"I promised her I'd come, Mother," said Thad seriously, "and I must keep that promise. I have to go!"
"Ahhh! All right, Thad, you can go," said Ginny exasperatedly, placing her hand over her stomach. "Between you and your growing little sister, you're making me very tired."
"Father said that another baby was your idea," Thad said, his eyes laughing.
Ginny smiled at her son. "He would."
"Wouldn't your grandchildren make you happy, Mum?" asked Thad carefully.
Ginny answered kindly, "Well, Thad, there's a difference between your child and someone else's child. Maybe one day you'll know that for yourself."
Thad hugged his mother and kissed her, thinking, Me? My own son or daughter? I only want children by Rosebud. I could make Rosebud mine and be halfway there!
First things first.
Thad hurried to Rosebud's house. She met him at the door with a sweet kiss and a smile. "Come on in," she told him. "We're just sitting down to supper."
Thad followed Rosebud into the dining room. He saw Rosebud's mother and father at the table. "Sit down," said Mr. Swensen courteously. "You must be Thad Riddle. Rosebud has told us all about you."
"Oh," said Thad, grinning at Rosebud teasingly, "has she told you all the bad things about me?"
"What bad things?" asked Rosebud, pretending to look confused.
Thad laughed. "I tease a lot," he told the Swensens, sitting down by Rosebud.
Rosebud was laughing inside. She knew that Thad teased her and his family a lot, but that he was about as emotional as a wooden fence when he was around other people.
"So," said Mr. Swensen, "I've heard that your father has a problem with my daughter. Any particular reason?"
Rosebud's face turned red when Thad looked at her. "Well," said Thad, trying to think of a way to put it nicely, "Rosebud is not—of our family's blood. I mean" and here Thad looked down in what might have been shame "we Riddles have always been a pureblooded Wizarding family, whereas Rosebud is...not."
"Oh," said Mr. Swensen knowingly, "you mean it's the old story of World Clash? I thought that after WCII that your father finally got over that!"
Thad's face flamed. "My father has struggled with his view of the Muggles," said Thad finally. "His cousin was Lord Voldemort, you know, and Voldemort was a half-blood. He brought disgrace to the family because of that, and he delighted in torturing my father. Father does not believe in mixing Muggle blood and Wizarding blood. To him the Muggles and Muggle-borns are all right in their own place, but he doesn't think that they should be welcome in his family."
"Do you agree with him, Thad?" asked Mrs. Swensen kindly.
"No, ma'am," answered Thad quickly. "They usually all hate me to begin with when they learn who I and my family are. But, believe me, when I told Rosebud that I loved her, I meant it with all my heart." Thad smiled at the blushing, brown-haired girl. "I hope to one day mean something more to her than just a friend." Rosebud blushed, staring down at her plate.
Mr. Swensen smiled. "You would go against your father?"
"Definitely this time, because I know Father is wrong about Rosebud," said Thad with conviction. "She is a wonderful girl."
After they finished supper, Rosebud escorted Thad to the door. Just when she was going to say goodbye, he pulled her out onto the porch and shut the door behind them.
"Why, Thad—!" she began, finding herself suddenly in his arms. She stopped when she saw the passion in his eyes. He's amazing, she thought happily, and he loves me. I love him too! I am such a lucky girl to have found a friend in Thaddeus Riddle!
"Darling, I won't be able to see you again until we're at school," said Thad apologetically. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" cried Rosebud in disappointment. "Oh, Thad, why?"
Thad held her close and answered, "If Father finds out that I am—ah, going against him, he will not be happy at all. We can see each other at school with less chance of being caught."
A tear trickled down Rosebud's cheek as she looked into his eyes. "But I wanted you to be able to meet me!"
Thad sighed,. "I know, darling, but we need to be as safe as possible until I can meet you freely," he told her.
"I see," said Rosebud sadly. Then she brightened. "Give me a kiss," she told Thad.
Thad pressed her tightly against himself; their lips met in a long, passionate kiss. When he drew back, he said, "See you at school. I love you. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Thad," said Rosebud quietly. "I love you too—oh, please, let me see you soon!"
"I will," he promised her. Thad left Rosebud's house to go back to Horror House.
