Burden of Prophecy: The Devil's Daughter

As the warm vermilion stained the clean white crystals surrounding them, a young boy with emerald eyes and coal black hair lay in the cold, shivering, tending to the wound in vain, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. In the barren desert of white, stood a dark figure, outlined in the moonlight. A predator, staring down at it´s prey.

"It wasn´t her fault at all, was it? She was just another victim, wasn´t she?" panted the boy who was so much more than a boy.

"You´re nearly out of breath, boy. Relax."

"You´re telling me to relax?" There was grim laughter from the wounded. "I always thought you would be the last person to tell me to relax."

"The prophecy held true. The so-called curse has been broken. I need you no longer. I need no one any longer." The hunter seemed weary, as if jaded with hunting and perhaps even life itself.

"Prophecies..." the boy spat in disgust. "Prophecies! You think a stupid prophecy is the reason this all happened? This happened because you made it happen. There are no such things as prophecies, only silly fortune cookies people take too seriously. You made it happen, Tom!" The way the boy hissed the name, so full of malice, so coldly, made the predator wonder who the evil one among them really was.

"Tom..." A simple syllable, a long forgotten name uttered on the lips of a cold blooded sadist. "I had forgotten the sound of that name. Tom."

"Tom," the boy repeated, in a calm whisper.

"Sit up boy, and lean against that rock," the hunter nodded at the side of a cliff behind the boy. "Go on, before you die of frostbite or loss of blood. I don´t want you dead. Not now."

"Not yet," the boy added as he scowled at the beast with a loathing he had never felt so strongly before. But he took the suggestion anyway. The hunter brought out a long slender object and muttered words under his breath. The blood stopped oozing and the wound on the boy´s chest vanished.

"Why did you do that?" the boy asked, evenly.

"You already know I can take your life away from you any time I need to. I need not demonstrate that to you any more. You already know. This ceaseless killing... It tires me. Don´t look so surprised, Harry Potter. Surely things you do daily must bore you?" The boy, Harry, looked down at the cold white of the snow and sadly shook his head.

"Minutes ago, you were ready to slaughter me. And now, you´re telling me you´re bored?" A ghost of a smile flickered across the hunter´s features as he gave a small, unnatural chortle.

"Yes, odd, isn´t it? I, the one man, nay, the one creature, to achieve immortality, has now no need for it at all. I have no desire to live anymore, Potter. Long life eventually begins to take its toll on you. Your demons eventually catch up with you."

"Funny. You were always my demon."

"I didn´t kill you, Potter, because I saw the same thing in your eyes that I have felt for years. Fatigue. I saw an understanding in you. Only you can understand." The boy threw back his head and laughed a loud, morose, laugh.

"Understand you!" he jeered. "Who the hell could ever understand someone like you?" The predator sighed, almost sadly.

"How did this all begin?" he asked himself, not expecting an answer.

"You went mad," Harry replied. The hunter turned to the boy and saw that his expression was inscrutable.

"Yes. I believe I did. It all started with that one girl."

"And it all ended with that one girl..." Harry added.

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Decades Before...

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A young redheaded girl walked down the hall casually. As she past the Head Girl, she smiled politely and inconspicuously slid her hand into the young girl´s pocket and pulled it out again, holding a wallet. She continued to walk down the hall casually.

"You never cease to amaze me, Lucy," Tom smiled as he met the girl at the end of the hall. She smiled and handed him the wallet.

"I learned from the master," she laughed.

"Indeed..." Tom looked through the wallet and counted the money. "This is child´s play."

"Indeed," Lucy mimicked. She grinned as she leaned in to kiss the man gently. As she pulled away, Tom licked his lips, tasting the soft kiss.

"You are a special girl," he said to the sixth year. "A special girl indeed."

"I am also a lucky girl to have met you," she replied with a toss of her hair. The corners of Tom´s mouth twitched into what could have been considered the beginning of a smile. But his lips became straight again.

"Contact our friends in Durmstrang and bring me Lestrange, Malfoy and Larkin." Lucy looked at him, questioningly.

"And Dumbledore? What are you going to do about him?" Again, the young man almost smiled.

"You should know better to question me, love. All will be discussed in the Chamber." Lucy nodded, obediently.

"As you wish." Within the blink of an eye, she was gone.

"I don´t know why he thinks he can order us around as he pleases," one young man hissed to his comrades.

"Quiet, Malfoy, before I chop your tongue off!" Another man threatened Malfoy with his wand.

"Yes," said the final one, imperiously. "Gareth is right. You do seem to talk too much, Lewis." Lewis Malfoy took on an expression of annoyance.

"I have no time for this," he muttered. "Marisa is pregnant. I should be with her."

"She will still be pregnant when we are through," Jonathan Lestrange assured him.

"However, Malfoy does have a point," Gareth Larkin put in. "What is so urgent he needed to see us right away?" Before anyone could answer his question, they met a lovely young redhead greeted them at the entrance to the Chamber.

"Greetings, young Death Eaters," she said with a seductive smile. "Lord Voldemort is waiting." Glancing at each other, the young men walk into the Chamber of Secrets to see a powerful looking Tom Riddle on the throne, stroking the head of a dangerous reptile.

"Have a seat," he encouraged, "And pay no heed to the basilisk." As the men looked around, they noticed they seemed to be the last to arrive, even though they had to travel the least to get there.

As they took their seats, the young woman entered the chamber herself and closed the door. The hall was full of men of all ages from fifth year students at the school, to forty-year-old full grown men. The crimson haired woman was the only female in the Chamber.

"I have gathered you all here today to say that these last few months have been a startling success. The assassination of the Minister was one of our best accomplishments. Those mudbloods think they´re just as good as us. They even think they can control our government! But this is more than just killing and torturing mudbloods." A ripple of curiosity spread through the crowd.

"For months we have been discretely torturing muggles and murdering mudbloods and exploding buildings. But no one knows who is causing all this mayhem! Who would guess it was a seventeen-year-old boy and his followers? Which is why I propose we make our presence known with the public and brutal assassination of one of the most respected wizards known today. Albus Dumbledore!" A wave of excitement rustled the crowd as if it were water.

"But how, if you pardon me asking sir, do you intend to do this?" It was Malfoy who bravely said it. Tom gave him a crooked grin.

"Why, I´d need a clever and loyal assistant by my side. Someone who would never betray me, and would do any order I give him quickly and efficiently. Someone sly and devious and in control." As he said this, he looked long and hard at Malfoy, who was one of his original Death Eaters and Malfoy smiled. He was sure his Lord would choose him as his loyal and trustworthy accomplice. But he was wrong.

"Lucy Kilbourne, would you please come up to the front?" Malfoy couldn´t help but gape as he whipped his head around and noticed the sexy female who had greeted them walk down the aisle, her crimson robes flowing at her feet and her green eyes sparkling. Tom was smiling.

"This is my successor, should I die, which I assure you I will not for a long time." As he introduced her, he put his arm around her shoulders. "She is also my most trusted. My queen. Lucy Kilbourne." Everyone rose and clapped in approval, except for Malfoy who stayed in his chair, angry that his Master could overlook him like that. And all for some, some female!

As the clapping died down and everyone took their seats again, Tom continued.

"As I said, I shall not die for a long time. The reign of Lord Voldemort will be a long and glorious one!" There was another loud cheer. "I have taken many steps to ensure my lasting life. Soon, I will live longer than Nicholas Flammel himself!

"You may think, `All this from a seventeen-year-old orphan?´ Well, might I remind you I am about to graduate top of my class with high honors and respect. I can do almost anything I want. Why not try to achieve immortality?"

"I always knew you were a child prodigy..." Lucy whispered. Tom couldn´t help but smile slightly as he continued, but didn´t even glance at her as he concentrated on the stage.

"When I reach this goal of immortality, nothing will be able to destroy or contain me. No one can stand in my way. And that, my dear Death Eaters, is the ultimate goal.

"But first, as usual, we must start slow. To make our presence known, we must compromise Dumbledore´s position and use him to our advantage."

"I thought we were going to kill him!" called one random voice, backed up by other cries of "Yeah!"

"Patience, patience, in time. But first, I want to see the bastard suffer. Lucy, that is where you come in." His mistress nodded.

"I have already started my mission, master."

"Good. Everything is working well."

"You were a prodigy, weren´t you?" The victim shook his head sadly at his hunter.

"I didn´t know you were capable of complimenting me, Potter." The hunter chortled slightly.

"I´m not," the boy replied. "Child prodigies go insane after a few years. Many commit suicide. But you became a sadist. It´s sad, really."

"I never thought you would take pity on me."

"Neither did I ever think of you as pitiful." There was a brief period of silence before the boy spoke again. "But there was one thing you hadn´t counted on happening, wasn´t there?"

"Yes," the hunter murmured, sadly. "She fell in love."

"Geoffrey Dumbledore," the girl reported. "His nephew."

"Good work, Lucy!" Tom smiled. "And what do you plan to do?"

"What do you want me to do?" she said, seductively. Tom gave her a twisted smile.

"About him, my love."

"What do you want me to do with him?" Tom leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

"You show dedication to following orders. However, I trust you, Lucy. What are you going to do with him?" Lucy straightened up, professionally.

"I am going to make him fall in love with me. I am going to make it so he can´t resist me."

"A love potion?" Tom raised an eyebrow, but Lucy shook her head with a sly grin.

"No, master. Just good old fashioned little boy hormones. That way, there´s no chance of it wearing off."

"Perfect."

"Stupid piece of shit!" A failure of an inventor kicked a mirror and it fell to pieces. He was tall and scrawny, with glasses framing his light blue eyes and brown hair all over the place.

"Having trouble?" The young man turned to see a girl there, only a few years younger than him, and recognized her as a student at the school.

"Yes. I´m trying to invent something, but it never works."

"What are you trying to invent?" The girl was a petite redhead with eyes as green as emeralds. She seemed so curious and innocent, with her head tilted to one side, examining the shattered looking glass. "That´s seven years bad luck, you know." The man sighed.

"I know. But not for this piece of crap! It´s only worth two years, at the most! I´m Geoffrey, by the way."

"Lucy. I´ve seen you around." The girl held out her hand in greeting and Geoffrey shook it. "You´re Dumbledore´s nephew, aren´t you?" He looked surprised.

"Who told you that?"

"So it´s true?"

"Yes, I mean, no..."

"Yes."

"Yes..." Geoffrey finally sighed. "But not many people are supposed to know I´m his nephew. My uncle doesn´t want people expecting too much out of me just because I´m related to him, or something like that. He wants me to make a name for myself. He´s practically the only one who believes in me, or acts like it anyway. So don´t tell anyone."

"I´ll just dispel the rumors then," Lucy agreed with a sweet smile. She has a nice smile, Geoffrey thought. "So tell me more about this thing you´re inventing."

"Well," said Geoffrey, looking back at the broken mirror. "In theory, it should be pretty useful to aurors of the future. I call it the Foe Glass. It tells you when your enemies are close and how close they are by depicting them in this mirror. But I´ve tried everything to make it work and it won´t!" Lucy frowned and rolled up the sleeves of her robes and pointed at the mirror.

"Reparo!" she cried and the shards that were scattered on the floor fit back together again in the frame like a jigsaw puzzle. She then turned to Geoffrey. "Did you try casting the Eagle Eye Charm?"

"Eagle eye... Yes, that would make its vision clearer, wouldn´t it?"

"And what about a truth spell."

"Yes! That way it could see through any disguise, including a polyjuice potion! You´re a brilliant lass!" Geoffrey cried as he cast the spells on a mirror.

"I have great teachers," Lucy murmured. Geoffrey was ecstatic. He frowned, however, when he detected another malfunction.

"Stupid thing still isn´t working!" he screamed, frustrated. "See that shape in the mirror? It says there´s a foe nearby! I can´t make it out though. UGH! THE ANNOYING LITTLE--"

"You need a break," Lucy observed. "Come on, I´ll treat you to a butterbeer down at the three broomsticks. You coming?" Geoffrey nodded.

"Yes, actually, that sounds great," he smiled, grateful for the distraction.

"And then I told them, `Do you know who you´re messing with, mate? I am the nephew of Albus Dumbledore!´" Lucy laughed on cue.

"And where they scared?" The young man sputtered with laughter.

"Nah! They shoved me in the rubbish bin anyway! I don´t even think they knew who Albus Dumbledore was!"

"Ah, primary school horror stories!" Lucy laughed. "I have a few of those myself. My first foster mother was a muggle and just insisted I attend school! It was dreadful! On the first day alone, someone insulted my hair color! Don´t worry, they went to a hospital with a concussion. But I was the one who got in trouble for it! I had to write these phrases on the blackboard! It was so degrading! You know, muggles these days insist women will never amount to anything."

"It´s the time, it´ll change," said Geoffrey. "Muggles are always changing their minds, very indecisive."

"Why did your uncle make you go to primary school?" Lucy asked, exaggerating her interest.

