Thanks once again for the reviews! They've given me a lot to think about but I think I'm basically going to go with my original plan. Cassie-011, you read my mind although Elle Light, your concerns are duly noted! While I think the tables do certainly need to be turned on Tom - he needs to see Lyra as someone who won't be around no matter what he does - I understand your concern, Elle Light, about him getting too upset and dangerous. So I have a solution which will involve jealousy but in a "safe" way lol. It's going to take me a chapter or two to get to this part though. This chapter is actually kind of happy - Tom needs to have something to miss.
Also, Elle Light, yes you are right, Lyra is sacrificing a lot for a person who doesn't deserve it...even if she is doing it to save her parents. The trouble with trying to write a realistic Tom is that so much character development has to happen before he's even ready to even start liking someone. However, he's getting there. He's beginning to trust her and enjoy her company - something that has never happened with anyone before.
Sabcal, yes they are extremely lucky to get away with that in any library lol
Ai Star, yes he wasn't expecting her to say yes because, despite all she does for him, he's still incapable of understanding she doesn't hate him and he was expecting her to want to go with Conan or someone else.
MeriemDjez, yes they are! It does take forever because, well, he's Tom Riddle, but progress is being made.
AlexisDumbie and Liam1094, Tom is a little slow isn't he...
As always, all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Enjoy!
To Lyra's surprise and consternation, Elaina and Rosalie were not even surprised when she broke the news to them that she was going to Slughorn's party with Tom.
"Well you spend every single bloody minute of your free time with the git, who else would you go with?" Rosalie exclaimed and Lyra sighed.
"Yes but we're not even friends." Lyra protested.
"No it looks like you kind of skipped friendship." Rosalie said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.
Lyra shot her a withering look and slammed her Potions book closed. "I wish I never told you." Lyra snapped, standing up.
"Hey, wait now." Rosalie said, putting a hand on her arm, "I'm sorry, I'll shut up."
Lyra shook her head, "Unfortunately, I have detention with Dumbledore now." Lyra said, turning to leave without a look back. She felt her cheeks burn with anger all the way up to Dumbledore's office. She was angry with Tom for putting her in an awkward situation. She was angry at Rosalie and Elaina for judging her. And, she was angry at herself for being unable to prevent all of this.
"Ah, there you are." Dumbledore said as she entered, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you alone this time, Headmaster Dippet wants me in his office. You can continue transcribing the same book as last time where you left off and there are lemon drops on the desk if you get hungry."
"P-professor could I just ask you one quick question?" Lyra asked, stopping him on his way out the door.
"Yes, one very quick question would be alright." Dumbledore said.
"Is there a way to break a blood curse without being related to the one who cast the curse?" Lyra asked and Dumbledore froze, examining her carefully for a moment.
"This is about your friend, Miss Selwyn?" Dumbledore said after a moment and Lyra nodded.
"Yes, Elaina's mother is dying of a blood curse inflicted upon her family by a member of Rosalie's family." Lyra said, "Rosalie won't lift it because the punishment for doing so is the loss of all magical abilities. Is there any way around all this?" Lyra asked desperately.
Dumbledore hesitated, his hand on the door, "I am not, as yet, aware of a way." He said at last, and Lyra's heart sunk. "However, that does not mean there is not a way." He said, smiling sadly. "Miss Selwyn should consult with someone who has studied blood curses in depth."
"Like who?" Lyra asked, wondering whether he did know more than he was letting on. After all, if he had cracked the riddle on the note she had given him, he must have already been to see the centaurs. If this was indeed the case, then shouldn't he also know how to break blood curses? Unless of course the instructions the centaurs had given him were specific to the blood pact he had made with Grindelwald.
"I will send you a list of names." Dumbledore, "Now I am very sorry but I'm afraid I really must be going."
Lyra nodded, "Thank you, Professor." She said, watching as he closed the door behind him.
The night of Slughorn's party arrived sooner than Lyra wanted. Before she knew it, Elaina, Olive and herself were zipping up the backs of their dresses and putting on more makeup than Lyra had put on in her life. Druella and Rosalie were helping out, not having received invites to the party. Then again, Olive had not received an invite either but her boyfriend, Abraxas had, and he had asked her to go with him. While Rosalie was happy not to be going, Druella had been in a foul mood ever since she had learned that Tom had decided to take Lyra with him instead of her - even after she had outright asked him to take her.
