A/N : Yes, yes, I know. I've been taking forever to get this chapter up, and I do sincerely apologize. I've been waiting for my beta reader to get back to me - which she still hasn't done, so I hope everything is alright with this chapter, and I apologize in advance for any cheesiness you find herein. I've also gone into another slump with my writing, but this one is more severe than just "writer's block". For a month now, and you can all blame my rereading the books for this, I've been seriously considering literally rewriting the entire story. I've left too many holes, have thought of too many little alternatives, and have honestly begun to detest Lena and Voldemort's relationship myself (so, Liv and May, you're not alone there…::sigh::). And, also, my lack of friends with whom to discuss Harry Potter has also taken it's toll and I feel very cut off from my two best friends, who are both nearly 700 miles away. But, I will trudge on, for the moment. I've thought of some alternatives to later chapters that is where many of my problems were cropping up, so I might just be able to go through with all of this. If I have any votes for rewriting this (from chapter one of "Journey into Darkness"), let me know. That might end up being my answer…sucky as it is to have to redo everything. Well, on with this chapter…
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Chapter #14 – Return to the Diary
The time Voldemort spent in China was what he considered the best time of his life. It was where he really began to become the Dark wizard he was setting out to become. There were so many changes going on in his life, so many ideas that he was developing that it was impossible to later look back on his years in the "Middle Kingdom" without anything but pleasure. The only thing that really made the time there not enjoyable when he was living it was the headaches from all his studying and experimenting, but those were easily remedied with Melantha's potions.
The Gaoji was far more appealing to Tom than the Nychta Paidia had been. There were no government takeover schemes. Everything was done more underhandedly and covertly. They were influencing the Chinese Ministry of Magic with money and blackmail. Special members had been placed within the Ministry to work from the inside to the group's benefit. They had even gotten some of the guangshi (Chinese Aurors) on their side through corruption and bribery. It was all so appealing to Tom that he saw this as a much better way to do things than what the Paidia had done. The Nychta Paidia, upon reflection, seemed to just be toying with being Dark wizards and he thought them rather foolish for that for you do not play with something like that.
Once Tom had proven his worth to the group, he began to get to know the members of the Gaoji (or at least his area's group as there were many different group spread throughout China). There were fifteen members, not counting himself, in the Hanchung assembly. All the members, of course, were either pure or halfblood (though there were only three of them counting himself). Most came from very wealthy families that had earned their gold over many generations through typically honest business practices, especially trade with the West. Most of them were not married but even if they were, their spouses did not know about their association with the Gaoji – with the exception of the Wul family, Liwei and her husband Chen.
It was through his new companions, especially a young woman named Tong Yujie, that he began to correspond with other Asian Dark wizards. Some of them were learning, like Tom was himself, but others that were masters of the Arts and would pass a few secrets on to him every now and then. He had correspondents in Japan, Russia, India, Australia, and throughout China. And since he knew that one day he would be leaving China (for he was sure there would come a day he would have to) it was a nice feeling to have so many possibilities of where to go next.
And when I came to correspondents, Lena and her father were still doing the same thing they had since she had left home – writing letters as often as they could. With the increased distance between them, they could not write once a week, but it was usually not more than once every two and a half weeks that a letter came and went. Other than wondering if Lena's poor, aging Taliesin was going to give out soon with such horribly long journeys, he was also wondering just what Lena was telling her father. Ever since they were in Denmark, he had been thinking about the possibility of Korbin really being a spy, and it did still seem to make sense. But he had been thinking about it less and less nowadays. If Korbin was a spy, though, it would certainly explain why he was less than happy to see his daughter (his only child) slip away with him, Tom, someone who was clearly studying the Dark Arts. Or had it just been that fact? That Lena was his only child? With his wife, Casia dead now, Tom surely was lonely, even with all the work Lena said he did for the Committee of Experimental Potions.
Over the previous three years since he had arrived in China, he had made several great achievements when it came to his search for immortality. For one, his understanding of potions and herbs (which was often times backed up by Lena's more extensive knowledge) allowed him to examine all the potions that he had at his disposal to see where mistakes might lie, or where improvements could and should be made. Lena was rather grateful to help him out, especially when it came to buying the things he needed for his experiments.
Tom had never really understood how he would ever know if any of his experiments had worked or not unless he got into a life-threatening situation, and he did not want to purposefully put himself in such a position, just in case whatever he had tried had had no effect at all. The best thing for him to do was to make them and simply hope, but that was not something he liked. He wanted to see results of what was happening, to know that it had worked. And after three attempts (two potions and one incantation), he did notice a change about him, though it was not something he had expected.
Though Voldemort had known for some time that his eyes had a tendency to gain a red glow or tint to them (which he learned was a inherited trait from his Raghnall ancestry), his once hazel eyes were now the most vivid crimson red he had ever seen. This rather shocked all his companions the first time they saw this (as they usually saw him with his mask on and his eyes were really the only thing you could see). Lena told Tom reprovingly that he should be thankful that it was only his eyes that had changed. Some of the potions she had looked at in his now five books on finding immortality could seriously change him in other ways too even if made correctly, though the three he had already tried were some of the least dangerous ones he had found. She dreaded what other physical changes might occur with the more complex (and, thence, dangerous) ones.
