Always || Tom Riddle

The Cave and Inferi

"What do you think you are doing?" At the sound of my voice Kreacher turned to me, his sea blue eyes wide with both fear and annoyance. Not knowing how to answer me he hesitantly moved over to where I was stood, clutching the door handle as if my life depended on it and sending him a death glare. Noticing the house elf's hands shaking my glare softened a little as he handed me the letter, my eyes moving over the already read lines of ink that should have only ever been seen by me.

"Why did you feel you had the right to not only open this letter, but read it?"

"I was just curious Mistress nothing more" Kreacher muttered under his breath, looking to the ground and swinging on his feet, back and forth like that of a child when they knew they were in trouble.

"You're curiosity has no place in this room, is that understood?" All at once he seemed to go from looking at the floor intently to watching me warily.

"You aren't going to beat me?"

"What? No I would never beat a house elf. I hope I never have to. But, I will however have to remove you memory of reading this letter." With no escape Kreacher could only watch as I took out my wand and pointed it at his head, ready to wordlessly utter 'Obliviate'.

"Wait! I can take you where he asks" Raising my eyebrows my wand went back to my side, as I read through each line carefully. Tom was saying that I had to go to the place where he kept his Slytherin Locket, if I didn't someone I was close to would be killed if I had not turned up within forty eight hours of receiving this letter.

"Fine" Was my only reply as I put my wand in my denim jean pocket and grabbed my waterproof coat which matched the colour of my hair, somehow I knew I would needing it.Shoving the letter into my pocket I took hold of Kreachers hand and in a split second we were met with a cave. Letting go of Kreachers hand I moved towards the wall, putting my hand onto the cold stone carefully, no longer than a mere second later I flinched away from it, the magic that was on this place was dark and powerful, why was Tom's locket here of all places? With wide eyes I turned to the house elf who simply nodded to my pocket which contained the letter.

"Read it, it has a spell upon it to change" Taking out the letter I opened it up to see that the writing had indeed changed, no longer was there threats and angry, upset scribbles of Tom on the page, but a set of instructions.

"Number one. To gain entry a blood payment must be made. You are not to bring anyone but yourself inside."

"Mistress" Kreacher croaked, handing me a knife. Putting the letter back into my pocket I took it from him, moving forward to where the wall was. Hesitantly, I made a small cut in my palm watching with curiosity as the blood welled up. Pulling my eyes away from my palm I moved my hand over the stone which crumpled under my touch.

"Kreacher, you must go now. Thank you" With a nod of his head and a snap of his fingers he apparated leaving me alone as a small passageway was revealed. Taking out my wand and wordlessly muttering 'Lumos' I took one step at a time, being careful not to fall over as I reached the waters edge. A small hiss echoed throughout the cave which sent chills down my spine, I could almost hear the scary music of a horror movie playing in the background. With a flick of my wrist the cave was illuminated in light, none was here though and no snake was anywhere to be seen, so where had it come from? On a small rock beside me written in blood was a note which read, 'pull the chain at your feet'. Grabbing hold of the rusted metal chain I kept pulling until a beautifully carved boat appeared from under the water.

Stepping into the boat,being careful not to tip it up, I sat down as it began move through the water to a small island with a stone basin in the middle. Getting out, I climbed onto the rock just in time as the boat began to go back underwater, pulled by what I thought to be an unknown force, that was until a viscous scream sounded and grabbed my leg, pulling me down into the water before I could grab hold of the spiky rocks. Bodies surrounded me in the water, all lunging in my direction. Feeling myself begin to go unconscious from lack of air as I tried desperately to pull away from the beings, which I recognized from the many books I had read as Inferi.One splash above was all it took and the Inferi were off of me and swimming away back to the murky depths of the water. A hand grabbed my coat pulling me to the owner just before my eyes closed. I couldn't see anything as I tried to force my eyes open but I could feel and hear everything that was going on around me.

"Is she alright?!" The maniacal hushed demand from Bellatrix Lestrange sounded from right beside me as I was placed onto the rocks, feeling a pair of hands go to my chest and begin to rid the water from my lungs, I had been so caught up in trying to find out who had saved me that I had forgotten to breathe. Coughing the dirty tasting water up I took deep breaths in, savoring every one as if it was my last. When my eyes opened the first thing they saw was a frowning Bellatrix stood over me. Glaring at her, I grabbed my wand from the rocks beside me and pointed it at her.

"Why am I here?!"