Title: Time Taken
Pairing: Tom Riddle-Voldemort/ OC
Rating: K+
Word Count: 2,063
Summary: The life and times of the lover of the Dark Lord
Author Notes: If you can find the quote from the Witches of Eastwick in here you'll get a little prize.
----
Out of everyone in the school, she was the one he seemed to focus on. Out of every insufferable person in the whole bloody school he had to be ignored by her.
He had his way with charm, and he used his charm to get what he wanted. But when it came to her, when he wanted her, she ignored him. He was not interested in her romantically, nor did he lust after her. He wanted her knowledge, her mind, and her work for him.
It shouldn't have to be this hard, but he was persistent. Who was that girl to keep him from what he wanted.
She had no friends, he knew that well enough. When she talked, she didn't speak to anyone but herself. When she walked, she was accompanied by no one. When she smiled, it was at no one's joke, but at the pleasure of completing a challenge class assignment, or when she read.
He could not think of a reason as why she acted the way she did towards him. When she looked at him, it was as if she could see right through him, and into the walls of the corridors.
He would have to strive harder for his goal.
Confrontation was a simple thing for him, and it was easy enough to get her alone, she was always alone. Alone in an empty classroom, practicing something. He heard the caress of her voice over the syllables of the spells, but could not make them out.
"Warren," He said sharply, but she did not whip around. She turned slowly and stared at him in that infuriating fashion of seeing right through him.
"It's past curfew, I should give you detention for being up and unsupervised in here," He told her. She blinked and cocked her head, short brown locks falling into her face.
"I don't care," She said, her voice sounded as if she was drowsy. He growled slightly at her treatment of him. She placed her wand down on a desk and kept on staring at him.
"What were you doing in here?" He asked, sounding very much like the Head Boy he was supposed to be, authoritative.
"Practicing," She said simply. Nothing was said for moments that seemed like hours. He walked foreword towards her and she kept in place. When he was just an arms length away he saw her breath hitch slightly and she coughed a rasping noise that grated his ears.
"Are you sick?" He asked, not enjoying the prospect of catching what ever she might have.
"Dust," She stated plainly and straightened, eyes trained to his, "What do you want Tom?"
"I want you to help me," He told her, his fingers itching to brush the short hair out of her eyes and make her look at him seriously. She blinked.
"Why would I do that?" She asked.
"Because I can help you."
"How?"
"I have the power, and knowledge of spells you will never find in the library, spells I know that you long to learn," Her eyes glittered with curiosity for a split second before they returned to their frustrating stare.
"What would you be getting out of me?" She asked. He grinned, he had her.
"Information. Madame Leary gave you access to the Restricted Section, you know about things I wish to know about, but unfortunately cannot. Also, I wish to have your skills, I've seen you do work in Transfiguration and Charms, even in Potions, you're very good," He said. She shifted slightly and then the silence became almost unbearable.
"Alright," Was all she said. He grinned and offered his hand, she took it. The deal was set.
----
He learned the most intriguing things from her. The quiet little Ravenclaw that seemed to have been the one mistake the Sorting Hat would ever have made. He enjoyed their conversations in the sanctity of the empty classrooms they met in.
It took a week for him to call her by her first name.
It took three weeks for her to tell him things about herself.
It took three weeks after that for him to realize what he felt for her.
It took a month for her to realize what she felt for him.
They found one another insufferable, but a sort of affection grew between them.
She would debate with him over opinions, and quite passionately argue over subjects. He would always be calm, and reasonable, when all he wanted to do was shake her until she saw his point.
It took a month for him to kiss her.
It took five minutes for her to kiss him back.
He convinced himself that it was nothing more than an infatuation and that it would pass.
It took a year for him to become Lord Voldemort and leave Hogwarts.
That same year, when she graduated, she stayed with him, in a small flat.
One morning she asked him a question, one he had no answer to.
"Who are you now, Tom or Voldemort, who will you be next, and who is the man I love?" He had simply kissed her, and she had not pressed the subject.
----
They had argued. It had not turned violent, but she had left, storming out of the flat, with her things floating behind her. He never saw her again for years.
He heard news of her, and was not surprised that she had ended up teaching, in Hogwarts no less. She was the Astronomy teacher now. What was even more infuriating was that Dippet had retired, and Dumbledore was now Headmaster.
She was working for his most powerful enemy.
What he did not know, was that his lover, and his enemy would be talking about him for quite some time.
----
"News?" She asked the old wizard. His half-moon spectacles seemed to lower themselves on his nose, and the look made her stop.
