Chapter 11: The Unraveling

It had been two weeks since Amalthea had talked to Tom.

She was going to great lengths to avoid not only Tom, but also Lucilla; a fact that pained her greatly. She loved Lucilla dearly, but the girl asked too many concerned questions, and she wasn't ready to give answers yet.

And so she came to class late, and almost ran out when class finished. She skipped dinner and ate late at night from the kitchens. Since Lucilla was her dorm mate, she could not really hide there, so she started spending time in the Astronomy Tower alone.

In short, aside from staying away from her dormitory and skipping meals, her life was much the same as it had been before getting close to Tom and Lucilla.

At that moment, she was sneaking to the kitchens after hours, to get something to eat. Shivering slightly, Thea wished she had brought a shawl along; it was a chilly night. She rubbed her right arm absent mindedly and winced as pain shot up it.

The mark the witch had left on her arm in her dream had been…growing. The unsettling black flower had started sprouting thorny vines that snaked from her shoulder to her elbow.

Footsteps sounded behind her, making her tense up; if anyone found her wandering the corridors this late, she would be in huge trouble. Before she could turn around to see who it was, she felt something slam into her back with such force that she was thrown forward. She felt something trickle down her chin.

Her lip was bleeding.

Bracing her hands against the floor, she tried to get up, but something dug into her back, pushing her back.

"Merlin, this was way too easy," came a disgusted voice, "You're weaker than I thought."

Male.

"Who-" she croaked.

A harsh laugh.

"You think I'm dense enough to tell you my name? Where is she?"

"Where is who?"

"Don't play dumb with me! Diffindo!"

Thea cried out in pain as she felt the severing spell cut through her sleeves and leave gashes on her arms.

"Where is she? Where is Lady Goditha?"

Amalthea felt her mind go blank with fear.

She could hear the stranger muttering to himself now.

"-thought she'd be closer to the change already."

Change…was he talking about awakening the monstrous witch inside her?

She couldn't let that happen. Goditha had threatened to use her body and hurt the people close to her and Thea had no doubt she would follow up on the threat. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, she snuck her hand towards the pocket of her dressing gown, where her wand was. Closing her fingers firmly around it, she took a deep breath, whipped it out, and with all the force she could muster, she cried,

"Stupefy!"

The force of her Stunning Spell threw the shadowy figure backwards, crashing him into a wall where he lay in a heap on the floor.

Scrambling to her feet, she ran down the corridor as fast as she could, not pausing to look back even once. Turning the corner, she bumped into a solid body.

"Honestly, Marchbanks, I told you before you need to-"

Tom's voice trailed off as his eyes raked in her appearance. Her hair was falling out of its bun, her lip was bleeding, and her tattered sleeves displayed angry red cuts on her arms. She was pretty sure her cheek was also starting to bruise. She watched in morbid fascination as his dark eyes turn red and he opened his mouth to speak.

"What happened?"

Amalthea almost replied, but remembering her vow of not taking his assistance, she turned her head away.

"Nothing. Nothing happened. Excuse me, I need to get to bed."

"Amalthea."

"We've been through this. No."

She brushed past him and started walking away, when one word stopped her in her tracks.

"Please."

She swung towards him in shock.

"Did you just say please?"

The tightening of his mouth was the only sign of discomfort he betrayed, as he looked at her wordlessly.

Thea knew that 'please' had cost him a whole lot of pride. And despite the fact that she knew now that he was a cold hearted sociopath, she wasn't cruel enough to reject the peace offering he had just made. She sighed.

"I was…attacked," she said haltingly.

"What?" he hissed, "Who was it?"

She blinked in surprise at the force in his voice.

"I don't know. I was heading to the kitchens to get something to eat and- where are you going?" she questioned Tom, who had started to walk away from her. With dawning realization, she hurried after him.

"T-Riddle, stop! It's too dangerous to go after him just yet. We don't know who it was or what their motive is and I don't want you involved."

It was no use. The stubborn wizard continued to feign deafness as he strode towards the kitchens. Thea gave up trying to reason with him and followed him to the scene of her attack. They reached the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room to find-

Nothing.

The corridor was empty.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned to Tom who'd suddenly stiffened up next to her. She followed his gaze to a scarlet patch on the ground. Blood.

Her blood.

"Tergeo," she muttered, pointing at the stain with her wand shaking slightly, "Come on. Let's go back to the common room."

They walked back to the dungeons in silence. Reaching the stone wall hiding the entrance, Amalthea whispered the password.

"Merlin."

The wall slid away to reveal the steps leading down to the common room. They made their way down in silence, but when she turned to go up to her dormitory, Tom's voice stopped her.

"Wait."

She slowly turned to face him and waited for him to elaborate.

"You should reconsider your rejection of my assistance," he said stiffly.

"Are you going to stop making Horcruxes?"

No answer.

Thea gave a small tired smile.

"I thought not. Then I stand by my original decision. I'm sorry."

