Thad and Rosebud
"Where's Thad?" Horatio asked his brother-in-law Cedric. The boys were out swimming and Thad appeared to be missing. Cedric shrugged.
"Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!" A shout drew their attention upward. Thad had swung out of a tree and was hurtling toward the water. Splash! Thad surfaced and hollered his triumph at the skies.
Silvanus, Thad's oldest brother, swam up behind him and dunked him, then swam away. Soon, nearly everyone had dunked each other.
The boys raced, and several of them tied in first. "That's just not fair," said Horatio, climbing out of the water and shaking water off himself.
"Why? You thought you'd win?" Jonathan (Elsie's husband) asked him.
"Perhaps," answered Horatio, picking up his towel. He began to dry himself off.
"Father," asked Thad, "may I walk down the river a little way?" Tom nodded to him, and Thad began to walk down river.
The river went down into a valley with steep sides. As Thad entered it, he smiled at the rushing water that churned against the rocks on the beach. Thad looked up, and a horrid sight met his eyes.
Up ahead of him, there was a tree that had fallen across the valley in a storm. Thad knew that the tree had been rotten and knew that the girl standing at the end of it could not safely cross it.
"Don't walk on the tree! It's rotten!" Thad shouted up at the girl. How stupid can a person be?
The girl looked behind her, then stepped out and began to cross the log. Thad, knowing what would happen, began to hurry down to where the log was.
Crack! The rotten tree gave way and the girl fell with a scream into the water. Thad dashed down to the water's edge and jumped in, his powerful strokes carrying him toward the girl. Suddenly, she went under, and Thad could not see her. He looked around wildly, but she was nowhere to be seen. She's drowning, he realized. I must find her!
She came up a few feet away from him and shouted for help. Thad swam toward her and caught her in his arms. She cried out in fear and flung her arms out; Thad had grabbed her from behind. He took her by the wrists, his knee under her to support her.
"Don't fight me," he told her as they bobbed up and down in the water, "I'm trying to help you."
The girl turned her head and looked at Thad. She turned her body and clung to her rescuer.
At that moment, Thad realized that the girl he was holding was only wearing a two-piece bathing suit! At the same moment, she realized that she was being held against the bare chest of her rescuer! The two grinned at each other and the girl blushed.
"Hold onto me so I can see about getting back to shore," Thad ordered her.
"Okay," answered the girl timidly. Annoyed by the girl's helplessness, Thad helped her to sit/lie on his back and hold on while he tried to swim to shore.
She clung to him tightly, feeling his powerful muscles working beneath her. After a moment, Thad stopped swimming, rolled over, and held the girl to himself tightly.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked him.
"The current is too strong for me to get back to shore, so we will have to float downstream until we can get out of the river." Thad was irritated that he'd saved the girl from drowning but couldn't get out of the stupid river!
"I can't float either," murmured the girl.
Thad had an idea. "Let me float, and you hold onto me," he said, reluctantly deciding to go ahead with his idea. He lay back in the water, and the girl very shyly put her arm across his chest. Thad tried not to look annoyed with the girl as she looked down into his face.
"Thank you for helping me," said the girl. "I would have died if you hadn't come and helped me."
Oh, marvelous, Thaddeus Riddle thought to himself, you are her hero now! He knew that he'd done something way out of the ordinary for someone of his class, and that he wouldn't hear the last of it for a long time. "Surely another would have helped you," said Thad, none of his embarrassment visible in his face.
She knew he was just saying that. He's so handsome, she thought. His dark hair, his lean, muscular frame—Oh, if only he could be mine! In all the fairy tales, the hero marries the fair maiden he rescues. But I'm not in a fairy tale, and I'm in the wrong world.
Thad floated leisurely down the river, looking up at the clouds. He felt the girl's hand slide across his chest, but didn't think anything of it until she screamed, "Help! Don't let me drown! Oh, please!"
He sat up and saw her being taken away from him. He swam after her and caught her tightly. She clung to him, terrified, and began to cry. Thad was horrified, and had no idea what to do to help her. He disliked weepy girls, especially when they just happened to get all weepy on him.
His face expressionless, Thad tried to comfort the girl: "You will be all right, just hold onto me and I will swim for the shore again."
"I can't," said the girl weakly. "I'm too tired." She let her head drop onto Thad's shoulder.
A strange look flickered through Thad's eyes, but the exhausted girl did not see it. Thad hid his feelings well because of years of practice, but his mind was racing faster than the river water. Oh, do notcollapse on myshoulder! I have got to get out of this river; I do not know why I seem to do this kind of thing to myself all the time. I have got to take care of a helpless, Muggle-born girl, and I donotwanther clinging onto me!
Thad put his hand on her cheek and lifted her head. "Listen to me," he said, his voice sounding almost gentle. "I am going to float and hold you on top of me. Here." Thad pulled her on top of himself and showed her how to place her arms on his chest to keep her face out of the water.
"This is awkward," said the girl, looking rather uncomfortably down at Thad's bare chest. She could feel him very easily through her thin swimsuit, and she felt ashamed that she wasn't better covered.
