Chapter 51

"You're lying." Anastasia stumbled backwards. Voldemort grinned. "I didn't... I wouldn't." Her back felt the sudden sharp touch of the old wooden door. She looked up to see Voldemort approaching her. His blue-tinted skin made her hairs stand on end, but the more he talked the more she recognised him. The way he spoke, the way those dark brown eyes looked down at her in anger and desire simultaneously.

"You did. You were always going to. You loved me, remember?" Anastasia tried not to look at him. 

"How did you think I died?" She asked, trying to piece it all together.

"I thought it had broken you. That you had been too weak to survive the act of killing." He stopped a few steps in front of her, his cold glare scanning over her shivering skin. 

"It splits the soul." He whispered. 

"When you placed the necklace back on you screamed. It was over so fast. You were gone. I was left with nothing." Anastasia kept her eyes locked into his, the hiss of each syllable stinging her ears. Voldemort took one more step forward and leaned down, stroking his bony fingers through her hair. 

"I don't like the blonde. The brown was... plainer. It was better." As Voldemort's mind was filled with memories of the nights he had spent with her all those years ago Anastasia was still processing his words.

"Back on..." She whispered, furrowing her brows.

"What?"

"You said when I put the necklace back on. Are you saying it was successful? That I actually made a horcrux?" Anastasia voice was building up once again. Voldemort looked concerned.

"Yes." He stated after a few moments of silent thought

"Then how did you think I died?" Voldemort removed his hand from her hair, straightening into his tall over-powering stance.

"I thought the act itself had killed you. Do you think this kind of dark magic is easy? Only the best succeed." Voldemort's raspy voice raised to a shout. He stared at her coldly, as still as a statue. Anastasia's fingers found their way back to her chest, feeling her scar. He said that she vanished and left him with nothing... meaning he didn't have the necklace. When she had woken up it was gone, but she was starting to remember the feeling of it burning her skin. Anastasia knew where she had to go, but she couldn't let him follow her. Even she wouldn't help Voldemort return to the grounds of Hogwarts.

"I need to lie down." Anastasia whispered, placing a shaky hand over her forehead. Voldemort didn't move. "This... It's too much. I need to lie down. Then we can talk." After a few more moments of silence he walked towards her, closing the gap between them. His black robes gently touched her clothes and she felt him exhale over her through the slits of his nose. Slowly he lifted a hand up by her side and her stomach squeezed in terror. She heard the door knob squeak quietly next to her and slowly the support of the door behind her was lost as it opened. As Anastasia turned she felt Voldemort lean down beside her.

"Your room is in use I'm afraid." His whisper blew through her hair into her ear. "But, I presume you remember where my room is?" Anastasia nodded silently. "Who would have guessed this would be the place we reunite Miss Delaney? It seems so perfect. Do you remember our time in the grass? When the moonlight soaked our young bodies. When I touched you for the first time." Anastasia breathed heavily, every inch of her desperate to get away from him. She swallowed hard and lifted her feet to take a step forward. She felt his presence disappear behind her as she walked without turning back. She felt the eyes of Draco on her back as he followed her up the stairs. 

She locked the bedroom door behind her and immediately ran to the window. It was too far to jump. She turned to the bed and dramatically began ripping the sheet off the mattress. She tied them to the bedpost and hung them out of the window. As she lifted herself over the ledge she tugged a few times to check if it was secure, but with the amount of adrenaline running through her body she was going to go whether it was safe or not. She had to get to the room of requirement. She had to find the necklace, it was the only way she was going to be able to prove to herself that Voldemort was lying. She lowered herself slowly, clinging onto the sheet and immediately began sliding down. Once her grip reached the bottom of the makeshift rope she looked down at her feet dangling just above a window. She closed her eyes and let go, almost too easily. Scarily easily. She landed on the grass, falling onto her side as her feet gave way. Without a moment to see if anyone had heard her she began running around the side of the house. She had to go back down the road, out of the protected zone of the house so she could apparate. As she ran through the darkness surrounded by the wind whistling through the trees she tried to fight away the thought that it was possible, that the person she had been then could have done it. She might have done it. As she ran all she could do was tell herself that she was going to make it right. She would find out what happened and make it right. She would die trying to make it right.