!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
!*!*!*!*!*
"Silversword and Winslet had better get back on those brooms... YES! ...MacLean catches the Quaffle marvelously! WINSLET SCORES! Gryffindor leads by EIGHTY points!"
"Did you see that? DID YOU SEE THAT TOM? THEY ARE SQUISHING US TO DIRT!"
I looked up from the book I was reading. (Goblin Revolutions) "Calm down Zarken, your face is red. You might get high blood pressure. Besides quite frankly I can't see anything..."
"WE ARE LOSING AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS SIMPLY READ A BOOK AND TELL ME OFF ABOUT MY HEALTH?"
Spit flew from Zarken's mouth as he bellowed incredulously... The weather wasn't exactly cheery either since the rain came down in sheets, nearly blurring the passing players.
"Keller from Slytherin has the Quaffle now; will he get past "Tiger" Craig? OH NO! Craig blocks the score with an AWESOME swipe of his broom! AGAIN NO SCORE!"
I focused my eyes on the Goblin in my book, concentrating hard to block out the noise.
"ARE YOU WATCHING THE BLOODY GAME?"
"Rod, stop yelling in my ears! I'm getting a headache!"
"Ah folks, looks like trouble! Master Igor has blown the whistle... Seems like Silversword is taken in due to an excessive use of elbows...And yes— it's a penalty to Slytherin."
I could see the Green Slytherin players giving each other a high five and later shaking their fists at the Gryffindors.
"The best thing out of the whole game!" breathed Rod, waving the Slytherin flag frantically while Zarken jumped up and down in glee.
"RIP THEM APART! SMASH THEIR NOSES! BREAK THEIR LEGS!"
"Calm down Zark! This is a GAME, not a wrestling match!" I exclaimed, feeling irritated, especially when Zarken stomped hard on my foot."
"HUH? What's a wrestling match? GO! GO! GO!"
"Never mind."
I sighed... everything simply looked so amazing... A part of me was actually dying to be there, to feel the adrenalin rush through my body... But my stubborn mind defiantly exclaimed a huge "NO!"
"FANTASTIC catch by Jessica Morley! Will she make it past the big shouldered Gryffindor beater's terrible Bludger strikes? YES! SHE SCORES! A further ten points to Slytherin!"
I snapped the book shut and slipped past the excited jade crowd. All this ecstasy was making my mind lose control over my heart. I wanted to be there... I throbbed for it...
Slowly I descended through the rain, pulling the hair away from my eyes... And as I made my way, away from the Quidditch pitch, I heard a shrill scream!
My quick eyes darted towards the sky and I saw a Bludger chasing a red haired girl murderously... Blood was already pouring from her ear, where the Bludger had hit her before.
Careless; I was just about to go when I heard her scream again! This time, the Bludger had knocked her right off her broom and she was spiraling down from more than sixty feet above the ground!
In a blink of an eye, my hand reached for my wand and I screamed out loud and clearly, pointing at the Red head.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"
The girl stopped dropping like a stone and swayed in the mid-air...
Beads of sweat began to form on the creases of my forehead as I contemplated with all my might in bringing her down using the flying charm...
It wasn't easy since she was much heavier than a book and I felt my hands quiver at the effort of keeping the spell intact.
A shrill whistle blew and I could hear extreme commotion but my eyes stared at the black sky focusing hard on the Red head whilst individual droplets of water fell on me, like tiny pebbles.
The body of the girl finally reached the ground and with a sigh of relief I put my wand away and fell on all fours in exhaustion...
"A stretcher quick!" cried someone and I saw the girl being carried away.
"Tom? Are you alright?"
I tried to speak but the words didn't come out of my mouth. I felt very weak so I merely nodded feebly.
"Can you get up, child?" asked a worried voice which I recognized that as of Professor Kaiser.
"Yes..."
With great difficulty I rose and found that my wrist hurt badly... The bone on that spot crunched and groaned when I moved my hand.
