WARNING! I have changed Harry's name to Leif, so if you see that in the chapter, I'm sorry. I'm trying to wait until the end to go through all of it to change his name, but I might miss, since I've changed his name in the document.
I decided that I wanted to have a really good birthday, so you're going to be getting another update on Tuesday. This chapter needed to happen before that update though...so...enjoy.
Saturday, June 16, 1945
Head Dorms
"I have something for you."
Tom stood from his place on the couch and smirked as he moved towards Eden. He kissed her deeply with his hands wrapped around her neck and tilted her head back so he could devour her completely. "Thank you for the gift," he murmured against her lips, "I enjoyed it very much," he crooned before he nuzzled her nose with his.
"Tom!" she whined. She playfully slapped his chest; he laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Was that not it?" he asked with another smirk. Before she could answer, he kissed her again. His tongue stroked hers, and she sighed as his hands pulled her closer to him. After he nipped her tongue, she remembered what she was saying before, and she pulled away laughing and shook her head. "Hmm, if that wasn't it, then I guess you'll just have to tell me."
She fondly rolled her eyes before she moved to his bed and sat down on the pillows. Tom followed after her and laid next to her. His head was propped on his right hand, and his left-hand rested palm flat on her left thigh. She curled towards him—he moved his hand to her outer right thigh—and reached into her pearl bag, and pulled out the locket she had purchased from a men's jewelry catalogue she asked Narcissa to send to her—the psychotic woman sent seven (including the one she asked for).
The locket she purchased was fairly large—two inches by an inch and a half. It had beveled edges and was made of rhodium that had been polished—or spelled—to an almost obnoxious shine. The locket face had three Vivid Green diamonds; one Fancy Deep Green diamond; 27 semi-large white diamonds; seven gray diamonds that looked like smoke had been trapped inside—she suspected that it actually was smoke because of the way it moved inside the gem (it was obvious it was a magical stone); 57 small white diamonds, and seven emeralds.
Altogether the stones were arranged to make a beautiful snake with green, white, and gray scales surrounded by small white diamonds. The chain was long and made of white gold with interlocking links that made it look like hair-thin strands of metal had been twisted together to form a fine rope. It was 4,512 Galleons, but it was money very well spent.
"Here," she said as she handed it over. "Cissica sent a catalogue with her last letter, and I saw this, and I thought of you, so I got it."
Not a lie.
Especially since she got it from one of the catalogues she hadn't asked for.
Her mind went blank at the pure and blinding smile he sent her. "It's absolutely amazing, thank you, my love," he whispered. He curled his left hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close. He bumped his nose against hers twice before he pressed his lips to hers in a sweet kiss that made Eden's heart sing and cry out for joy.
"I love you, Tom," she muttered as his nose bumped hers again.
"I love you, too, Eden." He kissed her once more before his attention went back to the locket—she was almost convinced that his attraction to rare and shiny things was just as bad as her attraction to anything sparkly (it was nowhere close). He admired the outside of it for a few minutes before he slipped it on over his head. He sat up and faced her. "How does it look?"
"Better . . . now that it's on you." She blushed a bright red after she spoke. "Look inside," she insisted before he could tease her.
He sent her a knowing grin and wink before he did as commanded. He opened it up, and to her shock, his breath caught. She knew he stared at a lock of black hair, and a picture that Pansy had taken earlier that year while they had been down at the Black Lake in early March.
The wind had been blowing and whipping Draco in the face with her hair as he had been trying to braid it—he was determined to prove that he could braid hair just as well as Blaise (she had long since decided to not even attempt to understand that pissing contest).
Once she had noticed what had been happening, Pansy had immediately summoned her camera from the depths of her bag—they all put extension charms on them once they figured out how to do so—and had immediately started taking as many pictures as she could.
The picture in the locket was the only one that didn't have other students in the frame, and she had ended up looking at Pansy at the right moment. At the beginning of the loop, she was looking out over the Lake, with her hair pulled into a high ponytail blowing behind her. She turned her head and blew a kiss to Pansy—Tom, now. She then looked behind her, laughed—Draco, Blaise, and Theo had been wrestling—shook her head, before she smiled once more at the camera with a slight wave of her hand before she looked back out in the distance.
That picture was taken about five minutes before they all started to take pictures together, and she ended up getting tackled to the ground by Ambrosia.
Multiple times.
"You're beautiful," Tom whispered a few minutes later and snapped her out of her mind. He stroked the lock of hair that had been spelled to surround the picture like a mini frame. "You're so beautiful, my heart weeps knowing that you are mine. I don't deserve you, Eden."
She blinked multiple times as her left brow furrowed, and her lips canted to the side as she frowned. His words fully registered, and she moved so she straddled his lap. She lifted his head and kissed him deeply and poured all of her emotions into the movement of her lips, the stroking of her tongue, and the near-harsh pulling of his hair. When she finally pulled away, she stroked his smooth-shaven cheeks and stared into his blue, blue eyes.
"I love you, Tom, and you are so far out of my league, it's not even funny. Magically, socially, mentally," she trailed off with a slight scoff. She stroked his cheeks and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I often think you're a dream sent to me from either a loving angel, or a vengeful demon. If anyone doesn't deserve someone, it is I, who does not deserve you."
He blinked once before his eyes darkened. His hand curled tightly in her hair, and he yanked her towards him. He smashed their lips together and led her in a bruising kiss that quickly had her whimpering in pleasured pain as her jaw tired, her head where he gripped her hair began to ache, and painful fire rushed through her veins. His tongue stroked along hers before he adjusted their positions, so she was pinned to the bed beneath him.
She ripped her lips away from his to take deep, gasping breaths, and he kissed a trail of intoxicating fire along her jaw and behind her left ear. He bit and sucked for a moment before he moved down to the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He drug his tongue to the hollow of her throat where he paused to nibble until a soft sigh left her throat and her fingers buried into his hair. He smirked, victorious, against her skin before he peppered kisses to the right side of her neck where breathy sighs left her mouth at the sensitivity of her skin.
He smirked against the skin behind her ear and bit down. She tightened her hold on his hair, and a soft moan left her throat unwillingly. His knee pressed between her legs, just above her knees, and he continued the assault on her neck until his name fell into the air in a soft, desperate gasp.
"I love you," he crooned before he took her lips into another bruising kiss.
Time was soon lost to the two of them, as they spent it kissing, and when their lips grew too sore, they spent it curled around each other whispering sweet nothings to each other.
"I love you, Tom Marvolo Riddle. Nothing in this world will ever make me love you less."
"I love you, Eden. So much." He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, and she hummed softly before he pulled away and nuzzled her nose with his own. He pressed another kiss to her lips before he propped his chin on the top of her head and began to rub soothing circles on her hip and back with his thumbs.
They lay on his bed with their heads cradled by his pillow. Her hair was splayed around them in a wide circle, and both laid on it. She tilted her head up, and he brushed his nose against hers; she smiled and pecked his lips.
They lay in silence for a little longer before she jerked as she remembered something. "I almost forgot!" She reached into her pearl bag and pulled out a camera—Pansy had given it to her for her fourteenth birthday.
"What is that?" Tom demanded.
