The Accomplice

September 24, 1944

Rosemary's body was filled with adrenaline as she raced up to the last place in the Hogwarts castle that Tom would attempt to look for her: the Owlery. In her traumatized state, her fear of heights no longer seemed to matter and the way she traversed the stairs that led up to it could almost be described as careless. She reached the top platform and was hit instantly with the putrid smell of the room's feathered inhabitants.

Rose clutched her nose and hurried over to the nearest open window, just behind a large statue of an eagle owl. Her lungs filled with fresh air and instant relief, though it did little to calm her nerves. She retrieved her wand from her robes and pointed it at the floor right behind the statue.

"Scourgify."

The bird droppings and hay vanished to reveal the stone beneath it and Rosemary lowered herself to the ground. She lit a cigarette and leaned back against the statue, sucking in the longest drag she possibly could. Only after finishing the entire smoke, when she was at least somewhat satisfied that it had calmed her, did she allow herself to look internally at her spiraling thoughts.

The image of Tom cruelly standing above Warren with that sick, cold-blooded smile on his face was burned into her mind. It sent chills down her spine.

Where was the person she thought she knew - the one she had professed her love to hundreds of times, the one who had held her at night for months?

It was unnerving to realize that she didn't have an answer for this question. The truth was that she didn't know who he was any longer. The man she knew had a temper, but would have had the sense not to take things that far. Like, Cruciatus Curse far. Had he gone completely mental? What if someone had seen? He'd be expelled at best...

She might have wondered how he had found out about Warren's confession, but there was no question in her mind: it had to have been Legilimency. There was no way in hell Warren would have told him…In fact, Warren would apparently have to be only slightly short of suicidal to tell him.

Rosemary clenched her eyes shut, as she realized that it was essentially her fault that this had happened to him. If she could have just acted normal around Tom, he never would have been worried and he wouldn't have had any reason to look at her thoughts. Then again, maybe he would have anyway; maybe he looked at them all the time without her knowledge. He was clearly skilled enough at it that she would have no way of knowing. Of course, as if this thought wasn't terrifying enough, the fact that he was freely throwing around Unforgivable Curses certainly was.

She heard the shuffle of footsteps coming up the stairs and she hugged her knees close to her chest, hoping that she was sufficiently hidden behind the statue. There was a part of her that worried it was Tom, but really she was just in no mood to talk to anyone regardless.

"Stop fidgeting," a familiar voice hissed. "Professors never come up here at this hour. And the Prefects have moved their rounds onto the lower floors by now."

Rose couldn't help but be at least a bit thankful for this intriguing distraction to her crisis.

"I'm fine," a not-so-familiar voice snapped in return.

There was an uncomfortable silence. "Well, are you buying or not? Cash up front only."

"I've got it right here."

The familiar voice that she still couldn't quite place over the hoots of the owls seemed satisfied. "Well, what can I do you for?"

"Well," the other voice began hesitantly, "I was hoping to try whatever it was that you sold to Dolohov last weekend."

"Well, well, well, look who's not messing around…."

"I should have enough there – Dolohov said it was fifteen galleons."

"That was last week. Maybe the price has gone up due to demand."

"Don't be a wanker. There are other people I can get it from, you know."

"No, not this special little blend. I've got connections, you see. Anyway, I'm just fucking with you. It's fifteen galleons."

A trace of smoke from her cigarette scratched her lungs and she fought the urge to cough, attempting to stay silent while their apparent drug deal took place. After her run-in with Tom that evening, she thought it would be best to avoid being discovered. For all she knew, they could be just as willing to throw a Cruciatus to keep her quiet.

"Now, as you may already know, you can add this to any beverage, though we suggest something with a stronger flavor because the potion sort of tastes like dung alone. One drop if you want to feel relaxed, two if you want to feel exceptionally clever, and three if you want to have –"

Unfortunately, she couldn't ignore the itch any longer and had to cede to the small bit of relief that a cough could provide. Rose did so as quietly as she possibly could, but froze when she realized that their talking had paused. For one frightening second, the entire owlery fell deathly quiet; even the owls had seemed to sense the tension and had stopped making noise momentarily.

