Summary: With Ginny now dead there is nothing to stand in Tom's way to bring utter chaos into the world. Nothing except a strange, beautiful girl called Melisande. Can this girl be tied to the fiery redhead? In more ways than death? And what really happened to Ginny?
Disclaimer: If you notice that the characters aren't mine you're probably right because they all belong to J.K Rowling.
Chapter 11
SSS
Across a blackened background, a handsome man swam in Melisande's vision. The man had neatly combed black hair and was attired in a fancy robe. Beside him a fragile looking redhead appeared absolutely terrified as the minister spoke the vows.
"Do you, Thomas Marvolo Riddle, take thee Ginevra Molly Weasley to rule with and share both in power and in life?"
"I do!" The man said unemotionally.
"And do you Ginevra Molly Weasley, take thee Thomas Marvolo Riddle to rule with and share both in power and in life?"
The redhead paused, pain well disguised behind the icy exterior that shielded her eyes. "I do."
Melisande's focus returned to normal, and her unusual eyes scanned the man before her nervously. There was an uncanny resemblance to him and the man she had envisioned. Melisande could only conclude that they were one and the same. His hair however, was now allowed to fall freely, silky black locks framing his pale face. Crimson eyes bore into hers and a disguised smile lingered on his lips.
Shocked and with a fearful awareness, the girl noticed that the table had only been set for two. Not that more people would've helped brighten the situation, but it would've felt slightly better to have others around. Keeping a cool aloofness, Melisande remained where she was, reasoning that she would not allow her fears to surface and take control of her mind.
However all self control evaporated when his overpowering voice beckoned her closer, and not even waiting to see if she would comply, he took out his wand and waved it easily around. With a yelp, Melisande landed in a chair by his side.
"Plain?" he asked, but Melisande believed that the question was not directed at her, but more so, he was talking to himself. He chuckled, a sound that made the girl's hair stand on end.
"Miss D'Aubigne, does your fiancée tell you often enough that your visage is intoxicating?"
Melisande blushed, taking the man's words as quite bold. Looking down she shook her head. It wasn't as though she was lying, she and Aiden were nothing more than friends. But she feared that if she looked the handsome man in the eyes, she would betray every bit of information Aiden had ever entrusted her with.
"That's a shame," he said somewhat mockingly. "A rare jewel such as yourself should be cared for and praised. Would you like to be praised by people?"
Melisande looked up, her enticing eyes wide. Not knowing what the question meant or what the right answer was, Melisande strove to pull away all emotion from her voice. "I am quite content with my current status."
Tom laughed. "Well yes, behind the tall unreachable walls of the White City, I cannot find any other reason why you wouldn't be. But due to your present whereabouts, others might have wished different." He paused, watching her with great interest. "Eat now!" The last bit words came out gently, and food appeared before them.
The food smelled and looked deliciously, but Melisande felt compelled not to consume anything. She scarcely ate, mostly pushing the food around in her plate.
Her companion however, ate what was presented before him, slowly and with the great care of well bred manners.
Melisande grasped the crystal goblet and drained whatever wine still remained. The glass filled immediately upon its return to the table.
Putting the eating utensils down, Tom glanced up in time to observe the brunette beauty drink the red wine. "If you do not eat, the wine will numb your senses. I doubt that is what you wish to do, especially in the company of your enemy. It is not a wise choice."
Melisande looked at him oddly. If he was indeed her enemy, why would he be giving her advice on how to compose herself? "I do not much wish to eat."
"And why not? Is the food not to your liking?" Tom inquired.
"No, the food is alright. I just do not have an appetite right now." She responded truthfully.
"Well then, you wouldn't mind if we were to step down from the table. Follow me," he ordered and Melisande complied despite the urge to dash for the door, reasoning that resisting was futile.
He led her away through a hidden door, and Melisande found herself in an exquisitely decorated drawing room. He pointed to a pair of armchairs and he beckoned her there. But before she reached the seats, he whirled around and caught her wrists, halting her on her way.
"Tell me," he began, his voice a mere whisper "How D'Aubigne could allow one such as you to roam so unprotected?" he demanded softly of her. She stared at him, her eyes wide and full of fear, an emotion which fed to his power over her. "Are you a trap? Are you a beautiful enchantress sent to bewitch me into the side of good?" he asked, his eyes dancing in mirth at the idea.
