Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1142746. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage Category: F/M, M/M, F/F Fandom: Harry_Potter_-_J._K._Rowling Relationship: Draco_Malfoy/Tom_Riddle, Tom_Riddle/Draco_Malfoy, Voldemort/Draco_Malfoy, Lord_Voldemort/Draco_Malfoy, Tom_Riddle_&_Draco_Malfoy_friendship Character: Draco_Malfoy, Narcissa_Malfoy, Lucius_Malfoy, Abraxas_Malfoy, Druella Rosier, Cygnus_Black, Voldemort, Tom_Riddle, Albus_Dumbledore, Armando Dippet, Mrs_Cole_(Harry_Potter), Death_-_Character Additional Tags: AU, Time_Travel, Male_Slash, Male_Homosexuality, Explicit_Sexual_Content, Explicit_Language, Horror, Romance, Necromancy, Rituals, Human_Sacrifice, Human_Experimentation, Torture, Psychological_Trauma, Psychological Torture, Psychologists_&_Psychiatrists, Mental_Institutions, Falling_In Love, Near_Death_Experiences, Temporary_Character_Death, Friendship, Friends_to_Lovers, Draco's_memory_slowly_comes_back_in_fragments Series: Part 1 of The_Dark_Rises Stats: Published: 2014-01-19 Updated: 2014-01-20 Chapters: 2/? Words: 1856 ****** Falling Into Darkness ****** by Amaryllis_Zephyr Summary “Perhaps it would be better for the world if the child was killed instead. He’s lucky I didn’t gut him like I did his mother. Poor little Draco, all alone now that his daddy left and his mummy is in pieces somewhere in London, penniless, stuck with the filth his family despised... serves the family right. Let’s see how long the boy lasts in my world,” read a note attached to the blanket of a one year old named Draco, who was put on the steps of the orphanage in 1928. The first line of the note was right, because this Draco Malfoy would never be the spoiled, bratty, mediocre wizard Voldemort disposed of by sending him back in time, age one and without any memories of magic or his family but the murder of his mother. This Draco Malfoy would know what pain, hatred, and fear truly was, how special magic really was, and how horrible people could be to the unknown and odd. This Draco Malfoy would become one of the most powerful Dark Lords the Wizarding World has ever known, and only some of that is because Death chose him as his mortal son. ***** Chapter 1 ***** 7:00 AM, June 11th, 1928. Katrina’s Point of View: I picked up and gently cradled the small, snowy-haired blonde baby left on the doorstop of Ms. Cole’s Orphanage. As I lifted the boy, a letter, addressed to me in extremely elegant handwriting fell. I quickly trapped the letter against the ground with my foot until I held the baby in a secure and comfortable enough position for me to safely grab the letter. I opened the door and let myself into the orphanage, which was quiet for once. School had ended the day before, so everyone got a lie-in but the staff. “Another one?” Ms. Cole asks me when I reach the small lobby, where she was filing paperwork behind a desk and cabinets that took up nearly a quarter of the room, that she couldn’t fit into her study and wasn’t as private. “Better than the parents keeping them… imagine how horrible it would be for a child to grow up knowing they were unwanted and unloved.” I tell her. “Or killed.” Ms. Cole agrees. She spots the letter. “Do you know the child, then?” “I don’t believe I do…” I say, then hand the baby over to Ms. Cole while I open the letter. A stiff paper fell out, and I notice that the writing doesn’t appear to be from a pencil or pen, but there was ink… strange. I began reading the letter out loud. “Perhaps it would be better for the world if the child was killed instead.” My voice is shaking, but I continue, trying to fight the wave of panic, dread, and terror I felt. How could someone think that about a child?! “He’s lucky I didn’t gut him like I did his mother. Poor little Draco, all alone now that his daddy left and his mummy is in pieces somewhere in London, penniless, stuck with the filth his family despised... serves the family right. Let’s see how long the boy lasts in my world." I quickly dial the police, while Ms Cole sits down, clearly close to fainting. “There’s a letter from a murderer confessing to gutting a woman, he left a boy here, he knows my name, oh, please hurry.” I say, trying to speak clearly but my voice is frantic… he knows where I work, where I am, my name, he was dangerous, sick, twisted, insane, and had killed… thank god the police were only a block away and had arrived fast, only in two minutes. I