Eden laughed at the rumbling of his chest against her own. "It's a camera. This type, the polaroid, was invented by muggles in the late '40s and was reinvented by wizards in the late '70s."
(she didn't notice the gleam in his eyes when he finally heard years further than the current year leave her mouth)
"What does it do?"
"I'll show you."
She sat up and ended up yanking her hair out from underneath him when he was more than unwilling to move. She expressed her displeasure with vile curses. "Language, love," he teased lightly.
She just glared at him and pointed the device. "Smile!" He rolled his eyes and smiled at her, and she hit the capture button. The large bulb flashed, and a picture was spit out of the bottom of the camera. She grabbed it before he could and smiled brightly when the picture finished developing and the loop finally started.
Tom lay in the bed with his arm underneath his head, and he seemed to be staring amusedly at something beyond the camera. His gaze flickered to the front, and he smiled before he mouthed, I love you, with a wink and unbearable fondness in his eyes, before his gaze was adverted once more.
"I'm keeping this," she said after her brain resumed normal activity.
"Might I see it first?" he asked gently. He sat up and she handed the photograph over to him and smiled when his eyebrows rose. "It's amazing how advanced photography gets in thirty years."
"That was when the first of this camera model was invented, not when this camera was built." It was a year old, and it somehow tapped into the magic of the person it was taking a picture of to better be able to . . . loop it, she guessed. She didn't really know the theory behind it.
He smirked. "Still, I now know that you are at least thirty years in the past."
Eden smiled. "I happen to know the exact number of days that I'm in the past."
"Can I have a number?" he asked hopefully.
18,262.
She hummed before she placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I don't think so."
He groaned before he summoned his wand from the other side of the room. Once it was in his fingers, he twirled it around with a flourish, and began to mutter spells that she had never heard before under his breath.
As he spoke, purple mists—familiar—royal blue nebulas—familiar—and blood red fogs—unfamiliar, thank Merlin—curled around his fingers. Her mind began to spin as what was just a vapor, something intangible, unable to be contained or truly touched, slowly became something solid, and a different color.
After twenty minutes that felt simultaneously like an instant and an eternity, he held something silver in his hands. "Close your eyes." The blue, purple, and red mist still lingered, and wrapped around her and Tom, and she was hesitant to close her eyes. What if it hurt her? For the first time in years, Eden was afraid of whatever Magic(k?) Tom had used. "Eden?"
Her eyes snapped to his, and she saw his confusion, before it was blurred away when the bloody fog filled her vision. It stroked against her cheek, and she tensed. More phantom touches brushed against her upper arms and through her hair—and then fingers wrapped around her ankle.
"Tom?" she whispered.
Something brushed through her hair once more, and she could see Tom again as the red mist wrapped around the back of her head. She saw his fear in his eyes, and her head jerked to the side as the purple mist flashed.
You are safe, my daughter. Close your eyes.
The voice, faint, but familiar, was comforting. Tom nodded his head—the fear in his eyes belittled what was supposed to be soothing—and she did as commanded.
Warmth wrapped around her, before it was gone.
Tom's breath brushed against her forehead, and she tilted her head forward until her forehead rested against his chin. He kissed her head softly, and something heavy landed against her chest as something clicked behind her neck. His hands trailed down her back before he pulled her to him. He bumped her nose twice with his own, and then pressed a soft kiss against her lips that had the panicked beast inside of her calming.
"Open, my love," he hissed softly.
She nuzzled his neck for a moment before she opened her eyes and looked down at whatever he had made her. She blinked away the tears, but her nose still burned. On her chest, now in her hands, was a locket, similar to the one she had given him.
Instead of being a rectangle, it was an oval with softly beveled edges, opposed to the almost harsh bevels on his own locket. The snake that curled around a large chunk of raw fire opal about the size of her thumbnail was made out of what appeared to be alexandrite, diamonds, and blue topaz.
On the silver below the snake was the word Eternity etched in Parselscript. She flicked the latch open, and on the right side was the picture she had just taken of Tom, shrunken down, and framed with a lock of shiny brown hair.
"I love it," she choked out, "I love you."
"And I love you," he returned before he kissed her softly. His hands held her waist and face gently, as if he was afraid if he held her too tightly, she would break far beyond his repair.
If he ever let go of her, she would break beyond anyone's repair, even the Dark Lord's, the strongest wizard to have ever lived—even stronger than Tom (and how that thought terrified her).
She pulled away from the achingly soft kiss and fingered the empty side of the locket. "Let's take a picture together."
"We'll need someone else to do it," he said softly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
She tutted playfully. "Oh, ye of un-modernized technology. Trust me." He rolled his eyes fondly and smiled before he maneuvered her to sitting in between his legs. She floated the camera, so it hovered in front of them five feet away. "Captis," she whispered. Three seconds later, the flash went off, and a photo spilled out of the bottom.
She silently summoned the picture to them with a flick of her wand and received a proud kiss on the neck and a squeeze around her waist. The two stared in awe once the loop began.
The two sat in the same position the picture had been taken in, but instead of looking at the camera, they looked at each other, laughing, before Tom leaned in a kissed her after bumping their noses together twice. The kiss ended, and they rested their foreheads together before she started to laugh again, and the loop restarted as he joined in.
Tom gently pulled it out of her hands before he duplicated it and placed one in each of the lockets.
"Can I ask a question?"
He frowned softly and pulled her into a Super Tom Bear Hug. "What's wrong?"
"What was that Magic? I thought it was impossible to conjure precious stones and precious metals . . . how did you do it? What was that mist?"
He sighed. "That was the Aether. It's one of the few old Magiks that doesn't always have a Price to Pay. It's the larger things, getting into working with Life and Death, that Aether Magik gets a Price."
"But—if that was the Aether—how come I've been able to see it and hear it?"
He tensed. "What?"
She shivered at his voice—it was the first time that tone had been used towards her. "Yeah. When I lost control with Dumbles and Kitty-Cat, it helped me Lock my Core before Snakey-Snape told me to unLock it for good. I also saw it about a month ago when I was talking about the Aether with Dragon, Guppy, Sunshine, and Hera."
He stroked her cheek. "It's probably nothing to worry about. It just means you're powerful."
She nodded hesitantly before she turned in his arms and kissed him. "Thank you."
He kissed her as if she were about to die. "We'll always be together now," he whispered into her ear when she grew tired a few minutes later. "Even when you're not here."
"For eternity," she hissed as her eyes closed.
Saturday, June 17, 1995
Slytherin Girls Dorm Fourth Year—2
Eden kept her eyes closed.
She wanted to cherish the moment she had just had with Tom, and she didn't want to wake up yet. Her eyes, however—apparently, she had no control over them anymore—flinched open when something heavy suddenly landed on her chest.
She sat up in her bed, and a goofy grin split her face as she studied it some more.
After some time admiring it, she climbed out of bed. "Eden? Are you alright?"
She looked at Pansy with her head tilted to the side. "Yes, why do you ask?"
"You're grinning like a madwoman," Daphne stated from her place on Millie's bed.
The door to their dorm opened, and Ambrosia marched in before she draped herself on Pansy's bed. "Save me! They're fighting again—hey, where'd you get that necklace?"
Ambrosia always was the more observant of her friends.
