Opposing Optimism

March 2, 1945

Though the days were getting longer, the sun was already beginning to set when they started into the Forbidden Forest. It was even darker when they had entered the cover of the dense wood, the air still misty from the morning's rainfall. Warren held her hand as they walked together and played the part of a dutiful boyfriend by helping her over fallen trees and guiding her away from puddles.

Rosemary could hear the distant sounds of creatures in the forest, which continued to grow louder and more frequent the deeper they went. After hearing a piercing screech that sounded particularly close, Warren turned to her abruptly and said, "Don't worry – I'm almost certain that was just a bat."

She rolled her eyes when he turned his back to her once more. His nervous tone indicated that he was the one that needed reassurance, not her. Rosemary's grandfather had taught her not to fear the forest when she was quite young; as long as one respected each of its flora and fauna inhabitants, there was little to be alarmed by.

Besides, they were already an hour into their excursion and had yet to see a single animal – much less the elusive Rhayma. Rosemary attributed much of this to Warren's lumbering footsteps and the frequent, merciless twig-snapping that came with them, but held her tongue. It wasn't as though she had actually expected to find a Rhayma anyway. She was along for the fresh air more than anything and it was more than worth it: the smell of the trees, the coolness of the mist…it was heavenly. Nor did she mind Warren's company, especially given the requirement for quietness. It made the usual silence that often fell between them far less noticeable.

Rosemary knew the forest reasonably well (all the major landmarks, at least). From where they were, she could probably find her favorite place in the forest, the waterfall. But she didn't suggest it. It was a place that had been so special to her as a child, but it had taken on a new meaning to her entirely when she had taken Tom to see it just over a year prior. The mere thought of taking Warren to it made her feel ill; she couldn't just take anyone to her favorite place…she didn't even love him. Not even a little, regardless of the beautiful sketches he had gifted her or his sweetness in bringing her to the forest.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and put a finger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet. She followed his gaze and saw a doe and her tiny fawn drinking from a nearby stream. A smile spread across her lips at the sight of the baby. Warren took her hand and began to slowly lead her closer, only to trip over a sizable rock seconds later.

The doe and fawn spooked, of course, and she felt an immediate spark of irritation at Warren. It faded, however, when he brushed himself off and gave her an apologetic look. "I swear…I'm useless when I'm not on a broomstick."

Rosemary had no idea how to respond except to give him a pitying smile.

Warren's face brightened immediately. "I love your smile," he told her. "Actually, I think I love just about everything about you."

Certainly not everything – if he had any clue about the sort of person she really was, she doubted very much that he would have anything to do with her.

Warren pushed her gently against the tree behind her and placed his lips on hers. His hands slipped under her shirt and she let him touch her, primarily out of guilt. Wasn't indulging him a bit the least she could do? After all, not even twelve hours earlier, she had been in Tom's arms and they had done far more than she had Warren would surely do in the forest.

"We should head back," she told him when the feeling of his hands and lips on her began to make her too guilty to bear.

"You're right, it is getting rather dark," Warren nodded. He looked around them, hesitated, and then began walking in the direction opposite of Hogwarts. Clearly, he had no idea where they were.

"It's this way." She gestured down the opposite path. "I think," she added, to spare him the embarrassment.

It was one of those unfortunate dates that Tom had to allow Dumbledore to accompany him to training to avoid arousing suspicion. He couldn't just use the Vanishing Cabinet every time, after all.

They traveled in complete silence as they walked outside of the Hogwarts gates and Apparated to London, meeting Jennings and Beaumont directly at the training center and forgoing the usual stop at The Leaky Cauldron. The silence was pleasant because of the absolute repulsion he felt every time Dumbledore opened his mouth, but it was impossible to enjoy it completely. He had to be careful to keep his thoughts guarded at all times, which was really quite exhausting.

Tom was shocked at how empty the training facility was when they arrived. Typically each room was occupied, but only the four of them and another team's trainer and competitor appeared to be present. There wasn't even an attendant at the front desk to check them in. Although he didn't want to think about it, he couldn't help but wonder if threatening Raoul to keep them in the Tournament had all been for nothing. Was this a sign that it would really be cancelled?

As usual, Raoul greeted Dumbledore like an old friend he hadn't seen for years. Not even a month before, this would have made his blood boil, but knowing what he did now made him find Raoul's typical schmoozing much less irritating.

