Sweet Vengeance: Take Two

April 16, 1945

Rosemary was rather shocked at how quickly things had normalized between Tom and her in the days that followed the Knights meeting. In some respects, everything felt quite similar to the way it had in the beginning when they had first gotten together – well, as long as she didn't let her mind dwell on certain recent events for too long, anyway.

The same seemed to apply to her friendship with Faye; the more she pushed the guilt of what happened to Jasper to the back of her mind, the less she noticed it. And, although this habit was rather troubling at first, it eventually became a momentous relief – not to mention a near necessity to get through the day. Rosemary often found herself wondering what Tom did to manage the guilt of the things he had done…or if he even felt any guilt at all.

She hoped that he was simply good at hiding it.

And she supposed hiding it was more important now than ever for him. The Ministry had returned to Hogwarts on Monday to resume the investigation of the mudblood deaths, following the postponement that had occurred to handle the ECB fiasco. Despite this, it seemed as though things were looking up for Tom. In all the shock and pandemonium regarding Grindelwald and ECB once it was leaked to The Prophet, any parents that had been concerned with the murders were sufficiently distracted. Plus, as the muggle parents had no real way of contacting the school and demanding a thorough investigation, the Ministry could continue to drag their heels on it.

Although she would never dare to bring up any of this with him, Rosemary was sure that Tom was delighted by the way the situation had played out. Indeed, it seemed that he and his friends had literally gotten away with murder…and judging from the added confidence in his smirk and stride as of late, he felt unstoppable for it.

Was it twisted that she found this exaggeration of his usual demeanor oddly charming?

"Good afternoon, Miss Horton," he greeted her as he strode toward her in the empty corridor where they had agreed to switch off for rounds.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Riddle. Anything of note during your rounds?"

"Not particularly – a few points from Gryffindor here and there –"

Rosemary grinned; his bias in taking away House points from his least favorite house had become rather amusing.

" –and, no surprise, the Ministry is still bumbling around on the second floor." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, after your rounds, I was hoping you might meet me in the study."

The study, also known as her former dormitory that they had transformed over the weekend, had become their new favorite spot. In order to create more space in his dormitory that they were now coexisting within, they moved his desk across the hall to join hers, combined their collection of books, and brought in a couch and set of chairs from the tiny sitting rooms that adjoined each of their dormitories. Rosemary loved it, as it was obviously far more private than their study room in the library, which allowed them to engage in other activities whenever one of them felt like taking a break from their reading.

"There is something I would like to, erm, show you," Tom continued.

Rosemary blushed slightly and cracked a small, mischievous smile at what she interpreted as an innuendo. "This morning wasn't enough for you?"

He smirked and stepped closer to her, cornering her against the wall. "That isn't quite what I meant." She felt his fingers slide up the side of her thigh. "Though I am certainly not opposed to the suggestion."

"Tom," she scolded him with a laugh as she tried to push him away. "What if someone sees? What if my father finds out?"

"Let him," he said in a deep, sensual voice before leaning in once more to gently bite her lip.

Her instinct was to push him away again, but everyone in the school already seemed to know they were back together anyway; there were far too many turned heads and whispering when she strode past her fellow students in the hall to think otherwise. And Tom did say he would handle things if her parents got in the way…whatever that was supposed to mean.

Tom stole another kiss from her in an attempt to satisfy the inexplicably strong craving he had felt all morning. This sensation was nothing new: the last few days had been filled with the same sort of urgency to see her (and, more frequently than not, have his hands on her) as much as he possibly could. It was a terrible distraction from all of the planning he still needed to do for the excursion with the Knights that weekend. But as much as he complained about it internally, Tom knew deep down that he rather liked it.

After Jasper and the Knights meeting, Tom was struck with the reality that he was falling for her all over again even faster than he had initially. He was so determined that they would be together that he almost laughed in her face for suggesting that her father might get in the way once more, especially now that they seemed to be on (or at least approaching) the same page and that Warren Cramer was out of the picture.

Speaking of…

"Well, isn't that sweet…A slag and a wanker. Quite the pair." Tom turned from Rosemary to see Cramer approaching them, sporting red cheeks and bloodshot eyes. These were the same symptoms he had seen on many of his fellow Slytherins due to their incessant partying, particularly as of late. He supposed it wasn't that surprising, considering the fact that classes were cancelled for a second week in a row to accommodate the Ministry's buffoonery – what else was everyone supposed to do to pass the time?

"Watch your tongue, Cramer." Tom told him with a warning look, even though he had already crossed the line considerably by Tom's standards.

