Aludra | Book Two |

Chapter 2

Enjoy!

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Aludra locked herself away in her room the moment they returned home, the last thing she heard from downstairs being Narcissa's outcry of, "Lucius, what happened?!"

Aludra sat on the edge of her bed and took the black book into her hands, staring at it. On the cover, the year 1942 was embossed in platinum writing and Aludra quickly did the calculations, concluding that the book was made fifty years ago. Gingerly, she opened it; the binding crackled and yellowing, stuck-together pages peeled apart. Every sheet of paper was blank, except for the very first page, where Aludra could barely make out a messy scrawl in faded, black ink.

                                                           T.M. Riddle

Aludra suddenly thought of their visit to Borgin & Burke's, and she remembered her father mentioning something about Ministry raids in private homes, searching for Dark Artefacts. Aludra was well aware that her family's hands were not clean, and yes, she was aware that there were more than a few Dark Magic-related objects in the house. Could this book possibly be one of them? Aludra thought of the malevolent emotion her father felt when he thrust the books in Ginny Weasley's face, and reckoned that it would be very much like him to try and incriminate the Weasleys, saving his own neck in the same breath.

Aludra couldn't understand how a simple book could be dangerous. She'd had possession of it for more than ten minutes, and her hands had yet to shrivel up and fall off. Nevertheless, if her father wanted it gone that desperately, there had to be something shady about it. She put the diary at the very bottom of her trunk, beneath the clothes she already began to pack for school. Aludra would have to think of a way to dispose of it, but until then, it would remain out of sight and out of mind.

                                                             * * *

The Gryffindor girl's initial idea of keeping her distance from T.M. Riddle's diary didn't last for long.

It all started to crumble on the weekend before September 1st, when Draco went about his usual shenanigans and landed not himself, but Aludra in serious trouble. Narcissa and Lucius had been invited to a very exclusive event that only permitted adult witches and wizards, no children allowed. At first, they were uncertain, but they decided that the children (Aludra in particular) were old enough and sensible enough to be left home alone. Aludra begrudgingly accepted the responsibility of caring for her younger brother for a couple hours.

"I'm bored." Draco complained not even a second after their parents left. Aludra rolled her eyes and began to march up the stairs.

"Go play with the dogs. I'm busy," she said irritably.

"You're always busy, these days! You never want to spend time with me!" Draco followed her closely.

"What's the point? You'll go right back to hating me on Monday. Besides, like I said, I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?" Draco demanded.

"None of your business!" Aludra exclaimed, getting ready to slam the door shut in his face again. Draco wedged his foot between the door and the frame.

"You're supposed to be watching me!" he protested.

"We're the same age, you can watch yourself." Aludra huffed, putting more force on the door and hoping that he would move. He didn't.

"What am I supposed to do, then?" he said angrily.

"I. Don't. Know! Go do whatever you want - anything at all! I don't care, as long as you leave me alone!" Aludra yelled, giving him a hard push and then locking herself away. Foul-tempered, Draco kicked her door and stormed back downstairs, brooding the whole time.