Riddle's Plea

First Meeting*

(Vienna. September 3rd, 1943)

    I burst through the Transfiguration classroom door, tears streaming down my face and sobs racking my body. I had come to stop when I collided with an empty desk and fell to the floor. I curled up, trying to calm myself and not succeeding. "Vienna." The sound of Albus Dumbledore's voice filled my buzzing ears, and I felt him sit beside my small frame on the floor. "What has happened child?" He asks me, resting a hand calmly on my back to try to soothe my crying. "He looks... like.... him." I manage to breathe out. "Who looks like who?" He asks me, now proceeding to pat me on the back reassuringly. "F-Fred." The name brings about a new round of tears to my eyes, and my stomach starts rolling. "I'm going to be sick." I manage to spit out, sitting up quickly and making myself dizzy. Dumbledore is quick to act and conjures a bucket in front of my face just in time. 

    I'm grateful that I had skipped dinner, and I'm left dry heaving and hyperventilating. "Calm yourself Vienna." Dumbledore's soft voice brings a little peace to my mind. I look up at the aging man before me, whose looking at me with concern. He calmly stands, and bends down to help me up. Albus guides me to an armchair, and conjures up a glass of water in which I drink greedily. "Whenever you're ready. Feel free to tell me." He says, while gracefully sitting in his chair behind his desk. He begins working, grading essays, and the soft scraping of his quill helps to ease me. "Fred and I had been together since sixth year..." I say softly, and the scrapping of the quill stops. I look over at Albus and notice I now have his full attention. "We both fought in the battle that night. I had a feeling that after it was all over, he was going to ask me to marry him." I find myself looking into the fireplace, and I take a moment to appreciate the red of the flames. "He never got the chance," I whisper, and my breath catches. I look back towards the Professor who was looking at me curiously. He stands and sits in an armchair next to me. "Why don't you tell me about him?" He says quietly. 

    "I met Fred and his twin brother George for the first time on the Hogwarts Express, the beginning of first year. They were rambunctious boys, always getting into trouble and the only two people that had managed to get Peeves to listen. They were pranksters and their life goals were to make people smile. I don't know when things changed between Fred and me, but they did. I wish I could pinpoint the exact moment when I knew I loved him so that I could relive the moment over and over again." I found myself smiling at the memories of Fred and George, and a warmth seeps back into my body. "They left school before the end of our seventh year, and because they're Fred and George, they left in style. There was a horrible woman positioned  by the Ministry at the school, actually took your place for a bit, they blew fireworks up in her face." Beside me, Dumbledore chuckled, and I couldn't help but chuckle along. "They sound like quite the boys." He says to me with a twinkle in his eye. "They were. They ended up opening a joke shop in Diagon Alley. Even through everything that happened, they kept it open as long as possible." I take a deep breath and lean my head against the comfy armchair. "I have to keep reminding myself, that I could save his life. But it still hurts. It hurts so much." Tears came back into my eyes as I said the words, and the familiar ache returned as well. 

    "If there's one thing I know Vienna..." Dumbledore begins, catching my attention again. "Is that you are incredibly strong. You have loved so deeply and so strongly. You do all this for them. You are the bravest person I think I have ever met." A sense of pride filled me with the Professor's words, and I found myself smiling at the man. "Thank you. It really means a lot." He nods his head at my words and turns his gaze back to the fireplace. I let out another sigh, and try to sort through my twisted thoughts. "Septimus Weasley," I say to him. He looks at me curiously, questioning why I said that name. "He's Fred's grandfather, and looks exactly like him." Dumbledore's mouth opens in an 'o', and he nods his head sadly at me. "I should have been more prepared. I had prepared for Tom, for Malfoy and the rest of them. But I wasn't prepared for Septimus." Dumbledore nodded his head again in understanding. "You can't be prepared for everything Vienna." He says quietly to me, causing me to snort. "I'm from the future, I should be prepared for everything." Dumbledore chuckles at my words. "If you spend all your time preparing, you leave no time for living Vienna."

    "I ran straight into Tom on the way here." I begin, and I'm giving a concerning look. "My magic's been acting up Albus," I say to him, and he sends me a questioning look. "Since coming back to this time, it's more powerful, and harder to control. You saw what happened in the Hospital Wing that day. Just now I threw Tom Riddle across the corridor." My voice had risen a few octaves. "How did he react?" He asks me, staring into the fireplace. "He was surprised. For once a normal emotion graced his face, and for a split second he looked concerned." I say, remembering the look on Tom's face when my magic practically attacked him. "Anything else?" Albus asks me, not looking up at me. "There's a buzzing in my ears that I can't get rid of, and my vision is being wonky. It goes in and out of focus all the time, it's giving me a headache." I say, emphasizing the headache by rubbing my temples. "I'll have to look into it Vienna. But for now, try to stay calm and collected. We don't need the future Dark Lord to know you have more power than you can handle." Easier said than done.