Chapter 8
Anya had no idea how to let Harry know that her Mother had apparently killed Lord Voldemort.
She sat up in her room, pen in hand, staring down at her blank parchment.
She had never wanted to tell someone anything more, but she knew that putting her deepest secrets into writing was a bad idea for her entire family.
In the end she opted to give a coy suggestion that 'maybe' someone else would someday take out Lord Voldemort before he even left Hogwarts and that he shouldn't worry so much.
She sent the letter and went down to the kitchen, yawning.
To her surprise, her Mother seemed to be trying to cook a giant snake.
"What is that?"
"Oh, this?" Yor gestured to the snake. "It got into the house and..ummm... Well, it died."
She had killed it.
"So I thought I would try cooking it." Yor said. "I've seen people do it on TV."
Anya stared at the snake doubtfully.
She was fairly certain that it was one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
"I'm not eating that." Anya said.
Yor's face fell.
When it came dinnertime she and her father cooked while Yor sulked, trying to scrape the remains of the snake off of the pan she had burned onto the metal.
While they were eating, however, Loid noticed another snake skirting outside their window, watching them.
With practiced ease he whipped out a handgun, fired, and blasted the snake's head clean off.
The snake's body fell onto the floor, and they ended up throwing it out with the others.
"I've never seen so many snakes." Yor said. "Where did you get that gun, Loid?"
"It's Snake season." He lied. "You have to kill them to get rid of them."
"Oh." Yor said. She looked pleased. "I suppose I'll keep an eye out for them then."
Over the next week, the bodies of dead snakes that had gotten into their house and were now lying in their rubbish bin numbered in the dozens.
Yor had taken Loid's claim that it was Snake season to heart, and took great pleasure in whipping out her own gun whenever one reared its ugly head.
The blasts coming from their house were so frequent, Anya was worried that eventually someone would realize that something was going on.
One day she was sitting at home, reading a book when a snake came up to her.
She pulled out her own gun and fired, but missed.
The snake adjusted its head, hissing, and jolted at her.
Anya ended up grabbing it and strangled it to death.
It hung limply in her hands and she stared at it.
She had been reading up on snakes to better understand just why so many of them seemed to be getting inside their home, and in the meantime had learned several safe and effective ways of killing them.
She had also learned, however, that it wasn't typical for snakes to be so aggressive.
She turned the snake over in her hands, trying to identify the species.
Her first observation was that the snake was foreign: none of the species native to Britain matched its characteristics.
Secondly, however, and much more worrisome, were the patterns on its skin.
Most of the snake's hide seemed to be typical for a snake, but on the back of its head was a pattern resembling a human face.
She stared at it.
It resembled an evil looking man with glowing red eyes and, curiously enough, no nose.
The face stirred something in her memory.
She recalled how Harry had told her about Professor Quirrell, and how Lord Voldemort had burst out of the back of his head through possession.
She gripped the snake in her grasp and grimaced.
Mother hadn't killed Voldemort.
She had made her family into a target.
She had already sent Hedwig off with her newest letter to Harry, so she wasn't able to contact him about her suspicions.
No, there was nothing else for it.
She would have to take the snake to Number 12 Grimmauld Place and have Sirius look at it.
She took the snake's body up to her room and locked it in a chest.
The idea of having the corpse of a creature that had been possessed by an evil sorcerer in her room rattled her, but she had no choice.
Her parents would throw the snake out with the rest if she didn't take steps to secure it.
She took a moment to iron out what she knew.
Yor had incurred Voldemort's wrath by trying to kill him.
Yor must have thought she killed him, but failed.
The fact that the snakes kept coming back indicated that Voldemort would not be killed if his host body was killed.
Yor probably killed a host, not the real thing.
It wasn't her fault... she had no idea that Voldemort was a wizard.
But it begged the question... how did one kill a wizard?
Anya was busy pondering the question when her sharp eyes caught the distinct sound of a snake hissing.
She stayed completely still, eyes perked.
She ran her mind around the area but picked up no thoughts to speak of.
She almost wondered whether it was her imagination when the snake struck.
Anya had spent the past several years of her life learning martial arts from her Mother, one of the strongest people on the planet.
Although the snake had a distinct natural advantage, and almost caught her by surprise, it wasn't enough.
She snatched it by the neck and held it aloft.
Its body thrashed wildly about as it tried to break free, but Anya held firmly onto it.
"Lord Voldemort, you are wasting your time." Anya told it.
The snake stopped moving.
It glared at her hatefully.
'Who are you?'
She tried to hide her surprise at the sound of the snake speaking human words.
"I'm just a girl." Anya said. "A girl that has bested you."
The snake hissed.
"If I had a fraction of my powers, girl, I would have destroyed your entire family weeks ago."
