~ chapter contains slightly darker themes ~
The pillow next to you was cold when your hand landed on it, you peeled your eyes open and discovered that his clothes were gone too. A glance through the open door didn't help either and so you got out of bed and wandered through Tom's place, he was nowhere to be found but there was a note in the kitchen laying on top of a book, informing you that he would be gone for the day and asking you to do research on valuable artifacts in Albania, nothing specific was mentioned, just anything you could dig up.
With a sigh you skimmed through the book, he had a habit of just disappearing and then returning spontaneously throughout the day. Weirdly, the book was less about factual knowledge and instead a collection of legends, stories told amongst villagers living in the Albanian forest, a highly unusual read for Tom who couldn't care less about fictional stories. You, however, found it rather enjoyable but since you were uncertain what Tom wanted exactly you had no idea what to look for and ended up just taking note of everything that hinted towards having magical abilities.
Halfway through you decided to take a break and instead take a look around this place, you had been over countless times by now but never got the chance to admire Tom's own collection of artifacts apart from the usual quick glance when heading to the bedroom and so you waltzed into his living room with the countless books and worked your way along the shelves, pulling a book out here, inspecting some interesting object there. Some of them looked very valuable, others seemed too ordinary to be of interest but over time you noticed that Tom tended to collect things, like an old tin box filled with scraps of parchment, placing a value and meaning on them when there was none to everyone else. It was endearing and one of his many traits that made him stand out.
There were simple rocks inscribed with runes amongst artifacts you've never even heard of, a carefully carved mask that looked like a skull made out of white wood that had a soft glow to it, a vial filled with some silvery substance that looked like a mixture between liquid and gas, flowing around in odd patterns within the vial. It was fun to look through everything, even more so to find an artifact you had traced in the past and now you knew where it landed, right on Tom Riddle's shelf, meaning your paths could have crossed much sooner if you hadn't tossed the case whenever it turned out the desired object was already privately owned. Next you checked out his books, something that could probably consume days but you just scanned the book shelves, only stopping when something stood out to you, the especially big ones or shiny new ones.
You noticed a book that was far more worn out than the other books and you pulled it from the shelf to see what it was about. The title read Secrets of the Darkest Art, the spine was a bit bent and when you opened the book you landed on a short chapter on Horcruxes. You've never heard of it but you weren't surprised, especially in regards to the dark side of magic Hogwarts wasn't the place to teach any of that, Durmstrang maybe, but Hogwarts tried to keep students away from those topics as much as possible, with the exception of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
This chapter must have been read a lot of times, you got yourself comfortable in Tom's armchair and started reading, wondering what could be so interesting to him about it. The further you came however, the more you were both fascinated and disgusted. There have been countless witches and wizards over the centuries trying to achieve immortality through different means, a Horcrux was the most evil form, splitting one's soul through murder and a spell, then binding that soul fragment to an object. Your gaze drifted through the room, scanning the various artifacts once more and a shudder went through you. No, Tom had a huge interest in the dark arts but it was purely academic, he did want to become a professor after all. You read on, luckily there were no clear instructions, the rest of the page merely described what happens to the soul upon being split. You read about how splitting the soul goes against nature and therefore causes side-effects like dehumanization, leaving the person without emotion, and instability of the master soul as the book called it.
The chapter was short, to your relief, and left much unexplained. With shaky hands you replaced the book on the shelf and returned to your actual task to free your mind of the horrors magic could create but you were unsuccessful. Alarm bells kept going off in the back of your mind, there must have been a reason he was so interested in that chapter, and so you returned to the living room. You had to take a closer look at Tom's artifact to find out if any of them have been tempered with, hoping he won't find out, but you knew you wouldn't be able to sleep at night if you couldn't be sure. The book said something about protection charms or curses to protect the Horcrux, it would be easy to find out if one of the objects was cursed or enchanted to protect it.
You pulled out your wand and started with the skull-like mask, working your way along the shelves and the tight knot in your chest loosened with every object you could cross of the list, wondering if you should just ask Tom.
