This part is for those who voted in the last chapter and those bunnies who commented so cutely.
Please read the Author note below this chapter. It's urgent.
~*~*~
"How do you know?" Alexa asked Tom. Her eyes locked on him expectantly. Just like Tom's had earlier.
Tom crossed his arms in front of his chest. He leaned back on the desk behind him. His posture was giving him a laid-back yet authoritative look. His mind was weighing his next words and her possible reaction.
"I saw." His voice was steady. Just like his posture. His eyes moving across her whole body to capture her every reaction.
Alexa stiffened. Confused and afraid.
"What? How?" she squeaked.
"On my prefect round one night. You transformed in front of me," he spoke truthfully. Her violet gaze didn't allow him to lie.
She turned away from him. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her shoulders stiffened when she tried to recall that incidence and came up empty-handed. It looked that he was the only source of her information at that moment.
"When?" she inquired.
"Last year," he replied in the same tone.
The silence engulfed the room. The heaviness didn't bother Tom. In fact, it gave him more time to contemplate his options to breach the topic. His eyes narrowed as he realized that there was no better way than breaching the topic directly. He realized at that point of time she was vulnerable.
It wasn't fair, he contemplated.
He never played fair, he reminded himself. It won't change for her.
"Your turn." His voice was serious. Deadly.
There was no room for escape. And Alexa knew it. She knew that he had to know. She knew she couldn't keep it away from him, even if she wanted to do nothing else. She sighed in defeat.
"You are right. I wouldn't have chosen Grindelwald as my grandfather. My mother wouldn't have chosen him as her father," she spoke calmly. Deadly.
Tom shivered at her tone. His eyes glinted. He was fascinated with the darkness in her tone. Finally! He had waited long enough. She chuckled humorlessly. Tom looked at her in confusion. Before he could comment, she continued,
"I am sure he will beg to defer." She turned in to face curious Tom. "Mum said he is a charming man. Charmed her, his own daughter, into joining him. Pampered her by addressing her as his most precious asset. I inherited my mother's metamorphmagus genes. Indeed she was an asset to him. She never knew her mother. He was the only family she knew. He made sure of that. She craved for love of the family. Never got an opportunity to bond with any person of her age. He made sure of that. He was her everything. He made damn sure of that."
Alexa slammed her fist on the nearby wall. A creak appeared on the stones, leaving Tom fascinated with her werewolf strength. However, he was sure that it left a long burn in her petite fist. "She was stupid, you know, my mother. For her, wrong was right, if he had said it. For years, she followed him. She followed his ideologies. She followed his orders. Brain-washed, she did every bad deed for the greater good. And then he killed her for the greater good."
Tom looked at her. Grindelwald killed his own daughter? His own family? His conscience mocked him that even he had rid of his family. Tom mentally sneered back at it reminding it that he killed them because they abandoned him, unlike Grindelwald, who killed his daughter even after she had been his loyal pawn. Tom valued loyalty.
"She was part of his acolytes. A special group of his special followers." Alexa brought him back to reality. A sudden fond smile on her lips confused him more. "Until she met my father that is. She was tasked to find him and bring his support to Grindelwald's army. Instead, she fell for him and left the army for good. Ironic, isn't it?"
Alexa looked in the distance.
"They resisted, you know? My parents. They resisted one another. They denied their feelings. They knew they were poison for each other, but in the end, they gave in. They ran into the hidings. Spent years away from the real world. They created their own small world with each other and made me a part of it."
A happy tear left her eye as if she was suddenly nostalgic. Tom felt his fingers twitching to rub that tear off of her delicate cheek. He turned them into a tight fist to stop him doing the exact thing.
"We were happy in our own world. For years, we had the same house to call our home. It was a luxury, but not all luxuries last, do they? He found us. He found my mum. After that, we were on a run again. My perfect family was incomplete again. My mother knew what was the price of affiliating with darkness and dark wizards, so she sent me away. She sent me to my aunt, Adrian's mother. In our last shared moments mum made me promise to stay away from bad magic and bad people. She made me promise to hide until I was ready, but look I failed her, didn't I? I failed my own mother."
Her voice quivered. Her feet felt weak in sudden realization. She lost her balance. Tom's hands instinctively shot out to hold her. He wanted to pull her to him and steady her, instead once she regained her balance, she pushed herself away. She leaned on the wall behind her instead. With a heavy breath and even heavier heart, she looked at the ceiling. Defeat marred her face.
Tom didn't like seeing her like this. He despised seeing her like this. He wanted to divert her attention. Away from that dead ceiling.
"That night when I found you, you protected me. You protected me from a vampire who was about to kill me in your wolf form," he continued asking her the question that had been bothering him for a long time now, "why did you do that?"
"I don't even remember protecting you. I have no recollection from that night. When I try to remember I feel a jolting pain." Alexa looked back at him. Her eyes blank. Her face was devoid of any emotion.
Damn you Dumbledore! Tom cursed his Transfiguration professor. He knew that man had removed her memories from that night.
He looked back at Alexa. This time it looked like she was battling herself. Beating herself on something internally. He asked her another question. The question he wanted to ask her at the beginning of this conversation.
"Why did you ask Anthony to betray me? Why did you force him to go against me?" He blamed her. An abrupt recollection of his loyal friend's betrayal brought fury in his blood.
"I never did that, damn it!" Alexa looked at him ferociously. Her violet eyes blazing with naked fury.
"Liar," Tom snarled.
Her hairs turned crimson. She felt sparks running around her. Her magic wanted to come out and destroy the room and everything in it. Her fists clutched her robe tightly, wrinkling it completely. She gritted her teeth. "I told him to keep it away, not to betray you, you fool! I did it because I didn't want to lose another person that I love."
~*~*~
Did I just write a love confession? Oops!!! Perhaps 50+ comments and 200+ votes for the next chapter? Please, with a cherry on top!
Guys, if you are not into love and romance stories, please stop reading my story. The summary on the cover makes it clear that this story IS a love story. I am tired of people playing a supposed hard-to-get feminist and bashing Tom. I am so tired of those damn rape whistles. I don't understand, if both parties are enjoying it how will that be a rape. Sexual assault is not something one should joke about. I do value your comments, so I read them very carefully. This is who I am. some of you are becoming an impossible-to-get reader for me. It takes a lot of effort and love to write about any character, even if it is a fan-fiction, which I don't know why people frown upon on Wattpad. So when you bash him mindlessly, you bash me. I take it personally. It does hurt me a lot. How will you feel if your reader is bashing your character? The characters are like a writer's babies. So it hurts them. Please make sure you remember that we are humans too. We have feelings too. I understand that you feel protective of your Hogwarts house, but harshly bashing someone just because they don't value your values isn't a correct way to change their opinion. As far as I understand feminism is not just bashing the male character. If anyone has an idea otherwise, then they need to get a quick check on their reality. Because of comments like this, I almost want to stop reading comments altogether. They are extremely discouraging. Please spare me from this pain. If while reading comments, you find someone who is commenting this way everywhere, please tell them that this isn't the right way. That will really help me. I am sorry if I offended you, but with whom should I share if not you?
Please vote, share and comment if you want to read more.
Meanwhile...
Thank you all!!!