THE RIDDLE HOUSE

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'Don't worry Nagini, it won't be long until I have Harry Potter and I will give you the pleasure of eating him alive.' Voldemort was stroking his pet snake delicately, yet furious with himself for not killing Harry and that Muggle lover, Dumbledore. He had once again failed to kill them at the Ministry of Magic recently but he would have them soon, he'd make sure of that. ' We will avenge Crouch's death.'

Just then, a deatheater approached Lord Voldemort with his head bent in reverence. 'My Lord, I have returned from the journey.'

'And what news do bring Rookwood?' Voldemort asked menacingly.

' I bring bad news Lord.' Said Rookwood, cringing as though he was expecting to be punished.

'What bad news would that be!?' Voldemort was now standing, his nose slits fuming.

'Well as you know, Avery and myself went to Hogsmeade in disguise to spy for information. We decided to go to Hogwarts and hide in the dark forest but we didn't hear anything useful. We were ready to turn around and come back here, when we witnessed a prophecy being told by none other than Trelawney herself.' Rookwood spoke hastily and was too afraid to look into Voldemort's eyes.

'A prophecy! What was said?'

'I will repeat everything I can remember:

The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord has little time to spare. Another must take part.a kin, has a lost .oh, and unknown to most. Without her to help her brother, the Dark Lord will conquer all. She is in a distant land.'

Voldemort stared for a few moments without moving, neither did Rookwood. But suddenly he said. ' So, he has a sister. Just to make it more complicating for me no doubt. But this may not be such bad news after all Rookwood. If we find and kill this sister, then just as the prophecy said, I will conquer all. In fact.' he paused, looking pleased with himself 'if you arrange a group of Deatheaters to go and find out who this person is and bring her to me, I can assure you will be rewarded. This shall not be a hard task for you Rookwood. I seem to remember your skills in tracking down certain information.' His lipless mouth was smiling evilly now.

'Thankyou master, you are very merciful, so kind-'

'GO!'

'Yes right now master.' And Rookwood left quickly, not looking back.

'WORMTAIL!'

'Yes master?' Wormtail hurried to Voldemort's side.

'Fetch Nagini some rats or maybe a stray animal if you find one, she is hungry. And tonight you will milk her before we retire, Wormtail.' Voldemort ordered.

'Yes Lordship' Wormtail nodded and left The Riddle House. *Anything to get away for a while* he thought, regret creeping into his heart. *Why did I ever try and search for him? I hate doing this! *

BACK IN ITALY

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I opened the door. 'McGonagall!?' I was so surprised to see her here at my house that I just stood there in the doorway staring open-mouthed at her.

'Oh Hannah it is good to see you but this no time to chat. I need you to listen to me, I will explain later. Now I need you to go and pack everything you have and come back here immediately. Understand? Now, where are your Guardians?' McGonagall looked anxious so I decided that this was for real and I'd better do what she told.

'In the lounge.' I pointed her in the direction of the lounge (even thought it wasn't hard to find in that small house). I then hurried up to the attic and started to pack.

McGonagall walked into the lounge where Hannah's Aunt and Uncle looked up in fright. 'Now I'm not very good at Italian so may I ask if anyone of you speaks English?' She asked them.

' Noi non parliamo L'inglese' Replied Izabetta.

' Very well, I'll try my best in your language then.'

Ten minutes later, Hannah came down with all her belongings: A trunk, a (Firebolt!) broomstick and a fluffy brown owl in a small cage.

The sight she met was both odd yet humorous. Her aunt and uncle were both cringing in a corner of the room while Minerva McGonagall stood trying to calm them down in Italian (very bad Italian).

'Good grief! I'm not a monster or anything!' She cried in exasperation.

'To them you probably are. I am too but I'm a young one still under their control while you're a full grown Godzilla.' I said trying to keep a straight face.

'Oh Hannah, good you're ready. Is that all you have? Well anyway there isn't much time to waste. We have to get to the airport quickly for our flight to London.' She said hurriedly.

'London! Are we really going there?' I smiled excitedly. This was great! But why did we have to go there?

'Yes we are, now come along! Arrivederci Signori!' McGonagall waved goodbye to the still shocked and scared foster parents.

'Ciao zii!' I said to my Aunt and Uncle, not feeling sorry to leave at all.

'So what are we doing and when do I have to come back?' I asked Minerva.

'You won't be coming back Hannah. At least not for a while. There is a lot to explain and it all starts with your parents.' For the rest of the trip back to London, McGonagall explained about my parents relationship and how I was apparently related to Harry Potter.

'Harry Potter? THE Harry Potter!?' That alone took a long time to sink in. I felt dazed. All my life I had been confused about my heritage. Who had my father been? What was his history and who had been his family? And now I was being told all at once and it didn't seen real, but of course it was real.

'So my father really did die only I would have been about two years old at the time right?' I said. Why had mamma lied to me?

'Yes that's right. Hannah, tomorrow you will be dropped off at the house where Harry is living and stay there until the beginning of term unless we can arrange something better. You will be safest there though and that way you and Harry can catch up with each other and get to know each other. Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts has already sent Harry a letter telling him of your arrival and filling him in on all the details about you so I presume that he will be just as confused and anxious as you are now.'

'I still can't believe this. You know, I've always wanted to meet "The Boy Who Lived" and now I will, as his sister.' The realisation was just starting to hit me by now and I was begging to feel a little nervous.

'Do I look like him at all?' I asked.

'Oh yes. Now that I look at you knowing the truth, it seems almost obvious that you two are brother and sister.' She smiled warmly and squeezed my hand.

That was comforting.

THE NEXT DAY

I woke up to McGonagall telling me that the plane had just landed. At first I didn't know where I was but then the events of the previous day came back and quite suddenly a jolt of nerves crept into me. *This is it. I am going to meet Harry Potter, My brother!*

We were in the airport collecting our luggage. Then in a taxi on its way to Privet Drive, Surrey. *Oh boy, oh boy. Stay calm. Everything will be alright.* Then we arrived.

'Ok. That is the house there.' McGonagall pointed it out to me and lucky she did because all the houses looked exactly the same. 'Harry's Aunt and Uncle's names are Vernon and Petunia. Be polite and I'm sure everything will go smoothly. Good luck Hannah, I'll see you soon.'

'Goodbye McGonagall, thankyou for everything.' I waved goodbye to her as the car sped off around the corner.

*Here we go* I walked up the driveway and up to the front door. *Just knock, it isn't a hard task*. With my sweaty hands, I reached and knocked on the door. I t seemed as though time was moving in slow motion. *Is someone going to answer?* And just then the door opened to reveal a pale faced Harry.

'Harry?' I said.

'Hannah.' Was his reply.