"Ow!" Lyra cried as she felt Rosalie's wand - which was serving as a hair curler and was quite hot - touch her bare neck.
"Sorry!" Rosalie cried, carefully picking up another strand of blonde hair and wrapping it around her wand more slowly this time.
"It's okay." Lyra said, looking over at Elaina who was putting in yet another bobby pin into her already perfect hair.
Lyra looked down at her own lap, smoothing out the green fabric of the dress Elaina had lent her seeing as she had none of her own. She kicked her feet, wondering how long it would take before the high heels Rosalie had given her gave her blisters.
"Okay you're done." Rosalie said, stepping back and grinning. "Take a look." She said, holding up a mirror to Lyra's face.
Lyra's eyes opened in surprise at the quality of the curls and the makeup. Rosalie had done a great job - far better than Lyra could have ever done herself. Satisfied, Lyra put down the mirror and smiled at Rosalie.
"Thank you." She said, standing up and giving her friend an impromptu hug that made Rosalie laugh.
"If you're ready go on down without me." Elaina said, looking over at Lyra, "I'll be a while and it's already past 7:30."
Lyra felt a rush of adrenaline go through her. She was already late?
"It's fine, I can go tell Tom we're running late and then-" Lyra protested but Elaina cut her off.
"No, you may as well just go." Elaina said, "I need to go to Gryffindor tower to meet Conan anyway."
Lyra hesitated before agreeing. She had completely forgotten Elaina was going with Conan - a strange fact seeing as she had set them up. Knowing both Elaina and Conan had been invited to the party but had no dates, she had suggested they go together. While Elaina had been reluctant at first, knowing what she did about Conan, she had given in eventually.
"Okay, I'll see you there!" Lyra said, leaving just as Druella and Olive got into their 100th fight of the evening and Druella threw Olive's comb against the mirror, breaking it.
Lyra quickly closed the door behind her, happy to have escaped the madness unscathed. Pushing the door to the common room open, Lyra was unsurprised to find Tom waited over by the fireplace, surrounded by his knights. Tom, Abraxas, and Cepheus were in dress robes, whereas Cygnus and Eridanus, the two Slytherin boys who had not been invited to the party were still wearing their regular school robes.
"Ready?" Lyra asked, walking up to the group and Tom looked up at her, his eyes widening imperceptibly as he took in her dress.
To her right, Lyra heard Cygnus whoop and whistle and she turned to glare at him and the other Slytherin boys as they collapsed into laughter.
Tom shot his Knights a withering look before pulling her towards the exit, "I'm surprised you haven't murdered one of them." Lyra said as they left the room and Tom snorted.
"Believe me, I've thought about it many times." Tom replied and Lyra laughed.
"You should have seen Olive getting ready." Lyra said, "She threw her high heel at Druella's head because she accidentally got the hairspray in her eyes and then Druella purposefully did her lipstick all wrong so Olive had to start all over again. Druella's jealous cause she can't go and Olive's been flaunting it in front of her for days. I'm actually surprised they're still talking."
Tom looked sideways at her, amused, "Druella doesn't know how lucky she is to not have to go to this thing." He said bitterly.
"You know you could always stop getting straight Os in Potions and sucking up to Professor Slughorn and you too could enjoy the privilege of not having to attend Slug Club events." Lyra said.
Tom snorted, "And ruin my reputation as the brightest student Hogwarts has ever seen?" He said arrogantly and Lyra rolled her eyes.
"You know I don't understand why you even care about your reputation so much when you're not even planning on being a part of wizarding society." Lyra said, frowning, "You don't need to be popular with the teachers to become a Dark Lord and you don't need good grades to take over the world."
"Tell me, Reed," Tom said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye, "Would the other Slytherin boys do what I asked of them if they did not respect me? And would these rich pureblood wizards respect me, a poor half-blood orphan, if I were not the brightest student in the school?"
Lyra hesitated, not wanting to admit he was right.
