Chapter 2 New Name, New Home, New Life Soon a man walked to the door. Everything seemed to be in dramatic slow motion as he appeared. He had pale green skin, red eyes, some spikes around his head, and a long black cloak with basilisk scales on it, creating a green glow around him. His expression was obviously evil, and the sight of him made Malina shudder. He smiled evilly when he saw them. “ Well, well, well! If it isn’t my niece and nephew! How wonderful it is to finally meet you! I am Basilock, your father’s brother. And the lovely lady is Dragonissa, my sister. I’m guessing that you're looking for a place to live, I heard what happened to your parents.” Malina nodded uncertainty, and Drake squeezed her hand reassuringly. “ It’s alright. They’re family.” He whispered to her. She took a deep breath. “Yes, that’s us. I’m Drake, and this is my sister Malina. Malina had a twin brother named To-I mean Voldemort, but we lost him in the fire. We don’t know if he’s even alive-” Drake said worriedly, but he was cut off by Basilock. “ Well don’t you children worry, we will take care of you and you can live here with us. We’ll raise you, teach you, but before that can happen, please come up here Drake.” Drake looked at Malina for help but she was too scared, so nervously Drake walked up to Basilock. Basilock looked into Drake’s eyes and smirked. “ Drake, what a plain and muggleish sounding name. You deserve better, so from now on you will be called Drakonore Riddle.” Drake’s eyes widened in surprisement, but before he could say anything Basilock walked over to Malina. “ Malina, a pretty and soft-hearted sounding name. From now on you shall be called Malifa Riddle.” Malina’s mouth dropped. “ But-but you can’t just change our names! My mother named me Malina, and Malina is who I am!” She protested, and Drake nodded in agreement. Basilock grinned. “ Feisty, stubborn, and protective. That will be good for you in the future,” He leaned into Malina’s face and narrowed his eyes though. “ First lesson: Whatever I say, is what will happen. You and your brother must do as I say, and you and your brother will be called what I call you. So welcome to the family, Malifa and Drakonore.” Malina, or as I now will call Malifa, felt hot tears stinging in her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Dragonissa walked over to Malifa and put her surprisingly soft and warm hand on her shoulder. She gave the girl a small smile. “ You must be starving, come and have some dinner my dear.” She said to her. Malifa smiled a little too, and followed her aunt into the cave. On the ceiling and walls were glowing green crystals, with some couches and a table in the corner. A fireplace was in the back of the room, and Malifa sat on a couch beside it. Dragonissa started digging in a cabinet in the back of the room. Finally, she found a partially crunched bowl of easy mac, and started heating it up in a cauldron above the fire. Malifa sighed, she knew her life would never be the same. 6 years later………. Six years later Malifa was eleven years old, and sitting on the exact same couch in the exact same room, and at the exact same time. Even Dragonissa was making the exact same meal, mushy macaroni and cheese with hard bread rolls. Although it wasn’t the best food, Malifa’s health had improved very much. She was no longer thin as a stick, and she was tall and strong. Her long dark brown hair had grown longer, and her clothes had been changed too. When her aunt saw her torn and stretched navy blue dress, she quickly gave Malifa a new closet. Today, Malifa was wearing her favorite outfit. A black dress with lace sleeves, black tights, green crystal earrings, a green crystal hair clip, and her crystal locket. Inside the locket was a picture of her family, all together, enjoying a beautiful sunset on the beach. It brought tears to her eyes every time she saw how similar her and her mom’s smile looked. A bright happy beautiful cheerful smile, the smile that Malifa hadn’t had since she was four. No matter how hard she tried, Malifa couldn’t smile, except for a small twinkle in her eyes and a tiny dimple in her cheeks. Malifa sighed and got off the couch. She quietly walked over to her bed, a small mattress with a gray quilt in the corner of the room. She quietly lifted her mattress up a bit and pulled out a book with a dark red cover. It was her family’s scrapbook. She liked to look in it whenever she was feeling particularly lonely, and it helped her feel better. Ever since Basilock had started teaching them that good people were enemies, and light was the darkest of all, and that good wizards are only power seekers, Malifa and Drakonore had completely changed. Drakonore was now a lot more secretive, and he and Malifa had grown far apart. She couldn’t remember the last time he gave her a hug. Malifa had changed to.
