Voldemort's Daughter Part III.
Disclaimer:NOne of these characters belong to me except for July Riddle and the plot- maybe. Thanks to every one who reviewed or gave me suggestions. I don't think I could ever put down in words how much they meant to me. And yes- I do know how corny that sounds- but it's ture. Special thanks to my sister, SilverSpoon, who is away in Massachussetts right now- hopefully buying me a birthday present. JK.
Harry had picked up a book he did not recognize as his own, "Olivia Bitton's Guide to simple Dark Arts Spells," and was well into it when there was a small knock on the door. Harry sighed and set down his book expected to come face to face with a mean looking Aunt Petunia. But when he opened the door there was no one there- until he looked down and saw the smallest house elf he had ever seen. The house elf looked up at Harry and smiled and Harry smiled back. The house elf became very excited when Harry smiled at him and began bouncing up and down. "Oh! Harry Potter has smiled at me! Blink come here! Harry Potter has smiled at me!" The elf grabbed Harry's hand and began pumping it up and down in a shaking motion.
A house elf appeared from behind a statue down the hall and ran to Harry's open doorway. Blink was probably the biggest house elf Harry had ever seen and came nearly up to Harry's chest. Blink grabbed Harry's other hand and began to pump it up and down, just like Cush. Both of them were smiling up into Harry's face in a worshipping manner.
Harry tried to think of something to say to them and then said, "Did you make my room up here?" Both house elves nodded the heads fervently and Harry smiled at them again and said, "Well thank you so much. It really is perfect. I don't think I could have designed a more perfect room." Both elves blushed but continued to smile.
There was a moment of silence and then Cush blinked (ha-ha) and as if remembering something said very quickly, "Oh! Harry Potter sir! It is dinner time. July says you should come down very soon." Before Harry could ask who July was Blink said, "July is Ms. Riddle, sir."
Harry nodded and followed the house elves down the winding staircase. He blinked at his surroundings- he could have sworn that the mismatched colour room had been at the bottom of the stairs. But Harry found himself in the middle of a great dining hall with a long black wood table that was covered in various place settings and food dishes. The Dursleys, Ms. Riddle, Mr. Blashings, Mr. Werlin, and the other guests were already sitting around the table and he could tell each of them was looking around the room trying to figure out where the colourful room had gone. He noticed that the Dursleys looked more panicked then the other guests while Mr. Blashings and Mr. Werlin looked pretty calm given the fact that an entire room had disappeared into thin air.
Harry looked around the table and was both pleased and anxious to find that the only available seat left was one just on the right of Ms. Riddle. With a hint of trepidation Harry took his seat beside her. Harry looked around for Cush and Blink and noticed that they had completely disappeared.
While his head was looking around Harry heard Aunt Petunia emit a high pitched scream and he turned around to see why she had screamed. Cush had come up behind Aunt Petunia and had reached around her to serve her the dinner. Uncle Vernon was staring at Cush when Blink came up behind him causing him to jump farther than Harry would have guessed anyone of his stature could have jumped. Dudley looked around himself frantically waiting for another one of the creatures to come around and attack him next. Both Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had grabbed their forks by now and were brandishing them as if they were the only things in the world that could save them from the evil house elves in front of them. Cush and Blink looked around nervously wondering what these two people were doing when Uncle Vernon lashed out with his knife and almost cut Blink's ear off. Blink grabbed at her ear and backed into a corner as she started to whimper and sob.
Ms. Riddle jumped out of her seat and Harry could swear he felt the air around him grow extremely hot. She faced Uncle Vernon and said, "Put down your utensils immediately. If you ever try to hurt my house elves again I will personally see to your disposal." She had spoken in a quiet, calm voice but it had reached the end of the table with the roar of a thunderstorm and the hint of barely leashed rage. Uncle Vernon was practically shaking as he put down his fork and then his knife.
"I... I'm… sorry… I … thought that… house elves?" Uncle Vernon turned to Ms. Riddle. "What are house elves?" Before Ms. Riddle had time to respond Uncle Vernon seemed to have an epiphany. The disappearing trunks, the way their clothes had just appeared in the drawers, the disappearing room, the moving serpent- it all clicked in his mind and he stood up with such force that his chair fell over and the table shook. "You… You…," he sputtered as he pointed his knife at Ms. Riddle. "You're… You're.. just like… him," as he turned and pointed at Harry.
