Stolen Time A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Ten

More than a week had passed and Tom had not shown up once. Cassiopeia hated this habit of his to just disappear for days on end without any notice. She was well aware that, of course, he didn't owe her any explanation regarding his whereabouts but taking into account the many years she had been closer to him than anyone else it would nevertheless have been somehow common decency to at least leave a little message. But then again, Tom had never been common, not in this way, nor in any other.

The morning had once again been rather uneventful. There was still no news from Tom. Cassiopeia pursed her lips. He tended to walk in and out of her life with a kind of naturalness that was just so Tom but that she still disliked.

Finally, after lunch she made up her mind and apparated to Malfoy Manor. She strode up to the entrance and knocked on the door. One of the house elves opened the door and shot her a quick gaze.

"Miss Houlton.” The little elf bowed. “How can Tibby help miss?"

"Tibby." Cassiopeia smiled. "I was wondering if you’ve recently seen..." She paused. Addressing Tom in front of others remained just as strange as it had always been. When she saw Tibby looking at her expectantly, she swallowed and continued somewhat reluctantly, "...the Dark Lord?"

Tibby flinched at the mention of Tom and nodded. "Please come in, miss. Miss can wait in the living room."

Cassiopeia stepped inside and followed Tibby to the Malfoy's living room where Tom used to hold his Death Eater meetings. When she entered the living room, she saw that it wasn't empty and slightly raised an eyebrow.

"Bellatrix," she greeted unenthusiastically.

The young witch whirled around and shot her an equally unenthusiastic look. "Cassiopeia," she acknowledged.

"Are you waiting for the Dark Lord?"

An odd gleam shot through Bellatrix' eyes and she shook her head. "No, actually I'm about to leave. I just practised my wandwork a little. The Dark Lord generously offered to help me improve my skills and he showed me how to cast the Cruciatus Curse so much more efficiently. It was so fascinating, feeling his magic, experiencing his power…" The gleam in her eyes intensified. "Did you ever watch him cast the Cruciatus Curse? It’s just so....exceptional." Her voice was full of excited emotion.

"Is it?" Cassiopeia replied drily. Even without having seen Tom casting it lately, she was absolutely convinced that his Cruciatus Curse was doubtlessly exceptional in so many ways, certainly exceptionally painful, exceptionally merciless and exceptionally coldblooded.

"What does it feel like?" Bellatrix’ voice interrupted her train of thoughts and Cassiopeia threw her a confused glance. "What are you talking about?"

"Bearing the Dark Lord's mark, what does it feel like? I know you're one of the few who have been granted the honour of bearing it." She ran her fingers over her arm. "What does it feel like, being connected to him like that?"

Cassiopeia looked at Bellatrix and pondered her question. What did it feel like? Honestly to her the mark didn't exactly feel like an honour anymore. This connection that had once been so unique had lost a lot of its appeal with every single time that Tom had carved the mark into another one's arm, thus rendering it more and more common. To Bellatrix it might still seem special and rare but in Cassiopeia's eyes it had been used far too often. However, no one knew about the mark's origin, and Cassiopeia had no intention of changing that, well aware that Tom would never want the others to know. Finally, she answered evasively, "It's always exceptional to experience the mark's powers." That wasn't even a lie. It was indeed still beyond words to catch a glimpse of the true extent of unscrupulous domination, control and oppression that Tom had equipped the mark with.