Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Tom junior took Harriet into his bedroom that night and slept with her cuddled peacefully in his arms.
Merope and Tom senior said nothing about them sharing a room, if they noticed at all, but Tom junior knew they would hold their silence regardless.
With his beloved's womb already filled, what other concern could his parents possibly have?
Tom junior and Harriet slept peacefully until the next morning came.
While Harriet continued to snooze, Tom junior woke to the soft knocking that fell on their door.
As the incessant rapping continued, his dark eyes narrowed to slits as he deftly shuffled Harriet off of his shoulder and stood from the bed without waking her.
Tom junior gnashed his teeth as he quickly glided over to the door and cracked it open, prepared to snarl at whoever had woken him from his deep slumber.
His tense expression relaxed when he saw Tom senior standing in the hallway.
"...Father?" Tom junior blinked.
"Get dressed in some proper clothes, son." Tom senior scoffed as he nodded at Tom junior's nightshirt and night trousers, "We have work ahead of ourselves."
"Work?" Tom frowned.
"Well, yes, I should say!" Tom senior chuckled, "I had years to train as the Riddle family heir, but it seems you won't have that same luxury."
As Tom junior kept his silent frown, Tom senior continued, "Engaged to your lady love, with a child of your own preparing to enter the world, the time is quickly coming when you will be your own man in your own right. Hurry, son, as your father, I'll have to condense my lessons for you, though I'll be certain to teach you everything I possibly can."
Tom straightened his back as he stared into his father's face.
For a moment, he ignored the fact that Tom senior acted only to fulfill the command he had been given when the Imperius Curse had been cast.
For a moment, Tom junior allowed himself the luxury of believing that his fantasy was true.
His father really did love him and his mother.
His father was proud of him and wanted him to carry on the family name, with honour, dignity, and all the celebration that came from being a wealthy man's son.
"Of course." Tom junior nodded, "Give me a moment, Father, and I'll have myself prepared."
Tom senior nodded as Tom junior closed the door to change out of his sleep clothes.
While Tom senior waited on his son to get dressed, Merope laid in bed, still asleep like Harriet, with her brow furrowed as she drifted through anguished dreams.
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Sometime later, Harriet slowly blinked her eyes open and braced herself for the pain that would surely explode across her skull.
She rolled away from the light that drifted through the windows and curled up in the covers as she sighed to herself while that gnawing, throbbing ache around her temples slowly made itself known once more.
Regardless, her dismay about her own suffering vanished quickly when she noticed that she laid alone in bed.
Her arm shot out to pat Tom's empty side of the mattress, as if she needed to physically examine for herself the evidence that he had clearly left her nest.
"Tom……?" She called as she sat up.
A silent moment passed as she waited to see if any answer would come from the lavatory built conveniently within his opulent bedroom.
When Harriet's question was met with……..nothing, she threw the covers off herself and rose to her feet as quickly as her aching head would allow.
Harriet hurriedly walked over and pulled on her heavy, morning robe before she opened the door, stepped out into the hallway, and began to traipse through Riddle Manor in search of her alpha.
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Although bright sunlight proudly poured in through every window while Harriet explored the vast estate, she couldn't rid herself of the uneasy sensation that crept up her spine as she peered at one abandoned room after another.
She noticed that she didn't even see Lawrence or any of the other Riddle servants.
Harriet didn't realize that they had all congregated in the kitchens below the surface level of the house to prepare the day's meals.
Her travels eventually took her through the main corridor of the first floor, where she passed by the dining room.
For some inexplicable reason, the doors had been left wide open and before she could stop herself, she glanced over.
A shudder shook her shoulders as her green eyes widened while she hastily did a double take, certain she had seen the lower half of Thomas Riddle's lifeless body lying on the floor once more.
Harriet's heart pounded while she raised a hand and clasped it over her heaving chest.
She tried to steady her breathing as she looked again at that place in the dining room and understood her imagination had been working against her.
For a brief moment, she closed her eyes and calmed herself as her headache crescendoed with the furious racing of her heart.
Harriet would have been drawn into more private musings if she hadn't heard a noise come from outside.
She blinked as she peered through the curtain-covered window to see the motion of two dancing figures moving to and fro on the front lawn.
Curious, Harriet hurried down the hall and ascended the winding, iron steps that led to the house's main balcony.
As she walked, for a single second, she begrudged other women who passed the first days of their pregnancy with nausea.