Warren ignored him and continued, snarling at Rosemary: "I was just thinking that maybe I should tell your father about how the two of you are out snogging openly around Hogwarts. Would you like that, Rosemary? Don't you think he deserves to know the truth: that his precious daughter is fucking around with this scum?" Warren tossed a glance in his direction and Tom was sure in that moment that he was either drunk or high – what fool would dare to say those things to him otherwise?

Tom clenched his hands into fists at his sides and willed himself to contain his temper. This situation was beginning to look far too close to the one a few months prior, which Tom certainly wouldn't mind seeing again…but he didn't want to throw away all of the progress he had made with Rosemary in the last few days, either. Yes – he should stand back and let Rose decide which course of action would be best to take.

"Warren, I know you're upset…and I'm sorry, but…" Rosemary stepped forward, as though to console him.

Oh fucking hell. No. He was not going to stand there and listen to that.

"No she isn't," he interrupted. She glared at him, but he continued anyway, "She is not sorry and has no reason to be. You see, I believe that you vastly misinterpreted the situation, Cramer. And perhaps you cannot be blamed for that...after all, not everyone can be gifted a mental capacity that measures up to the norm. I'm sure you believe that Miss Horton had a choice and that she chose me, and of course you're upset because that means giving her up. There is an absolutely crucial detail that you're missing, however…and that is the fact that there never really was a choice to begin with. She is mine and always has been. She used you because she knew you would be too fucking thick to see through it. Have I clarified things sufficiently for you?" Tom smirked at Cramer's slack-jawed expression.

After a moment, Warren seemed to recover and suddenly looked as though he were about to punch him. "You arrogant prick," he growled "walking around and pretending you're better than everyone –"

"Don't be a fool, Warren…you're not thinking clearly," he heard Rosemary say from behind him. At least she understood the direction in which things were inevitably headed.

"It's a pity, really…" Cramer continued as though he hadn't heard her, a choice which Tom was sure he would regret very soon. "It's so very obvious that you're not a pureblood. Don't you get tired of trying so hard to be what you're not?"

"You're a fool, Cramer," Tom said while drawing his wand; he was fairly over this talking business. There was only one way to settle this now.

Warren drew his wand as well and Tom was pleased that Rosemary didn't try to stop either of them. Instead, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rosemary duck around the corner and poke her head out to avoid the crossfire that was soon to ensue.

"Confringo!"

"Relashio!"

"Expulso!"

"Stupefy!"

He wasn't a terrible duelist, but certainly not on par with the Knights or Tom himself. In fact, he was doing a reasonable job of keeping up until Tom delivered a Laceration Curse that slashed Cramer's wand-arm.

He expected Warren to give up at that point, but instead he clutched his arm to steady it and attempted to fire another curse in Tom's direction. It missed terribly.

"Expulso!" Tom cast again, this time hitting Warren square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Cramer fell to the floor, groaned, and rolled on his side in a foolish attempt to stand once more. Tom wondered briefly about the best way to finish this and almost laughed despite himself – there was only one real answer:

"Cru-"

"Riddle," a familiar, elderly voice said sharply in the corridor behind him. "Enough."

"I understand that you felt the need to defend Miss Horton; when we spoke to her, she did report feeling threatened by Mr. Cramer," Dippet said slowly while peering at him over the rims of his glasses. "However, I find your lack of judgment in engaging in such violence uncharacteristic, Tom."

Tom found himself smirking internally. If only he knew…

"My sincerest apologies, Headmaster," he said smoothly. "I assure you that I will not allow it to happen again." Tom glanced at Dumbledore, who was standing to the right of Dippet and watching him intently. He had been shocked that the professor hadn't told Dippet about his clear intention to use the Cruciatus Curse – in fact, he half-expected him to try and use what he had seen (or almost seen) to get Tom expelled. Over the last few minutes, he had grappled with a few explanations as to why Dumbledore had left out that crucial little detail from his account of the event, but none of them seemed to add up.

"And as for Warren Cramer…"

"Sir, he has clearly been a bit off since Horton ended their engagement. In my opinion, he was being unreasonably antagonistic and defiant which calls for expulsion…According to Rule One Hundred and Forty-Seven of the Hogwarts school code –"

Dippet rubbed his temples. "The last thing we need while the Ministry is here would be an expulsion and Rule One Hundred and Forty-Seven is not sufficient justification regardless. Albus, please speak with Mr. Cramer this afternoon and instruct him to keep away from Miss Horton. Riddle, please refrain from doing anything that might attract unwanted attention from the Ministry."

Does holding meetings with a secret, anti-mudblood organization and launching a search for Grindelwald's outpost count?