All was silent in the room for a moment before, almost as if they were all one entity, Daphne, Pansy, Millie, and Ambrosia climbed onto her bed and pulled her with them. They giggled as they struggled to adjust themselves to fit. They were no longer little first years that could easily fit on the four-foot wide beds.
"Oh! Pretty!" Daphne cooed.
"Where did you get it?" Ambrosia demanded.
"That's beautiful," Millie commented softly.
"Where. Did. You. Get. It. You. Psychotic. Wench?"
Eden laughed at Ambrosia who was glaring profusely at the locket and pouting near-violently. "My boyfriend gave it to me," she mumbled softly with a goofy grin as she fingered the metal. She temporarily lost her hearing due to the squeals, the shouting, and the questions. "Quiet!" she roared. "One question at a time. Please."
"Me first!" Pansy insisted, "what's his name?"
"Tom," she shyly answered with a grin. "He doesn't like his name though."
"Where did he get it?" Ambrosia was a jewelry aficionado and cared deeply about everyone's jewelry.
"He made it for me," she said before she started to giggle as it finally clicked what he had done. He had used the Aether to make her a necklace. Granted, the Aether had terrified her at first, but still.
He made it for her.
Millie covered her face with her hands as she laughed, and Pansy and Ambrosia sighed and leaned into each other. "That's so cute!" could be heard through Daphne's squeaking.
Once the five calmed down, Ambrosia carried the conversation on, "Did you give him that snake locket you asked me about the other week?"
"Yeah. He really, really liked it. But he liked the picture I put in it more. At least, I think so. He said more about the picture than he did the locket."
Ambrosia drew back with a hilariously aghast expression on her face. She looked like someone had just told her the Dark Lord had come back to life and killed her family. Although . . . knowing her, she would probably find it a worse situation if he destroyed either her jewelry collection or killed her kitten.
She didn't get along with her parents, and her siblings were far older than she was, and because of that, they didn't talk often. She was closest with her grandfather, Noah Smith.
"How old is he? Where did you two meet?"
"He's . . . a bit older than I am. He graduated before we started school, actually. We met at Hogsmeade in Tomes and Scrolls. We had a debate on why Unicorn Tears are useful. He said they weren't, I said they were, and after we got kicked out of the store for disturbing everyone, we exchanged contact info, and we just started talking . . . and . . . yeah. We're dating now."
True story—mostly (they had gotten kicked out of Tomes and Scrolls on their first—only—date).
"How long have you two been dating?"
Since December 1944.
"Since before the First Task. He helps me train, sometimes."
Daphne squeaked again, and Millie, Pansy, and Ambrosia all leaned on each other as they giggled excitedly. "Do you have a picture of him?"
Eden took the locket off from around her neck and handed it to her after she flicked the latch open. They all cooed at the pictures and handed the locket back.
"Have you put the usual protections on it?"
She tilted her head to the side as she stared at the pink-eyed girl. "What do you mean?"
"You know, spells to make it impossible for someone else to take it off of you. Spells to make it nearly impossible to break. Spells to make it so someone can't steal it if you're not wearing it. Stuff like that?"
Eden blinked as she realized she may have just gotten into a world of trouble. "Uh, no. No, I haven't."
She realized she had a right to be worried as she started to fear for her life at Ambrosia's grin. "Well then, little Eden, let's get started."
Sunday, June 17, 1945
Head Dorms
"I can do nothing, today."
Tom looked up from his breakfast and watched fondly as his Eden draped herself onto the back of the couch across from him. "And why not?"
"My Core," she groaned, "it's Drained."
He flicked his wand and Scanned it. He frowned when the results came back and showed she barely had a little over a fifth left. "What the bloody hell happened that you used nearly all of your Core?"
"I have friends. That's what happened."
His eyes narrowed as the Kill List for those of her time started to grow, and plans began to expand to accommodate them. "I'm going to need more explanations, love."
I need to see what pain they are worthy of.
"Fine. I have nosey friends who are obsessed with you. And jewelry. That is a dangerous combination I have learned. I spent all bloody day adding spells to the locket so it would be safe, all because Sunshine decided it would be a travesty to not have spells. And then she decided that what she knew wasn't enough, so she drug Senny, Nee-Nee, Pansy and I to the library, and we ran into Hera, and she started to help."
His witch sounded depressingly close to tears.
At least the Kill List returned to what it was before, and plans didn't need to be changed any longer.
"Why don't you spend the day with Abyss? He's been whining for you."
She perked up slightly, and then she collapsed back into herself. "Playing with Abyss means giving him magic. I don't think I have the energy for it."
He smiled softly at her. "You don't have to give him magic today. He'd understand."
"No, I want to."
She rolled off of the back of the couch and onto the cushions. She stumbled her way over to him and tumbled onto his lap. He laughed softly as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed his lips to hers when she tilted her head up, and he kissed her softly for a few moments. "Go be with Abyss, love. I have a meeting with the prefects, and then I'll join you after. I'll also inform Orion about the change in plans."
She nodded against his neck before she rolled off of his lap and opened the trunk. His vision blurred as his mind received two images: the one of his breakfast and dorm room, and one of his Eden sliding down the railing until Abyss caught her half-way.
He couldn't help the fond smile when, despite the Strain, she pushed a little bit of magic into the Hellhound, and he couldn't help but laugh softly when the Hellhound took her to his den and curled protectively around her.
She was safe.
I love you, Eden.
"I love you, too, Tom."
Tuesday, June 19, 1945
Great Hall
Tom was beyond unprepared for the noise of the great hall.
He hadn't eaten breakfast in the great hall in so long, he had forgotten how loud it was in the mornings. It was no longer natural for it to be that loud before 8 AM. He quickly spotted his Knights and sat down in his place as the Lord of them, and the King of Slytherin.
Abraxas yawned as he sat down to his right, and he smacked the blonde's hand away from the pot filled with Magical Coffee. "Don't drink that," he said in explanation.
"But, why?" the peacock groaned. "I need my coffee to function," he wailed.
Tom exchanged a secretive, knowing glance with Noah. "Just obey me, and don't drink the coffee."
"What about tea? Can I have tea?"
"I don't know, can you?"
He made a choked sound in the back of his throat, and for a moment, Tom thought he was going to be hexed. "May I have tea?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"For the same reason you can't have the coffee."
"Sadist," Abraxas grumbled.
Despite the pouting and insubordination, the peacock obeyed his orders. The blonde forgave him when classes were cancelled for the day twenty minutes later due to an extreme and widespread case of food poisoning.
Tom smirked and wiped his mouth before he stood. "It's off to the Chamber, gentlemen."
The Chamber of Secrets
"Alright, gentlemen, gather 'round," Tom started. He glanced at his watch. They only had a few more minutes before his Eden would show up, and he wanted his Knights to be prepped for what he would have them do. After all, he had prepped his love the day before, and it wouldn't be fair if one group was more aware than the other.
Well . . ..
He did tell her that she was going to need to be prepared upon arrival . . . did that count?
It counted; he was sure.
(it didn't)
Once all of the Knights who knew of Eden's existence were around him, he began to speak in a soft voice. It was the voice that he knew would have them hanging onto his every word. It was the voice that would bring the world crashing to its knees begging for mercy as he reshaped it to be better than it had ever been before.