The nature of violent illness was never pleasant, but Harriet wasn't certain that she wouldn't prefer a bit of sickness to the throbbing, unrelenting pain.
While the steps were quite steep, as an athlete, Harriet considered herself to be in decent physical condition.
It irritated her that the agony inside her head forced her to stop four times to catch her breath during her journey to the balcony.
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On the left side of Riddle Manor's expansive front lawn, Tom panted for breath himself as he clutched his steel sword and dodged his father's latest blow.
Tom senior corrected his posture quickly as he gripped his own weapon and nodded at his son, "Very good, my boy……very good indeed for someone with so little experience. Now, when I swing again, watch your footwork this time….After you cross your right over your left, you have the option to repel me with your own body weight, if you choose to use it."
"Is all of this really necessary?" Tom laughed as he and his father circled each other, "Father, you realize I have the ability to use magic if I encounter conflict."
Tom senior chuckled darkly as he snorted and reasoned, "I also realize that you're a Riddle, son. Riddles have defended themselves for centuries with blades of honour….Whether or not you choose to use these lessons, you will not become the first of our line ignorant in the old ways."
Tom junior smirked as his father stepped forward again for another training attack.
There were moments when he nearly forgot he had used the Imperius Curse at all on his father, his desire for the perfect family had become that blinding.
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Harriet eventually made her way to the large set of glass doors at the very top of Riddle Manor.
As she opened them and stepped out onto the spacious balcony that overlooked the lawn, Merope turned around from the chair she sat in and gasped, "Harriet!...Hello, dear! Good morning!"
"Hello, good morning." Harriet replied as she walked over and sat down next to her future mother-in-law.
Merope's gaze focused on her instead of Tom senior and Tom junior for a moment while she asked, "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine." Harriet shrugged as she smiled quickly and said, "Just a pesky headache, that's all."
"You poor dear." Merope frowned, "I was so sick with Tom I thought I was going to die before he could be born."
"Did you take anything for it?" Harriet asked curiously.
"A bit of peppermint and ginger." Merope shrugged, "Not far into the whole process though, I…..I didn't have time to focus on my symptoms anymore. Survival became my main concern, you know and…..well……."
Merope cleared her throat as she looked down.
Harriet gazed carefully at the sad look of torment on Merope's gaunt face.
She studied the way her dark eyes seemed larger, wider, and more haunting than usual, as if some horrible truth hovered in front of her.
"May I ask you a question?" Harriet frowned at her soon-to-be mother-in-law.
Merope brought her black gaze up to meet Harriet's again as she smiled quickly and nodded, "Of course, darling! You can ask me anything."
"Can you tell me a bit more about your relationship with Tom's father?" Harriet blinked.
Merope's melancholy frown returned as Harriet watched her expression change.
"I…..I'm not quite sure what you're asking, love?" Merope replied with a wry smile. Harriet watched her visibly fidget as she nodded and said, "Tom's father and I love each other very much."
Harriet reached across to Merope and clutched her hand as she spoke, "I appreciate what you're trying to do, if you're lying to protect me, but listen…..I can take it….I can accept the truth. Please, don't hide from me……..Has Tom done….something….to his father? Is that why all this has happened with Mr. Riddle and the house and……and everything?"
Merope's frown drifted into a pout as she gazed into Harriet's green eyes.
While she contemplated what to say next, she wished that her son hadn't placed her in such a precarious position.
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After a long day of lessons with his father and a delicious meal with his family, Tom junior could hardly wait to take Harriet to their bedroom.
He hoped his darling would be feeling well enough that he could pull her close under the covers and have his fill of her.
It surprised him when they made it to their room that Harriet sat down on the side of the bed and stared numbly at the wall.
"Sweetling?" Tom asked as he blinked at his mate, "Why are you not getting ready for bed? You need your rest….I'm certain it's very taxing to grow the next heirs of house Slytherin and house Riddle in your womb."
"Why, Tom?" Harriet asked as she turned her head to look at him.
"...I beg your pardon?" He asked in confusion.
"Why did you use the Imperius Curse on your own father?" Harriet asked bluntly as she furrowed her brow.
Tom's dark eyes narrowed as an irritated scowl crossed his handsome face.
"...Who told you I've done such a thing?" He asked as he stepped towards Harriet.