" – the best damn time of your life," the voice finally finished. "Now get out of here." She heard one pair of footsteps move toward the staircase. "And hide the bottle."

The footsteps scurried outside and down the stairs.

"Stupid little shit," the dealer said under his breath. Now that the noise from the owls had died down considerably, she was almost certain that she knew exactly who the voice belonged to.

She heard his footsteps growing closer and closer to the statue, until he finally jumped around it, pointing his wand down at her.

"Rose?" his tone held pure confusion.

"Markus," she greeted him.

"What are you doing up here? I thought you hated this place…"

She nodded. "I do...It's a bit of a long story. I suppose there's no need to ask what you're doing up here." Rosemary eyed him in disapproval.

Markus smirked. "Well, everyone has to earn a living somehow. Not all of us have perfect scores on our N.E.W.T.s." She wrinkled her nose as he took a seat on the floor across from her, without even bothering to clean it up beforehand.

"Your vault at Gringotts doesn't have you covered for the next hundred years?"

He put his hands up, as though she had caught him in some crime (a rather ironic gesture, considering the fact that she just did) and said, "Alright, alright. I confess; I do it for the discounts."

She sighed and gave him another disapproving look, but it wasn't as though any of this came as much of a surprise; Markus had been experimenting with (mostly) illegal substances for years. Nor could she judge him too harshly – she had tried at least two or three of them while they were dating.

"What is this new product, exactly?" she asked, though she wasn't sure that she should dare to.

He pulled out a small vial from his pocket and its color surprised her: it was very light purple, almost a lavender shade. "It's so new it doesn't even have a name. You heard me telling Mulciber about it, of course; it's a damn good drug."

"Does it actually work?" she raised an eyebrow. "Can buyers actually control which effect they have based on the number of drops they take?" She would be quite impressed if this was true; it would be evidence of extremely skilled potion-making.

"Well, it's still being perfected," Avery admitted. "But yes, it works…usually."

"And when it doesn't?"

"It makes you sick," he shrugged. "But not even sick enough to visit the Infirmary. Besides that, there aren't really any other side effects…well, as far as we know, at least."

Rosemary considered it for a moment. The concept was quite impressive.

"Want to try it? I'll give you my discount…"

She sighed and lit another cigarette. "Maybe another time." Another time, when its safety was actually somewhat proven.

"So, what's this long story?"

Oh. Right. Tom.

Rose had been so distracted by her fascination that she had momentarily forgotten the traumatic ordeal. "I don't really want to talk about it…"

"Well obviously it has to do with Riddle. Otherwise, you'd be with him right now."

She elected not to answer, hugging her knees tightly against her chest instead.

"You know you can tell me, Rose."

But she didn't know that. What if Tom lost his shit again if/when he found out that Avery knew, too? What if telling him would just put another innocent person in danger?

"Don't make me tell Faye that something's wrong with you…you know she'll be hounding you for the next three weeks until you tell her what it is…."

His argument was a compelling one. She supposed she could at least try to talk about it without revealing any real details…

"He's just not who I thought he was." She looked at him sadly and gave a small shrug.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you know that Tom has a bit of a temper…?"

Markus snorted. "A bit. Right."

She narrowed her eyes at his snarky tone, but continued on: "Have you ever seen him act…violently?"

Markus' eyes widened and his face grew serious immediately. "Did he hurt you?" he demanded. It was exceptionally unnerving to realize how apparently believable this prospect was.

And that was a 'yes' to her question, apparently.

"No." She shook her head quickly. "Someone else."

"Three guesses who." Markus rolled his eyes. "We all tried to tell you that it was an awful plan, you know…"

How could he be so nonchalant about it? Perhaps he thought that Tom had merely used a jinx or two. "It was an Unforgivable…" she hissed.

Even this seemed not to faze him to any significant degree. "Well, is Cramer going to say anything?"

"No. I don't know. I don't think so."

"So, what's the problem?"

Rosemary stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "Really? You don't see a problem with that? You would just go and use the Cruciatus on anyone that pissed you off?"

