Chapter Eight

I took a moment to cast my charms, and another to regret the loss of the luxury, and even the company of Dumbledore and Black, before squaring my shoulders and answering the knock. It had not been repeated; Tom Riddle was not a man accustomed to having to ask twice.

'Tom,' I said, feigning what he would take as surprise, before even glancing at Lucius Malfoy, who stood at his side.

Neither man spoke as they crossed the threshold into the tiny hall and thence to the shabby living room. There were only two armchairs, and Riddle sat in one, and as I was nearest to the other, Lucius was too slow on his feet to beat me to it. He was left to stand awkwardly at the fireplace, almost hiding the picture of Ethel from view with his impressive bulk. I should have Summoned a chair from the kitchen; it was bad-mannered and childish of me, I know, and I suspect he was ready to let me know just that, but his attention was diverted to where his master was about to speak. I think it was then that I realised just how much Lucius resented being under any man's control, especially a half-blooded beggar-on-horseback as powerful as Riddle had become; and yet, had it not been for rich and influential men like Abraxas Malfoy, Riddle would never have had the funds or the initial political clout to embark on his whirlwind campaign of hate. I filed it all carefully away for another time; for then I needed my wits about me in a way I had rarely needed them before.

'Why is it, Severus, that Lucius has been unable to reach you these last few days?' Riddle asked as an opener, as he lit a slim black cheroot and rolled it from one side of his lips to the other.

'Perhaps you should ask Lucius,' I replied, nodding to where Malfoy stood with a look of indignant fury on his pale sculpted features. 'I cannot be held responsible for his inadequacies.'

Riddle smiled his cold smile and looked at Malfoy too. 'Did you bother to come here at all, Lucius?' he asked, and I could see his malicious delight. 'I find myself wondering, in view of the fact that the house, such as it is, was quite clearly here for the finding.'

'Of course I did,' Malfoy snapped, glaring at me. 'Drunk, were you, Severus?' he asked, twisting his mouth in his own imitation of a smile.

I didn't reply, but I confess I was grateful at least that Ethel had hidden the excesses of my intemperance from the view of everyone but the more sympathetic, or at least empathic, Black. I didn't see the point of what could turn out to be a senseless spat though, and apart from my opening barb, which was really only self-defence, I wasn't quite sure whom among the Death Eaters I would be better paying court to, and just whether I should really be incensing Lucius Malfoy any more than I had already done, both that day and the night at the manor. For now, I wanted to hear them out and be rid of them, and I didn't even offer them refreshments; already the house seemed too full of Tom Riddle's presence, stifling the atmosphere with its venom.

Riddle wasn't fooled, of course. 'You would not be thinking of playing games with me, Severus, would you?' he asked, flicking the ash off the end of the cheroot, to where it disappeared before reaching the floor. 'I have neither the time nor the inclination to have to come looking for you myself when you hide yourself from my messengers.'

I had to put an end to it; Lucius's further humiliation would not serve me well at that point. Riddle would need a convincing answer as to why Malfoy had failed to find the house though, and I almost smiled as I thought of how gratified Bellatrix would be that she had some use in my eyes.

'And I had thought that I had made it clear that I had no inclination to see Bellatrix Black, either with or without her sister and Lucius,' I replied, nodding to Malfoy. 'I'm not interested, Tom, not now, and not ever. If Bellatrix Black calls again, she will not find me or this house. Use someone else, please,' I said, in some sort of attempt to mollify Lucius, to show that I, at least, was unaware that he, and not Bellatrix, was the lowly messenger. It seemed to work, partly at any rate; Riddle appeared not to know that Lucius had called alone once, and Lucius didn't see fit to enlighten him, more anxious to have his dignity restored at that point, I supposed, than score the dangerous point over me that surely would have been.

'You refuse Bella outright, Severus?' Riddle asked, looking around the room again. 'And yet you see fit to surround yourself in the way you do, when she could provide more fitting accommodation for you. Just think, Severus, you would never have to come into this squalid little hole again, and for such a small price,' he said, letting his eyebrow rise in invitation.

I don't know what madness possessed me, perhaps vanity, perhaps indignation that they thought me a pauper who might be willing to prostitute myself for material gain, or maybe I just wanted to show Riddle and Lucius that I already wanted for nothing that Bellatrix's huge dowry could provide. Whatever it was, I stood from the chair, glanced once to Ethel's picture, finding her watching me back with what looked like a smile of mischievous approval on her face, and dropped the charms cast on the room.

'As I said, Tom,' I said in way of reply, 'I have neither the need nor desire for anything Bellatrix Black would bring into my life.'

