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It’s hard to say what was I dreaming about. The memories of the dreams disappear very quickly when someone wakes you suddenly and roughly up.

“Hey you!” Someone screamed to my ear.

I jumped on the bed hitting the jerk. My hand waved in the air and I moved to the other side of the bed, surprisingly staring at the ghost.

No. N-oo.

“Who are you?”

Eleven years old Tom Riddle tried to look dangerous. But I remembered him from my hallucinations. He was afraid even more than I was. I groaned and sat on the floor.

At the same time Tom Riddle was moved through the bed, he looked very real though – nothing like silver transparent silhouettes. His chicks were red, black hair stuck out in different sides and eyes looking at me with threat.

“Gertrude!” Arc came into the room. “Are you alright?”

Tom Riddle started to stare at the hound.

“Does he speak?”

“Do you see him?” I asked gloomily.

“Who are you talking to?!” Grandpa asked.

“Oh you don’t see him right?” I asked grandpa.

“See whom?”

Here I did thing that I didn’t allow myself to do for a long time.
I started to cry. Loudly. And without stopping.

Kreacher appeared. Then disappeared with the clap. Grandpa was hanging around trying to calm me down. Pigly appeared with the cup of tea with mint. Tom Riddle came out of the bed and stood near me staring.

It took two minutes for me to calm down. I remembered that I am the only one successor of Black family, right hand of the gang leader and just a cool girl, and tried some techniques of breathing gymnastics.

“Two possibilities. I am or mad or there is the ghost of Tom Riddle standing near me and no one besides me can see or hear it

“My name is Tom Riddle?” The boy asked curiously.

“Tom Riddle?!” Arc repeated.

“You really are right hand of the gang leader?” Tom specified.

“And he reads my thoughts.” I said to grandpa.

“Your grandpa is strange.”

“Can you shut up for a minute?” I screamed at childish version of the Dark Lord.

“I am not a ghost. Right?” He asked suddenly. “I couldn’t die.”

“You are a ghost. Congratulations. And yes, you died. Think about that while I talk to grandpa.”

I got up and wanted to leave the room but Tom Riddle came with me.

“I cannot go further than six foots. I tried!”

I put hands on my head and groaned. God, I will never steal things again. I will never fight people that are weaker than I am. I will not swear.
I want just to get rid of this!

“The first and last thing I remember is that I woke up near you this morning.” Tom Riddle explained sitting on the chair. He had cup of tea standing before him but he couldn’t do anything to it so he just smelled the aroma of the mint. “Everything I know is that my name is Tom Riddle and I was the Dark Lord and hurt a lot of people. And now I am dead. I know that from your thoughts. Even your dark magic locket cannot hide your thoughts from me.

I said the same to Arc but he didn’t believe.

“How can we know that he isn’t lying?”

“No idea, I cannot read his thoughts. Maybe this is just hallucination?

“It is just rascal Eugene Mallock put the second part of his soul to your head.”

Kreacher explained where he had this Voldemort’s locket from. Regulus Black stole it from the cave when the Darc Lord hid it there. After that, Regulus was killed by zombies. Before his death, he mentioned a word

“Horkrux”, but elf didn’t know what did that mean. He couldn’t destroy the locket as Regulus said him to do.

“He is not in my head. He sits near me.” I nodded to the chair where Tom Riddle was seating. “Your friend put him out of my body.”

“It doesn’t mean that he won’t try to take control over you again. He is the Dark Lord! He will search a way to return the body and the power! You should be careful with him!

Eleven years old, Dark Lord was staring sadly in the cup and I couldn’t feel anything but pity for him.

“Do you remember something about the Hogwarts?” I asked and Tom Riddle said he didn’t.

Pity. Because it seems like I will go to school with big and funny gang.

I threw easily a backpack on a shoulder an adjusted the glasses disturbing for want of habit. After the “conjuring out”, my eyesight haven’t repaired, the healer from the St. Mungo said though that there is everything alright with my eyes. And my eyesight should be fine in some months. The healer gave me prescription for glasses and eye drops. I wanted to buy the coolest glasses with many gadgets like a sight through the objects. But Arc forbid. He didn’t want my eyesight to get worse because of that. He was right of course.

King’s Cross Station, from which the train to Hogwarts departures, was crowded. A lot of muggles were passing by to and fro and it was funny to see wizards between them. They were so perplexed with their enormous baggage and cages with owls that it was ridiculous. Now when I saw them in unfamiliar environment for them I understood one thing. They were much more extraneous than muggles for me. Maybe the thing was that no one from the magic world came to help me when I was beaten and starved in the closet?

“I recognize your feelings.” Tom Riddle was standing near me, suspiciously watching the red-haired family that was going to the barrier between platforms. “I don’t remember about the orphanage, I know about it just from your memory. But these feelings I know very well.

«I’m not like you, got it?!»

Arc forbid me to talk to him. But how could I ignore this speech? That’s why I talked to him mentally. He was reading my thoughts anyway.

I went through the barrier, being right before that family with many children.

«Weasley» — I found their last name in my memory. Arc forced me to learn all names of pureblood families in England. It was very hard. Black’s family had the whole shelf in the secret library and records for everyone. But the last person who updated this information was grandma Walburga, whose portrait I accidentally burned one month ago. I had to put more information to different folders from materials from newspapers.

Before I could get to the house, Arc was bringing me new folder every week. The family catalogue became very big from that time. I put records about the Death Eaters and teachers that were not in Hogwarts before.