One of the things that the Gaoji prided themselves on was their skills at dueling – something that Voldemort knew he needed quite a bit more practice with after his defeat in Greece. It was a lot more educational to duel against this group of highly skilled wizards than it had been when Melantha was teaching him (though she had really only taught him the basics). The fast thinking involved, the agility that had to be learned, those were some things that he was lacking for the most part and he sharpened those abilities much more than they had been when he had been in Greece. He knew that if ever he was caught in another duel of that magnitude, he would not be caught so unprepared.
Another thing that Tom had learned from the Gaoji was what most European Dark wizards would call "Subjugation" – the art of possessing another living being and exacting your will through them. It was a bit like the Imperius Curse, yes, but with this method you were the one doing the act instead of telling a person to do something and setting them to it. It was also more dependable than the Imperius Curse, being less likely that someone could actually throw off your invasion into their mind. Tom liked the feeling of control he had when using this magic and he quickly mastered it.
Subjugation was used for fun among the Gaoji, just as the Muggle hunts were, but Tom found the use of this art even more interesting than hunting. Though he could not use magic through a Muggle, that person's hands were plenty. Muggles were all such simple-minded fools and it was easy to control them. Once he had mastered the art, the only affect on the Muggle was a simple "loss of time" (well, that and the accusation of whatever Voldemort had done while possessing them). But Muggles, he realized after a while, were not really all that much fun, so he "played" with Lena some. It surprised him that though she knew all the times he had taken possession of her, she had never fought it. She seemed to rather enjoy it, actually.
It was shortly after one of his ventures into one Muggle's mind (which ended up getting quite bloody for the woman the Muggle was with) when he thought of his diary for some reason. He had often pulled it out and updated spells on it (as well to teach the "Tom" within it a few new things). Now he wondered if he should pull it out again and add the knowledge of Subjugation to it as well. It would surely be something that could come in handy. If the diary was given to someone unwilling to open the Chamber…in fact, he could then speak Parseltongue through them as well, thence being able to use anyone. He dug out the diary from his personal pile of books (the only few that Lena was not allowed to touch) and began figuring out what he needed to do to make this new addition work correctly. It took him several weeks of work on it to get it right, but he did not know if it would work. He would only have to trust in his own skill.
When he was finished he sat looking at the diary, smiling at his handiwork. He had put much time and magic into that little Muggle book. He was proud of himself…very proud. And as he sat reminiscing, Lena wandered in, taking off the stained outer black robe she wore when making potions to reveal her silk, velvet trimmed pale yellow and midnight blue robes. She looked at Tom as she pushed a stray lock of hair that had fallen from her bun behind her ear. She was eyeing the diary curiously. She was good with recognizing the books they owned, and she had never seen that one before.
"What's that, Master," she asked curiously as she walked to him.
"My diary," he said, somewhat blandly.
"I didn't know you had a diary." Lena looked at it even more curiously as she stopped at his side. She carefully picked up the book, in case he did not want her to see it, then opened the cover, seeing his name in smudged ink there. Her eyebrow raised slightly, seeing "T. M. Riddle" written there. "You wrote your birth name here, my lord?"
"Yes, I've had this since I was at school. I did not need someone that did not know the name 'Voldemort' accidentally finding it and wondering whose it was."
"True." She flipped through the book but was surprised that she saw no writing on any of the pages. "You haven't written…"
There was a faint smirk on his face. "It is not a diary in that sense."
The most puzzled look he had ever seen came to her face. "It's not? Then what's it for?"
"I'll show you." Tom picked up a quill and inked it. His smirk returned as he handed the quill to her. "Write your name."
The witch looked at him utterly bewildered. He wanted her to write in his diary? "What do…"
"Just do it," he said, command in his voice.
Lena set the little diary down on the table and did as she was told, writing her full name on a random page: "Lena Kerri Westbrook". Her name remained there, the ink soaking into the paper some as it dried, then it sunk in more, and then it was gone. Lena blinked. She stared at the book before her, wondering what had happened. Then other words came back to the page and she looked somewhere between curious and terrified as she read them.
"Hello, my mistress," the diary responded to her.
If she had been holding the book, she would have dropped it. The quill, though, did hit the floor and left a small splotch of ink there. She looked at Voldemort, not knowing what to think. Her mouth worked for a moment she tried to speak but no words came out in the beginning. Finally she struggled out: "Ma…Ma…M-m-master?!"
A smirk was still on his face. He rather liked seeing her like this. "It is quite alright."
To her there was nothing "quite alright" about it and she wanted to know what had happened. "But…"
And then Tom explained to her about his ideas for giving it to a future student to take to the school and then let Lilith back out. He had decided, though, that if the person that obtained the diary were to be unwilling to do so, the diary could possess the person and do it through them. Lena was awed at all of it and looked at Voldemort with a slack jaw for a while after he had finished his explanation.
"You have created a sentient being? And you created it while we were still at school?!"
