A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! It means a lot! Here is chapter 3 which is really short compared to the chapters I've just written (6 and 7) but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)
Feedback, as always, greatly appreciated.
-Sam x
Chapter 3
Bellatrix led Mr Riddle through to a side-room with the offer of another drink. Her mind was racing; how could she know for sure it was him?
"If times are so hard, why don't you rent out the room above this shop?" asked Mr Riddle, clutching his second pint of Butterbeer.
"Up there?" snorted Bellatrix. "No-one will go near the place."
"And why's that?" asked Mr Riddle carefully.
"Well, it's years ago now but people still remember. You see, something happened up there. Something not very nice."
When Mr Riddle didn't reply, she continued.
"There was this wizard. Powerful he was, probably one of the greatest wizards that ever lived. But he disappeared. No-one really knows why."
She chanced a glance at him to see if his face would give anything away but he remained impassive so she took up her story once more.
"Riddle his name was. Tom Riddle." She breathed, hardly daring to believe that she had spoken the name aloud.
"What happened?" muttered Mr Riddle as he took another gulp of his drink.
"There was this girl… pretty little thing, she was. Anyway, this other wizard, Severus Snape, he wanted her like mad, he did. Every day he'd come to see her and conjure up a bunch of flowers each time. She was never interested though. She was too upset over her Mr Riddle's disappearance to ever go outside; just sat up in her room with her baby, poor thing. But that's not the worst of it…" Bellatrix sighed. "One night, Snape's henchman, Wormtail, called on her to deliver a message from him. He'd invited her to his house that night, and he made sure she couldn't refuse, poor thing. So he hurries her away to Snape's house where he's having this ball. Everyone's wearing masks and there's no-one she knows there, so she seeks out Snape. Anyway, she finally finds him and she's had quite a bit to drink by then. She didn't stand a chance…" said Bellatrix softly.
Mr Riddle stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Could no-one have mercy on her?" he asked in horror.
"It is you then? Tom Riddle?" she breathed, gazing at him in awe.
"Where is Lily?" implored Mr Riddle, dreading the reply.
Bellatrix looked down at her lap.
"She poisoned herself." she said shortly, looking back up at Mr Riddle's horror-struck face.
"And he's got your daughter." Bellatrix answered the unasked question.
"Snape." hissed Mr Riddle murderously.
"I'm so sorry I had to tell you all this, Mr Riddle." Bellatrix said, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"No!" He shrugged her off, furiously, a manic glint in his eye. "That man is dead. It's Voldemort now. Lord Voldemort. And he will have his revenge…"