Chapter Nineteen: The Promise
All perfect days come to an end. Tom's ended when he saw his reflection at the bottom of his Polyjuice brew vial.
"I'm afraid I must leave," he announced with audible regret when he returned to the moonlight lagoon.
"So soon?" Adriana asked sadly.
"I have to go home and feed my snake before I lose another loveseat."
(This wasn't a lie either. One time he didn't feed Nagini for 15 hours and he came home to a half-eaten couch.)
"I'm going to go too," said Ariel as she wrapped an arm around Attina who happened to be nearest.
It took them a half hour to say goodbye. Every hug lingered. Every tiny space on his face had been kissed or pinched and touched. And when they weren't taking turns dousing him with affections, they were stretching out last minutes conversations with Ariel.
He was still sending goodbyes when he and Ariel made their leave for the shoreline, waving and shouting as he walked backward, drunk on love, "Goodbye Auntie Adella. Farewell Auntie Adriana. Arrivederci, Auntie Arista. Adieu, Auntie Alana. Adios Auntie Aquatta. Au revoir Auntie Attina!"
"We love you! Be safe! Take care!" They chorused before each of their tails slapped the waters. One by one, they disappeared.
"Be safe." He echoed with a snort. Ariel had stepped into the circle when he grabbed her by the arm, raised it triumphantly, and decried to the near-empty beach, "As if anything in this realm could stand a chance against us!"
He was still holding her arm when their bodies dissolved into grains of sand and transported them back to Spinner's End.
"I was almost worried if we stayed any longer, the effects would've worn off right in front of them," said Tom as he pulled off his muggle clothes and got back into his robes. "Could you imagine?"
Ariel let out a weak chuckle. She looked around while he changed.
"Thank you. For everything."
She turned her head. Young Tom was back in Voldemort's old robes. His face blurred back into Voldemort's then in a flash returned to handsome visage that currently regarded her like she was the most important creature in the universe.
"You don't have to keep thanking me."
Handsome Tom gave her an odd smile then he took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, I do."
He hugged her for what felt like an entire hour in silence. She planted her ear against his chest while he rested his chin on her crown. For a while, they stood there, in the middle of that old house, listening to each other's pulses, breathing in each other's scent. To her, he smelled like sand and seaweed. To him, she smelled like coconut oil and the Earth before a thunderstorm.
They continued hugging even as the Polyjuice Potion began to wear off. When they eventually broke apart, and Ariel discovered Voldemort's nightmarish face smiling down on her, she beheld it with the same loving scrutiny as if it were Tom's.
"I had fun," Voldemort said with a small surprised laugh as if shocked he could still feel such trivial emotions.
"Me too."
"We should make this a weekly thing." He said, trying and failing to sound off-hand as he suggested, "Maybe make Mondays into Mother-Son days."
Ariel cut the murderous wizard a sideways glance. How was this wizard before her, this hideous noseless creature who was practically begging her to love him, be the cruel, soulless Lord Voldemort? How could this be the same wizard she had spent so many years appalled by tales of his never-ending evil? "Well, I don't know…If we do make this a weekly thing, are you going to be on your best behavior?" Her voice turned serious when she added, "Or am I going to see things I wish I hadn't?"
"That depends. What's your definition of 'best behavior'?"
She gave him a pointed look. "No murders. Or tortures."
"Is that it?"
"AND no intimidation, no kidnappings or slaughtering creatures for fun."
"Ugh, all these rules. I feel like I'm back in school." Ariel opened her mouth to scold him when Voldemort cut her off, "I was only teasing, mother. You know I'd do anything for you."
She smiled, deciding to believe him. "Mother?" She repeated with a mock-offense.
"Mama felt weird." He explained with a snake-like grin. "Or do you prefer, mom? Ooh or madre? Wait—what am I saying, we're not Italian."
"You can call me whatever you want. Just know, I will never call you Lord Voldemort."
"And I would never make you," Voldemort said with a loving smile. Then with a quick kiss on the cheek, he announced, "I really should go. I love you, mom. Tell Severus I'll see him soon."
"I love you too, Tommy."
Snape remembered being in a bar. It was late and he had a vague feeling telling him that he should be going somewhere, looking for someone. Then a male silvery voice came from the side and said, "Hey handsome. Can I buy you a drink?"
He turned his head and there stood Tom Riddle, virile as the day he first met him, leaning into the bar with a handsome devil's smile. Their conversation culminated when Tom asked, in a voice so sweet, "Have you ever had your asshole licked by a parseltongue?" Seconds later they were in his old bed at Spinner's End discovering each other's g-spots. Then the door flung open. Ariel walked in wearing a wretched smile. She was covered in blood and she was making this horrendous sound, this savage laugh so cruel it paralyzed him with fear. "It's all your fault, Severus," Ariel cried in a tinny sing-song voice. Snape had no idea what she meant until he saw Ariel pull Draco's severed head from behind her back. He watched in horror as she swung the bloodied head by a fist-full of blonde locks around like a pendulum. The last thing he remembered was a naked Voldemort laying in Tom Riddle's place giving him a sly wink before he whispered in his ear, "Don't forget. You were mine first."
He jolted awake drenched in enough sweat to fill a sink thinking with a scream in his ears that he assumed was his own but to his relief Ariel slept-hummed away. By the time his heart rate settled, he successfully pushed away Draco's decapitated head from his mind and fought the rest of the night for a few more dreamless hours of sleep before work.
Author's note: Constructive Criticism (and praise) welcomed