One of Them

April 21, 1945

"Well, don't be shy." Tom felt a devious grin spreading across his lips, "Let's hear it."

"Alright." She glanced timidly between Tom and the rat and he raised his eyebrow slightly at her hesitation. Just when he was about to make another comment to goad her along, she cleared her throat and said in an entirely academic way, "Imperio."

As Tom guessed upon hearing her incantation, little happened in response. Even so, just hearing her utter the word was enough to make the hairs on his arms stand up slightly.

He saw her cheeks burning red out of injured pride. "Nice try," Tom told her softly. "But if I may offer a suggestion…You truly have to mean it."

She nodded purposefully and attempted the curse again, though with marginally greater success than the time before.

"It must be performed in a precise motion – the flick of your wrist should be minute."

This time the form was better, but her voice was back to that same, reserved tone as before.

"Again."

"Be commanding, Rosemary."

"And again," he continued to prompt her.

Ten or so times later, her spell seemed to be taking hold (to his utter delight, of course), but something still wasn't quite right – clearly it was time for a new strategy.

"Allow me to demonstrate," he suggested. "Imperio!" Tom made the rat run in circles around her feet and was filled with pleasant conceit as Rosemary's eyes traced his every movement. "See?"

When it came time for her to take another stab at the curse, the execution improved markedly and for a moment, it appeared that she was in full control of their victim. But when her concentration suddenly broke, lifting the curse, the rat decided to make a break for the vent in the corner of the room.

Rosemary proceeded to call after it: "Imperio! Imperio! Oh, fucking hell!"

While Tom was floored by her apparent determination, it was obvious that she was quickly becoming frustrated. "Perhaps we should take a break," he suggested, snaking his arm around her waist.

"No," she snapped, wiggling out of his grasp and storming across the room to find the rat. Tom sighed happily and strode after her.

It slipped through the vent just in time and she threw her wand to the floor in anger, a slew of dirty words flowing from her lips, while he stared at her in amusement.

"What's so funny?" she spun around and barked at him upon seeing his expression. "I didn't see you doing anything to stop it."

"I am merely enjoying your fervency," he told her with a smirk. It was true: this was quite possibly the most fun he'd had in months – maybe ever.

She glared daggers at him for a few seconds, but her face eventually softened. "I need to get this right, Tom. Not just because of Myrtle – for Faye, too."

Tom gave her a slight nod, only vaguely aware of what she was talking about. That morning, when she was filling him in with everything that had happened between Donohue and Hornby, he had been far too exhausted from his exploits the night prior to listen to the details and had instead resorted to pretending to listen. The strategy worked perfectly well until she had suddenly asked him "Do you think Adam cheated on Faye?"

"I care exceptionally little for gossip, Rosemary, as you know." It certainly wasn't a lie.

He remembered the way she had narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. "Are you attempting to dodge the question?"

"No," he replied shortly. This time, it was a bit of a lie. But while Tom was no expert at relationships by any creative interpretation of the word, he suspected that it was unwise to allow her to find out that he hadn't been listening. And so, he continued: "Anything that occurs between them is utterly trivial to me. As long as Lestrange keeps to his place and Donohue stays out of the way, whatever happens is really quite inconsequential." There – back to the truth again.

She gave him a look of disapproval. "But he's your friend, Tom. Surely you care if they're happy...deep down, somewhere…" Rosemary proceeded to smile and poke at his chest as though in search of a literal soft spot.

Tom was suddenly hit with a surge of frustration that he hadn't expected – she didn't understand. For his entire life, he had been unable to feel anything for anyone, which had made it damn near impossible for him to have anything remotely similar to a 'friend'. No; all he ever had were the illusions of friends. Didn't she get that by now? Didn't she understand that that was what made her so special? Apparently not. But then again, perhaps that wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Any feelings of frustration had abruptly faded away, however, as soon as he began instructing her on the Imperius Curse.

It suddenly occurred to him that, once again, Rosemary was ranting about Faye and Olive, her eyes glowing dangerously: "That awful bitch has no idea what she's gotten herself into."