"He didn´t want me around wizards until I was ten years old. He told my teachers I was moving to Guam."

"Guam?"

"Yes. You know, it´s that island off of... somewhere... So, tell me," said Geoffrey, taking another swig of his alcoholic beverage and changing the subject. "About your foster parents. How many have you had?"

"Oh, it´s me and Tom both really..." Lucy stopped and nearly kicked herself for letting her master´s name slip.

"Tom? Tom who?" Geoffrey asked in innocent curiosity.

"No one you know, really," Lucy improvised. "We met in a muggle orphanage unaware that we were both magical. Well, I think Tom might have had an idea, but... He was always so smart, Tom was. He always knew exactly what he was doing. Did I tell you he´s known how to play the piano like Mozart since he was six years old?"

"How did he learn that in an orphanage?" Geoffrey thought aloud.

"He didn´t. One of his almost-foster parents had a piano. He´s self-taught, you know. He loves music, Tom does. Especially classical. He´s a lot like Mozart actually. They´re both child prodigies."

"You really like him, don´t you?" Geoffrey half accused, half mocked the young lady. She threw back her head of crimson hair in a loud laugh.

"Yes, I do, I really do. He´s my best friend."

"You´ve told me about Tom," Geoffrey said. "Now tell me about you."

"Well," Lucy began. "As I said, I grew up in a muggle orphanage. My parents died when I was three and I was adopted again, not legally yet though, when I was six by a muggle, as I said. But I was a troublemaker from the start and tore up her house like a tornado. She hated me.

"So, I was back at the orphanage a year later where I met Tom again. He was still there. He was always there. I had met him when I´d first come to the orphanage. Back then, it had seemed no one wanted a mute."

"He´s mute?"

"Only until he was six, a year before I left for the first time and the year he mastered the piano."

"He didn´t say a word until he was six years old?" Lucy nodded.

"But when he did start talking, he sounded like an adult to the small naïve ears of a child. He had leadership skills since birth, that one did. He always seemed older than his age. At seven, he spoke as if he were seventeen. OK, maybe not seventeen, but..."

"I get it," Geoffrey nodded, clumsily.

"Anyway, I met him again when he was eight and I was seven. And by then, he had half of the kids in the orphanage looking at him as if he were a God. He had a way with words, he did, even when he was eight years old. And people didn´t like smart kids, you know. No one adopted him. I don´t think he ever went to one foster home.

"I became quite attached to him and he seemed to like me. I mean, all of me. He didn´t mind that I had a habit of stealing--Did I tell you I like to steal things? Some people think it´s an illness, but I think it´s a thrill! What are they calling it now?"

"Kleptomania, a recently discovered mental, er, difference..." Geoffrey smiled.

"Anyway, I still have a pearl necklace from my first foster mother. Well, Tom didn´t mind. In fact, I think he found it interesting. Oh, I was a terrible child! If someone hit me, I´d hit them right back and then some. I was a criminal! And Tom didn´t care. He liked it. He thought it was exciting. So I kind of became his little sidekick. And I still am.

"Well, a year later, when I was eight, I was adopted again by a rich man who needed an heir. His first choice was a boy, not a girl, but he got me because I had recently caused a food fight in the cafeteria and they wanted to get rid of me. Well, to be fair, the rich bastard gave me a chance before he sent me back six months later. He said something like `Little girls without proper manners will never land a husband! God forbid you have any children!´ It was quite funny, really.

"Well, soon after that, actually a month exactly later, I was adopted by a lonely old spinster with a lot of cats. I won´t go into detail here, but let´s just say after a nasty incident involving the whiskers, paws, and tail of a ginger, a black, and a gray cat put me back in the orphanage again."

"Ugh, sounds gruesome." Geoffrey winced.

"It was," Lucy nodded. "But I was taken in again, this time within a week, by a couple who couldn´t bear children. I mean, they couldn´t give birth. They kept me for a whole year. Wonderful people, they were, I really wanted a home by now so I tried to impress them and get them to adopt me. They were really great, for muggles, I mean. But one day something horrible happened. The wife, Pamela, was killed in a car accident and her husband was so grief stricken, he shot himself in the back of the head. And again, I was back at the orphanage. It wasn´t until later in my life did I realize it was impossible to shoot yourself in the back of the head... But I was so disappointed. They were the only other people in the world who liked me for who I was other than Tom. But when I got back to the orphanage, he wasn´t there. Someone said he had gone to boarding school."

"Is that all the adoptions you had?" Geoffrey asked. Lucy shook her head.

"There was this couple that came in one day, two months after my tenth birthday and one month after I had left my home with the wonderful dead parents. But this couple was different. They were a witch and a wizard looking for a child who was not magical. Bleeding twits, if you ask me. Who would want a muggle child? Well, I broke their hearts when I received my letter to Hogwarts and guess where I came home for the holidays? But it wasn´t that bad. I found out that Tom was a wizard too. We´ve always been the best of friends, me and Tom. Oh, I´m sorry, I´m talking too much."

"No, no, I enjoy it," Geoffrey assured her. "I love someone who talks a lot. I enjoy listening."

"That´s a rare quality in a man," the girl said with a laugh. "Do you enjoy working for your uncle?" Geoffrey sighed, sorrowfully.

"I love to invent things. They don´t always turn out right, but I love to invent things. I´m just one big mistake, really. Everything I touch breaks. I can´t fix a thing if my life depended on it and my only invention is a silly thing that only tourists would buy, really. A sneakoscope, it tells if someone untrustworthy is around. It doesn´t work half the time, but I succeeded in selling it to some Egyptians. As for working with my uncle, I think the only reason he funds my stupid research and inventing is because I´m family. He acts like he believes in me and that he wants me to make my own name instead of living off his, but I think he doesn´t even want to admit he has anything to do with me. He´s not that great, really. He did alchemy with Nicholas Flammel, and that dragon´s blood thing, and the defeat of that wizard two years ago really made him famous. But he´s not that great. He´s just a man, like the rest of us. He makes mistakes, he has shames, he has secrets. Not that I know what those secrets are, but I know he has them. Everyone has secrets. Don´t you have secrets, Lucy?" Lucy nodded, probably one of the only truths that was not deceitful she would ever let escape her.

"I have lots of secrets, Geoffrey," she said.

"I have secrets too. Uncle Albus keeps up my reputation as best as he can, claiming I´m a great inventor. But if anyone asks him what I´ve invented, he falters. He will only go so far to help me, you know. Personally, I think him funding my inventing is his way of keeping me out of the way. Not many people even know we´re related, despite how distantly.

"What I really need is to get out of here, to find adventure and live my life for what it´s worth, if it´s worth anything at all."

"And your parents?" Lucy prompted, "What of them?" Geoffrey sighed.

"My mother, Katherine, died giving birth to me. My Uncle says my father ran off. He won´t talk much about them. I don´t think he likes to remember his sister´s dead. I think that´s another reason he doesn´t like me. Because I killed his precious little sister, his little Kate." Lucy nodded with understanding.

"Tom always blamed his dad for running off and leaving his mother because she was a witch."

"Are you and Tom... dating?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Lucy cried. "Why on earth would any one want to date me?"

"Well," Geoffrey squirmed, "I´d date you. You seem like a very interesting and great girl." Lucy smiled, appreciatively and warmly.

"Thank you, Geoffrey, that´s so sweet of you!"

"I mean, I´m not trying to ask you out or anything stupid like that, because I know you´re way out of the league of a failure inventor, but I´m just stating that you´re a very interesting and lovely wom--"

"Geoffrey?" Lucy said, tentatively with a silly smile.

"Yes, Lucy?" Geoffrey said.

"Would you like to go out with me tonight."

"I´d love to."

"What is this place?" Geoffrey shouted, looking around.

"An exclusive place," Lucy whispered with a mischievous grin. He returned the expression. The club was different and wild, girls dancing seductively on tables, couples swing dancing, men hidden in the shadows in the corner making illegal deals, loud jazz music throughout the place, smells of alcohol and other intoxicating substances hanging in the air.

"You come here a lot?" Geoffrey asked. Lucy gave him a sly smile.

"Occasionally," she muttered, then turned to a bartender. "What´s the special tonight, Elton?"

"It´s muggle night tonight," he said with a Liverpool accent. "Mudblood Special."

"Mudblood special?" Lucy smiled, weakly. "What´s that?"

"Actually, it´s a normal muggle drink. They call it a `Bloody Mary.´"

"I´ll take one, Elton, and he´ll have..." she turned to Geoffrey, who shrugged. She turned back to Elton.

"Get him a Sparkling Draft of Death."

"Coming right up, Lucy." Geoffrey turned to Lucy and frowned.

"Draft of Death?" he asked. She smiled.

"Don´t you go to any bars? Relax, Geoff, it´s just a name! It´s a great potion, you´ll love it."

"Why did we come here?" Geoffrey asked, looking around.

"You wanted adventure," her grin widened. "Do you dance?"

"Pardon?"

"Dance. Is it something you, you know, do?" Geoffrey shook his head with a stupid grin on his face. "I´ll teach you then!"

"Mudblood Special and Sparkling Death!" Elton slammed the potions on the table without spilling a drop. Lucy took the red one and took a drink. She licked her lips.

"Hm, not bad. How´s yours?" Geoffrey looked at his own drink, which looked like a night sky in liquid form. The thick ebony mixture swirled with sparkles of silver.

"Is this why they call it a Sparkling Draft of Death?" he asked with a small smile. Lucy nodded, vigorously, sipping her drink. Geoffrey shrugged. "What the hell?" and with that, he took a long swig.

Lucy cheered. "Go Geoffrey!" Geoffrey had a satisfied expression on his face.

"It´s not half bad!"

"That´s the spirit! Come on," Lucy cried, "Let´s dance!" She pulled Geoffrey by the arm out on the dance floor.

"How do I do this?"

"I´ll show you a simple move. The dip, also used in ballroom. Put your arm around my torso like so..." she placed Geoffrey´s arm around her waist. "Hold my right hand with your left hand like this... And then I go down and then you pull me up and swing me out..." Lucy bent backwards, and then had Geoffrey pull her up with his left hand and he spun her out and pulled her back in.

"You´re getting the hang of it..." she giggled. "You´re a natural."

And indeed he was. After an hour, the boy was spinning and dipping and swinging Lucy all over the place.

"You´re better at this than me!" Lucy laughed. Geoffrey blushed slightly.

"Well, I try..." he mumbled. "I´m tired, let´s sit down and have a drink."

"I completely agree," said Lucy. They laughed as they sat down at the bar.

"What can I get you two lovebirds?" said Elton the bartender, wiping down the bar. Lucy giggled and Geoffrey saw her cheeks redden.

"Jeckyl´s Curse," Lucy ordered.

"Flaming Dragon," Geoffrey grinned as he saw the impressed look on Lucy´s face.

"I thought you didn´t drink, Geoff," she said in mock accusation.

"Shows how little you know about me, Luce." Lucy stopped laughing abruptly.

"What is it?" Geoffrey asked. The first real wave of déjà vu went over Lucy and she looked at the jazz band, lost in memories. "Lucy, are you OK?"

"Hm?" she said, coming out of her trance. "Oh, yes, I´m fine! It´s just... Tom once called me `Luce.´ He doesn´t anymore. I´ve become a possession to him. It´s always `Lucy.´ Never `Luce´ anymore. Not since he was twelve."

"I´m sorry..." Geoffrey trailed off. But she turned to him with a smile.

"Don´t be," she said sweetly. "You remind me of him." She kept herself from saying, `The way he used to be...´

Their keepers interrogated both young people when they returned home in the early hours of the morning.

"Where were you," Tom snapped, his back to her sitting in a chair. For the first time talking to Tom, Lucy faltered and she didn´t know why.

"I... I was working my mission," she told him, truthfully.

"Mission?" Lucy could hear the mock in Tom´s voice as he turned to her. "Bah! You were with a boy!"

"Geoffrey Dumbledore, Tom!" Lucy cried defensively. "It was Geoffrey Dumbledore. I was only doing what you told me to do!" Tom raised an eyebrow at her suspiciously.

"Are you falling in... Falling in love with this... this boy?!" he spat out the words `love´ and `boy´ with disgust, as if he had never experienced either and never wished to experience them. Lucy almost felt like defending Geoff and pointing out to Tom that Geoffrey was older than Tom was, but she bit her tongue.

"No," she said, calmly, her eyes vacant of any emotion that would suggest otherwise. "He is merely our bait." Tom smiled a crooked smile and for the first time in her life, Lucy realized she had never seen the young man smile a natural smile.

"Good," he said, satisfied. "Because if I see one ounce of actual love for that boy in your eyes, I swear you will not know the meaning of that word ever again." Lucy smiled one of her own twisted smiles.

"But Lord Voldemort," she said guilefully. "You won´t see anything but love in my eyes for that man..." At the look on her master´s face, her smile disappeared and she said quickly and seriously, "That´s how good I am, Master, and you know it." Appeased, the beast withdrew and nodded slowly.