"Of course, Sir," Tom answered reassuringly while flashing an ever-charming smile at both Dippet and Dumbledore.

Rosemary was pacing across the study waiting for Tom to return, and was going positively mad with the thoughts of what could be happening that very moment. She had said everything she could think of to protect him and paint the picture that he had merely defended her from the threat of Warren, but that didn't change the fact that Dumbledore had caught him just when he was about to deliver the Cruciatus.

So what happened now? She and Tom both knew that Dumbledore wasn't fond of him – would he actually take this as an opportunity to get him kicked out of Hogwarts? Her only consolation was that Dippet would probably want to keep all of this as quiet as possible while the Ministry investigators were still there; after all, Hogwarts had received more than enough negative press as of late.

She cursed Tom for allowing things to get out of hand – he was Head Boy, for Merlin's sake! He couldn't just go around casting Unforgivable Curses on anyone he didn't like. Wasn't he supposed to set an example?

Admittedly, Rosemary was rather touched by his defensiveness of her…But surely he didn't have to go to such extensive means to do so. Besides, at that point in their duel, it was already clear that Tom had won; the Cruciatus wouldn't have served a purpose beyond his own satisfaction. What else would have happened, she wondered if Dumbledore hadn't interrupted?

'Breathe, Rosemary,' she told herself and lit her fourth cigarette since returning to their corner of the castle. So much for quitting…

Thankfully, just when she was on the verge of panicking all over again, Tom entered. "Is everything okay?" she asked nervously.

"Yes. Why wouldn't it be?" he answered in his typical, nonchalant way, as though there had never been a doubt in his mind that he could worm his way out of the situation.

There was little wonder as to why he had begun to go astray – for him, rules were practically nonexistent.

But did he honestly expect that they wouldn't speak at all about what happened? If so, he was about to be largely disappointed. Rosemary shot him a stern look from across the room. "You were a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"He deserved far worse for the way he was speaking to you," Tom muttered as he took a seat at his desk and took out his quill and some parchment. "If I had the chance, I would have –"

"You would have what?" she narrowed her eyes at him. "Killed him?"

"Of course not," Tom replied coolly, after a moment of silence passed between them. "Then I would never have the opportunity to see him suffer again."

Rosemary shivered and took a drag from her cigarette. She supposed there was a chance that he was joking, but it seemed rather remote. Pretending wouldn't hurt though, would it?

Then again, Tom had a point. Warren certainly deserved to be put in his place after everything that he had said to both she and Tom.

And even if she didn't approve of what Tom said or did, things were finally reaching a point of stability for them – did she really want to make a fuss about this and throw them off balance again? Especially since his intentions had primarily been to defend her?

With what she knew about Tom now, it was clear that she would have to begin choosing her battles a bit more wisely if they were ever supposed to last.

"So," Rose began again, borrowing his nonchalant tone. "You wanted to show me something?"

Tom beckoned her over and she obeyed after flicking her cigarette bud out the open window. When Rosemary reached him, he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her on the back of her neck. He was relieved that Rosemary didn't proceed to try and argue about Cramer: it meant progress – and fairly substantial progress at that. It certainly wasn't lost on him that, just a few months ago, a relatively similar interaction between Cramer and himself and resulted in the initial split with Rosemary. But this time, they were settling in for the evening together just like any other ordinary night.

Progress.

Tom kissed her again, this time just behind her left ear. "I was right the first time, wasn't I?" she began, "You don't actually have anything to show me…" Behind the curtain of her hair, the corners of her mouth twitched as though she were trying to hide a smile.

"Still an intriguing suggestion and we do have yet to break in our new study…" He smirked into her skin. "But yes, I do actually have something to show you," he teased, mocking the know-it-all tone she had used.

With that, removed Jasper's letter and the singed parchment from Dumbledore's office from his upper desk drawer and placed them on the surface in front of her.

Being the intuitive Ravenclaw he adored, she required no explanation of what it was that she was supposed to be looking at. He watched as she gazed at the two side by side, her head resting on the palm of her hand. Finally, she sighed. "I don't know, Tom…"

He gave her a bitter look, having hoped that she would be as thrilled about it as he was.

She looked again at the two parchment bits. "I know you want Dumbledore to be involved in all this, but don't you think this is a bit farfetched? I'm not saying it isn't true," she added when his scowl deepened. "It's just…I think you need better evidence to know for sure."

"Things aren't that simple, Rosemary. If he is involved, which I am certain he is after looking at this, he isn't going to leave a goddamn breadcrumb trail that leads to Grindelwald!"

Rosemary sighed. "Did you tell Raoul?"