Ms. Riddle seemed to gather herself together and gave a light-hearted laugh. "Now Mr. Dursley. Whatever are you talking about? I most certainly am not, 'just like Harry.'"
But there was no appeasing Uncle Vernon who by now had turned red as a beet and looked ready to burst. He turned to Aunt Petunia and it was as if some invisible signal had passed between them because Aunt Petunia let out a bone-chilling scream that made Blink stop whimpering. Aunt Petunia really seemed to be in a panic now and had gathered Dudley close to her chest as was eyeing the table as if each and every person there wanted nothing more than to kidnap her poor precious little boy. Harry noticed that no one, Uncle Vernon included, was big enough to subdue someone of Dudley's size.
Uncle Vernon was sputtering again and shouting at the top of his lungs. "I will not have my family exposed to this… this nonsense. We will be leaving right away." He turned to Aunt Petunia and Dudley, "Come! Hurry up and back so we can leave this god forsaken place." The three of them rushed up the stairs without glancing back.
Ms. Riddle sat down again and began to serve herself from the platters of food that had been set out on the table. Harry followed his example but couldn't help but noticing out of the corner of his eye as several other people excused themselves from the table and headed upstairs. Within two minutes the entire table was deserted except for Ms. Riddle, Harry, Mr. Blashings, and Mr. Werlin. The Dursleys appeared at the bottom of the stairs each of them carrying several trunks. Without pausing to glance at the table the three of them rushed out of the door and into the red room. Harry could hear the grand entrance doors open and then the rattle as the three of them crossed the bridge. Only after he had heard the car drive off did Harry realize that he was alone in Voldemort's daughter's house without Aunt Petunia- the only person keeping Voldemort from killing him.
As the other three people in the room continued to eat Harry watched as every other person came down the stairs carrying their stuff and hurriedly waked out the door. Everyone looked calm even as they were rushing out of the house and Harry couldn't help but feel as if the whole thing was a set-up. After the last people had left Mr. Blashings and Mr. Werlin excused themselves from the table and exited from the door that had been located near the unused TV, but was now next to a huge china cabinet.
Ms. Riddle put her fork down softly as if scared the plate would shatter, stared directly at Harry and laid her face on her palms with her elbows on the table. Harry continued to nervously eat before it became too much.
"I should probably go try to find the Dursley."
"They're probably very far away by now- your Uncle was in quite a hurry. Kind of odd that they forgot you though- I wasn't sure if they would." She gave Harry a very sinister smile that made Harry's insides clench and said, "It's just you and me alone in the castle. How long do you think it will be before anyone notices you're missing? A day? A week? Until school starts?" She moved her face closer and closer to Harry's and Harry's inside had clenched so tightly they had turned into cream of mushroom soup. She pulled away and gave a laugh that he knew had been meant to put him at ease, but instead it had the opposite effect because it sounded exactly like the laugh Harry had heard in the dreams of Voldemort killing his family.
Harry jumped up from the table ready to sprint away as quickly as possible but Ms. Riddle grabbed his arm and looked up at him with an expression full of contempt and loathing. "I laugh just like him, don't I?" She let go of his arm and stared straight across the room and her expression turned sorrowful.
It took Harry a minute to realize what she had been talking about and he realized that the hatred had not been directed at him but at the person whose laugh she had inherited. Harry sat back down and waited for her to continue, but when a long silence ensued curiosity got the best of Harry and he said, "You look a lot like him too," and prayed that she would know what he was talking about and not explode in his face.
But Harry's hopes were shattered when she turned to glare at him. Harry could practically see needles and pins shooting out of her eyeballs, but before she had time to speak Harry blurted out, "Your door is kind of scary." Harry was really unsure of how she would react to this sentence and was incredibly surprised when her face seemed to soften and she smiled with a far a way look on her face.