My face contorted into a mask of anguish.
"Everyone, please don't crowd about... I think Tom is hurt," called out Master Igor as he came near me.
"Here, come with me," replied Professor Kaiser and much to my relief, I held onto him owing to the weakness I felt in me.
"Tom, that was—"cried Zarken's familiar voice, but Professor Dumbledore interrupted him with a stern look.
"Afterwards Mr. Lestrange."
!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* !*!*!*!*!*
The stone wall swung opened and I rushed in worn out from the day's escapade.
But my eyes caught a huge audience standing about in the Common Room.
"You never cease to amaze us, mate!" said Zarken as he came forth to clap me on the back.
"THREE CHEERS TO TOM!"
Nearly everyone (except the Quidditch team) in the Common Room applauded and I felt hot in the face at all the attention.
"How on earth did you do something so clever, anyway?" asked Rod, who handed me a mug of something bubbling. "Drink it. It's called Butterbeer."
However there was a roar of anger.
"Yamina deserved that Bludger! You helped our enemy!" exclaimed a platinum blond haired boy, whom I recognized as Ivan Keller, the Slytherin Captain.
"Who's Yamina?" I asked weakly as I collapsed into a comfortable armchair in front of the warm hearth. "Did we win the game?"
"Regrettably no... Yamina Ashraf was the Gryffindor seeker, without her the game couldn't go on ..." sighed Keller, slamming his mug hard on a nearby table. "The game is postponed."
"Listen fellows, I'm going to bed because quite candidly I had a rough day," I replied, seeing a look of extreme hatred in Keller's face.
"I had a rough day too, Riddle... And it's all because of you! If you hadn't tried to be the Knight in shinning armor, we would have won the game!"
"Excuse me! But you weren't even close to victory," I cried, really annoyed.
"I was on the verge of catching the snitch," replied a voice and I turned to see a short blond haired girl eyeing me with animosity.
"Yeah... As if I could believe that..." I spat.
Keller and I stood facing each other. Although he was a senior, I stood nearly as tall as him, matching boldly up to his nearly six foot frame.
"Pretty tall for a First year lil weasel," he remarked trying to provoke me as his grey eyes shot sparks.
"That's simple genetics... Comes naturally like everything else..." I retorted with my teeth barred. Now definitely I knew that I had made a new enemy. Worse, he was from my own house but somehow I was beyond any concern.
Nevertheless: whatever premature fight which was supposed to take place was interrupted.
"Right! Good night folks, we have classes really early tomorrow," cried Zarken almost hysterically as he waved good bye and dragged me towards our room.
With the stone panel closed tightly behind us, Rod and his brother gazed at me intently.
"Are you mad?" yelled Zarken as he threw up his hands in exasperation.
"No, Keller was wrong! He didn't even appreciate the fact that I saved a life!"
"That was YAMINA ASHRAF! She's a bloody cut- throat! And hey, even we appreciate your 'goodness' but you saved the ENEMY! Plus, you are going to cut a poor figure in front of Keller now! Your career in Quidditch is going to be over! "
"An enemy is a living being before anything else! Keller isn't Merlin okay? Besides I never had a Quidditch career to begin with!"
"When is he ever going to understand?" shrieked Zark making a face to Rod.
I undressed and got into bed having enough of this nonsense. "Sorry friends but I'm—"I yawned loudly, "very sleepy. We'll chit chat tomorrow. Nighty night."
I covered my whole body till the head, with my soft blanket and muffled the irritated arguments of the two brothers and tried to block out the happenings of the day.
Yet due to the high mounting tension of how I should face people tomorrow, I couldn't doze off properly...
!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* !*!*!*!*!*
The bed creaked as I tossed to the right.
I had been waiting for what seemed like eternity for everyone to go to sleep... And now finally I could hear their peaceful breathing.
Slipping my feet into my soft slippers, I huddled my thick bear skin coat around me... It was absolutely freezing...