He laughed his mirthless laugh, at first pretending not to even notice the changes, and then looking around the room in open appreciation. 'Perhaps I shall stay here, Lucius, instead of the manor,' he said to where Malfoy stood with a bitter twist on his lips, trying to digest what was happening. 'It is altogether more ... shall we say, tasteful.'

Despite his outward display resentment towards me, I sensed Lucius was as relieved as I felt horrified at that suggestion, and I was just beginning to wonder if I had slipped on my own wand, when Riddle laughed again and turned to Malfoy. 'I jest, Lucius,' he said. 'I enjoy the vulgar opulence of Malfoy Manor, affording me as it does the opportunity to check that you and your father do not have pokers in any fires I have not lit myself. It would not do, after all, to have Abraxas's delusions of greater things to be any more than delusions, would it?' He didn't wait for an answer, instead lifting his hand and gesturing casually at Lucius, who was left standing at the fireplace like so much statuary, neither hearing nor seeing any more of what went on.

'What did you want me for, Tom?' I asked, before he could state his demands. 'I'm sure you have not come here simply to humiliate Lucius in front of me.'

'No, that was just an interesting diversion,' he replied, flicking the remains of the cheroot into the fire. 'How do you afford this, Severus?' he asked, unknowingly repeating the very question Black had asked a few hours before, and I found myself wondering if indeed it had only been one day.

'I was left a sizeable legacy many years ago,' I lied, the words slipping into my mind just before I spoke them. 'A childless Muggle uncle on my father's side. Very wealthy, and totally mad,' I added, just wanting to make up a bit that Ethel didn't have anything to do with; after all, it had been something along the lines of what I was going to say anyway. "Stop improvising, Severus," she chided me, so reproachfully that I had to stifle my smile.

Riddle seemed to swallow that for the moment. 'Ever the enigma, Severus,' he said blandly, as though he had no further interest, but I knew I would have to get a solid foundation on which to build my lie, in case he investigated in the future; but for now he had weightier matters on his mind. 'I wanted to talk to you about several things. One was Bellatrix,' he said ruefully. 'However, I am willing to let that matter pass, and acknowledge the bachelor in your soul. I shall let Lucius deal with her from now on; he is about to become her brother-in-law, after all, and it is a family matter.'

'I think that satisfies the demands of propriety,' I concurred, joining him in whatever little game he thought he was playing. It cost me nothing, and maintained the feigned level of mutual respect I hoped to keep between us. 'What were the other things?' I asked, as though I didn't already know.

'How much thought have you given to the little talk we had the other night, Severus?' he asked, and I didn't miss the cool undertone in his voice, the one that would rise if he thought that I had dismissed his request as easily as I had dismissed his offers of Bellatrix Black.

'Quite a lot actually,' I replied, finding I had another excuse for refusing to see Malfoy. 'In fact one of the reasons I saw fit not to be sidetracked by Lucius and Bellatrix was that I was attempting to translate and decipher some rather obscure texts,' I said, nodding vaguely to where several books written in long-forgotten tongues lay open on the ebony desk. They were mainly about potions and poisons, but I was confident he would not know that, and could bluff my way out of it if he did.

That pleased him; I could tell that much. I was a skilled Legilimens, a secret I had kept from everyone, and one I rarely used; in fact I had spent whatever time I had spent with my parents, honing those very skills, so that I didn't approach like a Bludger on my subject's brain. My parents seemed not to notice, although delving through the cesspool of my father's mind perhaps goes some way to explaining why I hated him so much. I drew my mind back at that thought; hate is such an ugly word, and I had to keep my mind carefully neutral whilst talking with Riddle. He also was a competent Legilimens, although not as good as I fancied myself to be, and even then I felt him trying to push softly to see if I had left anything worth knowing lying around for him.

'And?' he asked, drawing back himself. 'Or do I have to drag each word from you by other means?'

'And ... very little, Tom,' I replied. 'There are a few vague references to immortality, which turned out to be nothing more than legends about various alchemists, mainly in the lands of the nomads and camel-riding peoples. Wizards like Abu al-Jaffrif and Babu Hammza,' I said, plucking the names from midair, as though they should mean as much to him as I pretended they meant to me. "Be careful, Severus," Ethel chided me again. "He has almost total memory recall, and may well throw these very names at you in the future." She was right, of course, and I cautioned myself not to think of him as the fool he clearly wasn't.

'Keep searching, Severus,' he said. 'I have faith in you. It is not misplaced is it?' he asked. The change in his demeanour was subtle, and yet pronounced. He looked oddly vulnerable, almost weak, and had I not known him for the consummate master of deceit that he was, I would have taken that at face value.

