In the same dark room, in the same dim light, the picture from that wonderful day was put aside as the hands of the boy began to turn the pages of the large book. Despite all that had happened, a small and true smile played across the face of the boy. Faint light caught the glass lenses yet again as the boy's head was turned ever so slightly to look down at the opened book.
The book was rather amazing. The pages moved, of course, like any magical picture...but they sprung forward as well. Almost like a type of hologram, but powered by magic. Judging by the pictures one may come to the conclusion that the book is about many different recipes and dishes. The pictures were that of cakes, soufflé's, and many other pastries. Of chicken and beef and hoards of other dishes! Surely this was a book that any lover of the cooking world would enjoy to simply look at.
The pages continue to flip, the smile on the boy's face began to fade as remembrance of the book's origin came to mind.
"Kristoff!" A voice called up those same familiar stairs, "Kristoff you have a guest!" That same voice from so many years ago. The woman, Kristoff's mother, was aged now. Her silver blond hair had gained strands of vibrant silver. Her face was lightly creased in some places, the lines of aging.
Footsteps were heard, and Kristoff emerged at the top of the stairs. Steel blue eyes shining behind the glass lenses that shimmered as he looked down to the two woman at the foot of the stairs, "Alma, you made it!" He said joyfully. It was Kristoff's eighteenth birthday, and Alma had been the only one he'd known well enough to invite over.
The girl smiled that smile of hers, the smile that seemed as if she were hiding a wonderful and horrible secret, "Of course I made it! How could I miss the eighteenth birthday of one of my best friends?"
Kristoff's mother had exited the room to leave the two friends alone. Alma held up a decently large square package wrapped in glistening blue paper, "Now get down here Kristoff and unwrap your gift!"
Kristoff smiled once more, he was everything that he had been on his eleventh birthday, everything that had been lost. He ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and stopped at the bottom next to Alma, gratefully accepting the gift, "Thanks," He said to her, eagerly tearing the shimmering paper away from the package. It flaked as it was torn into many different pieces, floating loftily to the floor as Kristoff stood there, staring at the gift he'd received with a grin on his face that hadn't shown itself in a very long time.
"Alma its...its wonderful!" He exclaimed, steel blue eyes shimmering behind the glass lenses as he eagerly opened the book and began flipping through the pages.
"I knew you'd like it Kristoff, I saw it in a shop window on Diagon Alley and just had to get it for your gift" Alma replied, smiling as well with her eyes closed.
Kristoff's mother served the two friends cake, they talked, they laughed. As much as his eleventh birthday had gone wrong, this one went right. Then it was time for Alma to leave, she waved to Kristoff's mother, gave her good friend an embracing farewell, and left through the fireplace via floo powder.
Kristoff sat in the living room, his new book lay open on his lap as he continued flipping through the pages. There were so many new recipes, and a few ways of making soufflé's that he hadn't tried before, Kristoff could hardly wait to get into the kitchen the next day!
A group of hooded figures in the kitchen, mother is in danger.
Kristoff froze, closing the book slowly and placing it on the sofa beside him. That had been a precognition...something was going to go wrong...
"Mother?" He called out, bringing himself to a standing position in the living room and making his way towards the kitchen, "...Mother where are you?"
"Hello Kristoff, how nice it is to see you again after all these years"
The brown haired boy spun on his heels, terror coursing through him as he caught sight of the man that had ruined his life, and was about to ruin it more. "You!" He cried out, taking a step back and shifting his gaze quickly over the group of hooded figures, "Wheres my mother?" He demanded, surprised as his own courage.
"Now now Kristoff, surely you don't think I'd hurt your dear mother! She's safe and sound, right here" The man, known to many as the Dark Lord Voldemort, stepped to the side to reveal the older woman behind held with her hands behind her back by one of the cloaked figures.
"Kristoff!--" She began to shout, but was silenced with a twist of her wrists.
The boy regained the step he'd taken back a moment before, turning his steel blue gaze on Voldemort, "Let her go!" He shouted, and then voiced what he'd wondered for so long, "What do you want!?"
Voldemort grinned, acid yellow eyes boring into Kristoff's steel blue, "I've come to pick you up Kristoff my boy. Don't you remember me saying I'd do so on your eleventh birthday?" The grin faded for a moment as the Dark Lord's face took on a serious look, "You've quite an ability there, don't you? Why, we didn't even have to make a noise for you to know we'd gotten here." He looked over Kristoff, "Yes...quite a knack for knowing things before they happen..."
Kristoff could feel himself shaking, it was so tempting to yet again take that step back away from the man, and the figures. But they had his mother, and he wouldn't loose her...not like he had his father. "I'll...I'll go with you" He stammered, amazed that he'd actually said such a thing.
Voldemort inclined his head, raising both eyebrows and regarding the boy, "Will you, now? Well that certainly does make things easier..."
"I'll go with you" Kristoff repeated, "If you...if you let her go first..." He finished, the shaking going through his body continued.
Voldemort grinned sickly, "Wonderful...well then we'll leave right away."
Kristoff looked from the Dark Lord to his mother, "Wait! You've got to let her go first!"
Voldemort looked towards his mother, his face taking on a falsely empathetic expression, "Of course, how inconsiderate of me. It would be cruel to leave her here alone, her beloved husband dead and her only son the apprentice of the Dark Lord" He grinned once more then, raising his wand, "I'll let her go...though...perhaps not in the sense you are thinking of, young Kristoff."
Kristoff claimed yet another step, "No--!" he shouted, but already it was too late. The spell had been spoken, the jet of green light had flown, and his mother had fallen limp in the figure's arms and quickly dropped to the floor. He was shaking visibly now, the hand that he had brought outstretched towards his mother was trembling in mid air.
Voldemort, seemingly ignoring what had just happened, calmly walked over to the shaking boy. He placed a hand on his shoulder, earning a shuddering flinch from Kristoff. "Now now, dear boy...I let her go, did I not?" He grinned, boring into Kristoff's eyes, "We must be off now." And with that there was a serious of loud kracks in the air as the figures began to pop out of sight. Voldemort apparated as well, his hand still on Kristoff's shoulder, taking the boy with him.
A ploom of smoke emitted from the fireplace in the home that had once belonged to Kristoff only an hour after the incident had happened. "Kristoff I left my cloak here"
It was Alma.
She paused in the parlor as she saw the book on the couch, the room...and the entire house...had the feeling that something terrible had happened here. "Kristoff?" She called again, making her way towards the kitchen.
"Kristoff!?" Alma called once more, her voice taking on a desperate tone. She froze in the kitchen, dropping the cloak which she'd snagged off of an armchair onto the ground. Her hands flew to her mouth, eyes widened, and she screamed.