"Today, all of us are going to fight against Eden at the same time. She does extremely well against three or four of you, but today, we are going to push her." He glanced at his watch again. "Get into positions. I do not care where. Make your Lord Voldemort proud, and remember," his voice went sickly sweet, and some paled, "nothing you can't personally heal. I am quite fond of your future Lady."
My future wife.
His Knights smirked at the unspoken words before they all bowed at the waist. "Yes, my Lord."
They rose from their bows and disappeared from his sight.
|}(){|
Eden's eyes flickered open, and she frowned as she looked around. Something was up. She turned slowly and stared at Tom. "What's going on?"
He smiled before he stepped forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean," he whispered before he kissed her again, only deeper and more urgent than before. He brushed his tongue along the length of her own and nipped it softly to draw a mewl from her throat. He growled low in his chest and pinned her to him before he deepened the kiss and pulled away after she couldn't breathe.
He stroked her face softly, and she leaned into the touch and kissed his palm. Her eyes flickered up to meet his through her lashes and saw that he stared at her as if she could disappear any second. His eyes flickered away from hers for a moment, and normal brain activity began to return.
He was trying to distract her.
She pulled away from his touch. "Stop that!" She smacked his chest. He laughed and kissed her forehead. Her eyelids fluttered before she forced herself to concentrate. "What's going on?"
"I'm pretty sure that I still don't know what you mean." He pressed a kiss against the skin behind her right ear—he was really doing a good job distracting her—so she thumped him hard on the chest.
"Normally—normally we meet in—in your room—" her words cut off with a gasp when he licked her skin before he bit down harshly. "W-why are we in-in the Cha—you need to stop that right now!" He chuckled and licked her again. "Stop!"
The hairs on the back of her neck rose and before he could do as she demanded—or torture her some more—she pulled out of his suddenly loose embrace, turned, and erected a Dome Shield and shot a stunner in the same wand movement. Her stunner hit her target the same moment that Julian Mulciber's shredding hex hit her Shield.
She spared a glance at a proud and smug Tom over her shoulder, glared at him when he winked, and was thrust into the fight.
The first conscious Knight that she laid her eyes on was Marcus Nott, twin to Theodosius, and Theo's great-uncle. She made eye-contact with him, tilted her head to the side as he began to wave his wand, and then jumped over an electrocution hex with the aid of Battle Magick.
As she fell from the fifteen-foot height that she had launched herself to, she shot two spells. First a stasis charm—similar in strength to the Immunity Spell she had used when she was getting shot up with lightning by the wyvern—and then a bolt of pure plasma. The plasma wrapped around the sixth year who would have been turned to dust had it not been for the stasis charm.
A spell sliced her cheek, and her nose burned with the stench of blood and ozone. She landed heavily on the ground and turned to Theodosius—who apparently did not like the fact that his twin almost got pulverized. Which she understood completely.
Despite their relationship, Eden would gladly, and brutally, murder anyone who killed Leif.
The dirty blonde sent a few more cutting hexes and curses towards her, and she dodged each of them with ease. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked again, and she shot a slime jinx at him and stuck him to the wall.
(out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tom make his way over to him)
She turned and groaned when she saw Noah, Androtheny, and a very sluggish Marcus.
First, Noah sent a paralyzing Curse at Eden, and Androtheny aided it by sticking her feet to the floor. She was able to get a Diamond Shield up in time to be able to prevent being paralyzed for life, but she wasn't able to block the stabbing hex cast by Marcus.
She gasped as blood began to ooze out of her side. Her magic flared to life and started to heal the wound. She sent a stiffening hex towards the boy and launched him to the ceiling where she stuck and stunned him.
She turned to Noah just in time to fall back into a table-top stretch to avoid the face-skinning curse. In that position, she wasn't able to do much, but decided to try something that she had been theorizing with Mariea—more like Mariea talking at her while she desperately attempted to understand what her godmother was saying to her.
She took a deep breath, tightened her core muscles before she lifted her right foot and began to cast a modified Battle Spell. Sweat began to bead on her forehead, and finally the spell connected. A hot blast of orange fire left the sole of her sock-covered foot and arced towards Noah. She placed a balancing charm on her hands and lifted her left foot and sent another blast of fire towards him.
She laid on the ground, kicked her legs and arched her back, and stood in time to dodge an unknown Curse from Androtheny who was on the other side of the Chamber.
She wasn't given much time to breathe—nor was or Core given enough time to replenish her energy completely—before Noah was back on her. He jabbed his wand into her side, and she kicked him away before he could do whatever he had planned—there were many Curses, jinxes, and hexes that required body contact to work.
He flicked his wand and a tornado of sand started towards her as the incantation for the Sand Jinx left his lips. She jumped to the side, and because she wanted him out of the way—for as long as she possibly could without death—responded with the Sandman Jinx. He fell to the ground dead asleep, and he would stay that way for at least twelve hours—hopefully (Tom knew the Counter and seemed intent on undoing all of her progress, the sadistic bastard).
She breathed for a few seconds and unBound her Core just a bit so she could get her energy levels back faster before she turned around. She stared at Evan for a few moments, and before he could realize what was happening, blasted him away.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose again and the sweet scent of ozone filled the air. She turned, screamed, and dove to the side as two Dismemberment Curses sailed towards her. She blinked the tears out of her eyes from the harsh burn of her skin against the unyielding—and unsympathetic—stone floor. She pushed herself up and rested on her elbows as she glared at her attackers and ignored the blood dripping down her arm.
"Really?" she hissed. She blew a lock of hair out of her face.
"Really," Abraxas and Julian replied, both stupidly smug.
The fifth year launched a deafening hex—it looked like the Ear Shattering one (he did it nonverbal, so she wasn't too sure, but the color was a dead giveaway to it being some type of deafening thing)—while Abraxas sent a Tsunami charm towards her. She curled into a small ball in order to make the Dome Shield solid enough to dodge both spells at the same time.
The water crashed onto the Shield, and her Core shuttered at the strength needed to keep it from collapsing. "Tom!" she screamed, "I'm going to kill you!"
"Now, now, dear. We both know how hard that'll be," his voice echoed gently after the water dissipated.
She dropped the Shield, screamed, and instead of shooting any spells, summoned her Thorn Staff and moved into full Battle Magick mode. Her wand slipped into the holster on her right arm, and the Staff became an extension of her.
With it, she made quick work of Abraxas and Julian—she sucked half of their Core's with Black Fire—and also made quick work of the next four assailants the same way—Amaryllis, Marcellus, Androtheny, and Amaryllis (she just wacked him on the back with the Staff instead of sucking his magic).
Once Amaryllis was on the ground in a Spider Shield, she was able to breathe for a few moments before she was forced to start fighting again, that time with Theodosius. It went quick, as he was already quite worn out, so she just guided him with blasts of fire to either side of him until he tripped and fell into the Spider Shield with Amaryllis.
She turned to her last opponents and was quickly engaged in some hand-to-hand with Orion. He wrapped his arm around her neck and pinned her back to his chest; he jabbed two fingers into the still-healing stab wound, and she gasped and gagged slightly. Tears unwillingly began to streak down her face from the sudden pain. She grabbed his arm with one hand, jabbed her elbow into his stomach, punched him in the nose, and then was finally able to throw him over her shoulder.
