Slytherin Forever! Book Two: Shadow

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Chapter Twelve: Destinies Unleashed.

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These ghosts I keep inside

Shards of glass in my veins

Release me from myself, release

From my duality

I face these as a soldier would

But useless is my war

The innocence that smiles today

Tomorrow will be lying

- Veins Of Glass, Lacuna Coil.

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"I think that you have to go first," Natalya said to Ginny on Friday. "I just know that Loki shall appreciate that more."

"You're not the only one who knows that," Ginny muttered. "To tell you the truth, Lya... I am not looking forward to this at all."

"Neither am I," her friend sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that he is going to tell us something that is not very nice?"

"Because he seemed so dead serious about it, perhaps?" Ginny replied. "There's a bright side to it though: you're not the only one who will hear something you don't really want to hear."

"Are you sure about going?" Zeynep interrupted all of a sudden. "You don't have to go, you know. You can wait."

"I've been begging him to tell me ever since he came here," Ginny said grimly. "I have to become a Gryffindor for the moment and act bravely."

"Bravely, but not stupidly," Blaise giggled. "You'll be fine. Both of you are going to come back and say that it was not as bad as you thought it would be. You just have to do that, okay? I don't think that I can stand any more bad news..."

"I'll try," Natalya said grimly. "But I still feel like I'm going to my own funeral."

Zeynep stared at the small figure at his feet that was Natalya for a moment before he smiled weakly. Ginny sighed, for she was deprived of her normal cheerful spirit, and put her head on Draco's shoulder, closing her eyes to shut the people in common room out. Blaise shared a look with her brother that strongly suggested that he should take Ginny to see Loki very soon. Zeynep understood and rose to his feet.

"Gin, it is time to go," he said to the slender redhead. "I'll take you to Loki's chambers. Don't forget to ask him to take you to the common room for I won't stay there and wait for you to come out again because I don't know how long it is going to take."

"I understand," Ginny mumbled. "Wish me luck, people!"

Murmurs followed the two Slytherins out of the common room. Some people were wishing Ginny good luck and others, who were not as close to Ginny, just wondered where their Housemate was going so late in the evening.

"Excuse me, where do you think you're going?"

Zeynep and Ginny whirled around at the foot of the marble staircase, coming face-to-face with none other than Ginny's brother Percy. Zeynep's lips curled into a sneer and his eyes glinted as he spoke, saying:

"I am taking your sister to see Professor Romanov. He has requested her presence for she had not finished her homework in time."

Even Ginny marveled at the fast lie that held a good reason for visiting Loki this late (and made a mental note to tell Natalya about this later in order to warn her against Zeynep's lies) but Percy seemed to believe it.

"Very well then," Percy said pompously. "Be on your way then but don't forget that Ginny is not allowed out after curfew like us."

"Not yet, no," Zeynep murmured softly. "We would not want her to grow up like an ordinary rulebreaker, now would we?"

Before Percy could reply Zeynep had raced up the large staircase with Ginny following close behind. They burst out laughing as they reached the third floor. It took a while for them to regain their composure, for Ginny was clutching her sides because she was laughing so hard and Zeynep was wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes. They walked along the corridor, still laughing, and they started again when Ginny grinned devilishly and exclaimed in a Percy-like voice:

"Virginia Aurélie Weasley! How could you grow up like this? You are breaking school rules! I will write to Mum if you don't promise to stop!"

"Laughter is sometimes the best way to distract someone, isn't it?" a soft voice interrupted. "Thank you for bringing Miss Weasley to me, Mr Zabini. Go back to your common room before anyone else decides to show up saying that you are breaking the rules."

"I am not breaking any rules," Zeynep replied with a smile. "But yes, Professor Romanov, I see your point. All the best."

"Be safe," Loki replied and watched the younger boy walk off. "Hurry inside, Miss Weasley. I still have to talk to Miss Cruz before the night ends, you know..."

