Mirror of the Past

Mirror of the

Past

Chapter One: Riddle's Diary

Foggy clouds crowded the grey sky, announcing a terrifying storm. Two grey, metallic-like eyes gazed out the window as raindrops started hitting the cold glass. The silhouette pulled the green curtain, shutting out the foggy garden and the dark greenhouses. Draco Malfoy's life was as boring as that of any other seventeen-year-old boy. Nothing to do in an empty mansion, on a deserted hill overlooking the green fields, nothing at all!

Draco started rummaging in his trunk, looking for his Potions book, thinking that maybe he could catch up on his homework and do his essay on deadly yet harmless looking poisons. What else was there to do while cooped up in an old house? He didn't find any sign of it so he left his room in search of it. First, he looked in the living room since he usually did his homework by the fireplace, in his favourite armchair, but he found nothing there either.

His next stop was the library, filled with all sorts of books about wizard history, important wizards or witches and his favourite, books about dark magic; but no sign of his Potions manual on any of the shelves or any of the six small tables. He decided to check his father's bureau before searching any further. His father's office was the only place Draco had never seen before in his entire life at the mansion. His father had forbidden him to ever go near it since there were a lot of his personal stuff and he thought it would be better for Draco not to know about them until he was older. But from Draco's opinion, he was old enough now!

He slowly opened the door and sneaked in. The room was very messy and it contained a few pieces of furniture. There was a green carpet on the floor, right in the middle of the room, covered in basilisk skin. Right next to the carpet there was an oak desk, with clawed feet for support and a silvery, semi transparent material covering them. Behind it were a few book shelves full of books, potion bottles, some dark magic contest trophies, a few medals and some interesting potions ingredients including basilisk skin, fresh pickled toads and crushed wasps.

Draco walked across the room until he reached the desk. He started looking in the drawers, in search of his manual. He didn't know why his father would have his book, but it was best that he kept searching. There were a lot of pencils and certificates and very odd looking pieces of plastic that strongly reminded him of Voldemort's Dark Mark. The strangest thing though was a very old notebook that he found in the top drawer on the left hand side. It was black and the pages were mouldy. The initials "TMR" were written on it.

For Draco, the notebook, which he supposed was a diary, judging by the initials, looked very familiar. He had seen it before in his second year at Hogwarts. It had fallen out of Harry Potter's school bag while a Cupid delivered him a card from Ginny Weasley. Draco continued to watch the diary closely as thought he was expecting it to attack any moment.

Suddenly, a cold voice that came from the hallway brought him back to life. He closed the drawer and heard footsteps down the corridor. There wasn't any time to leave the office and the diary was still in his hand. Draco rushed to the window and hid behind the green curtain just as the door opened and his father walked in, followed by a hooded figure that made the air freeze.

Lucius sat down at the desk and invited the new guest to an armchair just in front of him. The creature sat down and threw a suspicious look at the green curtain which Draco had picked as a hiding place. Lucius opened a drawer and started rummaging inside, looking very worried.

"It's missing..." he finally managed to say as the cloaked figure stood up and towered above him.

From the beginning Draco knew what was missing from his father's drawer. Lucius stood up and started pacing the room, the silhouette examining his every move, when the door slammed to the wall and Narcissa hurried in. The creature eyed her carefully then turned around and slowly walked towards the window.

"Lucius, Draco is missing. I can't find him anywhere in the house or in the garden!"

Lucius grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room, forcing her into the hallway. He brought her face close to his and with a cold, menacing voice whispered,

"It's not my problem where that stupid boy wanders off to in the middle of the day! I don't give a damn where he's hiding or where he's playing; I have important matters to attend to! I don't have time for these childish games and neither do I have time for your dramatic acts of love and care! It makes my stomach turn upside down and..."

"AAAAAAAAGH!!!"

A piercing scream from the office made them turn around and rush in the bureau. The hooded figure was holding Draco by the hand, and by the looks of it he was sucking his vital energy, leaving his body almost lifeless. Lucius grabbed the creature by its hood and pulled it backwards as Narcissa took Draco out of the office. Lucius let go of the hood and followed his wife hurriedly, leaving the monster all alone.

Once alone, the cloaked figure followed them silently and walked past the opened door until he reached the entrance. He went outside where he met the cold rain. He stepped into the rain and took his hood off. His appearance was very different from that of a Dementor. There was nothing there except for a vaporous shadow outlined by a misty form. The head had two skull-shaped eyes in which there were swirls of grey mist that clouded his vision leaving only one conclusion: the creature was blind. He had a black, unshaped hole for a mouth that permanently sucked all life, air, energy and soul leaving nothing but an empty body, a cursed body filled only with fears and unhappy memories.

