Sixteen

Veritaserum

  Tonight, Rosalie had found that Tom Riddle was far more human than she had initially thought. This newfound understanding sent her thoughts whirling as she reshaped her perception of him. Learning that his desire for subjecting muggles was merely a facade to amass followers shattered the pristinely disgusting image she had constructed of him. While it didn't absolve him of his flaws, it did draw a clear distinction between him and her father in her mind.

  She still stuck by what she had said to him, even half an hour later when she found herself balled up at the edge of the forbidden forest. It was the place where Tom himself came to pet his thestrals.

  It hurt her to put him down like that; to say that he was incapable of the love she needed when he had changed so much after learning it was all for her. But it was true, and even if she had unintentionally changed him, he was far from an ideal man.

  Rose's knees were pressed to her chest, her incessant sobbing had slowed now, when only the occasional tear spilled out of the corner of her eye. Rosalie had never been an overly emotional girl until she had moved to Hogwarts, and had shifted all of this stress onto her shoulders.

  Far away from the scene, Tom stood leant against a tree, watching her figure shiver and gasp as her tears fell. Rose had just rejected him in the most hurtful- and truthful way possible, but all he could wonder was if she  was okay.

  But even if she had rejected his forced confession, there was no chance of him leaving her alone any time soon. She was obviously in a fragile state, her mind not well. Tom figured that she would come to her senses eventually and see just what he could provide her if she did accept his advances. 

  If not, Tom knew he had a talent for persuasion.

  Rose wrapped her arms around herself, seeking solace in the solitude of the moment. Yet, amidst the quiet, she felt a sudden surge of energy pulse through her mind, igniting a jolt of awareness.

  Tom watched with confusion as she pressed her hand to her forehead, realising something was wrong.

  Rose looked around, knowing that the pain was of magical nature and not something natural. Her eyes were in danger of locking onto Tom, but before they could reach that far, a loud crack in front of her brought her head snapping back.

  She swallowed as she recognised the man standing in front of her, mid-forties, brown hair, smile lines and black robes. Rose could remember him sitting on the very counseling table her father sat when he had told her she would be going to Hogwarts.

  Tom took a step forward at the unnatural occurrence. He thought that no one could apparate in or out of Hogwarts apart from the headmaster himself. Tom stayed back from the situation, almost eager to see what Rosie would do.

  "Have you completed your duty, Rosalie?" The man asked, confident in his short strides over to her crumpled form. 

  Tom observed as she brushed away her tears and straightened herself, erecting a barrier between herself and the man before her, whom she seemed reluctant to acknowledge. Intrigued, he wondered how she was acquainted with him and the nature of her supposed 'duty.'

  After she found her throat dry, unable to produce words for an entire minute, the man walked closer.

  "Is Tom Riddle a threat that needs to be taken care of?" He asked, and Tom felt his blood run cold. His eyes darted to Rosalie who looked like she was about to burst out crying again. In that moment, he felt no pity for her, because he feared the worst.

  Rosie's mind went blank, then her thoughts flashed with Tom, his reluctant smiles, his sweaty hands, his protective nature over her. She found herself almost wishing she had replied differently to him.

  Then she thought about him again, what he wanted for the world, one full of chaos and darkness under his rule, how many people would die? And had died- for it to happen. If he had killed his own family, what was stopping him from killing her one day?

  The words she thought of were dry in her mouth. She tried to get the words out; to say yes, he was a threat, like she knew he was. 

  But she couldn't. Rose had looked into his soul and seen potential, which she had clung onto stupidly with her life.

  She didn't want Tom to die.

  "He's not." Rose shook her head.

  Both Tom and the man looked at her funnily, as if they knew different. Tom wasn't oblivious- he knew that most of the people in Britain would see him as a threat. So why was she lying?

  "My father must've received false information. Tommy's not a threat to anyone." Her eyes were desperate and pleading with the man who she had known since she was a child. Though, in those years of knowing him, she had never seen him act kindly.

  "Tommy?" He gushed. "It sounds like you've gone and fallen in love with him."

  Rosie closed her mouth and looked him right in the eye.

