Stop running from me (A Tom Riddle Story)

Slytherin

The cemetery was rather quiet on what would be her first, and probably last, visit.

The sun shone overhead warming her hands as she made her way to the willow tree, weaving in and out of gravestones that stood perfectly still in silence to the left and right, in front and behind, like a sea of the dead. Occasionally, she would reach out and lightly brush one, thinking about people long forgotten, now only remembered by stones that bared their name. Once they were mourned and the last reminisce of them well-kept, but even their mourners had joined them under the earth.

Her father had picked the spot by the willow, her godfather had once told her, so she was close to all she had loved. Reaching upwards, her hands pushed the delicate willow branches aside. She stopped when the gravestone became visible. The stone buried in the ground was also the stone buried in her heart.

She moved slowly, barely breathing. Not making a single sound as her feet walked the ground. She had never seen her mother's grave, she had never wanted to. And, if she was being honest, the sight of the white stone frightened her. It reminded her of how alone she was... how she had lost all she once had.

Her mother was gone, she had been gone for years. Yet it seemed she was still around. Esmeralda saw her mother within the ripples of water on a still lake. Within the wind dancing gracefully in the branches of trees... Her father was right. She truly would have loved such a place.

Kneeling, she reached out with a shaking hand and touched the white stone, trying to grasp at the pieces left within her.

"I'm going to Hogwarts this year mum...Father finally convinced the Ministry to let me go." She whispered, her voice nothing more than a sigh in the breeze.

"Father said I have to keep myself hidden, that I have to do everything he says... Is it wrong that I despise him?"

Esmeralda stared at the stone with tears glistening in her eyes.

"He could have saved you mum... and he's only just started to pay attention to me. He only ever does when he wants something..."

Standing up, she smiled slightly.

"I never said thank you...now I never will have that chance."

A single tear cascaded down her cheek.

"But I'll make you proud mum. Someday, I'll be known by everyone. I'll avenge your death and the deaths of our family... I promise."

Esmeralda turned and walked away, not looking back once at her weakness. Her past. It was time she changed. She would no longer be a fragile girl. Though she would never escape her childhood, she would make herself stronger. She would be a better person...

She would be like her mother.

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"Alright, let us begin!"

Silence filled the room so quickly Esmeralda wondered if it had been magic. She had never been claustrophobic before, but as the whole room turned their eyes to her, she felt the panic rise in her chest.

"Now Miss Fray, we are most grateful for your cooperation with these matters, and before anything else we must congratulate you on how well did you on your OWLs even though you had such short notice."

Esmeralda did her best to keep eye contact with Owen Morgan, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, who sat directly before her. Dressed in black robes that made him look terribly pale, the old man looked rather serious as he stared at her. The other senior members of the Wizengamot stood around him, all looking just as stern. She was grateful for the presence of her godfather Philip and Leonard Spencer-Moon, the current Minister of Magic, who sat either side of the Chief Warlock. Both seemingly far less jumpy than the senior members of Wizengamot... But then, they knew her, whereas these old men were just strangers.