CHAPTER FOURTEEN
— misery loves company
RHEA LOOKED AT THE STAIRCASE AS TOM DESCENDED INTO THE FOYER. She tapped her finger impatiently at her wrist, signaling that he was late. Her eyes gave him a quick, appreciative once over before turning back to the sitting room where Cato, Pavlina, Rialta, and Pluto were gathered, awaiting the arrival of the family who Rhea dreaded to see.
"How are they getting here?" Tom asked when he reached Rhea's side. She plucked two flutes of champagne from the tray a house-elf was carrying and shoved one into Tom's hand.
"Floo Network. Grandmother refuses to travel by Portkey." Rhea explained to him, downing the champagne with little effort.
Emerald green flames shot up in the fireplace and Rhea straightened when she saw the face of her grandmother, Elvira Hel. Elvira had an expressionless look to her that Rhea was used to from years of interacting with the woman. Her emerald colored robes trailed on the floor behind her as she approached her youngest son.
"Cato," Elvira drawled out. Rhea snatched the flute from Tom's hand before he had a chance to take a sip. He frowned at her.
"Why'd you give it to me if I couldn't drink it?" He asked.
"You had your chance before she arrived. Now, let's go and, remember, we're friends." Rhea and Tom smiled fakely at each other before stepping into the room. Elvira turned her head at the new presence of her granddaughter and the unfamiliar boy beside her.
"Rhea, I see you've brought a friend home. That's a first for you, I believe." Elvira said. She stepped up to her granddaughter and greeted her with cheek kisses. "Care to introduce me?"
"Grandmother, this is my friend, Tom Riddle. Tom, this is my grandmother, Elvira Hel." Rhea introduced them, watching Tom carefully. A dashing smile brightened up his features.
"I must say it's an honor to meet you, Mrs. Hel." Tom said.
Elvira raised a brow.
"Is that so?" She asked innocently. Rhea smirked at her grandmother who was fishing for praise.
"I remember learning about you back in third year — you're the longest serving Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot and the youngest to ever be appointed to that position. Rhea knew I was interested in pursuing a career in legislation." Tom explained to Elvira. Rhea's grandmother looked to Rhea with a look of mild surprise.
"Rhea brought you all the way here to introduce you to me? How generous of her." Rhea thought she heard a hint of skepticism in her grandmother's voice. "You look very familiar, but I don't think I've ever heard of the Riddle family."
"Tom hails from House Gaunt." Rialta spoke up, appearing at Elvira's side. Rialta turned to Rhea. "Isn't that right, Rhea?"
"That's right." Rhea confirmed.
"Ah, I see it now." Elvira said thoughtfully. "Got the Gaunt's nose."
Rhea didn't think Tom looked too pleased at the comment. There was a loud pop from outside and Rhea knew that it was her aunt, uncle, and cousins.
"Follow me, Mr. Riddle. I'd like to introduce you to my daughter." Elvira said. Tom glanced back at Rhea as he was dragged outside. Rialta looped her arm with Rhea's and the pair of them walked to the dining room.
"So, this Tom Riddle . . .?"
"Simply a friend." said Rhea.
"I didn't think you had any friends."
"I have plenty." Rhea said.
"None you are on good enough terms with to bring home." Rialta said. "What's different about this one? Why did you push to get him to stay the week? And don't try and fool me with the story about him wanting to meet the grandmother, either. I know you better than that."
Rhea let out a wistful sigh.
"All right, fine," said Rhea, forcing herself to sound annoyed. "Maybe, it's possible that I have . . . feelings . . ." She visibly shuddered, "for Riddle, but that doesn't mean anything."
Rialta smiled brightly at Rhea.
"Oh, really? I always knew you'd find someone, Rhea, even if you doubted it after . . ." Rialta let the end of her sentence trail off when Rhea's jaw clenched. Rhea unwrapped her arm from her stepmum's and harshly took out her usual chair to sit in. "I'm so sorry, Rhea. I didn't mean to —"
"It's fine, Rialta." Rhea waved her off, choosing not to think about what Rialta had almost brought up. She forced the memories to the back of her mind where they belonged.
"But, I do hope you're careful, Rhea. Tom may be charming and he might be the Heir to Slytherin, but he's still a half-blood. The others would never approve of a relationship between the two of you." Rialta said.
"I know that." Rhea said, forcing a saddened look on her face. She was putting on the performance of her life and Rialta was falling for it, hook, line, and sinker. "That's why nothing's happened between the two of us. He doesn't even know how I feel about him and it'll probably stay that way."
Rialta smiled sadly at Rhea, patting her gloved hand and Rhea was thankful for the loud noise of Sybil, Tabitha, and Apollo as they barreled into the room.
