Tom Stark-Malfoy

I open my eyes to a pleasant darkness, woken by the rhythmic howls of the wind and the divergent calls of nocturnal creatures. I slowly tilt my head looking past the crib's frame, and focusing on the closed rosewood doors, with thin silvers of light peeking through it's cracks.

I raise my arms, or at least try to. All my muscles seem to not work properly. I try to kick straight up but my leg muscles want to move sideways as well. I ended up making weird circles in the air with my feet. When my leg falls to the side, I follow suit as well and lay on my side. It appears that as an infant, I have no control over my movements. This situation is quite. . . nettlesome...

Very well such is life, I need not move now anyways. I still have eleven more years to plan my movements and plot against the dark lord. My first mission will be to improve my muscle coordination and speech elocution. My stomach growls and I jolt at the striking pain that passed through it. I'm starving but I do not wish to bother my already tired mother. . . Ill just sleep it off.

I close my eyes and prepare to fall into a light slumber but then the sound of old wooden doors creaking open alert me. Did father notice my hunger and brought me milk? Impossible! It couldn't be an elf, they wouldn't dare make a sound when bringing me my food. I also doubt it would be my mother. She should surely be bedridden for the nest couple of days, it had only been hours.

I peek through one eye and scan the figure that has dared enter my room in the middle of the night. The figure was a tall, beautiful woman with long, thick, shining black hair. She had thin lips, dark, heavy-lidded eyes, and a strong jaw. She had the classic 'great good looks' and arrogant bearing common for members of the House of Black. Who else could it be but my aunt, Bellatrix. But why was she here?

'Silencio'

!? This cant be good. There's no use calling for my parents now.

I lay frozen in my crib, my heart beating faster and stronger with every step she takes closer to me. She leans over and carries me in her arms. Scanning me over with her eyes.

I felt a sharp jab into my head. Legilimency? I can't make her suspicious. I can't just bounce off her legilimency I need a distraction. Or a diversion.

If I divert her into a false room within my mind, she won't be able to see anything; I divert her into a newly created room, it was dark and empty, completely void of any memories except for the memories of just a few hours ago, when I was born. This should be enough.

Psychotic woman, jabbing into the mind of an infant. A regular infant would immediately become permanently mentally damaged you know?! What would you do if I was not an occulumence? A quizzical expression appears on her face but it is soon replaced by a pleased and delighted one.

"We finally meet my nephew but now I need to take you somewhere safe, somewhere protected, far far where he can't kill you; After all,-"

I could only watch horrified as her comforting smile morphs into a slightly psychotic ghost of a smile.

"How will you be able to serve the Dark Lord if you're dead?!"

Someone help! Get why away from this psychotic woman! I thought mother said that she only turned crazy after coming back from Azkaban? But then why-?!

! . . . did-? did I bring back more from the future than myself? However, this Bellatrix seems far too young and more sane. . . maybe, than her future self. Though. . . I, myself am an infant - There's only one way to make sure.

'Legilimency'

But using amateur legilimency on a well trained legilimence? There is a great chance she would detect it and immediately kill me. No, I can't use it on her. But how else can I look for clues?. . .

Maybe if I examine her soul? If she came from the future then she would have an older soul in comparison to her younger body - I think. But will I even recognize the difference? Souls are complex energies that vary per individual, in some instances they may even have multiple colors. . . Should I still try?

I never tried it before on another wizard. Uncle Severus only instructed me on the basics of attaining soul eyes. I've been training for several years but I only managed to see the b.a.r.e minimum amount of color. A very small semi-transparent ball of light in their heads.

Although, by doing this, there is a large chance I would fail and just waste my magic reserves, The situation calls for it and what do I have to lose?

I close my eyes and meditate for a few seconds. Calling on my magic and direct its flow towards my eyes. It took quite some time for me to master this - as since young I have only been directing it at my fingertips.

It was like writing with your right hand for your entire life and then being told to write with your left. You know how to write all the letters and words, but they turn out to look more like scribbles than actual words. You would need to continuously practice it, to get it right.

At first I focus the b.a.r.e minimum amount of magic that I used to use until I realize that it was not enough at all. The capacity of my magic has reverted back to when I was an infant! Letting out a tired sigh, drained from all the disappointments I have encountered within the last few days, I decide to focus all of my magic on my eyes and was finally able to see her soul.

/for those who do not know: Occulumency is not the same magic, it is mind arts. I think . . . So it does not consume much or any magic./

It had the regular size of a soul but it is fractured and looks extremely fragile. Professor Snape told me about this once. Murder can cause the soul to fracture, but. . . no, I don't think that is it.

My eyes are starting to sting and burn but I have to find the reason why. I look for anything even slightly off and I found it. It was a thread thin, a

foot long, and a shade darker than the rest of her soul. I did bring back to the past more than just me.

I'm sure that thread thin piece of soul was from the future and it is causing her present soul to be unstable. After all, it doesn't belong there. But. . . is there even a way to take even a 'part' of the soul out of the body without death? Wait - why was it only her soul that was affected by the 'time-travel', did her soul latch onto me when she died because I was her blood relative or. . . something? Unless . . . it wasn't only her's.

If there were more souls that had been affected, this can't be good.

My eyelids are becoming heavier. I used too much magic. But I can't sleep now. If I sleep - - - if I. I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Why do babies need so much sleep?! I need to stay awake but I can't.

My mind turns blank, as my breathing falls into a steady rhythm. I new I couldn't fight it so I let sleep take over.