Markus shook his head. "I wouldn't, personally…but Riddle? You know he sort of lives by his own set of rules. That's one of the things I like most about him, really."

She considered this baffling statement; for the most part, she had never taken Tom as one to blatantly defy the rules (especially those that were universal amongst magical folk). Find a loophole, sure, but blatantly defy? The instances besides this one that she could name were rare.

Apparently, her face continued to look just as blank as it did before because Markus sat back against the wall and said: "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what? That I'm dating someone who is completely mental enough to use that nasty spell at all; even worse: on school grounds?"

But the more she thought about it, the more it all began to make sense: the way his friends all walked on eggshells around him, their apparent relief whenever he seemed to be in a good mood, and that eerie feeling that there was always something she was missing.

Markus looked down on his feet. "I always thought you knew. I thought you were okay with it; that maybe you liked the fact that he would never be afraid to protect you."

Rosemary began to cry, overwhelmed by this influx of disturbing information and Markus moved over to her and placed an arm around her shoulder. "What am I supposed to do?" she choked out between sobs.

"I guess you just have to decide whether or not you can accept it. I doubt he's going to change anytime soon…"

She nodded. He was right, of course. Not that it made things any easier. If she loved Tom, it would have been simple – just as it had always been simple to choose him over her parents. But could she love this other part of him that, until now, she didn't even know existed? If she couldn't, would loving the rest of him be enough?

This time, he had gone too far.

Tom paced back and forth across his dormitory, muttering swears under his breath. How could he be so stupid, so impulsive? It was completely irrational – attacking Cramer in the middle of a semi-frequently traveled corridor...Then again, it wasn't as though he would have actually regretted it if Rosemary hadn't seen him.

Warren, meanwhile, sat in a peaceful-looking trance in the corner of Tom's room, still under the Imperius Curse Tom had used to get him back there. It was rather disappointing to know that Cramer would never remember Tom's retribution after that night, but it was clearly a necessary step now that Rosemary knew.

If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't have worried at all – in fact, he had killed people and not worried at all. But she was a wild card in his life (and one of the only ones, in fact); he had no idea how she would react after the initial shock wore off. Not only did he have to erase Cramer's memory of that evening, he also had to mentally prepare himself to possibly erase hers, as well. Such was the reason for his distress.

He already felt quite guilty for using Legilimency on her – he couldn't even imagine how he could do something to her like erase her memory. How much could he toy with her mind before it finally caught up to him?

No, he told himself. However she reacted, it had to stop with Warren. He would just have to deal with the consequences of her discovering his darker side. Sure, she might be angry with him for weeks, if not months, but that would certainly be less troublesome than guilt.

Tom's pulse quickened as he heard a slight knock at the door. He dove across the room and opened the door just an inch or so to prevent whoever it was from seeing Warren. A wave of relief rushed over him when he saw Rosemary standing there and he almost felt like smiling, but didn't. The fact that she had come back to him in such a short time was the best outcome he could have possibly imagined; while he didn't doubt that she was angry with him, he figured that this surely meant that she understood precisely why he had done it. Now there would be no need to track her down; no need to explain himself.

Perhaps, he thought happily, the entire ordeal was for the best. Perhaps it meant that he could show more of himself to her without fear of her unacceptance.

He stood aside to allow her in and she silently moved passed him, almost cautiously. Tom tensed and held his breath as her eyes flickered over Warren, unsure of how she might react (especially when she realized that he was using yet another Unforgivable Curse), but he quietly exhaled as she moved to stand in the corner of the room that was opposite Cramer.

So far so good.

Her eyes were glued to the Ravenclaw as Tom drew his wand once more and locked the door. "I'll be finished in just a few moments," he told her gently, bending his neck slightly to kiss the side of her face.

Rose lit a cigarette as he pointed his wand at Cramer's forehead and said, "Obliviate."

Tom glanced at his watch and two and a half seconds later, the precise amount of time that was required to erase the last hour's memory, he lifted the spell. In the morning, of course, he would check Warren's mind to ensure that all traces of their encounter were eliminated. Tom turned to Rose and said, "There. All finished," but her eyes were still fixed instead upon Warren. If she hadn't seemed so traumatized he might have been jealous.

