CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
— give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred more
THE DAY BEFORE THE START OF BREAK, Professor Slughorn invited Tom and about half a dozen other boys into his office for the last Slug Club dinner of the term. He had already had the girls in and Tom could imagine Rhea sitting in one of her fancy, floor-length gowns paired with her signature gloves as she listened to Slughorn praise each of them for their family's accomplishments while she silently sat back and listened, probably thinking about all the different ways she was going to take over the world — or, whatever it was that went through her mind, Tom wasn't exactly sure. He hated to admit that Rhea had been taking up a lot of his thoughts as of late and he constantly found himself in a state of wonder of what she was doing or what she was thinking, and he hated himself for it. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before and he had half a mind to ask Lupe, Abraxas, or, Merlin forbid, Ramsey for advice on what was happening to him. But, he kept his thoughts to himself and chose to suffer in silence and it was Rhea he thought about the entire time he sat at Slughorn's table, staring at the face of Pluto Hel who would rather avert his to the ground than meet Tom's withering stare. Coward.
The dinner was drawing to a close and Tom knew that there wouldn't be a more perfect time for him to ask Slughorn about Horcruxes than there was now. He had just given his professor a bag of crystalized pineapple he bought during the visit to Hogsmeade.
Hogsmeade. That was another thing that hadn't escaped his mind. He constantly found himself thinking back to what Rhea said about how she wanted power, just like he did. He always thought that Astrea would be the only person who could truly deal with the darkest parts of him, the parts he hid away and reserved only for those closest to him, but he was beginning to think that Rhea was the only person who could understand him. There were so many similarities between them that he was surprised he hadn't seen it before and he wondered if that was why they had clashed when they first met. He thought it was silly now, that he ever wasted time underestimating someone who was ten times smarter and more powerful than anyone else he surrounded himself with.
Tom stared down at the gold and black ring that gleamed on his finger. He had nearly forgotten Marvolo Gaunt's ring was there but he was, again, reminded of how Rhea had helped him and watched him kill his only living relatives without batting an eye.
He turned to Professor Slughorn, watching as the man lounged in his comfortable armchair with his legs resting on a velvet pouffe with a half-empty glass of wine in hand. Conversation came to a brief lull that Tom took as an opportunity to swoop in.
"Sir," Tom started, pushing all thoughts of the blonde Slytherin to the back of his mind to focus on the task at hand. Everyone turned to him. "Is it true that Professor Merrythought is retiring?"
"Tom, Tom, if I knew I wouldn't tell you." Professor Slughorn wagged his finger at Tom while winking. "I must say, I'd like to know how you get your information, dear boy, more knowledgable than half the staff, you are."
Tom smiled; the others boy laughed, but this particular bit of information had actually come from Avida who was close to Professor Merrythought since she was pretty skilled at Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"What with your uncanny ability to know things you shouldn't, and your careful flattery of the people who matter — thank you for the pineapple by the way, you're quite right, it is my favorite —" Orpheus, Cassius, and Ramsey tittered. "— I confidently expect you to rise to Minister of Magic within twenty years. Fifteen, if you keep sending me pineapple, I have excellent contacts at the Ministry."
Tom merely smiled as the others laughed again, looking at him like he was their leader and they agreed with Slughorn's assertion. Tom Riddle, Minister of Magic. He could hardly imagine.
"I don't know that politics would suit me, sir. I don't have the right kind of background for that sort of thing." Tom said, once the laughter died away. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Abraxas, Lupe, Orpheus, Cassius, Jasper, and Ramsey exchange private looks with one another, thinking about Tom's famous ancestor.
"Nonsense," Slughorn said briskly, "couldn't be plainer you come from decent wizarding stock, abilities like yours. No, you'll go far, Tom, I haven't been wrong about a student yet."
The golden clock on Slughorn's desk chimed eleven behind him.
"Good gracious, is it that time already? You'd better get going boys, or we'll all be in trouble.Lestrange, I want your essay in by tomorrow or it's detention. Same goes for you, Avery."
