I anxiously rushed through the Ravenclaw common room, I was almost late for my date with Tom. I rushed through and was about to exit the common room, when I notched Sarah, sobbing in the corner. TO any passerby, she would have looked like she was fine. But I could see her silent tears.
I sighed, and looked at my watch. She hadn't even seen me yet. I sighed, deciding to stop. Tom would understand. I walked over to her, and as I got closer I could see her puffy eyes
"Sarah, girl, what's wrong?" I whispered.
"Oh Emily," she sobbed into my shoulder. "I caught Blake with another girl!"
Anger quickly replaced my anxiety for missing my date with Tom. "That asshole!" I said, gritting my teeth.
"I caught him in bed with Felicia Hefters! That slutty Sytherin girl!" Sarah gasped out as sobs racked her body.
"I just really though he was 'the one' you know? Of course you know, you have Tom, and Tom's the perfect boyfriend. He would never do anything to hurt you" She cried.
I rubbed her back, but felt slight pride for picking such an amazing guy. She was right, Tom would never hurt me in any way.
"I just thought, because your relationship with a Sytherin was so amazing, then mine would be too! But I was wrong," she said quietly. "Maybe I should find myself a Ravenclaw."
"Exactly, he was too dumb for you anyway Sarah," I consoled. For the next half hour, she cried until her tears dried up, and then she asked if I wanted to go down to the kitchens for a dessert.
"Um…I can't. I was actually supposed to meet Tom half an hour ago, and I'm so late." I explained.
Sarah's eyes widened, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea. Go! Don't keep Tom waiting" she gave me a suggestive wink, a sign that she was feeling much better.
"Don't worry Sarah, he'll understand" I laughed, waving her goodbye.
XxX
I hurried down to the library, to where Tom and I where we were supposed to be meeting, but he was nowhere to be seen. I looked around for a minute, confused. I wasn't that late.
'I hope he hasn't gone looking for me' I thought worriedly.
I slipped into the restricted section, knowing this was the only place in the library he could be. As I slipped closer to the back, I heard shuffling, and a quill scratching. I sighed and relief, and stepped out, and I saw Tom sitting on a couch, surrounded by books.
My smile froze on my face as I saw his glare. He was upset. In a second he was standing in front of me. I took a step back, not liking how his intimating 6'2 towered over my small 5'3 frame.
"where have you been?" he growled.
"B-Blake cheated Sarah" I blurted out. Tom raised an eyebrow, and I stumbled over my words as I tried to explain.
"Blake cheated, and Sarah was so upset! So I stopped and talked to her." I explained.
"And that took you a whole hour?" He demanded.
"Look Tom I know we had a date, but Sarah's my best friend, you know that. I couldn't let her just sob in the corner." I said, getting a bit annoyed with his anger.
Tom smiled a bit, and I relaxed. I took his hand and led him to the couch. We sat down and I grabbed a book, opening it. Tom's arm was snuggled into my waist and for a few moments everything was peaceful.
Tom pulled away from me, "It just, I waited for you" he said calmly.
I huffed a bit, because I thought we'd been okay, he'd smiled at me, and had snuggled with me. I got carless.
"Oh come on, don't be such I baby" I said playfully.
I didn't see his hand swing towards me. My cheek stung, and immediately my head swung back and tears sprang into my eyes.
"Oh my God" I choked out.
"Never fucking talk to me like that!" Tom hissed, gripping my wrist painfully. I tried to pull away but he refused to let go.
"You're hurting me!" I cried.
"Good" he hissed.
I closed my eyes, trying to get the tears out of my eyes, but they wouldn't stop.
"Oh my God" I whispered.
Tom let go of my wrist, and got up. He examined the bookshelves for a moment, before coming back to the couch, and grabbing my waist, pulling me toward him.
My hand was on my cheek, and I cradled it carefully. My face felt like it was on fire, and it hurt to blink. Like my eye was swelled shut. I tried to think of anything else, but all I could think about was school.
We stayed in position for a long time, while he was relaxed, I was frozen, trying not to move. I didn't want to upset him anymore.
Tom pulled away from me, and I cringed away from him, afraid he would hit me again, but instead he took my face in his hands very gently and kissed me.
His hand was on the back of my neck, pushing us together, so we were as close as we could get. I knew it was wrong, but I fell into the kiss.
He pulled away and looked me in the eyes. "I love you, okay?" he said, but he stated it as a question, as though he was asking me.
I looked into his eyes, they were brown. Usually brown is a very dull eye color, but Tom's eyes were like melted caramel and melted chocolate.
I could push him away, go back to my dorm and tell Sarah that he hit me. She would make me go to Dumbledore, and then this would be over.
But I loved Tom, and however pathetic that sounded, I still wanted to be with him.
"Okay" I whispered. He smiled at me, and took my hand.
I gasped as I awoke. Tom was still inside of me and i carefully removed myself. It had just been a dream, or really, a memory.
'And my harsh reality' I thought bitterly, as i felf my face.
