Disclaimer: JK owns it. Well, most of it.
A/N: Another Sunday rolls by! We're getting closer and closer to the 100th review!! I'm excited! :D I have a day off tomorrow, because of family day, so ALL is good!! Here's your chapter!
NightCrawlerFW: Haha, yeah I think that nightcrawler is another name for Kurt. I love him too! You reviewed twice. This makes you awesome. Gan is scary but a good bad guy for this fic so I'm happy that you see that! Thanks for reviewing buddy!
SlytherinLuver: You'll just have to see about Rahim… I know! I hate Rudolphus! Gawd! Thanks for reviewing! :P
Dryad121: You're the bees knees!! I like you like! (Okay, I realize that was terrible grammar, but it's a quote from one of my favourite shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer!) I will keep writing, I promise! I have a new story in the works too, but I don't know if I'll post it!
Morgan-mourning: I'm happy you like it! The name Morgan is actually really good, and I'll try to incorporate it into the plot! It reminds me of Morgana, you know, like with Merlin! It's great! :D
Read on!
Love always, iamthewalrus93
"These are my chambers." Gan said, thoroughly depressed. He stalked over to the couch and plopped down onto it. I glanced at Ginny and she had a sad, but sappy smile on her face. She joined him on the couch and took his hand. I gritted my teeth together to see him touching my property, but shook my head at my stupidity the next moment. Ginny wasn't my property, and it had been a long time since I had thought of her as such. This place was getting to me already. I sat slowly in an armchair across from them and steepled my fingers before my face.
"This must be hard for you," Ginny began. "Gan, you can talk to us about how you're feeling." He looked away from her.
"Sorry for saying this, but I don't want to have a deep heartfelt talk with you right now," he growled. She bit her lip, but continued.
"You don't have to feel guilty, Gan." He sat up ramrod straight at these words.
"Guilty?" he demanded, glaring at her. "You think I feel guilty because my father caught some unknown disease?"
"I don't know." She murmured.
"No, you don't." He agreed. "You have no bloody idea." She said nothing, just looked at her hands which were pressed together in her lap now.
"Easy, mate." I said warningly. I didn't like him going off on her, and I didn't like her not going off on him for talking to her like that.
"And you," he sneered. "Do you think I'm feeling guilty too? I'm not some prat who murders my own family."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" I demanded, sitting forward. He sat forward too, so our faces were a mere two feet apart.
"Don't think the entire wizarding world didn't hear about you killing your uncle." He said. I saw Ginny twitch sporadically. I think she was nervous about me flying off the handle. She had good reason to. With the state I was in, I would have pinned him to the wall in an instant.
"My uncle," I said in a deadly voice, "was one of the men who ruined my mother's life." Gan rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, along with every other man she met."
"You have no idea what my mother went through."
"Oh yeah, and you do? She died giving birth to you! You never even met the woman."
"I know about her life. Marvolo Gaunt mistreated her all throughout her life."
"Boo hoo, Riddle has family problems. Oh, and that's another thing. What about your father? For all I know you're killing mine too, out of spite!" Ginny gasped and was on her feet in an instant between me, my upraised wand, and Gan.
"How dare you say that to me." I said in a voice so low you could barely hear it.
"Don't do this, Love." Ginny said to me quietly. "You don't want to hurt him."
"Don't I?" I snarled, glaring down at her, hating her for not taking my side on this. "Actually, I'm pretty sure I do want to hurt him right now, very badly." She placed a hand on my chest and gave a little shove.
"Go to our room." She said to me in a dark voice. I stared at her in disbelief. "Go." She repeated. I exhaled angrily and turned on my heel before leaving the room. A few footsteps past the door however, I heard it. "Don't you dare mention anythingabout Tom's family ever again!" She shrieked at him. He began to say something, but she cut him off. "No. No more excuses. I'm sorry that Rahim is dieing, but you cannot act like this! I won't stand for it! If you dishonor Merope Gaunt's name again, you'll have me to answer to, do you understand me?" There was silence for another moment before she repeated, "Do you understand me?" in an angrier voice. There was a mumbled reply and she stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
I stared at her for a beat.
She looked back at me.
"Did you hear that?" she asked. I nodded once. "Good." She said, and walked the other way.
GGGGGGGGGG
A few nights later, we were sound asleep when someone banged on our door. I got up to answer it, and Tom sat up silently. Gan was on the other side, his eyes bloodshot and puffy. My stomach clenched.
"Oh no…" I breathed. "Rahim isn't…"
"He's alive," He choked out. "But the doctors say he doesn't have long left. I just…I didn't want to be alone." A sob ripped through his chest. His eyes focused on Tom. "He's asking for you, mate. I think it's ending." Tom was by my side in a flash, the light from the hall danced over his skin where it hit it and his stone mask was in place. I had the sudden urge to reach out to him, to show him that I was there, and I loved him, but I didn't want to be groping my husband infront of Gan. Tom leaned against the doorway.
