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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One surprising benefit of Harriet's lingering melancholy had been the wonderfully deep sleep she had received each night.
Instead of lying awake and pondering the state of things, Harriet tumbled through rich, dreamless sleeps that had left her wanting more every morning.
She had trained herself to ignore the headaches and the pull that Tom Riddle tried to exert on her in an attempt to lure her back with the diary.
Tom Riddle and Voldemort were the same person, cold-blooded killers, nothing more.
For once, she refused to indulge her daring tendencies.
Harriet stayed safely in her bed each night and snoozed away the hours, silently dreading the next hum-drum pace of another dull day.
Professor Dolores Umbridge had made everyone's existence more difficult.
A seemingly delightful woman who actually only delighted in sadistic cruelty, her presence itself was an onerous burden to all around her.
Harriet could bear life at the castle no longer.
The letter lay written on her desk next to her bed, ready for hand delivery in the morning.
While Harriet slept, the moonlight illuminated the words on the parchment.
Mum and Dad,
Do you think I may come home for a while? Just for a bit, until I feel better. I'm unwell and it's hard for me to focus on my studies here now.
Harriet
In the silence of the night, not a single girl stirred at the top of Harriet's Gryffindor Tower dormitory.
No one woke at the slight sound of heavy slithering while the Basilisk glided over the floorboards to pull its body, slick with sewer grease, towards Harriet's bed.
It paused as it reached its target and hovered over the open top of her four-cornered bed frame.
The intimidating monster closed its yellow eyes to prevent Harriet's unintended death, in case she accidentally woke.
Silently, the Basilisk leaned down and opened its massive mouth.
Its foul breath carried with it the stench of decay as its tongue snaked forth and wrapped around Harriet.
As gently as it she were a fine, glass vase, the Basilisk pulled the sleeping girl into its mouth and slowly made its way out of the room.
It had little trouble wriggling itself down the gaping hole that had been carved into the bathroom's sink just across the hall.
Once the monster had moved out of the other students' earshot, with Harriet still safely in its mouth, it increased its pace.
Haste was important when Slytherin's heir stood waiting.
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Harriet blinked her eyes open to the purr of a smooth, familiar voice.
She furrowed her brow as she noticed that she lay on a bed much softer than the one in her dormitory.
A face slowly came into focus, blurry and distorted……
"...Tom?" She asked drowsily.
With a gasp, she sat up.
Expecting to find herself suddenly awake from a dream, her eyes widened as she realized Tom Riddle was, in fact, seated on her bed.
…….And her bedroom had been mysteriously replaced by the Chamber of Secrets.
"TOM!" Harriet called.
"I'm here beside you, Harriet Snape." Tom chuckled as he reached out and took her hand.
As Harriet squinted to focus her vision on him, he grit his teeth in irritation.
"I see the Basilisk didn't bother to let you put your glasses on." Tom quipped.
"Is that how I got down here?" Harriet asked, "H-How is that possible? I've never seen it before….Wouldn't it have killed me?"
"I told it to make certain its eyes were closed." Tom smirked, "Never mind all that though, you're here with me now and that's what's important."
In her dazed state of groggy shock, Harriet smiled at Tom before it faded suddenly as she remembered herself.
He scowled as she dropped his hand and pulled her knees up to her chest.
"...What have you done, Tom? I shouldn't be here, I can't!" She gasped.
"Harriet, I want an answer…..Why do you detest me now?" Tom frowned, "Am I that abhorrent to you?...After everything we've done? After everything we've shared together?"
Harriet's expression twisted into a miserable frown.
Not knowing that Tom could see her thoughts clearly, he softened his tone as he whispered the words of sweet seduction designed to let him tighten his grip on Harriet's heart.
"I……I don't understand how I've possibly managed to earn your disdain, Harriet." He said with an exaggerated sigh as he placed a hand over his eyes, "Although, I am certain that the mere idea of your hatred has made me a prisoner in what should be my home."
He removed his hand and looked up with another sigh, thrilled beyond measure that he found Harriet frowning at him in sympathy.
"Tom…….." She began.
"Yes, Harriet?" Tom asked with his dark eyes glistening, eager to envelope his beloved in his strong embrace once more.
"...I know who you are." She frowned. She closed her eyes for a second before she opened them and let out a breath, "...I know what you are."
An uncomfortable silence settled between them.
"Very well...What am I?" Tom grinned bitterly, "The heir of Slytherin? The first boy you ever loved?...Or just a meaningless diversion for you when you found yourself bored?"