"Is it going to take that long?" Ginny asked, now slightly worried.

"I hope not," Loki said as Ginny walked inside. He dropped all the formalities as he closed the door behind him and said: "I have to warn you, though, Ginny, that this information might come as a shock to you."

"I want to hear it."

"Very well then. Take a seat and we shall begin."

Ginny seated herself and Loki began:

"You, of course, know that Hogwarts has been Founded by the four greatest witches and wizards of that age. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw lived and worked quite harmoniously together but a rift started to grow between Slytherin and the others after a while.

Not only did Slytherin want to be more selective about the students accepted at Hogwarts, as legend goes, but he also let the most ruthless denomination in history inside of the castle: The Vayaen. I have heard from several people that you know about them already so I won't have to tell you all of it, but I don't think that you know that Salazar wanted his daughter Taigan to join the Vayaen. She refused, naturally, and she left the castle with many of her friends, including Jessica Gryffindor, and her brothers Jored and Josselin."

"But the Vayaen came after her, didn't they?" Ginny asked softly.

"They did, yes," Loki replied, "but they never found her even though Josselin was soon found and put to death just like his father a couple of months before. Jored and Jessica Gryffindor lived longer but were found and burned alive years after their mysterious disappearance. The rest of Taigan's friends were tortured into insanity by the Vayaen, who were desperately trying to find Taigan, but they never really told them anything important."

"And yet Taigan lived..."

"It is said that Taigan knew about and witnessed every single death of the people who died to keep her safe through her dreams. She knew where the Vayaen were and knew how to hide from them. That's how she survived.

Did you know that when Josselin died Taigan woke, screaming and bleeding from all kinds of wounds that corresponded with Josselin's own physically inflicted wounds, and she just whispered that she knew that he had died? How this was possible is still a mystery to us nowadays...

Anyway, Taigan gave birth to her only child Desdemona while staying in Romania. She raised the child along with Josselin but when he died Taigan and Desdemona disappeared and there has been no sign of life seen from them ever since. Desdemona's grandchild, Elizabeth, resurfaced in Ireland after we spent decades looking for traces of Taigan, Desdemona and her daughter Cristina."

"So The Zeppo has followed all of the Slytherins from the beginning," Ginny said in understanding. "But how could you lose track of them?"

"I don't know," Loki shrugged. "All I know is that their Heirs Elyon, Josephine, and Rhonda kept the name Slytherin as they grew up in France and died there, too. Catherine then traveled to Spain and then to Italy where she gave birth to Leila, and she died in Greece. Leila went to Russia and then to Germany before dying in Holland. Sarah lived in Norway and Sweden before returning to Britain and eventually disappearing from all historical notes as she lived in Scotland."

"The Slytherins really were multi-cultural then," Ginny grinned. "But what about Sarah? Did she have a child?"

"She did and she called the girl Amariyah, Riyah for short," Loki said. "It is Riyah on which we have a great amount of information because she went to school here at Hogwarts and gave birth to her only daughter Gwendolyn whilst staying in London when she worked for the Ministry of Magic. Gwendolyn was the only Slytherin ever to marry a Muggle, and Riyah did not visit or see her daughter ever again since then. You know the name of the one Gwendolyn married, Ginny, for you have met their child last year. Yes, that man's name was Tom Riddle and he was the father of Tom Marvolo."

"And it is here where the legacy of the Slytherins stops," Ginny said. "Tom never had any children. But why tell me this?"

"I am telling you everything because you are closer related to this family as you might have thought before now," Loki said softly. "You see, Tom had a girlfriend called Laura Seideira, whom you have met in your dreams, and they had a child together. We were uncertain about the survival of their child because Laura died before she could give birth to it, but now we know that the child, their little girl, still lives today.

I don't know how to say this, Ginny, or how to make this news sound better. They called the child Virginia Aurélie."

"What?"

