Hey Readers!
Woo. Yeah, I'm updating soon for this chapter. I'm sorry. Utterly addicted to this fic at the moment, and it won't poof out of my head! Quite honestly, I think I bombarded about ten people on MSN to read my fiction, and most of them don't even like Harry Potter Gasp! If that's even POSSIBLE to do. Shifty eyes So... Time for the Disclaimer message and then, the story! Dun duunn duuunnn... .!!
Chrissy
Disclaimer: I do not own The Harry Potter series, Merely borrowing it. Probably not going to give it back, so... I stole it :D Mine! He he.. I'm not making money off of it either.
Without further to do, Here's Chapter Two of It All Started with a Flash,
"Never, Jessi." An all too familiar voice rang out from the shadows leaving Jessica to whimper softly. "Aw.. Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you... Anymore." He grinned, stepping into the dim light tapping his wand against the bar of the cell she was in.
Jessica's face blanched, as she stared at Tom. The all-too-familiar face, smirked back at her. She could tell he loved to be in control of situations, and this obviously was his cup of tea. "Tom.. let me go.. I won't tell anythin'.. Please..." she whispered the last part, shaking with nervousness and pain. The left over from the spell and the memories washed over her like tsunamis, but before she was able to get to the comfort of blackness... They'd retreat. Leaving her in the horrid reality. Another whimper slipped through her lips. "Please," she managed to whimper out again but her voice broke.
Tom's eyes became the emotionless pools of nothing, that bore into her Mother's eyes two years ago. He turned the look on Jessica, causing her to flinch and turn away. Tom shrugged and flicked his wand, the door of the cage opening for a moment long enough for him to slip in with Jessica.
"Do you remember what happened after your Mum's..." He paused thinking for the correct word to use, and another smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes spread over his face, "accident?" he finished, pointing his wand straight at her head. The effect was instant, and they both pummeled in to another wave of her memories.
Friendship..
Jessica, in this memory, was now five years old, and the year without her mother had definitely taken its toll on her. Her sparkling bright eyes, never held the sparkle in them any more, and the one person in the whole orphanage, that would talk to her was the one person who she believed killed her mother. He was the one that was talking to her last, even if she couldn't prove that he had done it.
Tom still was quiet, unless he was around his Jessica. Yes, his Jessica. They had grown to be 'friends,' ever since he was transferred into this orphanage and she was.. well.. brought there. She, in the beginning, hadn't talked.. At all. Not even to her caretakers. She was still terrorstruck by her mother not being there anymore. Not being there to hold her hand and tell her that everything was going to be okay.. Not even getting to see her Sand Castle that she had built for her that day. Jessica, in the memory, was asleep. It was rare, that she ever slept on her own will, so they either had given her some sort of a medication to shut her up, or she had passed out yet again from lack of sleep. Either way, no one honestly gave a care.
Although she was sleeping, she didn't look like she was peaceful. Her bedsheets were coming off of the mattress in every direction, and her hair wasn't in its usual neat placement on the top of her head. Instead, it was in messy knots all over her pillow... Or what was left of it. In her sleep she had torn the pillow to near-shreds.
Tom strolled into view through the door located to the far right of her bed, his hand in his pocket as he walked as it often was. Probably holding onto his wand, he never left without it. In her sleep, Jessica whimpered causing Tom to look up slightly in alarm just to make sure that she wasn't going to wake up and yell at him again, as she so often did. He was used to it by now and quite honestly it was getting very, very old.
He murmured something incoherently and rolled his eyes sitting himself on the floor directly after her bed. His back resting against the bed frame.
Jessica whimpered aloud at the same time her memory self had done so. She hated these memories and Tom just needed to stop.. He.. Needed to trust her. He needed to understand that she would never tell on him, she was too scared of him to do so. She.. she just wanted to go back to the orphanage. Or, more so back to her Mother.
"You do know, Jessica, that that's just utterly impossible. I'm not about to kill you.." Tom spoke, breaking her thoughts. His smirk fell off his face, leaving it to match his eyes. Emotionless. "Why would I do that, hm?" The young boy raised his wand yet again, as a small smile threatened against the corners of his mouth "You're my best friend."