"Snakes are such awful creatures, aren't they? I really don't know why I like them exactly- my father liked them, but I don't think that's something that you can inherit, right?" She looked at Harry pleadingly and Harry felt he had no choice but to say, "Of course you can't inherit something like that," although he was a little unsure about that.
Before she had time to say anything Blink walked into the room carrying a letter that seemed twice as big as her. She handed it to Ms. Riddle and then smiled at Harry. When Harry smiled back at her Blink took this as an invitation and immediately ran to stand next to him. She grabbed his hand and began to stroke the back of like it was a cat. "Oh. Harry Potter, sir. I still can not believe that you are here sir. I have heard about you and your friends. The girl Hermione trying to free the house elves. Why would she want to do that? Why would Harry Potter be friends with someone so mean?" Blink looked obviously very confused and very upset that anyone would think of freeing the house elves.
Harry felt like it was his duty and started to explain it to Blink, "She believes that house elves are treated very unfairly in many wizarding households. She doesn't think that she's being mean, she just wants the house elves to be happy and she thinks that being free would make them happy. For her being free… means...," Harry paused mid- sentence as he realized the importance of something Blink had just said. Blink knew who Harry's friends were which would mean that Ms. Riddle would have had to have known too. So why had she asked Harry who his friends were?
Harry did not have any more time to ponder the problem because just then Ms. Riddle gave a muffled screech and stood up clearly exasperated. She looked at Harry and gave him another glare that made Harry feel like hiding behind Blink- which wouldn't have been very easy that's for sure. Her voice was cold and clipped when she finally spoke and to Harry it sounded as if nails were scraping across a blackboard very slowly and very harshly.
"I have been ordered to return you to your… your…guardians. Your aunt and uncle. Stupid Muggles. Can't imagine why they put you in a family full of dumb as bricks Muggles. Just goes to show you how ridiculous the Ministry can be sometimes." She turned to Blink and said, "Blink, could you and Cush please see to packing Mr. Potter's things. He needs to be ready to leave in 5 minutes when the knightbus gets here." Blink immediately scampered off upstairs leaving Harry alone with Ms. Riddle.
She smiled at him and Harry could tell that her smile was a little forced, but she did not seem to be mad, at least not at him. She sat down in her chair and stared up at Harry. "I really was looking forward to spending some time with you, but I have received a letter telling me to return you to the Dursleys. Normally I would, of course, ignore it, but I believe they might have a point. There are so many horrible things happening right now that it really is better to be safe than sorry. I'm sure there will be other times for us to get to know each other, right Harry?"
Harry desperately wanted to shake his head but decided it was probably best not to anger her. After all- she was letting him go back to the Dursleys which was kind of confusing when he thought about it. Harry nodded his head and smiled but he knew it was much more forced than hers was.
There was a long moment of awkward silence between them before Cush came down the stairs carrying Harry's trunk. He handed it to Harry with a slight frown in his direction which was very odd because Harry had never had a house elf frown at him. Normally they liked him. 'How odd,' he thought before he walked out of the room. The blood red room still looked freshly painted with little droplets occasionally falling on the floor. He walked across the bridge which looked much better in the dark than in the daylight and waited for the knightbus to show.
Sure enough Harry saw the headlights rushing through the trees and it came to a somewhat shaky stop in front of him. Harry entered the bus and was met by a new porter this time- a much better looking one than Stanley. Harry was rather grateful not to have Stanley asking him questions but was kind of hurt when the new porter didn't even bother to check his bags or ask his name and instead just shoved him toward the back where all the bunks were. For the next twenty minutes Harry could nothing but hold on as the knightbus careened around Muggles, tress, and buildings. It finally came to a stop in front of the Dursleys and Harry quickly exited the bus.
Harry stopped in front of the house to look up at it and for once felt glad to see it. He knew that the Dursleys were going to be very upset at him for… He wasn't really sure why they would be upset- he just knew they would be. Harry was just glad that he would never have to see July Riddle ever again. On the tail of that thought came a new one that Harry had thought about a lot during the summer; Harry wondered who on Earth his new Defense Against the Dark Arts could be. Then Harry began to wonder why those two thoughts seemed so interconnected.
