Captured In The Night || Tom Riddle

22 - Unveiled

Sofia was dreaming she was back in Hogwarts. Once again she found herself in front of the golden door.

Two men appeared on both sides of her. One was the man that attacked her before.

"You again," Sofia said.

"We can't allow you to help Merrick any longer. Kill her!" The one on the right said.

"I'm not helping Merrick! I'm trying to stop him!" Sofia said.

"She's lying." The one on the left said.

"Stop!" A voice commanded from behind.

Sofia turned and a third man appeared.

"Riddle's keeping her for a reason. I believe her." He said.

"You're just a figment of my dreams," Sofia said. She tried to close her eyes and wish them away.

"We're the Peverell brothers. We guard the Veil. We thought you were helping Merrick so we tried to stop you. I'm Ignotus Peverell." He said.

Before she could ask any more questions, hundreds of students burst out of classes. She was knocked out of reach, forced to follow the crowds. She reached a classroom as Professor Ariana Dumbledore came out.

"Ah, there you are. You better hurry, class is about to start." She smiled and gestured for Sofia to go inside.

"Class?" Sofia muttered. The dream world was starting to blur. She shrugged, doing what the teacher asked, and went inside and sat down. She was the only student in the classroom.

Ariana smiled and drew closer with her wand pointed at Sofia. "The dream world is hard to control, isn't it? Avada Kedavera." Ariana said.

Sofia, remembering she was still dreaming managed to jump from her seat and avoid the spell. "What are you doing?"

Ariana shook her head, frustrated, "Why are you always in the way? Why does he always come to your rescue?"

"What are you talking about? Your Albus Dumbledore's sister! You're supposed to be the good guy! If your brother saw you right now, he'd be heartbroken." Sofia said.

"Shut up! I thought if I could break you, Merrick could use you. Instead, Riddle interfered!" Ariana snarled.

Sofia stood there stunned. "You ordered Peter to attack me?"

The sound of two people talking at once came from the back of the class."Kill her."

Sofia recognized it and turned around. Merrick stood there, still masked. Sofia had enough.  She ran after him and grabbed his mask, pulling it off. "Stop hiding and tell us who you are!"

Ariana chuckled from behind her. "Oh, your reaction is priceless Sofia."

Sofia blinked back confused tears as she held the mask in her hand.  In front of her, still wearing Merrick's robes was an all too familiar face.

"Newt?" Sofia whispered. Tears rolled down her face as she shook her head. She took a few steps back, wanting to run anywhere but here. "No. My brother wouldn't do this! It's a lie!"

"You truly don't remember that night do you Sofia?" Newt asked. A cruel smile crept over his face. Sofia's head was gripped with pain, the true memory of that night finally surfaced.

The night of the attack
Sofia's House

Sofia was putting her jewelry away when the door crashed open. "Newt are you home? Did the final approval of your spell go through?"

When he didn't answer she went downstairs and found him standing there, an empty look in his eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"So easy to control." He muttered.

"What?" Sofia stopped in front of him.

Newt twirled around like a ballerina making Sofia laugh.

Newt held out his wand at Sofia, "Crucio."

Sofia fell to the floor in agony. It felt like glass shards were being hurled at her at a hundred miles an hour, shattering her bones from outside and crushing them from within in an endless loop. How long did she lay there? It stopped for one blissful moment as her brother looked down at her with a look of mere curiosity.

Sofia forced herself to get up and ran up the stairs.

"I'm going to find you Sofia. I'm going to make you beg for death." Newt chuckled.

Tom Riddle appeared from the damaged front door. "Merrick?"

Newt spun around facing Tom Riddle. "I don't know who you are, but you're going to wish you never came here."

Riddle looked up to see a girl watching in both horror and confusion.

"I've been looking for you for a long time," Riddle told him.

"Merrick? Not a bad name, I might use it myself." Newt raised his wand but Riddle was faster and disarmed him. Newt just laughed, not caring if he lost the battle.

"It's over. Avada Kedavra." Riddle said.

Newt's body fell to the floor, unmoving. He looked up as the girl ran off. He followed her, finding her hiding in a closet, muttering nonsense.

"My brother, Where's my brother? What have you done to my brother?" The girl cried.

Riddle grabbed the girl from behind as she fought to attack him. He held her firmly as she was weakened from torture and bleeding. Exhausted, she passed out in his arms. She was in shock, but not permanently damaged. Most of it was from grief, not understanding what she had seen. He pulled out his wand, casting a memory spell over her. The grief was focused on her brother. Riddle wouldn't be able to undo all of it, but he could at least cover it up. He rewrote the memory easily, making himself out to be the bad guy. Let her remember what was left of her brother fondly.

Riddle put her to bed, about to leave. Something about her kept him from abandoning her. Against his better judgment, he picked her up and carried her with him down the stairs.

Merrick's body was gone. Somehow, he survived and was still out there.

Sofia's Dream

Sofia held her head as the pain of truth hit her. "Newt?"

Merrick smiled, tapping on the side of his head, "Not much left of poor Newt after the body died. Mostly your brother could hear what was going on but was permanently unable to respond. He's gone forever now. The desire for power your people crave makes it so easy to manipulate and take over you. When I release the rest of my kind, your people will be nothing more than cattle."

Sofia stood there, her hands covering her tear-stricken face. She didn't know how to take all this in.

"You really shouldn't turn your back on your enemies dear," Ariana whispered into her ear.

Sofia felt a sharp pain as Ariana Dumbledore stabbed her with a sword from behind.