Lucius came out after him just as the creature was putting on his hood. From his opinion, the monster was acting very strange, judging by the fact that he didn't want Lucius to see its face. That is, if it did have a face... The figure was staring intently at the fields as though transfixed by the simple colour.

Just then, Lucius saw a black cloud moving closer, walking on the green, muddy grass. He could decipher the silhouettes as they cautiously approached Malfoy Manor: they belonged to the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort's servants. From Dementors that freely ruled Azkaban and several creatures that looked just like the one next to him. Lucius rushed into the house and returned shortly afterwards wearing black robes that matched the ones belonging to the Death Eaters.

The pack stopped just in front of the stairs and one of them left the rows and shaking Lucius's hand, asked,

"Has the Master arrived yet?"

His voice was trembling but there was a sly confidence in it that made Lucius smile wickedly and give a short snort. The man added annoyed,

"I have a new addition to the circle that might interest him."

Lucius stared at him intently as though trying his patience. All of a sudden he asked,

"Is this new member worthy of the name Death Eater or is it just a waste of time to teach him our sneaky ways?"

"Rest assured, she is prepared to test our foul ways."

"She is prepared? What do you mean she?"

"Well... my daughter of course!"

"And what exactly gave you the idea that Lord Voldemort would need a female assistant? A little girl I might add! How old is the brat?"

"El...ele...eleven years old."

"And what is so unique about the little terror?"

"My daughter has very special powers that will surely help our Master in his battle with Harry Potter."

"Really? What are these special powers all about?"

"Well, first, she knows a lot about Dark Magic and a lot of spells, second, she has telepathic powers that I believe are very useful in times of crisis and last but not least she is very eager to help."

The man brought her up in front of Lucius and introduced her without taking her hood off. From Lucius's opinion, the girl wasn't at all eager to help: she was struggling to get free of her father's tight grip, kicking the ground.

"Well, my dear Maurice, I hope that for your own good all these things you just told me aren't lies because the Master's coming.

Maurice turned around and saw a tall figure wearing a black cloak that was hurriedly climbing the stairs. Maurice bowed in front of him but Voldemort pushed him aside and told them to come into the meeting room. They all followed him inside. When they reached the hallway, Lucius walked up in front and led the way through a series of dark tunnels illuminated only by ghostly lights that came from nowhere. They finally reached the meeting room, the biggest chamber in the manor.

They each walked inside, starting with Voldemort. The room was creepy and strongly reminded Maurice's daughter of a medieval torture chamber. There were rusted chains and handcuffs on the wall and there was a very old cauldron far away, in the back of the room. She asked her father what it was used for and Maurice answered,

"The Master used that particular cauldron to boil up water because it could resist at high temperature, even over 100 degrees. He used the boiling water (and probably still uses) to torture people or traitors from his circle until they admitted their cunning purpose or revealed all the secrets he needed to know. This was back when he first started this circle and he still had a bit of...hmm... good intentions."

The little girl surely doubted that Voldemort ever had had good intentions but it was best that she didn't argue. Besides, she wanted more than anything to just disappear rather than be part of a cruel, madman's circle. But what was there to do? Her father and mother were determined to make her one of them and introduce her to Lord Voldemort. If only she were more like her sister. A rebel, determined not to go straight to her doom. Her sister had always been braver, more sure to just walk out the door and come back just as strong. She wasn't a coward, a girl too afraid to live. She had run away from home to Egypt, to be with her boyfriend, as far from the parents that only wanted to mess up her life, as possible.

The door closed as the last Death Eaters came in. They all moved towards their seats and waited until their Master sat down and gave them permission to do just the same; everyone except the little girl that was determined to do everything wrong so that she wouldn't be accepted in the circle. But this didn't annoy Voldemort at all. Actually, he was mildly surprised to see that someone in that room didn't have such great fear of his power. In his eyes, that person looked very brave; or as Lucius would say, very foolish.

Maurice got up, took his daughter by her arm and, trembling from head to foot, he approached Voldemort.

"Master, I wanted to introduce you to my daughter. My wife and I think that she is old enough to join our circle now. That is, of course, if you accept her, Master. That was our price to pay because of our little, disobedience problem..."