  "No- I haven't. I swear it." She acted determined.

  The man held his chin and started shaking his head, taking a few steps in a circle. 

  "Your father wouldn't like to hear that, would he Rosalie?" He teased her.

   "Because if he did think you had fallen in love- you know where your 'Tommy' would be?"

  He laughed, "Dead."

  Rosalie felt her chin wobble, but she nodded with submission. 

  "Either way, your task is now to kill him. At this point in the war we can't take chances." He smiled sadly at Rosie, but his face was rather serious.

  Rosalie began to shake her head violently, her hand coming up to rub her face. Tom watched the scene with indifference, gazing at Rosalie who ran her other hand through her hair.

  "Kill him? But he's not a threat- he only told me to come here to find out more about him. He's not a threat- I can't do it!"

  Tom struggled to suppress the impulse to rush to her side for her protective gesture. His mind was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions on learning that Rose had been tasked with spying on him by her own father. However, the identity of her father remained unknown, filling Tom with ideas.

  He was angry at her, but all of that anger seemed to disappear when he had heard what she had to say. Over the course of her spying, she really had turned loyal.

  "Save your tongue. If you won't do it, I will have stay here and do it." The man spoke quietly, with a definite violence in his voice as he flashed his crazed eyes a Rose.

  "No you won't" She snarled at him with a similar violence, quickly reaching for her wand without a second thought about it.

  Expulso 

  Rose aimed her wand at the man, unleashing a bolt of blue light that streaked towards him with precision. With lightning reflexes, the man barely managed to raise his own wand in defence, his expression morphing from surprise to grim determination as he prepared to retaliate.

  Meanwhile, Tom emerged from the cover of the trees, his face a mask of concern and anger as he hastened towards Rosie, Drawing his wand in tandem.

  The man suddenly noticed Tom's build making his way through the trees, his eyes thinning as he recognised the boys face. It took Rosalie off guard seeing the man take his interest away from her, so she too looked at what he was so interested in. Her mouth collapsed into a frown when she saw him, her eyes frozen on his look of anger.

  The man unleashed a flicker of green light, aimed directly at Tom, who deftly deflected the attack with ease. As Tom reached Rose's side, the man's expression twisted into one of utter disdain. His movements slowed, and an ominous purple glow emanated from his wand, signalling a shift in his intentions.

  Rose's anxiety mounted as she glanced at Tom, his face as handsome as it had been mere moments ago when she had rejected him. Her heart swelled at the sight of him, and his instinctive act of positioning himself slightly in front of her both irked and reassured her. With her breath quickening, she realised that there was only one way to protect him as he had protected her.

  "Avada Kedavra" 

  Rosalie threw the spell at the man before anyone could think about what she had said. The man swiftly fell to the ground, and Tom's head slowly turned to face her, his mouth zipped into a straight line as he observed her.

  He didn't dare speak a word to her, because he didn't know what to say.

  Rosalie breathed faster at his silence, searching all over his face for a sign of appreciation or understanding, but she read his expression as disgust. She ran a hand through her hair, sticking out in all directions, and her breathing quickened until it sounded like she was gasping for air.

  Tom still didn't dare say anything.

  "I- I did it for you."

  Tom was quiet.

  "He would've killed you so I had to kill him."

  Tom softened his mouth.

  "Please tell me you see that, right?"

  She held on to her chest.

  "I had to kill- him." 

  Rose felt her eyes begin to tear up as she looked over at the dead body. Her knees collapsed beneath her and she began to blubber.

  "Oh my god I killed him-"  She screamed in a raw whisper.

  Tom looked down at her in such a broken and desperate state. Weeks ago he would've found it amusing to watch her crumble like this, but now it was as if he could feel her very pain.

  Rosie looked at him with wet eyes and blotchy cheeks.

  "Tom I killed him." She held one hand to her mouth and one to her stomach as she bent over further like she was about to puke. Rose managed to hold it in but her body still shaking from shock.

  Killing someone was the one thing she had promised herself she would never do. She never wanted to sink as low as her father.