She turned to go, and then hesitated.

"It's not worth it you know. Dark Magic never is."

Tom gave her a mocking smile.

"And what would you know about Dark Magic, dear Amalthea? I imagine you've lived your whole life in a lovely large mansion, pampered and cloistered away from every sort of anguish and pain. Pure, untouched-"

Hot anger surged within her.

"You're wrong," she hissed, "You have no idea of what I do or do not know."

He seemed taken aback by her outraged reply. He recovered within a second and plastered the smirk back on.

"Oh?" he said pleasantly, "Do tell."

Thea opened her mouth to tell him to sod off, and then stopped. Maybe if she told him…He might actually take her warnings more seriously and stop treating her like some empty headed ninny.

Shivering slightly, she perched herself on an armchair nearby and gestured for him to sit down.

"Fine," she said quietly, "I'll tell you. I warn you, you're probably never going to see the same way again."

"It happened during the Christmas holidays….

New Year's Eve.

It was that time of the year again, the day of the New Year's Eve Ball where her blood status conscious parents invited everyone-who-was anyone to attend their extravagant, ostentatious party.

Amalthea hated it.

She had been dressed in tight glittery robes, her hair pinned up high and her face 'sufficiently' powdered. She looked around the ornate ballroom with its enormous chandeliers, musicians and exquisite food and felt… nothing but discomfort. She hated crowds and a ball didn't get more crowded than this. The Marchbanks were influential people; to be invited to their ball was considered an honor and no one wanted to offend them by not attending.

After an hour of greeting people with a fake smile and faux cheer, she had had enough.

She needed to get away for a while. Making sure no one noticed, she quietly slipped out and made her way to the conservatory. Taking off her uncomfortable shoes, she made her way over to a bench and sank into it. The weather was pleasant enough and she felt a slight breeze ruffle through her hair as she closed her eyes and leaned back.

A slight rustle sounded and her eyes shot open and she found herself facing an unfamiliar young man with white blond hair and the most arresting pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. He was looking at her with a friendly puzzled smile.

"And who might be the lovely young lady in front of me be?" he asked.

Thea narrowed her eyes at his over familiar tone.

"I could ask you the same question," she said coolly.

He threw his head back and laughed.

"My apologies. Anthony DeDario the Fifth, at your service."

"Amalthea Marchbanks."

"Ah so you are the elusive young lady I was supposed to be introduced to. Your parents could not find you but what a lucky coincidence that I met you anyway!"

She gave him a small smile.

"I suppose so."

He sauntered towards her, and for some reason the movement caused her body to tense up. She didn't understand why, but every instinct of hers told her to get away from this person. Fast.

"I should probably go," said Thea with a nervous smile, "You said my parents were looking for me…"

Getting up from the bench, she had hardly taken two steps when the conservatory doors banged shut.

She swerved around to see the wizard looking at her with an almost lazy smile on his face, his wand twirling between his fingers.

She dove her hand into her pocket to grab her wand, however her fingers only grasped air.

"Looking for this?" drawled DeDario, drawing out a second wand from his robes.

Thea looked at him, the blood draining from her face.

"Knowing non verbal spells has its advantages," he said smiling, "I Accio'ed this in the ballroom."

She opened her mouth to scream.

"Silencio!" he said sharply, pointing his wand at her throat.

Try as she might, she could not utter a single word. She stood rooted to the spot, her terror increasing with every step he took towards her.

He was so close now, leaning towards her. He reached out a hand to stroke her face, and she flinched away from his touch.

His face twisted into an ugly scowl.

"So Miss High and Mighty thinks she's too good for my touch?" he jeered, "I'm going to enjoy what I have to do."

Thea wondered at his choice of words. What did he mean by 'have to do'?

However all rational thought vanished into panic as he pulled the neckline of her robes downward. She began to struggle in earnest, pushing, kicking, and trying to get away. Her struggle seemed only to amuse him as he chuckled and wrapped his arm around her in an iron grip. She felt her mind go blank as his hand slipped into the front of her robes, where he'd torn down her neckline. If only she could reach her wand….

DeDario had made a fatal error. It had not occurred to him that she too might have learnt non verbal spells.

She felt something poke into her hip. Her wand!

As he continued his nauseous pawing, Thea tried to ignore the bile rising up her throat at his touch, and focused on reaching her wand. He did not notice her hand slipping into his pocket and as it closed around her wand, she screamed out a spell in her head that made him fly away from her and smash against the conservatory doors.

Coughing, he wiped away blood trickling from his lip and tried to sit up.

With another wave of her wand, she quickly conjured thick ropes to bind him so he could not move, or reach his wand.

"Well now, that was not very nice, Miss Marchbanks," he said, smirking, "I was quite enjoying myself."

Shaking with anger and fear, Thea pointed her wand at her throat and reversed the Silencing Charm.

"So what will you do now?" he asked, almost pleasantly, "You know just because you have a wand now won't stop me from getting free in a minute and enjoying your delectable little body-"

"Stop it," she whispered, aiming her wand at him.

