Behold...a chapter in Parseltongue. I hope you like the unique way I've decided to report on the events of Godric's Hollow.

Dedication: MapleLeaf40, thanks so much for your reviews and for sticking by the story this far! I hope you fix your account problem soon so we can PM. Also, I love your story idea and I added it to my list of future fics (on my profile) so thank you! Also, to answer your question, Draco read The Tale of the Three Brothers to all the Death Eaters in the room (including Tom) out loud. Yeah, I know...a little awkward. Storytime for the bad guys, right? Ahaha but I just felt like giving that job to Draco. Anyway, thanks for reading and hope you enjoy this chapter!

...Tom turned to Nagini and stroked her.

"I have a job for you, my sweetheart..."

CHAPTER 44: NAGINI'S TALE

The cliff had not changed in the slightest since Tom had last been there. His long black cloak flowed as he walked across the snow in the cool night. He slowly rotated his ordinary wand in his long white fingers and kept his head bowed beneath the hood of the cloak. And as he walked, his mind wrapped around one thing and one thing only…what was taking Nagini so long?

After a little while, Tom grew restless and took a seat on the snowy cliff. He laid his wand in his lap and stared at it for a long time. He had had this wand for so long. This wand had gotten him through his Hogwarts years, adult life, and the first war. This wand had led to his destruction at Godric's Hollow. This wand was returned to him during his exile in Albania. Before Harry Potter, this wand had never failed him. But ever since that night sixteen years ago, the wand was a stranger to him. And soon, it would be replaced.

Another hour passed and still, Nagini had not shown up. Tom only hoped that everything went alright. If something had happened to her, he would have felt it, wouldn't he? Then again, he hadn't felt anything when his diary was destroyed down in the Chamber of Secrets a couple of years back. It was incredible how magic was still finding its ways of surprising him. He had conquered everything magical that there could possibly be. He had gone so far in the dark arts, learned everything there was to learn in his Hogwarts years, but that still did not seem to be enough.

Last Christmas, Tom had had that horrible nightmare for the first time—the one with his main Death Eater group having a meeting with him in their youthful forms. The nightmare always ended with Dumbledore's laughter ringing in Tom's ears as he watched the bodies of his victims pile all around him. He had not had that dream for several months now, which was good. But there was the possibility that he would have it again tonight. He wished he could blame Dumbledore for this.

At the stroke of midnight, Nagini finally turned up on the cliff. With a slow whooshing sound, she materialised out of thin air and slithered her away across the snow over to where Tom was seated. It took a full minute before he realised that she was covered in blood. At once, he began to mutter an incantation to relieve her. She hissed violently at the pain of it but once Tom was done, she relaxed a bit.

"What happened?" Tom hissed as she coiled around him and rested. "Tell me, my sweetheart, what happened in Godric's Hollow?"

"The boy and the filthy mudblood arrived at the graveyard just as I was taking a walk. When they saw who they thought was Bathilda Bagshot, they immediately followed."

"So they were looking for someone then," said Tom in his perfect Parseltongue.

"Or something," suggested Nagini. "But I brought them back to the house. I showed them around and they sat with me."

"What happened next?"

"The boy asked me to identify someone in a photograph the old hag had laying around."

Tom frowned.

"Grindelwald."

"Yes…in his younger form."

"What then, Nagini?"

"I spoke to the boy. He didn't seem to realize he was speaking my language. I told him I had something very interesting to show him in the other room. He followed, and then I transformed back into myself."

Nagini stopped mid-thought because a dark shadow seemed to illuminate over Tom.

"He speaks it?" he said in a very quiet voice.

"He does, master."

"I...had no idea...that he speaks it," said Tom.

"Oh, he speaks it, alright," said Nagini, who was not understanding Tom's shock at all.

He stared on, trying to wrap his mind around this new information. Could it be that the boy had not only thwarted him that night, all those years ago, but also obtained some of his powers? Tom had had his Death Eaters trace the Potter bloodline back in the first war and there was no relation between Tom and the boy. One did not simply learn Parseltongue. They inherited it. So how then, could it be that the boy had this gift?

Tom turned back to Nagini.

"How long did the potion last you then?"

"About a couple of hours."

"What then, Nagini?"

"I began to attack, of course, what else?"

Nagini laughed and slid off Tom. He got to his feet at once, pocketed his wand, and began to follow her as she slithered her way across the snow.

"Did he do this to you?" said Tom, thinking of the blood from moments ago.

"I'm not sure who cast the spell—him or the mudblood, but yes, they did this to me."

"I didn't feel anything," said Tom, confused.

"That's because I wasn't killed," said Nagini, smartly. "If I had been killed, then you would have felt something, I think."

"What else, Nagini? What else happened? Did they take anything?"

"The mudblood took a book with her…Dumbledore was on the cover of it. And the boy's wand snapped in half as they left."

"He'll find another one soon," said Tom, mostly to himself. "He's not stupid enough to go walking around without a wand."

"Well, I don't know where they apparated to, if that's what you're asking," said Nagini.

Tom smiled down at her.

"It's alright; something tells me they will appear out of hiding again soon enough."

"Here's to hoping."

Tom suddenly stopped walking and stared off into the distant hills of snow, thinking.

"Nagini," he whispered, "What did she tell you?"

