Chapter 1: 1944?
Everywhere ached. My head, my arms, my legs, my back, my neck… but the cold was what killed me most. Rain was falling upon me, my skin stinging from the cold every drop that touched me.
I managed to open my eyes. I seemed to be on a rough surface. Painfully rolling over onto my back, a saw a bright grey sky. Where was I? What had happened?
I honestly had a terrible memory, but it was different this time, my head hurt really badly, and all I seemed to remember was that green light. I did know that I wasn't here originally. I struggled to push myself into a sitting position. My muscles were on fire every time they moved. I realized suddenly that I was holding something. The invisibility cloak.
Everything came back to me at once. The green light, it had gone towards Harry… I breathed in sharply. That green light hit me as well. That meant… I should be dead.
I glanced back down at the cloak. The evil thing. I knew that the cloak had done something to me. It had sent something through me. It was the cloaks fault that I had tripped on the root causing… Harry's death.
It took a moment to register. Harry died. I died. I stood up, which made my head spin, and raised my head to the grey sky, my eyes stinging.
I let out a scream, my arms outstretched. That felt good. Then, I realized that there was murmuring around me.
I jumped and looked around. A couple was walking a few yards away from me, wearing strange clothing. They frowned at me, probably since I was screaming, and because I looked like a homeless person. But I needed to get that out. This also made me realize that I wasn't dead, unless this was the afterlife. But I had a feeling it wasn't. I felt much too real for me to be dead.
I looked back at the couple, who had turned away from me, and were walking away. The man had a strange sort of vest, black slacks and dress shoes. He had a strange looking moustache as well. The woman had a skirt that was way too long, and a weird sweater. Her hair was in this strange bob.
Funny, I thought. I looked around further to see a cafe and a couple of droopy looking stores. On the other side was a large building, large black gates in front it. The sign read: Wool's Orphanage. It was starting to rain harder, so I figured that if I was going to get to know anything, I was better off under a roof. I needed more time think. I wanted to perform a healing spell, seeing as my legs shook with every step I took. But I would probably end up cutting myself with my abominable healing skills. Hobbling across the road, I heard a far off beep. I turned my head in the direction of the beep.
A black jeep was slowly rolling towards me on large wooden wheels. The antique car continued towards me, and I shrieked and raced off the road to the orphanage. I got to the door and knocked, slightly breathless.
I waited a few moments, and a grey-haired woman with a bony frame came out.
"Hello," she said, "I'm Mrs. Cole. Please come inside."
I did as she said. I realized that I was shaking from the cold.
"What happened to you, dearie?" Mrs. Cole asked.
"Family was attacked by evil people." I quickly said as a cover story.
She nodded, which surprised me, "Yes, with the Nazi army going around and burning everything, I've been getting more and more children coming to this orphanage."
Nazi? I sucked at history, but there didn't seem to be a war like this going on in the muggle world. Did the muggles call death eaters Nazis?
"Where exactly am I?" I asked shakily, "What town?"
"You're in London, my girl." Mrs. Cole replied.
"Uh…" It didn't seem like London on that street.
"Have you not been to London before?" Mrs. Cole inquired.
"I come from France." I lied. This was getting stranger and stranger.
"A refugee… I'm sorry for your loss." Mrs. Cole said.
What the heck? I was pretty sure Voldemort didn't invade France.
"What's the date?" I finally asked shakily.
"August 15th," was the reply.
"What? It's like February!" I nearly yelled.
Mrs. Cole shook her head. "You must be confused. Perhaps running for a while or being out in the cold has its effects on you. You're freezing. I can assure you that it's August 15th 1944."
1944? My head was spinning. I tried to think straight, but I stumbled, everything started to turn dark.
"Definitely the cold…" I heard Mrs. Cole's voice echo in my mind.
The sheets were thin, and it was pretty uncomfortable.
I was still damp and cold when I woke up. "Ugh…" I groaned.
"You're awake." A girl's voice sounded.
I opened my eyes and pushed myself up. My muscles hurt really badly, and I let out another groan.
"You okay?" The girl asked.
She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had a pale complexion and a trail of freckles over the bridge. She was wearing a grey long-sleeved shirt and a skirt that went way past her knees. Lavender would kill her, I thought.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"At the orphanage in the girl's dormitory." She said.
"Oh." I felt kind of stupid, until I remembered the conversation with Mrs. Cole.
I froze. 1944.
"It's August 15 1944, right?" I asked weakly.
"Yes," she said, regarding me strangely.
"Just making sure," I murmured. Inside, I thought, bad, bad, bad!
"Here's your uniform, and you can go take a shower in the girl's bathroom. It's probably worse quality that you're used to, but you will eventually get used to it." She said glumly.
"Okay…" I said hesitantly, carrying my uniform to the bathroom.
Let's just say that I came out choking three seconds later. The air stung my eyes, and the horrible odor made me want to throw up. It wasn't a pretty sight either. The floor was dirty and probably hadn't been cleaned in years. If I wasn't careful, I would step on a cockroach.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a real Gryffindor, but I absolutely despise bugs. Their beady eyes seem all soulless and creepy, and they look all slimy or sometimes wrinkly. They were the worst when they were hairy. Ron and I shared the same fear of spiders. I wondered suddenly how Ron was doing. What about Hermione? And Harry… my eyes still stung, but it wasn't from the acidic air.
The second time I entered the bathroom, I let the tears fall freely. Turning on the water for the shower, I jumped back as soon as I felt it. Gosh… muggles and the 1940's combined means horrible technology. I turned back to the ice cold water, and summoned my wand.