The emerald lanterns glimmered as I descended the stairs; clutching my wand tightly.
Good! The fire still hadn't died out. It was burning....
Dark shadows, moved behind the furniture like living things and as usual being alone did leave a chilling aura.
"Great! Right on time!" came in a voice and I instantly recognized the head sitting in the fire.
If Seth hadn't actually warned me before about the 'fire communication,' I would no doubt have passed out in terror.
"Sssss masssssstttt," I greeted, in our familiar Parseltongue dialect...
"Brilliant! You remembered my advice... From now on, we'll always converse in Parseltongue because we are the only living beings who understand it," hissed Seth and I smiled knowingly, acknowledging the fact that no one could ever decipher our language.
"How was your day at Little Hangleton?" I asked, twiddling my thumbs in my eagerness.
"It went fine... I also saw your father..."
My heart nearly stopped beating at that revelation.
"How was he? Did you tell him about me?" I questioned softly...
But to my surprise, Seth focused his gaze at the crouch behind me. And his features looked grim and tense.
"Tom... There are certain things which I can't tell you because you're not of right age..."
"What do you mean?"
"Some things aren't appropriate..."
From the day's stress and exhaustion, I was easily incensed.
"IF YOU CAN TEACH ME SPELLS WHICH ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR MY AGE! PLUS CURSES, HEXES, JINXES, POISONOUS POTIONS, TORTURE TECHIQUES, ETC; THEN WHY CAN'T YOU TELL ME 'OTHER THINGS' AS WELL?"
"Because emotionally it will cause you a lot of pain!" cried Seth.
"HELLO!!! If you didn't know it already, PAIN isn't something alien to me! I have borne agony all my life! Do you think a bit more would matter?"
"Tom...I can't..."
"Tell me at once or I'll never speak to you again!"
"I won't loose anythi—"
"I swear that I won't even try to be the heir of Slytherin!"
A curse was muttered under Seth's breath.
"Your so called 'father' doesn't even recall your existence! He's unmarried but has mistresses all over Europe... When I met him, he was in the arms of a nearly naked prostitute... THERE! ARE YOU PLEASED NOW?"
With a gasp, I took a few steps backwards...My breathing became difficult and my hand went towards my heart... It hurt so much... I felt as if the whole world was crashing upon me... The tiniest hope which I had was abolished into thin vapor...
"When I approached him and informed him about your Mother, he simply said that women are the flowers of life which once picked, simply fade away to eventually die. As for you, he said that you were just an 'illegal child' (to put it flippantly) like millions of others who ought to be whipped or put in a working home..."
"Why didn't I die with Mother?" I whispered, like a lost five year old child pleading the world for help.
"Tom... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." declared Seth and in his eyes I could see sympathy and sadness.
All of a sudden, my vision went out of focus and I clinched my head in my hands...
Intolerable agony tore through my skull...
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" I shrieked and my body fell on the floor and began to writhe.
"Merlin's beard! TOM!"
I raised my flexible, twisting body and flickered out my tongue; no longer could I feel my hands or legs...
"Ssssst yasssst kalassssttttttt...I SHALL SHOW NO MERCY TO ANYONE FROM HERE ONWARDS!"
"Calm down Tom...Calm down..."
After a Herculean amount of self control I finally morphed back to my human form...
"I wouldn't have believed this, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes..." murmured Seth when he regarded my morph in the form of a Sea Serpent.
"Neither would have I..." I replied. "It seems that I transform whenever I'm extremely angry or sad..."
"Has this happened before?" inquired my uncle, his own slit eyes shinning luminously.
"Yes...Once when I was being beaten up..." I confessed.
"Do you know what this really means Tom? Do you know?"
"YES... It means that I am Slytherin's heir, isn't it?" I stated quite bored.
"No....Much more... You are the predicted Dark Lord, who's destined to rule the world of Wizards and Muggles! Perhaps even the whole Universe!"
!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* !*!*!*!*!*
A/N: To be continued as soon as possible.
