Heather pov
"This is important honestly Heather, and not because it's a dark gift, please tell me do you have parseltongue?" Tom's voice was sharp, something I couldn't take lightly not with him. Right now his power wasn't exploding but it would if I angered him, I could tell. He was confused but this made him even more dangerous at least for me anyway. I was alone; I was the only thing in the room that he could take his anger out on. His core is grey like mine, and according to Draco people with grey cores tend to be more angry and dangerous.
I stepped back slightly unnerved as I sensed his power grow and expand. "Yes, I've always been able to speak it…"
"When did you discover your gift Heather, please it's important." He insisted.
"I've always been able to speak it, but the time I found out was when I set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley the first time I'd gone to a zoo. Safe to say it was the last time I went to a zoo…" I finished fairly darkly. They hadn't let me out of my cupboard for months after that, almost a whole year… Social services hadn't come calling nether had the school which was odd. They barely feed me; I had to sneak out myself when they had forgotten to lock the door.
"What did they do?" His eyes narrowed, his anger started to grow. I shivered as it began swirling through the air, creating wind that whipped my locks of hair. His voice was cold and as penetrating as ice. "Heather tells me." He hissed.
"It doesn't matter…" I murmured but as soon as the words came out my mouth I regretted it; his anger began to grow further.
~Tell me! ~ He hissed.
~Please Tom it doesn't matter, it happened ages ago! ~ I begged.
~Yes it does matter Heather, matters more than you can ever realise to me now please tell me. ~ He commanded.
~They locked me inside my cupboard though I don't know for how long! I wasn't even allowed out to go to school or anything, they barely fed me. I had to sneak out and steel food most of the time. ~ I couldn't stop the words being blurted out; I looked up to see a smirk on Tom Marvolo Riddle's face. "Why the hell are you smirking?" I demanded feeling slightly sick and bewildered; why the hell had I obeyed him? I'm no death eater; I'm not bound to him so why did I obey him and answer?
"You just replied that whole conversation in parseltongue, and when I ordered you to do something in that language you obeyed." He smirked.
My eyes widened. "I replied in parseltongue?" I asked faintly.
"Yes you did sweat Heather." I stepped back alarmed.
"Don't call me that!" I hissed.
He laughed softly. "You kind of are though Heather, you are kind of sweet." Was Tom Marvolo Riddle flirting with me? Ok this weird, seeing as…. Look just ignore it Heather, at least for now because does he look like he wants to kill you? No, Voldermort does Tom doesn't think about them like that to differ them. Tom is not yet Voldermort is he. For all I know he goes insane or is possessed or something! Yet then again I can already see him cracking before my eyes. Something is happening to him, and I can hardly guess what because I don't know him. Yes I know Voldermort, and understand how his mind works but I don't understand Tom's.
"I'm not sweet." I insisted.
He blinked, like a shadow had crossed over his eyes. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me Heather honestly."
"It's fine." I smiled though some part of me seemed disappointed but it's hardly something to blame Tom for. I think it might be the horcrux… His soul is not whole which makes his emotions start to run all over the place, well at least that's what I tell myself.
"I can get quite possessive…" He murmured. "…Well at least I tend to get that way about people I care about… I know I barely know you Heather, I'm really sorry if I'm acting like some sort of creep." He apologised.
"Don't worry about it." I smiled. "I get protective over people I care about. I don't like to see those I care about get hurt. I guess that's why people say I've got a hero complex, but I don't. I'm just rather quite empathic I guess you could say. I can judge people's emotions well because I'm no ordinary teenager. My imagination and what I've been through makes me so. The pain…the fear…the panic I can feel it too."
His eyes widened. "I feel so sorry for you, it must be a curse."
"It is but it doesn't bother me as much as it used too. Without it many would have died…" I smiled weakly.
"You've risked your life so much for others though; think of how many times you could have died Heather. If you'd died then…" He trailed off.
"If I'd died then you would have never known me Tom, I'd just be another face that you've beaten through your numerous years. Tom you would have never cared about me. You would be glad, because your future self would want me dead Tom. I am not afraid of death, and for whatever reason your future self needs me dead Tom. I do not fear death, far from it Tom. Everything I've been through, every time I've risked my own life I know I would have lived a half-life of what ifs." I smiled softly.
"Heather, why do you keep risking your life?" He asked as softly as I had spoken.
"Because I'm protective remember?" I laughed.
"You can't keep risking your life and hope to live." He replied.
I never do, I keep risking my life and lie hoping to die. "I never do Tom, whenever I do risk my life I know that I could very well die. I want to change the world Tom Riddle, change it for the better. You saw how quickly my friends are willing to go from friend to foe, think what would happen I died as a martyr?" I murmured. "That is why I don't care…"
"…because people would gradually open their eyes." He finished with a slight glint in his eye. "You want to prove to the world that they were wrong, you want them to finally open their hearts and minds rather than judge people on mere words of a stranger." He smiled softly.
"Death eats away at your soul, no matter who the person was. You began to question why they died, was it your fault and things as such and they will discover that they are completely wrong. Can you think of a better way to die? You can ether die unremembered by most or make your death count for something. Most die and are forgotten in a few generations in all but name but if you die with significance you'll be remembered." I smiled softly.
"I was right when I said you were selfless." He smiled softly but slightly sad. He knew I spoke the truth and that's what I believed.
"Oh Tom, no one is truly selfless…" I murmured weakly, and I spoke the words knowing they were true. "The difference with me is that I'm very empathic. I don't desire the same things to happen to me as I would not wish the pain and half-life that my time has bought me. My life I something that none would ever want not if they knew the truth. No one knows me Tom Marvolo Riddle, no one understand me."