Ginny's eyes widened and she got up from her seat as quickly as she would have if it had caught on fire but Loki motioned for her to sit down. Ginny did not oblige. She looked at Loki with fury in her eyes but he looked back calmly, making her sit down again in the end.

"Are you telling me that I am the child of Voldemort?" Ginny practically screamed. "You just can't mean it, you just can't! Please tell me that it is not true..."

"I wish I could," Loki said softly, and Ginny saw the honesty in his eyes. "But you are Tom Marvolo's child, taking more after your mother Laura Seideira than we had dared to hope, and not the child of Voldemort."

"They are the same," Ginny shrugged. "There is no difference."

"There is a very big difference between Tom Marvolo and the one known as Voldemort. Tom was the loveable boy who enrolled at Hogwarts, befriending Sophíge Cruz and William Montague on the way, and who never cared about anything but making Laura Seideira happy. Voldemort is the one Tom became as Aurors killed Laura on a cold and lonely Christmas Eve years ago. You are Tom's child, and are more like him in a magical way than we had expected..."

"How did I survive my mother's death?"

The word mother sounded strange when referring to Laura, Ginny realized after a moment. She had grown up thinking that the Weasleys were her family and that Molly Weasley was her mother, after all, and she had not expected this news when she had gone to Loki this evening.

Loki looked at the young girl before him and sighed inwardly. He wished that there had been another way to tell Ginny about her destiny and heritage, but he also knew that if he had not told her now she would have found out for herself sooner or later... which would have been even worse. He smiled softly and said:

"Your father kept your life force in a necklace until he found one among his ranks who looked remarkably like the one Laura had described to him many years ago. He told his servant to give the necklace to one of her friends, who would prove to be Molly Weasley later on, and so as it was said it was done. Molly's pregnancy was remarkably short, seven months only, but she was nothing more than a mere carrier for Tom's Heiress: you."

"And what does my future hold?" Ginny asked after a moment. "Does... Does Tom know about me?"

"I believe that Tom does know that you are alive, but even I cannot be completely sure about that. I think that your dreams tell your future as well as the past. They mean to tell you things you should know as you set out to destroy your father's work."

"How will I do that?"

"The final ruler shall be born out of love and raised by her blood's biggest enemies. Two have gone before and none will come after. She shall defy and defeat him until all that is left is a shadow. She holds the power of her blood," Loki recited. "That is your destiny and so as it has been written down so it shall be done."

"Do you mean that I have to defeat Voldemort?" Ginny asked incredously. "I'm a mere Slytherin. I don't know any magic that is strong enough to deal with him!"

"You might be a Slytherin but you are also an Heir of Salazar and Taigan," Loki replied. "This is what Taigan meant to tell you last year. And look at you," he gestured, "you look exactly like a real Slytherin with those green eyes of yours."

"Taigan's eyes were grey," Ginny recalled suddenly. "She was blonde and looked nothing like me."

"Her eyes were grey because she was having an inner conflict," Loki explained. "Taigan's eyes were usually green but became another color when she felt a very strong emotion go through her body. When she loved someone her eyes would turn blue like the sky and when she did magic they were red. The night Josselin died her eyes were black and you saw her with grey eyes because she wished to tell you things but knew that it was still too soon for it."

"Will I have that too?"

"You might," Loki said thoughtfully. "You are more like a true Slytherin than you think, Ginny. I know that there might be a million questions in your mind, but I would like you to call Natalya to me now. She will have to know everything, too."

"She is a real Seer and she will be able to help me," Ginny whispered.

"And so she will," Loki nodded, looking only mildly surprised. "Now go, my dear, and speak of it no more unless you wish to tell someone."

"I shall tell Draco for sure," Ginny said. "I don't know if anyone else wants to hear the tale."

***

The Year 1939. King's Cross Station, London.

"Hurry up, Riddle, we don't have all day!"

"I'm coming already, Madame Renardi!"

"Now where is that school train of yours?"

