The Fearsome Name of Riddle

First Marked

Across the black lake, amongst the trees south of Hogsmeade, Tom Riddle and Victoria Malfoy sat watching the clouds pass over the castle. Angry grey mist massed over the towers pouring water down onto the stone. Deep, inky black water stretched in a vast expanse, lapping gently at the grassy bank. The couple watched, perfectly dry while the rain had yet to complete its journey across the valley. 

"Do you have a vision for what you want to do when the year ends?" Tom asked, his arms wrapped around her waist as they leaned against a tree. 

His dark curls fluttered in the chilled breeze. They had charmed their clothes with heat and sat comfortably looking out at the lake, sheltered under a large oak tree that rustled as its branches swayed. 

"It's barely begun." Victoria sighed, playing with his fingers as she leaned her head back on his shoulder. "Can you not just let me spite my father for a while longer? He will not bend on this, I know he won't." 

"I intend to spite your father for the rest of our lives." Tom smiled against her neck, breathing in the smell of her lavender perfume. "I only want to know how you want to leave him. Do you want to run? We could kill him and take the Manor." 

"I don't know," she said, turning her head so that their noses were brushed against each other. "Hatred and kinship is complicated, I don't know if I want him dead, I do want to leave his house though." 

"Then we'll run if you still feel like this in June." Tom spoke softly, kissing her nose before lifting his head to watch the clouds looming ever closer. "We'll make our own family and then you'll have love and kinship. One day you'll kill him, beat him with your own hands, and I'll make sure it happens when you're ready." 

Her smile was gentle, blue eyes a stormy grey in the low light. His arms felt so safe in the quiet melody of nature around them. A bird chirped in the high branches, high pitched and musical. 

"You're not kind like this to anyone else." Victoria watched the side of his face as he looked at the castle. A strong, straight nose and defined points to his top lip. His cheekbones framed his face and after the summer they were more defined than they should have been. They would fill in more as the year went on. 

"Do you want me to be kind?" He asked, his near black eyes focused on the glowing light of the setting sun behind the storm clouds. 

"Not to anyone else." Victoria smiled, letting her eyes flutter closed as she pressed a kiss to his jaw. 

Tom's chest shook with laughter, "want me all to yourself, do you?" 

"A Lord does not need to be kind," Victoria said, letting Tom take a hold of her left arm and play with the cuff of her shirt sleeve. "But I love that you're a good man to me, I'm glad that you find it within yourself to be gentle. The scarcity of your kindness makes it sacred." 

Victoria watched with light confusion as he pulled up the grey, woollen sleeve of her jumper to her elbow and then undid the button at the cuff of her shirt sleeve. Tracing his fingers across her forearm, Tom smiled at the softness of her pale skin after he had tugged her sleeve up too. 

"I didn't bring you here to watch the sunset," he said, lifting her arm up to his lips as he became distracted by it. "I wanted to do something." 

"You did?" Victoria smirked, pushing a little firmer back against his chest. 

"That's not what I meant, don't look at me like that." Tom suppressed a smile as he guided her up and around to sit facing him on his robes splayed out on the grass. "One day you'll learn how to behave." 

"Behave?" She laughed, hitting him playfully as she put her legs over his. “I will not, if I wanted to behave I wouldn't be talking to you at all.”

"I want to brand you.”

Victoria stopped dead. A frown formed on her brow. 

“I want something more permanent than a ring," Tom said, looking into her eyes as he spoke. "I want to give it to everyone in my inner cycle, but you, I want to make you mine first." 

Victoria raised an eyebrow as Tom picked up his wand. “So I am not to be your one and only.”

“I promise you are above all others,” he said, holding her arm steady between them. 

"What is it?" Victoria asked, getting cautious as he rubbed his hand over her arm. 

"A mark," he said mysteriously, gently resting the tip of his wand at her wrist. 

"What kind of mark?" Victoria rolled her eyes as she felt the wood press into her skin. "A dark one?" 

Tom laughed at her mocking tone. "It'll be your first tattoo, you'll love it." 

"My only tattoo. It's not permanent is it? I'll be able to hide it." Victoria frowned as Tom began to whisper his incantation. His wand pressed harsher into her arm causing a sting of pain. "Ow! What are you doing?" 

Tom kept whispering as a thick dark magic injected into her skin. Burning like tar and black as night, it swirled like smoke just under her skin. 

"Tom, that hurts." Victoria gritted her teeth as she flinched but Tom kept her arm in an iron grip. 

"I know." Tom said, his tone strained as he held her arm and rested their heads together. A skull and the snake began to take form beneath her skin, writhing. "Just a little more, my love, you're doing great." 

Inky black magic swam under her skin, the burning ache throbbing as the mark settled into a skull with a snake protruding out of its mouth like a tongue. 

"There." Tom smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Perfect." 

"You're happy?" Victoria asked, watching the gleam in his eyes as he glanced between her face and the mark on her arm. It stung like an iron brand in her flesh, red raw around the edges. 

"Very much so," Tom said, his voice softening as he reached his hands to her face. "My precious darling." 

Victoria blushed furiously and tried to hide her face but Tom wouldn't let her. He laughed and just pulled her back to him. Rain began to spit from the rolling clouds that had crossed the lake on their journey over the mountains, hitting their skin lightly in the first touches of the storm. 

"Well I'm glad." Victoria giggled as she was pulled into his arms, Tom kissing at the flush across her cheeks. "But it's getting late Tom, we need to go back to the castle before the rain starts to pour." 

"Just a few more minutes," Tom begged, brushing his nose over hers as their lips hovered millimetres from each other. "Kiss me before we go." 

"As you wish," Victoria said softly, but Tom pulled back with an unsatisfied face before she could kiss him. Victoria sighed and placed a hand onto the side of his face. "My darling boy, come here." 

Tom smiled, having heard what he wanted. He leaned back down to her face and pressed his lips on hers. 

Tom had always thought that Victoria tasted like a sweet mint but not sickeningly so, just bitter enough to be the only kiss he ever needed. Her lips were soft, silk-like against his as she held onto the back of his head, his black curls between her fingers.