𝕬 𝕷𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖑𝖊 𝕳𝖊𝖎𝖗 𝕽𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖘 | 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 |

Epilogue

"If you don't hurry up, I'm leaving without you."

Tom Riddle was waiting rather impatiently outside Frankie's orphanage room. They had to plan their school shopping very carefully this summer because of all the war restrictions. The shops closed much earlier now and their time was extremely limited. Frankie had slept right through breakfast and had to have Tom physically come into her room and wake her up. He continued to pace in front of her door while she dressed and got her things together. Finally, after what seemed like many minutes she opened the door.

"I'm sorry, Tom. I had a dream and slept in longer than I meant to." she yawned, drowsily.

"A dream?" he added, with a curious inflection. Tom didn't have dreams. He had nightmares.

"I cant remember all the details. There was a talking lion. Prue and Jacob were there too. Then, we were at the year-end feast and we ki—"

Frankie stopped recounting immediately before she said something she ought not to have said. She'd thankfully stopped herself just in time. Although, she certainly did not have control over what she dreamed about, telling him would be embarrassing and would make him uncomfortable. She also did not want to admit that she kind of wished that part had not been a dream.

"We what?" he asked, clearly noticing her immediately suspicious behavior.

"I can't remember." she replied, immediately, turning away from his gaze.

"You clearly remembered something just now. Tell me."

"We're late. Tom will be wondering about us." Frankie added. She bolted down the stairs and Tom hastily chased after her.

Eventually, as they began hastily making their way towards the Leaky Cauldron, Tom dropped the subject. Although, he wanted to be stubborn and persist in pressing her to reveal what had potentially happened to them at the feast, he did not want to push her too far. Something in his head told him that it was not just a dream. While he couldn't explain the significance of a talking lion or the appearance of a random Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff from their year, that moment at the feast was something that had might've had a base in reality. It was all he could remember from the entire school year with clarity. Everytime he attempted to pull up a particular memory, his mind blurred the details. He would pick up one of his spellbooks and try to remember the moment in class they had learned the different spells. The memories seemed almost fake with how basic they were and, when he turned to Frankie in class, her face was completely blurred out. He wanted to bring it up to Frankie, but he also didn't want to worry her. She already had enough memory problems without the added stress of his own.

After a friendly greeting from the other Tom, he opened the portal for them to Diagon Alley. The crowd seemed more or less the same, somehow completely undisturbed by the new war that Tom couldn't help but be curious about how this particular pocket of the wizarding world operated. So, they hit up Flourish and Blotts immediately after grabbing their money from Gringotts. Usually, they saved it for last, knowing they would spend the most time there. However, with even less time than usual, they had to make sure they got their proper fix of books.

"Alright, Frankie it's time—"

Tom had just grabbed his last required book and turned to start heading for the register, foolishly assuming Frankie was right beside him. Instead he found Prue Thompson. Apart from running into her first year in Madam Malkin's shop and their Astronomy class group, he didn't really see Prue all that much. "I'm sorry about that. She was right next to me a minute ago."

"It's alright. I know you both love this store and get distracted fairly quickly." Tom was about to tactlessly ask her how she knew that with such certainty. Sure they were known to run into each other from time to time, but overall they could not be considered friends. However, Jacob Marron, interrupted them.

"Hey Tom. How've you been?" he grinned, as if they to were much chummier than they actually were supposed to be.

"Just fine." Tom replied, politely.

"Have you seen Frankie around?" Prue asked, knowing Tom would be too shy to ask about her directly to someone who he thought was just an acquaintance.

"I think she's with your cousin." Jacob replied.

"Cousin?"

Frankie was buried deep in the magical creatures section with her head in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She was finally going to be taking the elective with Professor Kettleburn this year and the book was one of required texts. Even though she would have all year to read it and she was operating on very limited time, she got caught on a paragraph and just one page had suddenly blossomed into twenty eight. She glanced up every so often, expecting to see Tom glowering at her to leave, but she was suddenly met by another boy. He was around her age and made zero attempts to conceal the fact he was staring right at her.

"Hi."

"Hello—Sorry, am I in your way? I can move—"

"You're not in my way. I just wanted to meet you..." he insisted, holding out his hand to introduce himself properly, "I'm Arthur."

"I'm Frankie." she answered. Although, it'd caught her a bit off guard, there wasn't really anything wrong with the sudden approach of a potential new friend. It reminded her of when she met Tom. Arthur had a strikingly familiar aura to him. Something in her brain recognized him, but another part would not allow her to remember. "Do you go to Hogwarts?"

"No, they've decided to homeschool me. I really wanted to go though."

"I'm sorry about that." Frankie wasn't sure why she apologized, but a part of her felt responsible for a decision that had not actually been hers. It was the decision of two wizards she actually knew quite well though. The same men controlling her future were now controlling Arthur's.

"Do you like it there?" he asked, curiously.

"It's the best school in the country. I couldn't be happier." she answered, immediately, even though it was a bit of a tactless answer.

"Good. As long as you're happy, then I won't complain..." Arthur smiled. Although, he had really wanted to go to school with all the new friends he had made, it was a term of keeping his memory and the magic potion that he was not allowed to approach any of them. However, he couldn't help but see Frankie, even if it would get him in trouble. "I hope this year is better than the last."

"Frankie!"

Before she could answer Arthur, she whipped around to find Tom hanging over the banister, slighting glowering at her as she expected him to for running off. "There you are. It's time to go."

"The infamous Tom Riddle arrives." Arthur added, with a small comedic bow. Tom could only assume that to be the mysterious cousin Prue and Jacob had been talking about. They refused to give him any other details and he stormed off to find them out for himself. Normally, it would've infuriated him to see Frankie talking to another boy, but for some reason he wasn't actually that mad to find them. Perhaps he was maturing, but something told him this boy was not a threat to him. He didn't even question the fact he already knew Tom's name. "Maybe I'll see you both around someday. Thanks for everything."

He left and rejoined Prue and Jacob back on the ground floor. Before exiting back out onto the busy street, they turned and gave the pair a final wave goodbye. Although, it was not truly the end, they would not meet as the four founders again. Tom and Frankie wouldn't even know the other pair were descendants and they were about to go through the rest of their school days distinctly split.

"What did he mean by that?" Frankie asked, somehow thinking Tom would know better than her. "I just met him. Why'd he thank us?"

"No idea. Obviously, if he's related to Prue he must be somewhat omnipotent." Tom concluded. He didn't want to think about a potential mysterious plot going on. He had more than enough on his plate prepping to start his third year as a wizard and looking after Frankie.

"Come on, clever girl. We've got places to be."