The Dawn of Darkness || T. Riddle

Chapter 28: The Rise of a Monster

Chapter 28: The Rise of a Monster

There was a knock at the door. "My Lord?" Lorcan Avery stepped in looking oddly unsettled. "There's someone at the Manor door."

Riddle waved a hand from over his shoulder, not even bothering to look towards the doorway. "Send them away. I'm busy."

"They're not here to see you, My Lord," he said. "They're here to see Markorp. But I couldn't find her. She's not in her chambers-"

Riddle's head snapped towards the door, and the look in his dark eyes could have been classed as a weapon for how severely it stabbed. "Who is it?"

Avery paused. "Someone you're certainly not going to like when you see."

Estela walked into Tom's lounge area from behind them both, and Avery arched a brow, but hid any other emotion he may have been feeling at the sight of her very well. "What's wrong?" she asked them both.

"It appears you have a visitor," said Avery smoothly.

"A visitor? Who?"

Tom and Estela both eyed Avery, eagerly awaiting his answer. "It's the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, my Lord. A Squad of three; here to speak with her."

"The-" Estela began, before she stopped mid-sentence, her entire form changing into something that seemed to spark with life. "It's probably William! My father! Is it him?"

Avery shook his head slowly. "No. My Lord I really think-"

But Riddle was already up out of his seat, had put on his black robes in a swift whirl of obsidian, and was striding towards the doorway.

He glanced over his shoulder at Estela who had begun to follow him. "No," he said. "You're to stay up here until I tell you otherwise. Avery, you and Viridian are to accompany me. Get Malfoy, too, it's his house after all."

Tom and Avery were both nearly out the door when Estela objected. "I'll do no such thing! I'm coming with you. Besides, they're here to see me, aren't they?"

Riddle rolled his eyes and turned on his heel to face her. "Precisely, which is exactly why I don't want them to know you're here. Have you told anyone that you've been residing in Malfoy Manor for the past four months?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"And so tell me, how is it that a squad from the Ministry's Magical Law Enforcement department could possibly know that you're here?" Estela shrugged. "Exactly. This is evidently a ploy and I don't want you getting involved. I'm locking this door and not even you will be able to get through it. Oh and please, try not to make too much mess while I'm gone."

Estela opened her mouth to object once more, but the door was already shut and the boys had disappeared behind it. She huffed in annoyance, storming towards the door as she summoned her cardigan with her hand.

She waved a hand to unlock the door, but it wouldn't budge. She tried again. Nothing happened.

Scowling, she pulled out her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the lock and tried the spell again.

Nothing.

She rolled her eyes, speaking under her breath. "You're positively infuriating, Tom Riddle."

***

Anthony Goodwin eyed his two co-workers doubtfully before he knocked on the large black doors for the final time. But before his knuckle could meet the surface, the door swung open, and standing beyond the mighty entrance was a face he hadn't seen in person for years.