  "Why did I do that?" Her voice trembled with emotion, and Tom could no longer bear to witness her distress. Acting on instinct rather than thought, he lowered himself to the pine-covered ground across from her, hugging her in an embrace. With gentle determination, he drew her close, cradling her head against his chest.

  Rose seized the opportunity without hesitation, clinging to him fiercely as she buried her face in his shoulder, her tears soaking into the fabric of his shirt as she released her emotions.

  "It's okay." Was all Tom was able to say.

  He wanted to ask who the man was, who her father was, why she had been told to spy on him and kill him. If it was anyone other than Rosalie, Tom would've been angry. Angry would've been a light word for it.

  It wasn't that he wasn't angry at her, but he was perhaps too in love, too blinded by his own emotions and her current state, that he would save that anger for later. For the moment, all she needed was him to be there for her.

  It was the first time Tom had felt needed.

---

  Tom took care of the body for Rosie. He stood outside of the girls dorm room listening to Rosalie sob in the arms of her friend, who Tom had no idea how much she knew.

  Lily held Rose closer in her arms on her bed, and hadn't asked a single question the entire time she had been in there. She had been sitting alone reading when Tom had come in with Rose in his arms, and by her state, she knew better than to ask questions.

  "Shh," She spoke, petting the back of her friend's hair.

  Rosalie wasn't crying as hysterically now, and she found herself slowly pushing out of Lily's grasp and into her own.

  As Rose pushed herself against the headboard of her bed, Lily looked to the end of it, overly curious as to what this had all been about.

  "Do you feel like talking about it?" She asked, not wanting to overstep. Lily never thought that she would see Rose like this.

Rosalie couldn't reply to that, she could only stay silent in the pool of her thoughts.

  "You know you can trust me no matter what. I will never think any different of you no matter what." 

  "Don't promise that." Rose said quickly and quietly, still not looking at her friend. She knew deep down, that if she told Lily the entire truth, she wouldn't want to be her friend anymore. 

  Lily shook her head and looked at her.

  "I will. Try me. Tell me what has happened that's so horrible." She held up her hands dramatically, thinking it could never be anything so bad.

  Rosalie cringed and closed her eyes. The decision of trusting Lily had been made months ago, but it was still hard to admit to something so terrible that went against so many Rose's morals.

  "I killed someone." She whispered.

  Lily froze, and her face turned serious. She looked away from Rosalie for a moment to think about it.

  "Who was he?" She asked, knowing Rosalie better than to think there wasn't a reason behind what she had done. Rose had trusted her with the knowledge, and Lily trusted that it was done for cause.

"He was someone my father sent." She shuffled slightly in her position and looked at Lily who had turned her head over her shoulder.

Lily furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why would he send someone to attack you and Tom?" She asked, none of it making any real sense in her mind. 

"He was just meant to attack Tom." Rose breathed.

  Lily nodded, "yes but why?" She asked.

  Rose bit at her bottom lip, tasting the metallic tinge of blood on her tongue.

  "I've been lying to you Lily." She looked her right in the eyes.

  "My name isn't Rosalie Evans." She stopped.

  "It's Rosalie Grindelwald."

  Lily turned to face her fully. She began to look up and down her face to try and recognise the resemblance as her mind brushed over that fact. Her mouth curved from a straight line into a frown.

  "You're kidding right?"

  Rose shook her head.

  "I'm sick of being his secret." She said.

  "He's your father?" Lily asked, the frown still on her face as she shifted away from Rose.

  Rose nodded once, seeing anything but eager at that fact.

  Lily got up from the bed, seeing Rosalie in a different light.

  "Why are you here?" She asked, a formal coldness now in her voice. She was confused as to whether that girl really was the same person she had been best friends with for months

  Rose got up on the other side, standing, her eyes still red and full of sadness.

  "Please don't freak out. I was sent to spy on Tom; to see if he was a threat for the war. But I used the opportunity to get away from my father. Trust me when I say that I would rather die than go back to him." Rosalie rounded the bed to her friend, and Lily allowed her to approach, wanting desperately to believe her.

  "And what about Tom?" Lily asked, already moving on.

    Rose looked at her with confusion.

  "He is a threat." Lily summarised.

  Rose shook her head.