Though he certainly wished he knew more. He remained at a bit of a loss about where to begin in terms of learning more information about Dumbledore, but he supposed trailing him would be a good start. For this purpose, he recently enlisted several of the Knights: Adam Lestrange, Abraxas Malfoy, Eric Rosier, and Jason Mulciber. He didn't tell them the real reason, of course - his excuse was that he needed to ensure that the old fool hadn't caught on to them and stayed out of their way during their upcoming attacks on the mudbloods.

Jennings wasted no time in jumping into Tom's training for the evening. They worked through several drills – defensive, then offensive, then defensive again. Carl was an excellent trainer who could come up with something that could even challenge a duelist as great as Tom, but Tom was having a difficult time staying focused on the trainer's drills. Instead, he was straining to hear Dumbledore and Raoul chatting on the sidelines, but he was too far to catch anything besides meaningless snippets.

It didn't take long for Jennings to take notice. "Focus, Riddle," he growled, tossing Tom his usual surly glare.

Eventually, Tom gave up attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation, dialing his attention back to his hour-long session instead. He could always corner Raoul into telling his everything they had spoken about later.

As they were preparing to leave, however, Dumbledore suddenly said, "If you'll pardon my intrusion, Raoul, I am curious as to why you have elected to stay in the Tournament during such perilous times."

Beaumont didn't skip a beat before responding. "I suppose you could say that I am an ardent optimist." Obviously, the real reason that Raoul stayed in the Tournament had nothing at all to do with optimism, but his belief that Grindelwald, Dumbledore, and MAGI all had something to do with each other certainly did.

An optimist. Tom shuddered internally at the word, which he had truly grown to loathe. Optimism carried the insinuation of 'luck' and 'chance' – two concepts that he was entirely repelled by. Although he had gained considerable control over many facets of his life, there were still so many unknowns: Grindelwald, the Tournament, and countless others…Regardless of his planning, everything could slip away in a manner of seconds. He loathed this.

These thoughts were still in the forefront of his mind as he returned to his dormitory that evening. He perked up a bit, however, upon noticing the thin strip of light under Rosemary's door spilling into the dark corridor. He raised his hand to knock, but paused, suddenly realizing his full exhaustion after spending the evening in Dumbledore's presence and being forced to employ such a long bout of Occlumency. He supposed she could use a break anyway – they had been going at it quite consistently in the last couple of days. Besides, there was always tomorrow. He smirked to himself and lowered his hand, retreating to his room for the night.

This development with Rosemary was an accomplishment he was quite proud of. She was wrapped around his finger more than ever and had no trouble giving into him now. He was quite certain that he had made his point after their first Occlumency lesson and that surely there would be no further misunderstandings between them. He was in complete control of her. Though with this thought came a far less satisfying other:

He was in control of her. At least for now.

"It is not life that's complicated, it's the struggle to guide and control life." ― F. Scott Fitzgerald

"You missed a great time last night, you know," Faye said suddenly as she glanced up from her collection of photographs of various potential wedding venues that were scattered across her bed. "I haven't seen Markus that fucked up in ages."

Rosemary smiled. Markus was considered by many in the Slytherin house to be the wildest partier, though he had lost a bit of his edge when he had begun dating Becca. She, unlike Rosemary, had actually made some attempts to tame him, though this had only been marginally successful…after all, he was still a drug dealer (and occasional user). "Well, it was his birthday. I suppose he's entitled to have a nice time."

"A bit too nice of a time, some might argue." When Rosemary tossed her friend a quizzical look, she added, "He and Orion broke up."

"What?"

This certainly explained his apparent relapse into his old ways…

"Apparently she was trying to find him because she thought he had gotten ill, but she ended up walking in on him groping Talitha Greengrass."

Rosemary winced. "Oh, that's awful!"

The blonde shrugged nonchalantly. "Things run their course. They had been fighting for weeks, you know. And there's no reason to pretend to be upset…now we won't have to socialize with Orion any longer."

She gave Faye an expression of pure shock. "I thought you were genuinely friends with her."

"Not really. I only really put up with her because Markus is Adam's best mate. Don't act so appalled – it's not as though you ever liked her either. She's an annoying twit."

