Thankyou sooooooooooooooooo much for such an overwhelming feedback. My gratitude to everyone that started following my fanfic and favourited it. You guys are amazing. I'm sooooo blessed to have readers like you. My special thanks to Vladimir Mithrander, Fivefatducks, Roselysa Della Rovere, Triggered Bleach, Mismatched Melody, cookiewookeo, Persephone-Gaia, xxqueenofbookjunglexx, Ezra7684, NinjaDai, StargladesTime, redslovelyangel, Charliee Keely Warmer, MessedUpRosie, StargladesTime, Kat2089, AliVader24, S-Lioness, darkmoonfairy16, otoya33, JaiJayce, anonymous, Emerald Time, zamik , Kiss death666, yukino89, Veneya, Final Syai Lunar Generation, AnimeLover229, SpitFire, Alcora, JC, MyGameSlave2, CrazyJanaCat, PerdidoKitsune, Rigella Black-Riddle, Procrasty, FanWarrior16, geekymom, Gurgaraneth, Laurie24 and SpitFire for reviewing.
Check out my fanfic named "Entrapped".
Summary: Madness is not a state of mind. Madness is a place. What happens when Harry stumbles into it and gets trapped there? A Harry Potter version of Alice in Wonderland but a thousand shades darker.
Links are useless so just visit my profile. Looking forward your feedback
Harry was stumbling through the corridor, his legs still too weak to carry him. He collapsed on his knees. He couldn't feel anything, no pain, no emotions. His mind was invaded with one urge and one urge only. He needed to keep moving. He had to keep going no matter how. That purple mist swirled around him, wrapped around his body and invaded his vision.
He tumbled through dark nothingness and landed in a sitting room in front of an immensely fat old lady wearing an elaborate ginger wig and a brilliant pink gown that flowed all around her, giving her the look of a melting iced cake. She was looking into a small jewelled mirror and dabbing rouge on to her already scarlet cheeks with a large powder puff, while a wiry looking woman perhaps a servant, laced her fleshy feet into tight satin slippers. The woman spoke imperiously,
"Hurry up, Holly! He said he'd come at four, it's only a couple of minutes to and he's never been late yet!"
She tucked away her powder puff as the maid straightened up. The maid looked miserable. Her skin hung off her skin loosely, she looked emaciated and frail. The woman addressed her,
"How do I look?"
The woman turned her head to admire the various angles of her face in the mirror. The maid murmured in a low voice,
"Lovely, Madam."
Harry could only assume that it was down in Holly's contract that she must lie through her teeth when asked this question, because the woman looked a long way from lovely in his opinion. A tinkling doorbell rang and both mistress and maid jumped.
"Quick, quick, he's here, Holly!'
The maid scurried out of the room, which was so crammed with objects that it was difficult to see how anybody could navigate their way across it without knocking over at least a dozen things: there were cabinets full of little lacquered boxes, cases full of gold-embossed books, shelves of orbs and globes and many flourishing pot plants in brass containers: in fact, the room looked like a cross between an antique shop and a conservatory. The maid returned within minutes, followed by a tall young man. He seemed familiar. Something about his face, his eyes…And then it struck him. He was Tom. This was Tom. He was no longer a child. He had grown up. The temperature in the room dropped and the darkness that surrounded Tom came into view. Harry wondered why the woman couldn't see it. He wondered why the woman couldn't feel how cold it was in the room. He was plainly dressed in a black suit; his hair was long and reached below his ears and his cheeks were hollowed, but all of this suited him: he looked more handsome than ever.
Harry watched as Tom picked his way through the cramped room with an air that showed he had visited many times before and bowed low over the woman's fat little hand, brushing it with his lips and spoke quietly, producing a bunch of roses from nowhere.,
"I brought you flowers."
Harry was a little amazed by that trick. Where had the flowers come from? Had he been hiding them behind his back? No, Harry had given him a complete once over. How had Tom done that? He had seen trays filled with food popping up in his room so this shouldn't surprise him at all but it did. He was absolutely fascinated by it. The woman squealed in delight,
"You naughty boy, you shouldn't have!"
Harry noticed that she had an empty vase standing ready on the nearest little table. So that meant Tom hadn't performed that trick for the first time. The woman squealed again,
"You do spoil this old lady, Tom … sit down, sit down … where's Holly … ah …"
The maid came dashing back into the room carrying a tray of little cakes, which she set at her mistress's elbow. The woman spoke in a low, sensual voice that made Harry gag,
"Help yourself, Tom. I know how you love my cakes. Now, how are you? You look pale. They overwork you at that shop, I've said it a hundred times…"
Tom smiled mechanically and the woman simpered and asked, batting her lashes.
"Well, what's your excuse for visiting this time, Tom?"
Tom spoke in a low, polite tone. His voice was absolutely beautiful and entrancing,
"Mr Burke would like to make an improved offer for the armour…"
She interrupted him and pouted,
"Now, now, not so fast, or I'll think you're only here for my trinkets!"
Tom smiled apologetically and spoke quietly,
"I am ordered here because of them. I am only a poor assistant, madam, who must do as he is told. Mr Burke wishes me to enquire…"
The woman spoke waving a little hand,
"Oh, Mr Burke, phooey! I have something to show you that I've never shown Mr Burke! Can you keep a secret, Tom? Will you promise you won't tell Mr Burke I've got it? He'd never let me rest if he knew I'd shown it to you, and I'm not selling, not to Burke, not to anyone! But you, Tom, you'll appreciate it for its history, not how much money you can get for it…"
Tom bowed his head,
"I'd be glad to see anything Miss Hepzibah shows me."