I very carefully got out of the bed and slipped on my bathrobe. I stepped inside the bathroom and locked it. I clutched the long bathrobe to my body before letting it slide to the floor.
I winced as I took in my form. I had brusies on my body from the sex, but that wasn't what concerned me, it was my face. The bruise was blue and black and my eye was swelled. My nose looked a bit purple as well. I guess he had slapped me a bit harder than i thought.
I hugged myself, letting myself remember the night before.
Wormtail had approached Harry, who had scrambled to find his feet, to support his own weight before the ropes were untied. Wormtail raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad of material gagging Harry, and then, with one swipe, cut through the bonds tying Harry to the gravestone.
There was a split second, perhaps, where Harry looked like he might have considered running for it, but his injured leg shook under him as he stood on the overgrown grave, as the Death Eaters closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around him and Tom, so that the gaps where the missing Death Eaters should have stood were filled. Wormtail walked out of the circle to the place where the boy's body lay and returned with Harry's wand, which he thrust roughly into Harry's hand without looking at him. Then Wormtail resumed his place in the circle of watching Death Eaters.
"You have been taught how to duel. Harry Potter?" said Tom softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.
"We bow to each other. Harry," said Tom, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. "Come, the niceties must be observed. . . . Dumbledore would like you to show manners. . . . Bow to death, Harry. ..."
The Death Eaters were laughing again. Tom's lipless mouth was smiling. Harry did not bow
"I said, bow," Tom said, raising his wand - and Harry's spine curved as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever.
"Very good," said Tom softly, and as he raised his wand the pressure bearing down upon Harry lifted too. "And now you face me, like a man . . . straight-backed and proud, the way your father died. . . .
"And now - we duel."
Tom raised his wand, and before Harry could do anything to defend himself, before he could even move, he had been hit again by the Cruciatus Curse. He was screaming more loudly -And then it stopped. Harry rolled over and scrambled to his feet; he was shaking as uncontrollably as Wormtail had done when his hand had been cut off; he staggered sideways into the wall of watching Death Eaters, and they pushed him away, back toward Tom.
"A little break," said Tom, the slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement, "a little pause . . . That hurt, didn't it. Harry? You don't want me to do that again, do you?"
Harry didn't answer. .
"I asked you whether you want me to do that again," said Tom softly. "Answer me!
Imperial"
"I WON'T!"
And these words burst from Harry's mouth; they echoed through the graveyard.
"You won't?" said Tom quietly, and the Death Eaters were not laughing now. "You won't say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die. . . .Perhaps another little dose of pain?"
Tom raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready, he flung himself sideways onto the ground; he rolled behind the marble headstone of Tom's father.
"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry," said Tom's soft, cold voice, as the Death Eaters laughed. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry?
Come out, Harry . . . come out and play, then ... it will be quick ... it might even be painless ... I would not know... I have never died. . . ."
Before Tom could stick his snakelike face around the headstone. Harry stood up ... he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing Tom
Tom was ready. As Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Tom cried, "Avada Kedavra!"
A jet of green light issued from Tom's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry's - they met in midair.
The Death Eaters were shouting; they were asking Tom for instructions; they were closing in, reforming the circle around Harry and Tom, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands -The golden thread connecting Harry and Tom splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Harry and Tom, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Death Eaters circled like jackals, their cries strangely muffled now. . . .
"Do nothing!" Tom shrieked to the Death Eaters. "Do nothing unless I command you!" Tom shouted to the Death Eaters.
And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. ... It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Tom. It was a sound I recognized, though I had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song.
Tom looked astonished, almost fearful.
One of the beads of light was quivering, inches from the tip of Tom's wand.
At once, Toms wand began to emit echoing screams of pain . . . then - Tom's red eyes widened with shock - a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished . . . the ghost of the hand he had made Wormtail. . . more shouts of pain . . . and then something much larger began to blossom from Tom wand tip, a great, grayish something, that looked as though it were made of the solidest, densest smoke. ... It was a head . . . now a chest and arms . . . the torso of the dead boy.
"Hold on. Harry," it said.
Its voice was distant and echoing. Harry looked at Voldemort ... his wide red eyes were still shocked ... he had no more expected this than Harry had . . . and, very dimly.
I heard the frightened yells of the Death Eaters, prowling around the edges of the golden dome. .. But I could only gaze in amazement.
More screams of pain from the wand . . . and then something else emerged from its tip ... the dense shadow of a second head, quickly followed by arms and torso ... The old man I had killed was now pushing himself out of the end of the wand just as the boy had done . . . and his ghost, or his shadow, or whatever it was, fell next to the boy's, and surveyed Harry and Tom, and the golden web, and the connected wands, with mild surprise, leaning on his walking stick. . . .
"He was a real wizard, then?" the old man said, his eyes on Tom. "Killed me, that one did. . . . You fight him, boy. . . ."
I surge of guilt rushed through me.
But already, yet another head was emerging ... and this head, gray as a smoky statue, was a woman's. . . .
The shadow of Bertha Jorkins surveyed the battle before her with wide eyes.