He deserved the performance of my life too, and I stated my case and my terms to him, weighing each word with the precision of a Knockturn Alley drug dealer. 'No, Tom, it is not misplaced,' I said quietly, rolling back my shirtsleeve to where the Dark Mark shone on my arm like the malignance it was. 'I need to know something too,' I went on, looking at the creeping vileness as though fascinated that such an honour had been bestowed on me. 'Is my faith in you misplaced?' I had let my voice drop to a whisper, in what I hoped he would take for some sort of reverence. 'Because I think I am about to give of myself completely ... and I need to know.'

He stood up. I had caught him unawares, perhaps for the first time. 'I am your Tom,' he said, leaning forward to kiss first one of my cheeks, and then its neighbour, 'as you truly are my Severus. Between us, Severus, one day we shall rule the world. We are the only two fit to do so.'

I glanced to the picture, to where Ethel was watching me; even Dumbledore and Black had turned slightly, but I fancy that is not what Riddle would have seen anyway. He must have mistaken my gesture as looking to where Malfoy was still standing, unaware of our conversation.

'Don't trouble yourself about Lucius,' he said. 'He has enough to do with the Blacks. He will not be under your feet. None of them will be. I shall see to it that you are not disturbed unnecessarily. Your work here is as vital as it is secret. You alone are apart from the others, you and I alone have been chosen, and Mordestone cannot be mistaken. She cannot lie.'

'What has Lucius to do with the rest of the Blacks?' I asked, uncomfortable with the subject of Mordestone, almost nauseated by the writhing recognition I had felt under the skin of my left arm when he had mentioned the black stone's name. I pulled my sleeve back down, slowly, as though reluctantly shutting away its presence. 'Surely marrying Narcissa is enough for even him,' I added, without knowing why I asked that in particular, or whether Ethel had planted the question in my mind, but it was as well that I did.

'He has to find Sirius Black,' Riddle replied, quite himself again. 'He seems to have dropped from sight this last day or two. He has not been at the family home, and that concerns me.'

'Why bother?' I asked. 'I got the impression he was not anxious to join us.'

'Oh, he's not,' Riddle admitted. 'I want him out of the way. He is altogether too close to Dumbledore and others of his persuasion. He is also too protective of his cousin Andromeda, and I believe she is with child,' Tom said, and I hardly heard the rest of his words above the thunder beat of my heart. 'And that child could well be very important to us. I do not want Sirius Black to spirit him away the moment he is born.'

'Let us walk before we run, Tom,' I said, keeping my voice low and controlled to hide the panic. 'It could be months, or even years, before I have any sort on understanding of what I need to do.'

'Just make sure it's not too long, Severus,' he said, standing to look at himself in the mirror over the fireplace. 'This body does not have too many years.'

I nodded my understanding. I wanted him to leave then, enough was enough, and any more might well be too much. I knew what I had to do; somehow I had to protect Andromeda too, and whatever package she came along with, and if I had to lay down my last breath, I swore to myself that I would not be her undoing. I couldn't afford to make any mistakes now, however small, until I was much more sure of my place in his pecking order.

'I have much to do, Tom,' I ventured. 'Perhaps hundreds of books to translate and read. Is there anything else for tonight?' I asked, glancing to where Malfoy still stood. 'And perhaps it would be a kindness to wake Lucius before he catches fire. I suspect even you might find it difficult to explain to Abraxas just how his only son melted.'

Riddle smiled, and I fancied there was more warmth in that smile, and that both terrified and thrilled me in a way I cannot explain, as though I had ducked under his defences in some way, and he had welcomed the intrusion. But I cautioned myself again; perhaps I was just becoming accustomed to the cold. I felt the gentle pressure of his mind, and I wondered if he knew that I had had closed my own down, but I dared not probe too deeply. He turned again to Lucius, flicked his wrist again, and Malfoy woke.

As I closed the door on Riddle, Lucius, and the crispness of the autumn evening, I found I was trembling. It shocked me that I had not realised I had been under such strain, and that his presence, as benign as it had seemed by his standards, could take such a toll on me. And now I had to face three people whom I knew would be waiting in the living room for me; I felt as though I were about to have sentence passed upon me by a jury of my peers. I took a moment to compose myself, pretending I couldn't hear their voices, and that I wasn't filled with trepidation at what they would have made of the last hour, whether they had believed me faithful to them, or bending my knee to Riddle. When I thought I was ready to face them, I stepped into the living room, but I wasn't ready, not for what I found.

Dumbledore, gravely concerned, yet not accusatory, stood at the fireplace where Lucius had stood; Ethel had brought her odd little chair, and sat gazing thoughtfully into the fire; and Sirius sat on my favourite settee. I didn't really see any of them though; my heart seemed to have stopped in its tracks at the sight of the woman sitting opposite her cousin. It was Andromeda Black.

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