While Rose also doubted she would take it upon herself to maintain her marginal friendship with Becca, she still felt rather awful for her. Not only because Faye was planning to abandon her, but because she had truly cared for Markus and he had just thrown that away. Come to think of it, their situation was not entirely unlike her relationship with Warren…

"Anyway, now that Orion is out of the picture, I really need my best friend back. Won't you come to some of the Slytherin parties again?"

"I don't think that's a very good idea. Tom –"

Faye snorted a laugh. "I can guarantee that Tom would not mind it if you were there. You could even get some flirting in without worrying about Warren catching you…"

Rose glared at her. "Tom and I aren't flirting. In fact, we have absolutely nothing to do with each other."

"Yes, I'm sure – nothing at all." Faye's voice dripped sarcasm. "Especially not a few weeks ago, when you got a bit distracted while working on Slughorn's potion project together."

"It was one time. And a mistake," she lied.

Faye gave her a suspicious look, but eventually abandoned it and released a long sigh. "Look, Rose, I'm happy if you're happy. If Warren truly does that for you, then so be it."

Rosemary forced herself to smile. It hurt to lie to Faye, but it was infinitely better than telling her the horrible truth – what she had done to Warren and the twisted arrangement she now found herself in with Tom. Slipping up and sleeping with Tom once was one thing, but what she had entwined herself with was a whole new level of sin.

She was blatantly aware of how terribly wrong all of this was, of course, but she couldn't help the fact that she was more attracted to him than ever after he had been so commanding with her. As frightening as his sheer power could be, it was also undeniably sexy. At this point, they were having sex even more frequently than they had when they were dating. In addition to their exploits on Wednesday night after their Occlumency lesson, Tom had spent the night on Thursday and they went at it yet again Friday morning before class…and Rosemary had a feeling that she might be seeing him that evening as well.

Though truthfully, her guilt on the matter overall was beginning to fade. It wasn't like she was actually hurting anyone directly, per se. And she had finally accepted that Warren would never be enough for her – he was just too…boring. She liked the way that Tom put her on edge.

She had come to the conclusion that if she were going to stay with Warren, she would continue to need a distraction like Tom to prevent herself from going completely loony. And maybe that wasn't the worst thing in the world, as long as Warren never found out about it. Perhaps her affair with Tom would even continue far into the future…

But this wouldn't happen. She knew that this was impractical and unsustainable, however. Tom would not continue to waste his time on someone he could never truly possess – she saw that, now. He just didn't realize it yet. But she was now determined to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Will you at least consider coming next time? I really don't want to be forced into socializing with the Slytherin girls...and Adam spends half his time trying to impress Tom."

It seemed risky. What if her sudden reappearance at a Slytherin party started a new round of gossip about her? What would she tell Warren? Of course, her presence didn't necessarily mean she was still involved with Tom, but wouldn't Warren be at least a little suspicious? On the other hand, however, she was undeniably fascinated in this new, party-friendly Tom that she had heard so much about over the last couple of months through Faye. And perhaps more importantly, she really wanted to know whether or not he was still messing around with other girls.

"I don't know…" she hesitated.

Faye's voice suddenly grew irritatingly whiny: "Come on, Rose, please?! I promise I won't meddle and attempt to push you into Tom's arms all night."

Faye looked at her hopefully while Rosemary pondered the request. She knew that she either had to give in somewhat or listen to Faye's continued pestering, so she finally answered, "Okay, okay…I'll think about it."

"Good," Faye smiled in satisfaction. "Now, let's get to work and narrow down this set of venues first."

"This set?" Rosemary asked incredulously, eyeing the nearly fifty options that Faye had already laid out to choose from.

"Yes. After this, there are five more sets. I've divided them by their strongest attribute: seating capacity, general aesthetics, a premier location…"

What was even the point of having a wedding planner if she was going through all this trouble herself? How could Faye keep all of the details straight? After all, this was just the venue…there were also the guest list, catering, and a million other tiny decisions to consider.

Was this what it would be like to plan her wedding?

Yes, of course it would, especially given her mother's constant fussing. Rosemary's head began to throb just thinking about it.

With the thoughts of weddings still spinning around in her head as she made her way back to her dormitory after her morning with Faye, she was rather relieved when Tom's door suddenly opened and he beckoned her inside. There was nothing like a nice romp with him to take her mind off the future.

