Oh my god!!! I've never expected so many reviews! Thank you so much! I'm
going to answer them all.
Hermionegreen: hey, you are the only person who reviewed every time! Keep going please!
'Mes: Glad you like my story! Were you right?
kynight (kytag@aol.com): Thanks, that's very inspiring.
Shania Maxwell: Thank you!
StarlightAngeldust: I think it's going to be a dark fic, but I'm not sure how much. Recommend? I think I like Family Issues by ShadowThestral, but I think a lot of people know it.
Slimpun: Where else should he be sorted? I swear I'll do that.
Vlanna (vlanna@bellsouth.net): yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger
Parselmouth: you'll know soon...
liz: Thank you!
Insanechildfanfic: thanks!
HoshiHikari4ever: yes, you're right but I think he wouldn't immediately go straight to Voldie, would he? He's just more used to tell them things
tia: Thank you!
Star Mage 1: wow, I'm honoured!
reaprincesa: thank you for reviewing, even so late!
Sorry I haven't updated so long again, I couldn't get to the computer. But, okay, now here's the next chapter!
Chapter 5
Bellatrix Lestrange walked out from behind a large cupboard.
"Hello, dear!" she said, grinning.
"You!" Tom just hated her, really. Did she recognize him? "What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to bring you to the Dark Lord." Bellatrix laughed madly and looked at him expectantly, as if she thought he'd panic. He didn't. He just stayed where he was and kept looking at her.
"I'm his most loyal Death Eater." She said a bit annoyed. "I don't know why he wants you but I'm sure you have a problem."
So she did not recognize him. For a moment he considered his chances of running away, the barkeeper hadn't moved a bit, then he realized that he was actually curious on what Voldemort had to say to this. Dumbledore's word seemed definitely not enough.
"Yeah, okay, bring me to him."
Bellatrix looked now REALLY disappointed. She had probably been looking forward to MAKING him come.
"I used the Imperius Curse on him to get you." She pointed to the barkeeper. "He mustn't report anything. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Tom didn't even flinch when the body dropped dead.
Bellatrix grumbled something about boring people and led him to the fireplace. She threw floo powder into it, pushed him into the fire and called "Riddle Manor!"
Everything began to turn and Tom landed in a large fireplace in an room about the size of the Great Hell in Hogwarts. He got out of the fireplace and brushed himself off. A snake was lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, Nagini. The room was full of more bookshelves than he had ever seen on one place, even in the Hogwarts library.
In front of him stood his father, Lord Voldemort.
They stared at each other.
"Er... master?" Bellatrix' voice asked From out of the fireplace.
"Get out, Bella." Voldemort said without looking at her. She hurried out of the room.
"So..." he started. "You're my son, then."
"Yes", Tom's mouth felt dry and his mind empty.
"I'm sorry." Voldemort said. Hearing him apologize sounded strange to Tom. "You must be really angry at me," he continued, "I never was a good father for you. I didn't know you were my son, but that's no excuse. I tried to kill you and made you suffer. I don't know how to make that good again."
"It doesn't matter." Tom hadn't imagined Voldemort could say something like that.
"Yes, it does. And there I am, complaining about my father not caring for me, but I'm not any better myself. I am so sorry. Is there anything I con do to make you forgive me?"
"No." Tom said honestly. "I have already forgiven you."
For that moment, Voldemort's eyes lost their cruelty and hate and shone with a little green. For that moment, he was the happy man on his wedding day again.
"Thank you. It was your birthday yesterday, wasn't it? I think I owe you a present. Next time you'll get a party, all right?" He walked over to an old desk and took up a coiled up small black and silver snake. He gave it to Tom. "Do you like her? Her name is Sylvie."
"Yes, she's beautiful!" Tom exclaimed and beamed at Voldemort happily. It just felt like the family he had never had. He added in parseltongue ~ "Hello Sylvie!" ~
~ "Hello masster" ~ Sylvie hissed.
