Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.
A/N: Thanks to littledhampir13 and DarkPhoenixFlame for the reviews!
Sorry this took a bit longer than usual, I went out of town for 5 days. I should be back to weekly updates next week, though, so don't worry!
I've decided that if I get five or more reviews for this chapter, I'll give you a hint or two about what will happen later in this story in the Author's Note of the next chapter. It won't be anything too obvious; it'll be like a riddle. (This might be difficult for me to come up with something that's not too obvious, or too vague.) But I need five reviews!
Chapter 17
Who knew this would ever happen?
Who knew the Death Eaters would – or even could – break out of Azkaban?
Who knew they would find a way to bring Voldemort back to life?
And who knew I would one day be standing outside Malfoy Manor just before midnight, going to meet Riddle and to willingly obey his every order once there?
I sure didn't.
Regulus had been against it when I had first told him. He told me Riddle would probably make me do something stupid, and, by his tone of voice, I knew exactly what he was talking about. But I told him I had to. He tried and tried to convince me not to, even threatening to tell Lily and James so they would somehow keep me from going, but I countered his every word with another argument.
Finally, he agreed it was necessary, and agreed not to tell anybody. Only Draco, Dumbledore, Severus (whom I had told and had also been against it for quite some time), Regulus and I knew, and, for the time being, we planned to keep it that way. Harry would freak out, Lily would force me not to go by tying me to a chair or something, and James would somehow make me feel bad.
Such a supportive family I have – note the sarcasm.
Although nobody could've predicted this, even – especially – Trelawney (although I don't know about that, she ironically ends up predicting all the major things), there I was, walking through the gate and into the all-too-familiar Entrance Hall of Malfoy Manor. I only had about two minutes before I had to be there, and I knew he wouldn't be forgiving if I was even a second late, but I found myself walking down the stairs and hallway very slowly.
I stared at the blank side of the familiar closed door for several long moments before knocking three times. I don't think he even waited for me to finish knocking before answering,
"Enter."
I took a deep breath.
Here we go, I thought.
I pushed the door open.
Riddle was standing with his back to me, looking out over the grounds through the window. He didn't even turn to make sure it was me as I shut the door behind me and stood there silently.
"You're late." I didn't say anything. "Did Draco tell you not to do magic unless I told you to while you're here?" he asked after a very long pause.
"…Was he supposed to?"
"Yes." Then…
"Yeah, he did." Not. But it doesn't hurt to lie a few times. Especially to the man who will probably be trying to kill all your loved ones soon enough.
Finally, he turned around to face me.
He was already starting to look different. The whites of his eyes, which, in the Voldemort I was used to, were completely red, had become permanently bloodshot. His nose was starting to flatten, and his skin was paling. Oh sweet Merlin, if he turned into the Voldemort I knew, and I had to obey his every order, and he told me to do a certain something, I might just kill myself.
Or maybe him.
Yeah, I'd much rather kill him than myself.
"Have you already made a Horcrux?" I blurted, unable to stop myself. "You're starting to look like a creeper again." Riddle laughed his high, cold laugh for several minutes before he answered.
"I am going to find a way to keep from turning into that 'creeper,' as you put it. But no, no, I haven't made a Horcrux. Not yet. But I will, and soon, believe me. I just…I need to find the right thing to make into one, and the right place to hide it." I saw his eyes trail from my eyes down to my hands, which were interlocked in front of me. "Although, I do have an idea for one." Oh, shit.
"No…no!" I exclaimed. "You are not using my engagement ring as a Horcrux! You've already turned it into a tracker, isn't that enough?"
"It's perfect, though," Riddle explained, walking toward me. I took a few steps backward to get away from him, but ran into the wall and had to stop. Riddle kept walking toward me, though, and his face was only inches from mine when he stopped. "That ring must've belonged to one of Regulus' great-great-great-great-grandmothers or something, because I've seen it before, which makes it a historic artifact, at least to those of us who value blood-status. And it's the perfect cover-up, having it sitting on that pretty little finger of yours."
I shook my head feverishly.
"No," I repeated. "No, I won't let you! I…I'll have Regulus take it and destroy it before you can!"
"You can't stop me. Besides, I never said I was going to," he said, stepping even closer to me. "I just said it was an idea." He paused. "No matter what I use, though, I will probably have you keep hold of it. Because, come on, you're the only person I know for sure I can trust to not tell anybody, and to really hide it in a really good spot."
"Right," I muttered. Ha, good to know the only person you think you can trust, you really can't trust, I thought, desperately trying to keep my face as far from his as possible, even though there was a wall in the way, so it was quite hard to do so.
"I'm still looking around," he continued, looking back into my eyes. "You know, all the good artifacts were destroyed by someone –" He rose his eyebrows pointedly at me. "– in the 1970s, but I'm thinking of maybe theGryffindor sword, I could use that –"
"Don't you hate Gryffindor, though?" I pointed out. I also almost said that there are two Gryffindor swords here (Regulus had tried to send the other one back, the one impregnated with Basilisk venom that I had borrowed from the Harry in my other time, but Harry had told him to keep it just in case) but decided that that wouldn't be such a smart move.
