Thank you all! Just a few things;
Rebekah; you might get a bit of what she wants in this chapter... ;) hope you like it!
DamonSavatorelover; thanks! I am feeling a bit better today :)
Amarantine, CelinaSeth... and people that might be reading and not reviewing! lol thank you...
I hope you enjoy this one; let me know how this was! :)
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13
Fleeting glimpse of happiness…
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1945
Aurelia had nightmares the next night, all of them featured by Salazar Slytherin's locket and Helga Hufflepuff's cup; she even heard the spell she had before, the Latin words resonating in her head…
"Anima mea requiescat…Vivo ego in aeternum…"
"Dabo tibi animam hanc…"
Then the same…
"Hephzibah Smith… Hufflepuff's descendant… Take the part of my soul she ripped…"
"The useless muggle tramp… Take the part of my soul he ripped…"
She saw the items shining and then it all faded to black… when she would open her eyes… she couldn't remember anything…
...
Another person in another place was simply astounded while reading the paper; he was in his new office drinking a cup of tea when he got the news…
Hephzibah Smith poisoned!
/ Last noon several officials from the Ministry found Madam Hephzibah Smith dead in her own living room, a three days old cup of tea in front of her rigid body, her eyes wide and no heartbeat… she was indeed dead!
According to the source Madam Hephzibah was poisoned, her tea had potent venom in it and she probably died after drinking it…
One of the officials, mister Ogden, said that they were really surprised about her death and could find none guilty… at least not a human… because just when they were exchanging looks of incredulity the house elf; Hokey came in with her hands burnt…
"Hokey is a bad girl!" the elf kept yelling while hitting her head against the living's door…
Indeed Hokey is a bad girl… said elf confused the jar of sugar with the venom she used to kill the Acromantulas that roamed the back of the house…
Hokey was condemned to 50 years of penal servitude… \\\
Hephzibah Smith dead wasn't the news… The murderer was the news… An elf killing their master? Weird… yes… but not impossible… Albus thought about it for a while and was almost pleased, it was about time an elf went against the fate casted upon them…
...
"Happy Birthday Aurelia…" she heard Bilius said from his seat around the table.
"Thank you…" she smiled down at him…
She celebrated her birthday with her family, Cedrella made a delicious dinner and Septimus gave her a blue scarf with a blue beanie and blue mittens… she loved it…
When the dinner was over and Septimus asleep, she was fidgeting nervously in her bedroom… she looked down at the brown package in which she had put a beanie and a scarf she had knitted… of course he wouldn't want them… she was horrible at knitting, but she didn't have money for a present…
She even made them with dark green and black wool… she sighed and looked out the window, the dark sky letting the snow fell on them as a blanket…
She turned to the door when Cedrella lightly knocked…
"Is something the matter…?" she asked with warm blue eyes…
"No, no… not at all… just thinking…" Aurelia smiled reassuringly and almost fainted when Cedrella grabbed the brown package…
"You've been knitting this for 2 months now… are going to give it as a present?" she asked with a kind smile.
"Yeah… I was thinking about it but… he probably won't like it… it's not that good…" she lowered her eyes and voice…
"If he worships you then he'll love it… it is handmade and you've put your effort in it, Aurelia…" she said. "Is it for Tom?" she asked and Aurelia paled… she remembered him. "I know you've been visiting him, Aurelia…" she said and Aurelia grimaced.
"It's not what you think, Cedrella…" she rushed to say.
"You don't know what I think, Aurelia…" Cedrella smiled. "You should probably go and give it to him…" she added…
"No… it's late and well… I don't want to have trouble…" she said.
"I'll go with you… don't worry, I won't interrupt…" she smiled again and Aurelia wasn't so sure about the outcome…
Half an hour later Aurelia was standing in the middle of the restaurant of the Leaky Cauldron, her beanie, scarf and mittens in place… the paper bag in her arms tightly secured in her embrace, she was trembling…
"Go on… I'll wait here… take your time…" Cedrella winked and Aurelia blushed… this was bizarre…
Come on! She was officially nineteen!
