Breaking out one of the most well-guarded prisoners in Azkaban—taking out Aurors, guards, and dementors while trying not to get killed by both the previously mentioned groups and deranged prisoners—was no small feat. In fact, until a few days ago, it was completely impossible to do at all, much less in an hour.

To Tom, though, it was just another typical evening.

He apparated to a small bit of rock just outside of the island's defensive charms. He could break through them, of course, but stopping outside allowed the dementors to see him. The robed figures swirled around where he stood on the rock, the violent North Sea constantly crashing around him. They descended upon them but as soon as he flashed his dark eyes, they recoiled.

Dementors respond directly to power. They obey darkness. Tom Riddle was their new master.

One of them shrieked before going back up to guard Azkaban. He had no use for them now, not when they had a steady stream of souls to consume in here. All he wanted was for them to see him, recognize him as their superior, and he did.

Now, he could break in.

A wave crashed around him but Tom held out his hand. The water hit an invisible wall before receding back to the dark depths. He looked up at the foreboding structure in front of him, the dark stone towering amongst the stormy seas. Then, he apparated inside.

He was attacked first by guards but a flash of green light had them dead before they could even pull out their wands. The Aurors were the next line of defense but they, too, were no match for him. With one dark look, a green light emitted from his wand and their bodies fell against the ground. He didn't need words, not with his power, power that had only begun to grow stronger since he met Evelyn.

The Aurors never stood a chance.

Tom had no qualms against killing them, no qualms against killing anyone, really. He wasn't lying when he told Evelyn he wasn't a good person. He never would be.

She was his everything. His entire soul was dedicated to serving her, protecting her, loving her. But even though he was tender with her, he would never truly forget who he was. A dark wizard. The dark wizard. He would kill and maim and torture without a second glance. He would burn the damn world if he felt like and then he would kiss Evelyn amongst the ashes to the harmonious sounds of screams as the flames consumed what was left.

No, Tom wasn't a good person. He was a powerful one and, in this world, there is only power.

A good person wouldn't be breaking one of the more notorious Azkaban prisoners out as a Christmas present for their... girlfriend? No, that didn't seem right. Girlfriend didn't seem like enough. Evelyn was so much more than that to him. She wasn't his wife (yet), nor his queen (yet), not even his lady (yet). Lover implied that she was meant explicitly for fucking and while he did enjoy that immensely, it wasn't the only reason he liked her. So perhaps she wasn't his girlfriend. She was just his.

Tom swiftly made his way down the corridor, ignoring all the cries for help coming from the cells beside him. He swore he heard Mattheo's mother scream from somewhere, though she was so isolated she would have no idea who was there, only that some dark wizard had arrived. He scoffed and made a point to avoid wherever she was. How his brother came from her, he'd never know. Their similarities seemed to boil down to their temper and love of knives.

Finally, Tom reached it. He opened the door and went inside.

"Sirius Black," he drawled, looking around at the room as he entered. For a prison cell, it was rather clean, as if the gangly man huddled in the corner had spent time keeping it tidy. "How would you like to leave?"

The man's eyes snapped up to him and for a second, Tom was startled. They were grey, almost exactly like Evelyn's. They were a little warmer in tone and wary at the sight of him but the fact that they were related was more than clear. Sirius's black hair was long like Evelyn's but curlier. Her waves were loose, on some days almost nonexistent.

Sirius was a handsome man even after years in prison, though he could do with some more weight. He looked exactly like an older version of Regulus, so much so that Tom wondered if this was what Evelyn's father would have looked like if he were still here.

"Who are you?" Black asked. His voice was extremely hoarse, though whether from screaming or years without use, Tom wasn't sure.

Tom reached out to the man's mind, curious as to what he would find. He was innocent, of course. Tom had met Pettigrew on more than one occasion and while Black may have committed other crimes, he didn't commit the one he was accused of. Tom didn't care; he would have broken him out either way. Evelyn longed for more family, he knew that, and so his Christmas present to her wouldn't be something as simple as jewelry or fine clothes. No, he would find her more family. The very thing she desired most.