She shrieked when she saw a black blob shoot towards her and did the same thing to Marcellus before he could touch her.
She breathed for about a minute before she was grabbed from behind and was once more engaged in close combat with Orion. They fought viciously for three minutes—with the boy using his fists and legs, and Eden using her body and Thorn Staff—before she was able to hit the back of his neck with the Staff and knock him out cold.
She spun around in a circle on high alert. When she saw that Tom was the only one standing, she laughed softly and fell to the ground exhausted. Her hands shook from Drainage, and her vision swayed from blood loss.
Tom knelt in front of her and his hand lit with the Cure of Fire before he pressed it to her side. She gasped and leaned her head against his shoulder as the wound was cauterized, and then the skin on her left arm from where she slid was stitched back together.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before he pulled away and stood. "You did well, love," he commented idly.
She stared at him, panting, with her eyes narrowed before she rolled to the side as the Phantom Form Curse arced from his wand and towards her. She banished her Staff and pulled her wand and was only just able to cast the counter-spell in time to avoid one of the phantoms from touching her.
She stood and immediately shot the Degeneration Curse at him. He laughed slightly hysterically as the shock of such a dangerous spell being used hit them both. "I love you," he murmured with fondness in his eyes and on his lips.
He slashed his wand, and the warm glow of his words wore off as he thrust the two of them into an intense battle exchanging Curse after Curse and both of them going on offensive and defensive every few casts.
Three minutes into the fight, she jumped to the side, tripped, and laid on the ground panting. "UnBind the rest of your Core, love."
"Damn you, Tom," she panted. She ignored the shocked gasps from the Knights and focused only on the slightly concerned smirk that graced his face.
"Love—" Before he could speak anymore, she unBound her Core and jumped up as the Strain faded, and the fight went on for another twenty minutes, in the same fashion as before, before she was far too injured to continue.
She laid on the ground in a bloody heap and was beyond grateful when he healed her with Medela Aer. He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips and bundled her close into his arms. "Well done, my lovely, well done."
He kissed her again.
"You, Tom Marvolo Riddle, are an anarchistic, evil human being who has a proclivity for torture, and I hate you," she mumbled against his lips.
He just laughed and kissed her again. "I know, my love, I know. I love you, too." He turned to his Knights. "You all did well. Tomorrow, we'll begin learning the Killing Curse. Dismissed."
Friday, June 23, 1995
Slytherin Common Room Entrance
Hermione took a deep, shaky breath.
She tried to quell the trembling of her hands as she carefully placed the Marauders Map into her magically extended shoulder bag.
She could do this.
(I can't)
She was Hermione Granger, smartest witch of her age.
(hah!)
There was nothing a few snakes could do to her that she couldn't handle, especially if what Eden, Draco, Ambrosia, and Theo said that first time, and what they and the others have said since.
(right? Is that right? Is this smart?)
If the House of the Pure was anything like Gryffindor, most of the Slytherin populace would either be in their dorm rooms or somewhere in the castle.
(please let the two polar opposites be similar in this one thing)
She closed her eyes and checked her memory once more and was confidant in her plan. Eden, Ambrosia, Draco, Septimus, and Evanius had walked into the wall she stood in front of before they disappeared into the Slytherin Common Room and off of the Map.
She would forever curse the fact that the Map didn't show who was in the Common Rooms other than Gryffindor and Hufflepuff—it made sense with the self-preservation of Slytherin and the seeking of knowledge (thus the reclus behavior of most Ravenclaws) but still.
She didn't like it because she had no idea what awaited her beyond the solid brick wall.
(yellow brick road yellow brick road yellow brick road going to see the wizard—)
She took another deep breath and began to mentally recite one of many passages about Slytherin House from Hogwarts: A History—mainly to drown out the taunting child's voice in the back of her head (which she refused to admit was herself panicking)—and knocked on the wall.
Despite the stones being solid, charmed, and inscribed with muffling Runes to keep the dungeons from echoing too horribly—something they learned in the first few lessons of Ancient Runes (did all Slytherins know that fact?)—the small, hesitant knocks seemed to echo almost violently around her.
Just as she was about to knock again—she was too desperate to give up—the door slid open to reveal a tall, menacing Slytherin with the top three buttons of his umber silk shirt undone, and fitting black slacks and shiny gray shoes made of gorgeous dragonhide. It was with horror that she recognized him as the one to curse Leif after he tried to tackle Eden to the ground in early November.
She gulped and prayed to whatever deities would listen to her that his wand was needed to open the Common Room entrance, and that she wasn't about to be put on the other end of it.
Slytherin Common Room
"Eden, is there anything that any of us can do to help you finish preparing for the Task tomorrow?"
Eden thought for a moment and winced when Ambrosia tugged a little too hard on her hair as she finished up the braid. It was the Slytherin biweekly meeting, and the entirety of the House was there—it was strange, actually.
She unwillingly sat on Ambrosia's lap, who was squished between Draco and Pansy, who were squished by Daphne and Millie. Evanius and Septimus sat on the ground in front of her, and Theo and Blaise sat on either side of the best friends who knew nothing of the phrase personal space—it's why they were so close. The rest of the fourth years were scattered around the large room, sitting with their friends and family, and that was okay. Like all years, the friend groups had been split, and one part—Eden's part—was just a bit closer knit than the other fourth years.
She shrugged lightly and tugged almost harshly on her locket. "I'm not too sure. I feel as if I'm prepared as well as I can be, due to all of the training from Sirius, and the sneak attacks that you lot have been doing with me the last couple weeks. I'm just nervous, I think."
Snakey-Snape frowned slightly. "Are you sure?"
Before she could answer, a light jingling filled the room that indicated someone was locked out of the common room. "I thought everyone was here," Diana hissed from next to Snake-Snape.
All of the year leaders nodded. "We are," they all stated at once.
"Then who's outside?"
"I don't know, a guest?" Aeneas Crane, a seventh year Ravenclaw, helpfully pointed out from a pillow near the fireplace with his fiancée's head in his lap.
Eden laughed softly, along with many others, as Antony smirked. "Well then, shall we see who dares to interrupt the Snake Pit?"
It's what the biweeklies were called.
Cheers left every throat, and laughter echoed through the room and scattered applause sounded from those most excited.
The King of Slytherin bowed gracefully—earning quite a few catcalls from the older years—before he shifted from the charming, playful, and lighthearted creature that he typically was, and into a horrifying beast that stalked towards the door with his wand still in his hand—firework charms were often needed to draw everyone's attention in a non-violent way during the meetings (especially the Hufflepuffs' attention when someone admitted to struggling either socially, academically, mentally, or, most importantly, magically).
The door slid open, and the cheers rapidly began to abate.
Antony leaned against the wall, and Eden could imagine the sly grin that stretched his lips. "Well now, look what the basilisk drug in," Antony murmured softly. The common room fell into silence, with the only sound being the crackling fire, water lapping at the floor to ceiling windows, and the occasional shifting student—the common room was the one place that you'd find a Slytherin fidgeting. "Tell me, little lion, what brings you here?"
"I—I—I," a vaguely familiar voice squeaked from the door.