~ "just call me Tom, okay?" ~
"She is an elemental fire-snake. That means she can produce fire and take it away and it cannot harm her."
"Wow, thank you, really."
"Don't you want to sit down? We ought to talk." Voldemort summoned two chairs and they sat down. Sylvie coiled up on Tom's lap.
"Do you have any questions?" Voldemort asked.
"Is everything that Dumbledore told me true?"
"What did he tell you?"
Tom told Voldemort about Dumbledore's visit the night and about the dream he had had.
"I knew about the dream. I've talked to Matilda tonight. I did a ritual to speak to the dead." Voldemort said.
"Yes, I've seen part of it. Till there was someone very loud in my room."
"Yes, that was Bella. She can be really annoying sometimes." At the look on Tom's face, Voldemort added "I'm really sorry about Sirius Black. If I could bring him back, I would. But I can't. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, it' just... he was like my only family, you see... he asked me if I wanted to live with him once..."
"He did? But weren't the muggles your family, too, if you stayed with them?" Voldemort asked confused.
"I don't consider them as family. They're horrible persons. I only stayed with them because Dumbledore said I had to."
"Oh, I see. That's not good. I always had to stay at an orphanage. I wrote a letter to the headmaster every year to ask whether I could stay at Hogwarts over the summer, but he never let me. I have heard that he actually wanted to, but every time Dumbledore convinced him not to." He stopped and looked into Tom's eyes. "If you want to, of course you don't need to, I don't really expect you to want that, you could... you could stay here with me."
Tom's face lit up immediately. "You're not joking, are you? Of course I want to! That's great!" But then his smile disappeared. "What about Dumbledore? I told Moody and Tonks, they're Aurors in the Order, that I wanted to speak him. I have no idea whether he'll turn up there, though."
"Probably as long as he thinks it's good for him. The question is, can you have him finding out about us? Because he wouldn't be pleased. Do you still trust him? I don't blame you if you do."
Tom thought about that question for a moment. Did he trust Dumbledore? The person who had killed his mother and made his whole life a lie?
"No. Not in any way do I trust that manipulative, lying old fool."
Voldemort chuckled lightly. "That's my boy."
"How come you're being so nice?" Tom wanted to know. "Sorry to say so, but I never could have imagined that."
Voldemort sighed. "That's because I haven't been for a long time. Now... I'm just... happy, I guess. That's the first time I felt truly happy... since Matilda... I wasn't ever cruel and heartless, contrary to popular belief. I was evil, yes, well, also cruel, but not heartless. I was able to love. I changed a lot after she was dead, and I believed you were, too. All this power is great, of course, but I had lost my wife and my unborn child. After that I just wanted to make Dumbledore pay. And I thought that I could never love again, until today. Until you came back into my life."
At this moment they truly were a happy together again family.
That was, until....
"My Lord! Something has happened in the Leaky Cauldron! They found the barkeeper dead and there are rumors it had been Bellatrix who killed him!" shouted a man in black Death Eater robes who had just apparated in.
"AVERY! What the hell are you doing here?! Haven't I clearly said that I do NOT want to be disturbed by any of you?!" screamed Voldemort. "CRUCIO!"
Avery was screaming and twitching in pain. Seconds later Voldemort removed the curse.
"Sorry." He said to Tom. "I just had to do this. Avery should really at least TRY to do some better once."
"I'm sorry, My Lord, I didn't think..."
"I noticed that, Avery. Now go."
"Yes, My Lord." Avery bowed and with a plop he was gone.
Voldemort turned to Tom again. "Sorry for the interruption. And I think what I just did was not something that you like to see. Torturing him, I mean."
"That didn't really matter to me." Tom said truthfully. "I mean, I've often seen it, and tried t0 do it by myself, so..."
"You've tried to do it yourself? The Golden Boy of Gryffindor?" Voldemort asked somehow mocking.
"Yes, on Lestrange when she had killed Sirius. I did it wrong, though."
