The Fearsome Name of Riddle

Runaway Love

The long red steam train let out a loud whistle at Hogsmeade Station as students began to board, their luggage piled on behind them. A large golden crest on its nose read: Hogwarts Express. Abraxas Malfoy had been watching his sister since she arrived at the station. Steam billowed around them with its familiar scent that always had always filled him with nostalgia. She looked nervous and she hadn't brought any luggage with her. Victoria stood alone, glancing around her. Abraxas assumed that she was looking for her lover but she seemed to light up when she saw him. He had never known his sister to be so happy to see him. Abraxas frowned softly, a light hope in his heart that it had been him she had been waiting for. Her shirt sleeves still buttoned to her wrists in the heat of July, Victoria hurried across the platform towards him. 

"There you are." She smiled when she reached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I was worried you might have already gotten on the train." 

"Aren't you getting on the train?" Abraxas asked, knowing the answer but not wanting to think about it after putting it off all year. 

Victoria sighed, squeezing her brother's shoulder the way their mother used to as she glanced across the platform like she was scared they were being watched. "No, I'm not." 

Abraxas avoided her eyes when she turned back to him, finally letting the idea of his sister abandoning him sink in. He understood somewhat. She was in love and the most stubborn person he had ever met. Roanna Malfoy may have encouraged her or maybe their mother would have been the only person able to make Victoria see some strategic reason. Septimus Malfoy would be furious and now there would be no one standing between Abraxas and his father. 

"I'll miss you." He mumbled, tucking the bottom of his shirt back into his shorts. 

"Hm?" Victoria asked, a smirk on her face as she leaned closer to hear her brother's muttering. 

"Nothing," he said quickly, shrugging her hand from his shoulder. "It's not like it matters, you want to marry Riddle and it's not like I can stop you." 

"Do you want to?" Victoria asked him, a softness to her voice that made Abraxas turn back to face her. "Do you not want me to marry him?" 

"What does it matter what I want?" Abraxas kicked a stone at his feet as the warning whistle for the Hogwarts express sounded. 

"I don't know how well I'd be able to look after you myself," Victoria said seriously as she put both hands on his shoulders. She held his chin, forcing him to look and listen. "Without father, I have no money and neither does Tom. And I couldn't promise that father wouldn't come to the school to find you." 

"I'm not going with you. I don't want to." Abraxas shook his head, forcing a tear away from his eye as he took a deep breath. "I'll stay at the Manor, get my inheritance." 

"Right," Victoria nodded, a slight smile on her lips as she pulled her brother into a hug. 

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him tight. They hadn't hugged since they were very small children. Even then it was likely coerced by an older family member to make a cute moment for them to watch. But now, this hug was for them, to say goodbye for the foreseeable future. Abraxas tensed reluctantly and then relented and put his arms around his sister, ignoring any stares they were receiving. He closed his eyes and could nearly feel the weight of his mother's arms, not letting himself tear up over the fact that he was about to lose his sister too. 

Pulling back, Victoria placed a kiss on the top of her brother's head and straightened herself. 

"Keep yourself safe, Abraxas," she told him, holding the side of his face as the final whistle for the Hogwarts Express sounded. Her eyes lingered on him, sealing him into memory just in case their father decided to poison him against her forever. "Go on, quickly." 

As the doors began to shut with a crash, Abraxas ran for the last open door and jumped on the train. He waved from the open window as the steam billowed between the two of them, separating the siblings as the train pulled away. 

A stretched popping sound echoed in Victoria's ear as Tom apparated behind her. He placed a hand on the small of her back, telling his fiancé that he was there. 

"Did you find him?" Tom asked, kissing her cheek as he placed a hand half into his trouser pocket. 

"Yes, I did," Victoria told him, smiling sadly as she blinked away tears and turned to her love. "Is everything ready?" 

"It is," Tom said, sounding a little nervous as he straightened out his jacket. "Our first home will be a lot less than you are used to, and I'm not talking a little less, I mean a few rooms that are probably no bigger than your entrance hall. Even I think it small and I've never lived in a house." 

"I know what I signed up for," Victoria said, reaching up and taking his face into her hands. "We'll make our way. Everyone in the country wants to hire you and I can find work easily too. We'll travel the world and save it as we go." 

Tom smiled as he leaned into her hands, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against hers. They were so close to true freedom but also leaving behind the school they had called home for seven years. A swirl of emotion knotted inside them, churning painfully as they held onto each other. 

"When wizards rule the world, I will give it to you.” He breathed out the words as he grounded his fear with her presence. “Until then, just stay by my side and I'll ask nothing more of you." 

"Then I will do everything you ask." 

End of part one