The Love Story of Harriet Potter and Tom Riddle

Chapter 75 - Wonders and Stings

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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James frowned as he woke to a disappointing silence the next morning.

He furrowed his brow as he sat up in bed and blinked.

Once the soft noise of muffled conversation reached his ears, he looked over and scowled at the clock on his nightstand.

Realizing he had slept in, he sighed as he dressed for the day and combed his hair.

Before he left his room, he carefully slipped his wand into his pocket.

Although his conviction remained that he would be unable to overpower Mae in a duel, should his plan backfire and she choose him or Mark as her next target, he would do all he could to defend himself and his brother.

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James looked almost exactly like his father had at his age as he walked downstairs and entered Riddle Manor's dining room.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Harriet beamed at her eldest son from her seat next to her husband.

"......James." Tom junior nodded, "How thoughtful of you to join us. I considered sending Lawrence up to make sure you were still alive."

"Good morning, brother!" Mark chirped.

James nodded at his family as he slowly walked over to take his seat at his father's table.

He batted aside Tom's sarcastic quip as he found himself held under the strict scrutiny of his sister's green gaze.

"Good morning, Mae." James said dryly as he sat down in his chair.

"Good morning, James." She replied.

In her face, he saw neither anger nor sadness, but a curious look of intense study as her emerald eyes scanned relentlessly over his features.

Harriet, Tom, and Mark all resumed their meal while Mae and James carried on with their covert standoff.

"..........Sleep well?" James asked.

".........Quite." Mae said after a moment while an evil smirk curled her lips.

There was an unsettling sensation of doomed dread that washed over James as sickly as an intense whip of sudden, bitter nausea.

"..........Pardon." He said as he cleared his throat and abruptly rose from his seat.

"James......?" Harriet called.

Tom junior narrowed his eyes at his son while Mark frowned, "Brother, where are you going? You just got here!"

"Sorry, need to visit the loo." James called over his shoulder as he hurried out of the dining room.

His mouth fell open in anticipative horror as he gasped for breath while he stormed into the hallway and up the stairs.

As he trudged down the winding corridor and dared to peer inside Mae's room, his breath came in shallow gulps.

It was as if his fit of destruction had never happened.

Every single one of his sister's dolls had been repaired and replaced back into its original position on whatever shelf it had previously called home.

James glanced over and swallowed dryly as he saw Polly staring at him blankly from her comfortable spot on Mae's bed, left to oversee the room.

He could tell by his father's dismissive sarcasm and by the grim ominousness lingering in the air that something foul had mended the damaged dolls, not Reparo.