When Tom woke up, it was in the middle of the night. He cast a glance at Cassiopeia who was sleeping soundly, her head resting against his side. He carefully pulled away and sat up.
When he had got fully dressed, he looked at her sleeping form and fumbled for his wand. Then he noiselessly opened the door and went to Grace's room.
She was obviously fast asleep. For a moment he watched her, a bunch of dark hair sprawled on the pillow, her blanket drawn all the way up to her nose. A smile crossed his face, and there was an inexplicable feeling of pride deep inside of him.
He pointed his wand at her and silently brandished it with a fluid movement, muttering under his breath. A silvery light left his wand and encased her body before it died away. Grace stirred in her sleep, and Tom quickly retreated to the door.
He went down the stairs and left the house, disapparating as soon as he was outside the protective wards.
****
Cassiopeia woke to the sound of the ocean splashing against the cliffs. She opened her eyes. The sun had barely risen and the sky was a beautiful violet.
She sat up and glanced around the room. Tom's clothes were gone and so was he. Somehow she wasn't surprised.
Suddenly a thought came to her mind and she jumped up from her bed and hurried to Grace's room, quickly opening the door and looking inside. When she saw Grace sleeping quietly in her bed, she relaxed and exhaled slowly.
She closed the door again and went downstairs to prepare breakfast.
Grace appeared in the living room a while later, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Ben entered the room behind her and stifled a yawn.
"Where is he?" The excitement in Grace's voice matched the one gleaming in her eyes.
"Yes, where is he?" Ben asked, his voice a little wary.
Cassiopeia shrugged. "He's gone."
Without looking at Grace she could sense her daughter's mood change.
"What did you say to him? What did you do to make him go away again?" Grace asked accusingly.
Cassiopeia turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Nothing."
"I only had one evening and you scared him away. That's unfair."
Ben nearly choked on his bagel but he tried to cover it up with a cough.
Grace glowered at him. "What's so funny about that?"
Ben swallowed. "It's hard imagining anyone scaring him away." His voice trailed off when he saw Cassiopeia shooting him a glare.
"You know him?" Grace's voice suddenly was full of excitement again.
"Who doesn't?" Ben retorted before he could stop himself, earning him another glare.
"Tell me about him." Grace eyed Ben curiously.
When she narrowed her eyes at him, Ben shook his head. Ever since they had come to live in this cottage, Cassiopeia had taught him Occlumency, and he had become really good at it. Originally meant to keep them safe in case anyone followed them, it had turned out to be extremely useful when Grace had shown the first signs of being able of doing Legilimency.
Ben shot her a stern look. "Stop it, Grace. Stop trying to read my mind. It's not up to me to tell you about him." He turned to Cassiopeia. "But I think it may finally be time to put the cards on the table. Grace is old enough. She ought to know who he is. She ought to know why we left. It would only be fair, don't you think?"
Cassiopeia eyed Ben for a long moment. Grace had her gaze turned towards her, waiting impatiently for her answer.
Finally Cassiopeia sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you about him."
Grace jumped up from her seat and followed Cassiopeia to the sofa where she sat down and pulled up her feet, looking at Cassiopeia, her eyes once again sparkling with excitement.
Cassiopeia inhaled deeply. Then she turned to Grace. "When I first met your father we were about your age, only a little older. We went to school together."
"You went to Hogwarts? With him?" Grace interjected excitedly.
Cassiopeia nodded. "Yes. It was a great time. I can't deny that the unbelievable strength and this powerful vibration of his magic have been fascinating me ever since I first stood close to him. And then, one day, I decided to talk to him."
"What did you say?" Grace couldn't hide her curiosity.
Cassiopeia pursed her lips. "I asked him.... something." She averted her gaze.
"Like a question about your homework?"
"Something... similar," Cassiopeia said evasively and looked back at Grace. "However, as time went by we spent more and more time together..."
"And you fell in love with each other? Why didn't you get married?" Grace asked enthusiastically.
A snorting noise came from the table where Ben was still sitting, and Grace turned around, throwing him a disapproving look.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
Cassiopeia looked down at her hands. "Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Just as I said, he is different from most people. You see, Grace, not all wizards are good. Not all use their power the way they should. Some of them go bad. Some of them do things which are ugly and evil. Some of them simply don't care enough."
Grace looked at Cassiopeia, her eyes suddenly turning sincere.
"There exists a kind of magic that offers more power, more strength, more possibilities than the usual magic, but it also contains more danger, more risk, more destruction. Those are the Dark Arts." Cassiopeia glanced at Grace who was listening intently, her eyes glued to Cassiopeia's face. Cassiopeia swallowed. "Your father is the most powerful wizard I know. He's probably one of the most powerful wizards alive." She bit her lip. "Unfortunately, he certainly also is one of the most dangerous Dark Wizards of all time."
Grace stared back at her. "But how can that be true? He was so funny and easygoing yesterday."
"He's a great actor," Ben huffed.