"Yes, I remember that very well but what are her powers? Our circle must know in order to accept a new member. Isn't that right?"

There was an approving murmur from the Death Eaters around the table.

"The girl has remarkable powers that you may find interesting. She knows a lot about our ways and she has telepathic powers that I know you find very useful."

"Indeed... let's see her!"

Maurice untied her hands and took her hood off. Everyone in the room gasped. She had silvery blonde hair, the mark of a true Veela, blue, round eyes that resembled deep oceans and milky white skin. Voldemort looked at her transfixed. As every Veela, she could leave anyone drooling over her.

"Hmm... a Veela, right? I always doubted you could be so practical for me. You always were a clumsy man that had problems keeping his mouth shut."

"Well, I hoped that one day I could make it up to you. I thought that if I brought you my daughter you'd forget the little incident."

"It's a good start but I'm not going to forgive you so easily for sending the Lestrange couple in Azkaban!"

Absolute silence fell over the dimly lit room. Voldemort stood up and sniggered at the sight of the little girl trembling.

"What's her name?" he asked suddenly.

"Her name? Oh, her name... Gabrielle, sir. Gabrielle Delacour.

"Delacour... it's such a familiar name. Of course! The girl from the Triwizard Tournament."

"That was her sister, sir. Fleur Delacour."

"How old is Gabrielle?"

"Eleven years old, sir."

"Eleven? She's very young." He turned to the girl,

"Gabrielle, we will be..."

"My friends call me Blanche," she interrupted.

"Oh, and why's that?"

"Because of my silvery blonde hair, Dark Lord."

"Well, Gabrielle or Blanche or whatever you want me to call you, we will be working together so I want your complete obedience!"

Gabrielle looked Voldemort straight in the eyes as though challenging him. Voldemort took the message and smiled weakly, then returned to his place. Maurice followed him until he reached his own chair and sat down, leaving Gabrielle all alone in the middle of the room. Her every move was being carefully watched by the Death Eaters, especially Lucius. Voldemort sat down as well and his voice rang in the silent room,

"Now, since this silly girl wants to join our circle, we have to warn her about all the risks she has to take. Lucius, if you please..."

Lucius stood up and unfolded a piece of parchment, then started reading,

"Before we proceed with the tests, you must be informed that this is not an ordinary club, where you hang out with friends and babble all of our secrets like a complete idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, you can be sure of that. But I guess it's better safe than sorry, right? It's better to insult everybody than get insulted yourself, am I right Lord Voldemort?" said Gabrielle in an annoyed tone.

"How dare you make such mockery of my name! I shall not tolerate such insubordination from your side!"

Voldemort stood up and made his way to Gabrielle. Just as he got closer to her, he bumped into something hard, though he could not see anything there at all. He stretched out his hand and felt a cold rock wall. As silly as this looked, there was nothing there and yet he could feel hard rock in front of him.

"What is this form of magic?" he finally managed to whisper. Then he added, "Nothing ever stood in my way before..."

"I made that stone wall with the power of my mind, thus blocking you and keeping your ugly face as far away as possible. Or are you forgetting that I have something more than a wand up my sleeve?"

Voldemort pushed the wall harder as though trying to move it. Suddenly, the wall disappeared and he fell to the floor, face forward, Gabrielle laughing silently. Voldemort got up fast, his nose bleeding, took Gabrielle by the hand and pushed her out of the room.

Tense moments followed this scene. Voldemort took a handkerchief and covered his nose with it. Lucius stood up and said faintly,

"I'll go get my son now. You said he has to be present at this meeting."

"I changed my mind. Just take the girl with you and leave her in the hall. I don't want to see her for now."

He turned his head at Maurice and added,

"We are going to have a little chat about your co-operative girl after my nose stops bleeding so badly. Lucius, go now and don't be too late; I have an important announcement to make."

Lucius bowed and stepped out of the room. Maurice took a handkerchief and handed it to Voldemort. Voldemort threw it away and mumbled something that sounded like,

"I don't need your pity..."

***

Lucius took Gabrielle hurriedly to the hall and left her there. Gabrielle watched as he disappeared through a corridor and started observing the walls. They were covered with paintings that showed, Gabrielle supposed, judging by the silvery- blond hair, the Malfoy's ancestors. She walked closer until she reached a painting that definitely didn't show one of the ancestors. The man had black hair and milk like skin. His eyes were an acid green and from under his slick thin moustache came a wicked smirk. His robes were a dark emerald green and from underneath one of the sleeves a pale hand held a little silver bottle filled with black poison.