"Oh, if you want to you could torture her for that another time. But what I just thought of, why are you in Gryffindor? You're a descendant of Slytherin."
"I kept on chanting 'not Slytherin, not Slytherin' in my head."
"That explains everything. Did they tell you Slytherin was THAT bad?"
"Yes, everybody I met did, except for Malfoy, and I didn't like him."
"Well then, I think you should be in your room in the Leaky Cauldron now. It'll look suspicious otherwise."
They stood up and walked to the fireplace.
~ "Where are we going?" ~ asked Sylvie.
~ To the Leaky Cauldron where we have a room for a while." ~ answered Tom.
"Please put on the telepathy necklace, Matilda told me you had it. Then we can talk again."
"Yes, I will."
Tom threw floo powder in the fire and stepped in with Sylvie, shouting "Room 13, Leaky Caldron!"
In the Leaky Cauldron he just had time to put on his pajamas and the necklace and lay into bed, and Sylvie curled up on the bedside table when some ministry wizards came in and told him that the barkeeper had been killed and asked him if he had noticed anything. Tom told them he hadn't, and they told him not to worry, the barkeeper's son would be running the pub now and the ministry would be making new precautions. Then they went out and left Tom alone. He lay in his bed although it was morning with a strangely happy feeling in his stomach and was trying to sleep when he heard a voice in his head saying
*Goodnight Tom*
*Goodnight father* he answered.
Although it was Lord Voldemort, in this night he had found his father and he was really happy about it.
Okay, maybe you'll be wondering now why Tom and Voldemort just understood each other so quickly, but I thought that they were both somehow waiting for that moment, you remember Harry's mirror of Erised?
And I know that in this chapter Voldie was pretty soft and emotional, he won't be like that all the time, don't worry!
And I think it was a bit unclear in the last chapter that Tom asked for Dumbledore although he didn't like him anymore, I meant he did this because if it's always 'ask Dumbledore', it just gets normal to go to HIM and that doesn't change from one day to the other.
Just got a new cell phone, I'm so happy!
So, please review again, guys! I'll be even more happy then!
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!
Hermionegreen: hey, you are the only person who reviewed every time! Keep going please!
'Mes: Glad you like my story! Were you right?
kynight (kytag@aol.com): Thanks, that's very inspiring.
Shania Maxwell: Thank you!
StarlightAngeldust: I think it's going to be a dark fic, but I'm not sure how much. Recommend? I think I like Family Issues by ShadowThestral, but I think a lot of people know it.
Slimpun: Where else should he be sorted? I swear I'll do that.
Vlanna (vlanna@bellsouth.net): yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger
Parselmouth: you'll know soon...
liz: Thank you!
Insanechildfanfic: thanks!
HoshiHikari4ever: yes, you're right but I think he wouldn't immediately go straight to Voldie, would he? He's just more used to tell them things
tia: Thank you!
Star Mage 1: wow, I'm honoured!
reaprincesa: thank you for reviewing, even so late!
Sorry I haven't updated so long again, I couldn't get to the computer. But, okay, now here's the next chapter!
Chapter 5
Bellatrix Lestrange walked out from behind a large cupboard.
"Hello, dear!" she said, grinning.
"You!" Tom just hated her, really. Did she recognize him? "What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to bring you to the Dark Lord." Bellatrix laughed madly and looked at him expectantly, as if she thought he'd panic. He didn't. He just stayed where he was and kept looking at her.
"I'm his most loyal Death Eater." She said a bit annoyed. "I don't know why he wants you but I'm sure you have a problem."
So she did not recognize him. For a moment he considered his chances of running away, the barkeeper hadn't moved a bit, then he realized that he was actually curious on what Voldemort had to say to this. Dumbledore's word seemed definitely not enough.
"Yeah, okay, bring me to him."
Bellatrix looked now REALLY disappointed. She had probably been looking forward to MAKING him come.
"I used the Imperius Curse on him to get you." She pointed to the barkeeper. "He mustn't report anything. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Tom didn't even flinch when the body dropped dead.