"Yes," he said with a look in his eye Lucy didn´t like. "I do."

"Geoffrey, can I speak with you," Geoffrey poked his head into his uncle´s office, his glasses askew and pretended to be tired.

"Yes, Professor?" he said in a fake sleepy voice Albus Dumbledore could see straight through.

"Where were you tonight?"

"Asleep, uncle!" Geoffrey sounded appalled that his uncle would think otherwise. Albus cringed at the sound of the word `uncle´ and Geoffrey knew he didn´t like it much when he called him that. But it just made Geoffrey´s blood boil. Why would Albus be ashamed of him? Sure, his inventions weren´t exactly successful, nor was anything else in his life for that matter, but he was a polite and kind boy! At least he tried to be. Why did he deny their kinship to others? But Geoffrey kept silent, knowing Albus probably knew he had gone out that night. Albus´s next words confirmed Geoffrey´s assumptions.

"Why do you lie to me, Geoffrey?" Albus asked with hurt eyes. Geoffrey immediately felt guilty for all the cruel thoughts he had just been thinking about his uncle.

"I... I´m sorry, Uncle, you´re right, I went out."

"With who?" Albus seemed interested, but Geoffrey knew that he was just trying to find out who it was so he could forbid Geoffrey from seeing them ever again.

"A girl..." said Geoffrey, playing with his thumbs and looking anywhere but his uncle. Albus´s frown deepened.

"What girl?" his voice had deepened too, and Geoffrey knew he was trying to find out who the girl was so he could warn Geoffrey to stay away from `girls like that.´ He did it every time Geoffrey made a friend and it drove him mad. Boiling with fury once more, Geoffrey could barely contain it as he spoke his next words.

"I´m not going to tell you," he said, stubbornly. Albus leaned over his desk, his eyes narrowed.

"And why not?" he asked. Geoffrey wondered if his voice was threatening. Slightly frightened, but still burning with rage, Geoffrey continued.

"Because!" he declared defiantly. "Because every time I make a friend, you have to take him away and tell me `he´s not the right sort´ or `why don´t I buy you a dog?´ I´m sick of it, Uncle! I don´t have a single friend, not one! If I died in a cave one day, the only one who would miss me is you and I don´t think even you would notice my absence!" Panting and surprised at his own outburst, Geoffrey was suddenly coy and winced. But he saw the smile on Dumbledore´s face.

"A boy after my own heart," he heard him mumble. Confused, Geoffrey listened to the older wizard. "Fine. Keep your secrets. Go out with this mystery girl for as long as you want! But just let me meet her before you marry her!"

Geoffrey was startled at his Uncle´s response to his befriending someone Albus hadn´t even met. And yet, he was happy at the same time. Albus was allowing him to have a friend. To have his blessings made Geoffrey feel like he... Like Albus finally trusted him.

As he laid in his bed staring up at the ceiling, he listened to the soft hooting of owls outside his window. The moonlight spilled in like a silver white liquid and Geoffrey smiled. He enjoyed nights like these.

Something in the stars made him think of Lucy. The way they sparkled and winked at him mischievously reminded him of those sparkling green eyes. The wisps of nearly invisible clouds wove together to create her lips and soon, Geoffrey seemed to see her whole face in the sky. She was so beautiful...

He begged silently and desperately to himself that if he ever did become serious about Lucy and if he ever did introduce her to his uncle, that Albus would approve. Though the man frustrated Geoffrey, he was all Geoffrey had. He had grown up without any parents, without any friends at all. Albus was the only person he knew. And then there was Lucy. And though he had known her only for a day, he felt like he´d known her for years. As if he´d seen her in his dreams before he´d even met her. As if she had been his child playmate (though he had had no child playmates). She was quickly becoming the second closest thing to his heart, the first one being his uncle.

As he sat there, staring at the ceiling, he found his heart thudding against his ribcage. His mind was racing and skirting around inappropriate thoughts. Every time he thought of the girl it made him feel dizzy. He had never felt this way before about anyone and he wasn´t quite sure what it meant. Her deep jade eyes burned a blissful scar on his mind.

"Your eyes..." he muttered. "Like emerald spheres locked in a pool of beauty..." He smiled slightly to himself as he thought how poetic she made him feel. Inspiration. And he desperately needed inspiration.

Unwillingly, his thoughts shifted to his work. He longed to think of his damsel with hair as fiery as her spirit, but a little voice kept nagging him, like a child pulling on its mother´s dress. You can´t make it go away until its satisfied. And so, reluctantly, he heeded the voice and concentrated on his work.

There were not many people who did what Geoffrey did. What could you invent that magic had not already made possible? What did people need that they didn´t already have? How could he use magic to his advantage to make life easier?

Love.

A love spell. Not a wizard, nor witch for that matter, had ever succeeded in mixing a potion of amour without side effects. Either the potion would wear off, or cause mayhem. Either the spell was broken and forgotten with the first kiss, or it lasted until the victim was driven insane and could not think of anyone else but the object of their affections.

Geoffrey cringed. He thought of someone falling so deep in love that they went mad and became obsessed with their love. It was a depressing and frightening thought. Those were the most dangerous love potions they no longer sold on the market. He needed to mix a different kind of love potion than anyone before him. Not one to be used to make someone fall in love, but merely to bring up unconscious feelings. The potion was only to be used for that reason only. If it was given to someone who had no feelings at all, they might develop a small crush, but after the potion wore off, no damage would be done. On someone who did harbor feelings for the mixer, the potion would bring about a revelation to their eyes as they understood their love. After the potion wore off, they would still feel the burning love.

It was an interesting thought. A less powerful potion to encourage love instead of create it. But one problem remained. How on earth was he supposed to make a love potion when he had never felt love himself?

Lucy flew once more to his thoughts like an angel. She was so gorgeous and beautiful... He thought of kissing those crimson lips and stroking her warm cheek. He thought of holding her hand gently in his. Something suddenly came over Geoffrey, a numb feeling of happiness. All of a sudden, he thought to himself, Is this what love feels like?

"Ah, a love potion..." Albus murmured dreamily. "Excellent, idea, Geoffrey. Now I really should be going..."

"I really think I´ll be successful on this, Uncle Albus," Geoffrey said, excitedly. Albus grinned at the boy before he left.

"Yes, Geoffrey. Just remember success isn´t everything. Success does not necessarily mean happiness. It could mean wealth or a good reputation or a steady job or a loyal wife... but things are only happy if you this is what you want." Geoffrey nodded.

"You´re successful and you´re happy," he pointed out. Albus gave him a sad smile.

"There are many things about me that you do not know, Geoffrey," he said. "Even the most successful have their painful secrets."

"I want this, Uncle," Geoffrey said, at last.

"Then go for it," Albus urged. "I believe in you, boy."

His uncle forced Geoffrey to go to a lecture on potions after Geoffrey has proposed the idea of a love potion.

"It will help with your work," Albus urged. Geoffrey had been happy to go.

However, the lecture didn´t seem to be helping him with his work at all. It was as dull as hell as the man droned on about how this ingredient would do this and this ingredient would do that and combined together they would make a shrinking potion. It was nothing Geoffrey was interested in at all. Nothing useful came out of the mouths of any of the speakers.

As he was close to falling asleep, he caught sight of a flash of bright red hair in his row a few chairs down. His eyes snapped open as he whipped his head to his left and saw a young girl, her elbow on her knee and her hand on her cheek, trying to stay awake. Grinning, Geoffrey whispered to her.

"Lucy," he uttered. He saw her eyes droop and hissed, "Lucy!" The girl´s eyelids fluttered and she looked around, startled. The corners of her lips twitched as she noticed who had spoken.

"Geoffrey..." she uttered softly on those crimson lips he dreamed of kissing.

"Lucy..." he whispered, a stupid grin forming on his own face. He shook his head out of it and beckoned her to sit closer to him. They were sitting in the back where there were many empty chairs. She moved and sat right next to Geoffrey.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, quietly so not to disturb anyone.

"It´s my potions detention," she said. "The Professor insisted I come to this lecture. He said it would be `beneficial.´ What about you?"

"A new project I´m working on. A love potion," Geoffrey replied. "My uncle thought this would help me. But it isn´t." A devilish grin crossed Lucy´s features.

"Let´s get out of here!" she urged. "For all my professor knows, I´m at this lecture and you have nothing to gain." Geoffrey nodded eagerly. Lucy snatched his hand and, bending over so they wouldn´t attract too much attention, they sneaked out of the hall, trying hard not to burst out laughing as they did so.

When they exited the building, it didn´t take them long to notice the torrential rain. Standing there for two seconds already made them look as if they just stepped out of the shower. They were overcome with fits of hysterical laughter at the look of each other.

Lucy´s black robes were sticking to her skin and her emerald green long-sleeved shirt looked like a green plastic bag. Her now dark red hair was plastered to her face, but she didn´t seem to care.

Geoffrey´s dark blue robes were too heavy for him in the rain and he threw them off to reveal a black shirt. His wild brown hair was drenched and his glasses were askew as he looked at Lucy through love-struck blue eyes.

"Come on," he said, "We need to get somewhere dry!"

"Here!" Lucy pulled the young man under a nearby red and white striped awning by a café.

"You look ridiculous!" he cried.

"And you don´t?" she replied with a laugh. Geoffrey looked out at the rain, then up at the awning above him, which was being attacked by bullets of water.

"I don´t think this will last long," he said.

"Neither do I!" Lucy answered with an adventurous glint to her eye. "Where do you want to go?"

"Go?"

"Yeah! We can go anywhere you want!" They were practically shouting over the storm.

"Hm..." Geoffrey thought. But Lucy had that look on her face.

"I´ll meet you there," she said.

"Meet me where?" Geoffrey asked, but before he could get an answer, she Disapperated.

A small parchment fluttered to the watery floor. Geoffrey grabbed it before it became utterly soaked. In blotched ink, it read `Scarlet Glade.´

Smiling as he thought of the place, he followed the girl.

"So what are they doing now?" Lewis Malfoy tried to see over the shoulders of his other friends.

"Shut up," Gareth Larkin growled. "He´s looking."

"Quiet, both of you," Jonathan Lestrange snapped at the pair of them. "What the female does is her own business and none of yours."

"Then why are you looking?" Jonathan turned around to give Lewis a sharp glare.

"Because someone has to make sure she doesn´t make any mistakes. And, being the smarter one of the three of us, that someone is me. How is Marisa, by the way?" Lewis mumbled a `fine´ before he slouched into a nearby armchair. Jonathan continued to look into the crystal and smiled.

"She has led him to the Glade," he informed them after a moment. "I wonder what she is up to..."

"Maybe she´s going to kill him!" Gareth said, eagerly.

"Don´t be stupid," Jonathan muttered, not taking his eyes off of the crystal. "It´s too early for that."

"I have the urge to kill someone..." Gareth muttered. "I need to kill someone..."

"Everything to you is about blood, Gareth," Jonathan said, finally looking at the young man. "But you´ll soon learn that there´s more to life than murder. You need to be clever, you need to commit the perfect crime. You need to know what you´re doing, and most of all, my young, naïve little fool, you need patience."

"You sound like the Lord," Gareth said with a roll of his eyes. "I could kill Malfoy. That way my urge would be satisfied and we wouldn´t have him whining all the time about his precious wife." Gareth grinned over at Lewis who scowled right back at him. But Jonathan ignored them.

"Ah..." he realized. "So that´s what you´re up to, you little harlot..."

Geoffrey appeared in the Scarlet Glade and looked around, but found no sign of the playful redhead. It was only drizzling lightly here and the raindrops delicately kissed the lake before they joined the mass of water. Geoffrey smiled as he looked around the place and understood its namesake.

In the glade, it was always autumn. The trees surrounding it were adorned with gold and crimson leaves and the lake in the center glistened in a chill wind. A long time ago, something magical had happened there. But that was just a fairytale parents told their children. Supposedly, there had been a battle there between the Dark Angels and the Angels of Light. So much blood was spilt that day, it was said to have stained the glade permanently and the season in which the battle took place never changed. It was always autumn.

He spotted Lucy, hiding behind a tree, her clothes still soaking wet. She giggled and beckoned to him to follow. A look of curious confusion came across Geoffrey´s features as he slowly followed the girl as she led him on an endless chase through the trees surrounding the glade. Soon, he broke into a run and as he sped up, she sped up. The thing quickly turned into a game as Lucy laughed and Geoffrey pushed away plants and branches to get at her.

Lucy entered the glade again and hesitated right before the lake that shimmered with a golden red reflection of the surrounding vegetation. She looked over her shoulder at Geoffrey who was quickly making his way over and then jumped swiftly into the lake and went under.

When Geoffrey arrived at the edge of the lake, he looked anxiously for his love.