"Don't let go, now!" she cried, and her voice echoed like the boys as though from very far away. "Don't let him get you, Harry - don't let go!"
She and the other two shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, while the Death Eaters flitted around the outside of it... and Tom's dead victims whispered as they circled the duelers, whispered words of encouragement to Harry, and hissed words I couldn't hear to Tom.
And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemorts wand . . . The smoky shadow of a tall man with untidy hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at Harry . . . and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his father.
"Your mother's coming . . ." he said quietly. "She wants to see you ... it will be all right.. . hold on. . . ."
And she came. . . first her head, then her body... a young woman with long hair, the smoky, shadowy form of Lily Potter blossomed from the end of Tom's wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like her husband. She walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and she spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Tom, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear. . ..
"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments . . . but we will give you time. . . you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts ... do you understand, Harry?"
"Yes," Harry gasped, fighting now to keep a hold on his wand, which was slipping and sliding beneath his fingers.
"Harry . . ." whispered the figure of the boy, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents, ..."
"I will," said Harry, his face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand.
"Do it now," whispered harry 'father's voice, "be ready to run . . . do it now. ..."
"NOW!" Harry yelled. I rushed towards the cup, but I was too late.
"Stun him!" he heard Voldemort scream.
Ten feet from the boy, Harry dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. Gripping his wand more tightly, he dashed out from behind the angel -"
Impedimenta!" he bellowed, pointing his wand wildly over his shoulder at the Death Eaters running at him.
From a muffled yell, he thought he had stopped at least one of them, but there was no time to stop and look; he jumped over the cup and dived as he heard more wand blasts behind him; more jets of light flew over his head as he fell, stretching out his hand to grab the boy's arm...
"Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine!" shrieked Tom. Harry's hand had closed on the boy's wrist; one tombstone stood between him and Tom, but the boy was too heavy to carry, and the cup was out of reach -Tom's red eyes flamed in the darkness.
I watched as Tom's lips grew into a smirk, he knew he had Harry trapped.
"Accio!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Cup. It flew into the air and soared toward him. Harry caught it by the handle – Tom screamed in furry as the dead boy and Harry got away.
We were all frozen for a second before Tom strode over to me, yanked hard on my wrist and disaperated us. We were at the Malfoy manor.
"Tom…?" I started.
"Shut it!" he hissed at me. He grabbed my arm roughly, causing me to yelp. He put his and to my mark and everyone immediately showed up.
Tom pushed me away, and faced his followers. I held my wrist, keeping the tears from falling down my face.
"My friends, Harry Potter has slipped away once again" he tsked, as if it was their fault. "This has ruined my plans, Harry potter was not supposed to be alive…"
"But no matter, we can adjust plans, the boy will be dead." He hissed. The death eaters bowed low to him, and he dismissed them. Without consulting Lucius at all, Tom dragged me to my chambers.
XxX
"Tom, you're hurting me," I winced as he dragged me to my bedroom.
He threw me into the room, and I crashed into the wall. I rubbed my head as he slammed the door. As he turned around, I could see that he was livid with anger.
I tried to reach out, to calm him. But he slapped my hand away.
Tom paced around for a couple minutes and turned to me.
"How could I let this happen?" he hissed.
"T-Tom…" I stuttered out. I flinched as I saw his hand coming towards my face. My cheek burned with such intensity tears poured out of my eyes.
"Oh Tom," I cried. I carefully put my hand on his cheek and sighed in relief as he calmed down. "Tom we haven't really been together for 11 years. Don't be this way, not tonight." I begged.
He sighed, and took me into his arms. I sighed into him, inhaling quietly. He still smelled the same as he did in school. He smelled of parchment and vanilla. With a bit of musk blended in.
"I missed you so much," he whispered into my hair. "The only time I had ever been away from you more than a day was back when you were in 7th year."
I froze a bit, remembering what he had done to me. I shuddered before pushing the memory out of my mind. I turned towards him, and he smiled at me.
He leaned down, and put his lips against mine, testing. I deepened the kiss, but he was soon in control again. We fought for dominance and ended up on the bed, with him above me.
Tom pulled off my dress, leaving me in my silk bra, and no panties.
"No panties? Naughty witch" he smirked.
"Just how you like it, my lord" I purred.
He allowed me to take off his shirt, and I was surprised to see how muscular he was. He distracted me, kissing me, while his fingers slid down my stomach and into my folds. I gasped as he plunged two fingers inside of me.
Tom smirked against my lips, and continued his finger motions until I grasped his shoulders, crying out his name as I came hard into his hand.
"Come on Tom," I gasped out. "Stop teasing me."
He removed his robes, and I smiled at the familiarity of his bulging erection. He plunged inside of me, and I cried out in surprise.
I wrapped my legs around him as he plunged in and out of me. I came, crying out his name again, and he followed me.
Without removing himself, Tom wrapped his arms around me and flipped us over, so that I was lying on his chest. I nuzzled my head into his chest and fell into s sound sleep.