The Fearsome Name of Riddle

Virtue Lost

Black ink scratched onto parchment as Abraxas Malfoy sat in the library, desperately trying to finish his transfiguration essay. The parchment smell surrounded him as a candle flickered softly over his work. He had scribbled out several sentences and was getting a headache from the book he was reading. Every sentence started to blur together, he reread most of them twice. 

"Malfoy." The musical voice of a blonde Slytherin girl from his class made his shoulders tense. He didn't want to deal with anyone, especially not her. 

"What do you want, Druella?" he snapped, pulling his book closer to him. 

A deep glare crinkled his face as he looked up at his classmate. The youngest Rosier was as boisterous as her brother and as haughty as her sister. It made for a bouncy girl that flounced around like the world was made for her. Druella reminded him of a younger Victoria a little. 

"I heard something about your sister," Druella Rosier said smugly as she pushed herself into the narrow seat next to him. "Do you know where she is?" 

"Of course I don't," Abraxas huffed, his heart beating a little faster. He hadn't seen what Victoria had done to that Ravenclaw girl but she had disappeared after that day in the forest. It was all up in the air with the Ministry but Abraxas would lie for his sister if he had to. "Do you know where your brother is?" 

"No." Druella rolled her eyes as she leaned her back on the table, her black and green robes draping over the bench. "But I do know that Ivan isn't in Hogsmeade, spending the weekend with the Head Boy." 

Abraxas's face dropped. He didn't want to think about something like that at all. "She can do whatever she wants." 

"You don't care?" Druella teased, elbowing him in the arm. "Your sister is ruining her virtue and you don't care at all?" 

"Why would I? Victoria has never once listened to me." Abraxas grimaced, giving up on his homework as he tried with every thought in his head not to picture what Druella was describing. "She's my sister, I don't want to think about her doing shit like that." 

“Brother's protect their sisters, it's what's proper.” Druella stuck her nose in the air, a mimicry of her mother, Abraxas was sure. 

He hummed in response as he slumped down on the table. Ivan Rosier was ruthless when it came to his youngest sister, no one was safe if she accused them. 

"You'll be an uncle soon, Abraxas." Druella smirked as she stood from her seat, happy with the reaction she had accomplished. "Little nieces and nephews running around. Oh, bastards perhaps." 

"Shut up, Druella." Abraxas snapped, slamming his hands onto the table, gaining them both a harsh shush from the librarian. Abraxas lowered his voice to a strained whisper when he spoke again. "Victoria will do whatever she wants and her and Tom are engaged anyway so it doesn't really matter." 

Druella chuckled as Abraxas snatched up his books and work and marched past her. She followed on behind him without a care, blonde curls bouncing at her shoulders. 

"It's romantic though, isn't it?" She said rather than asked, skipping behind him as they left the library. "She'll defy your father to marry the man she loves. I think they'll be happy, don't you? Who do you think you're going to marry?" 

"I don't know," Abraxas sighed, defeated by the thought of Druella nagging him for the rest of the evening. "Not you." 

"Of course not me." Druella laughed, skipping slightly in her step. "That would be disgusting, we're cousins. Cygnus is the most handsome in our year, maybe I'll marry him." 

"You are not going to marry Cygnus Black, Druella. Get over yourself." Abraxas rolled his eyes, walking a little faster down the stone corridors to try and get away from her but failing. 

"I might, you don't know." Druella stuck her nose up again as she walked. "His brother Alphard is very handsome too, and he seems nice. Maybe I just want to join that family. The noble house of Black. I'd be like a princess." 

"You're so delusional." Abraxas groaned as he hugged his books to his chest. 

#####

The sun had set long ago but Tom and Victoria had yet to fall asleep. Their hair lay damp on the pillow after a bath, Tom's eyes gliding down her body under the quilt while Victoria watched his face. A dark gloom filled the room as the soft fabric of the yellow duvet covered them both. The smell of soap and perfumed sheets lingered in the air. 

"Tell me you love me," Victoria said softly, putting her hand on top of his as he stroked his fingers over her thigh. 

"What?" Tom frowned, lifting his head on the pillow next to her. 

"Say it," she said, stroking her fingers along the back of his hand. "Say that you love me." 

"Victoria." Tom sighed with a smile, tracing his fingertips from the top of her thigh up to the base of her chest. "I love you. I have loved you since we were eleven. You are the only person in this decrepit world I actually care about, friend nor family, you are the only one that matters." 

"You're so sweet." Victoria smiled, reaching out for him as they moved closer to each other, tucking his arms under her’s to rest his head on her chest. 

Her fingers traced lightly over his shoulders, his skin soft and warm beneath her fingerprints. Peace had never felt common in Tom's life. Orphaned child born out of a lie. A child of war sheltering from bombs dropped by muggles he would never know. An outcast in a world of high society. But Victoria had become an anchor in all of that, something to hang onto while he navigated his storming seas. 

"I'm happy." Tom's voice was gentle as he drew random shapes on her skin with his fingertips. "You're the only one that does this to me, I feel warm and safe when I'm with you. Can you stroke my hair again? I liked that." 

"Of course." Victoria lifted her hands, placing one hand at the base of his hair and the other into his curls, stroking through them like she had done in the bath. 

"Dippet turned me down," Tom mumbled, cuddled against her shoulder as he let his eyes close. "He said I was too young to teach." 

"You've got so much time," Victoria said softly, her fingers stroking through the length of his hair, pushing the damp strands back from his face. "My darling boy, you're going to live forever." 

The comforting movement made Tom drowsy. He felt himself begin to fall asleep in her arms. Nothing could have made him want to move. It was warm and comfortable in the sheets of the bed, quiet and out of the walls of the castle. Tom didn't have to think about anything while she was holding him. No worries of the future. No doubts about their ambitions. He could just be in that moment.