She went to the hostess and asked…
"I'm looking for Riddle, Tom Riddle… do you know which room is he in?" she asked quickly.
"Seventeen… upstairs…" the woman said not even looking at her.
Aurelia turned to Cedrella and regarded her with a worried look as if asking for her permission to go upstairs…
Cedrella waved her away with a smile…
Aurelia sighed and turned to the stairs and climbed up rigid as a rock, she was breathing raggedly out of anxiety…
She couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was silly of her to bring a present, maybe she could have come empty-handed and say something like; "Hi, Tom… Happy Birthday… you know I didn't buy anything so maybe you should just let me kiss you or something…" she grimaced and shook her head…
She saw his door and felt her chest tightening with each step…
When she was right in front she took a deep breath and plastered her best smile, she brushed her skirt and fixed her hair; she cleared her throat, raised her fist and knocked three times…
She didn't hear anything for a while so she knocked again… how silly of her, maybe he was out having a party with his friends…
She heard footsteps coming to the door and she gasped when the door opened…
"I said I didn't want anything!" he said with hoarse voice as if he had been sleeping, she saw his tousled hair and his narrowed eyes because of the lights outside…
"Happy Birthday…" she whispered and saw his eyes looked up and widen upon hearing her voice, she stopped breathing when she saw his red eyes… no longer brown… no tint of red… pure crimson…
"Aurelia…" he muttered and gave a weak smile… she watched in confusion the paler his skin got… he stood tall in front of her and she recovered.
"You were sleeping… I am sorry… I know how difficult it must be and I just ruined it…" she mumbled rapidly.
"It's okay… but… how come you're here this late…?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest, she blushed…
He looked perfect; hair tousled and sleepy, his voice hoarse and so vulnerable…
"Cedrella came with me…" Tom looked around with frantic eyes. "She's downstairs… don't worry…" Aurelia smiled.
"Oh… okay…" he said relaxing.
"Anyway, I brought this to you…" she said extending the envelope…
Tom regarded the item with confused eyes… Was this a present? He looked at her eyes as if asking for permission… he took the paper bag and opened it…
"Nothing big… it's not even good… but well… I don't know… if you don't like it I can take it back… really, no hard feelings…" she mumbled while he held the scarf before his eyes.
"You knitted this?" he asked taking out the beanie…
"Yes, that's what I'm saying… I'm not good at knitting… or cooking… two more things I'll have to add to the list of things I suck at…" she smiled uncomfortable…
The silence stretched over them and Aurelia just wanted to turn and ran down the stairs while crying…
"Thank you, Aurelia… it's… perfect…" he put the scarf around his neck and realized it smelled like her… maybe because of the time she took to knit it… "It's the first gift I am given…" he said with one of those rare smiles, she lost all air in her lungs and stared at him…
Tom looked at her and saw the way she was staring at him with those big green eyes… he smirked and snorted…
"How do I look?" he said putting the beanie on.
"Bloody perfect…" she breathed out.
Tom realized she was not thinking of what she was saying; he smirked and refrained from laughing out loud…
She saw in wonderment when he licked his lips as if holding in his laughter, he was so handsome it had to be illegal…
"I didn't get you anything…" he muttered looking down at her.
She wanted to say something like; "Oh, don't worry, just give me a mind-blowing kiss and we're cool…"
"It's okay… I didn't buy this, so… not big deal…" she waved her hand idly almost cursing.