"Yes, but it is a historic artifact," he pointed out, "And that's what I look for most in something to make into a Horcrux. You of all people should know that, my dear lady."
"I am not your 'dear lady'," I snarled as his face inched even closer to mine.
"Oh, don't worry; you will be," he said in a very seductive voice. "One day." He put his hands up on the wall either side of my shoulders and leaned his face even closer to mine. I grimaced and turned my head sideways, so at least our mouths weren't almost touching. "Kiss me." He whispered the order after a moment of silence.
"W-What?" I stuttered, turning back to face him completely, our noses hitting each other. "I-I'm engaged –"
"Kiss – me – now," he ordered through gritted teeth, getting angry with me.
I quickly leaned forward and set my lips against his, but it was only a peck.
"Happy?" I snapped. "I kissed you, alright?"
"That's not a kiss," Riddle laughed. "That was a peck! Kiss me like you mean it – kiss me like you kiss that good-for-nothing fiancé of yours!"
"Regulus isn't –!" I started, but then I realized I had to obey his every order and acted as though the potion had kicked in and leaned forward and kissed him again. I closed my eyes and tried as hard as possible to imagine that it was Regulus I was kissing as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
But Regulus was a much better kisser. Not to mention his lips were softer, and it's just super hard to forget who you're kissing.
Finally, after Merlin knows how long, Riddle leaned back. Somehow, his arms had moved from the wall down to around my waist, and he had pulled me away from the wall against him. I stared angrily right into his eyes, but there only held joy in his.
"You're a great kisser," he muttered.
"You're a horrible kisser," I said back. Anger flared in his eyes, but only briefly before he said,
"You know that day we were talking about, the day that you would one day be my dear lady?" I stared at him but didn't say anything back, so he continued. "That day, that's going to be soon. You have my word on that."
"Right," I muttered skeptically.
"It will be," Riddle said. "If you don't believe me, you'll see when that day comes. Then I'll be the one laughing."
I suddenly realized we were still standing with our arms around each other, our faces close. I had stood like this with Regulus before, and never imagined I would be standing like this with Tom Riddle one day.
Finally, I unwrapped my arms from around his neck and stepped out of his arms. He stared at me.
"Did I tell you to move?"
"No, but you didn't tell me I couldn't either."
"Well played," he said, pleased, for some reason. "Now get back over here and kiss me again."
"Unable" to control my limbs, I walked over and did as he said, wrapping my arms around his neck again, his finding their way to my waist. His tongue slid over my lips, as if asking permission to go into my mouth, but I pulled back before he could slip it in.
"I kissed you, happy?"
"Keep it up until I pull back," Riddle snarled, annoyed with me stopping the kisses so quickly.
I had to. Did it gross me out? Yes. Did I like it? No. But, even when Riddle's tongue slipped into mine, I had to let it. If I blew my cover, and therefore Draco and maybe even Harry's, because I wouldn't kiss somebody…dear Merlin, I didn't want to even think about what would happen. Especially to them.
Finally, after what felt like hours, Riddle pulled back again, but kept his arms around my waist.
"Stay here," he said. "Don't move like you did before until I tell you to." I sighed, annoyed, but stayed there. "You know, something about you…intrigues me Somehow, no matter how horrid you are to me, you make me actually care about you like I never have for anybody else." I stared at him, knowing my face was in a grimace. "Ready to hear all the plans I have that I haven't told everybody and give your honest support?"
"No –" He rose his eyebrows and I sighed. "Fine."
"And you won't tell anybody anything that happened here. Nothing you heard, nothing you saw, nothing you did. That's not a question, either. You won't even tell them you came here. Make up some excuse if anybody asks, alright?"
"Fine," I grumbled again.
"Then come, love." He unwrapped his arms from around my waist, took my hand in his and pulled me over to the table in the middle of the room, shoving me into a chair that, yet again, had chains wrap around my wrists to hold me to the chair. I sighed, yanked on them lightly to see if they would break, and then gave up and sat back.
"Love? Love? Dear sweet Merlin, don't call me that."
"Don't tell me what to do."
"Will you please not call me that? I'm not your love."
"I'll call you whatever I want, thanks." I sighed again, aggravated. "Now, what were we talking about? Oh yes, my plans." He paused. "Can you guess them at all?" I shrugged.
"Are you going to…lay low, for a while?" I asked, pretending that I couldn't care less.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it seems to me like that would be the best plan of action. Only a handful of really trusted people know you're back, and you could use that to your advantage. Being as cunning as you are, I don't see how that thought hadn't occurred to you."
"Oh, it did," Riddle said, pulling out a chair across from me and sitting down, folding his hands together and setting them on the table, leaning forward slightly. "And that is what I'm doing. Nobody will recognize me, except Dumbledore probably, and your brother is to put a Confundus Charm on him, so I can walk about freely without being attacked by somebody from the Ministry or the Order."
"Harry's not really on your side, you know," I snarled. "He's just pretending."