Tom Marvolo Riddle stopped to look at the plump Head of his orphanage before he sighed. He simply pointed at the barrier that separated the Platforms nine and ten. Madame Renardi whirled around to look at the tall boy and shook her head.

"Oh no, sir," she said firmly. "No more of those little jokes. I've had enough! First that snake of yours, then that unfortunate incident where poor Sam ended up in a tree..."

Muttering ominously to herself she stalked over to Tom and took the trolley from him. She began to take his trunk off of it already, but then she shrieked and nearly fell over as a low but loud hiss sounded from within Tom's pocket. Tom himself just smiled and put his trunk back on the trolley before he took it back again.

"It was not a joke," he explained, as calmly as he would have done if she had just been asking for directions. "I have to walk through that barrier in order to get to the train. Everyone living in the Muggle world does it."

Slap.

"How dare you," Madame Renardi hissed with her hand still raised in the air. "Do not talk about your abnormalities out loud boy... the last thing we want is somebody overhearing this..."

A loud shriek that vaguely formed the word 'Tom' interrupted her.

"Hello there, Laura," Tom grinned as a petite redhead launched herself into his outstretched arms. "Decided to come to the platform in the hard way, haven't you?"

"The Malfoys wanted me to go by Floo but I don't like that way of traveling," the redhead called Laura said firmly. "How have you been? You haven't written to me all summer, Tom! Have the Muggles been treating you badly? I think that they must have considering that this horrible woman over here just slapped you."

"Give me some time to get used to you again, will you?" Tom sighed. "I was not allowed to get in touch with anyone from the wizarding world after what happened last time. This woman is called Madame Renardi and she is the Head of the orphanage."

"Not pleased to meet you," Laura said quickly. "We have to hurry, the train's almost leaving!"

"I shall see you next summer, Madame Renardi," Tom said with a glad heart. "I'll be fine now."

They left the dumbfounded woman to stand there as they ran off to the Hogwarts Express. When they had finally found a compartment Tom sighed, leaned against the window, and said:

"One day I'll make them all pay. My father for abandoning my mother. Madame Renardi for giving me such a horrible time. My fellow orphans for doing the things they do best."

"Don't say that," Laura chided. "I'm sure that they all have their good sides."

"Muggles don't have good sides," Tom replied. "They are pure evil. All of them."

"Even me?" Laura pouted. "I thought that you liked me."

"You are not a Muggle or a Muggle-born," Tom smiled. "And no, my Seideira, don't even dare to argue with me about that."

"She is a Muggle," a cold voice interrupted. When Tom and Laura looked up they met the glare of a fellow Slytherin called Petyr Nott, a scrawny boy with a permanent sneer fixed on his rat-like face. "Well," he continued hastily, catching Tom's eye, "she is Muggle-born and Muggle-raised, isn't she? That makes her as good as a Muggle."

"Dare to say that again," Tom growled, "and you'll pay for it."

"And what could a mere half-blood do to me?"

"More than you think," Tom said and rose to his feet.

It had to be said; Laura thought as she looked from Tom to Petyr and back, Petyr only flinched a little bit when Tom looked directly at him. But Tom's eyes had turned as cold as ice and held nothing of the friendly sparkle that was nearly always directed at Laura; and he towered over Petyr looking every bit like a Dark Magician would. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Laura was snapped out of her musings by none other than Sophíge Cruz, one of her friends and a Ravenclaw at heart.

"Hello everyone!" the slender girl grinned and flung herself onto the seats. "Did you have a good holiday or what?"

"I had a good one," Laura nodded. "We went to France to visit some of our French cousins. It was beautiful over there!"

"And what about you? Petyr? Tom?" Sophíge asked. One of the reasons for Laura to appreciate Sophíge was her ability to ignore any arguments and just continue with her daily conversations without even glancing at what happened around her. And sure enough, Sophíge continued: "I had a marvelous holiday. I went to Greece and learned all kinds of fascinating things about the wizards of that country. Mum has promised me that we'll go back next year."

