Chapter 1: Innocence?
Lord Voldemort sat in his house, pondering why his brother would want to frame him. Now he had the whole wizarding world against him, wanting to kill him. Even scared of him. He looked at the scar on his left hip. That was where his brother was once attached to him. They had been born Siamese twins and he, Voldemort, the one everyone feared, was the only one who knew he had a brother. He and his friends had made up the nickname Voldemort when he was still a schoolboy, a young, innocent teenager, and he had kept it ever since, in memory of his friends, two great friends, who were killed by his brother during their last year at school. His brother, Jack, had somehow lied his way out of trouble, but at the same time, told them Voldemort had killed them. With his brother being identical to him, whenever Jack went out and killed people, witnesses thought it was him, Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, who had killed them. No matter how hard he tried to get people to believe him that he was innocent, even by helping those injured by his brother, people would still shun him away, even to the extent of threatening to kill him.
However, that all changed when he met one woman whom Jack had attempted to kill, but hadn't succeeded and Voldemort had stepped in just in time to see her slip into unconsciousness. He knew she would die if he didn't help her, so he cautiously, but gently picked her up into his arms and disapparated to his home, laying her gently on the spare bed and making sure she was comfortable, healing her wounds and other injuries, before staying by her side, day and night for three whole weeks. He didn't sleep in case her heart, which had been beating so slowly it seemed to have wanted to stop when he least expected it, actually stopped and she died.
One day however, just as Voldemort was about to check her heart beat again, she stirred. It was only minor, but she still stirred, and Voldemort knew she would be alright, and he would normally have then sent her to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to recover, but there was something about this woman that stumped him. Something that made him unable to let her go so easily. He seemed to have grown somewhat attached to her in a way he had never felt before. He thought that, just maybe, he might be in love with her. As much as he tried to control his emotions and suppress his racing heart, he couldn't stop it from showing again.
Maybe just one kiss should suppress the love. He thought to himself, holding her hand gently.
No! If you even just kiss her once, without her knowledge, you're technically forcing her! It's not in your nature to force people to do things against their will! That's your brother! Another voice had awoken inside his head. It was his conscience and he didn't want to disobey that. That would make him like his brother, a liar, a thief, a murderer and a criminal in all ways. He looked at her and blinked, in case he had been seeing things. He thought he saw her eyelids flicker. Eventually she stirred again, slowly opening her eyes.
"Where am I?" she asked softly. Voldemort looked at her and smiled inwardly. She would be alright. Jack had failed to kill another person.
"You're in my house. I saved you." He said and she looked at him, a puzzled expression on her face.
"Aren't you … Lord Voldemort?" she asked him, sounding rather confused.
"Yes, but I'm not the kind of person people think I am." He explained softly, hoping she would understand, but he knew it was extremely unlikely, almost impossible.
"Then you didn't kill those people?" she asked cautiously.
"No. I didn't kill them."
"What, so your identical twin brother that no one has seen is killing everyone?" she said sarcastically.
"Exactly. His name is Jack, and he's killing people everywhere he goes, but he lies his way out of it, making everyone think it's me. So in other words, he framed me." He explained nervously. "Please believe me. I'm not a murderer. I've never killed a single person in my entire life."
The woman hesitated before smiling shyly.
"I believe you." She said softly and Voldemort smiled, glad that he'd managed to convince one person of his innocence. "By the way, may I know the name of my saviour?" she asked him suddenly.
"Tom Riddle." He said. "But you can just call me Tom."
"I'm Leanna. Leanna Jest." She said, smiling at him.
Over the next couple of weeks, Leanna had stayed at Voldemort's house and it was slowly becoming clear that they were beginning to fall for each other. Voldemort was slowly beginning to become very attached to her in such a way that even when she went shopping, he told her to be extremely careful and not talk to strange men she found. One day, he decided he should tell her how he felt, so he approached her slowly.
"Ummm…Leanna? There's something I need to tell you." He said to her and she looked up as he sat next to her on the sofa.
"What is it Tom? Are you gay?" she asked him softly.
"I-I'm in love with you." He said to her, his head bowed slightly.
"So am I Tom." She said and he looked up and into her eyes, in which he clearly saw love. Leanna seemed embarrassed and looked quickly away.
"Don't be embarrassed, Leanna." He said softly, moving closer to her and lifting her chin up gently before kissing her. She seemed rather surprised at first, before going with the flow and she placed her hand gently on his cheek.
When they eventually broke apart, they looked each other in the eyes, blushing slightly, before Leanna laid her head on Voldemort's chest.
Voldemort and Leanna had been going out for several months, before Voldemort had decided to marry her.
So one morning when Leanna was heading from their bedroom to the kitchen to make breakfast, he approached her and dropped to one knee.
"Tom, what –" she began when he pulled a small box out of his pocket, opened it, and showing it to her, he asked her:
"Leanna, I love you more than anything I've ever loved before, and I need to know: will you marry me?"
Leanna looked rather surprised for several seconds before she looked him in the eyes.
"Yes, Tom. I will marry you." She whispered and the pair shared a deep kiss.
Two weeks had passed since Tom had proposed and Leanna caught herself taking a pregnancy test, which seemed to have proven positive. She checked the instructions again, just to make sure, but the results stayed the same. She had fallen pregnant with Tom's child. Suddenly, he appeared over her shoulder, his left hand around her waist.
"What's going on, Leanna?" he asked her. "Are you taking a pregnancy test?" he grinned and Leanna looked into his eyes.
"Tom, I'm pregnant." She said, looking down.
"So why the long face, Leanna?" he asked her, suddenly ending up serious all of a sudden. "I'm assuming it's my child? Or is its father a different man?"
"It's your child, Tom. I'm just not sure how you're going to react to having a child before we're even married."
"Leanna, don't worry about how I'd react. I'm proud to finally be a father. The only time I wouldn't be happy about you being pregnant, is if it's another man's child. Okay? I really am happy for you, and I thought you'd be pleased at becoming a mother."
"I am, Tom, but I just wasn't sure how you would react."
Suddenly, Tom kissed her. She definitely hadn't expected that, but she enjoyed it.
"Does that tell you how I'd be likely to react to you being pregnant?" he asked her after they broke apart.
"Yes." Leanna replied, kissing him briefly, before walking out of the bathroom.