"Bathilda? She gave me vague instructions to the fortress where Grindelwald resides."

Tom turned to look at her with awe.

"Did she really?"

"Yes, master. I will show you to it when I am well, but I expect it'll take a while for you to find it."

"Thank you, Nagini. You have been most useful to me. And the day we met was a gift to my future. It really was."

Tom sat down again and began to pat her. She enjoyed this very much and calmed down a bit. She was no longer shaken from the attack and did not have a trace of blood on her.

"What are you thinking, sire?" she asked after a long moment's silence.

"I'm thinking…" said Tom, "…about Gallert Grindelwald. I'm curious to know what he is like…if he has heard of me, after all those years' imprisonment. I'm curious what he thinks of me and how he will react to my journeying to see him."

"He sounds a lot like you," said Nagini.

"He does," said Tom. "I hate that."

"I'd have thought you would actually be pleased," said Nagini.

"Pleased?" said Tom, scoffing. "I am extraordinary. I don't like the idea of someone out there having tried to do what I have done. I don't like people trying to copy me. Tis unoriginal."

"If you say so," muttered Nagini.

Tom pinched her and she squirmed, but said nothing.

"Anyway," he continued after a pause, "I have high hopes for obtaining the Elder Wand once I go to see Grindelwald. And once I have it, there will be no need for my own wand." Tom chuckled. "I see, as Harry Potter has had to get rid of his original wand, I will have to get rid of mine. We really do have many resemblances."

"That's not funny, master," muttered Nagini, but Tom pretended not to hear her.

"We're both half-bloods, we were both raised parentless, we both went to Hogwarts…"

"Stop it!"

"…we both speak Parseltongue. We…"

"Enough!"

A sick smile crossed Tom's face as he considered Nagini.

"What, Nagini? You don't like your master's many resemblances with his nemesis?"

"I like everything about master!" she defended herself.

"Right answer," said Tom, casually.

"So what now, sire?" said Nagini after another moment's silence.

Tom gave a sort of shrug and sighed.

"What's on your mind, master?"

"To be honest?" hissed Tom. "Severus. Severus is on my mind."

"What about him?"

"I don't want to doubt him. He is my most trusted follower…a fierce friend. If it weren't for the cruelty of time, I would keep him around always."

"But…?"

Tom paused.

"But I can't help but wonder if he knew the boy could speak Parseltongue."

"Ah," said Nagini. "If I could ask, master—so what if he knew? What difference does it make?"

"All the difference in the world," said Tom, who was a little surprised at Nagini. "I trust Severus to tell me important details like these."

"Maybe he never found out?"

"I don't know," said Tom, thoughtfully. "Something tells me he knew."

"A voice inside your head again?" said Nagini, lazily.

"Intuition," corrected Tom.

"Ah," said Nagini.

Tom could feel a kind of pain in the pit of his stomach again. He associated this pain with nervousness…the kind of nervousness he'd felt on the morning of his destruction, sixteen years ago. He could remember that day very quickly…the weird dream that he'd had…the strange feeling inside him all day…the voice that told him not to do it. But he was on top of the world now. He had the Ministry of Magic, Gringotts Bank, the whole of Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts under his control. He had an army full of equipped and hardened Death Eaters. He had Dumbledore in his grave. So why was he getting this feeling again?

"Perhaps, Severus thought it was an unimportant detail after all," said Tom, finally.

"Perhaps," agreed Nagini. "Hey, I thought Avery was your best servant."

"No," said Tom, with a small smile, "Avery has not been my best for a long, long time."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know," said Tom, truthfully. "I remember a time when I had high hopes for him. But I admit now, he has disappointed me a great deal."

"Because he didn't come back for you when you were away?"

"That is part of it, yes."

"But Snape also didn't come back."

"Snape was busy doing what I'd asked him to, Nagini. You know that."

"If that's your reason," she said. "Anyway, what has been happening back here, since I've been away?"

"Not much," said Tom, truthfully. "The usual, you know?"

"Have you gotten a hold of Lovegood?"

"Ah yes, we certainly have," said Tom, proudly. "Avery and the others are keeping the girl locked up in the dungeons."

"At Malfoy Manor?"

Tom nodded.

"Is she delicious?" said Nagini. "Does she smell good? I need to refuel after the catastrophe with Bagshot. She wasn't very appetising."

Tom smiled.

"We will keep her in captivity for the time being, my sweetheart."

Nagini grunted.

"My sweetheart," Tom began, "You know you are my favourite one, right? I plan to keep you around for a very long time. And when the time comes, I shall get rid of Harry Potter once and for all. That day is going to be a good day for the both of us. We are going to officially start our lives then. We will live worry-free, at the top of the world, for the rest of time. That is going to be a very good day for us."

"You promise?" said Nagini, childishly. "It'll just be you and me? You promise?"

Tom leaned closer to her.

"I swear."

"Good," said Nagini, who finally seemed to be satisfied.

"Good," said Tom. "Now that we have that settled, tell me, Nagini. Tell me about Grindelwald's fortress."

Thanks: All the guest reviews, you didn't leave your names so I can't personally dedicate to anyone but all the unsigned guest reviews, I read each and every one so thank you so much for the kind words! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story and hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Rubychanel, thanks for your reviews and for your support! It's very much appreciated! And hope your examinations went well.