It was a few hours later in the memory, Jessica had woken up and was now sitting across from Tom silently. They were playing with blocks, well, Tom was at least. Jessica was just banging one absent-mindedly against another.
"Jessica." Tom broke the silence, dropping his block for a moment, looking up at her. Jessica raised her eyes towards him, and the nine year old took that as a sign to continue talking, "How would you like to make a castle?" He raised his eyebrows in question, and she flew to a standing position.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle!" She screamed while kicking his block tower down, the blocks scattering everywhere, causing a few kids to look over at them. Their faces read of brand new interest, they were going to argue again! "Dun't you... don't you... ever.." she said relatively quieter this time, her voice shook with silent sobs that played against her sandpaper throat. "Just.. don't" she whined and picked up a block before throwing it down once again, and running out of the room. Tom sat in the same place that she had left him, grinning from ear to ear. He was the only child that looked satisfied with the performance though. The others clearly wanted to see a fight, so they all turned back to their blocks and in unison sighed.
Tom's face still held the grin for awhile, it was a test. A test that she kept passing, he noted silently. Maybe, just maybe she wouldn't tell on him.. Maybe he could trust her. Rearranging his face to his normal unreadable look, he stood up and walked the same path that Jessica had, scanning the room for his Jessica.
Jessica had taken her refuge with the adults of the orphanage and for a moment Tom scowled at her decision. She was becoming too smart.'Ah well,' he though darkly, 'Time to squish that hope from her. Don't want her feeling safe with anyone but me. Hmm... ironic, eh?' he chuckled softly and walked over to Jessica and the adults. His polite smile settled on his face. It was the only one that he used when he talked to adults, he always had them trusting him in an instant.
"Jessi! Jessi!" he laughed and ran the rest of the way over to her. The act was painfully annoying, but he wanted to make it look as real as possible, "Jessi! Come see, come see! I wanna show you my block tower!" He bounced up and down excitedly, and waved slightly to the adults at the table, groaning internally as he did so.
Jessica's eyes traveled from his head to his toes, and she started to shook her head no. She just did not want to play with Tom. Not now, not ever. One of their care takers noticed her shaking her head no, and frowned slightly.
"Jessica, I think that's a wonderful idea. Go play with Tom, don't be mean." She cooed in a mother like tone, that Jessica winced at. She jumped off of the chair that she was sitting on and walked over to Tom, who reached for her hand, pulling her in the same fashion that she had done a year in advance. The action almost brought tears to the six year olds eyes, but she quickly sniffed them away.
The duo entered the play room once again, and Tom still didn't let go of her hand, continuing to drag her to the door at the far end of the room. The door that lead to the playground on the outside. It had rained the day before and the toys were still wet, so no one was out there. That's exactly what Tom was aiming for.
Jessica noticed where they were heading and quickly put all her weight into her heels, stopping him before he could reach the door. Her voice came out in another shaky whisper, "You said.. a block tower, Tom.." He sighed gently, looking her straight in the eyes, countering the comment easily,
"Yes, Jessica, but I didn't say where I made the block tower. C'mon." he jerked her roughly, and with a turn of the door knob, they were outside. Alone. The girl shivered slightly in the cold but he either didn't notice or didn't care, ignoring the gesture all together.
"I have to talk to you.." was the first sounds to break the silence , a tint of urgency soaked through to the surface of the words that Tom spoke. Jessica shrugged lightly, walking over to a swing set and brushed off the water from it and sat down. Swinging herself gently while watching Tom.
"Well, do it then.." she muttered softly taking her eyes off of him. He raised an eyebrow but nevertheless continued with what he had to say...
"Tom! Please..." she cringed, another painful sound broke the silence of the memory, "Please, Tom... I won't, I won't..." she whimpered out in between sobs. A tinge of annoyance was the only emotion that you could read on the boys face.
