Daring Ambition: Tom Riddle's Quest

Chapter 6 - In Tom's Protective Arms

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Harriet had intended to stay awake for the rest of her visit with the midwife, but between Tom's potion and her body's joyful jubilation at finally being able to sleep without interrupting fits of violent sickness, she drifted off again.

Sometime later, Harriet opened her eyes to the soft glow of candlelight.

As she blinked and sat up in her nest, she realized that night had fallen.

Across from her, Tom sat in the chair by the bed with his eyes narrowed in concentration as he carefully read the book in his hands.

On the table next to him, the flame from a single candle glowed.

Harriet reached over to the nightstand by her nest and pulled on her glasses as she squinted to read the book's title:

Caring for the Pregnant Witch

She scowled as she glanced down and saw the other titles along the spines of the volumes and pamphlets that Tom had been given by the midwife:

Magic: Labour and Delivery

Newborns and Nurslings

Natural and Best: A Practical Guide to Health and Breeding

"What are you doing?" Harriet demanded as she kept her scowl while her emerald eyes focused on Tom.

He blinked as he lifted his dark gaze from the page to look at Harriet.

A smug grin of arrogant triumph crossed his lips as he replied, "I was beginning my education......My apologies, sweetling, I didn't notice you had woken. Have you been staring at me for very long?"

"No." Harriet frowned, "I suppose it's gotten late, hasn't it?......I'm surprised you're still here."

"Tell me, Harriet, where else do you think I'd possibly be now?" Tom asked as he turned his eyes back onto the open page of the book he held.

"Anywhere." Harriet shrugged, "The Ministry.....the flat you've rented...or wherever it is you're living."

"I'm living here now." Tom answered firmly.

".......I beg your pardon?" Harriet scoffed as she narrowed her eyes at her husband.

"This is my home." Tom stated as he met Harriet's gaze. She scowled as his dark gaze traveled down to her small belly, ".....And those are my pups. I'm not leaving your side until I see them born safely."

"You....You're moving back in?!" She gasped.

"No, I already moved back in." Tom chuckled darkly as he looked at the paragraph he had been reading, "The Dark Arts have many uses beyond killing and maiming, sweetling.....How do you think I cleaned the house with such great speed today? It was nothing, really. Transporting my belongings and settling in took me less than an hour."

"But!" Harriet spat as her eyes widened. Tom sighed as he looked up from his book again and watched her frown while she protested, "You....You can't just come back!.....We're in the middle of a divorce!"

Tom's expression changed from one of quiet exhaustion to a mask of repressed rage.

Harriet frowned as she watched him silently close his book and lay it neatly on top of the others in his lap.

"You're exhausting me, Harriet Riddle." Tom whispered to her in his eerily calm voice.

Harriet's frown deepened as she watched him.