"I know," agreed Thad, surprising himself, "but I don't want to lose you because I just spent so much energy trying to rescue you. And I think you could stand being close to me for a little if it meant your life would be spared."
The girl gave him a strange look, and he said nothing, occasionally putting his hands on her back and sides to reposition and balance her body.
After a few minutes, Thad towed the girl onto the shore and supported her up the beach. She looked around, then back at her rescuer and said, "Thank you for saving me."
Thad nodded dumbly. For the past few minutes he'd been thinking, Oh, she's beautiful! Fighting those thoughts and feelings (because he knew what his father would say about them) didn't help him very much. Then he noticed who she was. "Swensen?" he gasped.It would be one of those Gryffindors...Oh, not Swensen, she hates me!
"Riddle!" she cried, backing away from him. Oh, snap, did I just wish he were mine? DID I JUST LIE ON TOP OF HIM?! I feel very unprotected right now!
Thad put up his hands to calm her. Did I just think I was her hero? "Calm down," he said softly, trying to control his emotional turmoil, "If I was going to hurt you, I wouldn't have saved you from the river."
Rosebud struggled to calm and not turn and run (or to turn and slap). "Why—what are you doing here? How did you—? I thought I told you to—"
"Shhhh," Thad told her. "Let me explain. I was swimming with my family (our home is further downstream), and I decided to walk up the river. Then I saw a girl, you, up on the tree bridge. I told you not to attempt a crossing, but you didn't listen."
The girl looked embarrassed, but Thad continued, "I knew what was going to happen so I ran down to the edge of the river and jumped in after you." Thad smiled slightly. "And here we are."
Rosebud looked at the Riddle boy warily. "And what now?"
"Perhaps we should walk downstream to my house so that we can dress properly to be in public," Thad replied.
She stared at him. "I am not going to your house!" she snapped.
Thad raised an eyebrow at her. "It's safe," he told her. "My mother and sisters are very kind."
Rosebud just looked at him. "And what about your brothers? And your father? Are they so 'kind'? What about Dirk?" she spat.
Thad frowned angrily, and Rosebud stepped back, realizing she should have left that out. "They will not hurt you," Thad told her. He then added, "but you must allow me to do the talking when we get there. I'll see if one of my sisters will lend you a robe so we can be decent when I take you home."
Thad walked off, not waiting for a reply, and Rosebud sighed. Did I even say I would go? These Riddles! Well, I hope he knows what he's talking about.
On the other hand, Thad was thinking that he needed to get away from the Swensen girl as soon as he could. He found himself wanting to become her friend and to get to know her better. He also realized that he had another kind of interest in her. She's so beautiful! And isn't that just perfect? Of course the one girl I find absolutely amazingwould be a Gryffindor who's really close to James Potter II!
Come to think of it, Swensen is the one who usually calms her friends when they're arguing with me. I don't even remember if she's ever become very angry with me before. Perhaps she's just acting on what she's heard! Whatever the case, she's still following me.
He was quite pleased with himself, and turned to look at her. Her face turned red: she was embarrassed at being caught staring at him. She had been following him reluctantly, but became intrigued with watching Thad walk ahead of her. When he turned to look at her, she blushed deeply because she'd been thinking about how good-looking he was!
Rosebud remembered how Riddle had saved James, Vi, and her—and perhaps all the Gryffindors—from Dirk Riddle's stupid serpent-familiar thing. He is a decent boy, Rosebud thought to herself. He's different: he's not as cold or distant as the rest of his family. But he's still a Riddle, and still Slytherin, and still annoying, and still really, really weird...
"So," asked Thad, breaking into her thoughts, "what brought you down here?"
She hurried forward to walk just behind him, and replied, "I was with some friends, and when I went to cross the bridge, I just fell in. We went for a walk, and we were kind of exploring the woods along the river. We ended up following the river along, though."
"Potter and Kensington?"
Rosebud frowned at him. "James and Vi," she corrected him.
He laughed, and she grinned. "Well, you see, Swensen," he told her, "I must know them by their surnames, and not their first names. It's just the way it's done."
"So rigid," sighed Rosebud. "All you Slytherins—especially you Riddles—are so set on old-fashioned, nonsensical traditions."
"Many traditions are good," Thad said calmly.
"Not all of them," snapped Rosebud suddenly, surprising Thad. "Your kind has the stupidest ever: the blood-purity tradition!"
Thad stiffened, then turned and seized the girl by her arms. She instantly pulled back, but he maintained his grip on her. "Are you insinuating," he hissed, "that I am an extremist?" Her eyes widened in fright, and she realized that she probably should have kept her mouth shut. "Because I am not!" Thad finished, looking down into her eyes.
Rosebud stared at him, then gasped, still frightened, "How's that true? You're a Riddle!" Way to go, Swensen, she thought to herself as Thad glared down at her. Just dig yourself a great big hole so that Riddle can bury you. You know, he did save your life at school last year.