"Hmm… I don't think I can go to sleep knowing I got a present, but you didn't…" he leaned against the door frame, she felt her knees weaken…
"Be at ease, Tom… Have a nice sleep, I'll see you later…" she turned sharply and was about to run down the stairs when she felt him yank her hand and turn her around, he pulled her roughly and pinned her against the door frame… she made a gasping sound when her back collided with the frame…
Before she could even process what was happening; he was already kissing her… she sighed in contempt; for the first time she got the pleasure of kissing back, her hands went to his neck, just in case he decided it to be just a little peck…
She closed her eyes and opened her mouth lightly; she heard him groan and gasped when his tongue invaded her mouth… his hands keeping her head in place and his fingers tangling in the long red wine locks…
When he heard her ragged intakes of air he pulled away she opened her eyes lazily, just like him, he didn't realize he was pressing his whole body to her, he stared in awe at her face all blushed and her green eyes full of passion, her lips glossy and red…
She swallowed thickly when her eyes went to his lips all swollen and then he quickly licked them probably not actually knowing he did it… she felt her heart beating fast in her ribcage it hurt and she felt dizzy…
Tom leaned his forehead on hers against her thick fringe and kept his eyes on her trembling lips, she let her hands on his neck and her green eyes lazily staring at his lips…
"Please tell me you won't overlook this one…" she almost pleaded… she swallowed.
Tom wasn't paying much attention to her words… he was more focused on the sudden surge of need he was experiencing… as if she was water for his thirsty throat…
"Tom…" she whispered.
"I won't…" he promised and she closed her eyes while sighing in pure bliss… "Next time you decide to visit… please leave Cedrella at home…" he mumbled against her lips, not kissing her…
"I will…" she said against his lightly opened mouth…
She knew he knew… they both knew they needed to part… Cedrella was downstairs and no matter if she had told her to take her time with Tom… this was going too perfectly far…
They stayed like that for a while, she staring at his red eyes while he stared at her lips, his mouth lightly opened over her mouth as if ready to swallow everything she had to say… when her breathing returned to the normal, Tom kissed her lightly, just a peck…
"Go." He muttered pulling away from her and pressing his back against the door frame as far as he could from her…
Aurelia nodded dumbly and stepped to the corridor she swayed and then straightened, she looked back and saw him there against the door frame… his eyes following her every move… She turned and started to walk…
"Aurelia?" he called and she turned immediately as if hoping for another kiss…
"Yeah?" she breathed out.
"Happy Birthday…" he smiled…
Bloody perfect, but rare smiles she loved…
...
1946
He had been happy indeed… the very next day when he awoke from a dreamless slumber he knew he was just the happiest man alive… an odd thought assaulted him… he was this happy just about a kiss… if he were to have her everyday… well…
He turned in bed keeping his nose buried in the scarf… being that happy was probably illegal…
For a whole week he thought he was happy…
One Thursday when he opened the door's shop and saw Albus Dumbledore there he realized this had just been a fleeting glimpse of happiness…
"Professor…" he saluted as nicely as he could…
"Oh, Tom… How are you faring these days?" the old man asked as nicely as he could… just recently he had heard about some men doing… some things… with marks on their forearms…
It could be after all Tom was innocent and he was just making assumptions, but he would dig the truth out of it all…
"Well… as good as one can be working here…" he said when Borgin was out of hearing range…
Dumbledore nodded in agreement…
"I was hoping you wouldn't resent my decision…" he smiled apologetically.
"I don't professor… don't worry…" he smirked.
"Well… I just wanted to see how you were doing, Tom…" Dumbledore smiled.
"Thanks for your concern, professor…" he said and saw the old man walking to the shop's door…
But Albus stopped before reaching the exit and turned over his shoulder to add…
"Rumors of your doings have reached your old school, Tom…" he said, Tom remained impassive, Dumbledore smiled and continued. "I should be sorry to believe half of them I guess…" he waited Tom's answer.
Tom smirked and took a step towards his old teacher…
"Greatness inspires envy… envy engenders spite… spite spawn lies… you, of all people, must know this… Dumbledore…" he politely said…
Albus was lost for words for a second there, and then simply smiled and nodded…
"Good luck, Tom…" he said and left the shop…
Tom watched him leave with his unfazed expression… he had a renewed distaste for the old man…
So? lol :)