"Yeah, like I believe that," Riddle laughed, leaning back in his chair and setting his still-folded hands on his stomach. "Anyways, I have a surprise for you. Ask me what it is."
"What is it?"
"I'm going back to Hogwarts. As a student, that is. I'm enrolling as a 'transfer' student."
"Why?" I asked, pretending to be puzzled and shocked, even though I had already known this and already knew why.
"So I can recruit more Death Eaters, of course. The young ones are always so helpful, so loyal and eager to please. I could use more followers like that. And so I can get friendly with those kids that will probably soon be a part of the Order, and children of people already in the Order, so I can know things about them that could be useful. Like the Longbottom children, and the Weasleys and Shacklebolts."
"You're so horrible," I muttered after a moment. "Did you know that?"
"Of course I did," he said proudly. "And thanks for the compliment, my lady." I didn't say anything about the fact that he had called me "my lady" this time, because I was tired of him just telling me he could say and do whatever he wanted whenever I told him not to call me that.
"Anyway, March 31st. Memorize the date, stick it to your brain. It's important."
"Why?"
"That's the day we're taking the Ministry."
"But…that's only a month away. How do you expect to get enough followers in a month? Besides, what's the point of coming back to Hogwarts only for a month?" I shook my head slowly. "That's a horrible plan. You'll never get it in only a month."
"Won't I?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, come on, the element of surprise is the best weapon we have. Nobody will expect it, and that's how we want it. And sure we'll have enough people, they all want power and think I can give that to them."
"But you won't," I pointed out. He shrugged.
"They don't have to know that," he replied, smiling smugly.
"You think you're so slick, don't you?" I asked. "Running around with all this power, making promises to people that you don't ever intend to keep."
"Maybe I do think that, maybe I don't," he said vaguely. "Either way, it gets things done, especially things that I want done." He paused. "Back to the topic of my plans; do you know what the first thing I want to do as soon as I get the Ministry is?"
"What?" I asked, getting annoyed.
"I'm having each and every person in the Order killed."
I felt my eyes widen. My blood started to run cold. Oh shit, oh shit, no. If he does that…I won't have anything to live for. Surely he won't be able to do that…right?
Surely not.
"Scares you, doesn't it?" Riddle taunted from behind me. How had he gotten behind me? I hadn't even noticed him stand up. Either way, I could feel his breath on my neck, and I turned my head slightly to look at him. "The thought of everybody you love and care for dying?" The back of his hand ran lightly over my probably cold cheek.
"You – you wouldn't. You couldn't!" I snarled, yanking my head back so his hand was now hanging in midair.
"Oh, but I would, and could, all too easily," he said in a mocking tone.
"If you care for me at all like you say you do, you wouldn't," I whispered as his hand touched my face gently again. This time, I was too terrified that he would kill everybody I love to flinch back.
"I care about you, not them," he said softly, bending down in front of me so we were closer to being eye-to-eye. "And just because I care about you doesn't mean I won't kill them."
"But that would kill me, too," I said quietly. "I wouldn't ever be the same."
"Well maybe I'll let a few of them survive for moral support for you," he said thoughtfully. "Like…James and Lily…maybe Sirius…"
"What about –?"
"Regulus?" he interrupted. I swallowed and nodded slowly. "Well, of course I can't have the man who's my competition left alive now can I?" Infuriated, and unable to do anything else, I turned my face back to him and glared at him. Under my glare, his hand fell away from my face back to his side.
"There is no competition," I snarled. "You're disgusting and vile and cruel, and Regulus is kind and considerate and gentle. You are no match for him."
And, furious, I leaned back a bit and spit right into his face.
He closed his eyes briefly, obviously pissed, before he brought his hand back up. At first, I thought he was going to stroke my cheek again and be understanding (Why did I ever think that?), but then he struck me across my right cheek.
Why did a simple slap hurt so badly? Last time he had backhanded me hadn't even hurt that bad. My head was whipped to the side, knocking a large chunk of my hair into my face, and my eyes started to water. The sound echoed around us in the silent room, and I clenched my hands around the arms of the chair angrily.
"Behave yourself, or you'll get much worse than that," Riddle snapped, standing up swiftly and looking down at me.
"What are you going to do?" I asked rudely. "If you don't want anybody to know I've been here, you can't do too much."
"I don't mind blowing the cover to discipline you," he said, anger still evident in his eyes. "Or you can come up with some crazy excuse, I'm sure. You're awful good at that."
"They wouldn't believe me if I came up with some excuse," I muttered. "They know me better than that."
"Sure they do," he said sardonically, walking to the door. "Now, I'm going to leave you here for some time to think about what you did, and to come up with some excuse for when Regulus asks you where you were."
"What? You're just going to leave me here?" I asked. Oh shit, I don't want to sit here for a long time. Please only be leaving for a few minutes. He nodded, smiling wickedly as he pulled open the door. "For how long?"
"Until I feel like you've been here long enough." Yeah, I'm going to be stuck here for a few – several – hours.
Riddle slipped out the door and shut it behind him.I heard several locks click in their place on the other side of the door before silence enveloped the room.
A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.