He was about to send the other wizard on his way with the use of the Imperius Curse when Rosemary suddenly stood and started across the room toward them. Tom regarded her with curiosity when she fell to her knees and pulled out her wand, pressing the tip lightly against the side of Warren's face. It was then that he realized she was healing his bruises and scrapes that Tom had caused by throwing him into the wall.

When she finished his face, she began unbuttoning his shirt to scan his arms and back for any further damage. He scowled as he watched her fingers press against his bare skin to move him, but quickly reminded himself that he was being irrational.

After all, she had come back to him – even after seeing his temper at its worst. To him, that alone meant everything and the additional fact that she was helping him conceal the incident made him love her more than he ever believed to be possible.

Rosemary stepped away from him after re-buttoning his shirt, apparently content, and continued to stare down at him as she asked, "Did anyone else see?"

"No," he said with certainty.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

With another flick of his wand, Tom sent Warren walking back to his own dormitory, satisfied that they had done more than enough to ensure he would not remember anything peculiar about that night. Finally, they were alone.

Tom strode over and stood in front of Rosemary, who had moved to sit against the wall, offering her his hand to help her up. She eyed it blankly.

Right. He had sort of forgotten the very likely possibility that she was upset with him.

He joined her on the floor, wondering what he might say to her. Where should he even begin? Should he bring up his guilt about using Legilimency on her? Perhaps not – he supposed that there was a chance that she didn't even suspect him. In truth, he had no way of knowing exactly how it was she was feeling or what she wanted him to say. Was she relieved, knowing that Warren wouldn't report him? Well, that much was obvious, at least – she had been the one helping him ensure that such a thing wouldn't happen, after all. Perhaps she was worried that Tom's memory charm would fail and that Warren would remember? If that was the case, it needn't trouble her – clearly he was quite proficient in memory charms if he had successfully performed such an advanced one on himself.

It was clear that he needed to say something, though. From the way she continued to stare down at her knees instead of looking him in the eye made it apparent that she wasn't going to be the one to start the conversation.

"I'm sorry you saw that," he said quietly. "I just – I don't know. I lost my temper…" As these words came out of his mouth, he realized how disgusting they were to his own ears. Even now, when he knew that she needed to hear it, he hated making excuses for himself. Besides, he didn't even know if there was a reason to; he was just about entirely convinced that she understood his reasons.

Rosemary said nothing in response. So he, desperate for something more to say, repeated: "I'm sorry. Really."

And he was; sorry that she had seen him, at least.

Tom noticed that she still hadn't looked him in the eye, even once, which was truly beginning to bother him. He raised his finger to her chin to turn her face toward his and was taken aback when she flinched at his touch. A terrible feeling welled up inside of him: she was afraid. But why? Surely she knew better than to think he would ever hurt her. He loved her – couldn't she see that? Weren't the lengths he had gone to that night evidence enough of that?

But apparently she still had her doubts – not only doubts of his love, but doubts of her safety. Overcome with guilt, he suddenly threw his arms around her and pulled her close against his chest. He swore to himself to show her, somehow, that he could never hurt her the way he could hurt anyone else. He couldn't bear the thought of her worrying for her own well-being around him.

She began shaking slightly and he pulled her off of him, almost immediately noticing the tears streaming down her face. It felt like it had been such a long time since he had last seen her cry and it had never been like this. She looked broken and vulnerable, a sight that was both terrifying and quite painful for him.

"What is it?" he asked her in the most comforting voice he could manage given his panicking state.

She said nothing and began crying even harder instead.

"Speak with me, Rosemary." His voice sounded almost pleading this time. He didn't understand – wasn't everything fine? Or was she truly that afraid of him?

As though she had been struck, she stopped crying immediately and finally looked at him right in the eye. When she spoke, her tone could only be described as reproachful at best: "Why don't you just read my mind?" She twisted her body out of his grasp and scooted away from him by several inches.

He swallowed, as his mouth had suddenly gone dry. "I'm sorry," he said instantly. "It was a mistake…and it won't happen again." That, at least, was a promise he could make. He had certainly learned his lesson that evening.

