Karamakov•Tom Riddle FanFiction

Livin' on a Prayer

You will still bloom in the way you were meant to

"I wanted to save you, you know."

Tom and Kenna were in the Forbidden Forest, in that same little hideout where everything seemed to begin.

It felt strange for Kenna stepping into it after so long, but the circular room didn't fail to steal her breathe away once again. The silver on the bark and the walls was still shimmering with life, and the lilies and green ivy had yet to wither, as if it had waited for their return.

It was stunning, and still entirely Slytherin.

Kenna could feel Tom's eyes on her back as she'd taken a seat at once the benches surrounding the beautiful, twisting tree. She could feel the small grin on his face as he watched her remember all the memories in their little place.

"The stuff in that book could keep you up at night."

It was here she learned who Tom Riddle really was. As everybody had thought, Kenna had found that he was a clever and brilliant boy; however, she also found out that he wasn't going to be great. He was going to be terrible. He was...

"My point is, there's no place for me."

Tom had learned who Kenna was, too. Thinking back on it now, Kenna could see why he had brought them somewhere so comfortable and confined. It was easier to get her to be honest. It was easier to consume her with how similar they were, give her no space to hide.

"You're more than meets the eye, Kenna Karmakov, much more."

They'd both been thrown off by the other person. Their expectations going into it no longer existed, but perhaps the most frightening thing was releasing that they liked this unexpectedness. It hadn't been part of the plan for either of them. It seemed almost inevitable.

"Too pretty for your own good. That's why you destroy everything you touch."

In the end, it felt as if they had never been strangers.

Kenna shivered.

"If anyone could have, it would have been you." Tom was sitting beside her, his entire body brushing against hers. He'd been tutoring her again, expect this time it was much more real. This time, the Dark Acts written in these forbidden books weren't unfathomable anymore.

Her eyes had been blankly looking at the pages for the past hour. "But, it wasn't."

"You did much more important things for me, Kenna." Although he tried to suppress it, Kenna could hear his frustration.

She never knew how to stop pushing. "And what have you done for me?"

This was a conversation they'd had many times since Kenna agreed to creating a Horcrux. Something niggled inside her mind every time they were on the topic, urging her to question why she was doing this and who for.

Tom never outright argued against her doubts, even though it was obvious that he wanted to. Maybe that was part of the reason Kenna said such things; seeing him restrain himself was reassurance that she had control over him.

However, she never once took her doubting far enough to actually back out of creating a Horcrux. That only confused her more.