"Silversword and Winslet had better get back on those brooms... YES! ...MacLean catches the Quaffle marvelously! WINSLET SCORES! Gryffindor leads by EIGHTY points!"
"Did you see that? DID YOU SEE THAT TOM? THEY ARE SQUISHING US TO DIRT!"
I looked up from the book I was reading. (Goblin Revolutions) "Calm down Zarken, your face is red. You might get high blood pressure. Besides quite frankly I can't see anything..."
"WE ARE LOSING AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS SIMPLY READ A BOOK AND TELL ME OFF ABOUT MY HEALTH?"
Spit flew from Zarken's mouth as he bellowed incredulously... The weather wasn't exactly cheery either since the rain came down in sheets, nearly blurring the passing players.
"Keller from Slytherin has the Quaffle now; will he get past "Tiger" Craig? OH NO! Craig blocks the score with an AWESOME swipe of his broom! AGAIN NO SCORE!"
I focused my eyes on the Goblin in my book, concentrating hard to block out the noise.
"ARE YOU WATCHING THE BLOODY GAME?"
"Rod, stop yelling in my ears! I'm getting a headache!"
"Ah folks, looks like trouble! Master Igor has blown the whistle... Seems like Silversword is taken in due to an excessive use of elbows...And yes— it's a penalty to Slytherin."
I could see the Green Slytherin players giving each other a high five and later shaking their fists at the Gryffindors.
"The best thing out of the whole game!" breathed Rod, waving the Slytherin flag frantically while Zarken jumped up and down in glee.
"RIP THEM APART! SMASH THEIR NOSES! BREAK THEIR LEGS!"
"Calm down Zark! This is a GAME, not a wrestling match!" I exclaimed, feeling irritated, especially when Zarken stomped hard on my foot."
"HUH? What's a wrestling match? GO! GO! GO!"
"Never mind."
I sighed... everything simply looked so amazing... A part of me was actually dying to be there, to feel the adrenalin rush through my body... But my stubborn mind defiantly exclaimed a huge "NO!"
"FANTASTIC catch by Jessica Morley! Will she make it past the big shouldered Gryffindor beater's terrible Bludger strikes? YES! SHE SCORES! A further ten points to Slytherin!"
I snapped the book shut and slipped past the excited jade crowd. All this ecstasy was making my mind lose control over my heart. I wanted to be there... I throbbed for it...
Slowly I descended through the rain, pulling the hair away from my eyes... And as I made my way, away from the Quidditch pitch, I heard a shrill scream!
My quick eyes darted towards the sky and I saw a Bludger chasing a red haired girl murderously... Blood was already pouring from her ear, where the Bludger had hit her before.
Careless; I was just about to go when I heard her scream again! This time, the Bludger had knocked her right off her broom and she was spiraling down from more than sixty feet above the ground!
In a blink of an eye, my hand reached for my wand and I screamed out loud and clearly, pointing at the Red head.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"
The girl stopped dropping like a stone and swayed in the mid-air...
Beads of sweat began to form on the creases of my forehead as I contemplated with all my might in bringing her down using the flying charm...
It wasn't easy since she was much heavier than a book and I felt my hands quiver at the effort of keeping the spell intact.
A shrill whistle blew and I could hear extreme commotion but my eyes stared at the black sky focusing hard on the Red head whilst individual droplets of water fell on me, like tiny pebbles.
The body of the girl finally reached the ground and with a sigh of relief I put my wand away and fell on all fours in exhaustion...
"A stretcher quick!" cried someone and I saw the girl being carried away.
"Tom? Are you alright?"
I tried to speak but the words didn't come out of my mouth. I felt very weak so I merely nodded feebly.
"Can you get up, child?" asked a worried voice which I recognized that as of Professor Kaiser.
"Yes..."
With great difficulty I rose and found that my wrist hurt badly... The bone on that spot crunched and groaned when I moved my hand.
My face contorted into a mask of anguish.
