Marked ? Tom Riddle

His Library

   Grandfather eyed me curiously. "Yes, what is it?"

   "How did you know where to find me when the woman in the chestnut coat tried to attack me?"

   With one finger, he gently tapped Grandmother's locket that rested safely against my chest. "I had it charmed to sense danger."

   "It senses when I feel danger?" Of course, I should have thought of that. Still, had he not noticed the sense of danger I felt when the Dark Lord had me pinned down against the table with his wand to my neck? 

   "No, when you are in danger, not when you feel endangered," he clarified. Then, I wondered, had the Dark Lord no intention of actually hurting me that night? Was it all for show? To scare me into submission? "I had it charmed for your Grandmother for when I left home for weeks at a time, to know that she was safe. Now, I have someone else to look out for," Grandfather smiled warmly at me. 

   "Thank you," I embraced him in another hug before allowing him to leave. 

   Slowly, with a content smile on my face, I too left the dining hall and departed up the stairs towards my bedroom while gently playing with Grandmother's locket. Although they hadn't managed to find the people behind the attempted attack on me, I was glad I had the locket to keep me safe, to keep Grandfather informed of any imminent danger that threatened to harm me. Now, if the Dark Lord truly did want to cause me harm, I knew Grandfather would know about it and surely he wouldn't allow someone like that to marry me, his only granddaughter. Right? Truthfully, I wasn't too sure.

   Sighing, I opened Grandmother's locket and froze in place at the sight of what lay hidden inside.

   "A memory?"

~~~

    I didn't have much time. 

   I didn't have much time at all. 

   Wandering the Dark Lord's estate in broad daylight, with my knowledge fully restored was dangerous, to say the least. Grandfather could only keep the Dark Lord busy with business affairs for so long. After that, there was no telling where he'd be, how close, or how far, and the possibility of him running into me with my restored memories was too great a risk. I had to hurry and find something that would aid me in finding more information about this M, anything.

   Growing impatient, I began opening doors at random to see what was hiding behind them, but that did me little to no good. Although I had managed to locate the library and made the quick decision to visit it later, every other room was of no use to me. In fact, they were basically all empty. This wasn't going to work, I was wasting precious time. I had to be smarter.

   "Is there something I can help you find, Miss?" Lucinda questioned from behind me. Surprised, I turned towards her to find her eyeing me curiously, probably having witnessed my opening and closing of the doors. Had she been following me all this time, I wondered.

   "Just exploring, getting to know the estate. It's rather big and confusing," I smiled, which was true, the estate was all those things and I was exploring. 

   "Oh, I see, well there's nothing in this corridor of any use to anyone."

   "No?"

   "This part of the estate remains unfinished for now, just a few spare rooms and the second library."

   "Second library?" Merlin, just how big was this place? To have a second library? Lucinda nodded with an enthusiastic smile, as if her one joy in life was discussing the topic of the Dark Lord's estate. Perhaps, her knowledge of the estate could potentially be of use to me in finding out more about M. However, I'd have to be careful about what I asked her and what I said, because there was no telling just how much information might make its way back to the Dark Lord.