Chapter Three: Rendezvous with You-Know-Who

Moony's Story

I'm back, finally, after nearly a month, which is the longest amount of time it's ever taken me. Sorry for the delay. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone an extremely happy new year! It's officially been 2004 for over a week! Kind of scary.

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I couldn't even scream. I just froze.

Which should give you an excellent example of my brilliant reflexes.

Whatever had its hand over my mouth was completely silent. It started dragging me backward, and I obliged, terrified. Sweat was pouring down my face, which was contorted into some kind of painful grimace. Recognition was stirring somewhere in the back of my brain, but I was too scared to pay much attention to it.

Suddenly I remembered I was still holding my wand.

"Impedimenta!" I screamed wildly, the word muffled. A beam of light shot out of my wand- somewhere I heard the unmistakable sound of glass breaking.

Someone snarled. "You little mudblood, shut up! Silencio!" The voice was eerily familiar. I continued to shout hexes uselessly, my lips moving against that clammy hand. Beams of light somehow continued to expel from my wand, so that glimmers of red and white and green bounced off the walls and ceiling.

In the split second my attacker paused, I stomped hard on his foot. A yelp of pain came from under his hood. I twisted away, and as his hand was torn from my mouth, his nails tore open my cheek. Another hand came out of nowhere and smacked me.

I swayed drunkenly, trying to tell apart the two identical corridors I was seeing. My attacker took advantage of this, and yanked me through a doorway and into a dark, abandoned classroom.

He released me, and I feel forward onto my knees, gasping silently and rubbing my stinging cheek. Behind me, I heard the swish of a wand and a whispered "Aucun Silence!" Suddenly my labored breathing echoed throughout the room.

Unconsciously, my grip had tightened on my wand. I knew that voice, I was sure of it now...I had to get away. A wave of hot, rippling anger rose in my chest.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I bellowed, as I rose and spun around. Nothing happened. I could picture the mocking smirk my attacker was wearing. He had even lowered his wand.

"Stupefy!" I tried again. Three sparks flew out of my wand with a loud honking sound.

"Bloody wand!" I muttered furiously. I shook it, and the voice under the hood laughed- a laugh that was cold and mirthless, yet high-pitched. My already frizzy hair stood on end.

"Lower your wand, Mara," it said. "There's no point losing your temper."

Something in my chest snapped- next moment a jet of blinding white light had erupted from my wand tip, without me saying a word.

I was hopeful for a moment that that spell would him- my attacker, that is- but he didn't even have to duck; the spell passed three feet to the left of him and hit a mirror. There was the sound of glass breaking for a second time.

The voice chuckled.

"Like I said, Mara . . .good thing you missed. You know perfectly well you would have felt the pain as much as I," he said, and I snarled.

Two hands, with long, white, spider-like fingers, reached up and lowered the hood.

It was, of course, Voldemort. I snarled again and turned away.

"You won't even face me? Still scared of me after all these years?" he taunted lightly. I turned swiftly, my face hot. Thoughts of escaping or yelling for help flashed through my head, all useless. You couldn't escape from Lord Voldemort.

"Why are you here?" I hissed. "Why did you come? Why do you have to keep dropping in on me, I haven't had one in years, not since you did the spell! You know that! Can't you just leave me alone?"

Voldemort examined his waxen fingers. "It is perfectly normal for- er- talents such as yours to wane after a spell such as this is performed. They will come back eventually, once you have regained your strength. And when they do, I'll be waiting." He talked slowly, to make sure I was hanging onto his every word.

Bristling, I stalked over to the mirror I had broken. I would rather have looked at anything- even my own reflection- than his face.

"Normal, eh?" I laughed harshly, in a voice that was not my own. "You call this normal? How many other cases like mine have there been, exactly?"

Voldemort drifted across the room until he stood next to me, and was looking in the mirror as well. I shrank back slightly from his presence; the air around him felt evil.

"None in modern times," he replied smoothly. "But if you simply look back upon your ancestry, as you already know- I expect you'll find quite a few." I shivered for no apparent reason, then glanced suspiciously at him. He was staring at me. I hastily returned my gaze to the cracked mirror.

