. There was a plaque on the wall the read Inner Eye Award with the engraving of eye underneath the words. One of the names flashed as the voice spoke. Carrie Star.
"Tom…Tom…"
"Inner Eye Award?" Tom mumbled, touching the flashing name. The voice got louder as he reached it and then he saw something, heard something that happened when his mother was a student here.
--
"Carrie Star," voiced the professor, standing over the opening of the trap door.
Carrie took a deep breath, climbed the ladder and waited by the door as the professor walked to the table to begin the reading. Professor Augury was a middle aged witch with curly copper red hair, wearing a bandana around her head, an olive complexion, deep green eyes, long fingernails and wore heavy jewelry. She sat in her great velvet chair, circling her hands around the glowing orb in front of here.
"Sit, child," Professor Augury murmured. "We will begin your final for this term and find out if you have the makings of a seer.
Third year Carrie walked to the table and took the seat opposite from the professor. She swallowed and grasped her hands under the table, feeling nervous.
"Tell me, dear girl," Professor Augury said, "What do you see in the crystal ball?"
Carrie leaned forward and focused on the orb. "Nothing…nothing…"
"Focus, Carrie," Augury urged. "There is something in the crystal ball."
She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to free her mind, giving in to the clairvoyant vibrations in the room.
"It may take a while," Augury said, "Give in…let your inner eye see through…"
'If I've got an inner eye,' Carrie thought, her eyes closed tight, 'then it's time for me to use it. I must have one somewhere…' Searching deep within herself and taking in a breath, Carrie opened her eyes again, leaned forward and reached to the orb and waited to see something.
"Fog," Carrie said. "Fire…water and earth…trees, many trees…a forest."
"Hmm?" Augury looked at her pupil and at the orb. "A forest?"
Carrie looked deeper into the orb. Indeed, she saw many of these things. But within them…
"A man. He's old," she added, "in robes. He's a wizard. But his robes aren't like ours. They're ancient, medieval. I see him on a horse, riding away from…from here, Hogwarts. He looks angry, and also sad."
"Who? Who do you see?"
"He's, one of the founders," Carrie continued, "It's Salazar Slytherin, leaving Hogwarts. He's practicing the Dark Arts. Wait...he's gone…I don't see him in the crystal ball anymore"
"Very good, I saw a man too," Professor Augury said.
"Wait!" Carrie gasped. "I just saw the past, Professor. I have not yet seen the future. My future." She stared closer in the globe. "I see…a baby boy."
"Oh yes."
"He has my eyes," Carrie said, "He's…my son…something special about this boy."
"I too see a baby," agreed Professor Augury.
"I see him growing into a young man," said Carrie. "He's very handsome, intelligent. I see him coming to Hogwarts and…"
Carrie saw something in the crystal ball that scared her half to death. She saw him doing dark arts, opening the legendary Chamber of Secrets and setting a monster on the students, killing one of them. The boy showed no remorse. He enjoyed it all. She saw him go through what no mother's child should. The once handsome and bright boy suddenly turned ugly. He became a bully, a killer, and a monster. She watched him torture and kill innocent lives, laughing, laughing. She now could hear the awful, merciless laughter ringing in her ears. Merging with the monster's face was symbol, a very dark and creepy symbol of a skull and a snake. Carrie gasped, closed her eyes and clamped her hands over her ears.
"What did you just see, Carrie?" Augury inquired eagerly. "What did you see from your future?"
"Nothing, Professor," Carrie lied.
"What happened to the boy?"
"He became…a wizard. A great wizard."
Augury's eyes started to roll around. Carrie looked on in shock.
"Professor? What's the matter?"
Augury opened her mouth to speak but it was not her usual soft voice. It was harsh and wicked sounding. "You will be the mother of the Heir of Slytherin."
"What?" Carrie gasped.
"The Heir of Slytherin will do many great and terrible things. Many will fear to speak his name. He will start in his first year of Hogwarts. The Heir of Slytherin will open the Chamber of Secrets and let loose the terror within. This will be just the beginning of his exertion. The Heir of Slytherin will not stop until he has the whole world under his ugly thumb. Beware the Heir of Slytherin!" Augury's eyes closed, her head fell on her chest and Carrie seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.
