F I F T E E N
The Gaunt lineage
I jolted awake with a loud gasp, one young man's name burned into the recess of my mind.
Tom Marvolo Riddle.
I swallowed—my throat dry, looking around my surroundings with wide eyes. I remembered everything, but was confused as to how long I was out. The sound of heels clicking met my ears, and I quickly turned my head seeing the matron making her way to me.
She gave of huge breath of relief upon seeing me.
"Thank Merlin you are awake!" She exclaimed, stopping just by the bed. "Gave us all a mighty scare." She shook her head, fumbling around with potions placed inside the pockets of her apron.
I looked around once more, noticing that nothing had really changed—leading me to believe I hadn't been out for that long. Finally, the sweet old matron pulled out a small purple vial, handing it to me with a smile.
"Drink this, it'll help with any pain." Carelessly I uncorked the lid, downing the contents—knowing it would do nothing for me.
It tasted blank; like I swallowed water.
I wiped my mouth with the end of my sleeve, taking the time to notice my clothing had been changed. I was no longer in my school robes, but instead dressed in a forties styled sleeping gown. Slowly, I looked up from my outfit and handed the empty bottle back to the matron.
"How long have I been asleep?" I croaked out, grabbing my throat at how dry my voice sounded.
"Oh, poor girl—drink some water." She fussed, using her wand to conjure a glass of water; handing it to me. "To answer your question four days, it's Wednesday morning." I nearly choked on my water, at that. "I haven't the slightest clue why you were affected so horribly. Usually anyone who takes too much Felix Felicis is fine straight after the antidote, but not you." She sighed; frazzled, taking my empty glass.
"Once you fainted, Tom came to me panicked. He held your mouth open, while I forced the antidote down your throat. I was certain you would wake up soon after; however, when you still didn't wake up after four hours I knew something was off. I wanted to get you to St. Mungo's, but Dumbledore convinced us all you would be fine." The matron paced about my bed, waving her hands as she vividly explained.
"What was odd was that lovely boy; Tom Riddle, was very bothered by Dumbledore's choice of action. He even went as far as to argue with him on the matter, something Tom has never done." She laughed a bit, "He's been in here as much as he possibly could, even skipped a few classes in order to stay by your side. I have never in the five years that Tom's been here, seen him that distraught. I had to force him out this morning, and make him go to his class—Merlin's beard if I didn't know any better I would say the boy's in love with you." She ended looking to me with a smile.
My mouth hung open at the end, processing everything she had told me. Tom Riddle; the man who turns out to be a mass murderer, stayed with me? Something about that doesn't sound right.
I mean; yes, my end goal was to get him to care about me—show him what love is, and hopefully change him in the least bit. However, I expected it to at least be a year before he really began showing signs of caring.
It was moving a lot faster than I anticipated, not that it was a bad thing—I was just shocked. Not only that, but I couldn't deny I was beginning to care for him as well.
In my entire life; I have only ever loved three people. My father, Balthazar, and my best friend; Alexius. I never knew my mom, so I never had the chance to love her.
I wouldn't lie, I was slightly scared. I could not grow attached to Tom at all. Eventually I would need to leave and never see him again. Falling for Tom Riddle was a very dangerous path; something which I couldn't do.
However, my thoughts drifted. Four days! That's when it struck me. When I shut myself down, I went into a hibernation state. That was why I didn't wake up, my grace being completely dormant affected me in the same sort of way.
"What time is it?" My voice was smoother now after the water, and quickly I sat upright in my bed.
The matron tried telling me to take it slowly, and sit back down; however, I just ignored her standing up anyway. I was fine.
"Miss Lightly, please lay back down. It is with the upmost importance that you rest for the rest of the day at the least." She scowled, making me frown.
I waved her off, shaking my head. "No, I'm fine." I promised, looking to where my uniform was folded next to my bed.
It was true, putting myself in hibernation completely wiped me. I figured out a few days ago the reason behind my seemingly endless exhaustion, was the separation from my grace.
My grace is so forceful that leaving it dormant; bottled up inside my literal soul was taking its toll on me. I was still growing, meaning as I grew—my powers extended.
