Into Your Gravity ( Luna Lovegood & Tom Riddle )

Chapter eight: Machinations

And when I'm brought forth, stranded, I'm broken, I am grazed
from a choice, a second class one, you are the living proof of phase.
And when your swollen heart, teased, fickle, and insane
makes the call to me, you're someone, you are the meaning of my name.
For You - Rae Morris

•

Some time later, after a long, hushed conversation over their table in The Leaky Cauldron, Cat stared at Luna, dumbfounded. "Luna...you've said a lot of insane things to me in the past, but this has to be the most insane."

Luna shrugged. "I know."

"Do you - do you still have it?" Cat whispered.

Pulling the long, thin chain from under her robes and lifting it over her head, Luna then laid the Time-Turner down in front of Cat. Cat reached for it, then hesitated.

"It's okay to touch it," Luna said. "He enchanted it to only work once anyway, and among a number of other things, he is a very talented wizard."

As Cat picked up the Time-Turner and inspected it in her hands, Luna breathed a deep sigh of relief. Telling someone what had happened, all that she had been through, felt much like a teapot releasing steam. That Cat seemed to believe her...even more so.

"So," Cat said, setting the Time-Turner back down on the table, "old pretty boy Riddle was an absolute wanker all along. I knew there was something off about him. A purity-obsessed Dark wizard and murderer bent on taking over the world, eh? Sounds about right for him." She gave a glum shake of her head. "And to think we've only just gotten past Grindelwald's nonsense. I wonder if I'll ever be considered an equal witch, even though I'm a Muggle-born? Doesn't sound like it, if you're saying the future is as bigoted as now."

Luna reached out and took Cat's hand. "There will always be people who hate, but there's also always people who know better. And in my time, Tom is defeated."

"How did you...fall in love with him, knowing what he is?" Cat asked. "When you came back in time the first time, you knew. But you spent time with him anyway. You fell in love with him. How?"

"Nobody is all good or all evil. There's a part of Tom still, something inside him that's good. That wants to be good."

Cat shook her head again, disbelief apparent on her face, then looked towards Violetta, who was keeping herself entertained with drawing colorful shapes on a piece of parchment. "Are you going to tell him about her?" Cat asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm not much accustomed to indecision, but I'm undecided about this. I want to. I feel he has a right to know, don't you?"

"Personally...I mean, do you want my true opinion?" Cat said. Once Luna had nodded, Cat continued, "I don't think he has much right to anything, if you want me to be honest. Luna, he's the reason your dad died. He's going to become the Darkest wizard the world has ever seen - worse than Grindelwald. And you're telling me there's a Prophecy about his child returning him to power? That's some scary stuff, Luna, do you really want to risk her over it? You're acting as though the person he is now isn't that person, but is that really true? Wouldn't the right thing to do at this point be to - to, you know...kill him? He's going to do so much damage to the world, even beyond just you and Violetta."

Luna's eyes fell to the table. She had expected this. It was the familiar argument Harry, Hermione, and the rest had made. And none of them were wrong. "I know. I appreciate your forthrightness with me. I'm sure you think I'm being delusional, perhaps even selfish. That very well might be true. I understand what you're saying, of course. This is why I haven't told him yet."