An abnormally short, skinny girl of seventeen stared back at me, with frizzy, honey-colored hair that barely reached her shoulders. There was an ugly purple bruise on her right cheek, which, if anything, emphasized the deathly pale skin around it- though not, as the girl liked to think, the same colorless pale as Lord Voldemort's. The one thing, however, that easily stood out the most about her appearance was her eyes. They were huge; taking up much more of her face then was necessary, and a queer, stormy gray. The kind of gray that reflected every single emotion the girl was feeling. Right now they were thick, swirling, and glinting dangerously, exactly like a thundercloud- wanting to pour, but holding back their wrath with extreme difficulty. I shuddered, knowing the girl's face was my own.

"Yes, your eyes," Voldemort whispered to our reflections, as if he could read my mind- which, I thought with alarm, he probably could. "The reason we are both here tonight." I didn't answer."Their power is still growing."

"I didn't ask for it!" I shouted. My voice rang around the room, and Voldemort watched me, expressionless, almost pitying. But I was on a roll now.

"I didn't ask for it and I don't want it now, I never will! If it wasn't for my... my destiny, or fate or whatever nonsense you want to call it, you wouldn't have shown up and murdered my parents, and you wouldn't be here ruining my life and- I'd never have to see you foul face ever again!" I stopped, panting. My throat had become too hoarse to continue.

"Temper, Mara," Voldemort said calmly, and his eyes flashed. I threw him the nastiest look I could muster.

Slowly my breathing returned to normal. The silence in the room was deafening; it weighed down on me like a thick blanket and I nearly gagged. And still Voldemort studied his reflection. Or mine, rather. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

"So, can I go, then?" I asked, trying to sound as if his answer meant nothing. But he knew.

"No." He turned to face me. When I didn't look at him, he reached out and grasped my chin between his thumb and forefinger. Against my will, I began to tremble.

He turned my face toward him until his eyes were boring into mine. I began to twitch violently. His pupils doubled in size and he seemed to be searching for something, and I was naked, powerless to stop him from exploring my soul and mind. For a full tortuous minute I was in his control. Finally, he withdrew himself, and my lurching stopped. I took a deep, steadying breath.

"You're going to be beautiful," he said softly. His voice filled the entire room, as my yelling had earlier. "Eventually," he added cruelly, and I stiffened.

I jerked away from him, stumbling backward into the wall. I had the impression his grip would have held if he'd wanted it to.

"Don't touch me," I snapped. He smirked.

"Our bond's sole purpose isn't only so that I have information," he said haughtily. "I have Death Eaters for that. No...every Lord needs a Lady, Mara." My heart stopped.

With a last penetrating glance, he swept from the room.

Chills raced up and down my spine as his last words pounded inside my head. Every Lord needs a Lady, Mara. Terrified, I sprinted as fast as I could all the way up to Gryffindor Tower, my robes billowing out behind me.

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Please review! Please! Please! (No, I'm not that desperate . . .)

Snuffles2984: Nope, not dementors, but good guess. Hope this isn't too much of a cliffhanger!

BlackLupin: Well, that's a good goal! Maybe you can make that a habit in each of my fics. Arghh, I'm flattering myself . . .but I finally updated! Finally! (And it was right after you uploaded the latest chapter of ICSY, so that's good, right?)

Bob the Invincible Elf: Yay, a review from you, lol. I feel special- well, all reviews make me feel special. And I can't believe that when I randomly picked a name for this character, it turned out to be the name of that girl from Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire. I think it's a sign...yes, definately a sign.

Smiley-Freak :D and BlackNight : Thanks! Hope you like the new chapter.

alwaysginny: Thanks, and yes, there definately has to be a chapter where george and barney sing together. Definately.

sweetqtpie072689: Wow, now we have a singing trio! This is getting big.

shadows13: Sorry, don't feel bad! I wasn't thinking about things like that when I posted this, but next time I'll remember to send you an email! I'm not sure if evanescence really goes with the theme of the story, but I do agree with you that they're a great band...I'll see what I can do in future stories.

FluffyPinkFlamingo: I really hope you get that new story posted soon cuz I really really wanna read it!

Bye for now!

-Padfoot-Dreamer-