"Everyone, please don't crowd about... I think Tom is hurt," called out Master Igor as he came near me.
"Here, come with me," replied Professor Kaiser and much to my relief, I held onto him owing to the weakness I felt in me.
"Tom, that was—"cried Zarken's familiar voice, but Professor Dumbledore interrupted him with a stern look.
"Afterwards Mr. Lestrange."
!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* !*!*!*!*!*
The stone wall swung opened and I rushed in worn out from the day's escapade.
But my eyes caught a huge audience standing about in the Common Room.
"You never cease to amaze us, mate!" said Zarken as he came forth to clap me on the back.
"THREE CHEERS TO TOM!"
Nearly everyone (except the Quidditch team) in the Common Room applauded and I felt hot in the face at all the attention.
"How on earth did you do something so clever, anyway?" asked Rod, who handed me a mug of something bubbling. "Drink it. It's called Butterbeer."
However there was a roar of anger.
"Yamina deserved that Bludger! You helped our enemy!" exclaimed a platinum blond haired boy, whom I recognized as Ivan Keller, the Slytherin Captain.
"Who's Yamina?" I asked weakly as I collapsed into a comfortable armchair in front of the warm hearth. "Did we win the game?"
"Regrettably no... Yamina Ashraf was the Gryffindor seeker, without her the game couldn't go on ..." sighed Keller, slamming his mug hard on a nearby table. "The game is postponed."
"Listen fellows, I'm going to bed because quite candidly I had a rough day," I replied, seeing a look of extreme hatred in Keller's face.
"I had a rough day too, Riddle... And it's all because of you! If you hadn't tried to be the Knight in shinning armor, we would have won the game!"
"Excuse me! But you weren't even close to victory," I cried, really annoyed.
"I was on the verge of catching the snitch," replied a voice and I turned to see a short blond haired girl eyeing me with animosity.
"Yeah... As if I could believe that..." I spat.
Keller and I stood facing each other. Although he was a senior, I stood nearly as tall as him, matching boldly up to his nearly six foot frame.
"Pretty tall for a First year lil weasel," he remarked trying to provoke me as his grey eyes shot sparks.
"That's simple genetics... Comes naturally like everything else..." I retorted with my teeth barred. Now definitely I knew that I had made a new enemy. Worse, he was from my own house but somehow I was beyond any concern.
Nevertheless: whatever premature fight which was supposed to take place was interrupted.
"Right! Good night folks, we have classes really early tomorrow," cried Zarken almost hysterically as he waved good bye and dragged me towards our room.
With the stone panel closed tightly behind us, Rod and his brother gazed at me intently.
"Are you mad?" yelled Zarken as he threw up his hands in exasperation.
"No, Keller was wrong! He didn't even appreciate the fact that I saved a life!"
"That was YAMINA ASHRAF! She's a bloody cut- throat! And hey, even we appreciate your 'goodness' but you saved the ENEMY! Plus, you are going to cut a poor figure in front of Keller now! Your career in Quidditch is going to be over! "
"An enemy is a living being before anything else! Keller isn't Merlin okay? Besides I never had a Quidditch career to begin with!"
"When is he ever going to understand?" shrieked Zark making a face to Rod.
I undressed and got into bed having enough of this nonsense. "Sorry friends but I'm—"I yawned loudly, "very sleepy. We'll chit chat tomorrow. Nighty night."
I covered my whole body till the head, with my soft blanket and muffled the irritated arguments of the two brothers and tried to block out the happenings of the day.
Yet due to the high mounting tension of how I should face people tomorrow, I couldn't doze off properly...
!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* !*!*!*!*!*
The bed creaked as I tossed to the right.
I had been waiting for what seemed like eternity for everyone to go to sleep... And now finally I could hear their peaceful breathing.
Slipping my feet into my soft slippers, I huddled my thick bear skin coat around me... It was absolutely freezing...
The emerald lanterns glimmered as I descended the stairs; clutching my wand tightly.