Upon hearing these words (which were admittedly quite attractive ones, at that) come from her mouth, an idea struck him. Tom leaned toward her, stroking her forearm with his finger and said smoothly into her ear: "Use your anger, Rosemary – use all of your distaste for Hornby. Put all of it into that single word. That's how you cast an Unforgivable Curse."

She considered this for a moment, while Tom transformed a nearby goblet into a new rat. "Think of all the times she has been foolish enough to cross you."

His eyes were glued to her, absorbing every expression that passed over her face as she raised her wand. "Yes, that's it," he coaxed her. "Let your anger guide you." She glared down at the rat, while Tom so wished he could abuse his Legilimency talents for a quick glimpse at the thoughts running through her mind. "Show her that you are in control. Do it, Rosemary."

Her lips parted and he found himself holding his breath, waiting for the powerful bout of magic that was sure to come. What happened next he would have never expected:

"Crucio."

The coldness behind the word was nearly palpable and Tom watched in her glazed over, bright blue eyes in love-struck awe while the rat convulsed near her feet.

Well fuck. He was halfway to needing a wank after that.

She seemed to come back to reality a few moments later and suddenly lifted the curse, staring blankly after the rat while it darted terrified across the room. "I didn't mean to do that," she told him with that same vacant expression. "I meant to cast the Imperius."

"You did very well, Rosemary." He cleared his throat and adjusted himself when she turned in the direction that the rat ran off to. "Very well."

A flicker of a smile passed over her lips, but then she looked concerned and took a seat on the end of the bed.

Oh no. Tom begged any higher powers in existence that she wouldn't allow her conscience to get too involved in this glorious moment – things were so close to being exactly how he had always wanted them to be between them. He stood before her and stroked her long, silky hair, attempting to distract her from any conflicting thoughts that may be running through her mind. "That was more impressive than what I have seen the majority of the Knights do," he told her. "Your power is far greater than you give yourself credit for."

"Hmm," she hummed, clearly bothered.

No. Fuck. No. He was not about to let this progress slip between his fingers. In both his desperation and the residual shock from what he had just witnessed her do, he found himself saying, "May I tell you something, Rosemary?"

"Yes. What about?"

He turned her chin so she was forced to look directly into his eyes, knowing full well that they were among her greatest weaknesses when it came to his features. "Have I ever told you why I noticed you?"

She shook her head and he felt a weight lift off his shoulders in relief at her apparent captivation. "You haven't. When was it?"

"Not when – it wasn't just one moment. It was gradual, through your offhand remarks about Hornby, your brooding looks when you thought nobody was watching, your cavalier attitude toward school rules and your ability to so carefully hide it from the staff, and of course, your exceptional magical talents…I realized that you were far more complex than your pretty exterior could have ever suggested," he said lightly while running his fingers over her cheek; she smiled at him, as charmed as he had anticipated.

"I saw a bit of darkness in you–" Her eyes widened and he added in haste: "–the good kind. The kind that, if you chose to embrace it, could make you more powerful than you would have ever anticipated. It makes you remarkable, Rosemary – so unlike any of the others." Tom paused, unaccustomed to such blatant stabs at affection. But despite his uncertainty, it at least seemed to be working; at least she didn't have that same, troubled expression on her face that she did earlier.

Rosemary put her arms around his neck and pulled herself against his chest. "That is precisely what you want, isn't it?"

Damn. Caught red-handed.

"What is? That I want you to realize your full potential?" he said charmingly. "Of course."

She sighed. "I'm worried, Tom. I saw Olive being tortured just a moment ago, not a rat. What if I take things too far, to the point where using an Unforgivable feels like the only solution? Isn't that what separates the bad wizards and witches from the good ones?"

Tom scoffed. "Good and bad are just simplistic constructs that the Ministry uses to control the ignorant. As long as you are rational and logical in your actions, there is no need for you to concern yourself with them." He kissed the top of her head and added in an afterthought: "Do you think I'm a bad wizard because I use an Unforgivable here or there? There is a reason behind everything that I do…just like when I defended you from Cramer."