They were undressed in minutes, tossing about beneath his blankets and kissing furiously, pausing for only a few seconds at a time to gasp for air. In these moments she found herself forgetting everything associated with the reality of her life; all she knew was that Tom wanted her and oh Merlin did she want him too. She couldn't help but feel inexplicably happy at the fact that they seemed unable to get enough of each other as of late.

A knock at Tom's door pulled them abruptly from the current moment. "Are you expecting someone?" she whispered into his ear.

There was no need for speculation, however. After a second round of knocking, they heard, "Tom – it's Horace. Do you have a moment?"

Oh, the joys of being Head Girl and Boy. Professors could (and often did) call on them whenever they pleased for a number of reasons ranging from running trivial errands throughout the castle to checking on a house to dealing with emergency situations

He jumped out of bed and began to dress. "Yes, I'll be right there!"

Tom gathered Rosemary's clothing from the floor and threw it all in her direction as she hurriedly got out of bed and dashed into the lavatory attached to his room. Rosemary heard his door creak open and she began to dress quietly.

"Good afternoon, Sir," she heard Tom greet him with his infallibly smooth voice. "How can I help you?"

It was then that she realized her knickers were nowhere to be found. An exceptionally mortifying thought flashed through her mind immediately: had Slughorn spotted them beside Tom's bed on the floor where she had last seen them? While there was nothing to suggest that they were hers and Tom would have far more of a reason to be mortified than she did, simply knowing that Slughorn had seen them would automatically disqualify them from future use.

"Have you seen Miss Horton this afternoon? I had hoped to speak with her after she finished her rounds with Miss Scout, but according to Scout, she never reported. Nor did she appear to be in her dormitory…"

Shit. She thought she had been forgetting something. Well, besides her knickers.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her," Tom answered plainly.

"Ah, well. The reason I ask is that I was hoping to begin my investigation into the illicit potion this evening, as we discussed at our meeting earlier in the week. Would you still be willing to help?"

"Of course, Sir," Tom said.

"Excellent. Well, come by my office after dinner, then, and do invite Miss Horton along if you, er, happen to see her."

What was that odd tone at the end of the Potion Master's sentence? Did he know she was there?

"I will, Professor."

Rosemary heard Slughorn leave and she was almost through buttoning her blouse when Tom opened the door to the lavatory and smirked at her. "Skipping rounds now, are we?"

She pushed past him and scanned his dormitory for her missing undergarment.

"Looking for these?" He smirked at her and pulled the lacy black cloth out of his front pocket.

"Did Slughorn –"

"No."

She snatched them from his outstretched hand, wholly relieved that Slughorn hadn't seen them. Thought it wasn't like it would have mattered anyway, apparently; judging by his suspicious, half-amused tone, Slughorn had a fairly good idea that she and Tom were still seeing each other.

But in this moment, that was the least of her concerns. That evening, she would be expected to help him deduce the origin of her illicit potion. She was terrified, but she supposed that this was also an opportunity to gain the upper hand on the situation. At least she would know the moment that he found something. In this situation, it was surely better to have more information about what he knew than to know nothing at all.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her amusedly.

"I'm going to take a bath, go to dinner, and then report to Slughorn's office. I'll see you later," she told him briskly on the way to the door, half-expecting the lock to click into place in front of her and for Tom to insist they finish what they started. When these things didn't happen, she paused at his door and turned to him just long enough to say, "We can resume…another time."

She was thankful that he let her go without argument. Rose knew she had to mentally prepare herself for dealing with whatever it was that Slughorn might deduce as well as the meeting that was sure to occur within the next day or two with Dippet regarding her absence during rounds.

An eerie feeling of intuition told her that things were about to become much more complicated.

Thank you to my lovely reviewers, as always: New Suit Blue Tie, Oksanallex, Alice Helena, EchoSerenade, Mrs. WaylandOdinsonBlack, Blerb, RosiePosie15, CharlotteBlackwood, Lady Ravanna, marly4077, and eight Guest users!

So, I've arrived at the point in the quarter where I think I'll have to drop things down to one chapter a week instead of every 4-5 days. I spend approx. 10-15 hours writing per chapter, which can be pretty difficult to balance with papers/projects/other commitments. On the bright side, it's only temporary.(: Thanks so much for your continued patience and readership!