Dumbledore's door automatically swings open before I get the chance to knock. I walk in, my footsteps erupting like fireworks, and take the seat tucked in his desk and opposite the Professor.
"Tea?" He offers politely. I nod softly. Dumbledore then proceeds to flick his wrist and a tray full of cups, saucers, tea pot, sugar, cream and cookies appear. I immediately grab the best looking cookie.
"Look, Professor, I mean this in the kindest way. You really don't have to check up on me or make sure I'm safe. And I know I haven't been going to my tutoring with Tom, and no it's not because I'm afraid of him or something, I'm just trying to get my life back to normal before I continue with...him." My voice alters on him. I'm not quiet sure what else to call it.
Dumbledore looks up from his tea and smiles warmly, his eyes glistening, and
my mood lightens. "I don't doubt that your not afraid of him, and I didn't call you here to talk about you missing your private lessons. However, you were correct. This is about Tom Riddle." I expected that, since now my life is basically Tom Riddle.
"Tell me, Kenna, what has been happening in your...Study sessions." I tell Dumbledore about them; how the ones that weren't eventful, I even tell him about how he attacked me after Myrtle's death.
However, I cover it by saying he was training me, I don't dare tell him about the Dark Arts. I'm not sure why. The Professor starts pacing halfway through, his wand twirling in his fingers. His face remains expressionless, however, when I finish I see him fixture a frown but quickly replace it.
"One of the hardest decisions you'll ever face in life is choosing whether to walk away of try harder," Dumbledore says. The old mans voice is always thick with wisdom and delight, as are his eyes, it's intimidating.
It's just studying sir..." I hold my words tight but find it extremely hard to lie to him. Does he know? Of course not, if he knew he would stop Tom. Right? Well, he did say all that about wrong pathy thingy which made absolutely no sense. Unless...
He does think it! He thinks I can fix Tom? We hat- well don't like each other and never talked before the sessions, so why would Dumbledore choose me? He thinks I can steer him so deep into darkness he would want to retreat.
Dumbledore knows exactly about Tom's specialty and is doing nothing about it? Think Kenna! He's doing nothing because you need to do something. Dumbledore can't get involved without evidence, he'd be a laughing stock, so he chose me to...expose him?
It all seems pointless. Tom hasn't done anything bad with his abilities except become egotistical so me being all angelic isn't necessary. Dumbledore did chose the wrong person, even if he's not keen on admitting it. But, if there's one thing I know about the Professor is that it's extremely rare for him to be wrong.
"Do you know something I don't, Professor?" I question as he sits down. "Many things. Now is not the time. I believe you have somewhere to be." He knows? That I'm going to the Forbidden forest after late? Dumbledore's face is calm and unreadable. He knows. The grand door swings open, signalling me to leave. I quickly say goodbye and rush out to go to the forest.
----
The lingering light was obliterated by the rapidly falling night. The once salmon and purple sky transformed into a vast expanse of jet-black that engulfed the sky. A canopy of luminous stars materialized amongst the ocean of blackness. Some were dull, merely flickering into existence every now and then, but there was an adequate amount of shimmering stars to illuminate the dark, moonless night.
My toes curl at the coldness of the light blanket of snow. It's beautiful. The way the snow glimmers in admiration under the allure of stars.
The dark, lean figure shimmers with partnership. His coat hung loosely around him and his arms crossed like a authority figure. Tom does like to show he has power, the strength to get what he wants.
His presence makes me feel warmer, which is the opposite of what it felt like weeks ago. "This won't take long. Stay where I tell you to stay," Tom orders. I nod but it doesn't satisfy him. Only then do I notice how tense he looks.
"Please, Kenna. You have to stay where I tell you to." I've never heard Tom speak like this, as if he's worried for my well being. However, this can't be if he's taking me into some life threatening situation, which he most likely is.