She looked up at him, but said nothing.

"Using Unforgivable Curses doesn't define your magic, Rosemary, they simply enhance it…And if you choose to do what you just did to Hornby, I guarantee that she will never dare to cross you – or Donohue, for that matter – again."

"So you talked with Adam I hope?" Rosemary slid into the seat next to Faye at the Ravenclaw table for dinner, even though she was so nervous for what was to come that evening that the thought of food made her feel nauseous.

"I did."

"And?"

Faye sighed. "What do you think he said? He denied the entire thing, of course."

"And you don't believe him? Come on, Faye, don't let that awful slag get inside your head. You know she's lying."

She simply shrugged in response.

"Well you can't just stay angry forever, right? Is it really worth it?"

"Ask Adam that. It's his fault for siding with Markus over me, his fiancé," she quipped irritably, though the guilty expression on her face told a different story. Rosemary suspected that it was only a matter of time before Faye decided that her relationship with Adam was more important than her loyalty to Jasper. Perhaps even later that night: Tom had organized a second Knights meeting for the weekend to give them all the opportunity to discuss what they had found with Dolohov, Malfoy, and Lestrange on their recent excursion. She wouldn't be at all surprised if Faye showed up afterward to see Adam.

"So…Are you going to Slytherin tonight?"

Faye sighed. "I dunno if I can bear to show my face in Slytherin again after what happened."

"I'll take care of Hornby," Rosemary said gently. "I wasn't joking when I visited you in the Infirmary, you know."

Faye raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to do?"

Rosemary smiled, the nerves in her stomach quickly untangling thanks in her refusal to let Faye down. "Why don't you come with me and find out?"

"Urgh…where am I?" Olive yawned as the effects of the Imperius Curse slowly wore off.

"Look around – you know precisely where you are, Olive," Rose smirked. "Don't you remember what I said to you last week about what might happen if you crossed the line one too many times?"

Rosemary watched Hornby's eyes widening in panic as she glanced about the lavatory and saw Myrtle and Faye standing (and floating, in the case of Myrtle) in the corner. Olive tried to stand, surely to run from the bathroom, but instead fell on her face thanks to the petrifying jinx Rosemary had placed on her arms and legs. "You can't do this – you're Head Girl!"

Rosemary laughed. "Of course I can."

"I – I'll tell Dippet."

"Think about it carefully, Hornby. Who do you think he'll believe? Me, the Head Girl with a pristine record and an alibi backed by a certain Head Boy, or you, who was nearly expelled during third year for snorting pixie dust in the lavatory?" She let this sink in for a moment before continuing coldly, "I told you to watch who you crossed, Hornby. And that includes Faye and Adam." Rosemary glanced over at Faye, who was watching in awe. "While we're at it, now would be an excellent time to apologize to Faye for what you did."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Olive snapped and looked up at Rose defiantly.

"I will not be playing your games any longer, Hornby. Are you ready, Myrtle?"

"Wait! I didn't sleep with Adam, Faye!"

"And?" Rosemary prompted, while beckoning Myrtle to float closer.

"And I shouldn't have cursed you." Tears began to form at the corners of Olive's eyes. Merlin, she really was terrified of Myrtle. "I will never do it again – I swear!"

"Are you convinced, Faye? Do you think she means it?"

Faye crossed her arms and looked contemplative for a moment. "No. I don't," she said abruptly.

"Really, I'm sorry!"

Rosemary smirked. "You can't honestly think that I am just going to let you go without fulfilling my threat, do you? What kind of message do you think that would send?" It suddenly struck her that the words coming from her lips were precisely something she could imagine Tom saying. This admittedly startled her, but it was far too late to turn back now.

"Do your worst, Myrtle."

The ghost's chosen method of torture consisted of chopping off all of the Slytherin's beloved hair and waterboarding her into apology after apology in the toilet stall that Myrtle had died in. Olive bawled the entire time.

Rosemary watched mercilessly, allowing Tom's words from that morning to fill her head and drown out any of the guilt she had expected to feel:

"Think of all the times she has been foolish enough to cross you."