"OK, Lucy..." he said with a laugh. "Where are you?" But the girl didn´t surface. Geoffrey frowned. "Lucy?" But the lake was as placid as if she had never even jumped in. Geoffrey saw a ripple in the water, but noticed it was only a frog hopping onto a lily pad. The seconds passed...

Without warning, a hand shot up out of the water like a swiftly growing flower and seized Geoffrey´s foot. Geoffrey yelped as he was pulled downward and consumed by the cool water.

Lucy surfaced and gasped the sweet fresh air and struggled out of her school robes and laid them on the bank. Soon, Geoffrey came up and gulped in a breath of autumn air.

"DON´T DO THAT!" he screamed with a smile. Lucy gave him an innocent look.

"I´m sorry!" she said insincerely, and then took off like a torpedo towards the other end of the lake. Scowling, Geoffrey swam to catch up with her.

Lucy stopped swimming in the middle of the lake and turned to look at Geoffrey who was close behind. She flashed him that smile that always made him feel weak. As Geoffrey arrived, he noticed her bare shoulders and frowned.

"Lucy, where´s your..." but then he noticed a green cloth floating in a heap next to her. "Oh..." he said. She grabbed the shirt and held it in front of her.

"You really thought I could swim that fast with these wet clothes on? Not bloody likely!" Geoffrey laughed and struggled out of his own black shirt.

"Where are we going to put these?" he asked.

"My skirt and my robe are on the bank," she replied. Geoffrey blinked.

"What?" he cried. She laughed.

"Relax!" she exclaimed. "There´s no one else here. No one ever comes here. We´re all alone." The way she said it sent an excited shiver down Geoffrey´s spine. In the silence that followed her comment, the thought of modesty seemed to materialize in Lucy´s mind and she suddenly blushed and tried to rap her shirt around her. Geoffrey gave her a weak smile.

"Yeah..." he said. "I guess you´re right."

"Do you love me?" Lucy blurted out as if it were a question in the back of her mind she´d been longing to voice. Geoffrey was taken aback.

"Well, I suppose I-- I mean, I-- Yes. Yes, I do." Geoffrey flustered and Lucy smiled a bashful smile.

"Relax," she said again in a calm whisper. "I love you too." Slowly, Lucy moved closer to the young man until they were merely centimeters apart. He stared longingly into those emerald eyes that seemed to consume him. It was so easy to get lost in those eyes. She softly put her hands on his bare back and caressed his lips gently with her own.

Time froze as the two forgot they were in a lake at all and stopped kicking their legs as they fell under, without a care in the world.

Geoffrey was in a daze as he climbed out of the lake once more. He absentmindedly picked up his shirt and pointed his wand at it. Instantly, it was dry and he threw it over his head. The rain had stopped and the clouds had parted, leaving a completely unobstructed view of the setting sun over the red foliage of the trees. Geoffrey sighed peacefully. He had never been happier in his life.

He heard a splash by his feet and looked down at his crimson-haired love, whose head looked up at him with soft green eyes and whose bare arms rested on the shore while the rest of her body lay invisible in the water.

"Geoffrey..." she said, with a slightly abashed tone to her voice. "Would you mind... you know, turning... away?" Geoffrey blinked at her, coming out of his trance. When her words finally sunk into his brain, a look of comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh!" he cried. "Yes, of course!" Geoffrey turned his back to her as the maiden gracefully drew herself out of the lake. He waited patiently until she told him he could turn around again.

She smiled at him through long lashes with water droplets clinging to them. Her green top and skirt were no longer wet and she pulled on her newly dry black robes. He tore his eyes away from her to look at the large orange fireball in the pink and violate sky.

"Isn´t it lovely?" he asked. Lucy nodded.

"I think we´re way overdue at the castle," she said. "The lecture should have ended an hour ago. Come on." Lucy took his hand and told him she would see him soon.

"Tomorrow," he said to her. She seemed confused.

"Where?" she asked.

"Here," he replied. "Right here." But Lucy gave him her trademark playful grin.

"How about tonight?" she whispered eagerly into his ear. Geoffrey looked at her, startled.

"Tonight?" he said. "Where?"

"Your room," she whispered. Geoffrey grinned.

"Where did they go?" Lewis asked.

"Nowhere," replied Jonathan as he covered up the crystal ball with a purple velvet cloth. Lewis and Gareth were both suspicious.

"They have to have gone somewhere," said Gareth, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"They did," Jonathan told them, evenly. "They both went home. Our job is not to spy on Lucy Kilbourne and her victim, it´s to make sure that she doesn´t mess up. You know how unhappy the Lord gets when someone touches his mistress. He doesn´t even like anyone to look at her the wrong way. He´s not happy about leaving her alone with this boy. The sooner it´s done with, the better." Gareth nodded, satisfied.

"If he´s so touchy about it then why is he letting her take part in this... scheme?" Lewis asked. Jonathan glared at him icily.

"That is none of your concern."

"Well then pretend it is!" Lewis said with a grin as he rested his chin on his hands. Jonathan sighed.

"Geoffrey Dumbledore is the key to his Uncle´s downfall. If Lucy can persuade him to love her and turn him against his own family, it will drive Albus Dumbledore mad. That´s what the Lord wants. He already knows that Dumbledore is suspicious of him. He even thinks Dumbledore knows what he is doing and what he is up to. But he doesn´t think Dumbledore even imagines what is going on with his nephew. That is why he is allowing Lucy to seduce him. For the greater good. Now! Shoo, both of you! Go back to your comfortable little homes, there´s no need for you to stay here. Lewis, return to Marisa, Gareth, go back to... wherever it is you go to. The night´s work is done with for now." The other two obediently nodded and departed.

The rain pattered on the roof like the staccato notes of a well-played violin. Inside, the room was still and quiet except for the sounds of breathing and two separate heartbeats that seemed completely in sync with each other.

The radiant perjurer rested her head on the stomach of her victim and her head rose with his chest every time he inhaled. She looked up at his face, every inch of it etched with admiration, and smiled lovingly up at him. He returned the smile and stroked her hair. She squirmed a bit until she was comfortable again and he put her arm around her.

"I´ve never been happier in my life," Geoffrey whispered.

"Neither have I..." she said with a wistful sparkle to her eye.

As they watched the sunrise together over the moist green grounds of Hogwarts, Geoffrey softly stroked Lucy´s smooth, pale arm. Lucy reluctantly stood up.

"I have to go," she said to him, throwing on the shirt and skirt she had worn the day before. "I have to meet Tom."

"Why?" Geoffrey asked, startled.

"Because I promised him I´d meet him," she replied, her rose-red lips straight and her eyes inscrutable.

"When do I get to meet this tom?" Geoffrey asked. Lucy looked long into his soft, loving blue eyes and something jumped in her heart. Startled, she looked away.

"Soon," she said, gathering her things quickly. "You´ll meet him soon."

"Is something wrong Lucy?" Lucy looked up at him again, concern written over his face like invisible ink and felt that little jump in her heart again. She instantly turned away.

"No," she said, hastily but convincingly. "I´m just in a hurry, that´s all. This was great, Geoffrey. I can´t wait to do something like this again."

"Lucy..." Geoffrey said as she made her way to the door. "I... My uncle. I want you to meet your uncle." Lucy turned to him with a smile.

"Geoffrey, I´m a student here. I know your uncle!"

"Yes," Geoffrey nodded. "But I want him to know you. Come to the masquerade a week from Friday. Please. My uncle will be there. I want him to meet the woman I´m in love with." Lucy´s heart jumped a third time at his last words. Quickly swallowing the lump forming in her throat, she muttered a quick `goodbye´ and was gone.

Lucy was stunned as she walked slowly down the hall. Why was it her heart always quivered whenever she looked at him? Surely she couldn´t be... No! The idea was preposterous! He was a victim; she had to lure him into Lord Voldemort´s trap... Why did the thought of betraying Geoffrey sound so horrible to her all of a sudden?

Lucy shook her head to clear it. All these ideas... they were outrageous! And certainly untrue. She wasn´t... She couldn´t... no. No, it was impossible. He was a victim and only a victim. He wasn´t even a friend. He couldn´t afford to be her friend... Then why was she feeling so guilty? He was in love with her. But that was what the plan was, wasn´t it? To make him fall in love with her? Then why did it bother her so much?

"I´m not in love with him!" Lucy mumbled to herself. "I am NOT in love with him!" She was already in love. She was in love with Tom... Wasn´t she?

All these years, she had thought Tom was the only person she could ever love. He was so intelligent and so sophisticated and so devious... And yet, he treated her like a possession. What she felt towards him... It wasn´t love. It was lust. Lust mixed in with admiration and envy. Tom never made her heart twinge like that. Tom never asked her to tell him what she was thinking. Tom never wondered how she was feeling. Geoffrey did. Geoffrey cared. Someone cared. Someone cared about her! When had anyone ever cared about the trouble-making Lucy?

Tom.

Tom had once cared about the trouble-making Lucy. But that was before he changed, before he became power-crazy. He was obsessed with finding immortality. He was obsessed to prove that he was better than everyone else. He had been overlooked for so many years, teased for so long... No one saw what he was really capable of except Lucy. She had seen it in his eyes when she was thirteen and he was fourteen and he was torturing a poor puppy. The maleficent insane glint he had in his eyes as he gleefully hurt the poor thing.

It had died. It had bled to death.

Lucy shivered. She remembered for a while she had shared in Tom´s power-seeking dream. He hypnotized her with tales of absolute control, of making everyone bow down to you and heed your every command. He entranced her with stories of how much she would be admired by every man and woman in the world like the goddess Aphrodite for her incredible beauty and strength and power. How everyone would love her and adorn her with gifts like a queen. She would be his queen, his Lady Lucy. Lady Lucy and Lord Voldemort.

But then she remembered all the people who suffered to make this dream a reality. All the families who cried over a lost loved one Tom had killed just for the fun of it. All the muggles and muggle-born wizards he murdered to emphasize that they didn´t belong here.

Lucy stopped walking and thought clearly for a moment. Being a Slytherin, she had never really liked mudbloods or muggles. She had never really thought they belonged in this world either. She kind of pitied them and believed she was above them. Though she never thought they were low enough to deserve to die. No one deserves that.

For the first time in her entire life, Lucy felt as the veil Tom had placed over her eyes had been lifted and she could see for herself what was going on. She realized with horror that Tom´s heart was made of ice. Tom didn´t care who lived or died, as long as he had power. But that wasn´t the Tom she had once known. The Tom she had known was dead. And in his place there stood the frightening shadow of Lord Voldemort.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Can anyone tell me why the Rolag Giant Clan and the Inglid Giant Clan could not live side by side together? Why was peace an elusive dream?" Lucy raised her hand and Professor Binns called on her.

"Yes, Lucy?"

"The Rolag Clan refused to give up land for the Inglid. They didn´t think the Inglid were good enough and wanted to exterminate the Inglid Clan for good. The Inglid´s believed the Rolag Clan were selfish and clumsy and blamed them for everything that went wrong in their lives. Even when the leaders wanted peace, there were always those who wanted to continue to fight."

"Well answered, Lucy," the old professor nodded. Lucy wondered how old he was and if he would die soon. Growing up with Tom, wondering if someone would die in the near future was a thought that came to her mind often. "And Mr. Riddle. You haven´t said anything the entire class. What solution do you think could have helped the matter?" Lucy looked at Tom, who was sitting at the back of the room, his light hair combed back.

"Let them fight," Tom said, evenly. "What´s a giant to the wizards? Less killers if they kill each other. I say they fight. Let them kill each other. No one will mourn them." There was silence. No one had expected this answer, especially not old Professor Binns who stumbled.

"Well, er, yes, I suppose... That is, after all, how things turned out... The giants ended up ending both clans and killing each other... But that wasn´t the answer I was expecting."

It wasn´t the answer anyone was expecting. Leave it to Tom to see the unpleasant truth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Your late," Lord Voldemort observed as the young girl entered his bedchamber in his estate. She smiled sweetly at him.

"Forgive me, my lord," she said as she curtseyed.

"Well?" said Voldemort. "What happened?"

"He loves me," she informed him. Voldemort gave her his unnatural smile.

"Excellent," he said. "Then the plan can go on?"

"Almost," Lucy nodded. "He is going to `introduce´ me to Dumbledore a week from Friday at a party."

"Dumbledore knows you´re one of us," Voldemort hissed, his eyes narrowing. "I don´t like this."

"Ah, but listen!" Lucy protested. "When Dumbledore meets me, there is no way he can do or say anything without looking like a madman. How on earth can he accuse a sweet sixteen-year-old girl who hasn´t even graduated? He can´t do anything. There are too many people and I won´t allow him to get me alone."

"Alright..." Voldemort nodded, appeased. "And then?"

