Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing is a great fellow, but doesn't earn me much money. All things you recognise belong to Mrs. Rowling and I bow before her power. 'Annabel Lee' belongs to Edgar Allen Poe.

Sacrifice

It all began with a beautiful red-headed girl sacrificing herself to give life to a small black-haired boy.

The boy grew up. Hated and alone. Frightened and surrounded by those who deemed him a freak.

With no friends, and no family, he was insignificant.

Until his eleventh birthday that is... when once again a beautiful red-headed girl saved a small black-haired boy from death.

For he had been prepared to kill himself.

Standing upon the highest ledge of the highest tower upon the hell that was all he'd ever known.

And he would have jumped.

But then a squeak.

He turned his head and saw her standing, with hair like the fire surrounding the sun and sparkling blue eyes above a slightly crooked nose.

He vaguely wondered if she was an angel.

"You're not going to jump are you?" She asked him softly. But what she meant what 'Please Don't.'

And he could have loved her for it.

He stepped down. And asked a question with the tilt of his shaggy head.

"Er, I've come to fetch you, you see." She wrung her hands nervously, and he liked her all the more for it. "My name's Kathryn Dumbledore, and my nanny, Miss Poppy, and I have come to take you to get your things at Diagon Alley... for Hogwarts."

His head remained tilted and he idly wondered if she were mad. It wouldn't have mattered.

She began fiddling with the fringe on her jumper and he knew he should say something before he made her anymore nervous.

"My name is Tom... Tom Riddle."

She beamed and curtsied, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tom."

She was sincere and she found him a pleasure.

A knot began to form in his stomach and he hoped it would stay there forever.

"D-do you know about Hogwarts then? We weren't sure if your rotten muggle keepers had given you your letter."

Questions burned in his mind, but he was too confused to ask them.

She assumed.

And then she explained. And she welcomed him into her world and saved him from his.

And he was already half in love.

And he may have told her sooner... but then: a sorting.

She made her father proud, becoming a beautiful Gryffindor.

He made her sick, becoming a selfish Slytherin.

At first he tried to make it right, but she was stone.

And once again he was alone and only a little less abused.

He fell into books and into reading and into discovering.

And discover he did.

A secret past. A secret passage. A lineage that would make his fellow Slytherin bow down and beg for mercy.

That thought alone justified Myrtle.

He was rising. He was powerful. Some already feared and respected Lord Voldemort. And one day he would leave behind Tom Marvolo Riddle, the filthy half-blood.

For once in his life, he was more.

But yet... there was something...

Professor Dumbledore suspected. And his daughter ignored.

Only the later really disturbed him. Though he knew it wouldn't always.

And he made Head Boy... and she made Head Girl.

And he still felt betrayed... and so did she.

And it would have stayed that way forever, if not for: a dark wizard.

Unknown and remaining hidden, but gaining followers and killing freely.

Their Defense Againt the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Grindelwald, reminded them to stay alert. This new foe could be anyone and anywhere.

And then Kathryn went missing, although only Tom thought so.

"It's quite all right, young Mr. Riddle," her father had said upon Tom stating his concerns, "She's probably just out on a walk about the grounds."

He found this unsatisfactory and went to find her.

And found her he did.

But not on the grounds.

In the forest. She was sitting in a clearing surrounded by golden unicorn fouls.

He vaguely wondered if she was Nature.

She saw him watching and soon after everything changed.

She changed, accepting him as he was.

And he changed, by making who he was the person she deserved.

And they loved with a love that was more than love.

"...I and my Annabel Lee."

She smiled up at him and he smiled back down at her, before dropping the book in his hands to wrap his arms around her.

Graduation was coming. They were already talking of marriage.

Her father was torn, but Tom tried to stay strong.

"He's a great man. He'll come around..." she'd say. But the words were becoming hollow.

And the world was becoming darker.

And all along it was Professor Grindelwald.

They'd gone for a walk about the grounds. Professor Dumbledore had come too.

And she was right. He was coming around.

But then an attack.

Unexpected. Outnumbered.

Confusion.

But they were brighter than anyone. Tom was brilliant. Kathryn was genius. And Dumbledore could have taken them all on by himself.

And they may have won except: Grindelwald.

A curse, that Tom had never heard, aimed at him... but blocked by Kathryn's body as she threw herself in front of him.

Time stopped. Movement slowed.

She fell in a heap of beauty and innocence.

And once again, a red-headed girl had given her life for a black-haired boy.

He fell down next to her and gathered her to him, no longer aware of anyone around him.

An inhuman sound of suffering escaped him and rattled the trees.

And he felt the darkness inside of him take hold once more. This time much stronger; this time much more wicked. For all the good in his world had just left.

He didn't see Dumbledore defeat Grindelwald. But he did see Dumbledore.

And hatred like he had never known rose up inside of him.

And he felt his eyes go red.

No words left his lips, but Dumbledore knew.

And then Tom walked away. Away from her body. Away from his enemy. And into the forest.

And he walked so long, and he walked so purposefully, that without even intending to, he ended up in Little Hangleton.

And he slaughtered with the spell Grindelwald had used.

And he felt justified. Righteous even.

And afterward, he began to walk once more. Never knowing quite where he was going, but always managing to find where he wanted to be.

The orphanage. Or more specifically, the headmaster and attendants.

And once again he felt righteous.

And he began to believe that he was.

He was a savior, ridding the world of filth.

Kathryn had once asked him if he believed in God. At the time he said no, that he didn't. Because no God would have left him to suffer as he had.

But now he knew that he had been wrong. Because HE was God.

And he walked for years. He walked so long that in the end only three thoughts became constant in his mind: he hated Albus Dumbledore, he hated death, and he was God.

Kathryn no longer existed to him.

And years more passed. And he began to attempt to conquer death.

And he thought he had.

He built up an army, to help him kill Dumbledore.

And he would have had it not been for: a boy.

And once more, a beautiful red-headed girl sacrificed herself for a small black-haired boy.

But this time it wasn't him. And if a part of him had still felt, he would have been sad.

Not to say the sight of it hadn't stirred him. But he had forgotten why.

And now he was nothing.

But it wouldn't always be like that.

Years later he became whole once again. And he sought to destroy the boy who had reminded him of someone long forgotten.

But he failed. Many times. One of which involving a beautiful red-headed girl. And that should have tipped him off. It should have. He should have realized then that, in the end, things would turn out very differently than he expected.

But the final battle still came.

And he stood before the boy, prepared to kill him.

And he would have except: love.

A beautiful red-headed girl had jumped in front of the curse intended for the small black-haired boy.

And the boy screamed.

The boy screamed an inhuman scream that rattled the trees.

And the boy wept.

And as his human heart beat once again...so did he.

He cried because a dark wizard had once taken all that was good in his world and murdered it silently.

And before he could even think to stop them, memories flooded him.

Love.

He remembered.

And he felt his body changing to accommodate these memories.

He looked at him hands. His fleshy, pink, human hands. And he wept harder.

And he felt their eyes upon him in awe and horror and pain and anger.

Time began to slow, as he knelt beside the boy whose life he had systematically taken.

And he hated himself for it.

And then he placed his hands on the beautiful red-headed girl and willed her to live.

And she did.

And he collapsed.

And before he died, he saw his beautiful red-headed girl standing above him surrounded in light and smiling.

She offered her hand, and he took it.

And as the boy held onto his love, who was sobbing in his ear, he heard the joyous shouts of peace around him.

And in the end, a small black-haired boy gave his life for a beautiful red- headed girl.

The end.