Not About Angels (A Tom Riddle Story)

Chapter 95

Gabriel handed a letter to Miles Avery.

Avery raised an eyebrow. 

"Give this to him." He told Avery.

"I don't know where he is." Avery responded curtly.

"Don't worry. My grandfather doesn't know. I just need him to see this letter. No matter what, get it to him."

Avery nodded. 

................................. 

She had spent the last few weeks in the hospital still. Gabriel still visited occasionally, but he never stepped into the room.

Sometimes, when she was still awake, she could sense that he was there, but she never called to him. She knew that he didn't want to speak to her. 

The nurse took her out on strolls around the hospital grounds on a wheelchair daily. The smell of fresh air after so many days of confinement was priceless to her.  

She wanted to see it all so badly. 

But she told herself that she couldn't afford to worry about herself anymore...her daughter was coming soon. Very soon, and then, she would have hope again.  

Part of her still hoped that he would show up...that he would come back, and they could have a real family...

But she cut that part of herself off, and when she dreamt of his face, she would tell herself to forget the next morning.  

"What time is it?" She asked her nurse. 

"It's five, miss."

"So sunset is nearing?"

"Yes."

She nodded and bit her lip. What she would give to see the sunset again. To see his eyes again...

"Should we go inside?" The nurse asked. 

"No. no. Just stop me here. I want to stay out here for a bit longer." 

She sat there, listening to the gentle sway of the breeze, the rustling of leaves, chirping of birds, distant chatter...

She didn't know what life had in store for her ahead. She told herself that it was perhaps best to not know.  

She put a hand on her stomach and felt amazed once again at her ability to create life. 

She promised her daughter that she would never repeat Miranda's mistakes. Her daughter would have a warm home and a mother's love, no matter what...

Abigail could still feel the cold floors of the orphanage. She still had the scars from the abuse. She shuddered to think of it. 

It was her seventeenth birthday, the day she became an adult...but she hasn't been a child in a very, very long time... 

She asked the nurse to take her back so she could lie down. 

She laid on the bed, wishing that she could talk to someone. Someone to celebrate with. 

Gabriel was determined to not come to the hospital today. He told himself that visiting was pointless; visiting only brought him more pain. It was her birthday, and he told himself that he wasn't going to see her. He really couldn't. 

He lingered by the door of his room, pondering whether he should call for the portkey to take him to the hospital. 

He had gone to Hogsmeade and gotten a batch of her favorite cupcakes. He threw the box aside and was determined to control himself. 

He walked in, and out, and then in again of his room.

.........................

"Tom! A letter for you. Avery delivered it. He says it's from Gabriel Delacroix." Lestrange announced, handing the envelope to Tom Riddle. 

Tom Riddle looked over the plain white envelope and then tore it open. He read the black letters on white paper, then froze.   

He crumpled the paper into a ball in his palms as his face crinkled into a deep frown. 

"What does he want?" Lestrange asked, but backed away after seeing the expression on Tom Riddle's face.

Tom Riddle debated the question in his mind. 

How desperately he wanted to go. 

But if he did, he risked getting caught...he knew that once the Minister had him, he would aim to kill.... 

But the thought of her, and their daughter...

He clenched his fist until his knuckles turned ghost-white. 

He then remembers the promise he made to her all those years ago...he wouldn't be a coward this time, he told himself. 

He would go, and he would save her. 

She saved him over and over again, and now it was his turn to fight for her.