"Rhea, there you are." Callista said. Tom dropped down into the seat beside Rhea, looking rather irritated at the rowdiness of her cousins as they made a big deal about where to sit. Rhea turned around in her chair to look at her aunt. "Too important to greet your aunt who you haven't seen in nearly two years now?"
"You mean the aunt who we haven't seen since our mother's funeral?" Pluto asked. Rhea bit back a smile when everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to Pluto.
When they were younger and dealing with family dinners, Pluto would always jump in when it looked as though a conversation with Callista was going south by saying something unexpected and brutally honest to take attention away from Rhea.
"It's nice to see you haven't changed in the past two years, Pluto." Ambrosius Bulstrode said, sitting down in the chair beside Tabitha.
"How would you know?" Pluto retorted.
Elvira inhaled sharply.
"That's enough, Pluto. We have a guest so sit down and we can eat." Elvira ordered. Pluto chuckled and took his seat across from Rhea. The chair to Rhea's right remained empty in honor of their father.
"Are you two dating?" Young Sybil asked Tom and Rhea. Rhea and Tom looked at each other, disgust beginning to creep onto their respective features before they turned back to Sybil and simultaneously said, "No."
"So, you're single?" Tabitha asked Tom, smiling innocently.
"He's a little too old for you, don't you think? Seeing as you're thirteen." Rhea reminded her younger cousin. Tabitha rolled her eyes in response.
"How are things at the school?" Callista asked. "The children absolutely love it at Beauxbatons. I'm glad that they're getting one of the best educations in Europe."
"Not one of, dear, the best." Ambrosius said, squeezing her fingers.
"Don't forget our entire family have gone to Hogwarts, Callista." Cato said stabbing at his first course. Rhea knew her uncle never liked it when his mum and sister came to visit, especially when Cauius, the prodigal son and heir, wasn't there to suck up all of their attention.
"So, Tom," Pavlina said, turning to the boy beside Rhea while she shoveled a spoonful of soup into her mouth, eyeing cousin Apollo who remained quiet. "How is old Marvolo these days?"
Tom and Rhea exchanged a look with one another.
"I've actually never never met him." Tom confessed. Pavlina raised an eyebrow and some of Rhea's family members turned to one another.
"You were raised by your Muggle parent then?" Ambrosius asked, a hint of distaste in his tone.
"I grew up in an orphanage." Tom said tersely.
Rhea paused when she heard this revelation. She hadn't known that about Tom. To be honest, she'd never given much thought or cared about where his home was.
"Pavlina was raised in an orphanage." Rhea heard herself saying before she could stop herself. Tom turned to her with a curious expression on his face. "Her parents abandoned her."
"Thank you for that, Rhea." Pavlina said.
"I'm just saying that Pavlina was raised by Muggles too, in case some of us," Rhea sent a pointed look in the direction of Ambrosius and Callista who were looking at Tom with growing expressions of dislike, "forgot that. Who you were raised by doesn't matter so long as you hold our beliefs."
"Here, here." Pluto raised his glass and Elvira rolled her eyes at her grandson.
Rhea didn't meet Tom's stare because she didn't want him to think that her defending his upbringing mattered at all. She'd only done it to save face.
"And do you, Tom? Share our beliefs?" Rialta asked coolly, taking a sip of her wine.
Tom wasted no time in replying, "Without a doubt."
"Good." Rialta said. Pluto rolled his eyes at his stepmother.
"Our House believes magic is sacred.It must be protected from those who try to steal it, or taint it." Elvira stated proudly. "Our family has a deeper connection to the Ancient magic that has been forgotten over the years."
"We even have our own language." Sybil added excitedly.
Tom raised a brow and said, "Really?"
"Yes, but we're not really supposed to talk about that." Callista said through gritted teeth as she glared down at Sybil. Sybil shrunk into her seat.
"If you don't mind me asking," Tom turned to Elvira, "why wasn't your family included in the Pure-Blood Directory?"
There was a short silence at the table that was filled with the scrapes of spoons against plates.
"My dear daughter-in-law, Caliope, was responsible for that." Elvira said. She opened her mouth to further elaborate on the story when they heard a pop sound from the other room. The silence stretched on for a few moments longer and Rhea realized who it was immediately.
"Damn it, damn it." She cursed underneath her breath. She looked at Tom who was staring around with a silent curiosity as the atmosphere at the table shifted. They all stood up at once. Tom looked at Rhea with a questioning glance when she reached underneath his arm and dragged him to his feet.
"What is this?" He whispered to her as footsteps approached the dining room. Rhea brought her finger up to her lip and shushed him.
"Don't say a word. Just follow my lead." Rhea whispered to Tom.
