Illicit Affairs ● Tom Riddle

♛ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ♛

"What is it?", Priscilla asked her daughter before dinner. She was in her boudoir, preparing herself when Pandora walked inside.

"I wanted to talk to you..."

"Ah, yes", Priscilla smiled and turned around, "Oh, for Merlin's sake, Pandora!"

"Hm?"

"What kind of dress is that? You look uncouth! Come here, young lady!"

Pandora walked towards her mother who started to fix little wrinkles on her green dress that she wore. Priscilla bit her lip for a moment and opened her secret box to take a beautiful necklace out of it and gave it to his daughter.

"Oh, mom... That's... That's just a family dinner..."

"Come on, put it on", Priscilla smiled gently and helped her to clasp it, "Ah, you look lovely"

"Mom... Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, my dear"

"Why did you invite him to our house? He's a half-blood, you know that, right?"

"Pandora!", her mother pursed her lips and lowered her voice, "He's our guest. And yes, your father and I are aware of the fact that his father was... Well, a muggle. But his mother was from the House of Gaunt. They're descendants of Salazar Slytherin himself. And despite being raised in some nasty muggle orphanage he's a great wizard and...", Priscilla stopped for a moment.

"And a pure-blood supremacist. I know", Pandora rolled her eyes.

"Dora, please, don't roll your eyes. It's so unladylike"

"It's funny, isn't it? It's always them half-bloods who are the most fixated on the blood purity"
"Pandora, you don't have to agree with this Riddle boy, but please, don't be rude to our guest", her mother warned her.

"I'm never rude, mom", Pandora said sweetly and fluttered her eyelashes.

"That pile of letters from Hogwarts says otherwise", Priscilla sighed and pointed at her desk.

Rodolphus Senior was working in the Ministry of Magic and he was always coming back home late. That day was special, though, because his children came back from Hogwarts. He was also excited to finally meet that Tom Riddle, his son's best friend. So far he seemed to be a charming young man. Mr Lestrange was sitting in the parlour with all the boys and drinking whiskey, waiting for his wife and daughter to come downstairs.

Tom felt a little bit uncomfortable around all these people and inside that beautiful manor. He was secretly looking around with the corner of his eye. He promised himself that one day he would have a house like that. Even larger, more beautiful and more impressive. Voldemort Manor. Sounded magnificent.

Then he saw Pandora Lestrange walking inside, followed by her elegant mother. They were both beautiful. Priscilla despite her age and Pandora despite her annoying behaviour. That was something Tom had never noticed before, though. He was always seeing her in an uniform or plain dresses. Now she was standing in front of him in a beautiful green dress, with a big velvet ribbon in her hair and there was an incredibly beautiful necklace shining on her cleavage. Tom felt something. And that was a feeling that he was rarely having, due to his general coldness and skepticism.

"Ah, my beautiful girl", Rodolphus Senior stood up and placed a kiss on his daughter's temple, "I've been missing you"

"I've been missing you, too, daddy", she smiled at him, "Have you seen my exams results?!", she asked excited.

"Ah, yes. Quite good for a girl. Let's go to the dining room, shall we?", he turned around and looked at the boys.

"Yeah, I'm starving!", Rodolphus Junior exclaimed and they all followed Mr Lestrange to the dining room where two House Elves were bustling around.

Pandora didn't even feel like crying at that moment. She was just empty inside. It was alarming how cozy that strange void felt in her heart. She didn't even notice that she sat next to Tom Riddle. At that moment it didn't matter. He could even kill her in front all of them. She didn't care. No, she even wanted it.

"So...", Rodolphus Senior looked at his wife and they smiled at each other. The dinner was coming to an end, "We have an announcement"

Pandora didn't care about any of that. She wanted to stand up and leave, as fast as possible and as far away as possible.

"Pandora...", her father started and she raised her head.

She suddenly felt hopeful. Maybe they had some kind of a surprise for her? She didn't know what to expect, though. What kind of gifts were girls getting for passing their O.W.L.s?

"Your mother, uncle Rabastan, aunt Antonia and me... We made a decison", Rodolphus Senior smiled.

"A decision?", Pandora raised her eyebrow, "With uncle Rabastan and aunt Antonia? I'm sorry, I don't understand..."

"We think that you and Tobias should marry", her father stated.

It was like a punch. Pandora immediately felt sick. She looked at her cousin but he didn't look surprised at all. He even smiled at her.

"But... But...", she started.

"Oh, not now, of course!", her mother noticed her distress and quickly tried to calm her down, "In two years, after you graduate from Hogwarts. Tobias has just graduated from Durmstrang so he will have two long years to get some respectable job and enjoy his life as a single", Priscilla laughed nervously.

Pandora didn't know where to seek help. Her parents were insane, completely mad. Tobias was apparently on their side. Tom's face was emotionless as usual and her brother looked as surprised as her but he did not say anything.

"What if... What if I don't want to?", she asked boldly.

"Nonsense!", her father snorted, "You're only sixteen, what can you know? In two years you'll change your mind"

"It's for the sake of our family", her mother leaned in to whisper.

"But he's my cousin!", Pandora protested.

"Dora", her mother closed her eyes for a second, "Please, behave"

"I will not marry my own cousin"

"Grandfather Felix and grandmother Horatia are cousins as well", Priscilla reminded her, "It's the best way to keep our blood pure"

The empty void inside of Pandora's heart filled with rage. She was out of control.

"I would rather marry a muggle!", she yelled, stood up and ran out of the room.

Everyone looked at each other nervously. Mr and Mrs Lestrange blushed.

"I'm so sorry, Tobias, my dear. She's still a brat...", Rodolphus Senior tried to excuse his daughter's behaviour.

"It's fine", Tobias smirked, "She's still a child. Let her be for two more years"