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Have you ever wondered where the story of sleeping beauty originates? The founders knew, Rowena, Helga, Godric, and Salazar knew. But it's because of Salazar that I'm here. Because of his need not to let his secrets die with him. Old bastard handed a key down didn't he? And me with all my curiosity and legendary bravery, just had to find out. Fat lot of good that did me...
So, by now you're probably wondering what on earth I'm on about, So let's go back a bit shall we?
It was 1944, I was sixteen and so desperately, foolishly in love. We snuck around at night hiding under my invisibility cloak, pashing in broom closets, just being your average teenagers. Well... I was your average teenager, they say love is blind, well, I was blind. Foolish and blind...
*Flashback*
"Miranda," He said nipping at my neck, "you have to be quiet," running his tongue over my pulse point making my knees go weak, "or we'll get caught."
I bite my lip, trying to regulate my breathing and stop any noise my body seems desperate for me to make. Tom lifted his head to look at me, with a mischievous glint in his dark eyes.
"I love when you bite your lip," kissing me quick and sweet, "it's so cute."
I groan, "Tom Riddle, you know I hate it when you call me cute." slapping him on the arm.
"Ouch! You know just because you hate it doesn't make it false." Tom smirked at me. I both hate and love that smirk.
"That didn't hurt you wuss!" I giggle grabbing him by his tie and pulling him into a short but passionate kiss.
"Well we can't all be strong and brave my little Gryffindor." he mumbled against my lips. His arms wrapping around my waist keeping me close. I lay my head on his chest listening to his heart beat.
"Well, lucky for us, you have other redeeming qualities." I feel him rest his cheek on my head.
"Oh yeah? I thought all us Slytherins were just arrogant gits?" He chuckled.
"Oh your still an stuck up mongrel," I smile "but you're also cunning, -which allows us not to get caught sneaking around like this, - and you're handsome, -which I love, not that I care about looks, but it certainly helps," He chuckles at me and the vibration through his chest make me hold tighter relishing the feeling, "and most importantly, you are absolutely head over heels in love with me, which makes up for everything else." I giggle.
"Well, if it weren't for the fact that you are irrevocably correct, I'd say you, my lioness, have a big opinion of yourself, but as it is, you are correct, I am in love with you, but I think it's time to get back to our dorms." He gives me a deep kiss and pulls me out of the broom closet and up to the fat lady.
"Goodnight my pure-blood princess." He kisses my hand. I look at him confused.
'pure-blood princess? What the fudge does that even matter if I'm pure or not?' I thought.
I open my mouth to ask him, but he chuckles and pushes me towards the entrance. "Go! I'll see you again soon!" I frown and walk through entrance.
*End Flashback*
For years I told myself I should have known, that I should have ended it there. That I should have ended him . But I've come to realise, that I couldn't have done it, that I couldn't have known, and that I couldn't have stopped him. There was no way that I could have predicted the magnitude of evil that he would soon unleash upon the world.
I realise all this now, I was a foolish school girl in love, I was sixteen. I still am physically, I'd like to think that fifty years of my consciousness walking the halls has matured me somewhat. Although I doubt that the cheeky Australian in me could ever die.
I still remember the day that I realised everything was horribly wrong, and that I was a stupid silly little girl who allowed herself to be blinded by his charm. He had been secretly courting me for almost eight months, after all he was a Slytherin and I was a Gryffindor, it was more then that though, we weren't just rival houses. We had rival blood lines.
Not many knew our family secret, I don't think even think Tom knew, but I knew his. He was the last remaining heir of Salazar Slytherin, and I? I was Miranda Willow, a true Gryffindor princess. I wasn't the last, I am now though.
* Flashback *
Class had just finished and Caspian and I were the last lingering in the room, we heard Professor Dumbledore clear his throat, and we turned to face him.
"I trust that the Willow twins know nothing of a meeting being held tonight?" Dumbledore said with that knowing twinkle in his eyes.
We grinned at each other. "Why professor, how could we know..." I started.
"about a secret Slytherin meeting..."
"in a certain Come and Go room..."
"currently being prepared..."
"with a few tricks, trips, and..."
"dung bombs, lots and lots of dung bombs." Caspian and I spoke like this a lot, it made our father lose his marbles at times.
Dumbledore smiled. "Well, as long as you know nothing of a meeting, I couldn't possibly hold you back after class any longer. Off you go."
