Blinded By The Past, Ignored In The Future

Chapter 13

THIRTEEN: Hell But Not Back

A/N: Sorry this took long and it isn't even that long! I promise better!

Response To Reviews:

Miss Mina Murray: Sorry 'bout the cliffy! I hope it didn't hurt to fall off, lol! I wonder who you thought it was that was standing in the doorway but I never say anything that would make me sound dumb in a review either! That's just the thing to do, right? I was wondering if you had MSN instant messenger since you have a hotmail account. If not that's to bad I wanted to chat with you sometime…

Deadly Fate: Don't worry. They'll escape…sooner than you think.

Marauder1prongs: Hello. Sorry for not posting soon enough.

Emma Ackroyd: S'up my British buddy? I'm having the time of my life trying to keep Sev (he says hi) off of my computer. He's been chatting with my friends and Prongs a lot in the pat week. He thinks he's better than me cause he was born in Britain. No offense meant to you.

Emily-Dufleng: Don't worry. I'm not stopping there. I wouldn't be that cruel. 

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Previous Chapter: I must look really stupid. I'm a fourteen-year-old baby. He thought miserably. Once again the cell door opened. He looked up and saw the last person he would have suspected to be there, standing in the doorway.

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Her ruby eyes met his and he found that he was gaping like a fish at her. "Ru-Ruby?"

"Great now he is seeing things," said a blurry figure, moving in front of his dead friend. Ruby sighed lightly and smiled sadly at him. Slowly she mouthed what looked like, 'hold on'. He felt himself being chained to the wall, in a sitting position, but didn't fight back. 

"Make sure he can't move," the other person commanded the first. He knew their voices but was starring at Ruby and paying attention to nothing else. "Don't want him hurting himself more than necessary." Both of the Death Eaters seemed to think the situation was funny but Riddle really didn't care. For the first time in a while he was oblivious to the happening around him.

"What the hell are you starring at, you weed?" someone that sounded like Avery asked. When Riddle didn't reply he turned to his companion, "Rookwood, the boy is already crazy." Rookwood snickered.

Ruby smiled and jerked her head in Avery's direction. Riddle understood why as Avery joined in nervously laughing with Rookwood. He was afraid of him. Then Riddle figured out how to escape. But would there be consequences if he escaped using the most powerful magic he possessed? It was likely but not factual. Then again the though of Voldemort knowing-but would he already know since they were the same person?

A magnificent sound filled his ears. He felt his heart warm to the unfamiliar sound and then, without warning, the side of the cell exploded in a mass of fire. Ho-neaou's phoenix form was visible in the flames and if Riddle wasn't chained to the wall he would have tried to run from the fire. However when the flames spread he felt nothing.

"You came back?" Riddle said quietly.

Ho-neaou smiled fondly. Suddenly Riddle remembered Ruby. He looked around at the doorway but found nothing. Was she really there or was he hallucinating due to his injuries? The heat made the chains give and he was able to stand up.

Careful to keep both hands on the wall he made his way over to where Ruby had been just moments before. He didn't know what he expected to find but was devastated when he realized that she really wasn't there now. She was gone….just like Voldemort had said.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the honey-brown eyes of the Gryffindor know-it-all, Hermione. "I'm sorry," she said. He notice Draco behind her but said nothing to him. 

"For what, mudblood?" he sneered at her.

To his surprise she handed him the diary he had been using instead of answering, and he took it. Had he turned around he would have noticed that Ho-neaou's eyes saddened at what Hermione was thinking.

"We have to go now!" snapped Draco's voice, bring Riddle back down to earth.

"Go," he said, falling to his knees. "I'll be fine."

"Oh no you don't," Draco growled. "Ho-neaou didn't risk his never-ending life to save us just so you could get yourself killed!" 

"I said I'll be fine," repeated Riddle, clutching the diary.

"And I said you're coming!" Draco retorted.

"Leave him be," Ho-neaou ordered. "We must leave now."

Hermione looked at Riddle then back to the phoenix. Something in her eyes changed and she declared, "I'm going with Riddle."

"Come off if, Granger!" exclaimed Draco. "That's the dumbest thing you've ever said."