Tom nodded. "I wrote him last week." Of course, he wasn't going to tell her that Beaumont's reaction had been largely the same as hers. It was as though neither Raoul or Rosemary wanted what Tom saw so clearly to be true – ironic, considering that Raoul's suspicion of the professor was what got Tom involved in all the MAGI business in the first place.

Well, if they felt that way – fine; Tom supposed all this meant was that they would only look more foolish when he proved them wrong. And though he was rather disappointed in her reaction at first, he knew it wasn't really worth getting caught up in it. Especially not after their pleasant afternoon of putting her ex-fiancé in his place.

Progress.

She leaned against his chest and looked up at him. "Can I ask you something Tom?"

"Of course."

"What did you mean at the Knights meeting when you said that you were planning to pursue Grindelwald?"

"Oh – that?" Tom curled a strand of her scarlet hair around his finger. "That's confidential…you can ask me anything but that."

He stared at her blankly and her expression began to turn worried in a way that he found rather endearing. This must have shown on his face because she suddenly narrowed her eyes at him. "You're teasing me, aren't you?"

Tom smirked. "As I mentioned in the meeting, it is an opportune moment to launch an assault after everything that happened with ECB. The Knights are close to being ready – not quite, but close. By the time the term is over, I am confident they will all be prepared. In the meantime, it is important to gain as much information as possible about the regime by trailing his followers, finding one of the outposts – really anything that will help us destroy him."

Rosemary stared at him in silence for a moment. "Well, they certainly sorted you into the right house...Slytherins and their ambitions…"

"And Ravenclaws, on the other hand, are realists. So tell me, Ravenclaw, what do you find unrealistic about my plan?" He gazed at her in amusement.

She scoffed. "Besides the fact that there are about thirty of you and who knows how many of them?"

"The numbers in the papers are drastically overestimated – you know that."

"What about all the trained, experienced Aurors that went missing trying to do the exact thing that you're trying to do?"

He disliked the way that she said 'trained' and 'experienced', but restrained himself from remarking on it. "Aurors' identities aren't exactly secret, Rosemary. Grindelwald's men knew precisely who to look for; the Knights, on the other hand, will be able to blend in just about anywhere."

"How will you even know where to start looking?"

Tom shrugged. "I have a few ideas."

Rosemary bit her lip as though she were trying to think of another potential hole in his plan. Although he was delighted that she seemed to be taking an interest, Tom was also bit annoyed – did she bring this up simply for the sake of arguing with him about it?

But then he recognized that same, anxious look on her face from a minute or so prior and knew that the real reason for her hesitation was something else entirely. "You're worried about it."

"More specifically," she told him, while looking down at her nails, "I'm worried about you."

"Well, there is no need to be. You know I am perfectly capable of defending myself – and more." His eyes gleamed, remembering once again the encounter with Cramer earlier.

She looked at him crossly. "I'm sure that's what all the Aurors told their wives before they disappeared."

Tom snorted. "Merlin, Rosemary, I am not going to disappear."

She didn't look entirely satisfied, but didn't pursue the subject further. Though he certainly didn't feel that Rosemary had any need to worry about him, he found it rather pleasant that she actually cared enough to worry in the first place. He was suddenly overcome with the urge to take her face in his hands and kiss her feverishly, which was exactly what he did next.

"Now then, onto your enticing suggestion from earlier…"

About an hour later, after a passionate spree in their new study, he carried her across the hall into his dormitory and together they climbed into bed.

With everything that had happened over the short span of the week prior, Tom was falling for her more quickly than his mind could even keep up with. It was an exhilarating feeling that he found both dreadfully alarming and irrevocably addicting.

Yes, things would certainly be different compared to their first go at all of this. And not only would they be different – they would be better. He pulled Rosemary's body against his and pondered where he might land in this intriguing new territory with her as he drifted off to sleep.

Oddly enough, as Tom rarely had dreams, a strange one found its way into his mind that night, only a snippet of which he could still remember the following morning:

"You know, I have always seen a bit of myself in you."

"We are nothing alike."

"Oh, I beg to differ. But if you insist on refusing to take my word on the matter, please allow me to demonstrate..."

"He knew for a fact that it was possible to fall and just keep falling." ― Tom Perrotta

Ah, the long-awaited confrontation between Warren, Tom, and Rose - hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to leave reviews since my last update! I apologize if I haven't responded to yours yet - the site has some error right now where it isn't showing the most recent reviews (at least not on my end...), but I will reply as soon as they get it sorted out!(:

We still have 17 chapters left until the end of Part II, so there is a lot to come. Thanks for reading!(:

-S