Gabrielle continued to stare until a feeble cough brought her to life. She listened intently and noticed it came from upstairs. Wondering who else was in the house besides the Death Eaters, she started climbing the stairs until she reached a long hall on the second floor. The weak cough met her ears again and she continued to walk until she reached the third room on the left hand side. She opened the door so that now she could see a mahogany desk in a corner with bookshelves above, a green, cobra skin carpet by the window and a bed, with pale green covers and silk tapestries that matched the carpet.

Gabrielle saw a pale, pointed faced boy lying in bed, moaning silently as though in great pain. She wondered who he was so she went in and cautiously approached the bed. She was almost there when the moaning suddenly stopped and the boy behind the tapestries surprised her by standing up and coming from behind the vaporous silk. Gabrielle started trembling from head to foot while Draco studied her carefully. After a few tense moments, he asked,

"Who are you and how did you get into my bedroom?"

"Well, I was forced here by my father to join the Death Eaters and serve the Dark Lord. Which I have no intention of doing, instead, I demonstrated my powers to Voldemort, but he got angry with me and told your father Lucius, to banish me from the room. So there I was standing in the entrance hall in a stupor, studying the paintings on the walls in boredom. Then I heard you moaning so I made my way upstairs, partly out of curiosity to see who else could live in this creepy place and partly due to the fact that I have nothing better to do. And so here I am."

Draco muttered something that sounded like "Touching...", turned his back at her and went towards the desk where he picked up a mouldy looking diary, the ink bottle and his quill.

"What's that?"

"I found it in my father's bureau. I want to see how it works."

He sat down on the bed, dipped his quill into the ink bottle and started writing. Gabrielle walked closer and made out the gleaming letters before the yellow pages sucked it in:

"Who are you?"

Draco waited a few minutes and saw that glittering words started appearing on the page as though written by an invisible hand. He read them aloud then threw Gabrielle a worried look.

"I'm Tom Marvolo Riddle, who are you?"

They kept staring and after a few minutes Gabrielle broke the silence,

"Well, answer him!"

Draco dipped his quill once more and wrote down,

"I'm Draco Malfoy, nice to meet you."

***

Lucius had already entered the conference room and all of the Death Eaters were listening carefully to Voldemort.

"Now, before I continue I want to announce something. After plotting many nights I discovered a way that will help us in our great battle."

He gestured to one of the new creatures and continued,

"This is a Devil's Guardian, an evolved version of the Dementor. This intelligent life-form can suck all vital energy and, one of my most brilliant ideas, they have the most superb pair of claws that sink wonderfully into the victim's skin, making the poor soul think he's being tortured with the Cruciatus curse. I call that divinely evil weapon the "Arrows of Sorrow". Aren't they lovely?"

The Death Eaters and the Dementors looked at the new creatures with interest and respect. All except Lucius. He still hadn't forgotten the incident that nearly killed his son, and if Voldemort was to find out, he would surely curse them. He smiled at the thought of it and said,

"Master, if you may, this creature almost killed my son. And if I recall, you said Draco is a vital piece in our plan and..."

His voice trailed off, sensing that Voldemort had understood him. He was right because Voldemort stood up and said,

"This is a serious thing I hear and you can rest assured that I would punish them, if only I knew how. You see, I made them such perfect battle machines in the intention that they would be invincible and would assure us victory. Thus, I do not know any ways of punishing them. But, since we're on the problem, one of them told me that you lost the most important piece of the puzzle, my diary!"

Lucius sat down, trying to hide the horrible feeling of defeat. Voldemort sat down as well and continued,

"Next time, you'd better think before you act, if you still expect me not to punish you."

***

Draco had been speaking with the diary for the past half hour. Gabrielle was watching him and the diary really interested her. It was the first object that she had seen thinking for itself. She actually liked the idea so she read everything Draco was writing, hoping that she would find something interesting.

After over an hour of talking with the diary, Draco saw that Gabrielle was watching him. He turned around, trying to hide the diary from her so that she wouldn't read any more but she sat down next to him, leaned forward and read out loud,

"How come you weren't destroyed after all? My father told me that Harry Potter managed to ruin you once and for all."

They waited a few seconds until Tom answered Draco's question.

