Invictus [Tom Riddle / Tomione]

Witch of the Year

Tom stared at the parchment.

The last message he'd written to her was still scrawled upon it.

Hermione, answer me, so I know you're alright.

No response. It had been a week.

Tom sighed. His eyes flicked to the vial filled with blue potion.

It was a constant reminder that Hermione was his soulmate.

She belonged to him.

A digression. That's what this was.

He would go and see the seer this week. He hadn't been to her in two years. Perhaps she had some useful information.

Tom felt uneasy. He was somewhat assured that the soul connection they shared would alert him if something was seriously wrong on her end, as it had with her potion overdose.

He hoped she didn't start taking them again.

He sighed. He just needed to know that she was alright.

Visions of the night she overdosed played like a film reel in his mind.

He wouldn't visit her flat. Somehow he knew that would only make her angrier.

He'd forced her out of a job that she loved. He could understand her fury. But it frustrated him that she couldn't see why he'd done it.

Everything he'd done of late had been for her.

Now, she'd gone and signed on for a job that was far more dangerous than her previous job, one that could make her even more enemies, and one that could potentially be even more damaging to his organization.

"Fucking witch," he muttered poisonously. She'd probably done it just to spite him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a rapping on the window of his flat. He crossed the room and opened the jamb, immediately recognizing Wilhelmina Tuft's owl. His jaw tensed as he opened the letter bearing her seal.

Can we meet this week?

He exhaled sharply. Tom wanted nothing better than to strangle this woman with his bare hands. But now wasn't the right time.

Tom had plans, and he needed her alive until the proper moment.

Then he would dispose of her tactfully, and Hermione would take her place.

Tom penned a reply and sent it off with her owl.

Then he rolled up the parchment and set it aside.

He hadn't been able to sleep for several nights, so he'd turned to Dreamless Sleep potion. He'd have to stop taking it eventually, as he knew it could be highly addictive.

But tonight, he needed a full night's sleep without being tortured by thoughts of Hermione.

He'd become too used to having her in bed next to him; her scent was already beginning to fade. Her pillows were still in his bed, and her toothbrush, and a few of her nightgowns.

He'd check on her soon. He reminded himself that he could always project into her flat without alerting her.

Tom knocked back a potion, and within minutes, he passed out.

____________

The next morning, Tom made his way down Diagon Alley, as he did every morning. He stopped at the newsstand, checking the shelves as he waited for his coffee.

He stopped short as his eyes focused on the morning's publications. Hermione was the topic of almost every headline.

The front page of The Daily Prophet read, Dufresne & Dumbledore: Dynamic Duo?