"P-Professor?" she stammered, walking over to her and shaking her shoulder. "Professor Augury, are you all right? Did you just make a prediction?"
Professor Augury looked up. "Sorry, Carrie. Where were we?"
"You just said…that I would be the mother to the Heir of Slytherin," Carrie answered.
Professor Augury chuckled. "I do not remember saying anything but a sort."
"But you did, Professor," Carrie insisted. "You were talking, but it wasn't your voice."
"Well done on your crystal ball reading, Carrie," said Professor Augury. "You've done excellent work in divination class. You are on your way to becoming an excellent seer!"
"Great," Carrie whispered. "I'm thrilled."
--
"Tom?"
A hand touched Tom's shoulder and he flinched. "What?"
"Tom, are you all right?" Olive asked.
Tom blinked and rubbed his head. "I think so."
"What are you doing here?"
"I heard a voice," he replied. "My mother was speaking to me." He pointed at her name again. "I think my mother was Carrie Star."
Olive took a look at the name, back at Tom and gasped. "Tom, your mother was Carrie Star?"
"I believe so," Tom answered. "It was flashing when I came to it. Must be a way for my mom to reach me."
Olive looked impressed. "Carrie Star was the best student seer at Hogwarts! My parents went to school with her—good friends with my mother—she told everyone fortunes and they were always right!"
"Really?"
"Yes, Tom," Olive nodded. "She could've been the next divination teacher. Carrie Star was that good! She could've been a prefect!"
"She was in Slytherin, right?"
"Of course," Olive said. "We know you're the Heir of Slytherin, Tom…that's where you got your Slytherin blood from…but no one knew that Carrie Star had Slytherin blood in her!"
Tom scratched his head. "When I touched her name, I—I saw something."
"What?"
"I think it was my mother's past," Tom answered. "When she went to Hogwarts. A divination lesson."
"Amazing, Tom," Olive grinned. "You should take Divination when we begin third year. I bet you'll get an Inner Eye award too!"
Tom shrugged, "maybe I will."
"Let's get back to the common room, Tom," Olive said. "Wait until everyone knows!"
She grabbed Tom's hand and took him out of the trophy room and down to the common room to give everyone the news.
"Tom found out who his mother was!" she declared. "It was Carrie Star!"
"What?" Alaric sounded with everyone else in the room. He walked up to Tom. "My father really fancied Carrie Star. He thought she was the prettiest pureblooded witch in the school, if not Slytherin House!" He closed his eyes in a wince as if he'd been punched in the stomach and shook his head. "We could've been brothers, Tom Riddle! Why ever did she marry a no good muggle when she could've had my father? If she really was such a good seer, then she must've known this father of yours would leave her!"
Tom looked confused and shook his head. "I wish I knew."
--
All the Slytherins' respect and envy increased once they knew who Tom's mother really was. Students from other houses were thrown and approached him in the halls sometimes and asked if they could have their fortune told. He always replied, "I see that you're late for class," so that he could enjoy the shocked look on their face and watch them run away.
Tom wondered if he had any ability to see in the future too. He often had bad dreams when he lived at the orphanage and wake up in a cold sweat. On all of his birthdays an hour after midnight, fall out of his bed every time. The other boys laughed at him when he did this and said he was going mad when Tom kept insisting he heard a woman scream. He always asked Mrs. Crabtree and Miss Smith were all right after he heard the screaming woman but Mrs. Crabtree was always in good spirits and Miss Smith was quiet all the time. Tom thought that the screaming woman was from a dream but it seemed so real. Often before that awful dream he had, he heard the same woman weeping. Could it be his mother mourning his father when he left her?
In the middle of the night on Tom's twelfth birthday, up in the boy's dormitory, he was having the same dreaming of his mother. This time it was more intense and lasted longer than ever before He could her face this time and he was never able to do so before. At the orphanage, he just heard her screaming on a bed, bodies standing around her. This time, Tom saw more than he wished to imagine. Most boys loved their birthdays but for Tom, he was a different story.
--
"I-I will die," Carrie stammered, sweat beading across her forehead.
"No you won't, Carrie," said the doctor.