Cassius and Ramsey exchanged loud groans with one another. One by one, the boys filed out of the room. Slughorn heaved himself out of his armchair and carried his empty glass over to his desk. A movement behind him made him look around; Tom was still standing there.
"Look sharp, Tom, you don't want to be caught out of bed out of hours, and you a prefect . . ."
"Sir, I wanted to ask you something." Tom said.
"Ask away, then, m'boy, ask away . . ."
"Sir, I wondered what you know about . . . about Horcruxes?'
Slughorn stared at him, his thick fingers absentmindedly clawing the stem of his wine glass.
"Project for Defense Against the Dark Arts, is it?"
"Not exactly, sir," said Tom, knowing that Professor Slughorn wouldn't believe him if he said it was anyway. "I came across the term while reading and I didn't fully understand it."
"No . . . well . . . you'd be hard-pushed to find a book at Hogwarts that'll give you details onHorcruxes, Tom, that's very Dark stuff, very Dark indeed," said Slughorn. His gingery-blonde brows pulled together and a face flashed across his mind of a witch and her brother who would have access to books like that.
"But you obviously know all about them, sir? I mean, a wizard like you — sorry, I mean, if youcan't tell me, obviously —I just knew if anyone could tell me, you could — so I just thought I'd–"
Tom thought Rhea would be quite proud if she could hear him now. He had taken a page out of her book and made sure not to overdo it: he perfected the hesitancy, the casual tone, the careful flattery.
"Well," said Slughorn, not looking at Tom, but fiddling with the ribbon on top of his box of crystallized pineapple, "well, it can't hurt to give you an overview, of course. Just so that you understand the term. A Horcrux is the word used for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul."
"I don't quite understand how that works, though, sir," said Tom. His voice was carefully controlled, but there was a hidden tone of excitement underneath his words.
"Well, you split your soul, you see," said Slughorn, "and hide part of it in an object outside the body. Then, even if one's body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged. But of course, existence in such a form . . ." Slughorn's face crumpled. " . . . few would want it, Tom, very few. Death would be preferable."
Tom remembered Rhea warning him of the same thing, but he didn't care. He wanted this. He wanted to create a Horcrux.
"How do you split your soul?" Tom asked. All pretenses had been dropped, his hunger for answers now visibly apparant.
"Well," said Slughorn uncomfortably, "you must understand that the soul is supposed to remainintact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, it is against nature."
"But how do you do it?"
"By an act of evil — the supreme act of evil. By commiting murder. Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard intent upon creating a Horcrux would use the damage to his advantage: He would encase the torn portion —"
"Encase? But how —?"
"There is a spell, do not ask me, I don't know!" said Slughoin shaking his head like an old elephant bothered by mosquitoes. "Do I look as though I have tried it — do I look like a killer?"
"No, sir, of course not," said Tom quickly. "I'm sorry . . . I didn't mean to offend . . ."
"Not at all, not at all, not offended," said Slughorn gruffly, "It is natural to feel some curiosity about these things . . . Wizards of a certain caliber have always been drawn to that aspect of magic . . ."
"Yes, sir," said Tom. "What I don't understand, though — just out of curiosity — I mean, would one Horcrux be much use? Can you only split your soul once? Wouldn't it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces, I mean, for instance, isn't seven the most powerfully magical number, wouldn't seven —?"
"Merlin's beard, Tom!" yelped Slughorn. "Seven! Isn't it bad enough to think of killing one person? And in any case . . . bad enough to divide the soul . . . but to rip it into seven pieces..."
Slughorn looked deeply troubled and he was staring at Tom as though he had never seen him plainly before in all the years he'd known him.
"Of course," he muttered, "this is all hypothetical, what we're discussing, isn't it? All academic . . ."
"Yes, sir, of course," said Tom quickly.
"But all the same, Tom . . . keep it quiet, what I've told — that's to say, what we've discussed. People wouldn't like to think we've been chatting about Horcruxes. It's a banned subject at Hogwarts, you know . . . Dumbledore's particularly fierce about it . . ."
