It was hot. His room suddenly felt like it could catch on fire any second. His skin was boiling, hands yanking on his tie attempting to loosen it. He paced back and forth, shoving his cloak off and blazer. His hands came to his hair, running his hands through it as if it'd do anything for the heat radiating through his body. His throat went dry, scratching at it in hopes it'd help. He looked down to his watch, it's been hours since he'd last seen Seren. He hoped she'd be there for supper, maybe in a better mood or feeling than she was during class.
His lip was pulled between his teeth, catching the setting sun. She hadn't left her room since, according to her roommates that is. He wasn't going to her room. He couldn't. He didn't care about how she felt. Right?
Even if he claimed not to, what else would explain this feeling of concern that littered his entire body. He couldn't take it, couldn't stand not knowing what was going on. He couldn't give up, give in, prove the old man right.
Seren was no longer in her room. Her fast pace to her professor's office was full of determination and a need for answers. The professor knew all of this, and though he might think she didn't need to know this, she did. It'd help harbor the growing emotions she'd had for Tom that were a mix of fear and hatred or concern.
"Seren," Professor Dumbledore started as she let herself in after knocking, "And what might I do for you?"
"It's his mother's fault isn't it?" She asked storming in. She looked around the office, finding knick knacks every which way. Dumbledore didn't say anything, slowly closing the door after her. "Isn't it?"
"I've no clue what you're speaking of," Dumbledore answered shortly, an attempt to shut it down right away but she wouldn't just let it slide. "Professor please don't act like I'm stupid... you know exactly what I'm talking about. You know everything."
"On the contrary, there are many things I do not know," he said. She let out a huff, fingers running through her hair, "Poor Tom. Why? Why would she do that to him? Did he not matter? Did what was right not matter?"
"You have to understand Miss Lestrange that, matters of the heart can blind one, create a false reality, make them feel like there is only one option when there isn't," Dumbledore stated playing with a crystal hourglass on his desk. Seren shook her head, "I don't believe that. You can not tell me Merope Gaunt was in love. You do not do that to someone you love. You don't force anything on them, you don't abandon them. She is Tom's mother, the one who is supposed to love him unconditionally."
"Have you ever been treated as she was? Shoved into a little box, constantly degraded and humiliated. Treated like scum, only there to serve others?" Dumbledore asked, "You are right. You do not do that to someone you love but I believe the woman had never learned what love was to begin with."
He walked toward his window, staring down at the courtyard, "If I am right, you saw the Gaunt family somewhere down your...gifted abilities—which you've managed to exclude me from all information. Is there a reason you've failed to inform me about the progress? When you have promised to relay information to me, necessary information that is."
He looked back to her, her silence only confirmed his long time suspicions, "I believe it is your attempt at protecting Tom the best you believe you can."
Seren shifted in her stance from one leg to the other. Her lip fell between her teeth, brows knitted together, "I don't kno—"
"I've suspected long ago, your actions toward him. Your constant attempts at protecting him, treating him like he was not lesser than. Despite all that you've seen, things that will happen, you fail to see the true depths of his evil." Dumbledore took a step closer. "It is not something I'm a stranger to. The raising suspicions being pushed aside by your fantasies, believing that he isn't capable of such horrendous acts of violence. Of murder. Torture. And I say this from personal experience Miss Lestrange, it is not something you should tread around lightly. Your attempts to protect him will be his and yours downfall."
"And so you blame the mother," Dumbledore added, "There is no part of that that I could disagree with. Her actions were wrong and selfish, for wanting to feel loved. She took advantage of someone, created another human being under false eyes. And the person to be paying for it is going to be you."
"What?" Seren asked, taking a step back. He sighed, "One might believe it is Tom who will pay for it in the end. He is going to be the one stuck feeling empty on both the inside and the outside. No ounce of love in his entire being for anyone other than himself. But tell me, why do you fight so hard for him?"
"Do you expect your feelings to be returned?" He asked her. A lump formed in her throat, confusion coursing through her veins, trying to understand what the professor was clearly spelling out in front of her. "It pains me to say this, it does Seren, but he will never have any love for you. The best thing to do to save him, and you, is... stay away. He will go on to be this monster of a person, it's already started and I'm not sure if it's your attempt to be a hero but that will not change. Stay far away, know that you've tried everything you could."
The Day of the Jellybeans
Tom followed after their Professor, looking back to Seren. She was picking up their mess, hair tucked neatly behind her ears. He wondered if she'd finished the candies, or if she'd wait for them to eat them again. Part of him had to thank Laney, he hadn't seen Seren laugh in that way for a while now.
"I believe you've lost your focus Tom," Dumbledore said once they were in his office. The boy looked to him, brows furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean by that sir?"
Dumbledore only sighed, looking out the window like he usually did, "You were such a determined boy. A thirst to prove yourself, prove your worth, whatever that meant. There has been a shift hasn't there? Something more important?"
Tom had no words. He'd suspected long ago Dumbledore was on to him. Ever since the trouble in the chamber. No, even farther back, like the man had no faith in him. Even in the orphanage years ago, the look he'd given him at the mention of speaking to snakes, looking down at the little boy like he was infested with evil for something he thought was a gift. "Why are you pressing me?" It was true in Tom's eyes. It always felt this way when he spoke to the professor, as if he was doing everything in his power to taunt the boy, to draw out his worse.
"Is it because of Miss Lestrange?" Dumbledore finally asked, "I always assumed you'd change your ways because of her. I sensed the connection since the beginning. I never took you as someone to break so easily. Actually I was sure you'd never break from your ways. Your time at the orphanage would've only made you stronger, but she changed that didn't she?"
"What are you implying?"
"You love her."
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"Or you think you do," Dumbledore shrugged, "But ask yourself this Tom, do you think that you are capable of such emotion? And to love someone who has had everything you've ever dreamed of given to her on a silver pattern. No need to prove her worth, all because of a name? It is true, your mother's maiden name had fit the same stature Seren's did long ago but not for many years leading up to your birth. They'd ultimately become nothing. And you had been born into nothing. No emotion. No love. No care. It was all thrown away around your time, nobody to look to you with love. And if you believe you will find that with Seren, that you deserve to be someone loved, ask yourself what she will think, years from now when you've done your worst only to be broken because you let yourself open up to vulnerability."
"Do you think she will be able to love someone like that? Someone who will never reciprocate her emotions?"