Good! The fire still hadn't died out. It was burning....
Dark shadows, moved behind the furniture like living things and as usual being alone did leave a chilling aura.
"Great! Right on time!" came in a voice and I instantly recognized the head sitting in the fire.
If Seth hadn't actually warned me before about the 'fire communication,' I would no doubt have passed out in terror.
"Sssss masssssstttt," I greeted, in our familiar Parseltongue dialect...
"Brilliant! You remembered my advice... From now on, we'll always converse in Parseltongue because we are the only living beings who understand it," hissed Seth and I smiled knowingly, acknowledging the fact that no one could ever decipher our language.
"How was your day at Little Hangleton?" I asked, twiddling my thumbs in my eagerness.
"It went fine... I also saw your father..."
My heart nearly stopped beating at that revelation.
"How was he? Did you tell him about me?" I questioned softly...
But to my surprise, Seth focused his gaze at the crouch behind me. And his features looked grim and tense.
"Tom... There are certain things which I can't tell you because you're not of right age..."
"What do you mean?"
"Some things aren't appropriate..."
From the day's stress and exhaustion, I was easily incensed.
"IF YOU CAN TEACH ME SPELLS WHICH ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR MY AGE! PLUS CURSES, HEXES, JINXES, POISONOUS POTIONS, TORTURE TECHIQUES, ETC; THEN WHY CAN'T YOU TELL ME 'OTHER THINGS' AS WELL?"
"Because emotionally it will cause you a lot of pain!" cried Seth.
"HELLO!!! If you didn't know it already, PAIN isn't something alien to me! I have borne agony all my life! Do you think a bit more would matter?"
"Tom...I can't..."
"Tell me at once or I'll never speak to you again!"
"I won't loose anythi—"
"I swear that I won't even try to be the heir of Slytherin!"
A curse was muttered under Seth's breath.
"Your so called 'father' doesn't even recall your existence! He's unmarried but has mistresses all over Europe... When I met him, he was in the arms of a nearly naked prostitute... THERE! ARE YOU PLEASED NOW?"
With a gasp, I took a few steps backwards...My breathing became difficult and my hand went towards my heart... It hurt so much... I felt as if the whole world was crashing upon me... The tiniest hope which I had was abolished into thin vapor...
"When I approached him and informed him about your Mother, he simply said that women are the flowers of life which once picked, simply fade away to eventually die. As for you, he said that you were just an 'illegal child' (to put it flippantly) like millions of others who ought to be whipped or put in a working home..."
"Why didn't I die with Mother?" I whispered, like a lost five year old child pleading the world for help.
"Tom... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." declared Seth and in his eyes I could see sympathy and sadness.
All of a sudden, my vision went out of focus and I clinched my head in my hands...
Intolerable agony tore through my skull...
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" I shrieked and my body fell on the floor and began to writhe.
"Merlin's beard! TOM!"
I raised my flexible, twisting body and flickered out my tongue; no longer could I feel my hands or legs...
"Ssssst yasssst kalassssttttttt...I SHALL SHOW NO MERCY TO ANYONE FROM HERE ONWARDS!"
"Calm down Tom...Calm down..."
After a Herculean amount of self control I finally morphed back to my human form...
"I wouldn't have believed this, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes..." murmured Seth when he regarded my morph in the form of a Sea Serpent.
"Neither would have I..." I replied. "It seems that I transform whenever I'm extremely angry or sad..."
"Has this happened before?" inquired my uncle, his own slit eyes shinning luminously.
"Yes...Once when I was being beaten up..." I confessed.
"Do you know what this really means Tom? Do you know?"
"YES... It means that I am Slytherin's heir, isn't it?" I stated quite bored.
"No....Much more... You are the predicted Dark Lord, who's destined to rule the world of Wizards and Muggles! Perhaps even the whole Universe!"
!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* !*!*!*!*!*
A/N: To be continued as soon as possible.