"I won't say a word, sir," said Tom, and he left, returning to the common room where Rhea was flipping through their Transfigurations homework. She glanced towards the door, surprised to see a look of wild, unbridled happiness on Tom's face. She didn't think she'd ever seen Tom look happy before. "He told me. He told me everything."
"How do you do it?" Rhea asked, setting the book she was reading aside. Tom sat on the couch across from her.
"There's a spell. Slughorn didn't know it, but killing rips the soul apart, so I need to put pieces of my soul into objects."
"Objects?" Rhea repeated, straightening. "How many Horcruxes are you trying to create?"
"Seven." Tom said. Rhea sat back, stunned. "It's supposed to be the most magical number. I'm going to create seven Horcruxes."
Seven Horcruxes. Rhea hadn't been able to stop thinking about since Tom told her, even throughout the train ride back to King's Station, she couldn't shake the fact that Tom was going to split his soul seven times. It wasn't that she cared about Tom having to murder all those people, but she was more worried him. Splitting your soul once would change you, but seven times? She didn't imagine there'd be much of a soul left when Tom was done and she, honestly, didn't want to see parts of him, the human parts, to go away.
Rhea stepped off the train, her trolley in hand, and found Pluto standing beside their grandmother. Rhea frowned, wondering where Rialta, Cato, or Pavlina were since Elvira never picked them up from the station.
"Where's —" Rhea was cut off by her grandmother. Elvira placed her hand on Rhea's arm and pulled her close.
"We need to go. Now." Elvira said. Rhea glanced back at her brother, a questioning look in her eyes, but he kept his eyes on the ground and they quickly left the station.
"What's going on?" Rhea asked, watching as her grandmother's eyes darted around suspiciously.
"Rialta told your father about what you did and he told him." Elvira said once they were in the car. Rhea paused, knowing that her grandmother was talking about Grindelwald. "He wants you, Rhea."
"What do you mean?" Rhea asked, feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her.
"He wants you to join him." Pluto said, his voice sounding small, when Elvira fell silent, too busy seething silently. "The moment you graduate, Grindelwald wants you to become one of his followers."
"But . . . why would Father tell him? He knows how hard we've worked to restore our family name. Having me join Grindelwald would ruin us. The Krane's would never allow me to marry Atlas if I was with Grindelwald. Why would he do that?"
"Your father's loyalty is no longer with this family." Elvira said. She turned to face Rhea. "I will handle it. You need to focus on this Christmas Party."
The Christmas Party had been the only thing on Rhea's mind for weeks. It would mark the beginning of her life as Rhea Krane — everyone would know she was engaged to Atlas.
Everyone.
Upon Rhea's arrival to Hel House, she found that her grandmother had commissioned a dressmaker to create Rhea's dress for the party. While she was being fitted in the drawing room, Rialta walked in, looking slightly nervous to speak to Rhea.
"Can we have the room?" Rialta asked the dressmaker and her assistant. They quickly left the room, keeping their eyes aimed on the floor as Rhea turned to face her stepmother. Rhea frowned, waiting for her to speak. Rialta took a deep breath. "I didn't know your father would tell Grindelwald. I never would have told him had I thought he would."
"Why did you tell him?" Rhea asked curiously. Rialta sighed.
"I hoped that hearing what you did — hearing what you were capable of — would make him stop this. I thought it would finally bring him home, but instead it just . . ." Rialta let out a low, frustrated sigh and turned to Rhea with an impassioned look in her eye. "I need you to know that my loyalty is to your family, Rhea, and to you. You all took me in when I had nowhere to go and I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you."
Rhea tilted her head to the side, wondering why her grandmother and now Rialta were so upset that their father had told Grindelwald. It wasn't as though Rhea wanted to join him, but she always thought they were loyal to Grindelwald too.
Rhea made her way to Pluto's room and knocked on the door. It opened immediately, Pluto's brows rising in surprise to see Rhea standing in fromt of him.
