The Farland Files

Why Not Purposefully Get Possessed Again?

A/N: Anyone order some Tom? No? Too bad ^-^ He's here anyway!

~~~

There was nothing but fire, eating its way through every single atom in her body, and a voice.

"He will suffer for this."

Who? Who would suffer? And why for this?

The voice was soft, smooth like the hand that she felt brush away her hair, the touch soothing against the fire in her veins. "Even as I know that this was done by your own hand, for a reason I will never understand... You should never have been hurt. Never."

Why? Why do you care?

"I will see you again, as I promised."

Something clicked in her brain, like the last puzzle piece falling into place.

Riddle? Tom?

Wait...

Come back...

When she finally woke, the fire having dimmed, she jerked out of bed and limped determinedly to the door of the infirmary while looking around wildly for Tom.

"Whoa there girlie- you should be laying down." A staff moved to block her way, Moody's grizzled face twisting as he raised an eyebrow. "What're you doing up? You look to have seen a ghost."

"I-" She looked out the door, before resigning herself to just having been hallucinating the voice. "In a way, I did..."

The man eyed her, face unreadable.

She shook her head, forcing a small smile onto her face to hide the cold sinking into her bones. Two left. All she had were two more... "It's nothing- Just thought I heard the voice of an old friend." Limping back to her bed slowly, she waved her hand at the man as she got back into the white bed, trying to divert the topic. "Any news about the next task?"

"The golden eggs... they have some sort of clue inside them to your next task." The man's blue eye swiveled to her side table. "And I believe that you have more than a few admirers from that stunt you pulled."

Lena followed his eye to where a pile of presents was taking up her bedside table, the tiny figurine of the dragon she'd gotten sitting atop the pile sleeping soundly. "Should I be afraid?"

Moody scowled. "I made sure they weren't harmful." Then he reached into the pile and pulled out a small black box. "Though this is the only one that isn't a love letter or chocolates."

Humming, she opened the box, looking at the gold locket inside and gasping softly. "Who..." But when her fingers brushed against the locket that bore the symbol of Salazar Slytherin, her eyes widened at the soothing warmth it gave, taking it in her palm and smiling softly at it. "Oh... I see that she was right... I didn't even have to go looking for it."

"I suggest you rest." Moody glanced at the golden locket and then her with a strange look, before smirking meanly. "I suspect you'll need it before you face the wolves."

Ignoring his strange prod, she nodded absently, moving to put the locket around her neck and then dropping the outer barriers of her mind. Waiting silently, a presence moved in, but it didn't try to enter her mind further- just settling there.

"Hello, Lena. It's nice to finally meet you. You are certainly prettier than I expected."

Riddle. It's good to meet you.

Her smile was fond, closing her eyes and sinking back into her own mindscape. Opening her eyes to stand in a giant library, the wood floors cool against her bare feet, she hummed softly as she strolled through the towering stacks. "Are you after the Diadem then? Or maybe before him?"