Her old happy sweet gentle self had been replaced by a cold, quiet, smart, and sometimes evil self. Basilock’s lessons had ruined her completely, along with the help of the same awful curse that he used on her father. Slowly, he had turned adorable sweet little Malina, into cold secretive sad Malifa. She flipped the pages until she came to her favorite portrait of her and her mom baking Christmas cookies. It made her smile a tiny bit, but her peaceful moment was interrupted by Basilock’s deep voice. “ MALIFA! Get over here and eat your dinner! It's getting cold, and after dinner we have some more lessons about the unforgivable curses.” Malifa sighed and ran over to the small table to eat her dinner, trying not to make a face as the mushed macaroni stuck all together in her bowl, or at how the hard burnt rolls almost made her break her teeth. Finally she managed to eat most of it, before when no one was looking, throwing it out in the woods for the animals to finish. After dinner, Basilock gave them the usual lecture about how “Good is bad!” or “Don’t trust muggles!” and “Good people only want to take advantage of you!” So Malifa found herself feeling extremely bored. She sighed and longed that she could be somewhere else, when suddenly there was a bang on the door. Malifa jumped in fright as a letter suddenly slid under the door right to her feet. Malifa cautiously picked it up. “ It says it's for me.” She said in surprise. Everyone watched her as she opened it. To: Ms Malifa Riddle The crystal cave in the Basilisk Woods Dear Ms Riddle, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students will be required to report to the Chamber Of Reception upon arrival, the dates of which will be September first. Please ensure that the utmost attention be made to the list of requirements attached herewith. We very much look forward to receiving you as part of the new generation of Hogwarts heritage. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall Headmistress Malifa smiled widely. Finally, she would be able to escape the prison of her uncle’s home! She felt like she could run around and cartwheel for the rest of the whole day, she was free! Her smile quickly faded though when Basilock snatched the letter from her hand and threw it into the fire! “ You will never go to Hogwarts! EVER! That place is full of disgustingly good wizards and witches, and not to mention has an unbelievably kind headmistress. I wouldn’t want to have any of those good things change you into one of them. You belong out here, where you won’t get spoiled with luxurious comforts, or turned into a good witch, or softened by a new friend. These woods are where you belong, you should be spending your days in this cave, learning new evil spells, brewing horrible potions, and helping me plot a way to take over the world. Hogwarts is no place for a dark witch like you.” Malifa felt tears coming to her eyes, just when her life was about to change and she had actually smiled for the first time in six years, he had literally burned her happiness! Literally. She wiped a tear from her eye. Basilock looked at her, expecting her to be obedient and agree and not say anything else about it, but Malifa was getting tired of saying, “ Yes Basilock.” every time she didn’t get what she wanted. Malifa clenched her fists, she was very very angry. She could feel magical energy flowing inside her, and she decided that it was time she stood up for herself. “ No.” She said quietly. Basilock stopped walking away and glared at her. “ What did you say?” He growled. Malifa took a deep breath but didn’t move. “ I said, no.” She repeated. “ I’m not letting you take control over my life. You know perfectly well that if I don’t go to Hogwarts I’ll have to wait until I’m seventeen to actually do magic. And plenty of dark wizards have been to Hogwarts before, so I don’t see why I couldn’t.” Malifa said, trying to be brave. Dragonissa saw what was happening and quickly stood by her niece. She had always secretly loved Malifa, and tried to protect her as much as she could from Basilock’s cruel rules. “ Mali has a point brother.” She said defending the young girl. Basilock looked ready to throw Malifa in the fireplace with the letter, but stopped himself. “ No. I have already told you that my word is law here, you can try all you want but nothing will ever change my mind. You are not going to Hogwarts.” Malifa could feel anger rising and tears coming. “ But-” She started. “ NO! YOU WILL NOT GO TO HOGWARTS MALIFA ANNABELLE RIDDLE!” He roared. Malifa was frozen, and a single tear trickled down her cheek. “ Yes Basilock.” She said quietly, and the night went on as if nothing had happened. Malifa was still especially hurt though that during the fight, Drakonore had only ignored her and did not even look at her. Chapter 3 will come out soon!!! :) Enjoy reading!!!