Disclaimer:NOne of these characters belong to me except for July Riddle and the plot- maybe. Thanks to every one who reviewed or gave me suggestions. I don't think I could ever put down in words how much they meant to me. And yes- I do know how corny that sounds- but it's ture. Special thanks to my sister, SilverSpoon, who is away in Massachussetts right now- hopefully buying me a birthday present. JK.
Harry had picked up a book he did not recognize as his own, "Olivia Bitton's Guide to simple Dark Arts Spells," and was well into it when there was a small knock on the door. Harry sighed and set down his book expected to come face to face with a mean looking Aunt Petunia. But when he opened the door there was no one there- until he looked down and saw the smallest house elf he had ever seen. The house elf looked up at Harry and smiled and Harry smiled back. The house elf became very excited when Harry smiled at him and began bouncing up and down. "Oh! Harry Potter has smiled at me! Blink come here! Harry Potter has smiled at me!" The elf grabbed Harry's hand and began pumping it up and down in a shaking motion.
A house elf appeared from behind a statue down the hall and ran to Harry's open doorway. Blink was probably the biggest house elf Harry had ever seen and came nearly up to Harry's chest. Blink grabbed Harry's other hand and began to pump it up and down, just like Cush. Both of them were smiling up into Harry's face in a worshipping manner.
Harry tried to think of something to say to them and then said, "Did you make my room up here?" Both house elves nodded the heads fervently and Harry smiled at them again and said, "Well thank you so much. It really is perfect. I don't think I could have designed a more perfect room." Both elves blushed but continued to smile.
There was a moment of silence and then Cush blinked (ha-ha) and as if remembering something said very quickly, "Oh! Harry Potter sir! It is dinner time. July says you should come down very soon." Before Harry could ask who July was Blink said, "July is Ms. Riddle, sir."
Harry nodded and followed the house elves down the winding staircase. He blinked at his surroundings- he could have sworn that the mismatched colour room had been at the bottom of the stairs. But Harry found himself in the middle of a great dining hall with a long black wood table that was covered in various place settings and food dishes. The Dursleys, Ms. Riddle, Mr. Blashings, Mr. Werlin, and the other guests were already sitting around the table and he could tell each of them was looking around the room trying to figure out where the colourful room had gone. He noticed that the Dursleys looked more panicked then the other guests while Mr. Blashings and Mr. Werlin looked pretty calm given the fact that an entire room had disappeared into thin air.
Harry looked around the table and was both pleased and anxious to find that the only available seat left was one just on the right of Ms. Riddle. With a hint of trepidation Harry took his seat beside her. Harry looked around for Cush and Blink and noticed that they had completely disappeared.
While his head was looking around Harry heard Aunt Petunia emit a high pitched scream and he turned around to see why she had screamed. Cush had come up behind Aunt Petunia and had reached around her to serve her the dinner. Uncle Vernon was staring at Cush when Blink came up behind him causing him to jump farther than Harry would have guessed anyone of his stature could have jumped. Dudley looked around himself frantically waiting for another one of the creatures to come around and attack him next. Both Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had grabbed their forks by now and were brandishing them as if they were the only things in the world that could save them from the evil house elves in front of them. Cush and Blink looked around nervously wondering what these two people were doing when Uncle Vernon lashed out with his knife and almost cut Blink's ear off. Blink grabbed at her ear and backed into a corner as she started to whimper and sob.
Ms. Riddle jumped out of her seat and Harry could swear he felt the air around him grow extremely hot. She faced Uncle Vernon and said, "Put down your utensils immediately. If you ever try to hurt my house elves again I will personally see to your disposal." She had spoken in a quiet, calm voice but it had reached the end of the table with the roar of a thunderstorm and the hint of barely leashed rage. Uncle Vernon was practically shaking as he put down his fork and then his knife.
"I... I'm… sorry… I … thought that… house elves?" Uncle Vernon turned to Ms. Riddle. "What are house elves?" Before Ms. Riddle had time to respond Uncle Vernon seemed to have an epiphany. The disappearing trunks, the way their clothes had just appeared in the drawers, the disappearing room, the moving serpent- it all clicked in his mind and he stood up with such force that his chair fell over and the table shook. "You… You…," he sputtered as he pointed his knife at Ms. Riddle. "You're… You're.. just like… him," as he turned and pointed at Harry.