0

0 0 0

The next moment I opened my eyes, I saw white. A white ceiling, a dirty looking matted floor and sofa's lined up, leaving space for two aisles. It was certainly odd but what was even more so was the tiny rectangular-oblong windows. Why have so many of them instead of just installing one large window? You would even see more if that were the case.

That crazy woman had sent me somewhere I fear to be muggle. Only muggles would build such inconvenient and compacted rooms. However what did not make sense was the pictures framed at the back of each seat. If they were muggles then the picture should not move, strange. Certainly strange.

"Good morning baby, are you hungry?"

Throwing me head to the side out of shock, I come face with a woman wearing a very short skirt. 'That length is simply inappropriate, unbefitting of a lady!' She reached out her hand and pokes my cheek. 'Ouch! hey stop that!'

Due to the immobility of an infant I did something quite childish and bit her fingers! Then I remembered. . . I don't have teeth.

"Your quite hungry aren't you? Just stay here and I will get you a warm bottle of milk."

Excuse me but I'm a baby! I cant go anywhere even if I wanted to and why don't you think it is strange for a baby to be alone?! I could only watch as the woman walks away and looked at the only thing I could look at for entertainment. The window.

For a while now I notice something just as baffling as this room and the wizards/muggles in it. I could only see blue out of the window. If only I could adjust my angle to 'wahhh' the room just moved!

For a moment I swear I felt the entire room move up and down! There were even sounds that accompanied it. This must be an enchanted room and the people here must all be wizards then since they didn't even react to it.

***Ladies and gentlemen for your safety please remain seated as we are experiencing a slight turbulence. Thank you for your participation.***

A voice just came from the ceiling! Even our mansion does not have that.

"Alright baby, your milk is ready. Come with me so you can eat."

The woman from earlier is back again. She removes the straps that cross over me in my seat and lift me in her arms. Since she is a witch, I guess I will allow her to tough me...

She carried me over to the 'feeding room' which has quite a number of metal drawers. While being fed the milk (which was in a strange looking container that was slightly transparent and smooth, was it made from crystal?) I contemplated on what to do now that I was certainly a distance away from Malfoy Manor and quite possible England.

Who knows where that woman could have sent me off to.

What do I do now? How am I supposed plan everything when I am nowhere near where anything is supposed to happen? I had the perfect plan, I had 12 years to find out what it is that the dark lord left to my father. It was only a matter of time before I had it in my hands.

Last time I had prevented my father from murdering children (though his intention was for the weasley's only). . . honestly at that time I had wanted to become friends with- I scrunch my nose and sneer at the pure hilarity of that thought! Erase that. I merely did not want anyone to die. I had already established my base to rise up the ladder in the house, and students falling dead one after the other would serve to give my father reason to send me to Durmstrung. It was only because of mother worrying over my safety that had me schooling closer to home.

Father told me about his plan to bring misfortune to the weasleys by giving the weaslette the key to the chamber of secrets, and it was on pure luck that I came across a clue on what it could have held. I had been scanning a book on dark creatures after having found and all my necessary textbooks for second year. As I recall, our DDA teacher was having a book signing event in Flourish & Blotts. It was due to the ruckus that I could rip the page featuring a basilisk without getting caught.

I had been confused for several weeks on what it could be. They say once the chamber is unsealed, it would unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic. When hearing the word 'purge' the first thought that went through my mind was 'plague', A curse that would bring illness and make the unworthy perish. However to achieve that without casualties, wouldn't it need to be sentient?

If it was a beast, then you could tame it, control it. And since it was Salazar who chose the beast, then a serpentine beast would be the only choice. A basilisk, the most horrifying and deadly serpent would be a ludicrous choice to have slumbering under children, but as a mascot for the Slytherin house it would be perfect. A beast truly befitting of the title 'King of Serpents'.

Then, when the school year began, it was a rush against time to prove my theory. Could it really be a basilisk or am I missing something? The golden trio would certainly know so i used my duel with potter to show them a clue in the form of a 'snake'. Though mostly it was for the entertainment of seeing the golden boy jump around, I certainly did not expect him to be a perseltongue.

When the first victim appeared however, I was crest fallen. It said that 'instant death' comes to its victims but they were simply petrified. I believed my only clue was gone and I didn't know where else to look. After more victims came about, it lead me to the conclusion that they may have just not looked at the basilisk's eyes but its reflection or through a semi-transparent object.

The basilisk was once again a plausible explanation. How it was able to move around was as simple as day. As a malfoy and slytherin, I knew quite a number of secret passageways before I even stepped foot in hogwarts. Something that had been here since Hogwart's very founding, would know even more. It went through channels, structures within the walls of Hogwarts itself. Slythering through pipes.

When I pieced everything together it did not take me long to deliver my message. I sneaked out at midnight and went to the hospital wing. I crumpled the piece of paper and stuffed it into the mudblood's hand. Surely fame wouldn't be bad for me but I couldn't take it then. By helping Saint Potter I would be abandoning my house by foiling the plan of our house's founder. Receiving that kind of fame would bring me more bad than good. So in the end I just did it to keep me from transferring into another school, though afterwards, I wish I did.

I have a hunch that whatever it is the dark lord left, is the key to opening the chamber. Everything had turned out fine in the end but if I had the key then, I would have had more control over the situation. I might have been able to save my father from vol- . vold- *sigh* the dark lord's wrath and prevented my family's decline.

How am I supposed to do anything now?

"You were a hungry little one weren't you?"

The woman put down the bottle I didn't know I finished, and set me into a sitting position. She then started patting me on my back and I felt a lump of air pass trying to escape from my stomach. 'No' 'No, as a pureblood heir I must not do such a-'

"buurrppp~"

(,╯︵╰,)