Nonverbally creating a warming spell, I stepped into the water that felt almost near Hogwarts' good water. Of course, the floor was all dirty, which made it quite difficult to enjoy. Nonetheless, I took my time to get all the dirt off of my body from the battle.
I wanted to investigate the problem, analyze the issue like Hermione would, but I couldn't think straight. All I could feel was sadness, and despite the warm water, I felt chilly inside. Alone. It was something I hadn't felt in a long time, since Harry had always been next to me. We comforted each other and reminded each other of the warmth in the world.
But he was gone. The warming spell was fading, so I stepped out of the water, dried and dressed myself.
Maybe this wasn't too bad, I thought, I could live with this although now it's all up to the food. Food was very important, and I was not that harsh of a food critic. I was good as long as it was food.
As if on cue, a 'ding' sounded and Mrs. Cole announced that it was dinnertime.
For the first time since I was pushed back in time, I was excited.
Huge Mistake. The food was disgusting. Horrific. I'd even go as far as saying evil. It was trying to kill my taste buds.
It was green and slimy, but it went by the name of "vegetable soup".
"This food deserves to go to jail for many years." I complained to the girl next to me.
"Why?" She asked absentmindedly, taking a bite of it.
"Murder is an act of evil," I replied. "So is torture. This food is doing both to my tongue."
She laughed softly.
I looked at her. She was really pretty with bright blue eyes and golden blonde hair. She had a nice expression on her face, but her eyes looked tired and sad.
"It's not that bad," she reprimanded. "You'll get used to it eventually."
I made a face, "Not so bad?" I asked incredulously. Now, I'm not that picky, but I'd gotten used to the amazing house-elf prepared meals they served at Hogwarts.
"Mrs. Cole isn't going to let you get out of it anyhow." She said.
"What if I tell her that I'm allergic to veggies?" I wondered.
"You'll get into bigger trouble. You're new here, so you don't understand the rules. It goes like this: You listen to Mrs. Cole. Mrs. Cole is the boss and makes all decisions." She explained.
"Perhaps no one has tried yet. By the way, I'm Alice." I said.
"Lisa." She replied, sipping the green sludge.
"Well, since I'm new here, you have to be my guide. What do you do all day at the orphanage all day?" I asked, honestly interested. I might as well be if I was going to spend the rest of my life here.
"Well, it's summer break, so we mostly just hand around. But we do have this beach trip every summer, but lately, they've been getting less popular, especially with the older ones." Lisa bit her lower lip.
"Why? I still enjoy the beach."
"There was this incident a few years ago on the beach… well nobody knows exactly what happened, but the two of them were never the same." Lisa said in a quiet voice.
"Who were they? Are they still here?" I asked.
She nodded reluctantly, "Over there, sitting alone is Amy and Dennis."
I looked to where she pointed and saw a girl and a boy who looked no older than I was. The girl, Amy didn't touch her food, and sat still. The boy, Dennis seemed to shake every time he moved. He took small bites. Their eyes seemed dull and it seemed as they'd been attacked by dementors.
"What happened to them?" I whispered.
"Well, no one knows, but people say that Tom led them into a cave, one day at the beach, and something happened in there, something terrible. When they came out, they were both traumatized and bloodied, but they refused to speak about it." She whispered back.
"Oh."
"Well now you know." She replied.
"Who's Tom?" I asked.
As if on cue, everything went silent, the only thing heard were footsteps resounding against the floor. I looked up and gawked.
He was tall, 6 foot 2, maybe. He had a lean body that was muscled, but not overly so. His dark hair was parted neatly, but was wavy, and made me want to pass a hand through his glorious locks. He had angular features, high cheekbones, eyes that seemed to pry at your soul, perfectly arched eye-brows (which I was immediately jealous of), and a square jaw. But while he looked like a god, I was extremely unsettled by him. I recognized his face, I'd seen it before, a long time ago, and I didn't like it.
Tom. I realized that he was the Tom. Why did he unnerve me so much? It clicked. Tom Riddle. I'd seen him in the diary. He'd brought me into the chamber of secrets. He would have killed me then if it hadn't been for Harry.
It was him. I felt hatred boiling in my stomach, threatening to erupt anytime.
He looked at me, one of his perfect eyebrows raised. His eyes were expressionless except for a hint of amusement, his lips quirked up slightly.
I snarled lowly, and kept my head down. My teeth grit together, my hands were balled up into fists, and my eyes were shut tight. I was afraid that if I looked at him I would try to kill him with my bare hands. I couldn't lose control, but his smirking face made me want to scream Avada kedavra. He had nearly killed me in my second year, ruined the Golden Quartet's lives, and killed Harry. And he was smiling.
I shut my eyes so tight that tears started to form.
"Is something the matter?" Lisa's voice brought me back to reality.
People had started talking again, but in hushed voices. Tom sat at the table next to ours, looking at me intently. If I'd wanted to eat anything before, the hunger was gone now.
"I know him." I finally said. "I know who he is, and what he's done."
"You're gripping your chair. I think that you're probably tired, would you like some rest?" Lisa asked.
"Yes," I murmured, "some rest would be good."
Standing up, I headed towards the girl's dormitory.
A/N: First real chappie! This one's a bit short, but I just wanted to get to Tom. Yes, it's different from the series where Alice is brought to the Chamber of Secrets instead of Ginny. Bear with me! R&R
From now on, I'll post every Sunday.