handed them the letter. My hands were quickly fingerprinted so they could rule out me, and the police officer puts on gloves then takes the letter and reads it. “Is that blood?” A younger officer, officer Jason Durham asks the lead investigator, Damon Lewis, after peering at the letter, his voice shocked and horrified. “The man wrote the letter in the child’s parent’s blood?” The investigator didn't answer, but the look on his face when he looked the letter over was answer enough. ... May 1st, 1998. Katrina’s Point of View: The case was 'solved' in a week. Even back then, I doubted the man who turned himself in committed the crime. I was right, despite the amount of evidence. Ms. Cole and I kept a close eye on Draco… in my case, it was because I never wanted to have Draco get hurt again. In Ms. Cole’s case, not that she told me, she was looking for warning signs that he’d turn out bad. In the end, it was her actions that shaped him. Hers, and the other people who never believed in him, and the children that hurt him, and the people at that godforsaken insane asylum, and everyone who ever treated him like dirt… she may claim that by birth, Draco was a monster, but I know better. Evil isn’t born. It’s made. ***** Chapter 2 ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes 10:56 pm, July 26th, 1996: Draco’s POV: I had never entertained the thought of me actually succeeding in my task. I wanted to, yes, but I knew I wouldn’t. Dumbledore had at least seven decades’ worth of knowledge more than me, which could easily mean more than seventy- thousand spells more than me, knowing him. The task was impossible… I knew what he wanted, and it wasn’t for me to succeed. It was to punish my father and tonight, I’d face whatever he had prepared for me. I mask my fear and try for once to be courageous. My aunt looked at me, but to my surprise, it wasn’t disgust or anger she looked at me with. It was distress, worry, fear, and even love. “You know what will happen to me.” I knew it without her saying anything, but she nodded. “I can’t do anything to stop him, Dray. His mind is made up. You’ll forget everything I said… but I do love you, Draco.” Bellatrix says, and I can tell she’s honest. “What do you mean, I’ll forget?” I ask. “He’s not supposed to know.” Rodolphus’ voice snarls, and Bellatrix goes silent. I wonder again what happened with them to make Bellatrix so afraid to fight her husband. I knew abuse, that was obvious… Bellatrix moves to my side and wraps her arm around my shoulders, and Rodolphus glares coldly at me, but I ignore it in favor of the comfort I’m being offered. Severus looks at me. “I was told by your mother to finish the task…” He begins. “Even if I did complete it, the result would be the same. He wants to destroy my family, and letting me survive would ruin that plan.” I tell him, glad when my voice doesn’t shake. “There’s nothing to forgive, so save your breath.” Severus looks slightly relieved, but then fear fills his expression. “You were like a son to me. I will miss you.” Severus tells me, and his voice cracks. For the first time ever, I see a tear roll down my godfather’s cheek. We arrive at my Manor, now His. I feel my heart begin to race as I neared the doors, and for a second, I thought I’d faint before I entered the ball room, but I managed to compose myself. “Is he dead?” The Dark Lord asks. “Severus killed him.” I tell him, and he smirks when he hears the fear in my voice. “But the task was yours, was it not, Draco?” The Dark Lord’s voice is colder than ice, the tone he uses when someone was about to be tortured or killed. “Yes, my lord.” I tell him, and this time I manage to control my voice. “A punishment is in order, don’t you agree, Narcissa?” The Dark Lord asks, and I watch, horrified, as my mother is dragged out by Augustus Rookwood and Evan Rosier, then forced to the ground. She tries to talk through a gag. “I take that as a yes. Crucio!” I fall to the floor immediately… no matter how much you try to prepare for the level of pain the curse would bring, there was nothing you could do to prevent yourself from screaming and twitching as the worst pain you could ever experience rips through you. I was being burnt at stake, I was being stabbed by a million hot daggers, and the pain went on, and on, and on until my voice practically gave out. Finally, it stopped, and I lay there, motionless. “I won’t kill you, Draco. I have