"You couldn't even handle my Mother, let alone the entire family." Anya told him, exasperated.
She reached to her bedside, grabbed an empty glass of water, and then quickly placed it over the snake, trapping it inside.
Voldemort hissed, baring his fangs at her.
She sat down on her bed, watching him. "So what are you doing here, Voldemort?"
"Do not speak to me in that familiar way!" The snake snapped.
"Very well, Mr. Tom Riddle." Anya said. "What are you doing here, sir?"
The snake angrily tried pushing the glass off of it with his head, but Anya stopped it by pressing down on it with her hand, and quickly replaced the weight with a large book.
"I will kill you, and your entire family!"
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you will." Anya said in a bored voice. "I have to say, you're quite a bit more pathetic than I imagined you would be. But then again, you did lose a fight against a baby."
Voldemort hissed at her again.
"You dare-"
He fell silent.
Clearly the gears in his head were turning.
"How did you come across your information?" He asked, in a much more polite tone. "I am surprised..... You are clearly a muggle, after all."
"Oh, I have my ways." Anya said casually. "I am my Father's Daughter, after all." She smirked. "Heh. We muggles know a lot more than you think we do."
"Clearly." Voldemort said. "But you know things that no muggle should know... about who and what I am."
"I do." Anya said. "You are Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. Born to a Muggle Father and a Witch Mother. You are the Heir of Slytherin and have rechristened yourself Lord Voldemort, in an attempt to control the Magical World and destroy your arch nemesis, Harry Potter and all those he holds dear."
"And you are Anya Forger... the daughter of the woman who hunted me down and who tried to kill me."
"She would have killed you, if you weren't a wizard." Anya said pompously.
The snake hissed.
"You are not as well informed as you think you are if you believe the average wizard could have survived her assault. Your Mother is a natural born killer the greatest I have ever seen."
"Why thank you." Anya said. "But how did you survive? She really did think she had killed you."
"That is my little secret." Voldemort said smugly.
We'll see about that.
Anya thought, as she tried to peer into his mind.
She was surprised, though, when her telepathy seemed to impact a thick, impenetrable wall.
Her first thought was that it was the New Moon and she was not able to use her powers, but a quick glance at her calender proved that was not the case.
"You are not a not true muggle." Voldemort said. "To be such a master of legilimency."
"Legil-what?"
The snake almost seemed to smirk. "How fascinating. You have real power... I was wrong to treat your family as if you were muggles. Clearly, there is some magic in you."
"I didn't get a Hogwarts Letter, so I think you're full of it." Anya said, annoyed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
She tried not to let it show, but she was worried.
Voldemort, somehow, was able to detect her mind reading ability.
The thought deeply concerned her.
Even Harry still didn't know.
"You are an excellent liar." Voldemort said, smugly. "Yes.... I see a lot of myself in you. You are hiding your powers from your parents, aren't you?"
"No I'm not." Anya said immediately.
"So if I were to go downstairs and tell them right now."
"They'd freak out about a talking snake and shoot you dead again."
"You are an amusing girl." Voldemort said. "But my return to power is inevitable."
"You can't even get out from behind that glass, why would I be scared of you?"
"I cannot be killed." Voldemort said. "Your Mother may indeed be the greatest killer in the world, but it will not do her any good against me."
He sounded as if he were telling her the truth.
"Yet you have come here." Anya said. "It sounds to me like you're afraid of what will happen when she does figure out how to kill you."
"I was simply getting to know my enemies." The glass cracked.
Anya barely had time to react as it shattered.
Voldemort let out one last laugh as the snake keeled over, dead.
Anya stared at it, wondering just what had happened, before deciding that Voldemort must have relinquished his possession and gone home.
Well that was underwhelming.
She thought to herself, as she took the snake's body and threw it with the rest.
She hoped that he wouldn't come back.
She had certainly not been expecting to confront him so soon.
Indeed, over the next couple of weeks it became apparent that the unexpected snake attacks had completely stopped.
Yor couldn't understand it, and was honestly a little disappointed.
She really enjoyed household chores that involved her killing things.
Loid was even more perplexed, and like Anya seemed to be consulting experts, but unlike her he had not realized that it was Lord Voldemort behind it all the entire time.
Now that she had met Voldemort, it was difficult for Anya to take him seriously.
He was a cold blooded killer, to be sure, but so was her Mom.
It seemed as if he had very few powers left to him other than possessing other creatures, and other creatures could be killed.
The fact that he had come after her family angered her.
It did not frighten her.
It was time for her to take matters into her own hands.
If she had to, she would destroy Voldemort herself.
He may not have realized it, but he had just made an enemy for life.
And Anya's enemies never had their way.