Antony lunged forward, grabbed whoever it was, and drug them into the Common Room. Draco's grip on her hand tightened, Ambrosia's hold on her waist tightened, and Evanius and Septimus' backs stiffened as everyone on or by the couch they occupied tensed when their eyes landed on Hermione.
Eden tried to stand, but Pansy's hand on her leg forced her to stop. She nodded to Diana, and when she looked, Eden saw the playful little smiled that she and Antony would get whenever they wanted to play with someone.
"She won't understand," Eden hissed to Pansy—who nodded in agreement.
Despite that agreement though, she said, "It won't go too far."
"You don't know that," Ambrosia said softly, "we have too much riding on her to let her back out now. She's meeting my grandfather this summer. He's actually quite excited for it too. I'd have to deal with him if she backs out now."
"Oh, tell him I say hi," Eden interjected before Pansy could.
The short-haired girl smacked her leg. "Let them at least find out why she's here, and then you can hyper-focus."
Hermione's wide, frightened eyes met Eden's, and she had no choice but to smile and nod reassuringly at her before she was forced to kneel in front of Diana. Antony curled his fingers into the girl's curls, and even though he made it look harsh, gently angled her head up—he had done a lot of that during second year to Eden when she thought she was going crazy when she heard Azteca in the walls.
"Awe," the Queen cooed, "look what a sweet little present my King has brought to me."
Tense laughed echoed through the room.
(Eden's fondness of the lion was not a secret in the House of the Snakes)
Hermione shivered.
"I'm going to Claim her," Eden hissed as she began to struggle in her friends' holds.
"Don't you dare. Let them play."
"I was going to Claim her eventually. Let me do it now!" she grumbled as she wiggled.
Diana's eyes flickered to Eden, and she saw a slight crack in the Mask before it was hidden, and she crouched so she was even with Hermione. She reached out and stroked a suddenly long fingernail down the younger girl's cheek. "Tell me, my King, why is this precious little Lion in our midst?"
Cat calls, though they were tense, echoed in the room again. "Please," Eden whimpered as Hermione began to tremble.
The grips on her began to loosen.
"She didn't say, my Queen."
"Oh?" Diana giggled, and it was truly terrifying. Panic broke through the Mask, and the Slytherins who looked into people's eyes to find emotions began to shift a bit more. "Oh, don't cry, little Lion—" Only the Slytherins who knew Diana heard the panic in her voice. "—just tell us why you're here, and you may make it out alive."
The grips on Eden loosened completely as panic broke through Diana's Mask once more. Eden began to stand as Hermione spoke softly. "I ca-came t-to see E-E-E—"
"Spit it out, Little Lion," Antony demanded softly in his sickly-sweet King voice.
"I Claim her."
The room fell silent in the face of Eden's Claim as she stood trapped between Ambrosia's legs, and Septimus' and Evanius' backs.
Diana grinned sweetly as her Queen Mask faded completely. "Are you sure, little Eden?"
She nodded firmly as Hermione stared at her, and she kept eye contact with the bushy-haired girl. "I am. From this day on, Hermione Granger is safe from all Slytherin Plots, Games, Powerplays, and Jokes."
Antony smirked and stroked Hermione's hair—Eden noticed the girl lean into the touch slightly. "You heard our little hellion, Snakes. From this day on, Hermione Granger is an honorary Slytherin, is to be protected as such, and treated as family."
Cheers rang through the room as a swath of sheer red and gold fabric appeared on the ceiling to indicate another member of Slytherin House. It stood out amongst the sea of green and silver, but just like the swaths of blue and bronze, and yellow and black, it blended seamlessly, just as she would blend seamlessly into the House of the Pure.
Diana reached out a hand and helped Hermione up. "I'm sorry about that, luv. It's just a game that we enjoy playing with guests during the biweeklies, and it just so happened that you were the victim this time. Please don't hold any hard feelings against little Eden, she tried to get to you, but she's kind of trapped."
Eden sheepishly waved to the girl who laughed softly. "It's fine." She took a deep breath, nodded, and then looked around the room at the 259 Slytherins, and 17 honorary Slytherins. "You're all here?"
"Yep." Antony slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side as he began to guide her over to Eden. "Every two weeks we have a House meeting to go over issues, announcements, and other items of great importance which are to remain private. Now that you're one of us, you're invited to the meetings."
Septimus and Evanius slid over to Hermione could be nestled on the floor in front of Eden who had been pulled back onto her mostly human seat.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly.
Hermione nodded and exhaled shakily. "Yeah, I wasn't—I wasn't expecting all of you to be here."
Eden smiled and patted her head. "I bet this is a shock. Anyway, why did you come?"
"I needed to see you."
"Oh?" Snakey-Snape started, "and what would bring a Little Lion like yourself here to the Snake Pit without protection?"
"Who said I wasn't protected? Eden and I have become quite close in the last month."
"It's true."
"Hey," Draco whined, "you forgot about me!"
Ambrosia, Pansy, Daphne, Millie, Theo, Blaise, Evanius, and Septimus agreed with his sentiments loudly. "I mean, we meet up twice a week and make parchment animals, and do homework together, and talk, and hang out!"
The girl blushed, and the room laughed. "Back to the reason that I've come here. I came here to teach Eden a spell I created to help her with the Task. I've only just finished it."
"You created a spell? And you want to teach it to me?"
"Yes."
Eden couldn't help the silly grin that crossed her face as she perked up.
"What do you want in return?" Electra Digby, a sixth year Slytherin demanded.
Hermione and Eden both frowned as they stared at her. "Why would I want something in return?"
"That's Slytherin for you, babe," Evanius commented lightly before he started to play with her hair, "a favor for a favor."
Hermione nodded, and for some unfathomable reason to Eden, she looked unbearably sad. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."
"A life for a life," Antony finished the saying, and he too, looked ethereal in his sadness.
All was silent as Hermione processed everything that had happened in the last ten minutes.
"Y'all are messed up people," Emily—an American muggleborn transfer student who was in Hufflepuff—stated with an eyeroll. "It's all doom and gloom with you lot."
Eden's lips twitched. Emily had been stuck between using the slang she grew up with, and the slang that she had been surrounded by for the last three years, for the last few months.
Most of the students found it to be endlessly entertaining, especially whenever Emily brought attention to it, which she did often.
"It's all we have to protect ourselves with," DeNovell Quinn started sadly, "it's how we were raised, as most of us won't go into some easy paper-pusher job at the Ministry, or some shop, we'll be going into politics, and sadly, not even normal politics. It's the hard-cutting gentry politics where one wrong move means your entire family is disgraced for generations. And in a world where family is everything, it's a daunting task."
"Most of us in this room will spend the rest of our lives trying to get the Olde Ways legalized once more the second they graduate."
"Slytherin works in the way of an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, so we're prepared for the future we'll be forced to face."
"Although, all problems that are had while we're in school can't be taken into the political ring. So, it's practice, and a time for us to make lasting relationships."
The debate continued on peacefully between the older Slytherins and honorary Slytherins, and while it did, Eden stood and pulled Hermione to her dorm room, with their friends following after them.
