The Love Story of Harriet Potter and Tom Riddle

Chapter 27 - Shadows of the Future

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Tom junior took Harriet into his bedroom that night and slept with her cuddled peacefully in his arms.

Merope and Tom senior said nothing about them sharing a room, if they noticed at all, but Tom junior knew they would hold their silence regardless.

With his beloved's womb already filled, what other concern could his parents possibly have?

Tom junior and Harriet slept peacefully until the next morning came.

While Harriet continued to snooze, Tom junior woke to the soft knocking that fell on their door.

As the incessant rapping continued, his dark eyes narrowed to slits as he deftly shuffled Harriet off of his shoulder and stood from the bed without waking her.

Tom junior gnashed his teeth as he quickly glided over to the door and cracked it open, prepared to snarl at whoever had woken him from his deep slumber.

His tense expression relaxed when he saw Tom senior standing in the hallway.

"........Father?" Tom junior blinked.

"Get dressed in some proper clothes, son." Tom senior scoffed as he nodded at Tom junior's nightshirt and night trousers, "We have work ahead of ourselves."

"Work?" Tom frowned.

"Well, yes, I should say!" Tom senior chuckled, "I had years to train as the Riddle family heir, but it seems you won't have that same luxury."

As Tom junior kept his silent frown, Tom senior continued, "Engaged to your lady love, with a child of your own preparing to enter the world, the time is quickly coming when you will be your own man in your own right. Hurry, son, as your father, I'll have to condense my lessons for you, though I'll be certain to teach you everything I possibly can."

Tom straightened his back as he stared into his father's face.

For a moment, he ignored the fact that Tom senior acted only to fulfill the command he had been given when the Imperius Curse had been cast.

For a moment, Tom junior allowed himself the luxury of believing that his fantasy was true.

His father really did love him and his mother.

His father was proud of him and wanted him to carry on the family name, with honour, dignity, and all the celebration that came from being a wealthy man's son.

"Of course." Tom junior nodded, "Give me a moment, Father, and I'll have myself prepared."

Tom senior nodded as Tom junior closed the door to change out of his sleep clothes.

While Tom senior waited on his son to get dressed, Merope laid in bed, still asleep like Harriet, with her brow furrowed as she drifted through anguished dreams.

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Sometime later, Harriet slowly blinked her eyes open and braced herself for the pain that would surely explode across her skull.

She rolled away from the light that drifted through the windows and curled up in the covers as she sighed to herself while that gnawing, throbbing ache around her temples slowly made itself known once more.

Regardless, her dismay about her own suffering vanished quickly when she noticed that she laid alone in bed.

Her arm shot out to pat Tom's empty side of the mattress, as if she needed to physically examine for herself the evidence that he had clearly left her nest.