When Thad and his family went back to school, Thad was busy, and did not call Rosebud to meet him the first night. She had seen him on the train platform and for a moment on the train. She wanted to see him again very soon. To her delight, he called her to himself the second night and they met in the Gryffindor Common Room.
She wondered where on earth he'd learned the password to the Gryffindor Common Room until she remembered that he was a prefect, and that nearly all of his brothers and sisters before him had been prefects, Head Boys, and Head Girls.
"Come," Thad told her.
"Where are we going?" she asked him.
Uncomfortable, he answered lightly, "To the safest place in all the school—the Chamber of Secrets."
That's where Thad and Rosebud went—straight to the Chamber. He opened up the steps in the pipe and took her down to the Chamber quickly. When Thad spoke Parseltongue, commanding the Chamber to open, Rosebud realized how powerful he actually was.
He's so tall and his eyes are so dark, thought she. He looks so dangerous!
Thad took Rosebud over to some boulders where they could sit and talk. They discussed what had happened since they'd seen each other last. Not much had really happened.
"The world stood still for us," Thad told Rosebud, smiling slightly in amusement.
Rosebud hopped down off her boulder. "It would stop for you, but not for me," she answered.
Thad joined her where she was, leaning back against her boulder. He put his arms around her and said, "You know what I mean, darling."
"Yes, I know," sighed Rosebud tiredly. Then she said, "I've missed you so much, Thad! I love you."
She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down toward herself. Thad held her to himself tightly and kissed her strongly. "I love you," he murmured, his lips on hers.
Suddenly, Thad drew back, only one thought on his mind: We've got company! "Rosebud, be absolutely quiet; someone's coming!" While she watched the entrance, frightened, Thad picked her up and flew with her out the Forest entrance. He set her down and she clung to him tightly.
"Who was it?" she asked him, trembling.
"It was Horatio and Thisbe with their son Jerry," Thad answered. "Are you ready to go back to bed now?"
Rosebud nodded quietly.
As Thad lay in bed that night, he realized something. I must either take our relationship to the next level, or go back to something less. That's easy. I won't go back, and I know what I have to do.
Thad didn't call Rosebud for three days. At the end of those three days, the third night came. He dressed, but he didn't go to Rosebud; he went to her house.
He rang the doorbell and waited outside the front door. Mrs. Swensen answered the door. "Thad!" she said, "What a surprise! Aren't you supposed to be at school?"
"Yes, but please, I would like to talk to Mr.—your husband," answered Thad, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Well, he's not here right now, but he'll be home in about ten minutes," said Mrs. Swensen kindly. "But come on in; you can stay till he comes and talk to him."
Thad smiled gratefully. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Swensen."
When Mr. Swensen came home from work, he said hello to his wife; then he and Thad went to the living room to have a talk. "So what is it, Thad?" asked Mr. Swensen kindly.
"Sir," Thad began hesitantly, a bit worried, "I love your daughter Rosebud. Will you give her to me—to be my wife?"
The room was silent for a long time; then Mr. Swensen sighed in resignation. "Certainly if you have won her heart I cannot refuse you her. Ask her to marry you, and if she says yes, then you may have her."
"Thank you, sir," said Thad gratefully.
"Now," said Mr. Swensen, standing with a sigh, "let's go tell Rosebud's mother that the fate of her daughter hangs in the balance."
They found Mrs. Swensen in the kitchen. "Dora," said Mr. Swensen gently, "Thad wants our Rosebud."
Mrs. Swensen gasped. "You naughty boy!" she said teasingly. Then she went over and gave him a big hug. "How dare you?" she asked him, trying not to laugh and cry at the same time. "Rosebud is our only child!"
Thad looked at Mrs. Swensen, a slightly pleased look on his face. "If I marry Rosebud, you'll have two children. You may even end up with grandchildren! Who knows?"
The Swensens said goodbye to Thad and he left.
In the Great Hall the next morning, Thad watched as the owls flew in delivering the post. He received a letter from Antigone, who had graduated the previous year. She told him that she and Stanton, the Head Boy from the previous year, had left a list of prefect patrol times for the new Heads in the desk of the one of the prefect meeting rooms. "I wouldn't trust anyone else with this, not even my fellow Gryffindors," she told him, and Thad grinned, imagining her voice.