"My holiday was not that good," Tom said, finally looking away from Petyr. "I can describe it to you if you'd like but I assure you that there were loads of screams and curses coming from Madame Renardi every day."

"No thanks, I think I'll pass," Sophíge said hurriedly. "What about you Petyr?"

"It was okay," Petyr shrugged. "I'll be seeing you at the table and Sophíge, I'll see you in the corridors."

As soon as Petyr had left Tom got up and slammed the door shut. Sophíge looked up and grinned apologetically, whispering:

"I know I got on your nerves by ignoring it but making Petyr my enemy would have been even worse. I have Seen, my friends, and I shall fear the loss of a person close to the Heir of Slytherin by betrayal..."

***

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry, Britain. The Present.

Ginny returned to the Slytherin common room, motioned for Natalya to leave and slumped down in a chair looking as if the world was going to end. Zeynep threw Ginny a contemptuous look - hadn't he told her to take Loki back to the common room? - but soon saw that Ginny was not in a mood to argue with him about anything. He left the room together with Natalya moments later and Ginny's classmates shared a look with each other that strongly suggested that they should do something to make Ginny feel better... only they did not know what Loki had said.

"You know that you can tell us anything, right?" Jayden asked nervously. "What has he told you, Gin? What is going on?"

"If I tell you, will you still be friends with me?" Ginny whispered. "It is hard for me to tell you this and I don't want you to ask any questions as I say it."

"We will always be your friends," Alisha said and the others nodded in agreement. "No matter how bad the things were Loki told you... we shall help you to deal with them."

"I don't know if you are able to help me," Ginny replied, "for this tale is about you as well as it is about me. It involves every Slytherin living nowadays - young like us or old like your parents and grandparents - and it has something to do with Salazar Slytherin's Heirs."

"Are we allowed to hear this too?" Verice asked with a frown. "Then why did he only call upon you and not upon all of us?"

"I am of great importance in this tale, and so is my true family."

"Your true family?" Thomas asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'd like to hear that from Ginny too," Zeynep said grimly after he returned from taking Natalya to see Loki. "Maybe we should just allow her to speak and be silent ourselves..."

"Very well then," Ginny said. "Then, if you are ready... if you are prepared... I shall begin."

As Ginny prepared herself to tell the Slytherins everything they needed to know Natalya had seated herself in one of the chairs in Loki's office, waiting for him to say something. Loki himself had taken to sitting on the desk in front of Natalya and began his tale moments after that.

"I don't think that Ginny has had the time to tell you the things I told her, or to prepare you for what you are going to hear yourself tonight. I must ask you to remain silent for it is hard for me to tell you these things while knowing what you have to go through afterwards."

"Have you told Ginny everything you are going to tell me?" Natalya asked.

"I have not told her about the purpose for which you have to grow up with the Sight," Loki said, "but she guessed it after I had told her everything she needed to know."

"Ginny is special, isn't she?" Natalya asked after a while. "I sense an aura of power around her and a certain familiarity when Gabriel is present in my mind. How is that possible?"

"Seers usually notice other things about people, different from those things that meet the eye at first, and they sense all kinds of auras around those they know best. The familiarity you feel when being in the spiritual company of Gabriel is a leftover from the friendship that existed between your grandmother and Ginny's parents many years ago."

"My grandmother Sophíge never knew any Weasleys," Natalya said. "She went to school here but Ginny's parents are younger than her by several years. They cannot know each other."

"But Molly and Arthur Weasley are not Ginny's real parents," Loki replied softly. "Sophíge befriended Laura Seideira and Tom Marvolo Riddle while staying at Hogwarts. Though they were Slytherins and she was a Ravenclaw their friendship ran deeper than others thought. Laura and Tom are Ginny's parents."

"Voldemort..."