A nurse held Carrie's hand and dabbed her face while encouraging her to breathe.
"I am going to die," Carrie said.
"Don't talk like that, Carrie." The nurse dabbing Carrie's forehead said softly. "Lord knows the pain is terrible. Some women have died in childbirth but they were already sick to begin with. You are in excellent physical health, Carrie."
"You're wrong," Carrie insisted. "I will die once my child is born. I am going to leave this world while bringing him into it! I've always known I will die!"
"Poor dear."
"You're ready, Carrie. The baby's coming. Get ready to push."
Carrie was screaming and sobbing. The pain was too much. It wasn't just the physical pain of giving birth, but she was afraid for her baby. She knew what was going to happen to him. Carrie's fragile heart was breaking. Nevertheless, she used what strength she had left to deliver her son, knowing what kind of life he would have. Carrie gave one last final scream, one hard final push and the baby came into the world.
"It's a boy, Carrie," said the doctor as he cleaned him up.
"I already knew," Carrie mumbled with a weak smile as they handed the wet boy to her in a blanket. "Hello, Tom."
"You already have a name for him, miss?" asked a nurse.
"I always knew what I was going to name him," Carrie answered. "Tom after his father—Marvolo after his grandfather. My son—Tom Marvolo Riddle." Carrie's eyes rolled and she started shouting. "God save my son! Tom Marvolo Riddle! Heir of Slytherin!"
"What, Carrie?" asked a nurse?
Carrie's shouts turned into incoherent hisses. Parseltongue.
"What is she saying?"
"She's gone mad!"
The doctor and nurses stood watching Carrie, scared out of their minds. One nurse took Tom out of her arms and put the newborn child away.
"Stop, Carrie! Stop!"
Carrie then began having a coughing fit, blood came out of her mouth and nose and she and went into convulsions. Carrie hit the table next to her, bringing the lamp to the floor and a small little with her name on it. The lights in the room flickered on and off.
"Hold her—I'll give her an injection!"
"She's convulsing, doctor!" screamed the nurse as she tried to keep her from hitting anything else. "I can't keep a hold!"
Carrie's limbs and headed shook violently and threw both nurses away from her. One nurse was knocked out cold with a bloody nose. The other nurse tried to get up and kept her eyes on the heart monitor. The line was going crazy. Carrie jerked so violently she came off the bed and the nurse took her head as other nurses went to get help.
"I've never seen this before," said the doctor. "Don't worry Carrie…"
Carrie's jerking legs tripped the doctor and he dropped the syringe. Carrie's seizures suddenly stopped. The heart line on the heart monitor flattened and a long and loud buzz sounded. Then sparks flew from the machine, catching on fire. The lights went out completely, bulbs bursting and the windows breaking. Carrie went into arrest and for a moment, all the staff seemed too scared to act. The doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher and used it on the blazing heart monitor. It was dark inside the room.
"Flat line!" shouted a nurse. "Cold blue! Cold blue!"
They crowded around Carrie's still body and began CPR. But it was no good. With two doctors, five nurses and a medic, it was not enough to save Carrie Star Riddle. The mother of the Heir of Slytherin died just moments after the boy was born.
"She's gone," said the doctor after giving her CPR.
"She was right," whispered a nurse, shivering. "Carrie kept saying she was going to die after she gave birth. I thought she was afraid because of the pain. Carrie was in excellent health for a pregnant woman when she came here. I never would've thought she'd die."
"Carrie told me she'd die in child birth too," said a second witch. "Because of a broken heart after her husband left her."
"I don't understand, though…why'd he leave her? What kind of man would leave his wife and unborn child?"
"I'm never coming into this delivery room again," said the
doctor.
"I have to agree with you on that one.
Strangest thing ever. WE ought
to lock the room up. I bet it's haunted or bewitched."
After locking the door to Carrie's deathbed, they took her body to the morgue and the now orphaned child to the nursery. Poor Tom Marvolo Riddle became an orphan and all he had was a name.
--
The boy's quiet dormitory suddenly became noisy. A boy was screaming and thrashing in his sleep. Then there was a loud and heavy thud. Lights turned on. Sleepy, angry boys spoke.
"What's that noise?"
