Out of the Shadows

Miriam stared at the letter repeatedly, hoping and praying that it was just a trick of her mind. Despite being thousands of miles away from him, Miriam couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, someway, her brother was watching her at that very moment. She felt violated at the thought of it. Yet she knew if she wanted to save her friends' lives, she would have to go back and face the demon that tormented her all those years ago.

Her voice caught in her throat and her heart stopped as she looked around, viewing what appeared to be dead bodies lying all around her. She stood and stared, almost transfixed, at the bodies. Suddenly, something cold and hard grabbed her roughly by the ankle. Eyes wide with fear, she looked down to see a skeletal hand that was gripping her firmly, refusing to let her go.

Miriam's vision was slowly clouding, but she could make out the dark shadow before her. As her vision blurred, her eyes fell upon the figure's face. There stood her brother, Tom Riddle, holding his wand against her as her body gave out.

Her body shook from the inside. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest - just waiting to stop from the exertion. She couldn't move and soon felt the tip of the wand jab her painfully in the neck. The blood was pounding loudly in her veins, up to her ears; she could feel it throb violently against his wand.

Trying to wipe off most of the blood on her arms and neck, she walked down toward the pub and silently hoped that her blood-covered arms weren't too noticeable.

They didn't speak a word to each other, remaining quite through their trek over the grounds. As they passed by the Forbidden Forest, a deep shiver went down her spine, not from the cold, but from the memory of what happened to her there. This was the exact spot where Tom tried to have Miriam kill herself. The after effects had sent her into a downward spell of emotions that she didn't think she would ever recover from. It had been a very bad time in her life.

A thin line of blood began curving down Sophie's neck. Tom moved the wand with more force, causing the gash to become deeper. Sophie gasped as more blood started flowing out. Within a matter of seconds, Sophie collapsed onto the floor, her blonde hair turning a deep shade of red from the pooling blood. Tom watched this without single flinch. Then, pointing his wand directly at Marcella, he gave it a lazy wave and the spell tore violently into her midsection. Miriam vomited as she watched Marcella slump over Sophie's now lifeless form.

It seemed to take hours to get wherever they were going. Miriam was sure Tom knew that they were here. He had a sixth sense where it concerned her, and it was unnerving to think that he always seemed to know where she was or what she was doing. But she remained quiet nonetheless. Obviously Dumbledore knew where to go. So she followed him without complaint, hoping that it wouldn't be too late. When Dumbledore stopped abruptly, he said in a low voice just loud enough for them to hear, "We're here."

"Just so you know, I don't need a wand to create my Horcruxes," he hissed. In the nanoseconds that elapsed, Tom slit Sophie's throat from one side to the other.

She couldn't cry, no matter how much she wanted to let the emotions inside her out. Instead, she sat there, emotionless, as Dumbledore looked upon them with a sorrowful glare.

The breeze gently swept by Miriam's face as she stood next to Sophie's casket, placing a hand gently on it. Sophie looked so peaceful lying there as though she were merely asleep; Miriam could feel the tears slowly fall from her eyes.