"Let your anger guide you. Show her that you are in control."

"Enough, Myrtle," Rosemary announced suddenly while Hornby sputtered and coughed. "I would like a turn, if you would be so kind."

"Be my guest," Myrtle cried happily, which was followed by a maniacal laugh.

Rose nodded politely. "Well then…Olive, I believe you're long overdue for this: Crucio."

She hadn't been planning this, but the overwhelming urge had suddenly taken over. Her loathing for Hornby coursed through every blood vessel in her body, flowing out toward the fingertips that held her wand. She told herself again and again that this one spell would make up for all the things that Olive Hornby had done or said to her and Faye over the years.

But the curse came at a price and, quite frankly, it was rather exhausting to cast. Rosemary lifted it after five seconds, her ears still ringing from Olive's screaming. She thanked herself mentally for casting a Silencing Charm on the lavatory before lifting the Imperius Curse.

Another Cruciatus tempted her, but she felt suddenly drained and could not afford to lose face by casting a faulty curse at this point. "I think she's had enough." Rosemary knelt down beside her and whispered, "I'd leave before I change my mind, Hornby. And if you dare to breathe a word about this, this is only a taste of what will happen next time."

Before she could say another syllable, Hornby was gone.

Faye clapped her hands together and squealed in delight. "That. Was. Amazing."

Rosemary smiled proudly. It was rather amazing; in the matter of about five minutes, she had put the girl that had been bullying them for years in her rightful place. Tom had certainly been right about one thing – it felt pretty damned good to be in control.

Faye skipped happily out of the lavatory and Rose glanced up at the ghost. "Are we even, now?"

"Consider your debt repaid," Myrtle nodded with a giggle. "That was really quite good, you know. You're more than welcome to come back and help me haunt students every now and again if you'd like."

"How thoughtful," Rosemary replied dryly with a smirk.

For the next few hours, her thoughts continued to reel from the encounter. At first, she grew increasingly paranoid that she had slipped up somehow and that Dippet or another staff member would come to announce her expulsion at any moment. But once the paranoia came to a peak and she took three shots of gin to compensate, it began to wane and she truly allowed herself to believe that there was a chance she had gotten away with it. Eventually, this evolved to the feeling of utter pride, just around the time that the Knights meeting began.

Because of Tom's rounds schedule, she didn't have the chance to tell him about her recent triumph before that evening's meeting. But judging from the spark of energy in his eyes, he already had some idea that it went well.

And Merlin, it had. She expected to feel a great deal more guilt that she was experiencing in reality; instead, she felt vindicated.

In fact, Rosemary found herself so preoccupied with the memory of that afternoon that few of Tom's words so much as scraped her consciousness. She somehow managed to deduce the gist of the meeting from the conversations around her upon its conclusion: small groups of the Knights, led by Tom, would be making trips to the outpost throughout the next few weeks to gain intel for their upcoming attack. Recalling the jealousy she felt the night prior as Tom excitedly recounted everything he had seen, she made a mental note to ask him what he thought about her accompanying them on the next mission.

In fact, she was just about to when Dolohov seemed to sneak up on her out of nowhere. "Consider me impressed, Miss Horton," he greeted her with a sly smile.

"You heard?"

"Everybody has heard. Well, everybody in Slytherin at least – Donohue has been bragging about it all afternoon as though she was the mastermind behind the whole thing. But we all know the truth, of course," he winked.

Rosemary rolled her eyes, completely unsurprised by the news of Faye's response.

"Well? Details?" he nudged her as they walked down the stairs of Lestrange's dormitory and into the common room.

"There isn't a doubt in my mind that Faye has already exaggerated the tale thoroughly."

Dolohov poured her a glass of gin and handed it to her before spiking some pumpkin juice with Ogden's Old Firewhiskey for himself. "A lady never 'crucio's' and tells, eh?"

"Something along those lines," she smirked. Surely taking after Tom's example, the once- stoic Dolohov had learned to be surprisingly charming when he wanted to be.

