The Roommate

April 6, 1945

Five students: two sixth-years, two fourth-years, and one first-year. Three boys, two girls.

All dead. And all of them muggle-born, of course.

She stood in the Infirmary with just under half of the Hogwarts staff, where the bodies had been brought temporarily until the Examiner from St. Mungo's arrived in the morning to determine each student's cause of death. It occurred to her that this was something Dippet and several of her professors were probably qualified for, but that they were far too dismayed to bring themselves to actually do such a thing. Rosemary didn't blame them; the Knights clearly hadn't executed them with something as simple as the Killing Curse, judging from the bloodied, slightly mangled state of most of the bodies.

The rest of the staff were scattered throughout the castle and attempting to contain the chaos, but those gathered in the Infirmary merely stood in a long, poignant silence. She snuck glances to her left at Tom every now and then and was disturbed – though not entirely surprised – to see that his face was just as cold and expressionless as she had anticipated.

Rosemary could understand a little bullying of mudbloods…but killing them? Tom was a killer – at least indirectly – and this was just beginning to sink in.

Headmaster Dippet finally said somberly: "We must notify the parents. And the Ministry…"

Rosemary hadn't felt the urge to cry when they discovered the bodies, mostly because she was still in the process of overcoming her initial shock, but it was this simple statement that brought tears to her eyes. What parents deserved to endure the death of a child, even if they were muggles?

A feeling of disgust and horror curdled in her stomach and she glanced at Tom again. This time, he caught her looking and gazed back at her with an expression that could only be described as pure egotism.

He was a monster. A monster she just so happened to have fallen in love with, but a monster nonetheless – she knew that now. The irony, of course, was not lost on her…The irony that she wanted to be a Healer and the one she loved was a killer. They truly were quite the pair.

"Miss Horton, why don't you check in on Ravenclaw and Gryffindor and Mr. Riddle can visit Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" Dippet requested in that same somber tone. "After you're finished, please report to Professor Dumbledore's office."

Rosemary nodded, quite relieved she and Tom hadn't gotten sent to all the houses together.

She visited Gryffindor first, knocking on each dormitory door to see how its occupants were coping with the news. Most of the Gryffindors seemed stable but disconsolate, which was rather unsurprising considering the fact that three of the five killed were from their house. It took Rosemary a far longer amount of time to comfort the small group of Gryffindor third-year girls that had discovered one of the bodies.

As she left and made her way to Ravenclaw, she wondered briefly how Hufflepuff and Slytherin were coping. Hufflepuff would surely be in a worse state than Gryffindor, which always tried to put on a brave face in tragedy. Slytherin, on the other hand, was probably throwing a party to celebrate.

Rosemary arrived at Ravenclaw and started in on the boys' dormitories first, choosing to skip over Warren's door in order to avoid a rekindling of their confrontation earlier that evening. Her next knock was answered by Brocklehurst, the scrawny boy that happened to be a Knights member.

She looked at him in the eyes, an easy feat considering he stood only about half an inch taller than her. And though she had expected him to avert his gaze in his typically, painful shyness, he didn't. He had changed – Tom had changed him. In that moment, it hit her that he had to be one of the Knights that had killed a student directly.

"How can I help you, Miss Horton?" Brocklehurst asked politely, though his voice shook a little as he did.

"I'm just checking in to make sure you're all doing alright," she said smoothly while giving Brocklehurst a subtle, criticizing look.

"We are." His voice sounded stronger, but his eyes widened slightly in response and it became obvious quite quickly that he knew that she knew of his involvement.

Rosemary looked past him into the dormitory and gave a slight nod to the two boys that were sitting on their beds reading, probably in an attempt to distract themselves from it all. Then she shifted her gaze back to Brocklehurst. "Well do try and get some sleep. The Ministry investigation will begin tomorrow morning and I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of whoever was behind this." She watched him swallow nervously before moving on to the next dormitory.

After a short while, everyone in Ravenclaw was accounted for except for Faye. She sighed as she left the common room, rather dreading the visit to Slytherin that this surely meant.

But thankfully, she ended up running into Faye on the way.

"Hi love," the blonde greeted her as if nothing of particular note had happened that evening. "Congrats on your singleness – however short-lived it may be." She winked.

She was amazed and slightly horrified by Faye's nonchalance. "Really, that's what you're thinking about?" Rosemary hissed, glancing around them in the corridor to ensure they were alone and weren't being overheard.

Faye shrugged in response and Rosemary gave her an incredulous look. "You know just as well as I do that Markus and Adam were a part of this too!"

"I was fairly shocked at first," she admitted finally. "But Adam explained it all to me and it makes perfect sense. They're only mudbloods, after all."