Ms. Riddle seemed to gather herself together and gave a light-hearted laugh. "Now Mr. Dursley. Whatever are you talking about? I most certainly am not, 'just like Harry.'"
But there was no appeasing Uncle Vernon who by now had turned red as a beet and looked ready to burst. He turned to Aunt Petunia and it was as if some invisible signal had passed between them because Aunt Petunia let out a bone-chilling scream that made Blink stop whimpering. Aunt Petunia really seemed to be in a panic now and had gathered Dudley close to her chest as was eyeing the table as if each and every person there wanted nothing more than to kidnap her poor precious little boy. Harry noticed that no one, Uncle Vernon included, was big enough to subdue someone of Dudley's size.
Uncle Vernon was sputtering again and shouting at the top of his lungs. "I will not have my family exposed to this… this nonsense. We will be leaving right away." He turned to Aunt Petunia and Dudley, "Come! Hurry up and back so we can leave this god forsaken place." The three of them rushed up the stairs without glancing back.
Ms. Riddle sat down again and began to serve herself from the platters of food that had been set out on the table. Harry followed his example but couldn't help but noticing out of the corner of his eye as several other people excused themselves from the table and headed upstairs. Within two minutes the entire table was deserted except for Ms. Riddle, Harry, Mr. Blashings, and Mr. Werlin. The Dursleys appeared at the bottom of the stairs each of them carrying several trunks. Without pausing to glance at the table the three of them rushed out of the door and into the red room. Harry could hear the grand entrance doors open and then the rattle as the three of them crossed the bridge. Only after he had heard the car drive off did Harry realize that he was alone in Voldemort's daughter's house without Aunt Petunia- the only person keeping Voldemort from killing him.
As the other three people in the room continued to eat Harry watched as every other person came down the stairs carrying their stuff and hurriedly waked out the door. Everyone looked calm even as they were rushing out of the house and Harry couldn't help but feel as if the whole thing was a set-up. After the last people had left Mr. Blashings and Mr. Werlin excused themselves from the table and exited from the door that had been located near the unused TV, but was now next to a huge china cabinet.
Ms. Riddle put her fork down softly as if scared the plate would shatter, stared directly at Harry and laid her face on her palms with her elbows on the table. Harry continued to nervously eat before it became too much.
"I should probably go try to find the Dursley."
"They're probably very far away by now- your Uncle was in quite a hurry. Kind of odd that they forgot you though- I wasn't sure if they would." She gave Harry a very sinister smile that made Harry's insides clench and said, "It's just you and me alone in the castle. How long do you think it will be before anyone notices you're missing? A day? A week? Until school starts?" She moved her face closer and closer to Harry's and Harry's inside had clenched so tightly they had turned into cream of mushroom soup. She pulled away and gave a laugh that he knew had been meant to put him at ease, but instead it had the opposite effect because it sounded exactly like the laugh Harry had heard in the dreams of Voldemort killing his family.
Harry jumped up from the table ready to sprint away as quickly as possible but Ms. Riddle grabbed his arm and looked up at him with an expression full of contempt and loathing. "I laugh just like him, don't I?" She let go of his arm and stared straight across the room and her expression turned sorrowful.
It took Harry a minute to realize what she had been talking about and he realized that the hatred had not been directed at him but at the person whose laugh she had inherited. Harry sat back down and waited for her to continue, but when a long silence ensued curiosity got the best of Harry and he said, "You look a lot like him too," and prayed that she would know what he was talking about and not explode in his face.
But Harry's hopes were shattered when she turned to glare at him. Harry could practically see needles and pins shooting out of her eyeballs, but before she had time to speak Harry blurted out, "Your door is kind of scary." Harry was really unsure of how she would react to this sentence and was incredibly surprised when her face seemed to soften and she smiled with a far a way look on her face.
