He was silent for a moment. "Who am I?"

She bit her lips, looking straight up into his eyes.

"Lord Voldemort."

Chapter Nine

Tom was not taken by surprise very often. Nor was he ever not in control of his body or more importantly, his mind. It was times like this when his legendary restraint was completely disregarded. He was genuinely staggered by Marie's confession. A part of himself that he had never known before curdled at the thought of her knowing. Lord Voldemort was his past, his present, and his future. She was going to be part of that future, whether she wanted to be or not so it wasn't like she wasn't going to find out whom he was. It was just supposed to be on his terms. He watched her take a deep breath, her chest expanding and contracting.

"I don't belong here," she whispered, still looking straight at him. "I don't belong here. I'm not from here."

"Marie –"

"I've already graduated from Hogwarts," she cut him off. "I'm eighteen and I'm about seventy years younger than you are." She paused. "Maybe eighty."

His mind pieced things together. Any magical elements that can be combined to bring her through time. Which was the only logical explanation. Questions fluttered through his mind, but he pushed them aside to absorb her words. He listened to her prattle off a list of information about the future. "It was an accident – " a lie, he detected it immediately, "I was messing around and ended up here. So I made myself papers so I could come back to school and maybe find a way to send myself back." He placed his forefingers together, touching them against his lips and nodded. "Eric Davies was my first boyfriend, we were thirteen and stupid and I only kissed him once. And Jared –" she made a sweeping gesture towards the hallway they'd previously abandoned. "Was trying to selling me Dragon Blood for only who knows what reason."

Silence followed, resounding in the room like a cannon. She still hadn't answered his question. Tom let that to the forefront of his brain. He paused before speaking, lowering his fingers to frown at her. "Why are you afraid of me?"

He could see the battle waging on her face, practically hear her thoughts. How much could she tell him? It was Marie so she was considering lying again or going for broke and tell him all. He knew the exact moment when her decision was made.

"You're Lord Voldemort. You are the greatest wizard the world has ever known." She snorted, glancing up at him with a wry smile that was too forced on her part. "You're also a mass murderer." Their hands met at a midpoint, interlocking. "I'm absolutely terrified of you. I've lived in the aftermath of what you've done." Her voice got lower – deeper. "Do you know that people fear to speak your name? Only the heroes I've heard stories about dare to say it." He moved closer at the same time she did.

"You'll be with me when it happens," he said, formulating new plans and images than the ones he'd had before. Tom hadn't realized just how much she he become apart of his plans until he was certain of their future.

"No, Tom, I won't." She shook her head when she said it. "I won't stand by you when you begin your slaughter."

Now, that was something that hadn't been in his plans. Somehow in the grand picture he had created, schemed, her refusal had never been planned in. For all his intelligence he hadn't counted in her free will. Several ideas came to mind to remedy the situation, the imperious curse being the simplest. But he didn't want her to be some mindless drone when they were together. And he meant that in more ways than one.

"What do you mean?" The tone he used was death incarnated.

"Exactly what I said. I won't be the one who watches you kill off muggle-borns. I won't be the one who is forced or cursed into participating in their murder. I can't do it. I won't do it." His mind scrambled to come up with possible solutions. But there wasn't any that involved his crusade. If he dropped it… no, he hadn't worked this hard for nothing.

"What do you want?" The question flew from his lips that curled as soon as he spoke them. He was changing his beliefs, letting go of his control for… another person. She would have to be brought to heel soon. His face-hardened.

"I can't change you Tom, so I won't try."

XXX

Avery had strict orders from his master. Retrieve the objective and present her to the Dark Lord. It was that simple but yet going to be so hard. He watched Marie throw some random ingredient into her cauldron and it sizzled successfully. The sound made him a little nervous. What was she making? A careful and as quiet as he could he darted out from the passage, hesitating briefly.

"Avery," she said, placing a finger on her wand that was sitting beside the cauldron on the table. He brought out his own, flicking it once. She collapsed.

XXX

There was chanting, she could have sworn there was going to be chanting. Candles flickered along the stonewall like shadow wraiths trying to eat her from the inside out. The old well known fear came back to relive it's existence in her gut. Her eyes opened groggily and the first thing she saw was him. It wasn't Tom anymore. Lord Voldemort was there.

"Tom," she said, her voice sounding hoarse. How long had she been out? He crooked a finger in her direction. "I feel like jelly." She rested her head on the stone floor letting the cold cut into her skin. Hissing started as soon as her eyes fluttered close. "Stop it Tom." It stopped abruptly. "I know it's you."

"Come here, Marie," his voice was soft, venomous.

"No, Tom." She was so tired. Whatever Avery had done made her want to sleep for the rest of her life. It was the draught of sleep she realized somewhere far off in an abandoned corner of her brain. "I just want to go back to bed."

"Come here, Marie." There was an inflection in his voice this time.