"What are they planning?" Rhea asked, moving past Pluto and entering his room. He quickly shut the door behind her and turned around, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to form something to say after months of not speaking to each other. Rhea stared at her brother impatiently, waiting for him to answer her question.
"I'm not sure." Pluto sighed deeply, walking past Rhea to sit on the edge of his bed. "I caught them speaking in the study last night after dark, but someone used a spell to keep me from listening in on the conversation."
"What were you doing out after dark?" Rhea asked, narrowing her eyes at her brother. Pluto huffed.
"I heard Aunt Pavlina and Uncle Cato whispering to each other when they passed by my door. I heard them mention Grindelwald." Pluto said. Rhea's brows pulled together and Pluto sent her a grave look. "They're planning something against him, aren't they?"
"Grandmum knows it's not possible for us to go against Grindelwald and win. She knows that even considering going against him would be disastrous for us. She wouldn't risk that, not for me."
Pluto snorted. Rhea narrowed her eyes at him.
"What?" She asked, annoyed.
"She would do it — they all would — especially for you. You performed necromancy, Rhea. No one's going to risk handing you off to Grindelwald for good when you're planning to marry Atlas Krane." Pluto said. Rhea swallowed, knowing Pluto was right.
"What about Dad?" Rhea asked after a moment of silence passed between them. Pluto frowned.
"What about him?"
"Grandmum and Rialta said his loyalties lie with Grindelwald now because he told him about me, but . . . that can't be true, right? He wouldn't choose him over us."
Pluto scoffed.
"You've never been naïve, Rhea. Don't start now."
Rhea glared at Pluto, remembering a time when she would be the one telling him that. Suddenly, Rhea regretted coming to speak to her brother at all and wished she had continued ignoring him like she had been for the past few months. Without saying another word to her brother, Rhea spun on her heel and returned to her room, wondering who her father would choose.
The night of the Christmas Ball rolled around faster than Rhea anticipated. She spent the days leading up to it trying to catch her aunt, uncle, stepmother, and grandmother scheming or planning; that mostly resulted in her running into nasty ghouls in the middle of the night while creeping through the house.
The Hel's Apparated to Krane Manor on the morning of the party and Rhea was surprised to find Gaia standing on the front lawn, waiting for them with a tight smile on her face.
"Rhea and the Hel's," Gaia greeted, her smile brightening even more while she met the stoic faces of Rhea's family. "We're so glad you could make it. Adonis had to step out, but everyone's starting to get ready upstairs."
They began to march forward, but Rhea stopped when Gaia called her name.
"Atlas is waiting for you in the drawing room." She said in a clipped tone that barely hid her distaste for Rhea.
Rhea quickly made her way to the drawing room, where Atlas was standing in the middle of the room and having the collar of his dress robes fixed by Selene. Selene's eyes darted to the door the moment Rhea stepped through its threshold and the expression on the girl's face brightened immediately.
"Rhea!" Selene exclaimed before pouting while Atlas turned to face Rhea. "You're not dressed yet. I wanted to see what you'd be wearing."
"Oh, it's lovely. And blue." Rhea said. Atlas cleared his throat, glancing at Selene. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Rhea.
"It's good to see you again, Rhea. I'm so excited to have you in the family!" Selene said before she hurried out of the room. Atlas offered Rhea a small smile in greeting.
"I wanted to see you because I wanted you to pick out your ring." Atlas said, motioning towards the table where a case of rings set open. Rhea swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in her throat, but she pushed her hesitation aside and stepped forward, eyeing the difference choices in front of her. There were so many options and she honestly had trouble imagining any of them sitting on her finger for the rest of her life. Just the thought made her feel queasy. "Are you okay?"
Atlas's voice cut through the silence of the drawing room and reminded Rhea that she wasn't standing alone. Her entire body had gone rigid, her face slightly pale, and she had to force an easy going smile on her face.
"I was having trouble deciding." Rhea said nonchalantly before she reached forward and plucked an emerald ring from the case. She slid it onto her ring finger and showed it to Atlas. "This one."
