cup of tea: in which tom riddle regularly bewitches a gryffindor pureblood with amortentia... to the point of marriage. au.
She felt tired.
That was all she could describe the feelings she had right now as she laid on the bed, staring blankly at the plain white ceiling. Her eyes felt heavy, her body felt like it was sore. She knew it wasn't possible because surprisingly, she had a full night's rest last night, and Tom had sent her to go to the nearby spa to loosen up from having to pick up after Cleobis and Calliope every single day, so the exhausted feeling was… almost unreasonable.
She wanted to put it as something akin to having woken up on the wrong side of the bed, or one of "those days" where she just wakes up completely tired and worn out, but that was usually after a day's worth of work.
A part of Lucrezia Riddle—the sensible part of her—wanted to find her husband and just… rest and get this over with, but another part of her felt strangely repulsed by Tom. She felt conflicted, but she sucked it up and pushed herself off the bed, trying to ignore the throbbing headache that came with it. Groaning, Lucrezia forced herself towards the kitchen, feeling more and more irritable every step of the way.
She didn't like this feeling one bit. She felt nauseated. Disgusted. Annoyed. She never felt this way before. Her disgust only increased every time she saw something that reminded her of Tom, and she wanted to feel guilty—she really did—but… she didn't.
Honestly she couldn't remember how she got together with Tom. She knew she was a witch, niece of Hogwarts' own Potions professor Horace Slughorn, and that she was betrothed to Abraxas Malfoy. She liked Abraxas to the point of having several dates with him, even if he was self-righteous and biased against Muggle-born wizards, but she liked to believe that he was kinder than most of his family. She couldn't remember how she got entangled into the web that was Tom Marvolo Riddle, but they had been in the same year.
She remembered hazy memories—Abraxas invited her into this private party in the Slytherin common room as his date on their last year. Unsurprisingly, Tom Riddle had been there to supervise as the Head Boy and as a Slytherin prefect. He'd offered her with a pint of butterbeer and chatted with her for the entire night, and the next thing she knew, she'd woken up in her bed in the Gryffindor dormitories with a deep longing for Tom Marvolo Riddle.
The feelings were pleasant that time. She felt like nothing was going wrong in the world. No sense of irritation, of disgust towards her love for Riddle, but… why was she feeling this today? Didn't she love Tom?
The creaking of the wooden floorboards under the weight of her footsteps must've alerted her husband, because the moment she found herself stepping into the kitchen room her husband has already left the kettle he had on the stove and brought her into an intimate hug.
Absent-mindedly, she wondered why the home seemed deserted except for them. Where were the kids?
"Darling," he whispered into her hair, kissing the crown of her head before pressing a kiss on her lips. "I'm making some tea; would you care for some?"
Lucrezia flinched away from his hug, subconsciously pushing him off of her. Her eyes widened in surprise. This… she's never… Her heart raced in her chest as she slowly lifted her gaze towards Tom to gauge his reaction.
Tom's jaw tightened harshly, his handsome face contorting into a deep frown. His eyes looked cold, making her feel like she was a bug ready to be squished. "Why don't you rest a bit?" He murmured after a while, avoiding her gaze as he moved away from her. "I'll fix you a cup. It'll help you loosen up."
She could only nod as Tom headed towards the counter to fix her a cup. She rubbed at her arms furiously, wiped at her lips with the same vigor before she froze, slowly letting her arms fall to her side. What's happening to me…? She wanted to scream at herself, but she also felt strangely satisfied.
She didn't like the conflicting feelings she had. She felt like she was being torn apart—and to be repulsed by your own husband! What kind of wife…!
"Lucrezia?" Tom prodded, turning around to look at her as he settled her cup in a saucer, startling her from her thoughts. Her cheeks flared in embarrassment, lowering her gaze to her feet. Merlin's beard, I…!
The smell of jasmine and something sweet wafted in the air, her lips curling into a small, pleased smile. Her husband always made the best tea. She didn't know what he put in it, but she always calmed down every time he made her some.
"I sent the kids to Abraxas', by the way." Tom told her, heading over to hand her her cup. He settled himself in the seat across her, his own cup steaming in his hand. "I figured you needed another day off from the kids considering you went out like a light last night. I think the timing's just right because they've been wanting to see their godfather, too."
"That's good," she said quietly, her hands wrapped around her cup despite the heat, "I suppose Abraxas will call if the twins insist on going home for the day."
She took a sip from her cup. The tea burned her tongue, but the sweet taste was pleasant. It reminded her of all the good things she loved—caramelized apples, parfaits, and strangely the taste of peppermint toothpaste. Strange. Tom never liked peppermint toothpaste.
Lucrezia shook her head, continuing to drink her tea until it was finished. She felt relaxed now, the feeling of irritation and repulsion washing away and replaced with feelings of contentment and desire for the man in front of her.
A warm smile formed on her face, her stomach filled with fluttering butterflies at the pure adoration she had for Tom. "Merlin's beard, Tom," she sighed, setting down the cup to jump in his lap, burying her face in the crook of her neck. "I love you so much, do you know that? You make everything perfect."
Tom smirked, pressing a kiss on her earlobe. "Of course I do," he whispered, pushing back blonde locks away from her face. "Now, let's have a little bit of fun, shall we, Mrs. Riddle? The kids aren't home and…"
Lucrezia giggled, lifting her head so she could place a kiss on her husband's lips. "I think I like that idea of yours, Mr. Riddle."
Tom lifted her in his arms, eliciting a pleased giggle from his wife, and brought her to their shared bedroom. Mentally he made a note to increase the dosage for the amortentia he puts in her morning tea. It seemed like she's begun to have a resistance to the daily dosage of amortentia she ingests that the effects seem to last shorter than it should've been.
He didn't want to wake up one day to find Lucrezia Slughorn up and gone, leaving virtually no trace of her and the kids, after figuring out that she had been bewitched.
Just like his father had.
author's note (1/7/17): word of warning. this story is completely unedited!
so i uploaded this a couple of days before christmas before i realised that this would be better as a chaptered series of one-shots instead of uploading per piece into different stories. please do note that i will not be uploading them into chronological order (because i wrote several stories and they all have a considerable time skip among them... and that i suck at organising my stories), but i do hope it's understandable. ;;; thank you so much and please review and tell me what you think of the story!