Bellatrix grumbled something about boring people and led him to the fireplace. She threw floo powder into it, pushed him into the fire and called "Riddle Manor!"
Everything began to turn and Tom landed in a large fireplace in an room about the size of the Great Hell in Hogwarts. He got out of the fireplace and brushed himself off. A snake was lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, Nagini. The room was full of more bookshelves than he had ever seen on one place, even in the Hogwarts library.
In front of him stood his father, Lord Voldemort.
They stared at each other.
"Er... master?" Bellatrix' voice asked From out of the fireplace.
"Get out, Bella." Voldemort said without looking at her. She hurried out of the room.
"So..." he started. "You're my son, then."
"Yes", Tom's mouth felt dry and his mind empty.
"I'm sorry." Voldemort said. Hearing him apologize sounded strange to Tom. "You must be really angry at me," he continued, "I never was a good father for you. I didn't know you were my son, but that's no excuse. I tried to kill you and made you suffer. I don't know how to make that good again."
"It doesn't matter." Tom hadn't imagined Voldemort could say something like that.
"Yes, it does. And there I am, complaining about my father not caring for me, but I'm not any better myself. I am so sorry. Is there anything I con do to make you forgive me?"
"No." Tom said honestly. "I have already forgiven you."
For that moment, Voldemort's eyes lost their cruelty and hate and shone with a little green. For that moment, he was the happy man on his wedding day again.
"Thank you. It was your birthday yesterday, wasn't it? I think I owe you a present. Next time you'll get a party, all right?" He walked over to an old desk and took up a coiled up small black and silver snake. He gave it to Tom. "Do you like her? Her name is Sylvie."
"Yes, she's beautiful!" Tom exclaimed and beamed at Voldemort happily. It just felt like the family he had never had. He added in parseltongue ~ "Hello Sylvie!" ~
~ "Hello masster" ~ Sylvie hissed.
~ "just call me Tom, okay?" ~
"She is an elemental fire-snake. That means she can produce fire and take it away and it cannot harm her."
"Wow, thank you, really."
"Don't you want to sit down? We ought to talk." Voldemort summoned two chairs and they sat down. Sylvie coiled up on Tom's lap.
"Do you have any questions?" Voldemort asked.
"Is everything that Dumbledore told me true?"
"What did he tell you?"
Tom told Voldemort about Dumbledore's visit the night and about the dream he had had.
"I knew about the dream. I've talked to Matilda tonight. I did a ritual to speak to the dead." Voldemort said.
"Yes, I've seen part of it. Till there was someone very loud in my room."
"Yes, that was Bella. She can be really annoying sometimes." At the look on Tom's face, Voldemort added "I'm really sorry about Sirius Black. If I could bring him back, I would. But I can't. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, it' just... he was like my only family, you see... he asked me if I wanted to live with him once..."
"He did? But weren't the muggles your family, too, if you stayed with them?" Voldemort asked confused.
"I don't consider them as family. They're horrible persons. I only stayed with them because Dumbledore said I had to."
"Oh, I see. That's not good. I always had to stay at an orphanage. I wrote a letter to the headmaster every year to ask whether I could stay at Hogwarts over the summer, but he never let me. I have heard that he actually wanted to, but every time Dumbledore convinced him not to." He stopped and looked into Tom's eyes. "If you want to, of course you don't need to, I don't really expect you to want that, you could... you could stay here with me."
Tom's face lit up immediately. "You're not joking, are you? Of course I want to! That's great!" But then his smile disappeared. "What about Dumbledore? I told Moody and Tonks, they're Aurors in the Order, that I wanted to speak him. I have no idea whether he'll turn up there, though."
"Probably as long as he thinks it's good for him. The question is, can you have him finding out about us? Because he wouldn't be pleased. Do you still trust him? I don't blame you if you do."
Tom thought about that question for a moment. Did he trust Dumbledore? The person who had killed his mother and made his whole life a lie?