plans for you.” The Dark Lord says, but I knew whatever he had in store was worse than that. “You’ve been spoiled, pampered, coddled, given everything you’ve ever wanted. You’ve been protected. That’s over. I’m giving you an opportunity, Draco, to be better than what you ever could be like this. You should thank me.” I refuse to speak, and the Dark Lord’s smile widens. “So you do have some fight in you… good, you’re going to need it. I won’t take your magic from you, Draco… that would defeat the purpose. I’ll just take every memory from you of it.” He tells me, and I try to hide my fear. “I’ll take away your memories of those he made you weak and pathetic… your family, and every wizard and witch you ever knew. You’re going to go to the place where I was formed into the man I am today. Let’s see how you fare in my world, Draco Malfoy.” The rest of the Death Eater leave and I’m left alone with this monster, this demon inhabiting a human body. Same time. Voldemort’s POV: The boy tried resisting… it was pointless, but at least he didn’t surrender. Maybe there was some hope for the boy after all. Finally, I was able to take down the boy’s shields and used the spell that would suck every memory out of his mind… it was the equivalent of the dementor’s kiss, really. he had no sense of self, no memories, even of how to walk and talk… but he would have this one. I used a spell to make him reform an emotional attachment to his mother, made sure he knew who she was, then deaged the boy to a year old and left the room, casting an Obliviate on him so he wouldn’t know who I was. I brought in the Muggle who I had used the Imperius curse on, then had him slice away at Narcissa’s face, her torso, her arms, her legs, and watched from the doorway as Draco screamed. He had no words, of course… the boy was an infant in mind as well as in looks, but the pain and sadness, the despair, the grief, and the horror was there, and it was perfect. Lucius was on the other side of the room, hidden from sight and immobile, but he could see everything that was going on… Lucius needed these memories for Azkaban, where he’d stay until I felt like I wanted him back… it would be quite some time, and he would be insane by then, if not dead. Finally, the man stabbed Narcissa, then began pulling her guts out through the stab wound, and Draco cried and sobbed and thrashed. I used a cloak and a mask, then walked out and used the time ritual after attaching a note to the blanket I wrapped him in. Draco, Narcissa's body, and the Muggle, who would turn himself in flashed then disappeared- And suddenly, pain as I never knew shot through me, worse than anything I had ever inflicted, and I felt myself scream as my life was taken away from me, what was happening?! I found myself along with many, many others, millions, if not billions, but Death faces me. “Your actions just destroyed the world as you knew it. From the time the boy, Draco, arrived, on to now was obliterated, as were all those who existed then. There’s no way the future can survive, when the past is being rewritten constantly. A form of you lives… the child you were, but you… you are mine, Lord Voldemort.” He tells me, and I try to fight, try to scream- -But he takes me anyway. Chapter End Notes I had to get rid of the time paradox, so hope you like how I did it. IMPORTANT: 5/18/2014: I should have a chapter posted tonight or tomorrow. I need these questions answered ASAP so I can continue to post. Basically, I'm stuck between several ideas (time skip to important pieces, or really develop the characters before they change), so if you have an opinion, please let me know: Question 1: How much should I write about their young lives? Give me an amount in chapters, and any scenes you might like to see. My chapters range from 7-28 pages, but I will write more if i need to. Question 2: I started a forum for any writer who needs help updating (ex: me). It will contain spoilers of my own work, massive ones, but I really could use help, so is anyone interested in bouncing ideas with me and getting this (or your) fiction off the ground? Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/forum/Help-Me-Update-I-m-Stuck-and- I-ve-Already-Posted-My-Fanfiction/153487/1/80793/ Note: You will have to make an account on the site to post anything, however, it doesn't take too long. You can start right away. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!