  "My father is bound to lose this war even without Tom impacting him."

  Lily closed her eyes, indicating that she didn't mean it that way, "But he's not just a threat to your father, is he."

  Rosalie finally understood what she meant, and her mouth opened slightly.

  "I know. But I'm conflicted, I-"

  "You have compassion for him." Lily jumped back in and gazed at her friend with sadness for the life she figured she had lived. She could understand Rosalie to a point. It was like her and William- sure she held resentment for Tom by involving him in his secrets, but William was also to blame- and she had still fallen for him.

  Lily grabbed onto Rose's hand.

  "It's okay. Just get some sleep, it's getting late." Rose looked into Lily's eyes and nodded her head, her mind too tired to do much else.

  She tucked herself in, then expectantly waited for Lily to say what was so obviously on her mind.

  "It's hard to see, but you did the right thing Rose." 

  Her silence and small smile was the indication of her appreciation.

  "Are you not going to sleep as well?" Rosalie inquired from her bed, her voice soft in the dimly lit room. Lily shook her head gently, her gaze drifting towards the door.

  "No, I'm meeting William for a while, but I'll be back later. Sleep well," Lily replied, already making her way towards the exit.

  She closed the door behind her with a gentle click, hoping Rose would find solace in the quiet of their dormitory. Lily made her way to the common room, but before she could fully immerse herself in her thoughts, Tom approached her, his presence buzzing. 

  "How is she? Is she okay?" He asked, his eyes looking deep into the girls soul, but his own mind was back in that room with Rosie.

  Lily shook her head at his worry. 

  "She's fine. Just tired." She held back her tongue after that, breaking herself away from Tom's intense gaze as she walked past him.

  Lily's mind tried not to think about it, what the man behind her had done to her friend. But she couldn't hold in her hot tempered tongue, and turned around to face him again.

  "I hope you know what you've done to her." She spoke sharply, and Tom turned to face her again, slowly coming out of his troubled trance.

  "What I've done to her?" Tom scoffed.

  Lily felt her blood boil.

"Consider what you've inadvertently molded her into. Just being around has brought changes in her that even you, blinded by love, fail to fathom - it's a selfish act, Riddle."

Tom clenched his jaw, his composure slipping despite his efforts.

"What do you mean?" His attempt at civility veered into icy territory.

"You, quite possibly, are the worst man in the world for her - after enduring her father throughout her life, and now you? It's downright cruel."

"And you're familiar with her father?"  Tom bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head, trying to keep his composure.

  Lily paused herself, and Tom had already seen right through her slip in words. She wasn't quite as gifted with lying as Rosalie.

  "No, I don't know who he is."

  "And I think you're being untruthful."

  Tom's love for Rosalie was strong, and perhaps because it was so strong that he felt such a curiousity on who had sent her to spy on him- and who he had to thank for sending her here for him.

  He only had one hope for who it wouldn't be.

  Lily shifted in her stance as Tom walked closer to her.

  "Who is it, Lily?" He inched closer.

  Lily swallowed and walked backwards, trying her hardest to stay strong for her friend. 

  "I have no idea." 

   Tom shook his head, "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

  "I can't give you what you want to know Riddle. Leave it alone." Lily shivered at the coldness in Tom's tone.

  "I can't do that." He said quietly, lifting up his wand from his pocket before Lily could even see what happened.

  In one quick flash of light, she was knocked out and lying on the floor. Tom looked down at her unconscious body without regret. He needed to know everything about Rosie.

---

  Rosalie's eyelids fluttered open as she roused from her nap, immediately sensing an unsettling stillness in the room. The air felt heavy with silence, and the absence of Lily's soft snores only heightened her unease. With cautious movements, she edged to the edge of her bed and tiptoed across the room towards the door.

  Upon stepping into the common room, she found it deserted. A pang of fear crept into her thoughts as she considered the possibilities. Perhaps Lily had decided to spend the night in William's room. Yet, despite this logical explanation, a lingering uncertainty gnawed at her mind, compelling her to venture further.