She looked over her shoulder at the doorway and watched as her father stepped through the threshold. Behind him stood the man that had been terrorizing the Global wizarding community: Gellert Grindelwald. She missed Tom's shocked expression, because she was too busy staring at Grindelwald.
"Hel's," He greeted them, holding his hands out. They bowed their heads to him as a sign of respect and his eyes raked over them, stopping briefly at Tom as though he was trying to place him, before looking over at the rest of the faces.
"Rialta," Cauius greeted his wife. Rialta smiled and kissed her husband before Cauius turned to his daughter. Pluto downed the rest of his wine. "My dear daughter."
"Hello, Father." Rhea hugged him, her heart thumping. He looked over her shoulder at Tom with narrowed, slitlike eyes. Tom didn't falter under Cauius Hel's gaze and Rhea knew her father would appreciate that. "Father, this is my friend, Tom. He's staying with us over break."
"Is he now?" Cauius asked, turning his attention back to his daughter.
"He's a respectable boy, Cauius." Elvira spoke up. "Related to the Gaunts."
Cauius seemed intrigued enough by that. He moved on from Tom and Rhea to greet his mother with a hug. Rhea glanced back at Grindelwald while the man lingered in the doorway.
"We hate to interrupt dinner, but, Mother, it's urgent." Cauius said. Elvira excused herself from the table. "Grindelwald, feel free to eat with the family."
Grindelwald nodded his head and approached Pavlina.
"Pavlina, it's been a while." Grindelwald greeted her. He waved his hand and Rhea pulled Tom by his sleeve back into his seat while the others sat down too.
"Gellert." Pavlina said. There was a certain tightness in her tone when she greeted Grindelwald. There was a sudden coldness in the air that Rhea knew she would have to fill before Grindelwald noticed.
The wizard took the place at the head of the table between Pluto and Rhea and a house-elf hurried to put a bowl of soup in front of him. Grindelwald turned to Rhea, "Taking Hogwarts by storm, I hope."
"Always." Rhea said smoothly.
"Tell me, how is dear ol' Dumbledore? Still ignoring pleas from the Ministry?" Grindelwald asked.
"From what I read in the Prophet, the Ministry grows more and more impatient with him everyday. But, I thought you and Father were still in America?"
"Cauius decided to come back and pay his family a visit. I suspect you won't see him again for some time now. These last two visits were merely . . . circumstantial." Grindelwald said.
"In that case," Rhea took her goblet of wine and held up in the air, turning to Grindelwald with a charming smile on her face. "I'd like to propose a toast to you, Grindelwald."
"Really?" He asked. Rhea nodded her head. She turned to face her family and Tom, seeing their watchful faces as they looked at her, grateful that she had taken over pleasing Grindelwald until their father and grandmother returned. Everyone followed her lead.
"May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead." Rhea said. Tom frowned, confused by the saying but it seemed to satisfy Grindelwald who smiled at Rhea and raised his glass to that.
Dinner passed by without any more unexpected guests or drop ins. Cauius returned with Elvira and left rather promptly with Grindelwald, leaving the rest of the family to return to their rooms before the darkness set in.
"When people said your family was close with Grindelwald, this was certainly not what I was expecting." said Tom amusedly as they stood outside of the door to his room. Rhea grinded her teeth together and pointed a threatening finger at him.
"If you tell anyone what you saw here tonight —"
"I wouldn't go around making threats if I were you, Rhea." Tom said with a cheeky grin on his face. "I have the upper hand here."
"What do you want then?" Rhea snapped.
"You'll owe me a favor. I can come collect whenever I choose, but I won't tell anyone your family continues to fraternize with the most wanted Dark wizard in the world if you agree." Tom bargained. Rhea narrowed her eyes at him.
"Deal." She heard the sound of a door banging in the distance. "It's time for bed."
Rhea retreated to her bedroom and left Tom to his own devices.
His mind wandered to the way the Hel's — a powerful family that boasted about their abilities with magic — had fallen in line the second Grindelwald entered their house. That was the kind of power Tom wanted to instill in people one day — he wanted them to cower in his presence. He wanted them to be too afraid of speaking his name.
Tom crawled into the bed and stared up at the ceiling of the four-poster, canopy bed. His mind wandered to the girl in the room next door. He thought about how she had taken control of the Grindelwald situation. While her family sat back in silence, she was the only one who spoke to Grindelwald and kept a steady flow of conversation as if they were old friends — no — as if they were equals. Tom hated to admit it, but it had fascinated him. She was a completely different person when she was around her family than she was when she was alone at Hogwarts with him. There she was much more intolerable, in his opinion, but here she commanded the respect of her family. They all listened to her and had barely paid any attention to Pluto or to her cousins the whole time.