"Of him? Yes, the attacks are stronger now," He told her. She took a shuddering breath.
"I just want it all to stop, I want him to be good again-" She started.
"He was never good, Voldemort had always lived inside him, just as every one of us has an evil side, he took advantage of it, and now pays for it in his own ways," Dumbledore told her. She blinked, and for a moment he thought she was about to cry.
"Amelia, Tom is gone, disappeared under the layers of evil created by Voldemort and his own ambitions," He told her. His assumptions were correct, and for the first time in years, Amelia Warren broke down. Tears spilled over her cheeks, and she sobbed silently. She fell to her knees in anguish.
"I loved him, I loved him, I loved him," She repeated it like a mantra until he embraced her, a comforting hand on her back, and her face pressed into his shoulder, muffling her chanting.
----
She was not surprised when he fell. He was arrogant and overconfident, and she knew that. A pang of loss when Dumbledore had told her the news of what happened. He had fallen, and to a boy named Harry Potter, not over one year old.
She had not cried. She had moved on, or had convinced herself she had.
----
It took years for him to return.
It took seconds for her to breakdown after she heard.
It took three days for her to leave the school.
And it took a week for him to find her.
She had been living in a small cottage in Scotland. She had a cat for company and occasionally Dumbledore or a one Severus Snape. Today would bring a different visitor.
She had gone to the market in a nearby town. When she returned she hadn't noticed his presence in the air. She didn't notice the rat that scurried along her kitchen floor.
It took an hour for her to doze off in front of the fire, book on her lap.
It took another hour for her to wake up to his presence.
"Hello love," He said, his voice sickly sweet. Her breath hitched slightly. He sat there staring at her with red eyes, hands folded gracefully in front of him. She blinked and stared at him.
"Tom," She responded, her voice a whisper. He grinned and the dull firelight made him look feral. He stood, and she shrank back into her chair.
"Oh really now, have you grown so afraid of me?" He asked, his every word seemed as if it was mocking her. She gripped the arms of the chair tighter.
"I'm not afraid, I'm restraining myself from hurting you," She managed to hiss out. He chuckled at her, and her anger flared.
"Ah now Amelia, love, don't lie to me, you never really could," He told her. She blinked.
"Ah that frustrating stare of yours is very annoying dear, I would think you would have gotten over it," He said, "But maybe you might have your head in the stars. Maybe you're fighting the urge to curse me, maybe you're fighting the urge to scream, or maybe you're fighting your emotions. Which one Amelia, which one?"
"Leave Tom," She growled at him. He grabbed her arm and hauled her out of her chair, pressing his form against hers.
"It's Voldemort now deary, but you know that, don't you?" He asked, sneering at her. She flinched slightly and tried to pull away.
"Let go," She said, it was an order not a plea. He laughed.
"Tsk, tsk, one should not be making those sorts of orders," He said with a smug grin on his face. Amelia growled and yanked her arm free, or tried to. She utterly failed, and some part of her knew she would have.
"When will you come out of denial? When will you realize that Dumbledore was wrong? When will you realize that you still feel for me, do not lie Amelia, I always know, just like I always did," He hissed at her. She stopped struggling.
"Dumbledore isn't wrong, I do not love you any longer, you said 'Get out' and I left," She snarled. He sneered.
"I was young and stupid, it was a pointless argument, and I got carried away with my anger, just as you are now," He told her. She knew he was right, she was getting angry, but she didn't want him to win.
"I am here, and you are here, some small part of my former self still lives inside me, it always has," He said and pulled her closer, her face inches from his, and the silence was filling with tension.
"That fool that was Tom Riddle feels fondness towards you, and it is the only reason why I do not kill you," He lied, she knew he did. She shuddered and weakly pulled against his arm. To her surprise he let go, and she turned away from him. She still felt his gaze burning into her back.
"What do you want?" She asked feebly.
"You." She felt his hands on her shoulders but she did not turn.
"When is it going to happen? What day will be the day when you crack and know that you can't take more? How long until you snap? Use me, Fill me up, I can take it," He said in a whisper into her ear. It had her shiver and she suppressed the urge to look at him, or turn to face him.
"Make it happen, don't wait, time is the killer, do it Amelia, do it now," He said and Amelia lost her control. She turned, and did not see the smirk on his face when she kissed him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her even closer.
He had won and she knew it.
But hell did she care?
It took minutes for them to pull away from each other.
It took seconds for them to regain their breath.
"Do you trust me?" He asked her quietly. She looked at him.
"Can I?" And then they were gone in a crack.