"Oh hi, Tom, I was just wondering if you killed someone lately to become immortal," you mumbled to yourself. "Great idea."
No, you would not do that, no doubt someone capable of killing would have no problem with lying about it. You reached the final artifact, the dagger in a box, cautiously lifting the lid, trying to touch as little as possible, and it was in the clear too. A huge weight was lifted from you as you sank back into the armchair.
---
Dried leaves and twigs cracked when you stepped on them, the windows of the hut on the other end of the garden were dark, a lantern was swinging from a hook next to the door, filling the air with the creaking noise of rusty metal scraping against more rusty metal. You tried to make as little noise as possible as you walked towards the hut but you were afraid someone could hear your hammering heart. An owl called out from within the woods behind you and made you flinch, the last thing you wanted was for someone to look out the windows. The hut might look deserted but you knew it wasn't, you also knew it would cost your life to be discovered. The hand wrapped around your wand was shaking and sweating, you gripped your wand as tight as possible, afraid you might lose it if you didn't. Finally, you arrived at a window and hunched down, peering in over the ledge but the darkness swallowed absolutely everything inside, making it invisible to you. You didn't dare casting Lumos, you also didn't think you'd find what you were searching for in this room and so you crawled along the stone wall until you reached the next window only to again be met with all-encompassing darkness. However, you could have sworn there was a faint orange glimmer falling into the room but it was gone the second you spotted it. And so, back on your knees you went to the next window and looked inside.
A single candle was standing on the floor, illuminating the back of someone kneeling on the ground, bent over something on the ground. Your heart was beating up into your throat as you regarded the scene unfolding inside. Dark symbols were drawn on the floor in a circle but the candle didn't reveal enough to make sense of them. Another soft glimmer appeared, mostly covered by the person but whatever it was, it seemed to follow their hand, then it was gone again, swallowed up by an object laying in the middle of the circle of symbols. Your blood froze in your veins as the person turned with a sudden movement, leaving you no time to hide, and Tom's ghostly features were illuminated by the candle, he was staring right at you but his face looked distorted, as if he was slowly turning into a monster and wasn't himself anymore. You wanted to scream and run but no matter how hard you tried, you were stuck in place, unable to leave or lift your wand and not a single noise coming out of you. Meanwhile Tom stood up, slowly raising his wand while stepping towards the window and as he came closer you noticed that what he was bent over was a person on the ground, a young woman with arms and legs stretched out, not moving one bit, face contorted to a silent scream, not unlike yours. The window shattered, Tom yelled something you could hardly hear over the beating of your own heart and your heavy breathing, and then green light engulfed you.
---
Your own scream woke you up, luckily still loud enough in the real world. Disoriented and trembling you took in your surroundings, the soft cushioning of the armchair and the smell of old books reminded you that you were still safely in Tom's home. With steady, deep and slow breaths you calmed yourself down enough, repeating over and over in your head that it was just a dream, that you knew Tom well enough. Yes, he was detached at times but that didn't make him a murderer, and yes, he had some peculiar interests in the dark arts but that too did not make him a murderer. He was also very sweet and charming and charismatic and intelligent. It was only a book, real magic but rarely achieved and nothing for you to worry about.
Right then you heard the front door opening and you dashed into the hallway, Tom could hardly close the door behind him when you wrapped your arms around him, burying your face in his chest.
"I had such a terrible dream," you murmured against him. "I was looking through some of your books and I really shouldn't have, I'm sorry."
He shrugged the bag he had slung over his shoulder off and let it fall to the ground, laid one arm around you and pulled you close.
"What was it?," Tom asked, his voice was low and raspy, usually the voice he had in the bedroom.
"Horcrux. It was all good but in my dream I saw you, you killed someone."
His grip on you tightened, his other hand came up to the back of your head, fingers raking through your hair, then he tilted your head up to face him.
"I would never," he whispered and as you looked up you looked right into his red eyes.