Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to JK Rowling's characters. Any characters that are not from the world of Harry Potter are of my sole creation and I own the rights to them.

Special Thanks:xxstarlightxxdreamerxx & EmmberlyneRiddle

Author's Note: Who do you see as Tom and Lara? I see Christian Coulson (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Tom.

Chapter 8

There was silence. Tom looked down as though he were in some sort of struggle. "I will be away for most of the night. Good night," he walked out of the room.

Lara watched as the door shut. She shivered slightly and whispered to herself, "Don't leave me alone in here." She sighed as she walked towards the double doors that led to the small courtyard. The window overlooked Dajti Mountain. The mountain was green, lush with vegetation. But, it was not as tall as other mountains she had seen before.

Her heart jumped when she heard a scratching sound upon the double door. She paused, her eyes widening in fear as she held the doorknob in her hand. One slight turn could determine her fate. She walked back, keeping her eyes upon the door. The scratching continued and grew more and more intense that she felt, at any minute, the double doors would split apart. She swept the curtains aside to get a better look and all of a sudden, a wolf jumped at the window, nearly crashing through the glass. The scratching ceased as the rest of the pack moved to the window. She screamed; letting the fabric cover the window as though that would create a barrier between her and a premature death.

"They can sense your fear, you know," a voice said from behind her.

She turned around to see that Tom had come back. She ran towards him; embracing him tightly, "You're here," she breathed heavily trying to get herself to stop being jittery, "Oh! Thank god!"

Tom held her tightly and placed his hand upon the back of her neck, his fingers lingering through her waves. He raised her face up to meet his own and leaned forward, brushing his lips against her own. The kiss grew deeper and more passionate until Tom broke away; his forehead still pressed against Lara's.

The nights alone were getting easier to bear now that Lara had been reassured of Tom's feelings for her. He had not said those three words exactly and she was not sure he ever would. Nevertheless, he did always return, didn't he? She sat by the fireplace, reading a book and staring at the clock. Finally, she turned the light off and climbed into bed.

It was a rainy night and for some reason, the lightning and thunder scared her. She lay in bed; tossing and turning cursing under her breath for being slightly scared of something as trivial as weather.

She squinted as the lightning flashed and the outline of a man appeared by her window. She did not want to believe that there was a man by the window, for; she did not want Tom to think that she was childish especially after the wolf incident. She had not known that arctic wolves were native to Albania and had found out the hard way.

The lightning flashed again and the outline of the man moved. Even though the curtain shielded her from being seen, Lara felt as though she were being watched and that maybe whoever was standing behind the curtain could see her.

Thunder clapped loudly and Lara yelped, springing up in bed. Tom entered the room through the front door. He walked casually towards her, "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing."

"It doesn't look like "nothing." Tom pointed out, "And you're shivering again. So, I shall ask you one more time, what is wrong?"

"I got scared."

Tom narrowed his eyes, "As usual." His eyes bore into Lara's, "Of what?"

"I-It was dark in here and the thunder and lightning," Lara looked back at the window. The man was gone. She paused, the silence hanging like thick fog in the air. She traced the embroidery on her comforter with her index finger.

Breaking the silence, Tom raised an eyebrow, "Why are we sitting here stupidly if nothing is wrong?"

Lara stopped tracing the embroidery, "Something is wrong. But, you wouldn't believe me. You would say that it is my imagination."

"Let me be the judge of that."

"All right," Lara cleared her throat. "Before you walked into the room, I saw the outline of a man outside the window. I felt as though he was watching me." Lara watched Tom squirm as she continued, "I couldn't see who it was because of the curtain. Nevertheless, I felt that he could see me."

Without a word, Tom walked towards the window and drew the curtain. Lara felt as though Tom was afraid of what could have been behind the window.

"There is no one there," said Tom. Lara could hear relief behind his voice.

He crossed over towards Lara. "I'm here now," he smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed. He reached over, pushing her hair away from her eyes.

Lara had hoped that Tom would have waved his hand at her in disregard. She had wanted him to reassure her that it was her imagination, but, his actions had proved it was anything but. For Tom to say that he was there for her was so out of character that she knew that something had gone awry. She had to wonder what he did and where he went at night and if this had anything to do with the man by her window.

Lara looked down at her hands and absentmindedly wondered when the last time she had polished her nails was. She hesitated, looking at Tom. "Would you mind terribly if-"

Tom sighed harshly, "Spit it out."

"If you could hold me," Lara asked. She blushed deeply.

Awkwardly, Tom placed an arm around Lara and held her until morning came. He woke up to see Lara resting her head upon his shoulder, smiling he kissed her upon the forehead and crawled out of bed without waking her up.

He walked towards the door; opening it to switch the door sign to Do Not Disturb. He did not want anyone to come in here and take Lara away from him.

"Tom," Lara tiredly croaked.

"Yes," Tom said.

Lara sat up in bed, "I'm sorry about last night."

"Why?"

"I was just scared. I was alone and you were gone for so long."

"Was I?"

"Yes," Lara blushed, "I felt vulnerable and scared. So, naturally I would have started to see things that weren't there."

"I'll try not to be away for so long."

"You always say that and then you're gone even longer." Lara pouted. "What do you do when you're away?"

"I learn new things," said Tom vaguely.

"You must take me with."

"No," Tom shook his head.

"Why not?"

Tom did not want to say that it was too dangerous. If he said that, Lara would probably throw a fit. "First of all," Tom's jaw squared, "you're a lady and shouldn't be going out at night. Secondly, you're too innocent and guileless to be learning the things that I am."

"You don't seem the same anymore," Lara stated.

"How?"

"I don't quite know," Lara shrugged. "It's as though you're blurry or something … like I'm looking at you through a pair of smudged eyeglasses or when you look at your reflection through rippled water. Your eyes … they're tired," Lara confessed, "bloodshot even. No, they're worse than bloodshot."

Tom's features hardened, "Does this make you love me less?"

What had Lara done to him? She had made him feel so exposed that he even believed extreme measures needed to be taken to persuade her to stay.

"No," she paused, "I'm only worried about you."

Tom sighed inwardly for had Lara said yes to his question. He would have done something drastic. However, Tom still wondered who the man was and why he had shown a keen interest in Lara. The wolves had been Tom's doing, for, he had been afraid that Lara would have left him after seeing him put the staff on the Imperius Curse and thought what better than having a pack of wolves to prevent her from leaving.

"Who is this man?" Tom thought to himself. "And what does he want from me?"

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