"Tom indeed became the one you speak of," Loki said firmly, "but I assure you that Sophíge only knew him as Tom. Ginny is Tom's daughter and not the child of Voldemort, as I have already explained to her this evening."

"And the difference is that while Tom vowed his allegiance and love to Laura... Voldemort vowed that he would avenge her death. While Tom rose as a great wizard and a kind person he still became Voldemort because of the loss of one life. A life for a life, and their blood for hers. That is how he became the one we all fear."

"It might be so as you say," Loki admitted, "though we do not know for sure if that death was what broke him. However, the way you say this seems like the only way possible to explain his actions... and I believe you even if nobody else will."

"And what is my role in this epic tale that concerns generations of Slytherins?" Natalya asked. "Will I still be there to see Ginny's rise to power, or will the Death Eaters kill me like they have killed my parents? Is the Sight of any real use when it concerns so many lives?"

"The world is changing. Much that once was is lost for none now live to remember the times when all four Houses were united. The Zeppo has always been there, silent and ever watching the progress of the Heirs of Slytherin. We have stood beside Taigan Slytherin and we have died in order to keep her safe. But even we don't know what that feeling of unity was for Voldemort has caused a greater rift between us and the other Houses than Salazar Slytherin himself had. We call ourselves 'the lost generation' for we cannot speak of the Dark Age as freely as others.

I have served the one known as Voldemort until I realized that there are other ways to fight and make the world a better place. I am a puritan and so are you, my friend and blood tie. Let us not speak of the times that have passed so many years ago... let us See the future and act as we are expected to act... let us live and witness the Rising."

"...Before midnight this eve the servant will set out to find his master. Greater than ever the Dark Lord shall rise and the world shall fall back into shadow. More terrible than before he shall be and he shall rule us all... unless the last of his blood defeats him at the solstice..."

"What's that? Did you have another vision?"

"I said that in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class yesterday while I had a vision. I saw Ginny sit in your office and I knew that my words must have meant today. And Ginny shall defeat the Dark Lord for it is she who the last sentence refers to. I felt the presence of Voldemort in my mind. This time there was no Gabriel to comfort me afterwards and I could not bear to tell Zeynep that I had a vision again."

"You felt Voldemort... inside of your mind?"

"I did," Natalya nodded, "but I don't think that he noticed anything himself. I have sensed him before now; always present in the visions as a lurking threat."

"Peculiar," Loki sighed. "I had expected Gabriel to come to you for this is of great importance. He, in case you did not know, is the protector of our blood. There are only two families Gifted with the Sight and that are the ones of your mother and mine. I have sensed Gabriel in my mind at times too, though he never really spoke to me."

"Do you have the Sight?"

"I do not have any visions, nor do I know things before I witness them," Loki confessed. "But the Art I have studied and lived with for many years, the Necromancy... It was studying the future and the past, in a way, for spirits of the dead know things we don't. Did you know that in the beginning of times the two members of our family were both Gifted? Yes, Tuomas Sevenwater and Nirissa of Polgara began the race of the Romanovs."

"And what is Gabriel's role in this?"

"He is one of our ancestors and the one in which Nirissa's powers were more pronounced than in others of our family. You are like him in personality, Natalya, and I think that this was what connected him to you in the first place. But in looks you are more like your father, like me, and of course like Tuomas and his son Raphael."

"Then I shall face my future without caring about what lies behind me," Natalya finally said. "I expect that I shall change a great deal and I shall warn Zeynep about that beforehand."

"He is close to you, isn't he?"

"Yes, and I care more about him than I shall ever admit. I don't want to lose him. But I also have to support Ginny... for our fight shall be long and hard..."

"You can count on me to be there for you as well."

"I know that."

Natalya looked up at Loki, smiling bravely. He sighed and pulled the girl - the child of his late brother - into a hug. No matter what the future would bring and no matter how hard things would be... they were together and so they would stay.

Blood ties cannot be torn apart.

They would survive.

They would live.

But at what price?

~*~

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