"And do you really think Headmaster Dippet would dismiss Dumbledore's claim that I was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets if I did not make an effort to charm everyone at this school?" Tom asked, and Lyra sighed in defeat.
"Okay, I see the logic." She conceded as they arrived at the door to the party and Tom turned to smirk at her, holding out his arm.
Lyra raised an eyebrow, "You hate physical contact."
"Yes well I do have a reputation to maintain, now, don't I?" Tom said, and Lyra rolled her eyes before linking her arm through his and together they stepped into the room.
Slughorn had charmed an old classroom to look twice as large and had decorated the room with streamers and curtains and bows of holly and ivy. Lyra stared around herself, amazed at seeing her classmates in something other than their regular school robes. Before they could blink, Slughorn spotted them and Lyra found herself wishing they had entered the classroom more discreetly.
"Tom, my boy!" Slughorn boomed and Lyra felt Tom flinch next to her. He clearly was just as unhappy as she was about having to make conversation with Slughorn but he arranged his face into a perfect smile anyway.
"Professor." Tom said smiling and nodding politely as he held out his free hand for Slughorn to shake.
"Lyra, how lovely you look this evening!" Slughorn said, and Lyra suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious as Tom looked over at her and nodded.
"Doesn't she." Tom agreed and Lyra resisted the urge to slap him on the arm.
Well you must meet some of our most distinguished guests!" Slughorn said, gesturing for them to follow him over to a crowd of older witches and wizards, "We've got quite the crowd here tonight. Veros here used to be the top Healer at St. Mungo's and even now that he's retired he's still getting phone calls from younger Healers needing his expertise. Mrs. Friedman here is a world-class journalist for the..."
Lyra zoned out as Slughorn droned on and on, introducing the people in the circle around them, and glanced over at Tom. She could tell he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment - his mask was so easy to see though, Lyra realized, once she knew what to look for. She wondered absently whether this was why Dumbledore had so accurately judged Tom's character when all over professors had failed to do so - he had seen Tom in the orphanage before he'd had any reason to conceal his true self and this meant he too knew what to look for.
Spotting another student, Slughorn excused himself from the group and left Tom and Lyra with the guests. A tall, woman, whose name Lyra had forgotten to listen to, turned to her and smiled.
"And what is your plan for after graduation?" The woman asked and Lyra blinked. Not this question again.
"Well, I'm not sure actually." She said, shrugging, "What are your plans again, Tom?"
Lyra smiled mischievously at Tom, inwardly laughing at the annoyance he must be feeling at having had the attention deflected onto him.
Tom smiled, "I would like to be a professor." Tom said, "Of Defence Against the Dark Arts."
Lyra turned to him in surprise. "Really?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.
Tom turned to look at her, "Yes, I was thinking about it and there's really no place better than Hogwarts. As a professor I could continue my own magical studies while helping shape the next generation of witches and wizards." Tom said, earning himself approving nods from the guests around them.
Lyra bit her tongue, understanding the hidden message in his words. Hogwarts would be the perfect place to slip deeper into the Dark Arts, recruit new witches and wizards as followers, and remain connected to and informed about the wizarding world at large.
"I am certain Hogwarts would be lucky to have you." A man with a long beard said and Lyra was jolted from her reverie.
"Yes, from what Slughorn tells me, you're the brightest student in your year!" Veros, the healer exclaimed, "And Head Boy too!"
"Well I am not sure about brightest, Lyra here is also a very talented witch." Tom said, sounding and looking embarrassed at the praise, although Lyra was certain he was relishing in it deep down.
Lyra laughed uncomfortably, "Not as talented as Tom." She said.
"Aw well aren't you two just the sweetest couple." The first woman exclaimed, making Lyra's skin crawl. If only she knew...Lyra thought bitterly.
To Lyra's consternation, Tom smiled at the compliment and put his arm around Lyra's waist, squeezing her to him in a way that was incredibly uncomfortable. Forcing a smile, Lyra grabbed ahold of his hand and pinched it, feeling Tom flinch and loosen his grip on her.
