His Saving Grace

Chapter 27 - Holidays at Hogwarts & Closer to Action Pt. 2

A few weeks had passed and Tom and I had spent the remainder of the holidays meeting in the Room of Requirement. Hopefully, I could get him to do something else even for a day. Whatever distraction I could use to lead him away from his dark magic ventures, I would use it without thinking twice. Sadly, I did not have any at the moment.

We found ourselves, yet again, in the Room of Requirement.

"Alastair, you have gained my trust and even my affection. I think you deserve to be the first to know where I will be storing my soul.", Riddle says.

I had not even thought about this all that much, I was too concerned with the fact he was going to murder someone. But of course, his priorities and concerns were much different to mine. Still, I appreciated the trust he had bestowed upon me since forming this 'alliance'. I closed the book I was reading, looked directly at him and nodded for him to continue speaking.

"This book in my hands, isn't just any book. This is a diary and it holds very important information. Information I will not divulge yet, but this is where I shall place my soul. My soul, inside of this diary, will always be in my possession even after it has exited my body. If at any point in time it cannot remain in my possession, I will be giving it to you.", he ranted in an explanatory manner.

I nodded and said, "I still do not support your plans nor your cause, but the trust you have bestowed upon me is not overlooked.", I confidently replied.

I was very curious as to what information was written inside those pages, but I had respect. I would not lurk nor turn my nosiness into an invasion of privacy, I would wait until he felt comfortable enough to share the information that filled the hard covered book. After this revelation, we fell into silence once more.

I grabbed another book and began a new reading. When I turned to a new page, I noticed my surname had made an appearance.

"A young wizard from the Alastair empire, who had plans to expand said empire, had unsuccessfully made his wife a horcrux instead of making her necklace the soul holder. This wrongful execution nearly killed his wife. He tried to create a horcrux once more, but had accidentally killed his wife, whom was already in a dangerous and delicate position, instead of his assistant. Wallowing in self pity and having a part of his soul die, literally and symbolically, along with his wife, the wizard took his own life on his birthday; August 15th, 1930, leaving a young daughter behind to carry on the Alastair name..."

I connected two and two together, this was about my father. I had been told my father and mother died on August 15, 1930 and I was left behind to carry their legacy.

I could not continue reading, I threw the book across the room with excessive force.

All of this time I thought they had died together in a tragic attack, the only piece of information that my aunt was willing to give me. Information that was now proven to be a lie.

I covered my mouth with my trembling hand and a tear escaped my eye. Instead of gaining composure, I started sobbing and screaming as I stared onto the book I had thrown away from my grasp. My scream snapped Tom out of his reading and he noticed my current state. He quickly shut his book and made his way towards me with concern.

"Athena, talk to me. What's wrong?"

I was madly embarrassed, I had never cried in front of anyone. I always remained strong and composed, never letting anyone see weakness. Today, I broke in a way I never had.

My father had killed my mother because of his ambitions and dabbling with dark magic, then the guilt ate him up and he ended his own life as well. I could not just put that into words for someone that knew nothing of my past, but I tried.

"The book... it says my father... he made a horcrux and failed, but I don't want to speak of it. Just... just read it yourself.", I bearly broke out while holding in the tears that were still falling.

He grabbed the book and read what I had read, he looked up at me with an unreadable stare. Usually, I would decipher his looks, but this one was unrecognizable and I had no idea what he was thinking.

"Athena, I do not know what to say to make you feel better because I am not good at that. Just stop crying, please. What I do want to make sure you understand is that I would never lay a hand on you, despite my blinding ambitions.", he finally spoke out.

Then, he pulled my body towards his, stroked my hair strumming my pain with his finger and my sadness faded away. I laid in his arms being comforted by the warmth of his large body, but what I had just found out I would never forget. My aunt was many things, but she was now a liar too.

Seeing as my dad died alone on his birthday, I did not want the same fate to knock on Tom Riddle's door.

Wiping the left over tears off my face I asked, "Tom, when is your birthday?"

He let go of me and sat straight, he looked at me waiting for a confirmation that my question was genuine. Then, he said his birthday was today; December 31st.

I did the unthinkable, I slapped Riddle's arm hard and said, "Bloody hell! When were you going to tell me your birthday was today?"

"Not today.", he replied.

This made me laugh, but I tried to hold in my laughter because I wanted to remain serious.

"We would have done so much today and I would have even bought you a gift. Riddle, you are such a foul git!"

"You wound me darling", he retorted dramatically.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Do you want anything for your birthday?" and I swore I heard him say 'you', but maybe my hearing was temporarily impaired due to my breakdown just a few minutes before.

What he did say audibly was, "Nothing at all, this has been a pretty good one."

I smiled at him as he soothed me by stroking my hair with one hand and caressing my hand with his other hand. Hopefully, I had helped make this birthday a 'good one' just like he helped make my life a good one in this pure moment.