Tom cupped the side of her face, looking deep into her eyes, searching inside her soul. He was met with a black barrier wall. He had not expected such force and protection from such a fragile creature. She seemed harmless enough.
Her eyes were locked onto his, and Tom felt their hypnotic pull upon his soul. No one had ever managed to do that except…except for Ginny, and she was long gone and he had changed way to much for anyone to ever reach into him that far.
He shook his head and stared at the odd colour of her shinning pools that were looking at him in despair and confusion. Such a lovely combination, he thought, taking in the pastel contrasts of her eyes.
And that's when her hold on him broke, and he shook his grasp on her, snatching his eyes away from her and breaking their hypnotic allure. Her eyes, there was something very wrong with them. They did not seem real, and yet, he knew that they were not generated by any colour changing spells, but more that she had been born with them.
Something was missing and Tom couldn't piece the puzzle together. This girl was very wrong, her whole aura screamed darkness, but inside her soul was as pure as the falling snow. Only her eyes betrayed the mix between the two.
"Michael," Tom called and the door opened, a man with pale skin and brown hair stepped through, bracing himself against the door knob.
"Yes your lordship?"
"You are free to feast on this lovely Lady. I have no further need of her, but alas, I want to watch."
"Are your sure my lord?" the man asked, not believing his luck.
Tom nodded, and pushed a horrified Melisande into his arms. The girl stumbled into Michael's arms and gave a yelp as the young man wrenched her hair aside, revealing the soft flesh of her neck.
Tom sat down in a chair, watching with amusement the scene before him unfold.
"No, no, no! Please don't!" Melisande pleaded, her eyes growing large with fear.
But the man took no heed to her protests and sank his fangs into her flesh, blood dripping down her neck. "No!" Melisande screamed, twisting in his grip and springing free, to Tom's amazement.
However, his amazement was dashed as he noticed that she had not gotten free on her own strength, but rather, Michael had fallen to the floor, clutching at his throat.
"My Lord, help me!" he choked. "Her…" he tried to speak despite his convulsions "…her blood…its poisonous…" he gasped, his head falling to the floor with a thud.
Melisande stared in horror at the man, then cast her unnatural eyes in Tom's direction. He looked long and hard at her. It seemed that there was more that met the eye concerning Miss D'Aubigne.
SSS
Tom watched curiously as two Death Eaters whisked the mysterious Melisande D'Aubigne back to the room assigned to her. It was oddly enough, he mused, that she had so easily fallen into Malfoy's clutches, but it was even more intriguing that her blood contained a poison deadly to anyone, even vampires.
What Tom was meaning to find out, was how the poison wasn't harming her. How could it flow so easily in her system and not pose a threat?
Tiredly he sighed, rubbing the creases out of his brow. He walked back in the drawing room, were two glasses of some hard alcoholic beverages rested. He bent low, swooping a glass and heading over by the fireplace. Bracing himself against the high, marble carved mantel, he drained the glass and thoughtfully stared into the dancing flames.
Admitting that she was attractive and strikingly beautiful was an easy thing for the Dark Lord to do, for in his expanded lifetime, he had seen many women, one more enticing and more beautiful than the other. Brunettes, Blonds, Redhead…all sorts of girls. But none had ever looked as breathtaking as the young fiancée of Aiden D'Aubigne.
And still, Tom knew that her beauty was not all he felt around her. Something he could not determine, a presence of some short. Her aura dulled his sense with its dazzling darkness and the mere sweet smell of her hair was enough to send anyone into momentary bliss.
Tom could freely admit that the only person that came in close comparison with the brunette was Ginny. She had been almost the same, pure and innocent on the outside, but on the inside, Tom had known better than what the redhead had led people to believe.
He walked back to the small table he had originally found the alcoholic glass, and set it back down, empty. With determined strides he left the drawing room, his mind fixed on one thing only. And that thing was, to find out exactly who the future Mrs. D'Aubigne really was.
SSS
As though she were watching a play, Melisande observed a large group of people taking seats around a table that was fairly small and easily overcrowded by the large amount of people it was expected to sustain. All of them, Melisande noticed, had strikingly carrot orange hair, all but one. A small girl of maybe fifteen, with pale, freckled skin and dark, red hair was amidst the crowd of people, smiling cheerily as she passed around what appeared to be a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Although Melisande could not hear what their conversation was about, the whole lot seemed happy to be together and their faces reflected love and feelings of togetherness.