Voldemort looked at her, wondering if she thought such a thing was beneath him. He was mildly irritated at that. "Is that so surprising?"
"No, not really, it's just…it was rather unexpected, is all, Master." She examined the diary again and smiled. "It sounds like it's a very intelligent diary."
"I would hope so. I have used it as a sort of grimoire several times, so plenty of what I've learned in more recent years is in there as well." He liked when he impressed her, but he did have rather a habit of doing that. "Everything I put in there pretty much makes 'Tom' more intelligent."
The witch was still looking at the diary very much in awe. "It must be nice talking to yourself, too. Two of you would surely be better for thinking up schemes, my lord."
"Indeed, it is, though I do not often do that, as I study more often than naught."
Retrieving the dropped quill, Lena fell into thought. When she stood straight again, she brushed the feather against her lips, she gazed at the diary, almost longingly. She was silent for a long time as she thought. "Master…"
"Yes, you may borrow this to talk to my younger self, if you desire." He smirked, knowing that was what was on her mind – though he had no idea why she wanted to write in it, to talk to "Tom". "Though it is not yours to keep. And know that whatever you write in here will most likely come back to me."
"I have no need to worry about that, my lord. There is nothing that I would keep from you, so it matters little that you would see it."
With her saying that, the Dark wizard looked at her with slightly wide eyes. He knew she had not spoken lie with that and it surprised him. With everything that was going on – with all the suspicions he had had about her loyalties over the years – if she had nothing to hide from him, then there was really no reason for him to suspect her, was there? He let her take the diary from his hand as he still pondered that, then watched her walk to the porch that led out to the garden by their room to start writing in it.
Once he finished thinking about Lena's loyalties, his mind turned to his experiments. He did really want to know if he had succeeded yet at gaining immortality, but he was not desperate to know. He would simply need to keep making new potions and casting new incantations and hope that one or a combination of many would, in the end, give him what he so desired. He would need Lena to go fetch him more ingredients soon but she would not complain about that (though she had begun to stop going to the shops as much as she used to, preferring to actually read and experiment herself). Once he had the things he needed he could get to work on the next potion. He did not care how dangerous it was. He would achieve immortality no matter the cost. And as he thought that, his red eyes gleamed with the hunger that that goal always stirred up within him.
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To my reviewers -
insert name here - glad you accept my name change…that's what I've been calling you for ages, after all. Yes, I'm still alive, don't worry, just deep in serious thought is all (and on holiday and stuff, too). I know that it would not longer be a trilogy if I made it four parts, I never said that it'd remain a "trilogy" if I did make it four parts…:-P I don't think I did, at least…;; If agony keeps you all within my grasps, though, perhaps I should not get straight to the point from now on, that way I keep you all under my control…::maniacal laughter:: As far as the implications of using someone else's face, it's more about showing "I have the power you require of me to be a member" and "I have power over the pathetic Muggles and I'm not afraid to prove it", if you can understand that. Imagination is the thing that can make things far more horrific than they really are…or maybe even give you a proper vision of what's happening when things aren't described verbatim. Yes, the spells can all affect one another, but at the moment Voldemort's not going too much regarding immortality. Many of those potions are very complicated and take a while to brew. And he doesn't want to make too many potions and possibly get something in the brewing mixed up and then have everything go terribly wrong. The Dark Mark doesn't show up till much later, after he's returned to Europe. Very, very true point about "first year" spells without a wand, there. It is a tactical advantage. And as that we all know that Dumbledore can use "banishing" and conjuring spells without a wand (as proven in book three when the school goes into the Great Hall after Sirius' break in), it's safe to assume that Voldemort, his magical rival you could say, would be able to do the same. I'm glad you still love the story…and, as I keep saying, I hope you'll still be loving it later on…I'm starting to hate it in parts, personally…but I am my own worst critic, no?
lord archimonde - that vision of Muggle hunting is pretty much what I've always envisioned it as. I can't see any other plausible way to do it. If you have a different view on it, I'd really love to hear it. It could just be another way of hunting, you know. This is just the first instance that Voldemort's run across. And I'm really sorry about posting delays, it's just that there have been annoyances that have kept me from doing what I should be doing in regards to this story. I'm going to try and get back on track, but I can't make any real promises.
Liv - well of course Voldemort'll love Muggle hunting! That's what he's loved since about his fourth year at Hogwarts. Glad you liked the chapter. That was one of my more favorite chapters to write, actually, though getting it the way it was took so long. It was worth it, though.
Mayhem El-Diablo - no torturing Lena…okay…she goes through enough in "alternate" stories in my head to the point she doesn't need extra torture here. :-P Don't want me to stop, eh? Well, there will come that time when I must end it all, but hopefully it won't be for a while. And I'm glad you love my writing. Vote taken for "two stories"…
RivanKnight - glad you thought it was fantastic, that really means a lot. Everyone seemed to really like that chapter, and that's very good. I did do my best with that chapter, as that there's so many little cultural nuances that I wanted/needed to put in there. And I hope that I did a good job with the accuracy. ::eating cookie:: ::munch munch::