He folded her letter and put it in his robe pocket, noting to go find the note as soon as he could. Looking down the table, he saw Brenda Ackerman receive a letter. Thad supposed it was another scolding note from Thisbe, Brenda's older sister, who was a seventh year Gryffindor and didn't much understand the Slytherin ways of her little sister.
Thad noticed his brother Dirk looking over Brenda's shoulder, knowing that the two were very close because of the serpent incident the year before. Thad looked away, and caught sight of the girl sitting across from him. She had just received a letter and was opening it when she suddenly looked up, and Thad looked away from her.
Bethany Lestrange soon went back to the letter, and Thad watched as she read it. He saw an abnormal look cross her face, and wondered what was wrong with her. She slowly look up at him and smiled seductively, her lips inviting.
Lovely, thought Thad. She likes me now. I wonder what she wants from me, for normally she hates me as if I were a Mudblood! He rose from the table, and headed off to find the note that Antigone had left for him.
Thad did not go to Rosebud for a long time. After waiting five days for Thad to call her, Rosebud began to be worried about him. She thought he was purposely ignoring her.
One day, in one of the classes they attended together, Rosebud came very close to making a mistake. She kept looking at Thad. When they were leaving the classroom, she tried to get Thad's attention.
It seemed to her that he was ignoring her, but others noticed. Thad's four friends (Ignatius, Matteus, Octavius, and Derek) gave her strange looks, and Rosebud scowled at them in annoyance. If they had any reaction at all, she didn't notice.
Worst of all, one of the Slytherin girls, Bethany Lestrange, sneered, "Awww! Does little Rosie have a crush on Riddle? You better give up now, Swensen. You'll never be good enough for the likes of him!"
"And he'll never stoop to the likes of you!" snapped Rosebud, turning back to her enemy in irritation. "At least I'm not a stinking, conniving little minx who thinks the world revolves around me!"
Angered, Bethany drew her wand and snarled, "How dare you speak to me in that manner, you filthy Mudblood! Serpensortia!"
A large black snake materialized on the ground between them and Rosebud thought, Drat it, Lestrange, you would do this to me! Thad had been filled with fury when Bethany called Rosebud "Mudblood," but when he saw the serpent, he stepped forward and vanished it immediately, shooting Bethany a warning glance.
The two girls fell back into the duel, and Rosebud blocked several other hexes from Bethany, casting a few of her own. In the end, she managed to hit the other girl with a Leg-locker Jinx.
Rosebud laughed in glee as she watched Lestrange struggle on the floor until she took the jinx off. Bethany tried to confound her opponent, but failed, and Rosebud blocked several other jinxes and curses before yelling, "Stupefy!" and finally succeeded in keeping Bethany down. Rosebud breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up the books she'd dropped.
Hearing applause, she looked up and it stopped, but Thad and his Slytherin friends were watching her carefully. Thad winked at her and then told James and Vi, "I'll handle this. Slytherin issues are best dealt with in Slytherin."
James looked carefully at Rosebud, then grinned and said, "Nicely done! It's wonderful to see you defeat her in a duel every three weeks!"
Rosebud smiled, then turned to look at Thad, but he had silently disappeared down the corridors, floating Lestrange along in front of him. Rosebud sighed, and continued on with her day.
"It's not everyday that you get turned off by Thaddeus Riddle, is it, Rosebud?" asked Elizabeth (Lissy) Dukk, one of her dorm mates, that night. "You're crazy to think he'd turn to you."
Vi sat up. "Really, Rosebud, why would you want him? He's our enemy!"
Angrily, Rosebud said, "He's your boyfriend's enemy! He's not my enemy, and that's none of your business! Leave me alone!" Rosebud closed her bed curtains.
"Rosebud, everyone knows that Bethany Lestrange has set her heart on Thaddeus Riddle," said Vi. "You've got no chance of him turning to you."
"Yeah, after she's hated him for how many years? Don't you find it strange that she just developed this huge crush on him?" Rosebud answered, "I said, 'Leave me alone!'" Then she went to sleep.
The next day in class, Rosebud avoided looking at Thad. He's forgotten me, she thought. He's rejected me!