She could only guess that the redhead had been her, Ginny. Melisande felt an odd emotion rise in the pit of her stomach, wishing that she might've met the redhead people. After all, in a way, they were family.
As Melisande slumbered on, twisting the silk sheets around her even further, the image shifted.
This time, she was not the audience of an unfolding vision, but rather, she was the actor. Currently, Melisande felt shivers sweep her body, as she braced two hands against the cold, wet cobbled pavement and pushed herself up.
Loose, fiery curls cascaded out in front of her as she struggled to keep her balance, swaying ever slightly on her weakened legs. "Tom?" she felt herself faintly echo.
No answer greeted her ears, and the person whose body she was sharing walked around a tall, stone carved statue of a large and beastly looking serpent, with beady, emerald eyes. "Tom?" the voice tried again, this time, sounding more frantic than before, more force behind the words. "Tom where are you?" she sobbed. "I'm scared Tom. I want to go back!" Melisande felt herself drop to the floor, her vision suddenly clouded by unshed tears. "Tom please!" She quietly whispered to the empty room.
A few moments passed, scarcely 5 seconds, when Melisande was frightened right out of the body. "Boo."
The girl gave a shrilly scream, but it was soon diminished as a cold hand landed on her mouth. The man Melisande had seen before in previous visions and with which she had dinner appeared in her line of you.
"Now, now Ginny. You don't want to wake up the whole castle do you?" he asked in a cold, calculated voice, a smirk firmly plastered across his face.
"Tom I want to go back. Please I'm scared." The girl sobbed, trying to embrace the man in front of her, but he firmly and non to gently pushed her hands away, making her stumble and fall.
"None of that Ginevra. Do you understand?" he spoke sternly, his face firm and emotionless, except for a visible rage that burned deeply in his shinning orbs.
Melisande felt herself nod.
The man smiled. "Good. So, do you want to go back now pet?"
The petite girl nodded again.
"Does this mean you yield to the plan princess? You can have whatever you want or desire sweet. Just follow my instructions and you'll be queen."
"Yes," she quietly sniffed.
"That's a good girl. Your mother would be proud. Of that I am sure Ginny love."
He said and if Melisande didn't know better, she'd have said he almost spoke affectionately.
SSS
It was late, but Tom had unfinished affairs to attend to. Besides, sleep for him wasn't a necessity. And if it could be spared, he preferred to finish up on his work, before allowing himself the comforts of slumber.
Malfoy however, had drank several cups of coffee and was currently under a anti-sleep spell cast by the Dark Lord himself, and still he was having difficulty keeping himself focused.
"Malfoy!" Tom snapped tartly.
"Yes my lord?" he inquired blankly, taking note of his Lord's annoyance.
"Pass me those manuscripts. I've been asking for them for quite a while now and it seemed to me that you either have gone momentarily deaf or you're purposely ignoring me. For your sake I hope it's not the latter."
Malfoy shook himself, apologetically passing the manuscripts. "I am sorry your highness. I must've been engrossed in my thoughts."
"And what might those be Malfoy?" Tom asked, a faint smirk playing upon his pale lips.
"Umm…" Draco blandly mumbled. "I was think that…umm – "
"Were you possible thinking up a young Miss D'Aubigne?"
Draco, despite his pale complexion, felt himself redden. "No, of course not!" he quickly covered up his discomfort and concentrated on the old text he was studying.
"She is very captivating indeed. Not plain at all. I must say, I do not think you were referring to the same person when you spoke of the girl."
Malfoy kept quiet, for nothing he would say would improve the situation and the mistake he had boldly made earlier.
"My Lord," Malfoy declared, brusquely looking up from the dusty parchment. "There is something in this ancient text that I think you should consider."
Tom Riddle looked up, his face blank but his eyes keen with interest. "And what is that young Malfoy?"
"It says here, that an object of considerable power is buried nearby in this area." Malfoy begun explaining, pulling loose a map from under the scroll. Pointing to what appeared to be somewhere in the Middle East, he continued. "It is said that the treasure is the bringer of chaos and destructions, and long ago, the Greeks, who were its rightful owners, called the help of the high elite wizards of the regal Egyptian court, to place this treasure under the spell of one of the world's greatest curse so that it would never be found." The blond paused, allowing the Dark Lord to carefully scan the map. "My lord, I believe that this object could prove quite valuable. Maybe with it, we can finally bring about the demise of the White City."