"Well it was lovely meeting you all." Tom said, and Lyra felt a rush of relief run through her, "Neither of us have had anything to eat for dinner and I can tell Lyra has been eyeing the food tables so I think we had better go find something to eat. However, I'm certain we'll run into each other once again before the night's through."
Lyra resisted the urge to pinch Tom again for his comment about her eyeing the food tables and forced a smile, "Yes, I hope we'll see you around!" She said, waving goodbye as Tom led her away amid a chorus of goodbyes.
As soon as they were out of ear shot, Tom let go of her waist and grabbed her by the elbow instead, pulling her roughly towards the far side of the room.
"Where are we going?" Lyra asked.
"Somewhere we can avoid human contact." Tom replied and Lyra laughed.
"You really are the most antisocial person I've ever met." Lyra remarked jokingly as Tom pulled her over to the table the fruit cake was sitting on. Unsurprisingly, Lyra thought to herself, it was the least popular table.
"So are we just going to stand here for the whole night?" Lyra asked, wrinkling her nose at the fruit cake in front of her.
"You don't like fruit cake?" Tom asked, noticing her expression.
"Do you?" She asked and Tom merely snorted.
"Do you seriously want to be the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts or was that just a lie you told them?" Lyra asked suddenly and Tom met her eyes, examining her for a moment before speaking.
"I have no desire to leave Hogwarts." Tom said evasively.
"So you do want to be a professor then?" Lyra asked, "So you can convert the students to your cause and study the Dark Arts in your spare time?"
"And explore the castle." Tom added, his eyes lighting up with a kind of excitement Lyra rarely saw in them, "Hogwarts holds more secrets than anyone has ever dreamed of. There's old magic in this building."
Lyra was silent for a moment, considering this. "You really love this place." Lyra mused and Tom made no reply.
The two of them slipped into silence for a moment and Lyra scanned the room, searching for Elaina and Conan and finding them nowhere.
"They're not here yet." Lyra said, frowning and looking over at Tom.
"Who?" He asked.
"Elaina and Conan." Lyra said, thinking it should have been obvious.
Tom raised an eyebrow, "Does that concern you?"
Lyra shot him a withering look, "Well if they're not here in another half an hour I'm going to go looking for them."
Tom sighed, "Reed, if they're not here then they likely just decided not to come. Selwyn doesn't strike me as the kind of person to enjoy parties."
"She's not." Lyra agreed, "But she took the time to dress herself up and I don't she would put so much effort into charming her hair to stay in place if she didn't intend on coming."
Tom made no reply and Lyra noticed he had that deep-in-thought expression written all over his face again.
"Let's go dance." Lyra said, nodding towards the dance floor that was slowly filling up. "It'll look strange if we spend the entire night by the fruit cakes."
Tom nodded wordlessly and Lyra led the way to the dance floor. Lyra jumped slightly as Tom took her by the waist and he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know how to dance." Lyra blurted out as the reality that she was, in fact, dancing with Lord Voldemort sunk in. She had come to the past to kill him and she had ended up dancing with him. I suppose this is what happens when you send a Hufflepuff to carry out an assassination, Lyra thought, laughing inwardly.
"How does Selwyn feel about Lestrange's girlfriend?" Tom asked suddenly and Lyra looked at him in surprise.
"Why do you ask?" Lyra asked, frowning.
"Well they have been friends since first year and now Lestrange seems to be spending a lot more time with that Ravenclaw than with Selwyn." Tom said, raising an eyebrow.
"She's not jealous." Lyra said, "If that's what you're wondering."
"Well I just mean, they were close, were they not? They told each other everything." Tom said and Lyra froze, examining Tom's face carefully.
"Riddle she doesn't know anything about you." Lyra said, resuming the dance slowly.
"If she knows nothing then why does she dislike me." Tom said, a dangerous edge to his voice.
Lyra hesitated. If she said Elaina didn't dislike him, he would be able to see through this lie and he would immediately think she was hiding something. On the other hand, if she said Elaina did dislike him but maintained she knew nothing...that also sounded very much like a lie.
"I don't know exactly." Lyra said at last, "She distrusts you, I think. She thinks you're too...perfect."
Tom snorted, "Don't lie to me, Reed, I know you know it is more than that."