  She made her way towards the boys' dormitories, her footsteps echoing softly in the empty corridor. Pushing open the dark wooden door, she peered into the room shared by William, Coriolanus, and Ben, expecting to find at least one of them in bed. However, to her dismay, the room was devoid of anyone.

Rose shut the door in front of her rather quickly following her discovery; or, lack of.

  She looked down and felt her breathing quicken. Why would all of them have disappeared at once? Was it such a coincidence after what Rosalie had told Lily this afternoon? 

  Rosalie felt herself sweating, unbelieving that Lily would willingly tell anyone about her secret, which only left one disgusting alternative.

  She turned around and set herself on the course for the room of requirement, an angry glint in her eye that didn't care what or who she was about to hurt; as long as her best friend was okay.

  The room appeared just in time for her to burst open the rustically heavy doors, but six faces had already turned to face her, anticipating her imminent entrance. Her eyesight moved from Malfoy to Dolohov to Coriolanus to Ben to Mulciber and finally; to Tom.

  Tom's mouth was glued into a sharp line, shock and disgust filling his gaze upon seeing her. He stood in front a chair, the only thing his figure left uncovered were a woman's small hands laying unmoving across its arms.

  Rose bit down on her jaw.

  "Give her to me." She bit, for once, not the least bit scared of anything Tom could say or do.

  Tom gripped a small bottle of a water like substance in his left hand, the bottle, half empty. He wasn't sure how he could still look at her after he had found out- well he didn't want to think of it.

  "Is Rosalie even your real name?" Tom finally asked after a long period of silence, completely ignoring her demand. The boys in the room kept their eyes fixed on Rose, Ben had his wand ready to cast. Rosalie didn't miss the fact William was nowhere to be seen.

  Rose began to stumble over her words.

  "I have- what does that? That's not the point-"

  "You're on his side aren't you?" Tom's voice raised itself at her, finally making his way past his followers and towards Rose. 

  She peered past him to see Lily passed out on the chair, likely only from the strength of the potion used on her. Rose's chest fell in slight comfort, but raised again when she noticed Tom's figure closing in on her.

  "Don't play stupid." He stopped a few metres away from her- an unusual move for him. Rose felt even more discomfort at his distance, he had always loved to challenge her from only a few centimetres away.

  But she could sense disgust radiating off of his body, and part of her felt hurt by the fact that he didn't want to be any closer to her.

  "WHO ARE YOU?" He shouted, his words bouncing off of the walls and oscillating in Rose's head.

  "Rosalie." She breathed, and Tom looked as if he was about to shout at her again.

  "Grindelwald." She finished, and looked away from the disappointment in Tom's eyes.

  In the corners of her vision she could see him turn away from her. She had no idea what he was feeling, or how that had impacted him. She watched as his head turned to face Ben.

  "Hold her." Tom spoke.

  As soon as the words escaped his lips, Ben swiftly drew his wand and cast an immobilising spell on her. Rose crumpled to the ground, a wave of hopelessness washing over her. Coriolanus sprang to his feet from his seat and scooped her up in his arms. Despite her attempts to wriggle free and shoot him a glare, he paid her defiance no heed as he gently settled her onto a seat on the sofa. Tom's gaze flickered at their interaction, but he maintained his composure.  

  Tom swiftly walked over to her, bending down to meet her eyes. Their intense stares pierced each other, but Rose still refused to speak. Tom gripped the bottle in his hand once again before ripping himself away to open it, and in one quick movement, he had his hand on her mouth, forcing it open and forcing the serum down her throat.

  Rosalie coughed, trying her best to keep it out of her throat, she tried so hard to throw it up but her entire body lay against her. Tom kept his proximity to her, looking over her puffy red cheeks.

  He felt so foolish to trust her, to believe that she could've changed for him.

  Eventually, he heard Rosalie's coughing subside, and she looked down, feeling betrayed.

  "What was your intention on joining our ranks?" Tom asked calmly. Ben noted his simple kindness to Rosalie, and his disappointment in knowing Tom could never really hurt her.

  Ben, and all the others there knew what Rosalie was to Tom; a weakness, a distraction, something that he shouldn't poison himself with. Though, none of them dared say a thing about it.