Cassiopeia pursed her lips again. "He certainly is a great actor but he wasn't acting yesterday. He can be funny and easygoing if he wants to be. He can be different. I wouldn't have fallen in love with him, I wouldn't have stayed with him for so many, many years, if he was nothing but evil. There's light inside of him but it only shows to very few, actually maybe we are the only ones who see it."
"You certainly are," Ben interjected again, his tone dry.
"But why did you leave him if he was different for you?"
"Things changed." Cassiopeia shook her head. "I couldn't stay any longer." Her voice was sad.
"Will he... will he return here?" Grace asked, uncertainty ringing in her voice.
Cassiopeia looked at her, the faint trace of a smile creeping on her face. "He will, you can trust me, now that he knows where to find us, he'll be back."
****
It was early afternoon and Grace was sitting on the window sill, watching the path that led to the entrance. She had been sitting there for hours, not moving once.
Cassiopeia glanced at her and suppressed a sigh. Then she walked over to Grace and put an arm around her.
"You don't have to keep waiting here. I'm sure he won't use the entrance door again anyways."
Grace looked up at her. "But how is he going to come back then? I thought it's not possible to apparate in here. Only you can do that."
The ghost of a smile crossed Cassiopeia's features. "Oh, there are hardly any protective wards he hasn't managed to break through. I don't doubt that he'll be able to apparate in here."
Grace looked back at her, pondering her words. Then she hopped off the window sill and left for her room.
Cassiopeia eyed the front yard absentmindedly for another moment before taking a seat in the armchair close to the fire.
She grabbed the book that was lying on the coffee table and started to read.
After a while a low crack suddenly disrupted the silence. Looking up, she saw Tom standing close to the door, gazing back at her.
Cassiopeia closed the book and put it back on the coffee table next to her.
"Grace has been waiting for you the whole day, wishing you'd come back." Her voice was casual.
"Actually I was hoping that you had been waiting for me, wishing I'd come back." Tom smirked.
Cassiopeia returned his smirk. "I didn't have to wish. I knew you would. It didn't take any skills in Legilimency to read it in your eyes last night."
Tom's eyes were gleaming darkly and his smirk intensified. "What shall I say? You can't deny that ten years is a mighty long time."
"I'm sure Bellatrix was more than ready to fill the gap and take my place," Cassiopeia stated drily.
Tom raised an eyebrow. "She probably would have." He slowly walked over to her. When he was standing in front of her, he pulled her up from her seat. "But this is not about somehow filling a gap. I don't need anyone. But I want you."
He leaned closer and kissed her, his hands slowly travelling down her back and pulling her close. When he felt her responding to his kiss, he tightened his grip around her waist, intending to apparate them to her bedroom, but suddenly a voice broke the silence.
"I thought you didn't get along anymore." Grace sounded deeply surprised.
Tom pulled away from Cassiopeia and turned his head, his arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. He raised an eyebrow and eyed Grace, without saying anything.
Cassiopeia felt her cheeks blush slightly and carefully pushed him a little away, looking at Grace. "But I never said anything like that."
Grace's eyes travelled between the two of them. "But why would you leave him if you still get along?"
Tom quirked an eyebrow at Cassiopeia and a smirk tugged at his lips. "Yes, why would you leave me then?"
Cassiopeia shot him a glare but remained silent. The smirk spread across Tom's face, and he let go of Cassiopeia and turned back to Grace, shoving his hands in his pockets and studying her face for a moment before he said, "Yes, you are right, that doesn't make any sense."
Grace's eyes darted to his face, a look of utter surprise on her features.
Tom chuckled, "Of course I can do it, who did you think you inherited all this magical talent from?"
Cassiopeia elbowed him in the side. "Mind what you're saying."
Tom smirked, "But just look at her magic. She can do basic Legilimency, and she's not even got a wand yet. I think the origin of her magical power is quite obvious."
"Are you gonna get me a wand and teach me to get better?" Grace asked enthusiastically.
Tom opened his mouth to respond but Cassiopeia beat him to it. "You'll get a wand when every child gets one."
For a moment Cassiopeia had the impression that Tom was about to disagree but then he closed his mouth again and simply nodded.
A look of disappointment crossed Grace's features but she didn't argue.
"Can you show me anything else which I don't need a wand for?" she asked, her voice sounding a little stubborn.
Tom cocked his head. "I can show you lots of things."
Grace beamed at him. "Would you like to come to my room?"
Tom cast a glance at Cassiopeia. She gazed back at him, the look in her eyes clearly telling him to keep with the rules. He nodded almost unnoticeably. Then he turned back to Grace. "Of course."
He was slightly taken by surprise when Grace unexpectedly grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room, but it felt oddly good.
Cassiopeia watched them leave. When she saw Tom reacting to Grace's touch, she couldn't suppress a smile. After all those years there was still hope.
*****
Author's note: Thanks so much for reading, voting and sharing your thoughts!!