"Geoffrey has informed me that his uncle does not approve of most of his friends anyway. When Dumbledore cautions his nephew against this `evil´ girl, Geoffrey´s sure to go ballistic. He won´t believe a word Dumbledore says about me. Angry, he´ll probably run to me. And then, I, the love of his life, his only friend, can tell him what to do. Emotionally distraught and confused, he´s sure to listen to every word I say."

Voldemort grinned.

"Perfect."

Geoffrey burst into his uncle´s office.

"Uncle!" he screamed and laughed at the shock on Albus´s face.

"Please, Geoffrey," he said. "Don´t scream in my office! Now, what is it?"

"She´s wonderful, Uncle!" Geoffrey exclaimed. "She´s perfect! She´s my... She´s my everything!"

"Ah, we´re talking about your mystery girl!" Albus smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "So, tell me about her."

"Oh, you´ll love her, Uncle!" Geoffrey cried. "She´s coming to the masquerade this Friday!"

"That´s great!" Albus nodded.

"You´ll really like her, Uncle. She´s perfect! I think I´m in love with her."

"My little Geoffrey, all grown up," Albus laughed.

"I can´t wait until Friday!"

As Lucy prepared her red dress, she recalled Geoffrey saying something about a love potion he was trying to invent. She suddenly stopped.

Had he given Lucy an ounce to see what would happen?

But Lucy shook her head. If she didn´t really care for Geoffrey, then why had she been eager to defend him to Tom-- To Lord Voldemort-- So quickly after their first date? She came to the conclusion that she had loved him even before he loved her, she just hadn´t realized it. She smiled and continued preparing for the party.

A thought struck her. Why was she continuing with the plan to betray Geoffrey if she was in love with him? She knew. Because if Voldemort found out it was him that Lucy was actually planning on betraying, she would never see another sunrise.

Thinking of the sunrise made Lucy think of that morning nearly two weeks ago when they had watched it together. She smiled fondly at the memory.

But her memories were interrupted.

Lucy felt a sudden stab of nausea come over her and a sharp pain pierced her stomach. She shrieked and clutched at her vanity table. But the pain was gone as instantly as it had struck her. She frowned.

"I hope I´m not ill..." she muttered to herself as she brushed out her long scarlet hair. She continued to prepare for the masquerade.

"What was that?" Jonathan muttered.

"What was what?" Gareth and Lewis exclaimed together.

"Something happened..." Jonathan said. "But I don´t understand..."

"What happened?" Lewis asked.

"Lucy," Jonathan replied. "She... Nothing." Lewis and Gareth both emitted frustrated growls.

"Tell us what happened, you bleeding son of a bitch or I swear--"

"Calm down, Gareth, there´s no need to become violent..." Jonathan mumbled as he covered the crystal with the velvet cloth. "She just had a sudden pain, that´s all. It´s gone now. I was just wondering if it meant something but it´s probably just some sort of female thing. I´m fatigued. I will be in my chambers!" and with that, Jonathan was gone. Gareth yawned.

"I´m tired too. Keep an eye on the female, Malfoy. I´m going home!"

"But Marisa!" Lewis cried.

"It´s always about Marisa, isn´t it?" Gareth snapped. "She can take care of herself!"

"The baby´s due any day now!" Lewis protested.

"Yeah," Gareth laughed as he exited. "Let´s hope it´s more like its mother."

Lewis sunk down in the chair by the crystal and threw off the velvet.

"Let´s see what you´re up to than, woman!" he cried as he gazed into the crystal.

"Lucy!" Geoffrey exclaimed, recognizing that red hair anywhere. "Lucy, over here!" Lucy grinned as she made her way over.

"Like my, er, disguise?" she laughed behind her mask of feathers and sparkles. He laughed.

"You look gorgeous, as usual," he replied. "Wait here, I´ll go get my Uncle." Lucy nodded with a smile and stayed in her place.

Without warning, the nausea returned and Lucy doubled over. She felt like she was going to throw up. She felt extremely dizzy and stumbled into a nearby chair.

"Wait a minute..." Lewis muttered as he examined the girl. "She´s nauseous!"

Lucy´s head was spinning.

"Are you alright?" the voice echoed in her head and she looked around. A face materialized in front of her, one of a middle-aged, yet attractive blond woman in a sparkling blue dress and a dark mask. She lifted the mask to reveal her dark eyes. Lucy nodded.

"Yes, just a little tired is all." The woman nodded.

"Wait!" Lewis exclaimed. "Marisa..."

"A baby?" the woman said. "I know the feeling. It´s horrible the first time around." Lucy frowned.

"Baby?" the woman grinned.

"Oh, you mean it isn´t?" she cried, sounding as if she didn´t believe it. "Oh, then I´m sorry! Forget everything I just said!" She then took the arm of her husband and Lucy distinctly heard her mutter, "It´s horrible to have someone else tell you you´re pregnant. You need to find out for yourself." Lucy frowned, confused.

"I´m not..."

"Pregnant!" Lewis cried. "Kilbourne´s pregnant! Oh, the Lord won´t like this..."

"Lucy!" the girl snapped her head around at the sound of her name and saw Geoffrey coming over with Dumbledore. Both had identical grins and Lucy could have sworn they were father and son. She smiled weakly.

"Hello, Geoffrey," she said.

"Lucy, take off your mask, I want you to meet my-- er, Professor Dumbledore." Lucy nodded.

"I believe we´ve met, Professor," she said.

"We have?" Albus didn´t seem to recognize her. She laughed.

"Of course!" she cried. "My mask!" She removed the object from her face and smiled at the startled look on the Transfiguration Professor´s face.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. Soon, his shock turned into quiet terror. "Oh... Lucy Kilbourne."

"Geoffrey tells me you two are very close," Lucy said with a smile. Albus nodded slowly.

"Yes... Yes, I suppose we are..." he mumbled.

"Is everything alright, Professor?" asked Geoffrey. Albus nodded.

"Everything´s fine, boy. Well, Lucy. It´s, er, good to see you." He held out his hand and Lucy shook it, eagerly.

"And you as well, Professor," she said, politely. Lucy turned to the younger Dumbledore. "Geoffrey, I´m sorry, but I really must be on my way. I´m not feeling well and I have to... well, good night. Good night, Professor."

"And to you." Albus nodded and Lucy disappeared. "Geoffrey, could I speak with you a moment?" Geoffrey nodded.

"Of course, but why?"

"Come," said Albus and he lead Geoffrey outside of the hall.

On the Hogwarts grounds, Lucy burst into tears. She couldn´t be pregnant. It would ruin everything. Well, everything was already ruined, but it would make everything worse. She couldn´t be pregnant. Lord Voldemort would kill her, and that was no exaggeration. There was only one way to find out for sure...

"Geoffrey, I´m sorry I´ve been busy lately and I haven´t paid much attention to you, but..."

"I understand, Uncle," Geoffrey nodded at Albus. They were standing in Albus´s office. "You´ve been busy with the press for two years since you defeated that dark wizard." Albus nodded quickly and dismissed the topic.

"Yes, yes, I know, but that´s no excuse to ignore my only nephew."

"It´s alright, Uncle, I can handle myself... What are you trying to say?" Albus sighed.

"Geoffrey, I have to be completely honest with you. When I was battling Grindelwald, there was... something else. A darker force that I... I sensed..."

"What are you saying, Uncle?" Geoffrey frowned. What on earth was he talking about? Albus heaved a sigh, making him sound much older than he was.

"Sit, boy," he ordered as he nodded to a seat by his desk. "There are some things in this world that you can just... Feel. If you know how to. And few people do."

"Yes..." his nephew hinted when he noticed Albus hesitate.

"Sometimes we learn how to sense these things, we pick them up along the way. Sometimes we´re born with it... Sometimes it happens after a traumatic experience, through ways of scars or memories... But some things you can just feel... A sixth sense, if you will." Geoffrey nodded.

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"As I said, those two years ago, there was a darker force than Grindelwald and it was strongest around this school. It was strongest around a certain Slytherin... A Tom Riddle. Do you know him?" Geoffrey started to shake his head, but stopped as he frowned.

"Wait," he said. "Lucy said something about a Tom... But I can´t imagine he´s the one you´re talking about. She speaks of her Tom as if he were a God of some sort." Albus nodded.

"I was afraid of that," he said. "That redhead you were with tonight is one of the closest friends of Tom Riddle. I´ve suspected that she may be involved with whatever it is he is doing."

"How do you know he´s evil? All you have to go on is this feeling of yours!" Geoffrey cried, defensively.

"Let me explain, Geoffrey," said Albus calmly. "Grindelwald spoke of an heir... Someone who would follow in his footsteps and exceed his power... A prophecy. But there were two prophecies made that night.

"The second prophecy was spoken by the Fates themselves when I went to them soon after I destroyed Grindelwald for good. They said that when the Dark One rose and was at his full power, a child would be born and bring about his downfall. This child, this `Son of Light,´ as they called him, was to be born to a fiery-haired witch and a dark-haired wizard... How close are you with this... this girl?" Geoffrey sounded appalled.

"I assure you," he said to his uncle. "I am not the father of this child you speak of." Albus nodded.

"Very well," he said. "Then I want you to stay away from that girl. She will lead you deeper into trouble than you can ever imagine."

"You didn´t have a feeling about her!" he screamed, standing up instantly and sending his chair scraping across the stone floor. "You only felt it about her friend! You don´t even know if she´s even involved with him!"

"A dark cloud obfuscates her mind and until the fog lifts, she is dangerous. Until she realizes what side she is on, she is very dangerous indeed." Geoffrey was furious.

"How DARE you!" He shrieked. "How dare you take away the only friend I have ever had! How dare you! You promised, Uncle, you said I could see her--"

"I didn´t know who she was, I thought she was a normal girl, how was I supposed to know she was--"

"I can be friends with whomever I please! It´s my choice, not yours! You need to stop living my life for me, you need to stop being overprotective! You aren´t my father!" Albus cringed briefly at that comment, but he relaxed.

"I may not be your father, but I am the closest thing to it in this world and you will listen to me and respect your elders!" he said with steady anger.

"I can´t believe you! You don´t even want anyone to know I´m related to you! You just fund my inventing to keep me out of the way. You choose my friends so your secret doesn´t get out. Well I have news for you, Uncle, she knows! She knows that you´re my uncle and she doesn´t care! She cares about me! Not who my family is! She loves me, like you never did!" Albus was dumbstruck.

"Did you just say she knows about you and I?" Geoffrey nodded.

"Yes!" he screamed. "And I´m leaving! I´ve had enough of this, Uncle Albus! I never want to see you again! I hope my leaving makes your life a whole lot easier!" and with that, Geoffrey was swiftly out the door. As it slammed back into place, a horrible feeling of apprehension swept over Albus and shook his spine.

"She knows..." he uttered. "That´s what they´re trying to do... And they´ve succeeded."

Lucy stumbled up to the cave at which the Fates were supposedly located. Her red satin gown was torn by the time she arrived, but she had to know, she just had to know for sure.

The nausea came over her again and her mouth became dry and parched. She groaned as she fell to her knees and she soon felt the horrible taste of vomit rising in her throat. She coughed and sputtered and spewed the horrible liquid into the bushes.

"If I´m not pregnant..." she muttered. "Then I´m definitely not well." Straightening up again, the nausea lessening slightly, she tried to look as presentable as possible with her pale-face and torn gown and robes. Finally, she worked up the courage to go into the cave.

The cave was as bright as a cathedral at noon, though it was midnight and there were no windows that Lucy could see in the cave and now candles from which the light might be coming from.

When she approached, she saw three females in a line around a spinning wheel, feeding the wheel with a thread. There was a child, no more than eight years of age at the beginning of the line, in the center, there was a young to middle-aged woman. Both of them shared a dark blond-colored hair. The final was an old woman, her brittle fingers handling the thread more precisely than Lucy thought someone of her age would. Their heads looked up at her together, as if they were one.

"Yes?" they said together. The next words were spoken individually by each of the Fates, starting with the child, then the middle-aged woman, then the crone.

"We," started the child.

"Have,"

"Been,"

"Expecting,"

"You," the middle-aged woman finished. The three of them smiled. Lucy frowned, suspiciously.

"I believe you know what I´ve come for." They nodded.

"We do," said the old one.

"You´ve come,"

"For the secret,"

"Of your child..." and the old woman finished.

"Then it´s true?" Lucy pressed. "I am pregnant?" They laughed.

"But of course you are pregnant!" they said together, their voices melodious and reverberant in the bright cave. "You must be pregnant! Your pregnancy decides the fate of many people, of many lives."

"I... I´m in love with him..." Lucy muttered. The middle-aged woman smiled.

"Yes," she whispered. "You are. But that was not an intention of the fates. That was the intention of your own heart."

"What am I to do?" At this question, all the lights that had illuminated the cave went out and only an eerie one remained, lighting the faces of the Fates dimly and making them look like skeletons. A cold wind blew and played with Lucy´s dark red hair.