Lyra stopped, pulling her hands off Tom, "As far as I know, it is not more than that. Elaina is good at reading people, it's not surprising she'd be able to see through your act."
"Don't make a scene." Tom whispered, glaring at her as he grabbed her hand and put his hand back on her waist once again.
"What, you don't want other people to see through your little act?" Lyra asked scathingly, just loud enough for the people next to them to hear her.
Tom's eyes flashed dangerously for a moment before he smoothed his expression over with a forced smile.
"If you don't believe me, why don't you ask Cepheus?" Lyra asked, and Tom snorted.
"Lestrange is too skilled at Occlumency. I have considered using Veritaserum but it's too risky to steal from Professor Slughorn with Dumbledore keeping such an annoyingly close watch on me." Tom ground out bitterly, and Lyra shivered involuntarily. If Tom continued looking into how much Elaina knew...there could be serious consequences for not only Elaina and Cepheus, but also herself. She had told Elaina much, much too much about the future...
"If Elaina knew anything, don't you think she would have acted on it already?" Lyra asked, and Tom sighed.
"Perhaps." He said, not sounding convinced.
They danced in silence for a moment before the slow song that had been playing ended and a more upbeat song began. Possessed with an insane desire to not only make Tom forget about their previous conversation but also actually have fun at the party, Lyra started to swing their clasped hands in time with the music and stepped up the pace of their dance. Tom raised an eyebrow, looking slightly amused and Lyra grinned impishly until, to Lyra's slight surprise, he joined in. Lyra saw the world blur around her as Tom spun her around and she laughed as he caught her again. Tom smirked, looking almost...happy...which only served to make Lyra want to dance more.
Lyra's happiness faded as she spotted a pair of piercing blue eyes, watching them. Dumbledore was standing by the drink table, watching them intently in a way that made Lyra want to sink through the floor and disappear.
"What's wrong?" Tom asked, noticing her freeze up.
"Nothing." Lyra lied, and Tom gave her a look that said he clearly knew this was not true.
Lyra opened to her mouth to explain when Elaina entered the room, followed by Headmaster Dippet. The two of them spoke briefly to Dumbledore, anxious looks on their faces before going over to speak to Professor Slughorn. As Lyra froze, watching the exchange, Tom turned and looked as well, his entire body stiffening when he noticed Dumbledore was watching them.
"There's something wrong." Lyra whispered, and Tom made no reply, instead pulling Lyra away from Dumbledore's line of vision.
"What are you doing?" Lyra protested, pulling her arm out of his grasp, "I need to go talk to Elaina. Something's not right."
Tom glared at her, "He was watching me." Tom snarled, "Do you see how insufferable the old coot is, I cannot even-"
"Lyra!" Elaina cried, finally spotting her. Lyra's stomach did a flip flop as her grandmother briskly walked over to her and grabbed her arms, pulling her away from Tom.
"What's going on?" Lyra asked frantically.
"Lyra, Conan's gone." Elaina whispered and Lyra's heart skipped a beat.
"What?" Lyra asked. "What do you mean gone?"
"I mean he's disappeared." Elaina said, shooting a sideways glance at Tom who was listening in intently. "His things are gone and he's left the school without a word. I just spent the past hour in Headmaster Dippet's office speaking with authorities and they're out looking for him right now."
Lyra stood, rooted to the spot, unable to comprehend what she was hearing, "But why? Why would he leave?"
Elaina shook her head, looking lost, "I was hoping you might know."
Also side note on something I've been thinking about after I read another Tom Riddle story on here. I know JK Rowling said Voldemort was a psychopath but in this story I am going to treat this statement as applying only to Voldemort in his snake-like form and not the original Tom Riddle. I am going to go with my own hypothesis that he lost the ability to feel empathy as he continued to split his soul into more and more pieces.
Granted, the Tom Riddle in this story (and in canon) does lack normal human responses to other peoples' suffering. It's just that in my story it is not so much that he is incapable of feeling empathy but that he is so angry he sees no reason why he should. The reason for this is that I believe if he truly were a psychopath there would be no possibility of genuine romance and obviously romance is one of the genres of this story so...