Always || Tom Riddle

The best place to hide is in plain sight

As soon as my feet touched the ground in front of Penelope's house, I fell onto my knees, in a state of shock and sobbing like there was no tomorrow. Seconds later Penelope's door was open and Charlus had me in his arms, taking me inside and putting me on the settee by the newly lit fire.

"Penelope!"He called out, a sense of urgency in his voice, this of course caused her to rush down the windy planks of wood she calls stairs.

"What is it?"

"There's something wrong with Clara, I think she is ill" At that Penelope just looked at him like he was stupid, containing her laughter as she told him to go upstairs to continue reading a bed time story to Amber. As she sat down in a chair in front of me I didn't stop my sobs, they were uncontrollable so it was hard to speak, but by the look on Penelope's face she knew.

"Sssh its ok"

"Why does it hurt so much?" I finally managed to get out through fits of tears.

"Because it was real"

"Mummy?" Ambers sweet little voice called out as she came down the stairs with her teddy bear in hand. I furiously wiped away my tears as she ran over to hug me.

"Hi sweetpea" I murmured into her black wavy hair which was a spitting image of her fathers.

"She wouldn't go to sleep until she had found out what the commotion was down here" Charlus explained giving me a pitiful look and taking Penelope's hand in his.

"It's alright Charlus, now madam, you have a bed to get into and I have a lot of explaining to do"

As soon as Amber was asleep I found myself sat before Penelope and Charlus who were now a happily married couple...unlike me, no don't think like that! I scolded myself, there was no going back now, what I had done could not be changed.

"I will not cover this up at all so you have every right to think badly of me..."

"We could never think badly of you" Penelope broke in, sending me a reassuring smile before I continued.

"As you know I first met Tom at the orphanage, he stopped anyone from bullying me, so I naturally felt safe, not long afterwards Dumbledore came in to talk to Tom, when he met me he knew both I and Tom were different. So later that month we found ourselves receiving our Hogwarts letters and off we were away from the abusive place they call an Orphanage and into the magical Wizarding world. You also know that I went to Azkaban because the Ministry thought I had helped Hagrid to kill muggleborns. The crimes they accused me of were not committed by me or by Hagrid, but by Tom. He was the heir of Slytherin all along and although I knew, I was too stupid to tell anyone. Just before our Seventh year I killed Victoria's Clearwater's grandmother who happened live in Little Hangleton so that I could make a horcrux-" I looked up from my hands to Penelope and Charlus who were sat listening intently with mixed expressions on their faces.

"Making a horcrux means killing someone in order to split the soul, once the soul is split you can put part of it into an object. It stops ageing and if you should be attacked you would not die because part of your soul is still bound to Earth."

"Has Tom made a horcrux? Is that why he looks so...unhuman these days?" Nodding my head I answered Penelope's question, feeling tears leave my eyes and run down my cheeks.

"He has made at least seven from what I know, the thing about horcruxes is the more you make, the less human you become, you are essentially losing parts of your soul which make up who you are. I have only made one which means I am incapable of ageing, it also means that if it is destroyed it is possible for me to begin ageing once more, like everyone else does. Anyway, I am far from the person you think I am, which is why I am saying sorry, I know what I did was wrong, I was stupid, and young and too naive to know that what I was doing was wrong. I followed my heart in times when I should have followed my head"

"Clara" Penelope breathed, tears also running down her cheeks as she stood from her chair and took her hands in mine, kneeling down in front of where I was sat.

"You may have done wrong but you have apologized for it and that's all that matters to us...the only thing is, everyone else still wants you dead"

"I know, that is why I am going to go into hiding" Just as I had finished speaking a purple haired women with her wand raised and her eyes wide, burst through the door and into the room.

"Clara Jean Pevensie, you are under arrest by the Order Of The Phoenix!"She spoke heroically but someone stopped her, someone who I recognized vaguely from school.

"She is not under arrest Tonks; she is just coming with us to head quarters so we can get a few things straight"

"Excuse me but you are trespassing!" Charlus snapped, standing from the arm chair he had been sat in to face the pair.

"Actually we have rights, now Miss Pevensie, if you will" Sending my friends a sad smile I followed the members of the Order Of The Phoenix outside, where we apparated to the front of a London row of houses.

"I must admit, I had expected more...secrecy" I remarked with my arms crossed, cocking an eyebrow at the pair who clearly didn't seem amused. With one wave of the male's wand the row of houses began to move revealing another house, to which we went inside before turning his attention to me.

"The best place to hide is in plain sight"

"You will fit in well here I think" He continued as both I and his partner's mouths turned into the shape of a 'O'.

"Fit in?"

"Oh yes, you are as of this moment, a member of Order Of The Phoneix.The Ministry does not know about this of course, but they also do not know that we are housing Sirius Black, much more of a supposed criminal than you my dear. I should introduce myself, Remus Lupin and this is Nymphadora Tonks, welcome to The Order Of The Phoenix"

^