"The birth of a Dark One is ensured

By yee who give him love

As the years pass by his power grows

And He is seen as a merciless God

Yet come later on the Fates contend

A Child is born to fight the Lord

If the Lord can´t be killed by the dagger

Then the boy will be a sword

Two good souls have been chosen

To birth the Son of Light

For only with their fates

Can they help him win the fight

A fiery maiden with hair to match

And a dark-haired reckless spirit

Parents to help him with his destiny

And teach him not to fear it.

The battle´s outcome is unknown

By even We, the Fates

For with good and evil, one never knows

Who is to win the race..."

The wind stopped and light flooded the cave once more. Lucy´s red hair fell lightly on her shoulders once more.

"Am I... Am I the mother of this child you speak of? Is... Is Geoffrey the father?" The Fates said nothing. "Answer me, you bitches!" Lucy screamed.

"You are related to the child," said the old crone at last. "Very close to him indeed."

"Oh no..." Lucy´s fingers flew to her lips in shock. "No, I... I can´t be in a... a prophecy! Does Tom know about this?"

"He will," said the young woman. "In time."

"No..." Lucy muttered. "He´ll kill me if he knows I´m the mother of this beast who will bring about his downfall! No, I don´t want it, I DON´T WANT IT! I can´t be the mother of this thing, let me out of this prophecy, I don´t remember signing up for it!"

"It is in your destiny," the little girl said. "You are part of the child´s lineage."

"NO!" Lucy was outraged and burst out crying. "No, it WON´T HAPPEN! I won´t LET it happen! I´ll kill this thing! Oh Geoffrey!" She fell to her knees. The Fates continued to thread the string into the spinning wheel.

"Your string grows short, young Lucy," said the old one.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lucy snapped through her tears.

"As does your love´s. His time is short," the young woman added.

"Right!" Lucy laughed, in hysterics. "Yes! Whatever you say, Oh Powerful Fates! Everything is how you make it."

"We did not intend for you to love the boy," the old one said softly. "You brought this pain upon yourself. You were merely the vessel for the baby."

"NO!" Lucy screamed. "I don´t want to be a vessel! I don´t want to be part of your stupid prophecy! Leave me alone, I want to go home!"

"It is in your destiny," the child repeated. "Everyone plays a part, even you. Not even a small child is insignificant in our plans."

"I want to go home!" Lucy screamed.

"You will," the old woman said.

"Soon," the middle-aged woman said.

"Sooner than you think," added the child.

"Your time,"

"Grows short,"

"Run to your love,"

"Show him, tell him,"

"Save your child,"

"Keep it away,"

"From the Lord,"

"Lest he destroys,"

"It and ruins the,"

"Plans."

"Go."

"Now."

"Run."

And Lucy ran, faster than she ever had in her life.

Geoffrey sat by the lake in the Scarlet Glade, skipping stones on the surface reflecting the solemn night sky. There were no stars tonight. He secretly hoped he´d run into Lucy there, but she was nowhere to be found. She was probably sound asleep in Slytherin tower by now. He tried to think about his uncle and what he had said, he tried to make reason of it, but rage blinded his mind and he could determine nothing.

Sighing, he sat on a fallen log. He had nowhere to go. Nowhere but this glade.

"Something wrong?" Geoffrey jumped at the voice behind him and turned. It was her, his goddess, his Lucy. He smiled.

"Not anymore," he said.

"Stumped?"

"It´s no concern of yours..." Geoffrey muttered.

"Please..." Lucy said, sitting down beside him. "You know you can tell me anything."

"My uncle..." Geoffrey sighed. "He thinks you´re trouble. He thinks everyone I shake hands with is trouble. So I... I left him. I ran away. I have nowhere to go." Lucy smiled.

"You can come with me," she said.

"I can´t go back to the school..." he shook his head.

"No," she said. "I mean, you could live with Tom and I. He´s very interested in meeting you. He´s heard all about you." Geoffrey started to shake his head, but stopped and looked up at the girl as if she were brilliant.

"Yes!" he cried. "That would really make my Uncle angry! I´d love to meet Tom!" Lucy grinned.

"Perfect."

Lucy lumbered through the door, carrying shopping bags and found herself face-to-face to a frowning, stiff Lord Voldemort. She stopped.

"Well?" he said, coolly.

"He´s coming," she informed him. "Right behind me. He had to leave all his things in the castle, so we went to Diagon Alley before coming here... You know, to buy him a wand and some new clothes so he wouldn´t have to use yours..." Lucy smiled at him playfully as she pulled the shopping bags past her. He watched her, inscrutably as she led them to a room.

"That´s my room, remember?" he said. Lucy hesitated.

"Oh, right!" she said, with a smile, and stumbled up the stairs. "I´ll give him the room down the hall... Why you always sleep on the first floor is beyond me, Tom. It would be a lot easier to use that room as a guest room, where people don´t have to haul their stuff up the stairs all the time."

"I like my room," Voldmort muttered, defensively. Lucy turned to him at the top of the stairs and truly grinned back at him. The pout on his face, the whine in his almost inaudible voice, made Lucy think he was the real Tom again. That´s when she realized it: Tom was jealous! He believed Lucy felt nothing towards this man, and therefor let it be for he needed Geoffrey in his plans. But he was jealous with the time Lucy was spending on her assignment, and Lucy could tell he regretted giving it to her.

"Relax, Tom," she said, soothingly. "It´ll be over soon. We´ll turn him against his uncle. He´ll be killed by his own flesh and blood. And then, everything will work out fine." Voldemort grinned.

"Yes, Lucy," he muttered. "Everything will work out fine."

At that moment, Geoffrey chose to enter the large foyer of Voldemort´s estate.

"Wow..." he muttered, looking at the old chandelier and the grand staircase. "How did you get a place like this?"

"I have my ways," Voldemort uttered. "But I like to keep a low profile so many people believe Alan Cartwright is living here." Geoffrey approached Voldemort with a grin and his hand held out.

"I´m Geoffrey," he said. "Lucy´s told me all about you."

"And I´ve heard much of you..." said Voldemort in a very impolite manner. "I´m not saying it was all good things, though." Geoffrey laughed.

"Intelligent and a sense of humor! You should know that Lucy really admires you." An eyebrow raised in half-interest on Voldemort´s brow.

"Does she?" he mumbled. Geoffrey nodded.

"Yes. I´ve been anxious to meet you." Voldemort smiled a crooked smile.

"I like you, boy," he said, truthfully. "Come. Stay with me, and I´ll teach you everything you need to survive in this world. I´ll show you power, I´ll show you strength, I´ll show you how I acquired this estate... But only if you wish to learn." Geoffrey nodded, like an eager child. Voldemort´s unnatural grin widened. "Excellent. What are your views of good and evil?"

"What do you mean?"

"Stealing a loaf of bread from a poor baker to help your sick wife. Is that evil?"

"No, not at all... Well, even though the baker´s poor, he still can make more bread, can´t he?"

"A good attitude, son." Voldemort said.

"I´m older than you are," said Geoffrey. "And you call me son?"

"Believe me, boy," Voldemort chortled. "I am older than you in many ways."

"Alright..." Geoffrey decided to accept this. He believed he could learn a lot more from Tom than his uncle had ever taught him.

"So, if stealing a bread from a baker to help your wife is not evil, what do you think about killing the baker who made a true statement of inflicting your wife with this deadly illness she has? Only to, of course, prevent him from inflicting harm on any other... innocents." Geoffrey frowned.

"I suppose it´s not that bad..."

"And what if this baker stood in the way between you and success? Would you kill him?" Geoffrey hesitated.

"Success isn´t everything," he said, finally. "It isn´t worth the life of someone else."

"My dear boy!" Voldemort laughed, patiently. "Success is everything! Whoever told you otherwise was a fool."

"Yes..." Geoffrey said, flatly, "He was." Voldemort put his arm around Geoffrey´s shoulder.

"Stick with me, boy, and I will teach you all you need to know about the world around you..."

Lucy watched them, hidden, at the top of the stairs as Voldemort led Geoffrey into the parlor.

"Yes, Tom," she said. "Do what you do best. Alter the perceptions of the naïve. Teach him to be evil, like you taught me. Destroy him, the way you destroyed me."

"How are you?" Lucy jumped and spun around at the voice. She scowled.

"Malfoy!" she hissed. "What do you think you´re doing here?"

"Just thought you´d like to know. Marisa gave birth yesterday. A bouncing baby boy. Lucius, we´ve called him..." Lewis looked away, sadly. "It´s what she wanted to name him if he was a boy." Lucy frowned.

"What business have you here?" she demanded. Lewis sighed and looked at her once more.

"She was too young, Kilbourne," he said. "We were both too young. I never told anyone this, but... At first, everything seemed normal. But there were nights when she was in unbearable pain. That´s why I always wanted to get back to her... I thought it was a miscarriage... But no. He came and he destroyed her..." Lewis sounded disgusted. He then looked at Lucy once more, who seemed genuinely curious. "But he´s my son. I have to raise my son, for Marisa´s sake."

"I... I´m sorry, Lewis..." Lucy muttered. Lewis turned to leave and stopped with his cold, rigid back to her.

"I was going to tell him, you know," he said. "About you and Geoffrey´s child."

"How did you--"

"But I won´t now. I was angry with you. You were always Lord Voldemort´s favorite. I just wanted a little piece of it. But I won´t tell him now. Marisa wouldn´t have wanted me to. I just hope you don´t suffer like she did." And with that, Lewis disappeared.

Lucy didn´t see him again, even at meetings, for a long time.

As the weeks went on, Tom and Geoffrey became closer and closer, like best friends. Lucy found Geoffrey laughing at Tom´s sick and twisted jokes. She was horrified.

"That´s disgusting, Tom!" she proclaimed as she prepared them their breakfast. "How can you make a disaster like that into something comical?"

"It´s called humor, Lucy," Geoffrey said in angry defense. "Something you seem to have forgotten."

"Temper, temper you two!" Tom smiled as he looked from Geoffrey to Lucy who were glaring at each other. "Lucy just doesn´t have the same sense of humor as we do. We must respect the girl´s ways. She is only a woman after all." Taking offense, Lucy put her hands on her hips but Geoffrey and Tom didn´t notice as they laughed.

"Take this, for example," Tom said. "Muggles aren´t only like animals, but they´re like savage, stupid animals. There was this hilarious thing that went on a few years ago... They called it `The Great War!´ I mean, it wasn´t even that great. All these different countries just... fighting each other. I can just imagine the slaughter!" Geoffrey joined in with Tom´s cackling. "And that´s not the half of it! They said that would be the war to end all wars! Well guess what? A second Great War has recently gone on!" Geoffrey laughed even harder while Lucy bit her lip, trying not to retort.

She wondered why she hadn´t seen the gruesome details in Tom´s jokes until recently...

Lucy even found they were sharing secrets with each other, secrets that neither one of them would tell her.

"What were you speaking about in the kitchen, then, Geoffrey?" Lucy asked him tentatively.

"Nothing," he said, casually and coldly as he put on his black robe. "Merely small talk. Nothing you need to worry your little head about." Lucy scowled as Geoffrey swept out of the room like a shadow. How dare he be so condescending towards her! It was she who showed him this life, it was she who introduced him to Lord Voldemort, it was she who turned him against his uncle.

That´s when she realized it.

"It was me..." she muttered, horrified as she fell back on the bed. "I made him this way. This is my fault."

Soon, Geoffrey wasn´t Geoffrey anymore. It seemed as though the cold grip of Lord Voldemort was taking over him as well.

More weeks past and Lucy began to perform spells to make herself appear slender. She thought of killing the horrible burden of prophecy growing inside her. But somehow, she couldn´t. He was Geoffrey´s son, Geoffrey´s child. He was the son of Lucy and Geoffrey. She smiled at the thought and dreamed about how happy he would be to discover he was a father.

But she knew that discovery must never come.

Geoffrey was changing swiftly and Lucy regretted ever dragging him into this mess. He must never know he has a son, for Lucy feared he´d corrupt it, or worse. And Voldemort must never discover that Lucy carried Geoffrey´s child. Not only is it a child of legend, of prophecy, but it was Geoffrey´s son. He would go mad. He hated the thought of Lucy being unfaithful, and was only barely allowing her to have this liaison with Geoffrey for the greater good of the future. Neither of them could ever know.

"They will never know," Lucy vowed, quietly, knowing exactly what she would have to do.

When Lucy was four months pregnant, Voldemort called an urgent meeting that required all Death Eaters to attend.

"There must be away I can call you in secret," Tom was saying. "I have graduated from Hogwarts not two months ago, away from Dumbledore´s watch. Young Lucy had to leave before the year ended, to avoid any confrontation with our newest member´s uncle. He spoke to me, asking where the boy was, but he had nothing to prove that I knew. A Missing Wizard´s Report has been filed, so Geoffrey has to keep a low profile for a while. But in the meantime, I have discovered a way to bring you to me without sending out owls. I have devised a Mark that will be tattooed on your arm and burn black whenever I touch the Mark of any Death Eater. When your Mark burns, you must Apparate here instantly from wherever you are. Are we clear?" There were nods and mumbles of approval.