"Well, what your father didn't tell you was that after years of failure on Voldemort's part, he came up with a plan to repair this diary, but nonetheless to improve my power. Of course, the Dark Lord accepted, and after thinking and devising plans, he finally managed to invent a new powerful spell that would help me become invincible. And he also invented several new creatures named the Devil's Guardians, they're upgraded versions of the Dementors and they were meant to protect me from any form of white magic."

"One of those perfect creatures almost killed me!"

"I'm sure the Dark Lord is very upset about this but there's no way to punish these creatures. That is why they were made for me."

Draco crossed his hands over his chest, looked angrily at the open diary and closed his ink bottle.

***

The months passed by and Draco had started seeing Tom as a real friend. Tom had explained that he preserved his sixteen year old self so that he would still live even after fifty years. He also told Draco that even if he lived inside the diary, Voldemort had found a way of living outside it at the same time. Meaning that there were now two evil Dark Lords but that Tom would always dominate Voldemort.

Finally, the first day of school arrived. Draco got up early and packed carefully, throwing books, quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment in his trunk. Then he started folding his school robes and he placed them over his books and last but not least, Tom's diary.

Draco took breakfast in the living room as usual and after a quick shower he got dressed with the spare robe he left on the bed. After checking his trunk once more he called for a house-elf to carry it down the stairs and into the dining room, just in front of the fireplace. He waited for the servant to bring it down the stairs, then took him by the collar of his dirty cloth and hurried him to the kitchen.

Draco seized a little flower pot from above the fireplace and took a hand full of the white dust inside. He pushed his trunk into the fireplace, sprinkled the dust and muttering "Platform 9 and ¾", he stepped into the fire.

A few minutes later, he reached Platform 9 and ¾, got an empty compartment and took Tom's diary, a quill and an ink bottle out from his trunk and started writing. Just as he was finishing his sentence, the compartment door slid open and a freckled girl with red hair and second hand robes stepped inside, pulling her heavy trunk, and asked,

"Do you mind? Everywhere else is full... oh, Malfoy..."

Draco hid the diary and threw his quill and ink bottle in the open trunk at his feet.

"I'm surprised you want to be seen with me."

"Don't bother, I'll just go somewhere else."

"There's no need to leave, you can stay if you can bear the humiliation."

Ginny pushed her trunk under a chair and sat down. After that she looked Draco in the eyes and replied,

"I believe you're mistaking when you say I'll bear the humiliation."

"Why do you say that, Weasley?"

"Because you're the one that's going to be seen with a poor Weasley that wears a hand-me-down robe and loves Muggles."

Draco threw her a look full of hatred and Ginny returned it with a smile, meaning that she had managed to disgrace Draco after all.

After an hour or so, Crabbe and Goyle came into the compartment, their arms full of chocolate frogs, boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, cauldron cakes and several hip flasks filled with pumpkin juice. They both sat down next to Draco and threw Ginny a suspicious look. Ginny, feeling that her ears were going pink, made herself busy with her sandwiches. She looked inside the little package and found two ham sandwiches, wrapped in napkins.

Draco, seeing her poor lunch, took a chocolate frog and handed it to her.

"Don't think I like you, Muggle lover, it's just that you look like a beggar with those sandwiches."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't think you liked me even if it hit me in the face, singing karaoke and wearing a poncho. You don't like anyone besides your gorilla friends, so I wouldn't bother to think that you like me anyway."

Crabbe and Goyle were now up on their feet, rubbing their knuckles against their palms. Draco jumped in front of them and said,

"Don't you have any brains? You were about to hit a girl!"

"Yeah right, Malfoy, nice try. Like I don't know you'd hex me anyway if you only had a good occasion."

"Damn! That always worked!"

"Don't tell me, that's you're irresistible charm to make girls fall at your feet!"

Draco pushed Crabbe and Goyle into their seats and sat down, muttering over and over again, "Screw her opinion, the heck with her opinion...".

They soon arrived in Hogsmeade station. Crabbe and Goyle started picking up the food they hadn't consumed yet and walked out of the compartment. Draco picked up his diary and followed quickly, leaving Ginny to pack all alone. After a few minutes, she followed him hurriedly, since she was the last person left on the train. She was just about to get of the Hogwarts Express when a powerful gust of wind blew the diary out of Draco's hand and landed it at Ginny's feet.

Ginny bent down, took the diary in her hand and looked at the glittering initials: TMR. She looked Draco in the eyes and yelled,

"How on earth did you get this? Speak up, Malfoy!"

Draco continued to look in her brown eyes, where rage, fear and tears were slowly mixing.