Unravelled² → Tom Riddle [Rewritten]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Regulus Black was a loyal Death Eater. It was a well-known fact throughout the community of Death Eaters, something that not a single soul would ever be able to dispute.

Lending his Dark Lord his houself was a task that Regulus was more than willing to do, after all, he had done far worse for the past few years without batting an eyelid.

"Kreacher," Tom called to the small houself bowing before him. "Take my hand."

Kreacher quickly obliged, grasping his hand and preparing himself for the apparition. Neither party flinched as their bodies were pulled in every direction, the pressure quickly building up as they moved through time. Although Kreacher stumbled when his feet touched the ground, he quickly regained his balance.

Immediately upon arrival, Tom was overwhelmed by the smell of salt and rushing waves. A light breeze ran through his hair as he felt the smell of salt coursing through his body, a smell he remembered all too well from his rather unfortunate childhood.

"Where are we?" Kreacher questioned.

Tom increased his grip on Kreacher's arm, twisting and turning it roughly. "Ask me another question and you will lose a limb."

Without making another sound, he illuminated the tip of his wand, sending a ray of light out before him. He pointed his wand at the cave wall before him and for a brief moment, an arched, white outline appeared as though an explosion was occurring behind the wall.

"Kreacher, I require your arm," Tom said as he reached into his robe pockets. From within them, he pulled out a sharp knife, then proceeded to take Kreacher's arm with his free hand. Without a moment's hesitation, Tom dragged the blade against Kreacher's skin, blood pooling at the tip of the blade as he pulled away. Quickly, the blood from Kreacher's arm began to splatter across the rock face and once again the white line appeared.

Tom tilted his head to the side as the rock face split open to reveal nothingness. Darkness surrounded him as he took a step into the cave. "Follow me," Tom ordered as he began to make his way across the edge of a great black lake. At the middle of the lake, Tom could see a misty green light shining and reflecting in the motionless lake, acting as the only source of light other than that from his wand throughout the entire cave.

Tom lifted his hand into the air, clasping it around what appeared to be thin air to Kreacher. Almost immediately, a coppery chain wrapped itself around Tom's arm as though it were a snake. It slithered around his wrist and began to make its way down to the ground then deep into the black waters. From the depths, it pulled out what was eventually revealed to be a tiny rowboat. As though it could sense its master, the rowboat made its way towards the edge of the riverbank where Tom stood impatiently with Kreacher beside him.

Tom took a seat in the rowboat and Kreacher followed closely behind him, taking a seat at the front. Kreacher leant down to the edge of the boat, "Kreacher if you move another inch, I will personally see to it that you lose more than one limb."

"Master, my apologies, I simply assumed you would not wish to steer the rowboat yourself." Kreacher returned to a seated position as the boat began to move.

Tom scoffed. "Bold of you to assume this boat would need steering, you had better not doubt my capabilities again. Do not say another word unless I ask you to!" Although Tom spoke with anger, his expression was that of disinterest rather than the pure rage that Kreacher had anticipated.

Within less than a minute, the boat arrived at the central island from which the green light had been emitted. "Get out of the boat and don't touch the water," Tom commanded. Kreacher scrambled out of the rowboat and onto the small island, closely followed by Tom.

Tom stepped closer to the source of the light: a large basin filled with what Tom knew as poison. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned short goblet into his hand and dipped it into the liquid until it was full. He turned to Kreacher and titled his head. "Drink." He handed Kreacher the goblet.

Kreacher took the goblet into his small hands and lifted it to his lips, there was no scent but as soon as it touched his lips, he could feel himself begin to gag. It was as though he was drinking metal, every ounce of liquid clung to the back of his throat as though it was curdling inside of him. As soon as he had finished, Kreacher fell to the floor, coughing and gagging.

"Again," Tom commanded him. "We are not done yet," he snatched the goblet from Kreacher's hands and submerged it once again into the poison. He handed the goblet straight back to Kreacher with a smirk. As soon as the goblet was out of his hands, Tom drew his wand from his pocket, waving it lightly as he muttered "Silencio." Tom was uninterested in hearing Kreacher's sound-effects, they were merely an inconvenience to him. Especially with so much poison left, he knew that he would surely drown Kreacher if he had to listen to him for any longer.

For almost an hour, the same process entailed. Tom filled the cup with poison, handed it off to Kreacher, then took it back and repeated the process. "I thought this would have killed you by now." Tom wrinkled his nose. "How interesting. Perhaps I ought to strengthen the poison."

By the time Kreacher was on the final goblet, he was a shell of who he once was. His eyes were sunken into his face, his arms barely lifting off the ground as he reached for the goblet. Kreacher was dying and there was no denying that. He cried out in pain, his arms outstretched, pleading to Tom.

"Enjoy yourself," Tom said as he tilted his head. From his robe pocket, he brandished a locket, dropping it into the basin. He took his wand, dipping the tip of it into the basin and without a word, filling it back up with poison.

He gave one last look at Kreacher before turning away. "I know I will."

And as he left, Kreacher sunk to the ground, his arms outstretched to the surrounding water. As he reached his hand into the water, Kreacher felt something pull on his arm and he fell deep into the army of Inferi.