So that was what her name was. Harry couldn't understand why Tom was here. He couldn't understand what was going on. Hepzibah gave another girlish giggle,
'I had Holly bring it out for me…Holly, where are you? I want to show Mr Riddle our finest treasure … in fact, bring both, while you're at it …"
The maid entered the room holding two leather boxes, one on top of the other,
"Here, madam."
Hepzibah smiled happily, taking the boxes from the maid, laying them in her lap and preparing to open the topmost one,
"Now. I think you'll like this, Tom … oh, if my family knew I was showing you … they can't wait to get their hands on this!"
She opened the lid. Harry edged forwards a little to get a better view and saw what looked like a small golden cup with two finely wrought handles. It seemed familiar and Harry tried to remember where he had seen it. His thoughts were interrupted as Hepzibah whispered,
"I wonder whether you know what it is, Tom? Pick it up, have a good look!"
Tom stretched out a long-fingered hand and lifted the cup by one handle out of its snug silken wrappings. Harry thought he saw a red gleam in his dark eyes. It had to be a trick of light. Harry stumbled back as the darkness grew in intensity. Tom's greedy expression was curiously mirrored on Hepzibah's face, except that her tiny eyes were fixed upon Tom's handsome features. Tom murmured, examining the engraving upon the cup.
"A badger. Then this was …?"
Harry was still trying to remember where he had seen it but the woman spoke again and his thoughts halted once again,
"Helga Hufflepuff's, as you very well know, you clever boy!"
Hepzibah leaned forwards with a loud creaking of corsets and actually pinched Tom's hollow cheek but she looked like she wanted to do much more and that sickened Harry to the core,
"Didn't I tell you I was distantly descended? This has been handed down in the family for years and years. Lovely, isn't it? And all sorts of powers it's supposed to possess, too, but I haven't tested them thoroughly, I just keep it nice and safe in here …"
She hooked the cup back off Tom's long forefinger and restored it gently to its box, too intent upon settling it carefully back into position to notice the shadow that crossed Tom's face as the cup was taken away. She spoke happily,
"Now then. Where's Holly? Oh yes, there you are…take that away now, Holly…"
The maid obediently took the boxed cup, and Hepzibah turned her attention to the much flatter box in her lap and whispered,
"I think you'll like this even more, Tom. Lean in a little, dear boy, so you can see…of course, Burke knows I've got this one, I bought it from him, and I daresay he'd love to get it back when I'm gone…" She slid back the fine, filigree clasp and flipped open the box. There upon the smooth crimson velvet lay a heavy golden locket. A locket Harry had no difficulty recognizing. He was wearing it around his neck right at this moment. He reached up and felt it, almost hoping that it wasn't there but it was. Harry felt the hard outline underneath his shirt. He finally remembered where he'd seen the cup. A faint connection was beginning to form in his mind but he ignored it. Tom reached out his hand without invitation this time and held it up to the light, staring at it,
"Slytherin's mark"
Harry watched as the light played upon an ornate, serpentine S, Hepzibah looked delighted, apparently, at the sight of Voldemort gazing at her locket, transfixed,
"That's right! I had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but I couldn't let it pass, not a real treasure like that, had to have it for my collection."
Burke bought it, apparently, from a ragged-looking woman who seemed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true value…"
There was no mistaking it this time. Tom's eyes flashed scarlet at her words and Harry saw his knuckles whiten on the locket's chain. Realization struck Harry hard like a punch to the gut,
"I daresay Burke paid her a pittance, but there you are…pretty, isn't it? And again, all kinds of powers attributed to it, though I just keep it nice and safe."
She reached out to take the locket back. For a moment, Harry thought Tom was not going to let go of it, but then it had slid through his fingers and was back on its red velvet cushion,
"So there you are, Tom, dear, and I hope you enjoyed that!"
She looked him full in the face and, for the first time, Harry saw her foolish smile falter. The expression in Tom's eyes conveyed his murderous intent,
"Are you all right, dear?"
Tom smiled charmingly but the darkness around him swirled thicker and thicker until Harry felt like he was suffocating from it,
"Oh yes, I'm very well."
Hepzibah looked unnerved and Harry knew what was coming. He wanted to warn her. He wanted to shout but it wasn't going to be much use,
'I thought…but a trick of the light, I suppose…"
Harry guessed that she, too, had seen the momentary red gleam in Voldemort's eyes. Why wasn't she getting up and running. She wouldn't be so calm if she saw the way the darkness was thickening, twisting around Tom,
"Here, Holly, take these away and lock them up again … the usual…"
She didn't have the time to finish the sentence and Harry's shout to warn her died in his throat as a flash of green filled the room, followed by the maid's hysterical screams. Harry realized he'd closed his eyes. He opened them cautiously and saw Hepzibah slumped back in her chair, her eyes wide open, lifeless, her mouth agape. It was hard for Harry to imagine that she had been alive less than a moment ago. The maid was lying face down on the floor. The boxes lying on the floor.
His gaze landed on Tom who looked insanely happy as he bent down to pick up the boxes. There was no remorse in his eyes, no sorrow, nothing but manic jubilance. Harry felt the tendrils of the purple haze entwining around his arms, his legs, tightening around his chest and his throat. He was suffocating now. The lack of air was making him dizzy and eventually managed to drown him into blissful darkness.
Check out my fanfic named "Elusion". Let me know what you guys think. Just follow the link below or visit my profile. Looking forward your feedback
s/12775290/1/Elusion
Check out my other fanfic named "No Escape." If you haven't checked it out yet. Just visit my profile or click on the link below
s/12572454/1/No-Escape
If you have the time, then check out my new Harry Potter fanfic labelled "Desperation" Just visit my profile or click on the link below,
s/12660747/1/