Sirius's mind was guarded. He didn't trust the figure in front of him, especially since he looked almost exactly like Voldemort. He wondered why Tom was here, sensed the power lurking beneath his skin, and was hopeful at the idea of escaping Azkaban.

"I'm Tom Riddle." Sirius visibly paled. What little light was in his grey eyes was gone at the mention of the name. "Son of Voldemort."

"Are you here to kill me?"

"Will you be leaving the prison with me?"

"Yes." No hesitation in his voice. Good.

"Then, no." At least, not as long as he behaved. Tom already planned on killing two of her family members—and in two days, it would seem, he did—so he didn't want to empty her of many more. But if Sirius attempted to harm Evelyn, if he upset her in any way, then he would wish he was back with the dementors if only so they could keep him away from Tom.

Sirius's eyes flooded with confusion. "Why are you freeing me?"

Tom tried to keep in his sigh of annoyance. "Because I'm in love with your niece and she would be happy to know that she still has some family." Her grandparents sure as hell weren't family and Mattheo was... well, Mattheo. A thirteen-year-old cousin was great but not the family she longed for. Evelyn wanted someone to look after her after years of not having that. Mattheo was surely fine company (albeit a bit annoying) but he wasn't that parental figure that Evelyn needed.

Sirius gasped. "I have a niece?"

"Yes."

"B-but Regulus—"

"Is dead. She was born shortly after he passed."

The man gulped. "Who is her mother?"

"I don't know." He was still working on that bit, though he would sometimes have to stop his efforts because the idea of a woman abandoning her made him seethe in rage and Evelyn couldn't do much with a dead mother. "I hoped you would have."

"We drifted apart before he died. Regulus had many girls around him; I'm not sure which one, if any, were serious partners."

Tom just sighed in annoyance, knowing he would have more work to do if he was going to find Evelyn's mother. He pinched his forehead between his fingers for a few moments. "Let's move."

"You look just like your father, you know," Sirius mumbled as he stood and walked over to Tom.

"I know." He saw it every day when he looked in the mirror, every day when some adult wizard looked at him with terror in their eyes. And yet they still fell for the charming act. It was pathetic.

"Grab on. We'll apparate."

"I would ask how we will be doing that but you took down an army of dementors, Aurors, and guards without getting a scratch." Tom smirked at the small boost to his ego. "Are we going to meet her now?"

"No. I'm taking you to Grimmauld Place where you can..." He side-eyed Sirius's state. "Freshen up. You'll come to Black Manor on Christmas Day."

The man's eyes widened. "Could I come the day after? I have a godson I'd like to meet."

Tom sighed once again. Why couldn't things be easier? Well, he supposed that breaking any prisoner out would have been a pain in the ass, much less the one that was head of the Order of the Phoenix and godfather to the baby who vanquished Tom's father.

You're doing this for her, he repeated. You're doing this for Evelyn. Evelyn, who had oddly gone quiet on the bond. Her feelings were muffled but perhaps that was just the distance. Still, he missed her. Terribly. She had no idea he was planning to come on Christmas Day. Well, the day after now that his plans had to change.

"Fine," he snapped. "But you better be on your best damn behavior. If you hurt her in any way, I will not hesitate to rip you limb from limb."

"Noted."

Then, he grabbed onto Tom's arms and the two of them apparated to London.

It was snowy in the city and the lights in front of Grimmauld Place were off. Evelyn's grandparents didn't visit in the winter, which is why Tom knew it was safe to bring her uncle here. He might have abandoned his family years ago but he would still have clothes and other things he needed. Plus, a floo to directly access Black Manor.

"What's she like?" Sirius asked before he closed the door to the townhome. "My niece?"

A soft smile overtook Tom's face. "Wonderful."

"My name is Sirius Black... I am your uncle."

Tom was glad he had a grip on Evelyn's waist because as soon as the words exited Sirius's mouth, her knees weakened. His arm was the only thing keeping her from falling to the ground.

"My... uncle?" Her voice was disbelieving, shaking almost as much as her legs. Tom was sure that if he could see her beautiful grey eyes, they would be glistening with unshed tears. "I have an uncle?"

