The Fearsome Name of Riddle

A Charming Lord

1953

After being cut off from the Malfoy vault, Victoria had made sure to learn about finance. Her trade of dragons supported them, but dragons grew slowly and their footing with breeding the beasts themselves was only just catching hold. With Tom's dismissal of her finding a less lucrative job, she had taken on the chore of making sure they knew where all their money was and where it was going. Part of her was glad the numbers were small while she had learned how to balance their books but now that she sat reading over them years later, small numbers put her on edge. 

Victoria sat alone at their kitchen table in Knockturn Alley. Candlelight glowed over the rolls of parchment spread out in front of her, swan feather quill dipped in black ink in her hand. A magical abacus floated in the air, the feather of the quill sliding the glowing orbs to one side or the other. 

A swift whistle passed her ear as a small bottle smashed onto the wall beside her with force. She jumped at the sound and dropped her quill. Concentration shattered, the abacus dispersed into nothing. 

"What is that?" Her husband spat in a low growl that caught her even further off guard than the smashed bottle. 

"What was that, you mean," Victoria replied, a disgusted frown on her face as she turned to find him seething with anger behind her. "You seem upset." 

"Do not act clever with me now," he said coldly, managing to straighten himself up like a stretching rack. "What was in that vile?" 

"How am I supposed to know?" Victoria asked with a scowl, looking down at the small pieces of wet black glass on the wooden floorboards. "You smashed it. If you wanted me to tell you, you should have let me look at it first." 

"Oh don't worry, my love." Tom dug into his pocket with a maliciously aggressive grin. "Because you seem to have a collection of these little bottles." 

Tom tossed two small vials onto the rolls of parchment in front of her, both near black and pear shaped with golden lids. Victoria felt her lungs tense in her chest. She had been so careful. She had been so desperate to ignore him moving towards a want for an heir. A child would only be an accessory to him. He had no interest in passing on a legacy to anyone else, he made himself immortal to make sure of it. 

"Recognise it now?" He asked in a breathy whisper, leaning his whole body over her. "Tell me, what does it do?" 

Her jaw clenched tight, Victoria stared down at the vials, refusing to look up at him. "We are in no posi-" 

"See that's not what I asked you." He cut her off, one hand on the back of her chair, the other firmly beside the vials. 

Every time he spoke his voice shook. His position loomed over her, trapping her in her seat with nowhere else to go. 

"It dispels a foetus," she told him, lifting her head so that she didn't feel so submissive. "It is an abortion draft."

"I thought it was." Tom nodded as he stood back up. He wiped a hand over his face as he began to pace the room with a slow and threatening step. "Why do you have it? Are you not a married woman that has duties that are expected of her?" 

Victoria narrowed her eyes, standing to get out of her trap in the corner. "Because we live in a shed, because this is no place for a person to live let alone a child! It's been over five years, did you think I have been barren until you decided that it is time for a child?"

"Do not assume I don't know how biology works, but if you do not tell me then I will not know. I would have gotten us somewhere else to live if it mattered that much to you." Tom shouted back, his voice echoing off of the walls of their home. "Do you not think me capable of—"