Here was the thing, I held power beyond even my own comprehension. Angelic grace is not mean't to be bottled up and stored, eventually if I didn't release it within me—it would release itself. My grace releasing itself was catastrophic to everyone around me, therefore that was something no one wanted to happen.
The only reason it was even dormant was to lessen my chances of getting caught. However, perhaps if I was really careful about it I wouldn't need to have it trapped. Maybe as long as I wasn't suspicious with it; I could release it.
I was shaken out of my thoughts by the matron. "Are you sure?" She questioned seriously.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I shrugged walking over to my uniform. "What time is it by the way?" I asked.
"Nine fifty-four." She put her hands on her hips, raising a brow at me.
I was currently in the History of Magic class, the one I shared with Tom. I was still shocked that Tom actually stayed with me throughout the whole thing.
"Great, I share that class with Tom Riddle. If what you say is true, I am sure he'll be keeping an eye on me." I said with an award winning smile.
She was obviously a sucker for romance stories, by the look she gave me. "Okay, but only because I trust him, and the poor boy has been a mess since you have been out." She gave in. "But I swear if you ever overdose on Felix Felicis again, it'll be detention a whole fortnight for you." She strictly added, remembering just how I got myself in here.
~
The corridors were quiet as I strolled to my history of magic class. However, I froze when my hearing picked up on something slithering inside of the walls, a slight hissing could also be heard in the mix.
It was no doubt Tom's pet basilisk moving around, trying catch yet another prey. I could stop the basilisk—kill it even. Save a bunch of people, but I didn't. My task was to come here and change Tom Riddle for the better; however, I couldn't just go kill the basilisk. It was a huge part of Hogwart's history, I was already risking enough by changing Tom Riddle.
Instead I ignored it, pretending as if my sharp hearing hadn't picked up on it. As soon as my hand touched the door knob of my history class I took a deep breath. I tried pushing open the door silently; unfortunately it didn't work very well.
CREEK!
That's how the old door sounded to my ears, as well as everyone else. Immediately the whole class turned around to face me, my ears going pink. Professor Binn's face seemed to brighten up upon my arrival, motioning me to take my usual seat next to Walter.
"We were just discussing fairies!" He smiled turning his attention back to the class, explaining small facts about fairies which I already knew.
Tom's gaze followed my figure with a hard look, though deep in the recess of his eyes I could see a relieved sense. Our eyes locked and for the first time, something odd happened. Everything about myself and Tom was odd to begin with, but this—this was bizarre.
The hazel of my irises burned straight into pools of ice that were Tom's eyes. Time seemed to come to a complete stand still; everything other than Tom Marvolo Riddle faded away. My dormant grace shifted majorly in it's sleep, but it wasn't shifting on it's own accord.
It was my very soul shifting it, my soul was reaching out looking for something. It was a strange sensation. My celestial soul was attempting to connect to something that I did not know. However, I soon realized it was looking for Tom—more specifically; his soul.
Energy bounced off the walls, it was almost too much to bare. As soon as I realized my soul was going to wake my grace up, I snapped out of it. Everything came back in a single fluent motion, making me almost stumble from how fast it was.
Tom and I hadn't moved yet the both of us had been leaning toward one another, Tom immediately moved backward not leaning. For once Tom's face was not blank, but dowsed in a state of confusion.
As fast as possible I scrambled to my seat next to Walter, feeling Tom's penetrating gaze. Once I was sat, Walter leaned toward me frantically.
"This is why you do not get high! Lavender and I have been worried sick about you." Walter angrily whispered in my ear.
"I know, trust me. I am never doing anything like that again." I honestly said back.
The rest of the class flew by in a breeze. Tom watching me the rest of class; obviously curious as to what the hell that was. I didn't know, I had a lot of experiences with odd situations, but nothing ever like that.
I would need to visit Balthazar and ask about it.
Professor Binn's taught everything I already knew, so I didn't bother trying to take down notes. The only students he called on all class was either Tom or I, each question we both answered correctly. Tom only answered correctly because I taught him about fairies beforehand.
As the bell rang I was one of the first student's out the door trying avoid Tom, though that didn't work out. A gasp escaped me when I was abruptly pulled into an abandoned broom closet. A large hand covered my hand, and I was immediately met with Tom Riddle's cold stare.