The platform nine and three quarters was full with noise, smoke and children. Yearlings were with their parents. Elder were laughing. Bewitched letters, snitches and sweets were flying around. I was hit by a big guy with a broom.

“I loved this moment very much.” Thoughtfully said Tom Riddle. “It meant nine months out from the orphanage.”

«You remembered the orphanage?» — I asked mentally, going to the wagon.

“No. I just remembered this feeling. It was happiness.” Tom Riddle was walking thoughtfully behind on that small distance he could.

I got used to his shrill presence near me twenty-four seven. Firstly it was frightening and pissing me off, especially after some failures of Arc trying to get rid of him. Then I started to get used to that. Moreover I wouldn’t call the presence of the young Dark Lord “shrill”, he wasn’t like that at all. Tom Riddle was silent for the majority of time and was thinking about something. I hope not about taking control over my body. Or over the world.

I jumped to the nearest wagon, found an empty coupe and took a newspaper to read the new article.

«The Death Eater Will Be Released?!» Nice heading. A little bit lower, there was the old photo of Sirius from the court ten years ago. «The case of Sirius Black that was prisoned because of the murder of thirteen people and abetting Him Who Cannot Be Named, will be investigated again. Haver Stranger known as the Devil Advocate, gained the allowance of the Wizengamot for the further investigation of shocking murder happened ten years ago. As the press center of the Supreme Court reports, new proofs were found in the case of Sirius Black. The particulars are not known yet. Black, who confessed his guilt in the death of Lily and James Potter, has declared the non-participation in a plot against them and death of twelve muggles and wizard Peter Pattigrew.
Haver Stranger made an official claim to the press:
“Sirius Black was punished unfair. I saw materials of the case and I am sure that there was no real investigation. I can't justify such brazen violation of the law and human rights even considering war turmoil. Nobody, I will repeat, nobody of so-called friends of my client from the glorified "Order of the Phoenix" had defended him. Behind all this there is a powerful person to whom Sirius Black's arrest was favorable. I cannot say his name yet. But I should say that now he has a reputation of the hero and good citizen.”
Haver Stranger also refused to say the name of the person who hired him. The thing, which is known, is that this person is very rich. We remind that Haver Stranger defended many famous families of England that were suspected in the abetting Him Who Cannot Be Named.»

I met Haver Stranger yesterday. I paid him a lot but it was worth it. In one month, he found a lot. He found the witness of the murder happened ten years ago who announced that the murder wasn’t Sirius. He asked every detective and every juror that participated in that case. Dumbledore didn’t try to defend his “friend” at all. Dumbledore said that Sirius could make some foolishness. This was enough for others not to search for any particulars. Sirius thought that he was guilty and didn’t even try to defend himself. He felt guilty for Lily and James, which he has betrayed.

Haver was allowed to meet Sirius in the Azkaban. He found out what Sirius meant by “betraying”. He was the Secret-Keeper of the defending charm and was afraid that Dark Lord would find him and torture to know where Potters live. Because of that, Sirius made Peter Pettigrew the Secret-Keeper, but his school friend appeared to be Voldemort’s spy.

Peter was within the thirteen dead people. Just his finger was found on the murder place.

The strange thing was that the witness said that Peter was a murderer. He saw how Pettigrew bombarded the street and then cut his finger.
The next trial should be on nineteenth of September and Devil’s Advocate promised to find out other facts.

Dumbledore came to Sirius. But Haver worked that part of the deal out and told Sirius about the role of the geezer in the investigation. And about people whom Dumbledore sent me for education. And how did they treat me there.

Sirius refused to meet up with Dumbledore. Arc was very proud of him. He wanted to put his name back on the family gobelin.

Actually there is a very interesting story with that gobelin. Names were put there by hand, so there wasn’t my name yet because I didn’t know from which of Black I should make a branch. Reguluses name was in the center. Siriuses name was burned.

There also was name of Bellatrix Lestrange, which was taken to another family so she as all her descendants, wasn’t the successor of Black’s family. The same story was with Narcissa Malfoy. The name of Andromeda Tonks was burned because she married muggle. I knew that she had a daughter Nymphadora refused to have any business with Black family.

I sighed and put the newspaper to the bag pocket. My doubts that Sirius will be released very soon almost vanished after my conversation with Haver Stranger. And I suspected what will happen after that – Arc can disappear.

Considering the amount of advices he gave me, he thought the same way. He even planned my education for the next seven years. And he almost finished my notebook with fifty pages with this plan.
I couldn’t imagine how will I live after Arc will go back to Nirvana. I will be alone. I’m not counting Tom Riddle. That was another my problem.

Arc contacted with many of his long living friends but no one knew how to get rid of the ghost without killing me. Eugene answered the letter after one week and his short note was truly great: “Put all parts together”.

Cool quest - to finish a fucking puzzle from pieces of the Dark Lord. And I would try that if I hadn’t the better idea. But no one knew where the last five parts are hanging out. No one including the Dark Lord. Tom Riddle still didn’t remember anything. Sentimental recognition of feelings, which I had, was the only break in his amnesia.
For instance, he liked sweet tea with candies. He could steal things as I could, and was calming down in the train.

“Let’s discuss plan of your education.” Arc said, stopping the flow of my dark thoughts. “As you noticed, I included muggle’s sciences in your curriculum. I am sure that you need to know physics, chemistry, geography, anatomy…”

I sighed and put out my candies I stole while walking on the platform.

«You see, muggle hater Tom Riddle, - I thought, looking at the ghost sitting in front of me, - you will learn muggle’s sciences with me».

He shrugged.

“I didn’t remember yet that I hate muggles.”