"I don't want to –"

"Marie!" It took strength – too much strength in her opinion – to crawl across the floor and sit up straight. But that wasn't enough for him. "Kneel." The word triggered some hidden electricity in her mind. Parts started to kick start awake. Revamping it's self until she felt almost normal.

"Why?"

Tom's fingers lifted up her chin. "You will learn to obey me. Come here, Marie." It wasn't a request – it was a demand. Marie stood, taking the last few steps towards Tom, her heart racing at an alarming rate. He grabbed her wrist, drawing her forward. "Kneel." When she didn't right away there was a bending in her legs, completely unnatural.

"No." The word was so easy to say, so simple. Two-letters long. And it made him incredibly angry. She stood, shaking her head, heading straight for the exit. Halfway there she couldn't believe her luck. First she knew where she was actually going and no one had stopped her. Maybe Tom was going to let her go now. The thought nearly made her turn back around to kneel before him.

The hissing noise started up again, and then: "Stop her!" The arm of her robe snagged on something – someone had wrenched her robe arm backwards. It felt like a serious case of whiplash had ignited in her back. She pulled her sleeve back, a small noise emitting from the back of her throat when something sharp slashed her arm. Blood trickled down her arm, the red splash colored burgundy in the candlelight. "I said stop her not harm her!" Somehow she managed to end up in the middle of a blur of bodies all blocking her way to the exit, draped in dark cloaks so she couldn't see which direction was which. It was frenzy. Chaos erupted until…

"Leave us!"

The death eaters stilled. They were like frozen evil statues until they all lined up in single file to drop to their knees to kiss Voldemort's hem. Her stomach lurched as she realized that was what Tom had wanted her to do. Every single one of them fled the dungeon their cloaks flying behind them.

Tom rounded on her almost immediately, his face contorted into a mass of fury. "Marie," he hissed. "Come here." There was no choice given in that tone. She came forward, cradling her arm. He took her sleeve, pressing his wand to her cut. A warm sensation hit her skin but she barely noticed it, instead she watched him heal her.

"I told you I won't stand by you," she said when he was finished. "I told you that I wouldn't – so why did you drag me here."

He was silent for a moment, staring directly into her eyes. "You will."

She yanked her arm out of his hold. "No, I won't."

"Yes, you will!" It was the first time he had ever yelled at her – ever lost his temper in such a human manner before. "You will because I say you will! And that is the end of it!" He took grabbed her shoulders, shaking her harshly. "You will!"

"I WON'T!" His hold tightened. It only made her scream louder. "I CAN'T WATCH YOU KILL PEOPLE! I CAN'T WATCH YOU MURDER CHILDREN AND TEAR A PART FAMILIES! I WON'T BE A PART OF TEARING MY FAMILY A PART, TWISTING MY UNCLE INTO AN UNKNOWABLE PERSON!" She was crying hysterically by the end, pulling on his robes, fighting an invisible demon that raged inside of him.

"Silence, Marie. Silence – "

"I came back to kill you," she said, interrupting him. "I came back to murder you, so you wouldn't lead my Uncle into killing my family. And I will kill you. You aren't the best, Tom, in the future. Albus Dumbledore was the greatest man the Wizarding world has ever known! You are – you will become nothing compared to him!" She pulled out her wand, poking it into his chest, her lips and fingers trembling.

She watched his eyes flicker down to her wand. And just as quickly she was thrown backwards into the wall. As fast as she was, he was the best and Marie knew that. She should have known that. The pain that slammed into her ribs when she hit the floor was blinding. Tears came faster with physical pain, she realized.

Over the course of three months she had thought she was going to die over a hundred – no a thousand times – and now was finally the moment. There was no fight left. "I'm done," she said, softly, getting louder. "I'm done. Do you hear me, Tom? I lost. You've proven I can't kill you. So kill me." She was pretty sure she looked like a hopeless mess, but this… this was the end.

"Get up," Tom whispered. "Get up. I want to hear the truth from your mouth." Marie didn't move, and she was pretty sure he hadn't expected her to. "Marie…"

"Kill me Tom." She curled into a ball on her side, preparing her body for the worst. "Just do it."

She heard him before she felt his hand on her back. Tom Riddle was kneeling beside her, his hand touching her face. "Look at me." He didn't wait for an answer, rolling her onto her back so that her face was looking directly up at him. "What do you want me to do? Tell me and I'll change –" He grimaced, touching his chest lightly. "I will – just stay with me."

"I hate you Tom," she muttered, reaching for his hand. "But I love you too and I don't know why." She started to cry again especially when he looked at her with that amount of disgust resting on his face. "Don't look at me like that."

He shut his eyes, grabbing at his chest like he was having a heart attack. "Like what?"

"Like you can't stand those words. Like my weakness disgusts you. I disgust you. I know you don't believe love exists – "

"You don't – " He inhaled sharply, letting out a moan of pain. " – disgust me." His body bent over in rigid pain and that was when he started to scream.