Then, he thought about how she had brought up her aunt being raised in an orphanage when he mentioned that he had been as well. He wasn't blind to the looks that Callista and Ambrosius had been giving him when he revealed that bit of information, but he didn't understand why Rhea had said anything at all.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard the sound of children running up and down the hall, giggling with one another. He rolled his eyes, assuming that it was one of Rhea's cousins that were making all of that noise.
"Come on, Pluto!" He heard a girl's voice say from outside the door. Tom tensed up and sat up in his bed, ready to tell the children off for lingering outside his room when Rhea had made such a big deal to him about staying in his room earlier. He knew she was just being overdramatic.
"Rhea, wait! Look!" A boy's voice said.
This gave Tom pause. What was Rhea doing outside his door?
"Do you think Father's in there?" The girl said. Tom watched as the doorknob to his room twisted and turned but, otherwise, didn't open. The door rattled as though it had been kicked. "Ugh! It's locked again! I could've sworn I heard someone in there."
"Maybe you were imagining things, Rhea. You always are." The boy said.
Tom leaned his ear close against the door to make sure the voices were as close as he thought they were.
"I'm not imagining things, Pluto! I'm telling you this house is haunted! You haven't ever had to spend time in the cellar, so you don't understand." Rhea huffed. There was a long pause that followed. Tom heard Rhea huff again. "There's no need to cry!"
"I'm sorry," Pluto sniffled sadly. "I just feel bad that she did that to you again. I don't understand why she does it."
"Mum hates me, Dad hates you, that's just the way things work around here. Their hearts aren't big enough to love us both, but you don't see me crying about it and I'm the one that was trapped in the cellar for two days! Now, come along, big brother, stop your crying. The maze is about to change and I want to see if we'll get lost again!"
Tom swung the door open, expecting to see two kids running down the hallway but he saw nothing except for an empty hallway. A rush of cold wind passed by his face that he ignored. He huffed, irritated and closed the door. When he turned around, he was surprised to see Rhea standing in the middle of his room.
"What are you doing here? Get out!" Tom snapped at her. Rhea merely tilted her head at him. Tom gulped. She was standing in nothing but a blue satin nightgown and this was the first time he had ever seen her with her hair hanging loosely instead of styled in some popular fashion. "Get out of my room, Rhea."
"Don't you want me here, Tom?" She asked, taking a step closer to him. Tom looked at her with a disgusted expression, backing away from her. He noticed her eyes weren't the same shade of dark green he had stared into numerous times. They were a silvery color and had a sort of dreamy look to them that Rhea never had. This only confused Tom even more.
"Go away." Tom looked at his wand that laid on the nightstand as he continued to back away from Rhea until his back was pressed firmly against the door and she was still coming closer to him. He swallowed harshly.
"You don't have to fight it, you know." Rhea said softly. She took another step closer to Tom and Tom stood as still as a statue, staring directly over her head to not look down at her. He felt her fingers brush against his arms and goosebumps rose on his skin. Rhea leaned up and whispered in his ear like she had back in the Hogwarts bathroom and said, "Just give in."
The door that connected Rhea and Tom's rooms swung open. Tom's eyes widened when he saw another version of Rhea come marching out, looking exactly the same as the one that stood before him.
"Get out of his room!" The other Rhea yelled angrily.
The Rhea closest to him turned to the other before turning back to Tom.
"Tom, this is what I was telling you about earlier." She said, searching his face. "The House likes to play tricks on you at nighttime."
"Don't tell me you honestly believe her." The other Rhea said, annoyed. She huffed. "Seriously, Riddle? You know that this is me. Step away from her."
Tom did as she said because only the real Rhea would order him around like that without caring about the consequences. That, and the real Rhea had never called him Tom when they were alone — it was always just Riddle.
The Rhea closest to him stomped her foot angrily while the real Rhea pulled Tom closer to her.
"You do this every time." The fake Rhea snapped before throwing the door open and storming out of the room. Tom's eyes trailed after her, shocked by what had happened.
"What was that?" He asked. Rhea turned to him.
"A trickster. There are a few of them that roam around the house along with apparations, ghosts, and other weird creatures that you should really steer clear of. The House will also show past memories to people sometimes." Rhea explained to him before fixing him with a stern glare. "This is exactly what I meant when I told you to keep your door closed at night."
"I only opened it for a second."
"That's all it takes. The House has a mind of its own, it can do anything it wants but there are protection spells in the rooms that can keep the magic of the house out so long as you keep your door closed." Rhea said. She stared at Tom for a few seconds after she finished her warning before a cheshire grin spread across her face. "I suppose you wouldn't want me bringing up the compromising position I saw you in when I first entered —"
"Get out."