"I'm serious, Malfoy," she said. "He can't take care of himself in this state. Now go!"

"She made her choice," Ho-neaou said.

"But-" Draco never finished his protest. The next minute they were gone in a swirl of orange flames. Hermione turned back to Riddle and saw that his hands were shaking violently.

"Riddle, we have go!" she said, urgency flooding her tone. "The Death Eaters will be here any minute!" He gave no indication that he had heard her. Hermione began to get angry with him. She made her way toward him and forced the tall boy to his feet.

A mix of emotions ran through his mysterious eyes, but before she could study it further it vanished. Riddle grabbed her hand abruptly and took off in the direction of the hole in the wall (that Ho-neaou had come through), leading to the outside, forcing her to go with him. At first she had no idea what had caused him to get up and go all of a sudden, but when she looked back as they hurried away she saw over twenty cloaked men run into the cell that the two sixteen year-olds had a moment ago been in.

The yelling voices caught Riddle's attention and when he looked back he saw that Hermione was starring at them as they ran. He let her get ahead of him and, without words, willed her (and himself) not to look back. She seemed to understand as she was now running faster.

Riddle heard someone yell a stunning spell. Without giving Hermione an explanation he dived at her, knocking them both to the ground, where he held her there until the spell flew right past their shoulders. Grasping her hand tightly he pulled her up and they rushed into the safety of the nearby forest.

He thrust his diary at her chest after he pushed her behind a tree. Then he disappeared, leaving her to wonder if he was really coming back. Only then did she notice that the sun was coming up into the morning sky, eliminating the darkness.

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Riddle truly didn't know what he was going to do. There really was nothing that could help their situation. He ducked behind a large boulder as three Death Eaters passed him. He watched as another one emerged from nowhere alone and decided to seize his chance.

The Slytherin stuck out his foot, tripping the Dark Wizard and retrieving his fallen wand. Before the Death Eater could even look at him, Riddle had knocked him unconscious with a single spell.

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Hermione ducked down behind the tree when she heard people approaching and wished that she still had her wand. They wouldn't stand a chance then.

Riddle's loud voice shouted, "STUPEFY!" A few moments later he came around the tree, extending a hand to her but still not speaking. She took it and he led her further into the dense forest, not stopping until they reached a large tree that had a burro under it's trunk. He slowly beckoned her toward it. She looked at him, brows furrowed.

"I'm taking you back to Hogwarts," he said. He added nothing more and nothing less as he turned away.

"Where are you going? Why did we stop here?" she asked him.

He smirked and turned to her, "And they call you the cleverest witch in your year." Without another word he left her. She sat down on the ground, her back against the tree. She still had the diary under her arm and had to fight the urge to read it.

He came back carrying a few small logs in his arms. Riddle set them down in front of her and she looked at him curiously.

The Slytherin tossed her the stolen wand and said in a business tone, "Start a fire. I'm going to find you something to eat." Ignoring the rudeness in his order she didn't argue and within a few seconds she had a fire going. After what seemed like an eternity Riddle returned for the second time, a few different berries in his arms.

He tore a large leaf off of a small tree with his mouth since his arms were full and (once he dropped to his knees) set it on the ground before placing the berries on it. "Eat," he commanded, taking his diary from her and lying on the ground near the fire. His eyes rested on her. When he noticed that she saw him staring he turned over, avoiding a conversation.

She tossed a beery into her mouth and found that it was strangely sweet and sour. Her eyes widened when she realized that she could have easily been poisoned. Hermione turned to Riddle and found that his gaze was on her again. He chucked at the expression on her face and said, "Don't worry, mudblood, I didn't give you poison berries though I highly considered it."

"Look we're never going to make it out of here unless we work together. Maybe we can start by using each other's first names. I know you know mine-

"Tom," he interrupted her.

"What?"

"My name is Tom."

He actually listened to her? Hermione stared at him in a new way. This whole thing was proving to be very weird. Was he up to something or did something happen while being kept prisoner that made him act like this? Well, Hermione though, only time would tell…

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*Behind Blue Eyes- LIMP BIZKIT*

No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
And no one knows
What it's like to be hated
To be faded to telling only lies…