Slytherin Girls Fourth Year Dorm—2
The group of eleven stepped into the room, and Eden's eyes immediately catalogued the changes that had been made to the dorm due to her Claim of Hermione. Another desk and wardrobe had been added against the wall with the door—the wall nearest Eden's bed. And next to her bed, was a comfortable looking cot—more like luxurious bed that was two feet wide, six feet long, and two feet tall—that would only appear when Hermione would be in the room.
"I thought there were more girls in your year," Hermione commented, slightly confused, as Pansy led her over to the cot and forced her to sit down on it before she started to do her hair.
"There are," Ambrosia started as she flopped onto Eden's bed and shoved her head onto Eden's lap. Draco climbed on the bed behind the two raven-haired girls and leaned up against the headboard and began to doze off—he hadn't been sleeping well the last few days (it was often that Eden would wake up to him sitting next to her bed staring at her). "It's four to a dorm up until fifth year when we get our own rooms."
Hermione gaped. "There's enough space for that? Wait, if it's four to a room, why are there five beds?"
"Well," Pansy started, "there's magic, and on top of that, we have the entirety of the dungeons to work with, bar the Potions Rooms, Ritual Rooms, Prayer Rooms, and Ceremony Rooms. The reason why this room has five beds is because Eden Claimed you. She's become responsible for you in the house—kind of like a guardian. Because of that, whenever you need a safe place, either from Gryffindor, or your friends, or if you just need somewhere you can be yourself without worry of consequence, you'll always have a safe place here."
Hermione froze with her mouth slightly open, so Eden tried to distract her. "The four to a dorm rule didn't come about until the early eighty's when tata began to teach. Fifty years ago, it was common for every house and year to have anywhere from ten to thirty students to a dorm because Hogwarts housed 1,500 students at the time instead of just the 1,000 it houses now a days." She paused for a moment as she remembered the slightly cramped—only because so many people in one room was cramped—dorm when Tom still shared with other students. "I can only imagine how awful the towers must have been, especially since with what you said, they don't seem to use magic to expand the rooms."
Hermione nodded absently. "I'm lucky. There are only three girls in my year in Gryffindor, but the room is still fairly small. The boys' dorm is so crowded that the only things in there are the beds and the boys' trunks."
"Where do they study?" Theo demanded aghast.
"They don't," the Lion scoffed, "but, whenever I am able to convince Ron, Leif, and their closer friends to study, they do it in the library or common room."
"Funny," Blaise started as he ran his fingers through Millicent's hair, "I always imagined the Gryffindor Common Room to be obnoxiously loud—too loud to study in."
"Oh, it is, trust me."
"Then how do you study?"
"I personally use silencing wards, or ear muffling charms, but the others don't, and they almost always end up getting distracted. Ouch! Too hard!"
"Sorry," Pansy mumbled sheepishly. She nodded to Daphne. "Come freeze this for me so I can untangle my Heir Ring."
The room was bathed in comfortable silence for a while as they all relaxed. "Hey, in exchange for you teaching me that cool spell you created, I'll teach you one that I created. It's kind of lame, and has no real use, but it's really, really fun to cast, and it can be done wandlessly and nonverbally."
Hermione perked up from where she had been scanning Daphne's bookshelf from her cot. "You created a spell? What does it do?"
Eden held out five fingers, whispered the spell—fulgor—and the tips of her fingers lit up with her beloved glitter sparks—they were red and gold instead of the usual green.
Hermione laughed and stared at them. "You have to teach me that."
"Alright, after you teach me your spell, I'll teach you mine—wait. Which one do you think is harder?"
"Yours most definitely." Hermione turned on her cot and faced Eden fully, and she pushed Ambrosia off of her.
"Go find someone else to laze about on, you weird cat person."
"Meow, rawr, hiss," the girl cooed—she had started out seductive and ended murderous. Eden just waved her away. The pink eyed girl rolled elegantly off of the bed and moved over to the dog pile that was Theo, Blaise, Daphne, and Millie. She shoved her head between Theo's hand on his thigh as she draped her legs on the pretzel that was Blaise and Millie.
Eden fondly rolled her eyes. "Right. So, this spell you created. What does it do again?"
Hermione smiled softly and giggled before she focused back on Eden. "It's a fairy-light guidance spell mixed with a locator charm. What you do is put your wand flat on the palm of your hand, and while you're thinking of the object that you want to find, you say point me," she explained.
"Makes sense. Can you show me?"
Hermione nodded and pulled a book out of her bag and placed it on the end of Pansy's bed—who then decided that it would make a wonderful footrest—and stood in the center of the room. She held her vine wand in her hand, clearly stated the incantation, and her wand lifted and spun around on the palm of her hand three times before it pointed towards the book with a bright periwinkle light on the tip of her wand. She twisted her hand after a moment and wrapped her fingers around the handle and the light faded. "The brighter the light is, the closer to the object you're looking for," she explained, "now it's your turn."
Eden pulled out her holly and phoenix feather wand and placed it flat on her palm and thought about what to look for while Hermione silently retrieved her book from Pansy's bed. She stood next to her, and a flash of light from Daphne's bed gave her the perfect idea.
She took a deep breath and stared down at her wand as she spoke. "Point me." Her wand did nothing for a moment before it started to slowly spin against her skin. It spun once before it stopped. "What am I doing wrong?" she asked calmly—even though she wanted to whine (Tom had taught her better than that with all of the high-level spells he had taught her in the last few months).
"You're not doing anything wrong. Just try thinking solely about the object you're searching for and try again."
Eden nodded, tugged on her locket before she tried again. "Point me." Her wand lifted from her palm and spun twice before it fell back into her palm. She frowned slightly but cleared her mind once more. Septimus' Heir Ring. "Point me."
The wand lifted off of her palm, spun three times, before it pointed towards the bed as a bright—not as bright as Hermione's—periwinkle light lit on the tip. "You did it!" Hermione cheered.
The room was filled with happy cheering before Septimus lifted his head from his arms and glared. "I was sleeping. What did you do to wake me?"
"Eden cast the spell, grumpy," Draco groaned softly. "Hey, Amber, did you get that letter that was left for you?"
"What letter? When did you get a letter that was delivered to the Common Room?"
"It was yesterday."
"Why did you get one to the Common Room?"
Eden giggled as Septimus kicked Evanius as he tried to get comfortable on the too small bed to go back to sleep. Evanius, ever the saint, just kicked his best friend back and continued to read.
"I was late coming back from my private lessons."
"You have private lessons?" Hermione questioned innocently.
Ambrosia breathed deeply as she seemed to have some sort of inner debate before she nodded. "Yeah. I have something that I think is called dyslexia. I'm not too sure though. Most Pureblooded children are checked over and have spells cast on them in the womb to prevent that kind of thing, but because of my creature blood, we couldn't do it without risk of losing my eyesight.
"I have glasses spelled to help, but they give me really bad headaches, so I only wear them when I have to study, and that's only when I study alone that I wear them. Three times a week I have private lessons with Filch."
"What do you do in them?"
"For about fifteen minutes we work on my alphabets—English and Ancient Runes—and then we work on the lessons that I didn't understand that well because I had too hard of a time reading it. He also gives me my written assignments in Latin since I can read that just fine. He found me our defense book in third year in Latin, actually."