"That's not fair!" Harriet snapped, "You reached out to me first in the diary!"
"And you reached back!" Tom insisted as he grabbed Harriet's hands in his.
She frowned as he raised them to his lips and pressed a loving kiss against her knuckles.
Unfettered, Harriet went on, "I……I don't know how you happened to get down here or how it happened, but……I know that the man who calls himself Voldemort was once known as Tom Riddle."
Tom frowned.
"I'm not sure if you've done it with a Time-Turner or………or a Duplication Potion, both, or….or…. HOW..,But Tom," Harriet sighed as she looked into his dark eyes, "...I know."
"Well, I don't." Tom chuckled as he gazed at Harriet, "I only know I have this chamber….and the Basilisk…..and you."
Harriet blinked.
"Maybe I'm a part of a bigger whole……" Tom mused, "Or maybe someone Obliviated me, I can't say for certain."
Harriet blinked, both heartbroken and intrigued, "...How did you get down here any way?"
Tom shrugged, "I have memories…….Memories from what I understand to be many years ago….I can see them so clearly, it's almost as if I am one myself."
He chuckled in amusement at that idea but Harriet frowned.
"You can't feel anything else?" Harriet frowned, "No……No connection to-"
"-I feel very connected to you, yes." Tom smiled, "I remember delighting in the warmth of that same feeling somewhere between the pages of my diary and then, suddenly, I was here…..and a short while later, you were here with me."
Harriet couldn't help but return the warm smile Tom gave her.
"...You can't imagine the pain I've endured since you've left me here all alone." He sighed as an anguished frown passed over his handsome face.
"But you must be a part of him!" Harriet insisted, "Your name….and…..and…..Dumbledore said something about a soul being split…..You must be a part of him!" She insisted.
"...Must I?" Tom raised an eyebrow. He nodded as he spoke, "Perhaps I am, perhaps not………Harriet, you must believe me! I implore you!" Tom sighed as he grasped her hand again.
His dark eyes burned into her soul as he held her gaze and vowed, "I know nothing of the larger….part of myself……with whom you say you're acquainted. My own memories are so scattered I can scarcely tell if they were once realities or just……dreams." Tom swallowed as Harriet listened, "All I know for certain is that I am here now…….and I am here with you."
Desperate to adhere to the balm for her angsty suffering, Harriet dared to believe the remedy was as pure and easy as it appeared.
"Is that really all you know, Tom?" She laughed quietly.
"It's all that I need." He replied with a handsome smile, "With you by my side, Harriet……..my world is complete."
In the blinding light of her first love, Harriet let her impulsive nature overpower her as she obeyed the commands of her heart.
Tom crushed his lips against hers as he held her in his strong embrace while she gently placed her hands on his chest.
Alone once again with Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets, Harriet discovered a new truth about herself.
She silently decided that her hatred for the man could not erase her love for the boy.
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Far away from the castle, Severus and Lily would have been having a similar evening if the reality of the decision they had been forced to make had not weighed on them so heavily.
Lily sat up against the headboard of their bed with Severus at her breast while she soothingly raked her soft fingers through his silky, raven hair.
She didn't bother to hide the pleased sighs that escaped her lips while he took long pulls from her nipples, having not quite determined if he sought comfort, arousal, or both.
"If you do this, Severus," Lily sighed, "If you agree to Narcissa's terms and make the Unbreakable Vow…...We both know what will happen eventually. Draco won't kill Dumbledore…..He can't….I struggle to believe any of the Malfoys could harm another person. They hide behind their money and their reputation, that's all."
Severus kept his silence as he listened to his wife.
He found Lily's pleasant scent, which reminded him of her lavender soap and mint shampoo, to be a comfort in itself.
"...On the other hand, to refuse, you'll have to give her a viable reason why…..And all the ones I can think of rouse suspicion against us." Lily sighed, "Why did Narcissa have to do that this evening? Approach you with such a proposition while you're just trying to shop at the markets?! She should be ashamed of herself!"
Lily whimpered as Severus finally released her breast with one last nip before he gazed into her face and whispered, "Only in your arms, my love, cradled in the sweet respite of your embrace, do I see things most clearly."
"What are you talking about?" Lily frowned, "Sev……….What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to talk to Dumbledore." Severus whispered in his low drawl.
He didn't give his beloved the opportunity to offer a response.
As soon as Lily parted her lips to speak, Severus leaned in and pressed a meaningful kiss to them.
Together, clutching onto each other, they tumbled back against the pillows, eager to escape from the world in the throes of their torrid passion.