"You want me to come with you?" he repeated.
"Yes." Gan said to the floor. Tom eyed him for a second.
"I'll be there in a few minutes." Gan nodded and stumbled off. I closed the door quietly as Tom went to the closet. I sat on the edge of the bed and curled my knees up under me. We had been having this silent companionship since we got here. India seemed stifiling, but not because of the heat. It didn't have the same light, airy quality of the manor that I had begun to think of as home, and I found I missed the british climate, not to mention breathing room that seemed to come with it. Tom emerged minutes later fully dressed and walked over to the door without saying anything to me.
"Is that it?" I asked. He looked over his shoulder at me.
"What do you mean?" he asked quietly. My eyes were brimming with tears and I swiped at them angrily.
"You're just going to go and watch Rahim die without another word to me?" He turned back to the door and banged his head on it lightly.
"What do you want me to say to you." I got up and walked over to him. My heart twisted and pressed in painfully.
"Tell me that you love me," I whispered, and my voice caught. I swallowed hard, and continued. "Tell me that I'll never have to go through this with you, or Adelé or anyone I love. I'm not used to this," I admitted and laughed at myself through the tears. "This will sound weird, but I'm not used to people just dieing on me. There's usually a battle or something, or else they're there one second, and gone the next. I'm not used to this drawn out death scene that never seems to end. Is this better? Would you rather die in a sick bed or not see it coming? God, I don't know what I'd do if my parents-"
"Shh," he cut me off and took me in his arms. He planted a kiss on the top of my head and allowed me to sob into his shoulder. After a minute of this he lifted my tear stained face and said firmly, "This is not going to happen to either one of us. We aren't going to die yet, because you have too much more to offer to the world, and I just haven't wreaked enough havoc on it yet." I smiled sadly up at him. "Don't worry about death, love. I'm quite sure that if you were about to go the sheer force of me refusing to let you go would keep you anchored to this earth."
"Do you promise?" I sniffled.
"Always," he vowed, and sealed it with a kiss.
TTTTTTTTTT
We sat by Rahim's bedside through the night and into the late morning. Suddenly the old man gasped and spazmed harshly. The medi wizards rushed to his sides and held him down as the seizure passed.
"It's time," He said afterwards, and Gan let out a little moan. "Tom, allow me to speak to my son alone for a moment, and then I must talk to you."
"Of course," I said, and left the room. I leaned against the wall and a lone tear trickled down my cheek for the man currently at death's door. I remembered last july when he had retaught me everything I needed to know to continue working in the dark arts.
We had been battling a group of renegade do-gooders on the coast of Indonesia when I threw myself infront of a spell to save him. I woke up in hospital a few days later and he said to me,
"You're one of the bravest boys I know."
"I'm not a boy," I said blearily. "I've been around longer than you have." He chuckled lightly.
"Your…well…your past self was so different then you are now. He was brilliant of course, and deadly with a wand, but you have power that you remembered over the years.
"You still have the wit, and the charm that you and he had when you were 17 many years ago. My son could learn much from you." I thought of the handsome young man who couldn't have been much older than me that I had only met once or twice at Rahim's home.
"Gannon seems like a capable young man," I said modestly.
"Capable, he is, but I don't know if he's able to control people as well as you are. He's never been able to hide his true emotions as you have, and he would never have saved me as you did. I'm afraid that he doesn't support me as whole heartedly as you do. Don't get me wrong, he believes in what we do, I'm worried that when it comes down to when he must save me, he won't be brave enough to jump infront of the spell."
Gan brought me out of my thoughts as he came out of the room, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. I thought I heard a crack come from the room and I glanced toward the door before looking back at him questioningly.
"It's over." He said darkly. "He's dead."
"Oh, Damn," I whispered, and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, mate." He rubbed his eyes.
"We need to talk," he said.
"Then let's talk," I agreed.
"In a more private place." He snapped. I nodded meekly, seeing as he had just yelled at me. He led me into the meal hall and closed the door behind us.
Quick as a flash he spun around and pointed his wand at me. My knees buckled and a chair slid forward to catch me. Invisible ropes twined around me and held fast. I strained with all my might to throw them off me, even blasted at them as hard as I could with my magic, but it seemed that magic even stronger than mine was keeping them in place. I slumped forward after minutes of this, my power drained. I glared up at Gan and he smirked back, all traces of remorse gone.
CLIFFIE??? I'm so evil…review for another chapter! :D Don't forget the 100th reviewer gets a special treat!
~iamthewalrus93~