enigmatic |t.r.|

19.

tom still had time. he could lie and dismiss everything she had said. he could be very convincing. he could use his charm. he could delete her memory. he could kiss her. he could kill her.

but instead, he decided to be honest for the first time.

i don't expect you to understand my plans.

who said anything about understanding?

their eyes met, tom's were dark and angry, meredith's were soft, like her bruised skin, soft but tortured and her words danced all the way out of her mouth.

i don't have to understand, tom. you see the world through your own eyes. you think that magic is the birthright of the purebloods only. but in your veins there is muggle blood too.

tom was angry and quick, he moved fast and his hands found their way around her neck and he squeezed.

never say that again. you understand? never!

meredith smiled.

if you want to threaten me, please don't cause me pain because i truly enjoy it. if you want to make me really miserable, treat me gently and with care, no one has ever done that before, it feels weird on my skin, like my flesh would turn to ash any second.

he moved away but he was already gone, gone in his minds deepest places, trying to understand what to do, what did she want.

meredith touched his arm softly.

you have the ability tom to create an empire, a kingdom, something that will make people look at you with awe and fear. you have the magic powers and the determination to succeed. if one must burn the world down, it's you. i won't be a burden to your plans for power. i won't tell you what is right or wrong. i don't even know if there's right and wrong. i won't talk about morality because morals are for fools and sentiment is for whole people.
i'm no person. i survive in the shadows like a ghost, i am quiet and broken and i don't have morals. i just have broken bones and sad stories.

she let her hand fall slowly from his arm and stood up.

i don't have the morality to save your soul or the world.

she placed a soft kiss on his lips.

softness didn't look good on tom riddle. it looked a lot like breaking and it snapped her bones in two.

but i won't help you destroy the world either. i will just wait patiently for my turn.

tom should have felt worried someone outside of the trusted circle of few knew the secret, someone who could easily mention his plans to dumbledore or anyone else.

but he wasn't.

to save the world you must care about it. meredith didn't care about the world.

she just tolerated it.

do you think we're worth saving?

the question slipped out of his lips like cigarette smoke. meredith had stopped counting the questions because it didn't matter anymore. it stopped being important after the first question. the first question broke the pattern. the rest just created a new one.

she looked at him.

the world or us specifically?

either

he said.

then, neither

she replied.