Caspian and I walked out arm in arm. "You know sister, one of these days I should like to find out if that twinkle in his eyes is because he actually does know everything or..."
"if he just does it to make everyone completely paranoid? I was thinking the same thing brother, the very same thing."
"Common Room, 9 pm, I'll bring our cloaks, you bring our latest invention."
"I hope they work, or I'm going to choke in there."
Gryffindor Common Room, 9 pm.
"Cloak"
"Dung bombs Dissipater."
"Did you fix the problem with the tag?"
"No, I left it so we could choke and vomit when we set the bombs off"
Caspian grinned at me, "Tut tut, Minnie, sarcasm does not become you."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Come on, we have to get going or we'll miss the entry point."
We flicked the cloaks over us and made our way to the Come and Go Room, watching the Slytherins file in cloaks over their heads, I slipped in after Crabbe, Caspian after Goyle.
The Come and Go Room looked like someone had decided to use it as a storage room for everything unwanted for the past thousand years. To be honest, it probably had. everything from broken quills to overused sofas were piled higher then should be physically possible.
Standing aside I waited for the door to close and followed the last meeting member through narrow passage ways, passing tables and cupboards piled high making a rather dark, dank gorge.
A pile of chairs higher then the eye could see was directly in front of us, at the base a doorway stood leading into a cavernous room, you could see the chairs interlocking each other to form a dome. Lounges formed a semi circle all facing an armchair where a cloaked figure sat as if it were a throne.
I steered to the right, going around the mountainous stack of chairs until I found the alcove where Cas was waiting for me.
“Everything set Cassie?” I whisper, Cas grins at me. “Silencio” I put my wand to the alcove.
“You bet, we just have to let them settle. Wait till their comfortable and activate the bombs.”
Ten Minutes Later.
“Ready?” I ask. Cas grins.
We have a set routine for these pranks, I pull the silencing charmn off, and we listen to make sure they're still hanging around and then Cas activates the bombs with a incantation.
We pressed our ears to the wall of the alcove. “Finite”
“That fool Dumbledore, is getting in my way, he still suspects me of the death of that stupid little mudblood girl. He acts like her death actually matters, she wasn't worthy to use magic. Filthy mudbloods aren't just polluting the school, though, it's happening all over the world. Witches and Wizards accepting this filth into their bloodlines...”
Caspian and I looked at each other in shock. I couldn't move. I knew that voice. That's all I could think. I know that voice, oh god, oh god. Cas realised something was wrong and shoved the dissipater into my mouth, following with his own.
“Impetus coeperunt”
* End Flashback *
When we got back the common rooms I explained just what was wrong. How Tom had been courting me for eight months now, how I was so confused when he nicknamed me 'pure-blood princess,' how sick I was at what he said, everything. I vomited a few times, but eventually I got through it. I remember Cas just smiled at me and said “So I guess Mr. Riddle won't be gracing the Willow family tree any time soon?” at which point my anger got the best f me and I blew up a lamp... And then vomited again.
Soon after I sent Tom a letter saying it had to end, that I found out I was betrothed to another. Which was technically true, however Abraxas and I had the choice of backing out, and considering Cas and I saw him as an older brother, well lets just say when Abby and I found out we laughed outright at the idea.
With the help of Professor Dumbledore, I managed to avoid Tom for a couple of months. Eventually I got sick of the owls he kept sending and agreed to meet him. In hindsight, I should hexed his boy bits off, however as they say, hindsight is 20/20 and at the time, I was blinded, not by love, but grief and hatred of his bigoted words.
I should have said no.
* Flashback *
“Look just let me show you this and if you still want to walk away then I'll... I'll let you.”
“Promise? Swear on your soul?” I looked at him suspiciously.
“I swear on my soul, Miranda, I promise you.” He smiled. I should have known it meant nothing the mongrel.
“Fine, Tom.” I tapped my foot impatiently waiting for him to lead.
He grinned and spun strolling towards to dungeons, his robes billowing behind him.
We descended deeper and deeper under the castle, the passages got narrower, dirtier. They smelled stagnate, dust covered the floors, our feet must have been the first in centuries to step down here.
We finally reached a wooden door, ornate roses and vines were carved into it. Tom pulled out a key and unlocked it.
My eyes bulged at the sight inside. The room looked bright, new, I turned left and studied the wall, just like a book if you looked at walls inside the room left from right, a delicate painting illustrated the story of sleeping beauty.
