Burning Obsessions; Tom Riddle

47: Forget Me Notts

[victoria's pov]

Three weeks, I spent my time with Tom. Three weeks, I found myself truly seeing his power. And he wasn't afraid to teach it to me.

My time with him, he taught me memory modification and the greatest shielding spells. And the darkest ones. The only one I was not able to obtain was necromancy, which was a horrid sight and created a deafening scream from them.

He had gained not just an army, but an entire government of listeners. And there was no protest, but a throne where he sat and commanded what was to happen.

And I didn't fear it.

None of it scared me, but it made me afraid for the wizarding world.

Enzo had begged me to stop it. To stop the chaos, but I had told him I wanted no part of it, which was true. I just wanted Tom.

Yet he didn't understand that.

So I had to get back home. Even though he loved me, it didn't mean he understood my needs. I wanted a life with him that wouldn't involve this dark magic, this evil. To be normal was to be blessed.

The corridors seemed empty as I made my way out of the maze. The same maze that led up to the stairs, the stairs that led to the hut, that led back outside. All of this chaos was hiding underneath a hut and no one knew. Not a single soul.

And I'd be to blame because for Tom, I would keep it that way.

"Where are you going?" a voice asks from behind me.

I whip my head and it's Nagini, who I had not been very fond of. She had not been very fond of me either and I knew it.

In the past few necks, she had been creeping in the corners of the rooms that Tom and I stayed in. The room we conversed in and made whole in. None of it fazed me that she was watching because I knew it would only tell her that she could not replace me.

"I'm leaving," I say. "I need to get back to my life."

"Does the dark lord know?" she asked.

"I don't expect him to," I say. "He's always busy and we both know it."

I turn for the door but she slams it harshly, almost breaking my fingers. I freeze angrily. She now had the nerve.

"No one has ever replaced me so easily," she hissed. "What do you and the dark lord have that throws me so easily in the shadows?"

I ignore her and her eyes darken.

"I have been with him almost every step of the way. I'm not letting a whore bewitch the dark lord-"

"Don't think for a moment that I can so easily be bewitched," Tom's voice says from behind us.

We turn our heads and Tom's standing in the corner as if he was watching all along. Nagini kneels slightly.

"My lord-"

"Enough," Tom says and turns to me, nearing me. "Did you really think I'd let you leave so easily?"

I gave Nagini a look, not wanting to talk with her in the room. Tom gives her the same shared look and she leaves with a huff and disappears down the stairs.

Tom turns back to me, towering over me almost angrily.

"I'm leaving," I say. "Until you can stop this chaos. I don't want anything but you, Tom. And you can't understand that."

"Will I never be enough?" Tom asks. "All of this is for you-"

"No, it's not," I say sternly, keeping my tone down. "I don't need this army. You don't need all of this power for me to get as close to loving you."