"Snakes are such awful creatures, aren't they? I really don't know why I like them exactly- my father liked them, but I don't think that's something that you can inherit, right?" She looked at Harry pleadingly and Harry felt he had no choice but to say, "Of course you can't inherit something like that," although he was a little unsure about that.
Before she had time to say anything Blink walked into the room carrying a letter that seemed twice as big as her. She handed it to Ms. Riddle and then smiled at Harry. When Harry smiled back at her Blink took this as an invitation and immediately ran to stand next to him. She grabbed his hand and began to stroke the back of like it was a cat. "Oh. Harry Potter, sir. I still can not believe that you are here sir. I have heard about you and your friends. The girl Hermione trying to free the house elves. Why would she want to do that? Why would Harry Potter be friends with someone so mean?" Blink looked obviously very confused and very upset that anyone would think of freeing the house elves.
Harry felt like it was his duty and started to explain it to Blink, "She believes that house elves are treated very unfairly in many wizarding households. She doesn't think that she's being mean, she just wants the house elves to be happy and she thinks that being free would make them happy. For her being free… means...," Harry paused mid- sentence as he realized the importance of something Blink had just said. Blink knew who Harry's friends were which would mean that Ms. Riddle would have had to have known too. So why had she asked Harry who his friends were?
Harry did not have any more time to ponder the problem because just then Ms. Riddle gave a muffled screech and stood up clearly exasperated. She looked at Harry and gave him another glare that made Harry feel like hiding behind Blink- which wouldn't have been very easy that's for sure. Her voice was cold and clipped when she finally spoke and to Harry it sounded as if nails were scraping across a blackboard very slowly and very harshly.
"I have been ordered to return you to your… your…guardians. Your aunt and uncle. Stupid Muggles. Can't imagine why they put you in a family full of dumb as bricks Muggles. Just goes to show you how ridiculous the Ministry can be sometimes." She turned to Blink and said, "Blink, could you and Cush please see to packing Mr. Potter's things. He needs to be ready to leave in 5 minutes when the knightbus gets here." Blink immediately scampered off upstairs leaving Harry alone with Ms. Riddle.
She smiled at him and Harry could tell that her smile was a little forced, but she did not seem to be mad, at least not at him. She sat down in her chair and stared up at Harry. "I really was looking forward to spending some time with you, but I have received a letter telling me to return you to the Dursleys. Normally I would, of course, ignore it, but I believe they might have a point. There are so many horrible things happening right now that it really is better to be safe than sorry. I'm sure there will be other times for us to get to know each other, right Harry?"
Harry desperately wanted to shake his head but decided it was probably best not to anger her. After all- she was letting him go back to the Dursleys which was kind of confusing when he thought about it. Harry nodded his head and smiled but he knew it was much more forced than hers was.
There was a long moment of awkward silence between them before Cush came down the stairs carrying Harry's trunk. He handed it to Harry with a slight frown in his direction which was very odd because Harry had never had a house elf frown at him. Normally they liked him. 'How odd,' he thought before he walked out of the room. The blood red room still looked freshly painted with little droplets occasionally falling on the floor. He walked across the bridge which looked much better in the dark than in the daylight and waited for the knightbus to show.
Sure enough Harry saw the headlights rushing through the trees and it came to a somewhat shaky stop in front of him. Harry entered the bus and was met by a new porter this time- a much better looking one than Stanley. Harry was rather grateful not to have Stanley asking him questions but was kind of hurt when the new porter didn't even bother to check his bags or ask his name and instead just shoved him toward the back where all the bunks were. For the next twenty minutes Harry could nothing but hold on as the knightbus careened around Muggles, tress, and buildings. It finally came to a stop in front of the Dursleys and Harry quickly exited the bus.
Harry stopped in front of the house to look up at it and for once felt glad to see it. He knew that the Dursleys were going to be very upset at him for… He wasn't really sure why they would be upset- he just knew they would be. Harry was just glad that he would never have to see July Riddle ever again. On the tail of that thought came a new one that Harry had thought about a lot during the summer; Harry wondered who on Earth his new Defense Against the Dark Arts could be. Then Harry began to wonder why those two thoughts seemed so interconnected.