  Rosalie fought against the question, feeling pain come to her mind, she groaned and shook her head. But ultimately; she kept her mouth closed.

 Tom chuckled, his amusement evident in the curve of his lips, though he made a feeble attempt to conceal the underlying pride. Never before had he witnessed someone resist the effects of Veritaserum with such ease. It was as though she had been honing this skill for years.

However, the hint of satisfaction in Tom's expression disappeared as he contemplated who might have given such training to her.Meanwhile, Rose's gaze shifted to Lily, silently checking if she had awakened yet. Tom followed her line of sight, his demeanour shifting abruptly.

With a sense of urgency, he rose to his feet and drew his wand from his belt, aiming it toward Lily. A flicker of protest flashed in Rose's eyes, silently pleading with him not to act rashly.  

  "If I can't force you that way, I'll have to take the more serious alternative my love."

  The nickname rolled off his tongue like it was a second language, and Rose could see his regret the moment he realised he had said it.

  "Your intention, Grindelwald, otherwise Lily won't be waking up anytime soon."

  Rose could feel the affects of the serum pushing her further, and finally, her mind couldn't hold the pain anymore.

  "To kill you." She replied truthfully, trying to hide her change of heart.

  Tom looked down, feeling foolish to have believed anything else. He looked up again with a stronger facade.

  "I thought you were only here to collect information on me?" He asked, as that was the extent of his knowledge.

  Rosalie didn't put up a fight with the serum anymore. Part of her wanted Tom to know, and part of her knew that he most definitely would go as far as killing her best friend to find out.

  "Originally, but then I realised what you were and I knew I had to destroy you." Rose spoke.

  "What I am?" He breathed, the hurt finally coming to the surface. He began to hate the way Rose looked so vulnerable in that moment.

  "Why do you want to kill me?" He asked, the question slowly becoming more personal. His followers watched closely.

  Rose felt tears pricking behind her eyes, but kept them at bay.

  "You were everything I hated."

  Tom failed to pick up on her use of past tense.

  "What do you hate about me Rosie." He asked, his body frozen, his eyes stuck to her, his mind numb on everything but wondering why she wouldn't accept him. He was beginning to forget she was the daughter of a man meant to be his greatest threat.

  "You're like him." Rosalie choked, the tears finally making their way out of her eyes. 

  Tom looked around at his death eaters and suddenly disliked their presence, not for his own sake, but for Rosies. He inadvertently knew that she hated to look weak in front of others, he knew this because it was something he hated himself.

  "Leave. Take Lily with you." He looked at Ben with a deathly silence, and within moments the room was being cleared, Lily in Ben's arms and Coriolanus giving one last terrified stare that Tom would do something to her into the room before he shut the door.

  Tom walked closer to her, his mouth still glued into a straight line.

  "You're like my father," she was finally forced to admit. The serum ripped through all facades he had given Tom over the past few months.

  Tom breathed as he came closer to her.

  "You're corrupt." She shook.

  "You only want power."

  "You would rather use me than-" She stopped herself.

  "You can't love me- Even if I-" She stopped herself again.

  There was a long pause before Tom barely spoke in a whisper, it was more a note to himself rather than a statement meant to be heard.

  "So that's why you can barely look at me. You must really hate me."

  It was if he had accepted it.

  Tom got onto his knees in front of Rosalie and held her hand, though he felt nothing back.

  "At what point did you realise your indifference for me?" He asked, and Rose could barely hold herself back at the sad look behind his eyes.

  "I'm not indifferent." She blurted out, unsure if it was an affect of the serum, or a result of her own hidden feelings.

  Tom closed his mouth, his sadness seeming to slip away.

  "How can you not be indifferent if it is so obvious you must despise me?" He trailed his fingertips down her hands and looked up at her. Rosalie saw his utter vulnerability. The way he positioned himself, the way he spoke, she could see his utter love for her.

  Tom was not a changed man. He had threatened to kill one of the people she loved most in this world moments ago- but even in spite of that, the veritaserum would speak the truth for her.

  "Because even if I do hate you, even if I hate the way you tease me, the way you protect me, the way you act around me, I also love it; I'm also in love you."