"No one." She frowned as she answered honestly, "I asked your mother…..but she…..she wouldn't say much about it. That doesn't matter though, I know you, Tom, and I've been watching your dad. It's too lovely to be true…..Us being here and your parents being so happy together makes no sense….not unless you did something, of course."
"Sweetling….." Tom whispered as he knelt down in front of Harriet and took her hands into his.
His voice was seductively soft and heartbreakingly tender.
Harriet watched as he raised her fingers to his lips and pressed a delicate kiss to her knuckles before he looked into her eyes with his own dark, glimmering stare as he spoke, "Harriet, I beg you to listen to me……It was the only way I could insure both his survival and mine."
"What are you talking about?" She asked incredulously.
Tom glanced down at her hand for a moment before he looked into her face and explained, "My father gave my grandfather permission to murder me that night. My grandfather held his muggle weapon over me, but I managed to take his life first. If I hadn't done something with my father, he would have gladly killed me himself."
A tense expression of horrified shock clouded Harriet's face before she asked, "Well….could you not have just stupefied him or cast a Memory Charm on him….or something?"
Tom could tell by the gentleness of her tone that his persuasive argument was working.
Determined not to lose Harriet or earn her scorn, he let his suave voice continue to guide her through the reasoning that seemed plausible enough to him.
"I had no desire to harm my father." Tom frowned as he fibbed, "A Memory Charm would have made him a confused outcast against his own legacy, how cruel would that have been? A Stunning Spell would have only created a more powerful enemy out of him. He would have hunted me to the ends of the earth…..Don't you see, my darling? This is the best way…the only way……My father and I both get to live and know each other….and to enjoy a bond between the two of us. My mother receives her lover back and no longer has to work herself to death."
"...And what does your father get, Tom?" Harriet frowned.
"My father gets to know the love of the family he foolishly threw away." Tom answered with a malicious smile. His eyes flickered down to Harriet's flat abdomen as he added, "...And soon, he'll know the love of a grandchild too."
Harriet threw him an odd look.
Tom made sure his dark eyes smouldered with all of the authoritative dominance he could muster as she asked, "...Why didn't you just tell me about all this?"
"Oh, sweetling…." Tom whispered in a dramatic sigh as he gently stroked her hand with his fingers as he gazed into her eyes, "Forgive me, I just couldn't bear to see you worry."
Harriet had more questions, but Tom sought to silence them quickly as he dove forward and began to kiss over her clothed belly.
It wasn't long until he found her sensitive breasts and by the time he had stripped her bare, she kept her inquiries to herself as she enjoyed her alpha's intoxicating affection.
As Harriet bounced on top of Tom while they made love, she wondered to herself if she had become as hopeless as Merope.
It was beyond love, really.
Harriet Potter had become addicted to Tom Riddle.
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Once their lovemaking ended, Tom cuddled Harriet close until her eyes closed as she drifted off to sleep.
Tom gazed down at Harriet while she rested, but as one hour turned into two, he deftly rose from the bed to visit the lavatory.
Harriet whimpered as she noticed Tom's absence.
As she dared to crack her eyelids open, a dark shadow caught her attention.
An awful sensation of doom penetrated her groggy haze and pierced her heart as her eyes snapped wide open in time to catch a distinctive glimpse of the faceless, dark figure that peered down at her sleeping body.
Harriet sat up with a loud gasp as she shouted before she thought, "TOM?!?!!?"
A crash came from the lavatory before the door swung open as Tom barged out.
"Sweetling?!" He cried as he scowled at Harriet, "What's the matter?! What's wrong?!"
Harriet struggled to slow her frantic breathing as she asked incredulously, "You were in the bathroom?!"
"Yes…." Tom frowned, "What happened? Why do you look so bewildered?"
"Someone's here……someone was watching me sleep….." Harriet scowled as she stood from the bed and grabbed her wand.
Tom scoffed as he watched his beloved, "No one's here, sweetling……What's come over you? Mother's cast protective charms on this entire manor, it's just-"
"-Someone……is here….Tom." Harriet insisted.
She frowned before she pointed her wand at the draperies and pulled them back, as if she expected to catch an intruder hiding there.
Tom watched his mate carefully as he silently joined in her search.
He noticed nothing different, but that wave of overwhelming dread hadn't released Harriet from its grasp.
As she and Tom began to search the room, she couldn't rid herself of the unmistakable notion that someone….or something….watched them both.