"The first to be marked is the newest addition to our circle: Geoffrey Dumbledore." Geoffrey rose to his feet and walked up to Lord Voldemort, a large grin on his face. Lucy seemed to be the only one present who was frowning.

Geoffrey rolled up the sleeves of his robes and held out his arm to the Lord, who touched his wand to the boy´s skin. A word was uttered and a flash of black light engulfed Geoffrey´s arm. There was an exclamation of pain from the newest Death Eater as the light disappeared and in its place left a picture of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth.

There were gasps all around, even Lucy´s jaw was open. Geoffrey grinned proudly at the mark on his skin. Lucy´s focus swiveled to Lord Voldemort, who was grinning as well. Seeming to feel her gaze, he turned to her and his smile faded.

"Young Lucy," he beckoned. "Would you like to be the second?" Lucy rose from her seat, elegantly, like a blossoming red rose, and approached the front. She held out her hand, a faint smile resting on her crimson lips. Voldemort took her ivory hand and kissed it gently before rolling up her sleeves. He touched his wand to Lucy´s arm and shouted an incantation.

Lucy cried out. Her flesh seemed to burn and boil like water and it felt as though it was bubbling. But she looked away from the black light. She couldn´t see, she didn´t want to see...

When Voldemort drew his wand away, she looked and knew she would be forever emblazoned with the Dark Mark, like a cow on a cattle ranch. For the first time, the thought of being a General in Lord Voldemort´s army sent shivers down her spine.

Voldemort and Geoffrey grew closer and closer and Geoffrey began to spend more time with him than with Lucy herself. Which, Lucy thought, was better, as her pregnancy went along. When she was beginning her third and final trimester and had just finished performing a spell to create an illusion of her thinness, Geoffrey entered their bedroom.

"Geoffrey!" she cried, surprised to see him. Geoffrey smiled at her warmly and Lucy wondered when the last time he had smiled at her like that was. "Geoffrey..."

"I love you, Lucy," he said, his eyes filled with the emotion.

"Oh Geoffrey, I love you too!" exclaimed. "I love you so much! And I miss you! When are you going to come back to me?"

"Tonight," Geoffrey said, as he put his arms around her. He frowned. "Something isn´t right..." he looked Lucy up and down. She laughed nervously.

"What are you talking about? Everything´s perfect, you´ve come back to me!" He smiled and dismissed his suspicions.

"Yes, I have," he said, and kissed her passionately.

"I love you." She smiled.

"And I love you," he replied.

The time had come. She knew it because she could hear the voices of the Fates whispering in her ear and the pain became overwhelming.

She tried to Apparate to the cave of the Fates, but could only get near it. They helped her birth the baby right there in the forest. But she was surprised.

"It´s a baby girl," the crone informed her, handing Lucy the child. Lucy was full of blissful shock.

"A girl!" she shrieked, looking into the baby´s green eyes. "So! I´m not part of your prophecy after all!" She laughed at them. "This makes me feel much better."

"A warning, young Lucy," said the child. "Protect this girl from harm."

"I will," Lucy said, falling in love with her little girl. "I´ll make sure no one will touch her. Nothing will happen to my little girl..."

Lucy took the child to the Scarlet Glade.

"Do you see this place? This is where your father and I first said we loved each other. Though I didn´t mean it at the time, he did. Ah..." Lucy bent down by the water and picked up a lovely white blossom. "Do you see this? This is a water lily. Isn´t it gorgeous? But not as gorgeous as you... Who would have known a child, especially one who is supposed to be as dangerous as you, could be so easy to fall in love with! I love you, I do... But..." Lucy knew what she had to do. She had do keep the child away from Geoffrey and Voldemort. If either of them found out, they would ruin the child.

She remembered her foster parents, Pamela and Richard Michaels. She remembered once Pamela´s brother came to visit. He had been so nice.

Lucy used her wand to flip quickly through the pages of the Muggle phone book as she searched for the name. What had been Pamela´s maiden name? Lucy smiled.

"Evans," she muttered, and looked in the book. "Let me see... Alexander Evans, Darrel Evans, Gregory Evans... Ah, here it is, Nigel Evans..." She copied down the address, almost positive this was the person she was searching for and went searching for the street.

She approached it and smiled at the quaint and small little house: Number four Privet Drive!

She approached the steps with mixed feelings, clutching her child tightly to her breast.

"Oh, I love you..." Lucy never even thought herself capable of any sort of love other than the love she had felt for Tom. But Geoffrey had come and opened her eyes. And now, she was free of the romantic spell Lord Voldemort had cast on her without using a wand or potion of any kind, merely his own words.

Lucy laid the bundle with the child on the porch along with a note and was about to leave when a voice made her jump.

"Lucy, what are you doing?" The girl spun around to find Geoffrey hiding in the shadows.

"Geoffrey, there´s something you have to know."

"Is that... Is that our child?" As he stepped out into the light, Lucy saw he was hurt, not angry. She smiled weakly.

"Yes," she said. "But... We can´t raise it."

"Why not?"

"Tom will kill us. Literally. Geoffrey, there´s something I have to tell you about Tom and I. We´re--"

"I know," Geoffrey sighed, looking at his feet. "He told me. It´s why I started to grow away from you, Lucy. I didn´t think you really loved me."

"Neither did I," Lucy said. "Until that morning where we watched the sunrise together. I never told Tom, of course. If I told him, he would go mad."

"I know," Geoffrey nodded, understanding. "But... You do love me?" Lucy nodded with a grin.

"Oh Geoffrey, I have always loved you!" He embraced her warmly and pushed a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

"What´s her name, then?" he whispered in her ear. Lucy smiled and told him. "That´s a nice name," he said as he kissed her.

"I thought so," she said. "It reminds me of the Scarlet Glade."

"Me too," he agreed.

"You understand why we have to leave her here? Tom will destroy us if he finds out..." Geoffrey nodded, looking at the bundle on the steps, which had begun to cry. "How did you find me?"

"I love you, Lucy. I notice when you´re hiding things. Changes in your behavior... Besides, I noticed you weren´t feeling well tonight." Lucy smiled.

"So you followed me."

"So to speak." Lucy looked back at her child, her daughter.

"I love her so much, Geoffrey, I never knew..." She shook her head sadly.

"Come," Geoffrey said, offering his hand to Lucy. "Let´s go home. It´s all over now."

But it wasn´t all over yet.

Lord Voldemort caught them when they sneaked into his estate late at night.

"Where have you two been then?" His voice was icy and merciless as it rang throughout the empty hall.

"Spying on Geoffrey´s uncle," Lucy answered, before Geoffrey could say a word.

"LAIR!" Voldemort hissed, the word reverberating throughout the place. Geoffrey and Lucy both cringed. "I know what you were doing! You thought you could hide it from me, you thought I didn´t know! I knew. Believe me, I knew about you two. I knew you loved him. Which is why I told Geoffrey the truth. But that didn´t work, did it? And then I am informed that you were pregnant! The child is born then?" Lucy and Geoffrey didn´t say a word, frozen in fear.

Jonathan Lestrange appeared by Voldemort´s side.

"Lewis tells me everything, Lucy," he said, quietly. "Though he even kept this from me until tonight."

"YOU!" Lucy screamed and tried to attack, but Voldemort bound them both in chains with a wave of his wand.

"Where is he?" Voldemort hissed.

"I will never tell!" Lucy cried.

"Geoffrey, you have been a good lad. Where is he?!"

"He´s my son, Tom, and I won´t have any harm come to him!" Geoffrey said, resolutely.

"So you confirm that it is a boy?" Geoffrey winced. "Ah... It´s a pity, Geoffrey. I liked you. But you broke my trust. You still love her, don´t you? And Lucy! How dare you! I´ve always been there for you, I´ve always been there to love you!"

"Love!" Lucy threw back her head in laughter. "You don´t even know what love is!"

"What?"

"You are disgusting!"

"This coming from a kleptomaniac!" Voldemort laughed.

"You´ve never loved anything in your life. I´m a possession to you!"

"I loved you, Lucy!"

"Right!" Lucy mocked. Voldemort scowled. He turned to Geoffrey again and sadly shook his head.

"You are more deceitful than I had intended you to be, Geoffrey. You even lied to me." Voldemort drew out his wand. "I know what your punishment should be." Geoffrey said nothing to him. Instead, he turned to Lucy.

"I love you, Lucy," he whispered. "I always have."

"Abyssus Extermino!" Voldemort shouted and a horrible plague consumed Geoffrey´s mind. His pupils became suddenly large and he began to shake.

"NO!" He screamed. "NO! Get it away from me! Away!"

"What did you do to him, you bastard?" Lucy spat, horrified at the glee written across Voldemort´s face. He laughed.

"He does not deserve to die. He deserves to suffer. He stole you away from me."

"He didn´t steal me away! I left you, Tom! I left you long ago! I left you the day you became Lord Voldemort." Voldemort stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes at Lucy. There was silence in the hall, except for the screams from Geoffrey.

"You´re more of a monster than I could ever be, Tom," Lucy whispered. Voldemort´s breathing became heavy. He turned to Geoffrey and the smile returned to his lips as he saw the boy writhing in pain on the floor.

"Yes," he said. "Demons, Geoffrey. They´re all around you. Ah, eternal Hell, isn´t that what you fear, young Lucy?" Voldemort´s contorted smile grew as Lucy continued to glare. She couldn´t look at Geoffrey, not in his state. "It´s a little invention of my own. He deserves it, though."

"What have you done to him?" Lucy´s whisper was barely audible.

"I have altered the chemical balance in his brain, including his senses. He believes he is surrounded by fire and demons. He thinks you´re the devil, Lucy. And I think that, even in his state, he is correct."

"I am no more of a devil than you are." Lucy´s voice was even quieter. Voldemort´s grin nearly spread to his ears. It was so sad to Lucy to see her once best friend only eighteen years old look so... cold. He had once been reserved, mature, intelligent. Now, he was sadistic, conniving and evil. It sent shivers up Lucy´s spine and surprised her to think that he had been like this the whole time, even that day with the puppy dog. She had just been too blind to see it.

"We are who we wish to be," Voldemort hissed in her ear. Every ounce of the Tom Riddle she had once known was gone and there was only Voldemort. "You are, after all, the one who led Geoffrey to his insanity. Look at him." Voldemort stroked Lucy´s chin and forced her gaze over to Geoffrey, whom Voldemort had released from his chains and was now wandering around aimlessly, unsure of his reality.

Finally, Geoffrey fell to his knees and his blood-shot blue eyes stared at the high ceiling of Voldemort´s hall, unseeing. He threw his hands at the sky as if begging for forgiveness from a Supreme Being.

"LUCY!" He screamed. "LUCY!" he began to cry and broke down on the spot, muttering Lucy´s name as he sobbed.

"See what you have reduced him to?" Voldemort said. "He is a shell of a man, with only you to blame for his lunacy. Every torture he endures, every demon he sees shares your face and only your face."

"No..." Lucy shook her head vigorously in denial. She glared at Voldemort with burning jade eyes. "I didn´t do this to him," she hissed. "You did. You are worse than every evil I have ever encountered. I´m sorry I ever met you, Lord Voldemort. You aren´t the Tom Riddle I knew. You´re nothing!"

"You love me!" Voldemort reminded her harshly. But Lucy shook her head slowly.

"What I loved in you has now been murdered by who you have become. I loved Tom Riddle. But I never loved you."

"CRUCIO!"

The pain shot through her body like a lightening bolt as every muscle in her body screamed and the anguish squeezed her heart with ice-cold hands. Her head pounded with agony and she heard the blood rushing in her ears like waterfalls. She screamed louder than she had ever screamed in her life. She wanted to die, she wanted it all to end...

And then it did. Voldemort had stopped as soon as he had begun. Lucy opened her eyes to see she was on the floor now, her chains cutting into her skin and she was staring at the ceiling, breathing heavily. She looked over at Lord Voldemort, who was looking at her, surprised. Lucy was shaking as she slowly got to her feet and looked at him with pure disgust.

"You´re mad..." she muttered, shaking her head and she Disapperated.

Lucy walked swiftly to the club she had taken Geoffrey on their first date.

"What´ll it be, Lucy?" Elton asked when he saw her. She gave him a weak smile.

"Sparkling Draft," she said to him. He smiled.

"Where´s Geoff?" Elton asked. Lucy´s smile disappeared.

"Incapacitated," she replied, evenly. Elton nodded and poured Lucy´s drink, oblivious to her pain.

Lucy was used to hiding behind masks. She had done it all her life. Deception was her best talent. She had been so good at it, she had even fooled herself. Her heart shed tears for Geoffrey as her mind remembered, painfully, how wonderful he was when he wasn´t... And it had been her fault. Lucy sighed. Her heart cried, but her eyes did not betray her as they remained dry when Elton returned with her drink.

