The Girl from Azkaban ~ Tom Riddle (18+)

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝕿𝖜𝖔

~✧~

"You did what?" the deep voice of Tom Marvolo Riddle bellowed through the large mansion, making the young brunette witch flinch.

"I told him about my gift, as well as everything else," she tried to defend her position more serbly. Still, it didn't escape Tom's notice how her body betrayed her and made herself a little smaller.

"Don't you know what kind of danger this poses to us Taraphina? He could run straight to the ministry and have you taken away from me. What are we supposed to do then? Mh?"

"He wouldn't do that," Tara argued against her friend's fear, stamping her foot angrily. With a raised eyebrow, Tom watched her actions, waiting for the apologetic look he knew would come any second.

"Listen Tom," she tried more calmly now and as predicted her expression softened, "He's my brother, he wouldn't do something like that to me."

"He's not your brother."

Tara sighed, "Yes he is, we talked and he promised me that nothing will change between us now. The only thing that will change is his attitude towards you. He was, if you noticed at all, not too keen on you and me having a relationship. But now he can understand why we came to like each other in the first place."

"People say a lot of things."

"But not the ones who really love you."

Now Tom was the one who sighed, "I hope you're right dear."

With those words he disappeared from the room, still visibly angry.

~✧~

The place next to Taraphina in the bed was empty and cold for a long time, but sometime after midnight it was filled. The young witch noticed how the mattress next to her lowered and she could finally snuggle closer to the person she had been waiting for so long.

"Are you still angry?" she asked cautiously, taking his hand in hers. Slowly, she put Tom's arm down so that she could lie on his chest and his arm wrapped around her body.

"Mmm," he grumbled, but let her rest her head on his muscular chest. Gently, then, she traced the scars on his skin that she herself had left there not too long ago.

"Try to look at it this way, if you show your people they can rely on you, they will give their all so you can rely on them. True loyalty only works both ways."

"How do you know that."

"Because I think your followers are more behind me than they are behind you. Because I always treat them like my family and not like my servants."

"I don't do that either."

"Yes you do to some extent. The moments are pretty rare when you play their friend."

Tom gasped, "That's not true."

Tara giggled, "Yes it is. Besides, I'm not even saying you have to change that if you don't want to. I'm just saying you don't have to worry about me on that point."

"But I am anyway. Because I can tell you from experience that only death as leverage is enough to get complete loyalty in return."

"Isn't it more loyalty out of fear than real loyalty?"

"It is loyalty and that is all that matters. Now sleep we have some plans for tomorrow," Tom grumbled.

"Like what?" the young witch wanted to know exactly, but only got a growl in reply.

With another giggle, she decided to leave it at that and dive into a world of dreams. Tom was already an interesting personality, but Taraphina had to admit that there really was a development in his character. She wouldn't even want to know what all he would have done to her if he were the same as he was a year ago.