Atlas frowned.
"You don't want to try some of the others on?" He asked. Rhea shook her head. She didn't think she could try on any more rings without feeling as though she was going to start panicking.
"No. Besides, I like this one. It brings out my eyes." Rhea said. She slid the ring off and dropped it into the palm of Atlas's hand. He looked at her curiously and opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off. "I should go get ready."
"Right." Atlas nodded. "I'll see you out there then?"
"Yeah," Rhea sighed. She left the drawing room and walked upstairs where one of the house elves, Minnie, was waiting to help her get ready.
Rhea could hear the quartet downstairs while she stared at herself in the mirror, admiring the beauty of the dress that had been made for her. She found herself wondering which guests had arrived to the party when Pluto crashed into her room. Rhea rolled her eyes at her brother.
"Go away, Pluto."
"Hurry, they're meeting now! Maybe we can catch some of what they're saying before they cast a spell." Pluto exclaimed frantically, barely registering Rhea's dismissal of him as he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into the hallway. Rhea nearly stumbled over the ends of her dress while Pluto let them down a deserted wing of Krane Manor before abruptly stopping at a closed door. They pressed their ears up against the frame, listening close to the sound of muffled voices on the other side.
Rhea frowned, trying to figure out what they were saying when the door swung open, causing Pluto and Rhea to fall forward on the floor. Rhea moaned in pain, rolling over to find her aunt standing over them and looking displeased.
"I told you they were listening." Pavlina sneered while the twins sat up. Rhea climbed to her feet, staring at the four faces of her family members while they stood in the dimly lit room.
"We want to know what you're planning." Rhea demanded. Pluto nodded his head from beside her. "The Trace wears off of us in a few days, it's time to start being honest with us."
They exchanged quiet looks with one another, seeming to weigh their options. Eventually, Elvira stepped forward, glancing between the two of them.
"What we say cannot leave this room. Understand?" Elvira asked. Pluto and Rhea nodded obediently while their grandmother heaved out a low sigh. "We're going to orchestrate the fall of Grindelwald."
Tom Riddle made his way through the Krane's Christmas Party with Abraxas and Lupe at his side. The pair of them would start conversations with Ministry officials and turn their attention towards Tom, who would do his best to charm them. His time at Hogwarts was coming to an end and he figured he needed to do all the networking he could. That, and Rhea was nowhere to be found. He saw Atlas standing beside creepy-looking twins with high cheekbones as he made his way through the party, greeting people while glancing nervously back at the large double doors that led to another part of the house.
The musician, who was singing some song Tom had never heard before, suddenly stopped, causing Tom's conversation with an Auror to come to a halt. He turned his head and watched as Atlas, his sister, and his parents walked to the front of the room. His mother stepped forward, a tight-lipped smile on her face that looked more akin to a grimace.
"Thank you all for coming." Gaia said when the room fell silent. Tom glanced around, noticing that Rhea and her whole family were still absent. Gaia's eyes darted around the room, as though she was looking for someone while Orpheus, Cassius, and Ramsey joined them. "It's a pleasure to have you all gathered here. It's not often we get the opportunity to come together like this, but tonight is a very special night for our family and I'm glad we're able to share it with you all."
There were a few confused murmurs throughout the room. Tom's brows pulled together, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of his stomach as he and Lupe glanced at one another.
Gaia let out a sigh.
"Has anyone seen Rhea?" She asked. Everyone turned and began looking around the room for the blonde.
Suddenly, the double doors swung open and Rhea came briskly walking in with her family behind her. Tom's jaw slackened slightly when he saw her in her light blue gown. She came to a stop, taking in all the attention as her eyes swept through the room until they landed on Tom. Tom glanced back at Atlas and his family while they waited for Rhea to come to the stage and that's when he saw the small box that was in Atlas's hand.
Atlas stepped forward, holding his hand out to beckon Rhea forward. Rhea took her eyes off of Tom and turned to Atlas, forcing a bright smile on her face.