“You've heard the story of sleeping beauty, correct?” Tom quizzed.
“Of course, it was one of my favourites.” I mumbled, still fascinated with the paintings.
“Well this is the true story, this is where the fairy tale originates.”
I turn to face him, “Well you seem to know it well, why don't you tell it while I study the painting yes?”
He smiled. “Perfect, Well, Once there was two neighbouring kingdoms, Aurae and Gehenna, the royals of each only produced one child, Nicola Princess of Aurae , and Kalub Prince of Gehenna.”
“Ha! Heaven and Hell? You'd think they'd name their kingdoms something less ostentatious.”
“I assumed they were renamed to lessen ridicule, anyway you're interrupting the story.”
“My apologies, do continue.” I wave my hand behind me, dismissing myself.
“Kalub wanted Nicola as a wife to join the kingdoms, and asked her father for her hand. Her father said he would think upon it, and Kalub returned to his kingdom. That night the king asked Nicola what she thought of his proposal. Nicola burst into tears and told her father that she had fallen in love with the kingdoms stable boy. The king doted on his daughter and hated seeing her in such a state, so he told her she may marry whomever she pleases.”
“Ah, spurned love, of course.”
“Interrupting.” Tom clicked his tongue.
“Sorry.”
“Upon hearing the news, Kalub flew into a fury and asks the castle witch what she can do to punish the kingdom of Aurae for their rejection of him. The witch tells him of an enchantment that could be cast upon a coffin, it would place the person inside under a timeless sleep, but the coffin had to be made of a specific stone with a crystal lid and the enchantment could only be cast during a full moon. Prince Kalub sprung into action and spent almost all the kingdoms gold making sure the coffin was built before the next full moon and placed into the pits of his castle. He send a message with an owl asking the princess to attend dinner with him so he may apologise for his pitiful behaviour. She accepts and he has the cook make the roast dry and place a sleeping potion into her wine. When she fell asleep he had the guards place her into the enchanted coffin. Time passed and with the all the gold spent on the coffin the Kingdom of Gehenna falls, the towns people leaving it for Aurae and the castle falling to ruin.”
“Thus the 100 year sleep from the fairy tale version?” I ask.
“Correct, 100 years later the son of a stable-man, goes adventuring into the old castle of Gehenna, he finds the coffin, seeing such a beauty inside he lifts the lid and she wakes, and they live happily ever after.” Tom rolls his eyes.
“Surely not!”
“Well, no, she raises the kingdom of Gehenna, renaming it Salus and brings it back to it's former glory. She also contacts a witch to see what could be done about the coffin. The witch, clever thing she is, contacts the founders, Salazar, Godric, Rowena and Helga. They decide to hide the coffin in the belly of Hogwarts so no one could fall ill to it's enchantment again.”
“Huh, so no spinning wheel then? Pity, I quite liked that idea.” I turn to look at Tom, having finished my inspection of the illustrated walls. “Thank you Tom, for showing me this, but I'm still betrothed, I can't break a vow of my family.”
“What if you found someone that suited better?” Tom smirked, and for once I only hated it. It repulsed me.
“What, you?! You're a flaming muggle hater!” I screeched.
Tom looked shocked and then snarled at me. “Are you a blood traitor Miranda?” His voice was low, dangerous, but I was infuriated. How dare he?
“BLOOD TRAITOR?! There is no such thing you blind idiot! There is one kind of blood and it is red!” What he spoke of was against everything I had been raised to uphold.
“Muggles are filthy creatures who aren't worthy to clean our shoes!” Tom screamed at me.
“Oh shut up! They are human, just like us! You are just a sad little boy with daddy issues!” Before I knew it he had thrown a body-bind jinx at me and I was stiff as board on the ground.
“Mobilicorpus” Sliding the lid open he placed me inside, “My father was filth, he always was and always will be nothing but a pathetic, disgusting little muggle” he sneered, and before shutting the lid on me, he placed his ring on my finger.
* End Flashback*
I never realised just how close to home I hit when I called him a sad little boy with daddy issues. No matter what that comment caused, it will always be true. Tom Riddle is an evil little boy with daddy issues.
What he has done, is doing and will do in the future, is evil and disgusting. I honestly believe when he closed the coffin lid on me he closed the last of his humanity away and I swear if I ever get out of here, I'll make him pay...
Until then, my body shall lay here and my conciousness shall walk the halls, watching students throughout their years of schooling, without even the ghosts to keep me company.