"Mudbloods yes, but they were also people. They were someone's children…"

Faye shook her head. "You can't think like that. That's the whole reason the Knights did it…"

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Adam told me that Tom's been preparing the Knights to take on Grindelwald. This was a test. He wants to know that he can trust them…and that they'll do the things they have to in order to win. And clearly, this was a test for you as well, judging from what he said to you. He wants to know he can trust you with anything too. In fact, he probably wants you to join them…"

Rosemary could only stare at her in disbelief, quite sure that this was the most fucked up thing she'd ever heard in her life.

'That settles it,' she thought, 'he's absolutely mental.'

"How did he expect me to be okay with this?" she whispered, mostly to herself.

"I don't know," Faye's face softened. "He should have told you about it first."

"Yes, he really fucking should have," Rosemary said angrily. "And he should know that I'm not just going to sit around idly and follow his every command like everyone else. If that's what he wants from me, he's not going to get it."

"Clearly you two need to talk this through." Rosemary was silent in response and Faye gave her a look of concern. "Please promise me you will? He needs you, Rose – you'll keep him balanced."

Rosemary wondered if this was true – if Tom actually needed her, or anyone for that matter. If he did, it didn't make sense to her that he would risk everything between them for this stunt. But then she remembered the pompous glance he had sent her in the Infirmary, as if he were so sure that everything had gone his way – including her. There hadn't really been a doubt in his mind that she would come back to him when all was said and done.

The worst part was that she knew, even in her state of intense inner conflict, that he was right: she would go back to him despite the part of her that was screaming to never speak to him again. She knew he was right, because any sense of morality she would gain by leaving him would never make up for his loss.

Rosemary felt a bit hopeless for a moment and then she felt herself growing hot in anger. She loathed him in that moment for putting her in this position, for cornering her this way. He had bullied her into accepting his plans instead of speaking to her about them. Like he would have if he saw her as an equal. And that, more than anything else, was what truly bothered her.

After all, she had already known he had a dark streak – it just so happened that he was a bit darker than she had originally thought.

If "a bit" meant several orders of magnitude, anyway.

Faye had also made a point that had never been so clear to her before: he needed her. She could balance him and pull him back from the edge if she had to. Maybe someday, she could even change him for the better.

But until then, could she stand by him? Through everything he had done and would surely do? Could she forgive him for doing all of this without telling her?

"I have to go," she told Faye, with her mind a blur.

Though thankfully, she was able to quiet her thoughts long enough for her conversation with Professor Dumbledore, which had settled remarkably quickly on the subject of Tom:

"Miss Horton, you were in my office just last week expressing some…concerns about Mr. Riddle…" Dumbledore began.

She had fully anticipated being asked about Tom and widened her eyes appropriately. "I mean, I think he's arrogant and can be a bit of an arse sometimes – pardon my tongue – but he's no killer, Sir. You don't honestly suspect him, do you?"

"For the sake of thoroughness, we must investigate every potential explanation," Dumbledore told her softly. "We owe it to the parents, wouldn't you agree?"

He looked at her with those piercing blue eyes and for a moment, she worried her shield of Occlumency wasn't quite strong enough and that he would see everything she knew. "Of course, Professor," she answered.

After a pause that made her shift uncomfortable in her seat, Dumbledore said finally, "Thank you, Miss Horton, you may go. I spoke to your father briefly before we escorted the job fair representatives from Hogwarts. He wished to see you, but thought it best to leave you to your Head Girl duties. Instead, he asked that I pass along the message that he'll be writing you soon."

Rosemary sighed. Splendid. There was no question in her mind regarding the topic of his upcoming letter.

She left Dumbledore's office and came face to face with Tom in the corridor. He gazed at her with that same, slightly arrogant expression as before and she looked away – she wasn't quite ready to look him in the eye just yet. But she had decided what she was going to do.

"Good evening, Tom," the aged wizard greeted him.

"Evening, Professor." He lowered himself into the chair that sat in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"The chaos that a few misguided students can create…It's remarkable," he began quietly. "Tragic, but remarkable."

Dumbledore gave him a long, piercing stare and Tom was thankful for the hours upon hours he had spent teaching himself Occlumency. It was so obvious that Dumbledore suspected him of everything, but without a shred of proof that would mean nothing.

Tom smiled internally, knowing that Rosemary had covered for him – that certainly meant something.

But he would play Dumbledore's little game anyway, if only for the sheer thrill of deceiving the old man yet again. Tom was so arrogant about it, in fact, that he decided to dance even closer to the edge:

"It's regrettable that the students ever had the opportunity to do such a thing. Please don't take this the wrong way, Sir," Tom said coolly, "but perhaps you aren't suitable in your role as head of security at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore smiled serenely, but Tom didn't buy his seemingly infallible composure for a moment – his allegation had gotten to the professor, and he knew it. Tom was even surer from the way Dumbledore responded:

"It's curious, isn't it," Dumbledore started. "That all of the students were muggle-born...And at least one from each house was murdered, except Slytherin."

