The World is Yours | Tom Riddle

chapter xxxi.

You are at once both the quiet

and confusion of my heart

- Franz Kafka

Atarah.

Tom woke me up at five am. Which is the main reason I am in a foul mood at the moment. The other reason is that there is now an uncomfortable silence surrounding us. When I emerged from the bathroom yesterday he was gone. He literally fled after our interaction.

I waited for him to show but he didn't appear until he woke me up this morning. He did have food sent up to me throughout the day though, with a brief note telling me to not leave the room.

He thankfully gave me enough time this morning to get ready and with a quick glance in the bathroom mirror I saw that the bruise around my neck had completely disappeared. Taking a deep breath I left the bathroom and in the room was a tray with food for the both of us.

Walking forward I grabbed my plate and moved to the table in the room and began eating. Tom joined me a moment later and within ten minutes we were both finished.

"We have a long morning ahead of us. I told the others to meet me at one this afternoon." His words are hurried and he doesn't give me a chance to reply before he is grabbing his bag and leaving the room. I sigh before grabbing my bag as well and following after him.

...

I have come to a decision that I hate traveling by apparition. We stopped four separate times to just reach this place. And each time I felt as if I were going to throw up. If I never have to travel that way again, I would be very grateful but as I have found out I have awful luck.

Tom leads us to a large home that is covered in overgrown vines. He walked right into the home and it seems as if he is familiar with the place. I followed him without a word as I take a real look at the large home. This home is absolutely beautiful. With dark marble floors, extravagant paintings, and gorgeous decorations.

Even with dust coating everything I know that this house belongs to someone very wealthy. Tom leads me into a drawing room and at once he casts a spell that cleans the room and lights the candles.

"Whose house is this?" I ask the question as I walk around the room looking at everything. My gaze catching onto the wall of portraits above the large fireplace. "Mine." My eyes shoot to Tom who is now standing beside me- looking at the portraits along with me.

"Wouldn't Dumbledore try looking here if this is your home?" Tom chuckles next to me before stepping away. "Not if he doesn't know about it. Technically this was my family's home." I am left with even more questions than before but I know now is not the time to ask them.

Tom leaves me in the room and doesn't return until a half hour later. Glancing at the large grandfather clock I see that the others should be arriving any time now. Tom enters the room and sits down at an adjacent chair.

The silence is killing me so finally I decide to speak, "Where did you disappear to yesterday?" He continues starting forward as if he didn't hear me and I am about to ask the question again when he averts his gaze to me.

"I went to find where Adrian was staying. I knew he would be carrying around the spells I wanted. It took me a while to find them but he was always quite terrible at hiding stuff he shouldn't have."

Another question surfaces, "How did you know him?" Tom's jaw tightens for a second before he answers my second question. "I knew him briefly from my time at the orphanage. And then again when I was brought to Hogwarts."

The room is silent again after he answers. I'm not sure how much more time passes until Tom speaks again, "Atarah-" He looks at me briefly before looking back at the fireplace. "I want you to know that I swear nobody else will ever lay a hand on you."

Tom stands up abruptly after his statement and glances quickly in my direction before leaving the room. Once again leaving without giving me a chance to respond.

...

The others are now an hour and a half late. I have an awful feeling that something bad happened and I begin pacing back and forth. I suddenly hear the sound of glass crashing to the floor and I race towards the sound. Pulling my wand out and preparing for the worst.

I follow the sound of glass constantly shattering and it leads me into a large kitchen. I drop my wand as I see that Tom is the source of the destruction. He seems to be on edge too. They are two hours late now and there are only a few reasons they are. None of them are good.

Tom meets my gaze and I step back at the look. His head snaps to the side at a sound he heard and then he's rushing out of the room. Instinctively I follow after him and almost crash into him at the sight of the three people now standing in the foyer.

Rosier, Malfoy, and Lestrange are standing there breathlessly. "What happened?" Tom picks up on their worried moods and the three cast a glance to each other before telling us what occurred. "We had planned to leave earlier but Francis wouldn't leave without Annalie." Annalie. Oh my God.

"He tried to convince her to come with us but she wouldn't understand. He told us he wouldn't leave without her." Malfoy pauses and Rosier continues where he left off.

"Francis told her. He told her everything. He thought it was the only way to get her to come but she freaked out." Riddle runs his hand through his hair at the information and I feel my hands begin to shake in fear.

"We tried to force him to come with us but then Dumbledore showed up. He was looking for us. Francis left us and went to get Annalie. She was asleep in his arms when we met up again but Dumbledore was waiting for us in the room. We were barely able to make it through the passageway. We waited for Annalie and Francis to come through behind us but- " Rosier stops his story. I turn around to hide the tears that are flowing freely down my face.

"Tell me." Tom says the words in a demanding tone. Neither Rosier or Malfoy speak, leaving Lestrange to tell us the rest. "The vanishing cabinet exploded. We don't know how it was possible. We have no way of getting back to Hogwarts. We have no way of knowing if Francis or Annalie made it out or if they're.." Cyrus doesn't say the last word but it's clear enough what he meant. They could be dead.

Annalie might be dead.