"Well, it looks as though you've made up your mind; she wasn't a mudblood, but I'm sure Riddle will make an exception." Dolohov clinked his glass against hers. "Welcome to the Knights, Horton."

Just like that, she was one of them.

It had taken almost all of Tom's extensive willpower to avoid the rumors of what happened in favor of hearing the entire story for the first time through her lips. And so, as soon as he finished speeding through everything he needed to discuss with Malfoy, he abruptly ended the conversation and crossed the room to where she stood with Dolohov.

"I'm surprised you want to stay for a while," he began while eyeing her rather full cocktail glass. Damn Dolohov and his pureblood-instilled hospitality. "Considering that classes resume tomorrow."

Rosemary downed it within a few seconds (an admittedly rather impressive feat) and smiled up at him. "There. Ready to go."

He beamed internally as they walked briskly through the castle to the privacy of their dormitory. From the way she was suddenly keeping pace with his longer legs, she was clearly just as excited to tell him about what had happened with Olive as he was to hear about it.

"I suppose you'd like to hear the full story," she began in a jumpy, excited voice as soon as he shut the door behind them.

"Don't even think of sparing a word," he warned her playfully.

He sprawled out on the bed and closed her eyes as she began her recount, allowing her words to paint a picture in his mind of the scene. The only way it could have been better was if –

"Hold on a moment. I could just show you what happened with Legilimency."

Well, if there was any doubt in his mind that he loved her before, it was certainly gone now.

The memory unfolded and he watched its entirety while blinking as little as he possibly could. As he exited her mind, he grappled with the reality that the girl laying on her back gazing up at him, was the same one that he had just witnessed deliver an incredible Cruciatus Curse. But it was true: there she was, his dark little princess.

"Well, what did you think?"

That he desperately wanted to fuck her right then was exactly what he was thinking. Even so, he managed to restrain himself momentarily and come up with this suave reply: "I-er…Well…"

Or maybe not so suave. Apparently, she had succeeded in making him momentarily speechless, a rare accomplishment indeed.

To save face in fear of the idiotic mess that might come out of his mouth next without his consent, he allowed himself to give into his urges and kiss her in full force. As their snogging grew more impassioned, his hands tore at the bulky clothes that lay in the way of his skin on hers and she teased him in return, grinding her hips up against his. While he may have had the willpower to abstain from such temptation under normal circumstances (well, for at least another few minutes), he simply wanted her too badly to wait. Caught up in a passionate frenzy, he jumped off the bed, pulled her to her feet, and began peeling off each article of clothing one by one while she unzipped his trousers and slipped a hand inside to stroke him.

He fought the urge to groan (the only noises he wanted to hear that night were the ones she would be making) and pushed her back onto the bed before removing his own clothing and standing before her for a moment to examine her in entirety.

This beautiful, dark little creature was all his, so perfect that he was beginning to suspect she was some sort of a karmic repayment for all of the years of misfortune brought onto him by his damned parents. But he would not consider such an explanation seriously; after all, it would only detract from the pride he had garnered upon winning her.

And now that her heart was won at greater depth, he would not allow her to stray from him ever, ever again. Tom crushed his body against hers, so close that he was unable to breathe fully until they finished.

While they recovered and they settled into their typical sleeping arrangement, she turned to him in the dark and said suddenly, "I have given it some thought and I would like to accompany you and the others to spy on Grindelwald's base this week."

Merlin, he did love this girl.

"I want her to melt into me, like butter on toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with her encased in my skin." – Sara Gruen

Hello! Sorry for the delay. :/ I finished this chapter a couple of hours into my travels only to find out that we wouldn't have WiFi for the weekend. -_- But it happens. Almost done with the next chapter, though, and hopefully the events of this one partially made up for the wait.(;

Thanks so much to all of you who have recently left reviews on the story! Your ongoing support is sooo appreciated. :D

One more week until the end of my first year of grad school - thank you for your patience throughout the year. It was definitely a challenge in time management to keep writing this fic with everything else going on. I'm really, really looking forward to writing more over the summer!(:

Cheers,

S