"The anti-muggle born group must be at it again," Tom stated plainly, as if he were commenting on a turn in the weather.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Yes, they must." He said 'they' as though it just as easily could be replaced with 'you'.

Then a long silence blanketed them and the tension between the two wizards became nearly palpable. Dumbledore stared at him and Tom stared right back, never once allowing himself to drop his eyes.

"You look as though there's something you'd like to say to me," Tom said crisply as he began to grow bored.

"I was just going to say the same about you." And then there was that pensive, penetrating stare yet again. But this time, it inflamed Tom's temper.

Why was it that, even when he was positive that his thoughts were sufficiently guarded by Occlumency, Dumbledore always seemed to know? Why was he always one step ahead? Tom could fool everyone else entirely, but Dumbledore was always suspicious, always waiting for Tom to reveal his true colors yet again while never making it clear just how much he knew. And surely the professor wanted it this way, because it meant that he would always have the upper hand in some regard.

It infuriated Tom completely. So much so, in fact, that his lip began to curl and he snapped: "Do you know what, Sir? I've grown tired of your suspicious glances. If you have something to say, go right ahead," he spat. "In fact, I know exactly what you'd like to say. So go on – say it. Tell me you think that I, Head Boy, murdered five students. While you're at it, how about you explain to me how exactly I managed to be in six places at once."

Dumbledore sat back in his chair as a flicker of a smile passed rapidly over his features. "I apologize, Tom, we seem to have misunderstood each other."

'Bullshit.' He continued to smolder internally.

"While I have no doubt that you didn't kill those students, I think you might have some idea who did," Dumbledore stated plainly.

Tom shrugged and sneered back, "I don't. If I did, I would have reported it already."

"Of course."

With that, he knew that Dumbledore was back to pretending – they both were. Oh, how he wished he could call out the old fool on his potential involvement with Grindelwald and MAGI in that very moment.

Until then, Tom supposed he would have to settle for these small victories.

Rosemary arrived back at her dormitory and immediately retrieved her trusty bottle of gin from her trunk. Her hands were shaking slightly as she brought the bottle to her lips and took a long drink. It had been a long night and it was only going to get longer.

With renewed resolve, she threw open her trunk and pulled out each of her dresser drawers. She grabbed armful after armful of fabric, stuffing her clothes into the trunk. Then went her jewelry box, hair brush, perfume, all of her shoes, and her books.

When she was satisfied that she had packed up the majority of her possessions, she grabbed her wand from where it sat on top of her desk, levitated her trunk so it followed behind her, and made her way across the corridor into Tom's dormitory.

Rosemary set down her trunk at the foot of his bed and got to work once more, raiding his dresser drawers and closet. At the end of his bed, she began a pile including a carefully folded pair of trousers, a clean shirt, and a pair of underwear. She topped the pile of clothes with a pair of black socks and next to the bed she placed a pair of his shoes.

With that, she took a seat on the bed and waited.

Tom strode through the empty corridors with his hands in his pockets, humming in arrogant satisfaction. Everything had gone perfectly and the only question that remained now was Rosemary.

She would need time to digest everything, surely. And though he was impatient for her return to him, he knew he would have to be careful not to rush her. Watching her put an end to her engagement earlier that evening was enough to make him patient for a while.

Or perhaps he had made the foolish mistake of underestimating her. He felt his mouth curve into a smile when he opened the door to his dormitory and saw Rosemary sitting on his bed.

She had come back to him, now for the final time; now she was his – only his.

And nothing would ever come between them again.

But he knew immediately that something was off from the cold, deliberate way she was staring back at him. It was only then that he noticed what appeared to be a set of his clothes in a neat pile next to her on the bed and her trunk at the foot of it.

What in the world…?

He didn't have the first clue what to say to her. "You've come back," he managed, kicking himself mentally for stating the obvious.

"Yes, I have." She nodded and stood, smoothing her dress. Then she looked up into his eyes. "I'm with you now, Tom."

Despite the sudden burst of happiness upon hearing those words come out of her mouth, the tightness of her voice put him on edge. Thankfully, his infallible, confident persona rescued him and allowed him to hide his concern. "Well I'm glad," he said as he started toward her for the kiss he had so been looking forward to all week.

But then she held up her hand and gave him an icy glare, effectively stopping him in his tracks. "I should inform you that there are going to be some changes."

He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. "What sort of changes?"

