Chapter Three

Tom sighed as he carried the unconscious form of Delia Anderson over to his bed. He had actually thought that he was making a bit of progress, and then she had gone and passed out on him.

'Typical,' he scoffed to himself.

He pulled back the blankets on his bed and carefully laid her down before covering her again.

'She looked so beautiful when she's asleep. Like an angel. Calm and peaceful.'

He froze after this thought, narrowing his eyes slightly. What had gotten into him? Ever since she had arrived here, he had been letting her get under his skin. It was unacceptable! She was just a girl, after all.

He growled in frustration and walked to the other side of the bed, sitting down and reaching for his book. However, he couldn't seem to concentrate on the words. He glanced over at her again, his eyes traveling over her light blond hair, her ivory skin, her petite frame (or what he could see of it under the blankets). There was no use denying she was absolutely gorgeous. He reached over and gently brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes, his fingers lingering on her skin.

With a scowl, he quickly withdrew his hand, picking up his book again.

'What are you doing, Tom? You have much more important things to be doing. Worry about her when she wakes up.'

He opened his book once again and forced himself to focus on the words, pushing all thoughts of her from his mind.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A soft sigh of contentment left Delia's lips as she shifted slightly under the blankets, still half asleep. She curled up on her side before a slight frown formed on her forehead, although she didn't open her eyes. How had she gotten into her bed? She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember falling asleep either. The last thing she remembered was…

Her eyes flew open and she was suddenly wide awake. She immediately realized she wasn't in her room as she starred at the wall in front of her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the couch that was facing the fire on the other side of the room. Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned over, her eyes landing on none other than the Dark Lord himself, who was sitting on the other side of the bed, reading a book. Upon noticing her move, he closed the book and placed it on the bedside table before giving her a smile.

Delia bit her lip and slowly sat up, never taking her eyes from him.

"Oh, honestly, Delia. Don't give me that look. You passed out and I laid you in my bed. Nothing else happened," he said, a clearly amused look on his face as he took in her suspicious gaze.

She quickly looked away, feeling slightly ashamed of herself. Of course nothing happened. Why would she think it had? If he wasn't going to use the Imperius curse on her to get what he wanted, why would he take advantage of her when she was unconscious?

She sighed and leaned back against the bed frame before turning to look at him again. She suppressed a shiver as she noticed the hungry look in his eyes as his gaze traveled over her.

"What were you reading?" she finally asked in a soft voice when she was almost squirming under his gaze.

His eyes snapped up to hers for a moment before he reached behind him and picked up the book, never looking away from him. She quickly took the book, glad for a reason to look away from him. She raised an eyebrow as she read the title and looked up at him questioningly.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Why, these are children's stories! What are you doing reading this?" she asked, the shock clear in her voice.

Tom smirked at her, taking the book back and replacing it on his bedside table.

"Some things are not as they appear, my dear. And either way, I find them interesting."

His words did nothing to appease her confusion and she cocked her head to the side as she regarded him.

"But surely you must know them already. Didn't your parents read…"

Before she could even finish the question, Tom had closed the space between them and wrapped his fingers tightly around her neck, cutting off her air supply as his eyes flashed dangerously.

"Never mention my parents again. Do I make myself clear?" he growled at her, sounding completely feral.

Delia desperately tried to get air into her screaming lungs as she pulled helplessly at the hand around her neck, her eyes wide with fear.

"Y..yes," she managed to choke out, collapsing onto the bed and gasping for air when he released her.

When she had finally caught her breath, she sat up shakily and withdrew to the corner of the bed that was farthest from him. She couldn't suppress a shiver as she noticed how his eyes, which were still darkened with anger, never left her.

The silence between them stretched and Delia began to squirm under his gaze. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she spoke, her voice slightly hoarse from being choked.

"If that's all you needed, then I should be…"

"No," he cut her off sharply.

Even though he hadn't moved at all, she flinched as if he had slapped her.

He continued to just stare at her for a moment before finally looking away towards the fire behind her.

"I need you to help me in my research, Delia. You were a Ravenclaw, so this should be no problem for you. You'll have full access to my library and be able to go whenever you see fit. However," he turned his steady gaze back on her. "if you ever try anything like you did two days ago with your new freedom, no one will end up very happy."

His underlying threat caused a shiver of fear to go up her spine. She knew she really had no say in the matter of helping him and sighed dejectedly.

"What exactly is it that I'm going to be researching?" she finally asked softly after a few moments of silence.

A smirk began to curl up the corners of his mouth and Delia had to suppress another shiver. Luckily, Tom didn't seem to notice.

"You, my dear, are going to help me research the Deathly Hallows."

Delia didn't say anything, just starring at him disbelievingly. When the silence stretched and she realized he wasn't joking, she raised an eyebrow at him incredulously.

"You're joking, right? That's nothing but a fairytale, a silly story made up to put children to sleep." She carefully avoided even saying the word 'parent.'

He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before rolling his eyes.

"As I said, things are not always as they seem. And there is some truth to every story told."

She sighed in exasperation, but could tell that it would be useless to try and convince him that this was a waste of time. So, she instead just nodded, figuring it would at least get her out of her room.

"Oh, alright," she snapped before she could stop herself. He raised an eyebrow at her delicately and she instantly regretted snapping, but he just looked amused.

"You can leave now, if you'd like. I expect you to report to me the second you find out anything. However, if you take too long to come up with any results, I might have to persuade you to look at bit harder."

She bit her lip at his insinuation and just nodded, not saying a word before she disappeared, reappearing on her own bed. She sighed and looked around the room, smiling slightly as she noticed a door that hadn't been there before, the door to the sure-to-be extensive library that was now at her leisure.

'But I can explore later. I'm much too tired now,' she thought to herself before settling into her bed and quickly falling into a dreamless sleep.