Rhea barely registered what Atlas was saying as a million thoughts swirled through her head about her family's plans and her engagement announcement. She pushed aside all thoughts of Grindelwald and focused on her problem at hand.
The looks of surprise on each of her friend's and classmates faces from the announcement was nothing compared to the expression on Tom's. His eyes darted rapidly between Rhea and Atlas, a look of annoying creeping onto his face before he pressed his lips into a firm line. Tom backed away and disappeared from Rhea's line of sight, slipping off somewhere in Krane Manor.
Rhea let out a soft sigh, briefly meeting eyes with her stepmother who was watching Rhea with a curious expression on her face.
After Rhea bore through dozens of congratulations while posing as the perfect pureblood couple with Atlas, she, too, slipped away from the party, wondering how long it would be before someone noticed she was missing.
Rhea hiked up the ends of her dress and made her way through the halls, peaking inside each of the rooms to look for the dark-haired boy who she found herself wanting to speak to.
Rhea made her way up to the third landing when she finally saw light peaking out from one of the rooms. She hurried up the rest of the stairs and went to the door, pushing it open to find Tom staring out of the window. He glanced over his shoulder when the door creaked open, his dark eyes meeting Rhea's as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
She didn't know what he was feeling or thinking and she didn't want to attempt to pry into his mind to figure it out. But, if she had to take a guess from the expression on Tom's face of what he was feeling, she'd think he was jealous. Jealous. She thought it was absurd, but she hadn't seen him look this annoyed at her in a very long time.
"This is your engagement party." Tom said. Rhea wasn't sure if he was asking or telling her, but when he turned to face her, his expression was calm. His hands were buried into his pockets. "You said you were going to marry him and you are. Congratulations."
"Thank you." Rhea said quietly. She thought about Eddie and wondered what he would say if he could see her now — engaged to one person while pining for another. "Why'd you walk out?"
Tom stared at her, the expression on his face hardening ever so slightly like he could tell Rhea was hoping that he'd say something — anything — to give her any indication of what he was thinking. She hated herself for how giddy she felt at the possibility that Tom Riddle was jealous of the fact that she was, technically, spoken for.
"I needed a moment to think." Tom said with a shrug. He raised a brow at Rhea. "Why did you follow me?"
Rhea narrowed her eyes at him, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to think of a response. She thought about all the different lies she could make up as to why she had left the party, but, instead, Rhea let out another long sigh and raised her eyes to the ceiling.
"Oh, Merlin, might as well." She mumbled to herself before she stomped several feet forward until she was standing directly in front of Tom. She had appeared in front of him so fast that Tom barely had time to register what she was doing until she hesitated when their lips brushed against each other. Tom's eyes widened, an odd warm feeling spreading through his chest from the feeling of Rhea's lips. Rhea began to back away, suddenly second guessing her actions when Tom took his hands out of his pockets, placed them around her and pulled her to him.
Rhea was surprised, to say the least, when Tom kissed her and she was even more surprised by how eagerly she responded as she latched onto the front of his robes, trying to get rid of as much distance between them as possible. Rhea had kissed a few boys before — Eddie, Silas, and Ramsey, to name a few — but kissing Tom felt different. It was like they both had been waiting a long time for this to happen, whether they knew it or not, and already knew that they wouldn't be able to get enough of each other.
Tom had never kissed anyone before — no one had ever caught his eye long enough to make him even consider it until Rhea — but he followed Rhea's lead, allowing her pull him to her while his fingers dug into the side of her waist. He thought he could have stayed inside that room wrapped up with her for hours if she let him.
Slowly, Rhea pulled away from Tom, opening her eyes as he brought one of his hands up to brush a misplaced strand of hair out of her face. Tom ran his thumb across Rhea's slightly swollen lips, quietly admiring the expression on her face as she stared up at him until a knock on the door and Seraphina's voice saying that guests were beginning to notice Rhea's absence pulled them away from the moment.
Rhea and Tom didn't spare each other a second glance as they hurried out of the room and rejoined the party downstairs.