"Well if you won't," Tom commented, walking over to the girl and kneeling to pick her face up in his fingers. "Then stop interrupting our memories, Jessica. I'm enjoying this.. Or do I need to make you pass out, Hm?" Jessica's eyes widened, in pretend fright, and Tom's small expression turned to that of amusement. "Nice try.. I think I'm going to continue watching our memories." He raised his hand once again, this time yelling the word "Crucio!" Causing a wave of utter terror and pain wash over Jessica yet again, the girl welcomed the pain but still let out a futile scream. No one but Tom was there to hear her, and he marveled in that small fact. As soon as the pain started, it stopped, and he raised his wand a bit higher and they both were inside her memory once again. Back to their conversation.
"Well Jessica.." He started out shuffling his weight to his other side as he talked. For some reason, Jessica noted, he was acting strange. This piqued her curiosity that had been concealed for so long.
"Well?" She questioned, leaning towards him ever so slightly, enough to make it look like she was trying to swing herself higher.. Well. At least, if she was moving forward in her pendulum decent. A flash of amusement streaked across his face, but he quickly hid it once again.
"I have a question for you." He said after a moment of thought, and he looked straight into her eyes, "And I want you to answer me honestly. 'kay?" His eyes bore into his and he didn't look away, he didn't even blink. Jessica nodded slowly and quickly looked away from his eyes. Considering how to ask the question he rubbed his chin with his pointer finger and thumb..
"When you're scared.." He started off, his eyes snapping back to hers trying to measure her reaction to his words, "Or.. Angry. Does anything weird happen to you?"
With a scream of anger, Jessica broke the concentration that was involved with going through her mind yet again. "Stop it Tom Riddle, Stop it! This hurt" She cried this time, and couldn't stop. All the time's torture was getting to her. "Tom, please, I'll do anything.." She managed to sob, "Please.. pretty please... w..with sugar on top... a...and.. ice cream... in the middle..."
Another hint of annoyance danced across Tom's face at the all too bluntly obvious sign of immaturity he was just introduced to, thanks to his prisoner. He grinned lightly, crouching to her side yet again, having stood up sometime during the memory to a more comfortable position. "Well, Jessica when you offer me ice cream. . ." He started his grin turned into his old, half smile that she had saw him use when he talked to her Mum two years previous. "I can't help but to," He paused for a moment to give her hope, "Decline. I don't want your ruddy ice cream." And with that he raised his wand yet again, this time throwing another burst of his energy into the spell. He wasn't going to be over powered by a damned seven year old, no way in hell.
Jessica sobbed loudly again, that was her only hope. She never used the 'ice cream' ploy, unless she was out of ideas. She bit her lower lip the small notion sparked a flame in Tom's eyes.
"And now let's continue. This is getting good, Jessi." And he moved his wand back to her head, and the memories started flowing once again.
Jessica stopped her swing in it's tracks, looking straight at Tom. His face remained unchanged and he made a small, 'What' gesture with his hands. As in the present Jessica, the memory Jessica bit her lip, not knowing how to respond. Tom sighed sensing her hesitation and walked over to her swiftly, picking up a rock and made it look as if he was going to hit her full in the head with the rock. As if on an in pulse Jessica raised her hands shielding her head and let out a scream. Tom stopped in his tracks about a foot from her, although she was grateful for him stopping, she couldn't for the life of her figure out why he was grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, you are special like me!" He exclaimed not trying to contain his grin any longer. He poked the air in front of him and his hand stopped very close to Jessica. When he poked it, his finger went back slightly as if he was poking something that was solid and invisible right in front of Jessica. Jessica pressed her hands in the same fashion directly in front of her and gasped when her hands touched an invisible wall.
"Di...did I do that?" she asked as her eyes widened. Tom nodded in response his grin getting ever wider.
"I will teach you everything I know." He stated and tapped his hand over the 'wall' and it dissipated. He grabbed her hand, pulling her close to him, whispering softly in her ear at the same time. "The playground at 1 am tonight. Okay?" Tom pulled away from her ear and stared into her eyes once more. Jessica's eyes were still wide and she shook her head yes, still amazed by what she did.