Melody Riddle and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 1: Devotion Differences

He whimpered, cowering under my gaze, "So sorry, milady, I –"

"Whatever, you pathetic worm," I said with a roll of my eyes, the action waking me up just a little more. I'm getting good at being evil. Wait.. I shouldn't be proud of that. "What do you want?"

"The D-Dark Lord ordered m-me to come g-get you...."

"Well, why didn't you say so? Come on, let's go, there's not a lot of time to waste," I snapped.

He nodded quickly, and nervously held his arm to me. I smirked and took it, bracing myself for the discomfort of traveling. Peter Disapparated us outside a large house with a very creepy aura, that of which didn't help with my queasiness. Somehow, despite looking very old and run down, it stood forebodingly at the top of a hill overlooking a small town. Of course, what else would be the homely abode of Lord Voldemort?

"This is the R-Riddle House..." Peter said, walking toward the entrance and glancing back at me every so often. "It was the home of the Mudblood family on your father's side."

I fought to abate my stomach as I looked the building over. Only one window flickered with light. The rest of the windows were so dark I almost thought I saw a face looking out through one of them, but when I turned my head it was only the moon reflecting off of it. Suddenly the stomachache turned to rocks weighing me down.

"How is my dad? Does he have a body yet?" I asked as he opened the front door with a creak and led me through the house.

"I-In a way... he still wants you for the creation of the potion to give him a stronger body," Peter said. "He's not very good looking, if that's what you hope for –"

I laughed darkly, causing the man to flinch. "All the better to scare his foes!"

We finally walked into the room I saw in my vision, the fireplace casting warmth even to the doorway I confidently strode to and leaned against. I wished I could've had the option to hesitate, but with the pitiful man watching my every move it would be sure to cause him to see through my facade... or is it even a facade anymore?

"My Lord..." Peter stood next to the chair again with a low bow, emphasis on 'my' for whatever odd reason. "Your daughter is here."

"Thank you, Wormtail," he said. When I was eleven, the hairs on the back of my neck had stood up upon first hearing his voice. Now that I was used to it to some degree, I merely gave an effort to show I was more than happy to hear it. I could just see all the hairs on Peter's body stand up, even though he'd been with him for a couple months already.

"Dad," I released my voice breathily, surprisingly feeling some actual joy at knowing he could finally have a body to talk to me one on one. When we first met, I had to settle for talking to him while he was surviving off of the back of Professor Quirrell's head. After he died, it was then through the snake, Nagini's, mouth that he spoke to me.

"My daughter... how good of you to come," he said.

"I will always be there for you when you need me," I said. "Is there anything in particular you would like to talk to me about? Perhaps the point of the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins?"

Bertha was reported missing by someone who was a friend of my Uncle Gerald... I had suspected the one behind it could be dad. Though it was odd to me that no one reported it to the Ministry so they could go search for her. In these peaceful times in the wizarding world, a witch or wizard's disappearance didn't happen often... or if it did, they turned up sooner or later with a wild story to tell of some adventure.