Lucy gazed into the swirling sparkling stars of the draft, reminding her even more of Geoffrey.

"What are you doing?" Lucy laughed as Geoffrey swigged the drink. He wiped the liquid from his lips and grinned at Lucy.

"Dance with me!" he said, seizing her hand and pulling her close to him. Lucy laughed but felt a kick in her stomach. She looked down, worried, and noticed her spell was still in place. She could even deceive Geoffrey´s perceptions of her slenderness, thank God. She laughed and let him swing her around the dance floor.

"Geoffrey, you´re marvelous!"

Lucy sighed. That had been before everything went wrong. That had obviously been before Voldemort had told Geoffrey Lucy´ secret.

To Lucy´s surprise, she noticed a crystal tear fall into her drink and disturb its serene stillness. She wiped her eye and bottled up her sorrow.

"Geoffrey..." she whispered as she continued to stare into her drink.

The band struck up a well-known song from the thirties and Lucy shivered, remember it as the song she had taught Geoffrey to dance to.

"How do I do this?"

"I´ll show you a simple move. The dip, also used in ballroom. Put your arm around my torso like so..." she placed Geoffrey´s arm around her waist. "Hold my right hand with your left hand like this... And then I go down and then you pull me up and swing me out..." Lucy bent backwards, and then had Geoffrey pull her up with his left hand and he spun her out and pulled her back in.

"You´re getting the hang of it..." she giggled. "You´re a natural."

Lucy sadly shook her head and took a long swig of her drink. She still felt her muscles aching from Voldemort´s curse.

"Another one, Lucy?" Elton asked. Lucy looked into her glass and realized her drink was gone. She looked up at Elton with earnest eyes.

"What´s the hardest thing you got?" Elton frowned.

"Well..." he said, thoughtfully. "If you want natural stuff, we have a muggle brand... Russian Vodka." Lucy pondered the offer and nodded.

"I´ll try one of those," she said, then leaned in over the counter and whispered, "But after, I want the unnatural stuff."

After drowning her sorrows with vodka, Elton gave her a glass of the strongest intoxicating beverage he had. But he only filled half the glass.

"Now, Lucy," he said, warningly. "Take it easy. This stuff is very... Powerful. It´ll knock you out if you drink it too fast."

"What´s in it?" Lucy asked. Elton looked at a book. "Um... The main ingredient is oil from the Lorciss tree of Guatemala. Careful, Luce, you know what Lorciss oil can do to a person." Lucy nodded.

"I have nothing to lose, Elton. I had nothing to begin with." Elton shrugged. "What´s it called?"

"Devil´s Pact," Elton said. Lucy nodded and sniffed the drink. She gave Elton a brave look.

"Well, here it goes!"

A few hours later, Lucy was inebriated. Elton eventually stopped serving her drinks.

"So there I was..." she said to him, making elaborate hand movements. "And I told him I loved him. Can you imagine that? I lied to him."

"Right..." Elton nodded, not really listening as he washed some cups. "Listen, Lucy, you should go home soon. No Apperating!" he added, hastily. "You could end up in the Philippines or something. And no flying! You know it´s not good to drink and fly." Lucy nodded clumsily.

"I know, I know..." she muttered and grinned. "But how do you know I´m the one that´s drunk? Maybe you´re drunk!"

"Right." Elton laughed. "I´m drunk, Luce," he said, sarcastically. "But you´re the one who drank all that vodka and those Devil´s Pacts you insisted on... Not me."

"Fine!" Lucy said, in slurred offense. "I know when I´m not wanted!" and with that she stalked out of the club.

"Who does he think he is anyway..." she muttered to herself, taking out a cigar to light it. She squinted at her fingers and let go of the cigar. "Damn it!" she said as she bent to pick it up. "I only meant to bring out one cigar!" she picked it up again and lit it with shaking hands. As she puffed away, she felt someone grab her by the shoulders. She screamed.

"Get away from me!" she shrieked, hitting the person with her purse. "I know defense curses, you know!"

"Lucy Kilbourne!" Lucy stopped flailing her handbag and squinted as she noticed a bearded professor with light red hair.

"Oh..." she muttered, warily. "It´s you." She plopped herself down on a nearby overturned crate, clumsily. "What do you want?" Albus was stern as he glared at the drunk young woman.

"My son," he replied, flatly. Lucy sputtered with laughter.

"Son!" she said as she threw back her head and grinned. "Are you drunk too? You don´t have a son!" But Albus wasn´t laughing and Lucy fell silent. She frowned and through her intoxication, realization dawned on her. "Or do you?" she murmured.

"Where is he." It was a statement, not a question. Lucy sighed as she looked a brick wall.

"If you mean your nephew, he´s not here, obviously," she mumbled. Albus kept his stance: Strong, tall, imperious and impassive.

"Obviously," he whispered. "So where is he." Lucy was silent as she continued to stare at the wall. "WHERE IS HE?!" Albus boomed. Lucy seemed to jump, but her eyes didn´t leave the brick wall.

"I don´t know," she said after a moment. Even drunk, Lucy could still lie as fluently as she told the truth. But Albus could see through that now.

"Yes you do," he said, evenly. "You probably just don´t remember because you´re so drunk."

"I don´t know," Lucy repeated quietly. In a way, it was true. She knew where Geoffrey´s body was, but his mind... His mind was another story.

"What have you done to him?" Albus asked and Lucy heard the hurt slip into his voice. Jaded, he rubbed his temples and took off his glasses. He sat down across from Lucy on another crate.

"Why do you care about him so much?" Lucy asked, tonelessly. "He´s only your nephew. You barely noticed him before." Albus glared at her with burning blue eyes and Lucy felt them on her skin. She turned to face him and gasped. She knew those eyes... "Geoffrey?"

"Albus," Albus corrected.

"Sorry."

"I did notice him, Lucy," he said. "And I loved him."

"Like a son?"

"Always," he nodded.

"But you never showed him. He was just your burden, something in the way, always in the way. Your sister´s son--"

"I had no sister..." Albus whispered, looking away from Lucy. Lucy was startled. Her head was beginning to clear. Albus seemed to have a knack for bringing her back to her senses.

"Katherine... He said his mother was your sister, but..."

"Geoffrey wasn´t my nephew," Albus interrupted, even quieter than before. He took out a handkerchief and began to rub his glasses. "I´m surprised you haven´t figured that out by now. Katherine was... special. I loved her with all my heart. But... She became pregnant and she died giving birth. Think of what the press would say, `Albus Dumbledore and his Bastard Son.´ I couldn´t let that happen, for my sake and Geoffrey´s. So... He was my nephew. But if I was too close to the child, someone would become suspicious. Many people knew I didn´t have a sister. I didn´t mean to ignore him, it´s just... Oh Kate, what have I done..." The two sat there in silence. Albus had shared, it was Lucy´s turn.

"You´re a grandfather, Albus," she whispered.

"What?" Albus looked at her shocked and horrified. Lucy nodded slowly.

"A little girl." Albus frowned.

"A girl?" Lucy nodded. "But it´s supposed to be... Good. A girl."

"A girl."

"Her name?" Lucy told him. "Ah."

"You aren´t angry?"

"How can I be?" Albus laughed. "My son´s a father. I´m overjoyed."

"Voldemort thinks it´s a son..." Lucy muttered. Albus frowned.

"Voldemort?"

"Tom Riddle," Lucy said. "It´s his... New self." Albus shivered.

"Take me to him," said Albus, a fiery hatred burning in his eyes. "Now."

Guilt forced Lucy to lead Albus Dumbledore and herself to her doom. And the fact that Albus wouldn´t leave her alone until she took him to Lord Voldemort also convinced her that it was best to face her demons one last time.

They traveled in silence, though Lucy could feel the heat of the passion of Albus´s emotions burning from his heart and scorching her soul. He would hate her. She knew he would hate her for what she had done to his son. The daughter of the Devil indeed.

They were outside of Tom´s estate and Albus hesitated.

"Something is wrong," he said, his face impassive. But Lucy looked deep into his blue eyes and saw the horror he would not voice. He was right. Lucy could feel it too. As they approached the edifice, it seemed to loom over them as if it were haunted. Lucy rapped slowly on the door and it emitted an ominous echo. Gareth Larkin answered the door.

"Lucy..." he said, tonelessly. Albus stepped into the light and Gareth´s eyes widened. "Dumbledore?" But Albus pushed past him. As he entered the large entrance hall, he saw Voldemort standing casually before the spiral staircase, grinning horribly. Lucy shivered.

"Where is my son?" Albus demanded evenly. Voldemort´s grin widened, contorting his young features and making him look older.

"Son? Why, Dumbledore, you surprise me. I didn´t know that someone of your... Position..."

"Where is he?" Albus repeated his tone unwavering. Lucy saw the passion in his eyes, burning in twin blue flames. Voldemort was leaning on the stair rail. Lucy remained indifferent.

"There." Voldemort nodded his head at the left corner of the hall. Albus, it seemed to Lucy, was also a master of disguise. However, at the sight before them, they both crumbled.

"Geoffrey!" Lucy exclaimed, out of breath with devastation. She saw Albus clutch at his heart and his knees became weak with horror. All he could manage to get out was a choked scream

Geoffrey lay in the corner. Ice blue eyes stared at the ceiling, as barren as the arctic deserts. Crimson stained his blue robes and poured out on Voldemort´s black and white floor...

Albus turned to Voldemort in fury.

"You did this to him!"

"I merely drove him to it." Voldemort yawned. "He killed himself. It´s not like you were any help now, is it?" Voldemort shrugged, casually. Lucy stared at Geoffrey in shock, her mouth partly open. She was going through losing him all over again. It was absolutely terrible.

"You killed my son! How dare you! Geoffrey! Oh, Katherine, what have I done?" Albus was breaking down with tears now as he stared at his son. The anger in him seemed to prevail, however. In a fit of rage he lashed out at Lucy, who had started to cry herself. He pulled her to him by her long red hair and she screamed.

"I´ll kill her..." he whispered to Voldemort menacingly. "I swear, I´ll kill her. And you won´t ever get away with the pain you caused me. Never." Voldemort merely nodded.

"Do what you must, Dumbledore. Your fight is with me, though. Not her." Voldemort seemed to be the only calm one there. He beckoned Jonathan Lestrange to him and touched his arm with his wand. Death Eaters Apparated to his side instantly. One was missing.

"It is unlike you to kill an innocent, Dumbledore." Voldemort seemed inscrutable, but through her emotions and tears, Lucy could have sworn he was mocking him.

"I´ll do it, you know!" Albus shrieked, pointing his wand at Lucy´s head as he dragged her away from the cloud of Death Eaters. She was on her knees and her hair was clasped tightly in Albus Dumbledore´s sweaty palm. She merely whimpered, like a child.

"I have no doubt you will." That´s when Lucy realized it when she opened her eyes and looked for a comforting face. Lewis Malfoy wasn´t there.

"Where´s Lewis?" she gasped. Gareth was subdued as she mentioned it. He cradled a baby in his arms and it started to cry. She frowned. "Gareth, where is he?"

"Are you going to stop me?" Dumbledore cried. Voldemort thought he was stalling, but Dumbledore was genuinely surprised.

"No." He said. "You can´t do it, can you?" The anger flared in Albus once more.

"I´ll do it."

"Where´s Lewis?" As long as Lucy fixated on that question, she wouldn´t have to think about the other one: What will happen to her?

"Dead," Jonathan finally told her, frankly.

"What?" Her heart sank.

"Avada Kedavera!"

And Lucy no longer felt pain.

***

The sun rose over number four Privet Drive. Angela Evans opened the door, ready to get the mail when she discovered a special delivery. Curious, she lifted the bundle. When she realized what it was, she shrieked with pleasure and surprise.

"What is it, dear?" her husband called from within.

"Nigel, oh Nigel, come quick!" she cried, as ecstatic as a school girl. He ran to the door, afraid his wife might be in trouble.

"What is it, Angela, what´s wrong?" he asked.

"Look, look, look!" she grinned, pointing at the bundle in her arms. "It´s a child, a girl!" Frowning, Nigel lifted the card wrapped in the baby blanket and smiled.

"Lily..." he read aloud.

And so it began.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"It was her." Harry concluded.

"Her." Tom said quietly and nodded. "She haunted me."

"I know." Harry whispered.

"She haunted Dumbledore."

"I know." Harry repeated. Tom turned to face his prey.

"You know what happened to me. You know my story. And you? What do you know of Lily and James?" Harry looked at him with a cool gaze.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"I believe I will kill myself. But first, I want to know what happened to Dumbledore." Harry smiled, weakly.

"I don´t know why, but I´ll tell you," he said. "As long as you let me go."

"I have no need for you, Potter. What I need is peace. After all these long years..." Tom shook his head sadly.

"Dumbledore told me the exact same thing..." Harry whispered.