Meanwhile, Thad was watching her subtly and thinking, What did I do to her? She seems awfully disturbed. I'll have to meet her tonight.
Later that day, Thad came upon a group of students gathered in a corridor. "What's going on?" he asked the boy nearest him.
The boy looked at Thad warily and tapped the person in front of himself. "Prefect," he said.
"Drat. It's just getting interesting," said the other boy (Titus Ackerman). The group split and let Thad through.
Thad saw that the group was gathered around Rosebud and Bethany. Bethany was coldly telling Rosebud that she was practically worthless because of her blood.
"Why don't you leave all of our pureblood boys alone?" Bethany said coldly. "They need to keep their blood pure. Find yourself a Mudblood and stick to him."
Rosebud smiled at her enemy. "Haven't you ever heard that likes repel? I can't change my blood; why can't you learn to live with it?"
Bethany sputtered, but couldn't come up with a good answer. Thad stepped forward, laughing.
"You shut her up, didn't you, Ms. Swensen?" Thad said. "I must say I'm surprised, Ms. Strange. I thought that you two would engage in a duel again, but I see you were hesitant." He made it sound like Bethany had been scared to death of Rosebud. "Now go on, Ms. Strange, you've done enough here. And if you're going to keep insulting Swensen here, I think you should know that she has a particularly nasty Bat-Bogey Hex, just like my mum does. So, watch yourself, Lestrange."
Rosebud looked up at him, surprised that he'd appeared beside her. She began to giggle at what Thad had said to Bethany. Rosebud had never had very many excuses to use the Bat-Bogey Hex, but Bethany sounded like a great person to use it on, judging from her horrified expression.
"Now, Ms. Swensen, if you don't hurry to your next class, you'll be late," Thad told her.
Still smiling and laughing, she hurried off.
That night when Rosebud was dressing for bed, she heard something. Rosebud! Thad was calling her to meet him! If you want to, meet me in your House's common room.
Rosebud quickly pulled her robe back on and went to meet Thad. She hurried across the room to him and shyly hugged him. "Thad," she murmured.
He smiled and contentedly held her to himself. It was becoming easier for him to shove away his in-bred feelings about blood purity: he'd had quite a struggle at first, even trying to deny his feelings for the girl. He welcomed Rosebud to himself, and refused to listen to any blathering from his housemates about Muggle-borns. Of course, Thad was very discreet, knowing that his fellow Slytherins would catch onto his new beliefs if he was not extremely careful.
Thad was past all the pureblood extremist beliefs he'd been taught, and allowed nothing, not even his own father, to deter him from Rosebud Swensen.
Thad took her to the Quad battlements where they could look at the stars. He sighed and held Rosebud close. "I'm sorry that it's been so long, Rosebud," he said to her gently, "and I don't want to make excuses, but I had a family meeting last night." Thad smiled wryly. "And I've been settling with myself an issue that has just come up."
"What is it, Thad?" asked Rosebud, looking up at him curiously.
"Well, Rosebud, I love you," began Thaddeus, looking down into her eyes with a smile on his face, "and I've been thinking about us and our relationship. I think it's time."
"Time?" asked Rosebud, a little worried.
"Yes, time," answered Thad decisively. "Rosebud Swensen, will you marry me?"
Shocked, she stared at him like he'd suddenly grown another head. "Me, Thad?" she gasped. Then she cried, "Oh, yes, Thad, yes!" She threw her arms and clung to him tightly.
Me? her mind was gasping. He wants me to marry him! And I just said "Yes!"
"Rosebud," he murmured in her ear, before kissing her, "I love you, and nothing else matters." He drew back and led Rosebud over to the edge of the battlements. They sat down together, and he noticed that Rosebud had tears in her eyes.
She looked into his eyes and said, "Thad, I love you." The she moved over closer to him and leaned against him.
Thad put his arm around her and gave her a half-hug. "Darling," he murmured to the girl, "I want you to be mine. I know that you are the one for me, and I will not let anyone tell me otherwise. I'm certain about this."
Rosebud sighed happily and replied, "I love you, Thad, and I want to be yours."
With a slight smile, Thad leaned over to Rosebud and asked, "You don't care that I'm a Slytherin?" Rosebud shook her head. "—or that most of my family is extremist? Or that our friends pretty much despise/hate each other?"
