Invisible String | TVD x WIZARDING WORLD

MY NAME IS TOM AND I'M REALLY GLAD TO MEET YOU

"Exactly why she shouldn't be there."

"She's ours."

The words cracked open the room. Like a spell whispered too loudly.

I swallowed hard. My heart was thudding in my throat.

"I'm not asking you to trust the school," I said, finally. "I'm asking you to trust me."

They both turned to look at me, like I was this tiny flicker in the storm. Like I wasn't seventeen but seven again, begging to stay up late.

"Dad. Care. Please."

I stepped closer.

"I know what I'm walking into. And I'm not going in blindly. I'll keep my head down, I'll stay out of trouble—"
I paused.
"Okay. I'll try to stay out of trouble."

Caroline snorted softly. Damon didn't laugh. But the corners of his mouth twitched.

"I'll write every day. I'll check in with Bonnie through the mirror. I'll keep a vervain charm and a stake under my pillow and whatever weird potion Care wants to drown me in."

"Don't tempt me," she muttered.

I looked at her. Really looked.
She was scared.
Not the flailing, panicked kind.
The deep, mother terrified of losing a daughter she never thought she'd have kind.

"You always taught me to fight, Care," I said, softer. "To be brave. And to know when to run and when to stay."

Her eyes glistened.

"I'm staying. Just like you would've."

Silence again. Heavy. Full.

And then she said, barely above a whisper, "You're gonna kill me one day, you know that?"

"Hopefully not before Voldemort tries."

Damon groaned, but the fight was gone from his voice.
Care looked like she wanted to collapse and hug me at the same time.

"...Fine," she said finally. "You go."

"I what?"

"You go. But you do everything you just said. You write. You check in. You don't get possessed by a cursed object or fall in love with someone from a blood supremacist family."

I raised a brow. "That feels oddly specific."

"You're a magnet for melodrama, Diana."

"I learned from the best."

Damon grunted. "I still hate this."

"I know."

He looked at me for a long, long time.

And then he said, "Just promise me something."

"Anything."

"When it gets bad—and it will—you come home."

My chest ached.

"I promise."

So, yep i gotta look out for me.

And more importantly—Hermione and Soph.

They're both Muggle-borns, both at higher risk.

We have let them roam alone ever since we came back. Someone was always with them.