Forbidden

-22-

Madison showed him the other diary, the one that belongs to Helga and contained the stories of Aelin and Salazar in poems. Tom looked at it and knew that what was happening to them had been foreseen ages, hundreds of years ago, it would explain the void he felt in his heart ever since he was a child. That void was the place held for Aelin, or Madison. Ever since he locked eyes with her, he had lost the taste for his followers, he saw no point at all in even conversing with them. At the last meeting he sat quiet, just observing how pathetic they all sounded.

As he analyzed the yellow diary lost in thought he felt Madison,'s hand opening his robe, taking it off like a servant would. He froze in place when he realized that he stood naked in her presence.

"You are so beautiful, my love"

Tom hated that he didn't feel it, but he was starting to see himself through her eyes. The young witch grabbed the needle and set the book open on the arm of the sofa, and she began the runes. Lord Voldemort dropped Helga's diary at the pain of the third rune, but made no noise, no show of pain.

"Almost there"

Tom nodded, jaw clenched in pain.

When she was almost done with the last one, her heart started racing, the sound was so loud she thought everyone in the house could hear it, Tom certainly could. A thick black smoke spilled from the open wounds where the runes were carved in his skin. They looked at each other in confusion, and then it happened. The smoke gave way to light and then the wounds closed.

Tom dropped to the ground on his knees, he looked more pale than ever, Madison kneeled in front of him, trying to get a glimpse of his eyes. He wet his dry lips before speaking.

"Aelin?"

Madison knew and recognised the voice that had been inside her all along, a voice she thought was her intuition, it was Aelin's voice, her past self talking to her present self.

Tom looked at his hands, his dirty nails, pale and thin skin, so white it was nearly transparent.

"What have I done to myself?"

"You became immortal, my love"

"Why?" There was neat confusion in his tone.

"For the same reason you build that chamber, the same reason you didn't want to leave with me"

"Remind me" he finally found the energy to look her in the eyes, his eyes welled up.

"To leave a legacy, to be remembered"

He cleared his throat, moving forward to touch Madison's hands.

"I am a fool"

The young witch hugged him tightly, feeling their connection, their souls fueled up by the embedded history they carried.

"You are getting a second chance, only...a few hundreds of years later" she smiled, "do not, disappoint me, it will break my heart"

"To break your heart would be my destruction"

Madison kissed Tom, and tried pulling him closer but still he resisted.

"I do not feel adequate for you, my love"

Madison got up in a sudden move, touching her cloak around, looking for the ring again, she handed it to him.

"Get your soul back from it" Tom could see she was becoming impatient, he took the ring from her, closing his eyes and hovering his palm over it.

He spoke a few words in parseltongue until the ring floated in the air, spinning quickly letting out a thread of black smoke that flowed from the ring to Tom's chest. The wizard squirmed in pain. Madison watched, her mind thinking what would be the next step into rebuilding her lover's soul again. A part of her held anger and resent towards him, for doing the splitting in first place. Once the thread stopped the ring fell to the floor, he looked up at her.

"How do you feel?" She asked extending her had to help him up, which he took in silence letting her guide him to the bathroom, where the mirror was.

Voldemort looked at himself, his nose was back and his skin was thicker, and less pale, to Madison he was still Tom, beautiful dark haired and green eyed Tom.

"Any change?"

Tom nodded, allowing a slight smile to curl up his lips.

"Good. Now you can try Nagini" she looked at him closely, observing his reaction to see if there would be any conflict in choosing to go on as he was, doing what he was doing, or if he was committed. To her delight, he didn't think twice before he spoke in Parseltongue, summoning his snake.

Madison was very intrigued as to what would happen to the snake, because eventually this would have to be done with Harry, which brought her to the thought of how would she ever bring Harry to have this done?

Nagini didn't fight her master, she curled up at his feet and he kneeled in front of her, hovering his hand above her with his eyes closed, speaking whatever it was he had spoken to make the ring give.

Once again the thread appeared, leaving the animal's body and into Tom's heart. His breathing got heavier and heavier, and when it ended he winced. Nagini's body relaxed, her pupils dilated.

"Is she dead?" Madison got to her knees as well to touch the snake, she pet it like it was a fluffy dog, "Nagini, can you hear me?"

Tom was still pale, recovering from the process of mending another piece of his soul. He felt exhausted, and for the first time, in a very long, long time, he felt hunger.

"Is she dead?" He whispered.

Nagini blinked her eyes, the slits for pupils were normal again, giving Madison a great relief. The snake tensed up again and moved her head to brush herself like a cat against Tom.

"You have been a loyal servant, Nagini" he said before petting her head, speaking a few words in snake language to which she bowed and left.

"Wha did you say to it?"

"I said she was free" he spoke while propping himself on his knees to have a look at the mirror again.

To his surprise he could start to see his eyes getting green shades in it. It was still a blend of red, but his pupils were not slits anymore.

"It's working, my light"

Madison got up and just then noticed. Tom's hair had grown, it was longer, the curs fell over his ears now, she stared at him with much love.

"I have an idea on how to bring Harry..."

"I need a rest Aelin, I feel my physical body aching"

"I shall go back to Hogwarts while you rest...Where is the diadem?"

"In the room of requirements" he said stepping out of the bathroom to lay down, "Merlin's this is what it feels like to be hungry, my stomach needs something"

"I will get you something, my love" she helped him to the bed, and while she did so she noticed that he was not Lord Voldemort anymore, she wondered what would his followers say once they saw him.

"You have to get your strength back, my Lord, you still have to tame your heard of sheep"

Madison didn't know where the choice of words came from, however, at this point she just went along with what was happening.

That night she brought him food, bread, pumpkin soup, and water, which he drank like a man lost in the dessert. He was silent the whole time while she fed him, and when she bathed him with a wet cloth he held a smile on his face, even though his eyes were closed. Madison smiled too.

"I've never know what his was, being taken care of..." he spoke with his velvet tone.

The young witch felt bad, and remembered that she, too, was only cared for by Narcisa, Draco and Alfie. Specially Alfie.

"It is what we're here for, to take care of one another...I wasn't brought up with a caring family"

"We are one, Madison"

She smiled to the point of feeling she was showing her teeth a bit too much.

"We are one"