"No. Not in any way do I trust that manipulative, lying old fool."
Voldemort chuckled lightly. "That's my boy."
"How come you're being so nice?" Tom wanted to know. "Sorry to say so, but I never could have imagined that."
Voldemort sighed. "That's because I haven't been for a long time. Now... I'm just... happy, I guess. That's the first time I felt truly happy... since Matilda... I wasn't ever cruel and heartless, contrary to popular belief. I was evil, yes, well, also cruel, but not heartless. I was able to love. I changed a lot after she was dead, and I believed you were, too. All this power is great, of course, but I had lost my wife and my unborn child. After that I just wanted to make Dumbledore pay. And I thought that I could never love again, until today. Until you came back into my life."
At this moment they truly were a happy together again family.
That was, until....
"My Lord! Something has happened in the Leaky Cauldron! They found the barkeeper dead and there are rumors it had been Bellatrix who killed him!" shouted a man in black Death Eater robes who had just apparated in.
"AVERY! What the hell are you doing here?! Haven't I clearly said that I do NOT want to be disturbed by any of you?!" screamed Voldemort. "CRUCIO!"
Avery was screaming and twitching in pain. Seconds later Voldemort removed the curse.
"Sorry." He said to Tom. "I just had to do this. Avery should really at least TRY to do some better once."
"I'm sorry, My Lord, I didn't think..."
"I noticed that, Avery. Now go."
"Yes, My Lord." Avery bowed and with a plop he was gone.
Voldemort turned to Tom again. "Sorry for the interruption. And I think what I just did was not something that you like to see. Torturing him, I mean."
"That didn't really matter to me." Tom said truthfully. "I mean, I've often seen it, and tried t0 do it by myself, so..."
"You've tried to do it yourself? The Golden Boy of Gryffindor?" Voldemort asked somehow mocking.
"Yes, on Lestrange when she had killed Sirius. I did it wrong, though."
"Oh, if you want to you could torture her for that another time. But what I just thought of, why are you in Gryffindor? You're a descendant of Slytherin."
"I kept on chanting 'not Slytherin, not Slytherin' in my head."
"That explains everything. Did they tell you Slytherin was THAT bad?"
"Yes, everybody I met did, except for Malfoy, and I didn't like him."
"Well then, I think you should be in your room in the Leaky Cauldron now. It'll look suspicious otherwise."
They stood up and walked to the fireplace.
~ "Where are we going?" ~ asked Sylvie.
~ To the Leaky Cauldron where we have a room for a while." ~ answered Tom.
"Please put on the telepathy necklace, Matilda told me you had it. Then we can talk again."
"Yes, I will."
Tom threw floo powder in the fire and stepped in with Sylvie, shouting "Room 13, Leaky Caldron!"
In the Leaky Cauldron he just had time to put on his pajamas and the necklace and lay into bed, and Sylvie curled up on the bedside table when some ministry wizards came in and told him that the barkeeper had been killed and asked him if he had noticed anything. Tom told them he hadn't, and they told him not to worry, the barkeeper's son would be running the pub now and the ministry would be making new precautions. Then they went out and left Tom alone. He lay in his bed although it was morning with a strangely happy feeling in his stomach and was trying to sleep when he heard a voice in his head saying
*Goodnight Tom*
*Goodnight father* he answered.
Although it was Lord Voldemort, in this night he had found his father and he was really happy about it.
Okay, maybe you'll be wondering now why Tom and Voldemort just understood each other so quickly, but I thought that they were both somehow waiting for that moment, you remember Harry's mirror of Erised?
And I know that in this chapter Voldie was pretty soft and emotional, he won't be like that all the time, don't worry!
And I think it was a bit unclear in the last chapter that Tom asked for Dumbledore although he didn't like him anymore, I meant he did this because if it's always 'ask Dumbledore', it just gets normal to go to HIM and that doesn't change from one day to the other.
Just got a new cell phone, I'm so happy!
So, please review again, guys! I'll be even more happy then!
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!