Suddenly, Thad's mask of irritation became an ironic grin. "And you're prejudiced against us?" he asked her teasingly. "My, how you have been brought up by those Gryffindors! No, don't be insulted. I didn't mean it that way."
Her face broke into a smile and she said, "Sorry. I guess I have been poisoned by the beliefs of my friends without realizing it."
He released her, and they continued walking, Thad telling her, "It doesn't matter what or who you are. You are still a life worth saving."
Rosebud stared at him, trying to decide if he had an ulterior motive for saying that, before looking away. She shivered with cold as they were walking and Thad noticed. He stopped and said, "Come here, Ms. Swensen."
"But-" she hesitated, feeling awkward again and not knowing what Thad was up to.
"Come here." His words were calm, but there was a quiet order hidden in them. "And don't kick me, because I'm not going to hurt you."
Slowly, she came to him, a sheepish grin on her face; he put his arms around her carefully. He held her close to himself to warm her, and stroked her back with his hands. She put her arms around him very shyly and they stood there quietly together.
"Thad," she said, looking up at him, "why are you so kind to me?" She was in awe of him: she had always been told by her fellow Gryffindors that the Riddles were meant to be shunned and feared. She knew everyone thought they were messed up, just like the Malfoys had been.
"I don't know," Thad replied honestly. Maybe because you're beautiful? "Because of what I put you through last year, perhaps."
She smiled. "It wasn't all your doing, believe me," she told him. "Practically none of it was, actually. I—I was worried that you'd be angry that I nearly got you expelled, and then kicked you—yes, James told me about it."
Thad frowned a little, then a smile touched his face. "I'd never be angry. I already told you that you saved me—although your kicking me really did hurt!"
"You had to take your OWLs in a cast!" giggled Rosebud. "Oh, I shouldn't be laughing. Sorry."
With a slight sigh, Thad answered, "No, it's fine. It is rather amusing, I suppose."
"Ah, can I ask you why you kill—uh, destroyed Ophicus when there must have been a hundred ways for you to stop him?" Rosebud suddenly asked. She blushed, and muttered, "You don't have to answer that."
"Ophicus would not stop trying to attack no matter what I said," Thad replied, after getting over his surprise at Rosebud's asking, "so I gave him a choice: either guard Potter from getting help, or go after you." Thad shook his head in disgust. "He went after you, and I was so angry with him already that I killed him."
Rosebud frowned. "And you killed him when you could have blasted him away, or stupefied him, or—"
"Listen to me, Swensen," Thad said coldly. "Ophicus – was – going – to – kill – you! And when I, who was accused of trying to torture you earlier in the year, heard him hissing, 'Mudblood, Mudblood' as he slithered toward you (especially when I had insulted you the very same way), it infuriated me to the point where I – killed – him! All right?" He sullenly stared over her head at something behind her.
She looked up at his angry face in shock, not having realized what had really happened before. "You killed him because he called me—" Rosebud's voice trailed off, and she pressed her face into his bare chest, hugging him to herself.
"And that you had better not repeat to anyone, especially Potter," Thad interrupted her thoughts.
"Of course not," Rosebud said in a hurry. She looked up to see him frowning down at her. An idea sprang up in her, and she stood on her tiptoes, softly pressing her lips to his.
She felt him stiffen against her and move to push her away. Please let him respond, Rosebud thought to herself, stepping back before Thad could push her away. He stared at her in a mixture of disbelief, hurt, and a strange longing.
"Swensen," he whispered, and Rosebud gasped, realizing that she'd just snogged Tom Riddle's favourite son, "Oh, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that! Oh—"
Thad shook his head. "Swensen, you have no idea what everyone I know would say to me."
"I know perfectly well what they would say," Rosebud answered quietly. "And—I didn't mean to get you in trouble if you do. I just—" And she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and brushing her lips across his again.
Slowly, Thad pulled her closer and returned her second kiss with a little movement of his head. She ran her hands through his wavy black locks, preparing to kiss him again. Thad surprised her by kissing her first, before she could move.
He leaned back and watched her closely as she looked at him, blushed deeply, then buried her face in his chest, clinging to him. I have never felt this way about anyone else, Thad thought in shock. Father is going to kill me! Well, he does not haveto know, and I will not tell him. I can't believe this Rosebud girl was forward enough to actually kissa Riddle, and I can't believe that one gentle touch from her was enough to make me respond to her in such a—well, there was no other word for it—passionate manner.
"Well, Rosebud Swensen," he told her with a small smile, "you just shared my first kiss."
She seemed surprised, and answered, "And you mine, Thad."
"It was an honour," Thad said, mentally lecturing himself about leaving Muggle-borns alone. He knew he wouldn't, and he was perfectly all right with that. "Ah. We should go on to my home then, to gather some decent clothes and make ourselves presentable."
Soon they came to the place where Thad had gone swimming with his father and brothers. He pointed it out to her and handed her his towel. "I have not used it," he said. "Dry yourself off as good as you can, and dry your hair as much as you can. Then I will take you to meet my family."
Rosebud took the towel gratefully and dried her hair very quickly. She then concealed herself in the towel, and Thad took her into the house.