"Filch knows Latin?" Hermione demanded.
"Yeah. He went to a muggle university and got an Ancient History teaching degree and a degree in Latin. He was a teacher in a muggle school for quite a while before he became Hogwarts caretaker."
"But—he hates children!"
"Not true," Draco started, "before he became caretaker, he took a class on a field trip to Stonehenge. It was going really well until one of the children crossed into the center of the Lay Lines and disappeared. It was a chaotic mess, and he got fired from it, but that's not what made him so bitter to kids who don't follow the rules." Draco's mouth shut with an audible click.
Eden took over, as she was the only one who could actually continue the story. "What made him bitter was watching the kid get torn to pieces by the Lay Lines because he didn't have a Magical Core to support the weight of the Magic concentrated there. That's why there's so many rules here. It's an attempt to keep us safe and to prevent something from happening to us. Why do you think the Forbidden Forest is off-limits?"
"Because of all of the creatures?"
"Partially true. In the center of the Forest is where the center of Hogwarts' Lay Lines are. It's why the school is so sentient and powerful, even though the Wards were placed nearly a thousand years ago."
Hermione looked shell shocked before Eden broke it by recasting the spell, and it pointed towards the door. "What did you look for this time?"
"Tata."
The rest of the night was spent goofing around, teaching spells—both created, and learned from books—and laughing until they all fell asleep exhausted.
Saturday, June 23, 1945
Head Dorms
"Eden?"
Eden looked up from where she played with one of Tom's shirt buttons—she had accidentally undone the top three and was now on the fourth (she would deny the fact that she was trying to do the same to all shirt buttons)—and rested her head on his shoulder. His right arm curled around her and tugged gently on her hair as his fingers slowly carded through it. "Yes?"
He smiled at her and pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. "I have something for you," he murmured.
She was confused at the slight tremor in his voice, but ultimately decided to stay away from Babble Ville. She lifted a brow. "Oh, and what is it?"
"I think I found a way for us to keep seeing each other after I graduate," he said softly.
She tried to sit up but failed miserably due to his grip on her. "Really? How?" Would her summer finally be bearable now that she could see Tom when she slept? She could sleep all of the time. Sure, the Malfoys, Sirius, Remus, Mariea, Pansy, and Ambrosia would be worried, but she'd be able to see Tom.
Surely, they'd understand.
(she ignored the fact that she hadn't told them—or anyone for that matter—about Tom)
"I'll tell you after you win the Tournament."
"What if I don't win?
If she didn't win, she would have most likely died, and they both knew that.
"Impossible. I've trained you. You'll win. But, in the unlikely case that you do lose, I'll still tell you after you come back." He stroked her cheek, and her heart hurt at the fear and hope waring in his eyes. "Think of it as incentive to win, and live."
She pressed her hand against his cheek. "I don't want to die, Tom. And you're all the incentive needed to keep living and to do the best of my ability, Tom. I love you, so much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
He curled his fingers into her hair and tilted her head up and pressed an achingly soft kiss against her lips. "I love you, Eden."
She was silent for a moment as she contemplated telling him something she had been considering telling him for the last week since he started teaching her the Killing Curse—turns out fear was a much better catalyst than hate or anger for her to be able to successfully cast it (rest in peace demonic ducks). "If I win . . . as a thank you . . . I'll tell you my full name, and what year I was born."
His eyes widened, and his left hand smoothed down her back and rested on her hip. "Only if you win?" he asked teasingly.
"Only if I win."
He nipped at her nose, and the two dissolved into hysterical laughter that lasted for quite some time. "I want to show you something," Tom murmured after they got a hold of themselves. They both sat up and wiped at their faces where tears of laughter had fallen.
"Okay."
He climbed out of bed and moved to the trunk, drew a ten, and immediately, a puppy sized Abyss came bounding towards her.
"You're so cute!" she cooed as she picked the Hellhound up from the side of the bed when he couldn't get up. She held him close to her chest and ran her fingers along his back, the fine points of his spinal horns cutting into the tips of her fingers.
"I am too small."
She laughed and tightened her hold on him and scratched behind his left ear next to his horn. "But this way I can hold you." He purred softly before he shook his head.
"I do not need to be this small in order for you to hold me," the hound huffed.
"But—"
"No buts. Make me bigger, Eden," he snarled. She pouted and looked to Tom. He sighed before he drew his wand. "Bigger. Bigger. Bigger. Tom—so help me if you don't make me—a little smaller. Smaller. Bigger. Just a titch smaller. Perfect," he purred.
Eden wrapped her arms around the neck of the now wolf-sized Hellhound and pressed a kiss to his ear. He purred and she pushed magic into him. Tom sat behind her and scratched the Hellhound behind his ears. The Hellhound groaned and his leg started to thump into the bed. She scratched between his eyes, and something akin to a grin pulled at his lips and he leaned into her.
She stopped pushing magic into him, and he tilted his head back and licked her face. "You know," she commented as he tried to lick the skin off of her chin, "this is much more pleasant when his tongue is this small."
"Deal with it. This is the only time that you are seeing me this small."
"Okay, I'll deal with it," she murmured. She wrapped her arms around his neck and scratched his face. He leaned into her, and she flinched when one of his horns poked her cheek. He laid down on her lap, and she ran her fingers through his insanely soft fur. She leaned into Tom and sighed happily.
"What's wrong?" Tom murmured into her ear before he kissed the skin below it.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm happy. I'm with two of my favorite boys."
He nipped her neck. "Excuse me," he started, petulant, "I am a man."
"Fine. I'm with two of my favorite beings. How about that?"
He fondly rolled his eyes. "Fine, you pest."
Sometime later, which could have been an eternity or a few seconds, he cut off her yawn with a deep kiss. "I love you," he whispered.
She grinned and ran her fingers through his mussed-up hair. "I love you, too."
"Come back to me."
"Always."
Hope you guys liked it. Again, I've changed Harry's name to Leif, so if you saw that because I missed when copy-n-pasting over here, that's who Leif is. Once all of In My Dreams is posted, I'll be going through and changing his name to Leif fully, so when I start posting the second part, which I finally have the new outline done on, I won't have to do it then.
The comment, 'anarchistic evil human being with a proclivity for torture' belongs solely to Hiccupthemagicalteapot on AO3
For the locket price, I actually looked up prices of the stones used in the necklace and wrote them down and then added the price of rhodium and white gold to it, and the price came out to be somewhere around 2.2 million USD. Or was it pounds? I have no clue. The locket scene was one of the first scenes I wrote for this—along with each Task/the resurrection and the first time Eden went back in time—thus, all of the math and stuff that I wrote on papers at 3 in the morning have gone missing or have made a wonderful home in the dump.
The following was a note that I wrote right after writing this chapter, before I changed Harry's name to Leif.
I also took extreme liberties with the point me spell. I read somewhere that there was a theory that Hermione created it for Harry for the final Task, so, I decided to do that for Eden, since she is fem!Harry. And I do get a lot of comments on that, the main reason that her twin's name is Harry is because I liked the fact that it was a family name (kind of), and I didn't want to come up with another name. While I adore researching names, and if I could make a living off of studying the origins of names, I would do it in a heartbeat, I actually hate coming up with names for characters. It's quite awful.