The man nodded. Tom could see in his eyes how happy he was to have a piece of his brother still with him, family that was still alive who hadn't yet turned him away. And he could feel through the bond just how Evelyn felt.

"If you're my uncle, where have you been?"

"Azkaban. I was falsely accused of a crime 12 years ago. Your..." He eyed the hickey on Evelyn's neck. Tom wanted to snarl at the twinge of disgust that entered the man's eyes. How dare he judge her. Though when he looked back up, most of the disgust seemed to be directed at him, not Evelyn. "Boyfriend helped me escape."

Evelyn shifted in his arms and looked up at him with wide eyes. "You did this? For me?"

Tom bent down and kissed her softly. "I would do anything for you. A little prison break is nothing."

"Thank you," she whispered, standing up on her tip-toes to lay a kiss on his cheek. "I don't know how I can properly express my gratitude."

Tom smirked. "I can name a few ways."

Evelyn put her lips by his ear and whispered huskily, "And I can name a few more."

And that was how Tom ended up spending the rest of his afternoon with his "girlfriend", her uncle, his brother, and a raging hard-on.

. . .

Evelyn's face hurt from smiling for so long. She just couldn't help it. She had an uncle. She had an uncle. Her father's brother.

She wasn't sure how she didn't realize it at first. They looked so similar and yet so different at the same time. Sirius's face was warm whereas her father's was cold. His face had a scruffy yet contained beard and his hair was much wilder. He also seemed more outgoing and adventurous than Regulus (and, by extension, her).

But that didn't seem to matter. For hours Sirius spoke to her, telling tale after tale of her father's childhood. He seemed to sense exactly what she needed: a connection to her parents, a little wisp that she could hold onto when she felt alone. By the time it was dark, Evelyn felt like she knew her father like the back of her hand. He was brilliant and kind, shy yet popular. He believed feverishly in the Dark Lord until he didn't, just before his death.

His death. A drowning. In the lake out in front of the Manor. When Sirius said that, Evelyn's blood cooled. She wondered if that was why she felt so drawn to the water after all these years, if it wanted to catch the daughter after catching the father. And she wondered what would have happened if she followed her father into that lake in her dreams, if Tom hadn't ripped her back with his shadows.

Tom. He'd been so wonderful lately. She still couldn't believe that he broke someone out of prison for her. And now that person—her uncle—was sitting across from her, telling her all about her father.

She was sitting on Tom's lap in the armchair, Mattheo lazily listening as he sprawled out across the sofa. Evelyn had offered her chair to her uncle and had planned on sitting by her cousin—who, apparently, was only vaguely similar to Bellatrix, according to Sirius—but Tom's arm clamped down on her waist and pulled her to his lap. While Sirius spoke, Tom drew lazy circles on her back, kissed her neck, or played with her hair. He was constantly touching her and she didn't mind. Sometimes it was nice having something to ground her to the world like he was, especially when the words became almost too hard to hear.

Every once in a while, Sirius would get that faraway look in his eyes as he looked at her. She reminded him of her father—she knew that—but sometimes, Sirius seemed to have trouble registering that she was in front of him and not Regulus. His little brother, who he clearly still loved even after fighting on different sides of the war. And now, she was his little niece, the one piece of Regulus left on this Earth.

"I miss him," Sirius rasped as the night took over the sky and the fire in the hearth began to dim. "There hasn't been a day that I haven't. But I look at you and I see him."

"Yeah... I look just like him."

"No," Sirius said with a sad smile. "It's not just that. You're smart. You're quiet. You're kind—" Tom chuffed under his breath, no doubt remembering the man she ordered to have his cock cut off. She still didn't regret it. "Okay, so perhaps you're no Hufflepuff, and perhaps your circle isn't large but those inside it know how deeply you can love. And those things? They were all Regulus. Your eyes are sad and your smile is soft and that was him."

Her uncle's eyes became glassy. "When I found out he died, I thought I had lost everything. My mother has never been very sentimental; I'm not surprised that she removed all traces of him. When..." He swallowed through decades of pain. "When he died, I thought I had lost my little brother completely."

Then, Sirius looked at her. "But I was wrong. Because here you are. Regulus lives on. Souls are funny like that, passing from person to person, transcending generations. Like a kind of magic we don't quite understand."

And even though Sirius's words were said with a smile, even though the fire still burned bright and Mattheo still fingered his dagger with a bored expression, Tom stiffened.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing." But it wasn't nothing, clearly. His arms tightened around where they rested on her hips, no longer caressing her but holding her in place. Through the bond, she could feel his mind darkening as it worked through something.

"Tell me, Tom."

"No, Little Dove."

"How are we supposed to have a relationship if we aren't honest with one another?"

"Relationships are built on trust, not honesty. You will have to trust that I will always do what is best for you, even if what is best isn't telling you what you want to know."

And now, Evelyn was the one that was stiffening. She pulled herself from Tom's grip and marched over to where Mattheo sat on the couch. Tom's black eyes burned into her with barely contained wrath. His fury was icy and cold; he didn't appreciate being deprived of her. But it served him right; whatever it was clearly had something to do with her so she deserved to know.

Sirius looked at them warily. "What just happened?"

Evelyn plastered a blank look on her face. She was never good at faking smiles. "What do you mean?"

"I felt like I just watched you two have an argument and yet neither of you spoke."

He should know. He's your uncle. He might be able to provide some answers. It seemed logical. He was family. Why hadn't she told him earlier?

She took a deep breath, looking at Tom before back to her uncle. "Tom and I—"

"Little Dove." The voice inside her head was a warning.

A warning that Evelyn ignored. "Tom and I have some kind of bond. We can speak to each other in our minds and he can sense what I'm feeling."

Tom's jaw ticked as he stared at her with anger in his black eyes. Mattheo gulped beside her and quickly scurried out of the room. "I warned you not to tell him." And despite the fact that his voice was subdued, she knew it was just the calm before the storm. "I don't care who he is. We can't trust that he's not working with the Death Eaters to hurt you."

"He hasn't even been able to communicate with the Death Eaters, Tom. Plus, he's my uncle."

"I broke him out two days ago. 48 hours is plenty of time to come into contact with radicals desperate to do anything."

"Even if that were the case, he wouldn't do that because he's my uncle, Tom."

"And your grandparents were the ones that almost killed you." His words hit her square in th chest just like he meant them to. She visibly recoiled from the effect they had on her. Tom's face immediately softened. "Little Dove, I didn't mean it like—"

"You meant exactly what you said and you know it. You meant to hurt."

"Not hurt you. I would never mean to hurt you."

"And yet you did like it was second nature." Evelyn turned away from him, turning into her cousin's shoulder as she completely blocked Tom out, both from her head and from her vision.

Sirius's eyes widened, quickly flashing between the two of them. She knew that he could see the conversation between them. Perhaps their eyes changed or perhaps it was just their changing expressions. "Has it always been like this?"

"There was a connection but nothing like how it's been since we've met. And it's only gotten stronger. Some people believe that a piece of Tom lives inside me." Her uncle pursed his lips and made a humming sound. "What is it? Do you think you might know why?"

"I suspect," Sirius said slowly. "That your souls are tied. Bonded, perhaps, if the symptoms happened before you two laid eyes on each other."

"What do you mean?

Sirius sighed. "The soul is an old kind of magic, a powerful kind of magic. Even the most advanced wizards hardly know anything about it. To have the kind of connection you speak of is unheard of. You can tie souls to another through spells like the Unbreakable Vow or sever them into Horcruxes, like your father attempted to do." Sirius stole a glance at Tom but Evelyn still didn't look at him. "But I suspect that your bond comes from something that happened before this life. Your souls chose one another before you entered this world. I wonder—if that is the case—if you are only able to leave this world together."

"What do you mean?"

"Think of souls like a cord. Everyone has one cord and yet, somewhere in the beyond, your cords intertwined." As Sirius spoke, his hands moved around, demonstrating what he was saying. "You coiled together and when one of you had to leave, instead of untwisting your cords, you cut them in two. A piece of Tom inside you, a piece of you inside him. Each of you with two halves to a different whole. Soul bonds, or soul mates."

Her uncle smiled sadly. "I knew two people who were like that. Soul mates. They died young. Together. Their souls couldn't handle being apart. But with you two... well, one would have to be blind to not see Tom is powerful, and even then, they could feel it. He's very powerful. It would make sense that any soul bond of Tom's is stronger too."

Evelyn's eyes widened. A soul bond? She'd never heard such a thing, not outside of romance novels, at least. And yet despite how far-fetched it seemed, part of her knew that it was true. That her soul was completely tied to Tom's and his to hers, that it had always been like this. The darkness and the stars within it. Destined to follow each other until the end of time.

"How do you know all of this?" she asked. It was the one question that still seemed logical. All others could only be explained by magic.

He smiled sadly. "When you spend most of your life surrounded by beings that consume the souls of others, you learn the ways of their magic. Not all of the ways but some. I could feel the darkness within Tom from the moment he stepped into but when I grabbed his arm, I felt something else. And now, as I look into your eyes, I realize that that something was you. It was your soul and his, forever entwined.

"You say that your bond gets stronger with time. That's your cord tightening. Tom's power is greater than the bond—he can shield himself from things if he needs to—but yours, my darling niece, isn't. You are not powerful enough to block it out, to live without your soul as Tom can, as his father did."

"What are you saying?"

Sirius looked at her with worry in her eyes. "I am saying that you could die if you go too long without him. Your mind will deteriorate as your body weakens."

Tom growled with a clenched jaw. "I'm not leaving her side."

"Good, because you might kill her if you do," Sirius snapped. His voice softened when he turned back to Evelyn. "I'm not your father, Evelyn, and I won't pretend to be. But you need to be careful. Both of you."

"I will," she said quietly. It was then that Evelyn realized that Tom was right, as was Sirius. Her power was weak. She only did well in her classes because she was smart, not because she was skilled. Merlin, she almost drowned in a dream because of her pull to a nonsentient lake.

"I told you to stay away from it," Tom said darkly.

"And I did."

"Then why the fuck did I have to enter your dreams and pull you away from it?"

Evelyn wanted to snap back but she couldn't because she was right. "I'll stay away from it. I promise."

"Are you still mad, Little Dove?"

"Yes." Less, but still.

"I only suspected the bond when he spoke of souls being an old magic. I knew nothing you didn't."

"But if you had a guess you could have told me."

She heard him sigh. "Alright, my darling, I apologize. I will tell you guesses in the future. Does this satisfy you?"

She smiled at him. "Yes, Tom."

"Good. Because I'm going to make you scream my name later for being such a little brat." Evelyn's cheeks flushed.

Sirius looked at them with a smirk. "Speaking with the bond, eh? Y'know, that's a bit rude to do that in front of others."

"Tell me about it!" Mattheo explained, flinging his knife at the ceiling as he spoke for the first time all night. "They do this all the time!"

Tom smirked. "Would you like me to say the things I whisper to little Evelyn's mind out loud?"

Mattheo seemed to realize what his brother was implying. "Yuck. No!"

"So quit complaining." Tom scoffed. "I gave you a choice. Do not say that I am not a generous brother."

"A generous brother wouldn't do the things you do to my cousin when I'm three doors away! I just know you do things in there!"

"Oh yes, many things," the heir replied with a smirk. Would you prefer me to move your room closer and remove the quiet spell?"

"Fuck no!"

"That's two choices I have offered that you have turned down..."

Sirius turned to her while the brothers kept going back and forth. "Are they always like this?"

Evelyn chuckled. "Yeah, kind of."

He grinned. "You have quite the family."

Her uncle. Her cousin. Her lover. All together in the house that was now hers. In a home that they could build together. Yes, she thought with a smile. My family.

This was a big chapter to write lol, having to explain the soul magic (it all goes along with canon though for you purists) and make sure that Sirius was accurate. Hopefully you all liked it! I just love this story 3

ALSO, just to get you extra excited: the next chapter will be about the ball! (if you don't know what the ball is and want to find out before the chapter is written, check out "The What?" in Smoke and Stars for a refresher). So excited for what is already turning out to be a romantic chapter.