"I'll strip that lovely gown from your body-"

"Stop it!"

"And then I'll tou-"

"NO!" she screamed, a hot anger unlike anything she'd ever felt before, coursing through her body,

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

There was a flash of green light and her tormentor slumped to the floor; eyes open and glassy, a look of shock etched upon his face.

"No…" whispered Amalthea, horrified at her actions.

She stumbled back.

Looking around wildly, she tried to decide what to do. Trying not to look at his body, she hurried to pick up his wand. Snatching it up, she cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself and ran out of the conservatory.

"No one ever knew or suspected. They found the body hours later, and it was labeled a murder. However no one had any inkling of who could have killed him, and nothing was traced back to me. Of course that had largely to do with the fact that his murder was not properly looked into. My parents were appalled that something like this had happened at their house. They pulled a few strings and the whole thing was hushed up.

I could not sleep for weeks after that. I used to lie awake, his vacant face flashing before my eyes. When I could finally sleep again, he haunted my nightmares instead of my waking moments. It took me a long time to be able to deal with it. I'm still not completely past it.

"So you see…I do know what it feels to take a life, to give into the darkness." Thea finished, with a bitter smile on her face.

She looked up at Tom, expecting to see indifference or mockery on his face.

She found neither.

He looked…like she'd never seen him look before. His fierce stare was burning holes in the chair and there was a vaguely sick look on his face. With a jolt she realized he was shaking slightly.

"Riddle?" she asked, "Are you alright?"

No response. She tried again.

"Tom? Are you listening?"

His gaze snapped up and met hers and she felt a shiver go up her spine at the murderous look on his face.

"I want to kill him," he rasped, "I do not even care that he's dead, I want to bring him back to life and torture him till he forgets his own name."

Thea gave him a shaky smile.

"Good thing he's already dead then?"

"Do not," he said sharply, "Do not pretend as if this doesn-why are you crying?"

"I am not crying," she said fiercely, even as tears ran down her cheeks.

Tom leaned forward and raised a hesitant hand towards her. With a gentleness she would never thought him capable of, he brushed away her tears. For minute, they both stared at each other, caught in the rare intimate moment.

Thea looked away first, a slight pink tinge on her cheeks.

"I want you back, Amalthea," said Tom quietly.

"I can't- Tom, please. You know what it would take for me to be with you. Let the Horcruxes go."

"I can't." he said.

The perfect Head boy mask was gone and at that moment he looked nothing more than a vulnerable teenage boy.

Feeling herself falling into despair, she grabbed both his forearms.

"Listen to me. I know what it feels like to hate with so much strength. I understand the need for revenge; against the person who did you wrong, against the world, against Fate.

But I also know that this road needs nowhere. I killed him, Tom. I killed that wretched wizard who attacked me, and even though I am not sorry he is no longer in this world, I also cannot bear knowing that I took a human life. You've made a Horcrux already, and I…I know you must have killed someone, so you know I am right. It destroys a part of yourself, and you can never get it back. It's not too late, you can still turn away."

Tom looked at the pleading witch in front of him. She looked eerily beautiful in the green glow of the common room, with the fire from the hearth lighting up her fae-like features. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she grasped his arms…and he realized this was the first time in his life that someone was crying out of worry for him.

It felt odd. He did not quite know how to explain it. His chest felt tight and there were knots in his stomach. His heart was beating erratically and his body felt overheated. What was this feeling?

He reached out and stroked a strand of Amalthea's silken hair.

"Alright then," he found himself saying.

He felt her almost jump back from him.

"What- What did you just say?" she whispered?.

Tom slowly blinked and it occurred to him that he had just agreed to halt a quest that had taken him great work and research to pursue. He waited for the doubt and hesitation to hit him.

Nothing. He felt nothing at the prospect.

What had this girl done to him?

He realized that she was still waiting for a reply from him.

He looked into her wide glistening gray eyes and touched the side of her face softly.

"I will…cease to pursue the Horcruxes, for the time being at least."

He saw her frown and knew that did not satisfy her and so he went on to explain.

"I cannot just make a sweeping statement just now," he said quietly, "Try to understand, I have been planning this for years. It will take some time to fully let go."

"You promise that you will tell me if you change your mind and decide to continue down this road?"

"I give you my word. And…I will not stop you from leaving if I do change my mind."

Her eyes widened at his promise.

"I would not ask you to change your mind after hearing your tale," he said stiffly, "I misunderstood your reluctance of repeating history, for ignorance. I know better now and-"

The rest of his words were cut off as she threw her arms around him, making him fall back in surprise. Slowly, he put his arms around her, and pulled her close.

He knew then, as they sat there intertwined, that he would do anything for her. This girl who seemed to care enough about his black heart to cry for him, to fight for whatever soul she seemed to think he possessed, and to…hold him.

Hold him as he'd never been held before.