Surprisingly, Tom holds out his hand while watching me with hooded eyes. For a moment, nothing else seems to matter. Only for a moment. "Are you going to kill me?" I ask.
"Have you done something that's going to make me want to kill you?" He smirks. His smirk seems more as it's reflected by the shine of many star. "I always do something that makes you want to kill me." I mirror the smile, just like before, and take his hand which is strangely how I thought it would feel.
Warm and comforting yet makes me feel like I want to rip it away immediately. Like his hands are all over my soul. Tom leads me into the depths of the forest, where trees hug each other for warmth and whisper together in the wind. The only thing keeping me calm is the sky. The pull of the darkness that feels familiar.
After a long walk, Tom stops and spins round to face me. His expression is serious and something else I've never seen before. "Remember what I said, Kenna. St-"
"Yes, yes. Stay here. I'm capable of processing simple orders," I replay the words he said before, sounding effortlessly bored. Tom's face still remains sharp, he's never been this serious. "You won't leave?" Tom questions
"As if." I smile, teasingly. For the first time all night, Riddle's face seems to calm slightly but soon regains authority. "It's not like you wasn't expecting it," He whispers slyly then disappears into the night like a shadow.
I stand there, close to a large trunk tree, like a fool for what feels like a lifetime. No sign of anything is seeable in the darkness since many of the stars have shrunk without notice. Suddenly, a jet of green sparks burst into the sky sending waves of shock through my stone cold body.
I watch as the sparks whizz then start to cram together to form some shape; a skull, followed by a snake slivering from its dead mouth and twisting to a 8 shape.
My legs dart forward into the direction of the mark but then I stop remembering Tom's words and not wanting to break them. Instead, I watch as the magnificent mark outruns all the stars then dissolves into the world. It was impressive.
"My friends, we have drawn closer to our goal and this mark will show your loyalty and respect to your Lord," a familiar voice bellows through the trees. Tom's voice.
I creep slowly towards his voice. The sight shocks me. Many figures in black cloaks form a circle around the obvious main attraction; Tom. I can't see all the faces, most backs are turned to me, but some I can make out. Avery, Lestrange, Mulciber and...Elladora. What is this? Some creepy late night pure blood gang? That's probably exactly what it is.
"This mark will be embedded into your arm and soon many others will follow. Would anybody like the honour of being the first?" Tom calls with his wand out and ready. No one moves for a second and it's clear. They are his followers, they are all scared of him. Abruptly, a man who's back was to me steps forward and turns in place.
Antonin Dolohov. He pulls the sleeves of his cloak up and holds it out to Tom who presses his wand to it. Dolohov hisses in pain as the same mark that once appeared in the sky spreads along his pale skin as black as the sky in which it descended into. I can see the smirk from here.
"We will come together again after the holidays. Till then lie low, my friends. You may leave." And they do as he says, as expected. I rush behind a tree when they walk towards me and don't dare look around to gather more information. After I'm sure everyone's gone, I move back into the open and come face to face with Tom. His face has lost all seriousness and now looks joyful. "Impressive, I know," Tom beams.
"I'm not joining your little fan club if that's why you brought me here." Tom raises his eyebrows at me and grows a smirk. "Shame, really, you would have been a great addition."
"I should have known. I did know. But people are like oceans," I shrug. "You cannot know them by their surface. But we're not just people, are we. The whole point is that someone knows us by our surface or else merlin knows what would happen to the world." Tom takes in my words then nods understandably. "You'll stay over Christmas holiday, ok?"
"Do I have a choice?" I sigh. "You've always had a choice, Kenna, which makes it much more fun." He smirks mercifully. Never did I think I would miss that.
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Marvolo•Tom Riddle FanFiction
Fanfiction"my bones are stained with sins, scorched from fires, broken by betrayal, cold in loneliness, soaked in blood, and still we keep fighting." ~ Kenna Karamakov is just trying to leave. Leave the family home she grew up in that was never really hers, l...
