*to my other love, Tom Riddle*
The moment his spell collided with the young Kallista Emrys, Voldemort's vision started to blur and haze. All he could see was Kallista.
How he hated to point his wand at her in that way. If given a choice, Voldemort wouldn't have raised his wand at her and casted that blasted spell. Anyone else he who would have loved to kill but never her. Never Kallista. He couldn't do that.
The spell, however, was half hearted and the magic behind Unforgivable Curses is you have to mean it or it wouldn't work completely. That was a first for him.
Lord Voldemort frowns heavily as the bright colors from their combined spells created an enchanting look about the girl that betrayed him, Kallista Emrys.
He closed his eyes in regret.
Suddenly, he was Tom Riddle again in his Hogwarts Slytherin robes.
In Kallista's place was Kala. His beautiful Kala. Immediately, his chest warms at the sight of her alive and healthy. Her laugh fills his ears and he felt himself melt a little.
"Tom, you're so clever." She whispered her voice echoing softly making his breathing erratic.
Many years, he's tried to research on a way to forever keep his memories of Kala but with the monstrosity that he's done- with his humanity completely ripped apart and his soul shattered- he could barely grasp her memory. Not until, today.
"Kala." He manages to say. Tom sounded breathless and awestruck. Nothing like the Lord Voldemort we know.
Kala smiles at him. The way she always does when she sees Tom. "I've missed you."
The mere echo of her voice made his knees buckle and his posture slacken. The familiar warmth in his chest is welcomed. How he's missed her.
There's a bright light and suddenly he's in the Room of Requirement nose buried in a book. Kala had her head on his lap reading one of her father's books.
It was their paradise. Dark curtains draped over the tall windows, green flame from the fireplace and a luxurious black couch. It must have been his imagination but he could almost smell her and the warm fire.
Tom felt his throat dry. He badly missed her. How long has it been since then?
"Do you ever think of the future?" She asks bringing her book down to see him.
He nods turning another page of his book. "All the time."
"Am I in it?" Kala asks innocently her ocean blue eyes piercing his.
"Obviously." Tom answered putting his own book down to see her clearly. The light from the fire gave Kala an unearthly beauty about her. She reaches her hand up and places it on his cheek affectionately feeling his strong jaw and his cheek bones. Tom truly was the most handsome.
Kala watched him for a moment before closing her eyes a beautiful smile appearing. "I would like that. I would like that very much."
The memory changes again and it's Christmas. Tom hated Christmas for many reasons. One of them being that Kala never spent the holidays at Hogwarts because of her family. This Christmas however, was his favorite. Kala begged her father to stay at Hogwarts this year and through a miracle Kal Emrys agreed.
It was just Kala and him.
One illegal spell later and Tom brought them to a small cottage by the forest. It was a Christmas wonderland which he knew Kala loved.
Tom hands Kala a cup of hot tea and she smiles pleasantly pulling the blanket around her tighter. He watched her not entirely understanding what he was feeling exactly. It was a wave of emotions he couldn't fully comprehend but the sight of her took his breath away.
Kala looked so innocent and pure in her silk pyjamas and her messy hair. Even now, in memory, the same feelings surged up at him. Tom watched her blow her cup of tea and close her eyes once she drinks the hot liquid.
Tom couldn't lose her.
He just couldn't.
Not his Kala.
She was the brightest star in his otherwise starless empty sky.
Kala reaches for his strong hands and pulls him down to sit with her in front of the fireplace. "This could be our future." She tells him looking up from her thick lashes.
Tom stares down at her and he's overwhelmed by want. Not lust but want to have this as their future. He would do anything to have this with her. Sacrifice everything for her.
Kala might not know it but Tom Marvolo Riddle was hers completely. Heart, body and soul.
She tucks herself on his chest and Tom sighs feeling something he could only describe as happiness go through him. He wraps his strong arms around her wanting nothing more than to stay here with her. Forever.
Forever Kala's.
Yet again the memory changes. They had their first argument in this one. Tom Riddle acted foolishly upon seeing her speaking rather closely with Abraxas Malfoy -her best friend- and shouted at her in front of him.
Kala never looked so surprised. Tom knew she wasn't doing anything wrong. They were merely talking but the horrible emotion that plagued his mind took over.
He apologized almost immediately. Kala smiled like she always did and forgave him easily. She always had patience for Tom's outbursts.
A little while later, Tom lay in a pile of blankets on a bed inside the Room of Requirement. He made this specific room for Kala. With green flames burning in the fireplace and silk drapes hiding the last of the sun, it was their paradise.
When the door finally opened showing his smiling beautiful girl, his chest immediately warmed. How could he ever live without her? A life without Kala Emrys would ruin him that much he knew.
No one would take her away from him.
No one.
If anything were to happen to her... the whole world would regret it.
Kala dropped her bag and books on the floor kicking close the door and ran straight at him. Her laughter fills the room as she jumped on him and Tom's breath is knocked out of his chest. Not minding this one bit, he wrapped his arms around her and she sighed contentedly.
Tom hummed feeling satisfied with Kala in his arms her sweet delicious smell invaded his senses making his thoughts go wild. He loves her. Tom knows that and he's scared to lose her.
Kala pressed close to him and he lets out a sound he's never made before. "You're bad." Tom whispered tightening his hold on her.
"Bad for you." She whispered back pressing her soft plump lips on his neck effectively making him melt under her touch.
Tom pulled her impossibly closer to him. A burning desire he's never felt before consumed him and they're lost in a sea of breathless passionate kisses and hot white skin pressed together.
She was his paradise.
The memory changes yet again and Tom flinches at this particular one. He nervously pulled at his collar holding a transfigured jewelry box with a ring inside. For months, he's spent perfecting the ring to make it look the best it could be. His Kala deserved everything but the best.
Tom watches the clock pass the time which Kala was supposed to meet him and he's plagued with awful thoughts that she wouldn't show. That she wouldn't accept. That she would choose someone else. Someone pure of blood.
An hour later and Tom's anger starts to drown him. Kala was never late and suddenly on the most important meeting they could ever have, she's not here?
Tom angrily thrusts the ring at the wall. How could she? Did she have second thoughts? Did she want Flint instead of him?
Disappointed and rage filled, he exits their paradise blowing out all the candles and marching away towards the hidden passage to take him back to the dungeons.
The anger vanishes suddenly at a horrible sound by the corridor.
Tom's chest tightens when he hears soft sobs and cries of pain. He could feel his knees buckle at the sound and silently hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.
Horror and terror like nothing before erupts on his chest when he rounds a corner and sees the love of his life on the ground bleeding profusely. Tom has never felt this type of pain before.
It was nothing like a Crucio to the heart. Something worse and something he never wanted to feel again. The pain of seeing his star- his Kala-
Voldemort closes his eyes refusing to relive this moment. Nothing was more painful than this. All the pain of dark curses and unforgivables but nothing was as heart gutting as this.
"Tom?"
Voldemort hesitated and finally he opens his eyes at her soft melodic voice.
Kala is no longer on the floor and bloody. In her place is how he remembers Kala, full of life and smiling at him lovingly.
"I love you."
She reaches for him. With his cold heart pounding and desperate, he swallows nervously reaching for her outstretched hand.
The moment their hands touch, to his utter horror, his beautiful love blurs away into a Kallista Emrys.
And then, there was nothing at all but darkness and the ghost of his love's touch.
Finally, he was with her again.
-
Author's Note: RIP to one of the most handsome and charismatic boys.