Chapter 3
Innocence of a Dark Lord Lost
With the killing curse muttered, I saw a Hufflepuff girl, 1st year by the looks of her, drop dead. The room and world around me went utterly quiet. I couldn't hear any of the screams around me as the people pushed to run away. Deep down in my gut I knew I should be running away, but my legs seemed cemented to the spot.
The cackle of the Dark Lord continued as he aimed another killing curse at a student. This time it was a Gryffindor who looked to be in about 3rd year.
"MOVE!" I screamed, running towards the younger girl as my legs suddenly found life. I pushed her out of the way a mere instant before the curse would have hit her. We both fell on the ground and the girl immediately stood up and ran for it.
The room was now almost empty. A few straggling students remained, as well as a few Slytherins.
Voldemort was shooting daggers at me with his eyes, and I returned them, though I could now tell why people feared him, feared saying his very name. His face seemed to belong to snakes, and his eyes were the most putrid color of red. But while I shot daggers back at him and he raised his wand to aim at me, I felt the now familiar tug of going into someone's memory.
I became a young boy, about the age of 17. My mind was racing with hate, and I continued my steps to the old, run down building I had to return to every summer. I opened the door and immediately saw the women who ran the orphanage. She walked up to me in greeting, a smile on her face. She never took more then 2 steps before she laid flat on the ground, dead. A small smirk on my face I went up to the 1st floor, planning what to do to the muggle orphans when I reached them. It was then that a boy about 15 shot around the corner with a gun pointed straight at my head, about 2 feet away.
"What'd you do to Ms. Hoffen? You killed her! Why?"
"I don't have time for you! Avada-"
I was cut short by the ring of a gunshot as it whizzed an inch past my head and into the dry wall. Smirking at the younger boy, I completed the curse and his body fell limply to the ground, the gun still in his hand. I continued up the stares, now hearing screams of the other children from after the gun was fired. 'This job was too easy.' I told my self.
I worked my way through the children till only the infants were left. A baby boy lay in his crib in the corner. I approached him, my smile growing wide. But there was something about that baby boy… I couldn't do it. His eyes a miraculous shade of blue with no worries in the world. No idea that I could kill him in a very instant. But I couldn't do it. I just stood there, staring at him. He reached his hands up to me, as if wanting to be held. I dropped my wand and realized I felt something in my chest I had never felt before, and it scared me. A tear fell slowly from my right eye as I realized what I was about to do. I bent down and picked up my wand, shut my eyes, and said those fatal words, "Avada Kedavra."
I smoothly left that memory, as if it ended there. And I knew why it was supposed to end there. That was the day Voldemort had lost all his innocence. He had stooped down to a level so low that he even killed babies, who hadn't even had a chance to live. Voldemort was staring at me, anger being given off strongly from his eyes. He took two deep ranched breaths before backing away and finally turning and full out running out of the castle. There was more then just anger that had been radiating from his eyes... fear had resided there as well, if for no more then a moment.
Upon his departure, students that had run away now approached me. Tears streaked my face from what I had witnessed in the memory and as I began to look around me, I saw that another student had fallen. Another student, a boy from Gryffindor who looked to be in 4th year lay dead across the room from the other victim. I looked around the utter chaos, my mind faintly hearing my name called behind me… "Anna? Are you all right? Anna?"
My mind was swimming, and my body began to move in random waves. And then my legs gave way and my body tumbled to the ground, only it never reached it. Harry had been running to see if I was all right and caught my fall.
As my mind swept into unconsciousness, I heard him mutter a few words, "It's going to be alright… Someone get the nurse! Hurry! Try and stay awake. Anna, can you hear-" and then all went black.
A/N-I know this chapter is VERY short- but what else was I supposed to do? This was a PERFECT cliffy moment, and don't you dare contradict me, you know its true!