"Crabbe, what did you eat for dinner?"
The other boys looked over at an empty bed, where Tom was supposed to be.
"Tom, where'd you go?"
"Oi! Riddle!"
The boys got up and went to his bed but eh wasn't' there. He was next to it, on the floor, shaking and screaming.
"Which one of you put the Crucaitus Curse on my brother?" Alaric demanded, looking around the room.
"The what Curse?" Crabbe questioned stupidly.
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" asked Avery. "Riddle's not your brother!"
"Well, he could've been!" Malfoy spat. "He should have been! Maybe somebody poisoned him!"
"Shut up, Malfoy!" the other first year, Avery said as he bent down to Tom's body. "No one cursed or poisoned Riddle."
"What's the matter with him then?" Malfoy demanded. "What should we do?"
Tom continued screaming and convulsing. He hit his arm against the table, scratching it. He had bruised his back from when he fell so hard on the ground.
"Hold his down before he makes something fall on him!" Malfoy ordered Crabbe and Goyle.
Crabbe took one side of Tom as Goyle took the other. As strong as they were, holding Tom still was a difficult task. Tom's screams reached the rest of the Slytherin dormitories and those who had been sleeping walked in the first years' dormitory room.
"What's going on here?" asked the Slytherin prefect. "I heard screaming."
"Tom screamed," replied Avery. "I think he had a nightmare."
The prefect walked to Tom, bent over and slapped his face. "Tom? Wake up. You're having a nightmare."
But Tom kept screaming and thrashing around.
"Someone get the nurse!" the prefect shouted. "Hurry!"
--
That afternoon, Tom woke up and found himself in the hospital wing. His friends were crowded around him. Olive was crying in her hands. There were presents on the table at the foot of his bed.
"He's up!" Alaric gasped. "All right there, Riddle?"
"What happened?" Tom asked weakly. "What am I doing in the hospital wing?"
"You were having some kind of fit in the middle of the night," Wilson Avery replied. "Scared the hell out of us."
"I think you had a nightmare," said Perry Parkinson. "Must've been a bad one. You were screaming and shaking. Fell out of your bed on the floor. Hit your head."
Tom pushed himself up and put a hand to his head, feeling a bandage. "A nightmare?"
"Mind telling us what it was, Tom?" Olive asked through her tears.
"Just the same dream, but it was different," Tom said. "What day is it?"
"Your birthday, Tom." Perry answered, smiling. "Have you forgotten?"
"I have the same stupid dream every birthday, but this was the worse I've ever seen it." Tom explained. "it was more clear. More real. Like I was really there. Well, I was there!"
"Tom, what are you talking about?"
"I dreamed about the day I was born," Tom muttered. "About my mother dying after giving birth to me. Those damn muggles didn't help her right away. They had to wait until her heart stopped beating until they did something!"
"It's all right, Tom," said Perry. "Just a dream."
"Yeah," said Wilson. "Here, open your presents. It'll make you feel better."
"You can open mine first." Alaric grinned.
"I don't want it," Tom muttered.
"Oh, of course you do," Alaric insisted. He picked up his present, handed it to Tom but Tom knocked it out of his hands. Olive screamed and backed away.
"I don't want it!" Tom repeated with a snarl.
"But it's the best that money can buy," Alaric insisted.
"I told you I don't want it!"
"You don't even know what's in it."
"I don't care!" Tom hissed. "I don't want any presents!"
"It's your birthday, you idiot," Alaric muttered.
Tom got up and pushed all of the presents off the table to the floor. "Didn't you hear me? I don't want the presents. I don't give a damn how good they are! I don't' want them!"
"Why not?"
"I don't deserve the presents. I never should've had a birthday."
"Tom, don't say that!" Olive cried.
"If I wasn't born then my mother would still be alive and I wouldn't have lived as an orphan!" Tom yelled. "Now get out! I don't need your presents. I don't need you. I don't need anybody! Get out! Get out! All of you!"
They stared at Tom for a bit and began to leave, muttering, "Happy Birthday, Tom."
Once they went out of the hospital wing, Tom sunk weakened on the bed and lay down on his side. He just cast out the only friends he ever had out the door.
To Be Continued