Stolen Time A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Eight

"I said kill them," Tom hissed, his voice deadly.

Cassiopeia looked back at him, her face still shielded by her hood. She knew that any spoken reply would give her away immediately so she pressed her lips together and only nodded wordlessly. Obviously Tom had been expecting something more than that, probably at least a submissively muttered "my lord", because his eyes narrowed dangerously and he stepped closer. Unconsciously Cassiopeia held her breath, half expecting Tom to just raise his wand again and crucio her without further ado for disobeying his orders.

But he didn't. Instead he hissed, "Put that hood down and show me your face."

Unsure about how to react, Cassiopeia didn't move.

"I said show me your face," Tom repeated menacingly. The next instant he was standing right in front of her, rudely shoving her hood back with his hand until her face wasn't hidden by the shadows anymore.

Cassiopeia kept her lips pressed together and stared into Tom's eyes that were still blazing with fury. Yet no matter how much the look in his eyes frightened her, she stubbornly refused to avert her gaze.

"I knew it was you," he hissed. "None of the others would have refrained from killing anyone who was trying to attack them." There was a fraction of deathly silence before Tom snarled, "What are you doing here?"

Cassiopeia resisted the urge to shudder at the amount of suppressed rage that was ringing in his voice. "You called me," she replied, trying to sound confident.

Tom's eyes narrowed. "You know very well that you weren't supposed to come here," he spat. "You know very well it wasn't me calling you." Still glowering at her, he finally hissed, "Go home," and when Cassiopeia continued to stare back at him, he added slightly exasperatedly, "Now."

"You can't just send me home like some misbehaving child," Cassiopeia said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"So what do you want to do here? Fight?" Tom asked mockingly. "Kill people for a cause that doesn't really matter to you?"

"Who says that the cause doesn't matter to me?"

"Oh, come on, I'm not dumb. I'm perfectly aware that you don't believe in pureblood supremacy. You didn't fail to make yourself clear on that, the past decades," Tom shot back, his eyebrow raised.

"You don't do this because of any belief in pureblood supremacy either," Cassiopeia whispered, her gaze locked with his. "You do it to ensure your power, you do it for yourself. And I'm sure you've come to realize that much as well during the past decades, you do matter to me."

"So you want to stay and fight?" Without breaking their eye contact Tom waved his wand at a boy who had just peered around the corner. Tom's curse hit before the other even had a chance to react and Cassiopeia and Tom heard a low thud when the dead body made contact with the floor. "You're ready for this? For doing it yourself?" Tom's gaze bore into Cassiopeia's eyes and she stubbornly held her ground, refusing to look away, even though she was plainly aware of the answer.

"Why don't you want me to be here? I bet I am just as capable as the others," Cassiopeia retorted and with a little satisfaction she realized that she sounded a lot more confident than she felt.

Tom clenched his teeth. Why did she always have to argue? Why did she always have to question his orders? Of course he knew she was just as capable. That wasn't the reason why he wanted her to stay away. The point was that she was still disturbingly mortal, disturbingly vulnerable. No matter how much he hated to admit it, he didn't even want to imagine her being hit by a stray fatal curse.

"It's not safe here," he finally spat through his clenched teeth.

Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow, clearly taken aback. "You don't worry about me, do you?" Her voice sounded mildly incredulous.

Tom glared back at her, his voice icy. "So what if I do?"

The ghost of a smile crossed Cassiopeia's face. Following on a sudden impulse she leaned forward and, standing on her toes, lightly brushed her lips against Tom's. She sensed his body instantly reacting to her touch and felt his lips twitch into an involuntary smirk, the iciness of his features dissolving at last. Pulling away from him, Cassiopeia whispered, "That would be one of the best things you ever did."

Tom looked back at her and suddenly felt himself longing intensely for her touch. However, knowing this was neither the right time nor the right place, he took a step back. "Go home now. I'll be back," he muttered and vanished in a cloud of black smoke-like vapour, leaving Cassiopeia standing alone in the hallway.

Cassiopeia was just about to apparate back to Houlton Manor when she heard a loud noise from the other end of the hallway. She turned around just in time to see Avery stumbling backwards from what seemed to be an office, a heavily pained expression on his face. Even from the distance Cassiopeia immediately saw the bad cut that had split his right arm open, blood streaming rapidly from the wound. Without thinking Cassiopeia darted along the aisle. Whoever was fighting against Avery continued his assault relentlessly, and Avery was barely dodging the attacks. When Cassiopeia was next to him she could see his opponent hunching over a desk inside the office, clearly injured as well, but the determined gleam of survival burning in his eyes. He was aiming his wand at Avery and casting yet another curse which Avery managed to shield himself from, despite his hand trembling heavily from the rapid blood loss. The moment she reached Avery, Cassiopeia slashed her wand at the wizard in the office. Her spell hit the man just before he could hurl another curse at Avery. Incapacitated, he fell down on the desk.

Avery's gaze shot at Cassiopeia's face and a strange look of surprise and confusion crossed his eyes. Realizing her hood was still shoved back where Tom had left it, Cassiopeia instinctively reached up with her hand and pulled it back into her face while pointing her wand at Avery's arm, tentatively closing the cut in order to make the wound stop bleeding.

Avery's voice was husky when he breathed, "That was just in time. Never been so glad to see you, Houlton."

Throwing another glance at the wizard in the office, he realized that the man's chest was still rising and falling feebly. "He's still alive," Avery muttered matter-of-factly and glanced at Cassiopeia whose gaze was fixed on the unconscious body a few feet away from them, the expression in her eyes empty. The ghost of a smile flickered across Avery's features.

"I'll do it," he whispered. With some effort he raised his injured wand arm again and, pointing his wand at the man, muttered, "Avada Kedavra." The green light left his wand and hit the man, abruptly ending the faint motion of his chest.

Tearing her gaze away from the now dead body in front of them, Cassiopeia looked back at Avery. "You lost lots of blood. We've got to get you away from here," she said tensely. "Your arm needs to be taken care of properly."

A look of fear shot through Avery's eyes. "I can't leave before the Dark Lord allows me to."

Cassiopeia's eyes narrowed. "He is occupied elsewhere and I'm quite sure he doesn't want us to disturb him just because of your injury. Still I can't imagine he would be pleased to find out you bled to death while you were waiting for him to dismiss you."

Avery looked hesitant, a pained expression marring his features. His arm was hurting badly and the amount of blood he had lost made him feel dizzy. Leaving the site and getting his injuries taken care of sounded unbelievably inviting. But the idea of leaving without the Dark Lord's approval and the obligatory punishment that would surely follow sent a shiver down his spine, causing him to stay rooted to the spot. "I'll stay here," he replied hoarsely. "You closed the cut. I'm not losing blood anymore. I can wait and endure the pain until he tells us to leave."

Cassiopeia threw him another glance. Finally she nodded. "Your decision. But I have to leave. The Dark Lord was quite clear on that he didn't like seeing me here tonight..." Her voice trailed away.

Avery shot her a sympathetic glance. "I am glad you were here tonight, though."

A smile crossed Cassiopeia's face before she quickly turned on the spot and left Avery alone in the corridor.

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Author's note: Just as always....thanks so much for reading and voting!! You're really great!