The Love Story of Harriet Potter and Tom Riddle

Chapter 148 - Again

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Mark kept a close eye on his wife and daughter as they walked down the busy path at King's Cross Station.

It had been a shock to introduce his beloved to the idea of what and who their daughter really was, let alone who Mark really was and his....complicated......family history.

Beth's mother had handled the news with surprising grace.

When it was finally time for the Riddles to part from their only child, Beth hugged her father, then her mother as they all smiled softly.

"You're going to make your father and I very proud, I'm certain of it." Beth's mother said warmly as she cupped her daughter's face, "Just be our sweet girl and study hard, eh?"

"Yes, Mum." Beth nodded before she frowned at Mark.

"I was trying to protect you." Mark sniffed before he cleared his throat, "......But I suppose perhaps I was just protecting myself. I love you, my girl....write to us immediately if you need anything."

"I love you too, Dad." Beth nodded.

Once the separation was complete, Mark and his wife walked back to their muggle car.

Their relationship had never been quite the same since the big reveal, but even as they drove in silence, with Mark staring at the road, and his wife looking out the window, they held hands.

"I was trying." Mark whispered, shattering the silence after many long moments, "I wanted to protect us all."

"You wanted to run away." His wife asserted.

She sighed as she glanced over at Mark and squeezed his hand, "You wanted to escape.....But I couldn't even give you that, could I?"

"You didn't need to." Mark said as he looked over at her for a brief second, "We can't outrun who we are.....or what we are. I should have learned that a long time ago."

His wife offered no reply then but she squeezed his hand again.

In a quiet but meaningful answer, Mark squeezed her hand in return.

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For wizarding Britain, the change seemed to happen overnight.

The gloomy, oppressive laws that had hung like shackles raining from the sky were reversed.

The sun seemed to shine more.

People smiled at each other in the streets as the collective population seemed to welcome a new optimism for the future as soon as they saw their Minister for Magic restored, looking as young and as handsome as he had decades earlier.

.........And Mrs. Riddle returned, that alone gave the people of magical Britain reason enough to celebrate.

Harriet attacked her work as she resumed her post.

She reunited with Merope as if she had been her own flesh and blood, a lost daughter finally home again.

Meeting after meeting, project after project, Harriet and her mother-in-law readily saw to restoration campaigns and public service events, one after another.

The needy were given shelter.

Families who had no means of survival were welcomed into the triplex Harriet had commissioned so many years ago.

Once homeless orphans found themselves in warm beds with caring nurses to cuddle them when they cried.

Dubbed the people's lady, Harriet gladly met with everyone from journalist to ambassador to anyone on the street who wanted a moment of her time.

In that new time, Tom did not again attempt to clip his wife's wings, instead he let her flourish, glad to allow Harrietto raise the public's opinion of him, which had greatly diminished during his dismal, forced solitude.

Regardless, a little over half a year, Harriet found herself having to relax a bit on her many ambitions due to the demands of her health.

One afternoon after a very busy morning and a night with disrupted sleep, she lay on the long sofa in Tom's office with her mate holding her hand.

Tom's dark eyes flickered worriedly from Harriet's face to the midwife's fingers, which were spread across his darling's swollen belly.

"There we are, Mrs. Riddle, relax, it's alright....There's nothing to worry about, you've just overdone it a bit, that's all." The midwife reassured her patient with a gentle smile.

"I still have a meeting I need to attend later." Harriet sighed, "And one more press conference afterwards, to discuss the new expansion of the Triplex."

"The only thing you'll be attending today is your nest." Tom snapped.

Harriet scowled at him, "And is it meant that-"

"-My mother will go in your place." Tom shot back, "And I will take you home. Wouldn't that be best?" He asked the midwife.

"Well, yes, Minister Riddle." The midwife nodded, "Considering the circumstances, it would be advisable for her to lie down a bit this afternoon, rather than jeopardize herself or the babies."

Harriet put up a weak protest but despite her refusal, once the midwife's visit concluded, Tom escorted her home and gently placed her amongst the mound of soft pillows and blankets.

"This is ridiculous." Harriet frowned, "I just got a bit tired, that's all."

"You nearly fainted." Tom scowled, "Two of my aides had to stop you from falling onto the floor. Sit here and relax, sweetling. I'll get you something to eat and drink."

"I'm not going to break, Tom." Harriet huffed, "I've carried babies before."

"Never two at once, though." Tom chuckled darkly as he kissed her lips before he left the room and walked down the hallway, eager to get his mate what she needed.

A shiver crawled up his spine as a cold, inexplicable breeze blew suddenly into the hall from the room that had been Mae's so many years ago.

He could have promised he heard his daughter's laugh.

Or was that the scream of one of his many victims?

His pulse pounded.

His mouth watered.

Tom grit his teeth and refused to let himself smirk.

Harriet chased away the darkness he held in his heart.

Although, he knew that ugliness, that spot on his soul would never be really, truly........gone.