He looked straight into my eyes, trying to do the same thing that happened in class again. Not wanting to chance my soul awakening my grace I avoided his stare and ripped his hand away from my mouth.
"What are you doing?" I frantically questioned.
Tom rolled his eyes, looking over my body. "The better question is what are you doing? What was that in class, are you trying to kill me?" He hissed gripping my shoulders tightly.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I played it off as if I hadn't felt it. "Are you crazy Tom?"
As soon as I had asked the question, Tom's eyes suddenly glared deeply into mine. I was slightly frightened at the darker change in the atmosphere. It was like I had struck a nerve.
"I am not crazy." His voice went low, whispering in my ear. Like he was bipolar he suddenly pulled away, gripping my arm.
I noticed how he seemed to avoid the topic of me being in the med wing.
"Come." He gave no further comment dragging me out of the broom closet and across the school.
I whined, and complained but he simply ignored it, like I wasn't even talking. Finally he answered me when we walked into the library and it was only to tell me to be quiet. Something I glared at him for.
I was confused when we got to the archives section of the library, Tom standing in front of the shelf. I was caught off guard when he slammed me into the bookshelf, trapping my body between his much larger one.
He looked at me seriously, leaning down to hiss in my ear. "Everything I say stays between us." His voice was soft and low.
"Okay." I agreed sensing the self-consciousness in his tone.
"Good." He stepped back, turning looking through random books in the archive.
"I need your help looking for any records on descendants of Salazar Slytherin." Tom barely muttered searching through the archives.
That's when it hit me. He was looking for information on his family.
"I thought you were an orphan?" I carefully stated, not wanting to anger him.
Tom stiffened, slowly turning his head to me. "Yes, but obviously my father must be out there." He stiffly said.
I knew his mother died in birth, but I needed him to tell me that himself, I wanted him opening up to me.
"And your mother?" I questioned innocently, running my fingers over the bindings of the large books.
Tom said nothing, simply glaring at the ground.
I huffed, crossing my arms. "How am I suppose to help you if you won't tell me anything?" Tom turned his glare to me staying silent for a few beats.
"My mother," He gave in, not removing his glare from me. "Died when I was born, living long enough just to name me. She could not have been a witch if she had died, therefore my father must have been a wizard." Tom glared at me, but said the last part confidently.
"And since you're a parselmouth you believe your father must be a descendant of Salazar Slytherin." I pretended to realize albeit well.
Tom was silent, simply turning away from me and back to the books. I couldn't help but feel bad, the poor boy didn't even realize his mother was the witch.
I sighed softly calling his name. "Tom?" He didn't answer, promptly ignoring me.
Turning to the family record section of the archives, I searched for Gaunt. Once I found the large record book, I pulled it out with little effort. As soon as I turned back to Tom, I saw him already watching me in surprise.
I shrugged, "There is only one remaining descendant of Slytherin, the Gaunt family. However, I don't believe your father is a wizard, if you truly are a heir your mother must be Merope Gaunt, and your father a muggle." I told him, watching as he took long strides over.
Tom yanked the book out of my arms, dropping it on a near-by table. He flipped it open, turning the pages until he got to a section on Merope. His eyes turned to slits when the realization hit him, I was correct.
"How exactly is it that a girl no brighter than a rock managed to find my entire heritage in less than five minutes?" Tom hissed, standing taking a threatening step closer. "How is it you seem to know more about my past then even I?" He questioned tilting his head.
I was offended at his first comment. No brighter than a rock? Stupid warlock.
"No brighter than a rock?" I stomped my foot to the ground, giving an angry look.
He froze in his place, his lips tilting up in a small smirk. "There you are, puppy."
"I am not a dog!" I waved my hands around. "Call me as stupid as a rock, but your heritage wasn't exactly hard. There is only one family descended from Slytherin now a days." I crossed my arms, doing my best to look at him like he was the stupid one.
His smirk turned to a glare, and he turned his back to me. I could have swore I saw his ears tinging pink.
"Go away, I am no longer in need of your service puppy." He waved me off, sitting and looking through the book eagerly.
"Whatever." I snarled annoyed at him, turning around leaving him to his studying.
I needed to make a quick trip to New York anyway.