She gave him an incredulous look, so he continued: "It won't. You have to trust me."

"And how exactly am I to do that?" she demanded. "I don't even know who you are!"

It sort of hurt to hear, but hadn't that been the truth all along? She didn't even know the half of the things he had done. Even so, he decided it was best to make himself sound as innocent as he possibly could: "What do you mean?"

"I never thought…I just…" Rose shook her head as she trailed off, looking as though she was about to cry again. After a few seconds' pause, she seemed to pull herself together enough to say: "I never thought you were capable of doing something so awful…"

Tom scowled. Apparently she hadn't understood him as much as he had hoped for. But really, he knew he shouldn't have been disappointed: after all, he was the only person he knew of that found no issue with using an Unforgivable Curse here and there. It wasn't her fault that his moral compass was just slightly tilted off axis.

He moved closer to her and ran his hand down her leg and over her knee; at least she didn't flinch at his touch this time around. Then he reached up and pushed her hair back, out of her face, and said gently, "This was just one mistake, Rose. Nothing's changed…and nothing will change. It's already in the past, don't you see?"

As though she hadn't heard him, she carefully removed his hand from her face and placed it in his lap. "I'm sorry, Tom." She looked down at knees once again.

"For what?" What did she possibly have to be sorry for? Did she somehow suddenly feel guilty for being upset with him?

Her stunning, deep blue eyes suddenly locked with his. Nothing in the world could prepare him for what he heard come out of her mouth next: "We're through."

"So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness." – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wow. So, Part I is complete. Finally! Only six more to go...

Seriously, though, I am still so in love with writing this story and there is now no doubt in my mind that I'll see it through to completion; I've invested WAY too much time and thought into it to abandon it. I do hope you'll continue to join me on that wild ride.(:

Speaking of, thank you SO MUCH to all of you that have followed/favorited/reviewed over the course of these first fifty chapters. I never dreamt that I would attain such a following on this. You keep me humble.(:

While we're on the topic, I owe an additional thanks to Mrs. TomMarvoloRiddle, x2leoj, CharlotteBlackwood, and bleachlover202 for reviewing Chapter 49.(:

AND NOW ON TO THE CONTEST WINNERS!

Confession time. I only ended up drawing two names for one of the prizes. I realized that it was a bit of a mistake to only promise three prizes when I have had SO MANY wonderful, regular reviewers.

So instead, if you've left at least five reviews on my story, YOU WIN A FREE SPOILER! I could list all the names, but you know who you are.(: So go ahead and PM me/leave a review with your question - it can be about anything at all that I've written, but keep in mind that I haven't planned out every single detail of the entire story...so I might not have an answer if it's too far in the future. If that's the case, you can ask a different one!

BUT! There is one special prize that I drew two names for. These users will receive a sneak peek at the first chapter of Part II (I'll PM you the chapter about a week before I'm set to publish it): Mrs. TomMarvoloRiddle and CharlotteBlackwood! Congrats!

Okay, wow. Sorry this is so long already. Last thing, I promise.

I am planning on taking off some time before I begin posting Part II. I'll be heading back to grad school soon, and I'd like to get adjusted before I commit to posting really regularly again. So here's a look at my plan over the next several weeks:

1. Minor revisions on chapters (word choice, etc.) and changing chapter titles. Seriously, what on earth was I thinking when I decided to name every chapter "The *fill in the blank*"?! I can't even fathom 300 more chapters of that.

2. Planning Part II out, chapter by chapter. I know the main events that will happen, but it's nice to have everything laid out before I begin writing.

3. New story summary with a peek at a line or two from Part II - look for this in a couple of weeks!

4. Writing the first five or so chapters, just in case I get super busy in school and can't write for a while. I like having some chapters saved up so I don't leave you hanging and can still put out an update!

4. Publishing Part II! I will be posting new chapters beginning October 1st at the very latest. Since I'll be a lot busier, my plan is to update once a week rather than every three/four days. I think this is fair and consider this to be more frequent than many other stories on this site.(:

I hope to see you again for Part II! Please follow if you haven't already so you know when I'm updating again. Enjoy these last few days of summer.(: