AN
You should have cut him off forever, Naenia, trust me. But she has never been the best when it comes to morals, has she?
October 1943, 6th year
Despite what she had told Nott, Naenia was willing to forgive Tom. Or at least listen to him.
His actions were still inexcusable and terrible and something Naenia could never accept and she knew, with absolute certainty, that Tom would never regret what he had done. At least when it came to the Horcrux. She hoped he would leave it at that. She hoped he wouldn't do something like that again. But Naenia was aware that was only foolish, wishful thinking.
The thing was, though, that Naenia wasn't a good person, either. She didn't view herself as a bad person, but she knew the rest of the wizarding population would never agree. A Necromancer was so closely linked to Death that they couldn't help but practice the Forbidden Arts. They had to. It was a compulsion they couldn't resist. Naenia did not see the problem with animating the dead, but others did. 'Normal' wizards and witches drew the line at an entirely different point than the Lémures, and Naenia, having grown up in that household, did not quite understand it, but she was at least aware of what it meant.
Did she have the right to judge Tom based on her own values, when they were so very different from what most perceived as normal? He was, in the end, in a similar position to her own. Just because someone thought about something as 'unacceptable' or 'evil' didn't necessarily make it that way.
Naenia thought creating Inferi was perfectly fine, while others blanched in horror at the mere thought.
She wondered, then, whether there where others who didn't see Horcruxes or the creation of one as something bad. There must be, or no one would have invented them in the first place.
What it came down to was this: Naenia would never approve of what Tom had done, but she wasn't so sure whether she would never forgive him as well – whether she had the right to decide how bad it was. And she missed her friend. Amelia and Black and Nott had eased her loneliness. Had helped her forget. But that night at the ball had shown her how easy it was to just let her relationship with Tom fall back into place.
It had hurt. It had hurt so much and Naenia had never thought she would ever form a friendship so deep with someone who was only using her for his own gain and that had hurt even more.
So she was, perhaps, willing to forgive him for the Horcrux. But what Naenia didn't want to forgive – because it was nothing that he had done wrong – was the nature of their relationship. She didn't want that, not anymore. They had started on a mutual agreement that he had never fulfilled and Naenia didn't mind that, but what she wanted, in this very moment, was for their friendship to be genuine.
And in that same capacity lay another reason she was feeling hurt. She had explained her views to him so many times and yet he hadn't valued them as a friend – because they weren't, truly, friends. No matter how different their views on the world were, had they truly been friends he would have taken her opinion into consideration. But the thought had never even crossed his mind. And that was what hurt her the most – that their friendship was not real, had never been, and that he did not value her in that way.
But she had always known that, hadn't she? They had both been aware that he only kept her around for her knowledge and power, because of the benefits she might provide (but tried not to).
Naenia wanted to be Tom's true friend, not someone he kept around for the benefits.
This was Tom, though, so the chances were very, very slim.
He had been trying to win her favour back in a few different ways that were, in the end, all the same at their core. A superficial apology and an appeasement gift. She wondered what it would be – if there would be one – when he finally managed to change her mind. (And he would, eventually, of that there was no doubt. When Tom wanted something, then he would get it, no matter what.)
Would he offer her the ring, she wondered? He knew how much she wanted it – or rather, how much she wanted the stone. She would accept that one gladly, but it would make her less inclined to forgive him at the same time and she couldn't imagine him giving it up anyway.
Well, there was no gift. It was probably better that way.
It also started very blunt – in stark contrast to Tom's usually smooth ways of talking.
"It has come to my attention that I do not see you solely as someone to benefit from," he said one day in early October, right in the middle of the common room where everyone could hear them.
Naenia raised an eyebrow. "Has it, now?"
Tom nodded. "I do care about you, as a friend."
She hummed. "I see."
Tom looked around the room, as if he had only noticed in that very moment that they were not alone. Then he offered her his hand.
Naenia sighed and rose from her seat, ignoring his hand.
"I'll see you later," she said to Nott, with whom she had been discussing N.E.W.T. level classes.
He grinned. "Do try not to be too lovey-dovey afterwards."
Naenia sent a withering glare his way, but he only laughed in response.
The walk up to the seventh floor was quiet. They used the secret passage they had found years ago - with Tom walking in front for once.
The Room of Requirement took the appearance it always took for them – a nice and cosy little room with a fireplace, two very comfortable armchairs and a low table. The tea tray was already waiting for them.
Naenia took out her little tea box and briefly considered slipping one of the poisons in their tea just because she could, but those were actually meant for something else.
They settled down, opposite each other, taking a steaming cup of tea each and sitting in silence for a few moments.
Naenia had started kneading her right knee absentmindedly, when Tom finally spoke.
"I meant what I said. About caring."
Naenia inclined her head, but stayed silent.
"I have come to the realization that, after everything that has happened between us, I have come to value our friendship – for its own sake rather than its merits. I realized that I value you, Naenia – not only as someone with power and knowledge, but as a person, too."
He seemed sincere. But Tom always seemed sincere when he wanted to.
"You do not believe me," he observed.
Naenia raised her eyebrows. "Did you expect me to?"
He gave her a wry smile. "I had to say it all the same."
"And you did. So now what?"
"Now," Tom said, setting his cup down and rising from his seat. He opened his arms wide. "Come here."
Naenia slowly set down her own cup, eyeing him suspiciously. He wanted them to hug. He –
She decided to take the bait, still having doubts about his intentions.
Tom waited patiently, never faltering, until she finally stood before him, and then slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Naenia wasn't sure whether he wanted her to return the hug, but he didn't move nor talk until she did.
She could feel his beating heart, hear it through the layers of his clothing.
"Naenia," he said quietly.
She could feel the rumbling of his voice, the way he rested his chin on her head and his arms all around her. He was warm.
"I missed you."
Naenia was a strong-willed person. She would not fall prey to yet another lie he had crafted to make her forgive him.
"You are more than a tool to me," he continued.
"More than just a tool," she corrected.
He paused. "Yes. More than just a tool. I won't deny that there is a part of me that wants to keep you by my side for your knowledge and power. But it is not the only reason, not anymore." He took a deep breath. "It's different now. When we fought before it wasn't as important to me. I knew I would get you back eventually, it was always only a matter of time and phrasing my words correctly. But this time – this time it hurt being away from you."
How dare he? How dare he use those words – use what she had felt, herself. Naenia felt her eyes prickle and closed them, listening to the beating of his heart, feeling how his chest rose and fell as he breathed.
"It took me a while to realize why I felt that way," Tom continued. "And it took me even longer to realize that this is what truly upset you – not the Horcrux, but the very core of our friendship. The Horcrux was just a trigger, wasn't it? We both knew I would do it and we both knew how you and I feel about that specific topic, respectively. It is something you and I will never see eye to eye on, but what is done is done. I don't regret it. You wouldn't believe me anyway, if I said I did. But I do care about you, Naenia. More than you will ever know."
He fell silent and they stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other's arms.
Ꝋ
It was somewhat scary how fast they were back to their old ways, but that was probably intentional on Tom's part.
Tom was a very busy person – he attended eight classes, never turned one of Professor Slughorn's invitations to dinner down, was part of the Duelling Club, had to fulfil his prefect duties and always made sure to stay ahead of everyone else. And yet he still found time to spend alone with Naenia in their private room up on the seventh floor.
Nothing had been resolved. Which Naenia admittedly only realized several days after they had reconciled, when she watched him interact with his flock, watched how his mask was perfectly intact, even in the confines of their own common room, and was reminded how he had deceived her all this time.
"And it's not like we can just say anything, because Dippet gave you an award just to stay silent," Avery said.
Tom's smile was cool and calculated and didn't seem fake in the slightest. "That he did. The headmaster was very glad that the culprit had been found, yet wanted to make sure no word of it got out. So it only stands to reason that he cannot say anything about this development. I am also fairly sure," Tom glanced at Naenia, "that Professor Dumbledore can be quite persuasive when he needs to be. Headmaster Dippet never stood a chance."
Naenia shifted her legs, so her knee would stop hurting.
"He told me that he was trying his best to lighten Hagrid's sentence," she said, "because he believed in his innocence."