"Then let me understand Heather, please…" He murmured.
"I cannot tell you Tom, I can never tell a soul." I gazed up into his azure orbs.
"I could always order you to answer in parseltongue." He smirked.
"We both know you wouldn't dare to Tom. You couldn't bare the look of horror it would bring. Trust me when I say no one would ever want to know what I meant by that. No one wouldn't regret forcing me to tell you the bitter truths about my life Tom. My lie is nothing but a thread of pain and suffering and none would ever wish to know. Sometimes it's better to remain ignorant Tom and this is one of those times." I replied bitterly, the truth is almost painful, well with this it is. Now I know, that despite what the future will bring I Heather Rosa Evelyn Potter, have fallen for the young dark lord and I cannot control it.
"Your right…" He murmured. "I wouldn't dare to hurt you like that Eva Rosa." He smiled softly.
"Eva Rosa?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
He snickered. "It sounds more graceful than Heather don't you think?" He grinned.
"How did you know my middle names?" I asked softly, how did he know when I had just thought them? Maybe it was a co-incidence. Though with Tom Marvolo I would be a fool to think just any old thing was a co-incidence but if he hadn't known the other things I doubt he's been reading my mind.
He bite his lip. "Well Eva, Bella told me. She found it out when she heard some pureblood curse you."
I couldn't help but laugh at this; that certainly seems realistic. "Yes most Slytherins tend to hate my guts Tom Riddle; you seem to be the only exception." I laughed.
"Well I can hardly help but be curious when we are so similar." He smiled softly. "Anyway they dislike you for a reason you know, it technically is your fault. If you hadn't mocked them so much in the past, sticking up for your friends then they wouldn't be so suspicious of you. You are one of the only few half-bloods who have challenged them and consistently win." He snickered. "From what I hear you've bested them in so many imaginative ways too." He smiled.
"Too true, but can you really blame me?" I grinned.
"Not really but it makes you so different though Eva." He smiled. "Not many, even Gryffindors have the courage to deliberately taunt them into doing something more than words."
"Well if we start battling then if they start it then it is hardly me to blame for defending myself." I smirk; technically for a Gryffindor I have an unusual sadistic streak though I guess I've gained that from the Dursleys. The few times I made them pay I certainly got a buzz for it even if I was heavily punished for it.
"Your smarter than most give you credit for." He grinned at me.
"Too true but can you really blame them Tom? After all most Gryffindors tend to be a little thin on intelligence if you ignore some of us. The ones who tend to stick by me through thick and thin tend to be intelligent…" I end bitterly. "Do you think they will forgive me?" I asked sadly.
"Of course Eva, why wouldn't they?" He asked softly.
"Hermione was Ron's girlfriend…" I murmured. "She seems to follow the headmaster but always used to stick by me…" I finished sadly. "She's really intelligent, really clever and brilliant at spell work. I hope she forgives me, because she didn't deserve what I said at the table. Then again nether did Neville or Ginny and it's like I betrayed them because Draco Malfoy supported me…and if they weren't there then people are going to twist the truth." I murmured consumed by grief.
"Why especially Draco Malfoy?" He asked softly
"Well Draco despises them; Mione is a muggleborn, Neville lacks confidence and Ginny's family are labelled blood traitor. He certainly gave them a hard time out of nothing… That's why I fought so hard." I murmured.
"I think you're wrong about the reasons…." I looked up.
"What?" I asked shocked.
"Well what happened when you first met him?" He asked softly.
"Well Draco insulted Ron, and then said some wizards are better than others and he could help there and…" I trailed off.
Tom sighed softly. "He was trying to impress you Eve." He murmured. "When he found out that you wanted to be friends with them rather than him he still wanted to have some part of your life. He was doing it to get back at you; if you hadn't of said no then they would have been fine. The same thing happened to Cissa, Bella's sister, with Lucius."
"So it's my entire fault…" I murmured…
"Eve you said yourself time cannot be changed or meddled with, do not dwell on what could have been." He smiled softly. "Besides you and Draco are friends now so he won't touch them Eva. Look, I'm sure they'll understand that you didn't mean to hurt them…." He insisted.
"They won't though will them?" I murmured.
"Try…telling them the truth. Trust me Eva, they'll forgive you." He tried to comfort me but I still couldn't smile.
"Your still calling me Eva?" I asked weakly.
"Of course, I prefer it to calling you Heather." He grinned softly.
"Tom what's happening to us?" I asked softly looking up into his elegant eyes.
"I honestly have no idea Eva…" He murmured. "…but it seems that it's happening to both of us." He smiled softly. "Neither of us can seem to fight it at all."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Do you think we should stop fighting it?" He asked. His voice made my heart race beat and flutter within my chest.
I grinned. "I hardly think we have a choice." I murmured to him.
"I think your right." He smiled. "When did fate ever seem to give us a choice in things? Nothing we do we can succeed in fighting. Look at earlier; it had been building since the moment I arrived here. It seems fate keeps pushing things in our life; we could be ghosts for all fate cares. Like ghosts we cannot do a thing, nothing that does any good to the workings around us…"
"…but unlike ghosts we are no mere shadows on this earth yet, for our future seems to impact everything around us…." I whispered bitterly, but then again if nothing we do does any good then we might as well accept our tragic fate…
An: How was this chapter? I hope you liked it I'm not used to writing things like this. Do you think I got this right? Did the characters seem realistic? This scene has been approaching for ages but did I write it right? Hopefully you liked it, but please review! As you can see I have had very little reviews so I'm unsure what you're thinking about this story. Is it good, bad, ugly? Please your feedback is always welcome! In the next chapter there is going to be some interaction between Heather with Neville, Hermione and Ginny. Hope you liked this chapter and please review!