"Yes this could be quite valuable." The other man mused thoughtfully. He thrived at the idea of being given the chance to finally eradicate his nemesis existence and banish good once and for all. "Do you know where to find it, Draco?"
The blond smiled. "I may very well so. Your lordship surely remembers the pyramid Bellatrix sent my men on a wild goose chase. She promised them riches beyond and greedy as they were, they obliged to her requests. Bellatrix was looking for something there, and I do not believe that it is merely coincidence that the map we have, is a detailed outline of Bella's pyramid."
Tom smirked. "Well done! I am amazed young Malfoy. You shall be greatly rewarded if this 'expedition' turns out beneficiary." Tom mused, waving his wand as if to stack all the scrolls and parchments that had only moments before been carelessly scattered about. "In the mean time, its time Bella and I have a chat. Send for her."
SSS
Having gotten dressed in the clothes provided for her, Melisande stood in front of the mirror, running through her hair a comb she had found in the adjoined bathroom.
A blue skirt and matching top hugged her body fittingly, complementing her porcelain-ivory skin and adding to her slender figure. Her dainty feet resided inside the hollow sheath of silk slippers.
Heaving a sigh, she turned away from the reflecting glass just in time to see the door open and a person stepping inside the room. A red, velvet gown enveloped a tall and thin woman grabbed in an expensive silk cloak that matched her dress into perfection. Straight black hair was elegantly pulled into a Chinese-styled bun, her eyes shining in grey as she stared in amusement at Melisande, a smirk playing upon her full, red lips.
She chuckled. "My, my, my!" she mused, coming closer to Melisande who stood rooted to the spot, not exactly sure of what she should do. "It seems to me that Thomas has gotten himself a new pet?" she paused, stepping short in front of the brunette. "Or do you belong to Draco, lovely one?" she asked curiously, her eyes examining Melisande carefully as she grabbed her chin in between two long fingers, the woman's nails strikingly bold against the fairness of the other's skin.
Melisande snatched her head back and retreated a few steps. "I belong to none." She answered defiantly, her eyes ablaze. Unknown emotions stirred within the pit of her stomach and she felt a strong dislike for the woman.
The woman laughed, a shrilly chuckle that seemed bothersome to Melisande's ears. "You have spirit. That means you're Thomas'. I am Bellatrix." The woman etched a devious smile upon her lips, stretching out her hand.
Glancing toward the door, Melisande noticed that it was still ajar and she briefly entertained the idea of making a run for it. What could be the worst that could come out of it?
The one called Bellatrix followed her gaze and quickly pulled out her wand, whispering something that was beyond Melisande's comprehension. The door snapped shut. "I am afraid, lovely one, that my dark lord would be terribly saddened if he would loose such a fair creature as you. He would be very displeased." She said seriously, but Melisande boldly moved toward the door.
"Now that I've introduced myself, it would be of well manners if you were to do the same, do you not agree."
"My name is of no importance." Melisande said, her voice emotionless. The brunette wondered why she felt so much hostility toward the woman. It felt as though the emotions weren't her own.
Putting Bellatrix out of her mind for and instant, she inched toward the door further still. However, her path was soon obstructed as suddenly Bellatrix apparated the short distance between them, leaving Melisande no choice but to freeze and flatten herself against the wall. She knew the door was closed, but her hope was inextinguishable and she wished to try it for herself. She could almost taste her freedom. If only she could reach the bloody door knob then –
"Your name is of great importance, impertinent one." The woman bit out cuttingly, her eyes flaming in annoyance. Bellatrix relaxed, allowing Melisande more room to squirm under her annoyed glare. "You really must advise Thomas to give you over to me. I'd be able to shape some manners into you."
Melisande's temper flared, her pale cheeks growing red. She pushed Bellatrix away with all force she could muster, and dashed for the door, rattling the knob wildly. To her surprise, the knob gave way with a blue sparkle that fizzed faintly in the air where the magical energy crackled quietly and disappeared. The lock fell loose and Melisande threw the door open, running down the length of the hallway in a frantic attempt to get away. Something was wrong with her, she could feel it, deep within her soul. Something was changing. Before she had the chance to get even a scarce few feet away, she ran smack dab into a surprised person who grabbed her wrists and held her firmly in place.
SSS
TBC!