Tom arched an eyebrow. "Did he, now?"
"Was that when he interrupted your dinner with Black and your Hufflepuff last year?" Avery asked. "I saw you leave the hall with him."
Naenia nodded. "He took me to see Myrtle Warren's body."
Nott took in a sharp breath. "He did?"
"Yes. He most likely wouldn't have done it, had he not thought Hagrid was being framed. He had his reservations about letting me anywhere near the corpse, but the need to know the circumstances of her death won out in the end."
"And what did you tell him?" Nott asked, doing his best not to let his eyes wander over to where Tom sat right next to Naenia.
He knew Tom was the real culprit, but he couldn't let him know that.
"The truth," Naenia answered. "That she had died because of very powerful Death Magic, although not the Killing Curse – there was no trace of any curse – but a being possessing a gift from Death Himself."
She felt Tom stiffen beside her, which was only possible because he had resumed sitting too close to her again, making sure they were always sitting on one of the couches and not in the armchairs.
"I also told him that I could not say what kind of being had done it." She smiled and watched as the boys before her recoiled slightly. "Because I couldn't. I know what killed her, because I came to the conclusion based on the information I gathered, myself. Myrtle Warren's body, however, held no clue as to the nature of what had killed her – other than Death Magic, that is."
Nott frowned. "And he believed you?"
Naenia shrugged. "He always does. Even if he doesn't like my answers, he still comes back to question me every time."
"And he asked you about Hagrid?" Tom said. "Whether you believed in his innocence?"
"Yes, albeit he went about it in a rather roundabout way." She remembered thinking of him as a hypocrite, the foolish old man. "I told him that I did not know Hagrid personally and therefore couldn't presume to judge him."
Nott snorted. "That's not even a lie. I remember the clueless look in your eyes when Black and I told you about him."
"Wait," Lestrange interjected. "I feel like I am missing something here. Is Hagrid innocent or not?" He looked at Tom and gulped. "Because I had the impression that he was really behind the attacks – not knowingly, but responsible nonetheless. And… Riddle never makes mistakes."
Tom smiled his cold smile again and simply said, "I don't."
What the others made of this answer, Naenia couldn't possibly guess. They either believed Hagrid was truly guilty or that Tom had known the whole time he wasn't. Would they assume, then, that he was the true culprit, if they believed in the latter?
"Whether he is innocent or not," Avery said. "I can't believe they just allowed him to return to Hogwarts."
"They snapped his wand, didn't they?" Rosier said. "So it's not like he can do much harm. And with the Gamekeeper watching over him, he won't get away with smuggling in dangerous creatures anymore, either." He snorted. "Although I wouldn't put it past old Ogg to simply not notice."
"Even without his wand he can do plenty of harm," Avery said. "It's not like we have to interact with him, but I still don't like it."
Tom leaned forward slightly and everyone looked at him expectantly. "You don't have to like it, but you need to keep in mind that there is nothing we can do about it."
"Because Dumbledore vouches for the big oaf and Dippet's hands are tied," Nott said. "They are all fools, but we knew that already."
"Well," Avery yawned and stretched his arms above his head. "I would say this has been nice, but I can imagine better ways of spending my time than discussing dense oafs, so I'm going to retire now."
He stood up and left for his dormitory, followed by Lestrange. Rosier and Nott retired soon after and then it was only Tom and Naenia left by the fireplace.
"How did Nott come to know the truth?" Tom asked, putting an arm around Naenia's shoulders.
"He figured it out by himself," Naenia said, leaning into his side.
"Did he, now? And without any help?"
Naenia sighed. "One could say it's your fault. Nothing about Rubeus Hagrid being the culprit added up and when Nott asked me whether you were behind it, he could easily read the answer on my face."
Tom shifted so he could properly look at her. "He could easily read the answer on your face?"
Naenia gave him a wry smile. "You know how shaken I was. Not everyone can keep up a perfect mask no matter their inner turmoil." She paused. "And Nott is a very close friend of mine, so it is only natural that he knows me rather well at this point."
"I see," was all Tom said and let the matter drop.