"First off, this is no longer your room – it's ours."

That certainly explained her trunk at the foot of the bed, he supposed, though this assertion certainly came as a surprise anyway. "I suppose I could get used to that," he smirked as his mind flickered through the new possibilities that this would introduce – falling asleep next to her, spending lazy Sunday mornings in bed together, watching her get dressed for class…and more.

"However," she began again in that same decisive, stubborn tone while picking up his shoes and the pile of his clothes, "you aren't currently allowed in our room."

"I'm not allowed?" he asked her with an air of amused incredulity and put his hands in his pockets.

"No. You're not," she looked at him seriously and the smirk fell from his face. Rosemary strode to the door that led to the small sitting room attached to his dormitory which he rarely used, opened it, and pointed inside. "And this is where you'll be staying until I decide otherwise."

He stared at her, entirely dumbfounded. When he recovered himself somewhat, he crossed the room and moved to place his hands on her waist, but she swatted him away. "Come on, Rosemary…Don't you think this is rather…well, absurd? And unnecessary?"

"Oh, you think this is absurd and unnecessary? How dare you say that to me!" she hissed at him so coldly that he felt a chill run down his spine. "What's absurd is expecting that I wouldn't have a goddamn problem with what you've done, when you didn't even respect me enough to talk to me beforehand! Not a single bloody word!"

Once again, Tom was rendered speechless. She did have a point…he should have spoken to her about his plan first. In fact, he had wanted to. He wanted to tell her about all of his plans and to have her there at his side. And she would be, from then on. He just needed to know he could truly trust her first. But perhaps he could have found a simpler, less shockingly violent way…

He was just about to tell her all this and apologize when she added snappily, "I don't want to be just another of your followers, Tom. I want you to take my opinions into account and include me in the decisions you make…And until you prove to me that you can do that, you'll be sleeping here."

With that, she pushed him into the sitting room, threw the pile of clothes in after him, and slammed the door in his face.

He stared at the door in disbelief, feeling an odd mixture of shame and elation. Not even her fury toward him could ruin his delight that she had come back to him.

But Merlin, leave it to Rosemary to put him in his place – she truly was the only one who could manage the feat. And though it was a bit of a slap in the face, it was a rather welcome and well-deserved one. He wouldn't allow himself to make the same mistake again; she was his equal and he needed to take care and acknowledge that from then on.

"Lesson learned, I suppose," he muttered to himself as he settled in to his temporary suite.

"Until we have seen someone's darkness we don't really know who they are. Until we have forgiven someone's darkness, we don't really know what love is." – Marianne Williamson

So first off, I'd like to give a huge thank you to Oksanallex, who PM'd me with the idea to end the chapter and reunite Tom & Rose this way. I originally had something completely different planned, but this was way better.

Of course, I owe a big thank you as well to my lovely reviewers: MissVolturiKingsfan, Oksanallex, x2leoj, Mrs. WaylandOdinsonBlack, Blerb, Khaaotic, RainbowKitteh13, Mrs. ThorinOakenshield, Lady Ravanna, fowlgirl19, ChthonicMelinoe, gr8rockstarrox, marly4077, RosiePosie15, klandgraf2007, Guest6, ecl123, shivaun18, bafflewithenigmas17, annchenluischen, and eight Guest reviewers.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!(: There's big, big things coming your way next chapter, so stay tuned my friends!

So. I also have a very exciting announcement!

My dear friend and fellow HP fanfiction writer Charlotte Blackwood and I have agreed to set up a promotion system for The Dark Lord's Rose and two of her stories, Craving Comfort and Unknowns. If you like long stories, Craving Comfort is a fantastic, super long Severus/OC that begins in the marauder's era and will span all the way through the book era. Unknowns is a Sirius/OC mystery-thriller set in the first war with lots of AU elements. I definitely recommend both of these stories if you're looking for more HP fics!

Anyway, we've devised this sort of loyalty-based system. Essentially what will happen is that you get a "stamp" on your virtual stamp card every time you review any of these three stories. Sort of like at a froyo place, but better...(jk, nothing can beat froyo). Twenty stamps = a spoiler for the story of your choice, plus an entry into our quarterly prize drawings (which will take place on the solstices). The quarterly prizes are bigger things like characters being named after you, coupons for free access to original works, or a one-shot written to you by either of us! Full details to come at the time of the drawing itself. Sounds so official, I know.

Need more incentives? We'll be doing special events...like this week, if you review all three stories before Friday, April 15th at 11:59 pm PST, you'll get FOUR stamps instead of three! Catch-up reviews count too.(:

Drop Charlotte or I a PM if you have any questions! Thank you so much for your readership and dedication to our stories. :D