Rosebud looked up at him. "No, dear Thad-y," she told him happily. "I honestly don't care what you are, and I certainly don't care what your friends think about me." A strange look crossed her face, and she added, "I'm sorry about James, though. He's going to be furious—but I don't care because I love you! And you're the nicest Slytherin there ever was."
Thad smiled at her, an eyebrow raised. "You never know," he told her, "what Slytherins hide on the inside."
"Should I be worried about you?" she asked him teasingly.
He laughed quietly. "Oh, dear Rosebud," he said, "I cannot hide much from you. You make me open up and show more emotion than I've ever felt in my whole life!"
Rosebud smiled and put her head against Thad's shoulder again. "I trust you," she stated. "I don't care about anything anybody says, and James can throw a tantrum for all I care: it doesn't matter."
Thad laughed at the mental image of James Potter II throwing a fit. "You don't care that I'm a Parselmouth, Rosebud?" he asked her.
Smiling, she said, "I like you unusual and powerful and still sweet and caring. And how could we meet in the Chamber if you couldn't speak Parseltongue?!"
"—or the fact that our children will most likely be Parselmouths?" he asked her teasingly.
She stared at him in shock; her face then broke into a huge smile and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. "I don't care:" she told him, "but you can't go around talking to them in Parseltongue and leaving me out."
He murmured, "Deal," to her, kissing her softly. When Thad drew back, he pulled a small, square box out of his robe pocket and handed it to Rosebud. "Open it," he told her.
Rosebud obeyed. "Oh, Thad!" she exclaimed. Twin engagement rings rested on a velvet cushion. "They're beautiful," she breathed.
Thad smiled. "After we get married, we will press the stones together, and the rings will become the wedding rings I chose for us. Here, let me put yours on your finger."
He picked up the smaller ring and took her right hand in his. "Now," he said, slipping it onto her ring finger, "you are promised to me. Would you—?" Thad held out his hand and ring toward her.
Rosebud quietly put the ring on Thad's finger. "—and you are promised to me," she said.
Thad nodded and placed his hand over hers. "This is a tremendous secret, Rosebud," he told her solemnly. "It will be imperative to keep our engagement, then marriage, a secret."
"Do you have any advice for me on how to keep it a secret, Thad?" Rosebud asked him with a smile.
"Yes, Rosebud," answered Thad. "I don't mean to hurt you, but there are other girls who will have a crush on me." Thad sighed. "It's normal for the men in our family, and probably all you can do is to put up with their giggling and such. Do you know anyone like that?"
Rosebud nodded. "Lestrange has a crush on you. She thinks I'm her rival," said Rosebud.
"She was trying to show off to me by badmouthing you," explained Thad. "I liked the way you silenced her. I don't know why after so many years of trying to jinx my head off that she decided that she likes me."
Rosebud blushed. "It wasn't anything important, Thad," she said shyly.
Smiling, Thad replied, "Maybe not to you, but to me." He drew her into his warm embrace and kissed her. "I love you," he murmured in her ear.
She laid her head against his chest. "I love you too, Thad. My, how we get off subject! So do you have any other advice for me?"
"Don't wear your ring to class," said Thad with a grin.
"How will I wear it, then?" asked Rosebud, suddenly raising her head. "It's too beautiful to be put in a box and forgotten!"
"Here." Thad pulled Rosebud's ribbon out of her hair.
"Thad Riddle!" Rosebud tried in vain to recapture her hair.
Thad laughed. "Let it go," he said; "it looks beautiful when it's down. As I was saying, here's what you can do." Thad took Rosebud's ring and put it on the ribbon. "You can tie the ribbon around your neck and let it hang down inside your robe."
Rosebud smiled. "Would you do it for me?" She turned around and lifted her hair away from her neck.
Thad quickly tied it for her and turned her around. He smiled. "Now put it inside your robe," he requested.
She obeyed. "How will you wear yours?" she asked.
"On my finger," answered Thad. "It will be invisible, and boys don't usually play with rings and such."
Rosebud nodded. "Goodbye, Thad."
"Goodbye, my little Blossom," answered Thad. He kissed her gently, then took her back to her Common Room.
