Fourteen

Hands

  The end of the potions lesson was nearing and Rosalie was eager to leave the classroom. Tom, as usual, opted to sit beside her, and as an unexpected surprise, It was Ben's first day back at Hogwarts since she had framed him and had Tom scare him away.

  It was an awkward state she found herself in. The morning was getting to everyone, and yawns were spread through the class, but Rosalie kept herself unlarmingly uncomfortable thanks to the boys around her.

  As she looked down to her workbook, her eyes scanned over the pages they were meant to be reading, she tried desperately to not let her eyes shift over to Tom, who always managed to forget every embarrassing moment that had happened between them and act as if nothing had happened. Right now, he acted as if last night had only been a dream she had had, no emotion whatsoever on his face to tell her different.

  Tom, however, was in complete miserable pain. If he even dared to look at the girl sitting beside him, the trail of disgusting feelings wouldn't be far behind. At every turn he tried to bury what she made him feel, affection, desire, love even. He would shiver if he made himself think about it any longer.

  At the front of the classroom, Slughorn was blinded by happiness at the fact that his two favourite students had apparently gotten together, though he had yet to ask how and when. He looked over at them occasionally; young lover's in his eyes, too scared and in love to really look at each other.

  He stood himself up from his desk, his curiousity getting the better of him. Rosalie and Tom each had a concerned look building on their faces as he trotted over happily. On an instinct, Tom shifted his chair closer so their arms touched, wanting to look as in love as possible, a display for his favourite teacher.

  "Tom, Rosalie my dear." Slughorn acknowledged them at first, Tom looked away from his studies and each of them gave their Professor a nod.

  "Good morning Professor." Rosalie said.

  Slughorn bit at his tongue, noticing how close they sat. Rose dropped her hands off of their table, accidentally brushing Tom's hand in the process. 

  She looked down and slightly towards him at her accident, not entirely meeting his gaze, her mind still buzzing from their almost-kiss the night passed. She should've expected that Tom would try use his charm to get information out of her. She believed that he didn't really care about her.

  Tom's nostrils flared, his skin sparking at the slight touch against her warm skin. It sent him into a frenzy, and under the table, he dragged her hand back to his from her lap, holding down tight on it without really understanding what he was doing.

  Rosalie froze, her mouth opening just in the slightest way.

  Slughorn leant against their table slightly, not noticing the situation happening beneath it. "Now, I've heard some rumours about the two of you, and usually I'm not one to indulge in such primitive gossip, but I do have a curiousity. Are you two-"

  "She's min- my girlfriend." Tom coughed quickly, his grip tightening down on Rosalie's hand, falling limp in his grasp. Rose's mind was too numb with an overflow of activity she barely new how to respond. She could, however, make out one thing from the sweat coming off of Tom's hands. He was nervous.

  Slughorn's eyes burst with delight.

  "Oh in Merlins good name, really? You're not both pulling my leg are you?" Slughorn grinned happily, already believing it for himself, but he liked confirmation.

  Rose forced a large smile on her face.

  "Tommy and I would never do such a thing Professor- I think it's partly thanks to you that we're together." Her grin grew louder to match the power of Slughorn's.

  Tom looked at her finally, watching the beauty of her side profile speak words that he really would only ever hear in dreams. In reality, he was acutely aware of her dislike of him, though he saw her shared desire for his own hopes and dreams.

  Rosalie could see him staring out of the corner of her eye, and finally gripped his hand back, neither truly understanding the meaning of such an act. Both convinced themselves it was for the show, but neither decided to face the truth that slughorn couldn't see their hands under the table.

  "I'm more than glad I could help the both of you come to your senses then. Anyone could tell just from your in class bickering and the way you looked at each other that you were in love!" Slughorn chuckled and Tom felt a smirk play on his face, perfectly content with Rosie's hand in his.

  Rosalie simply nodded, playing along with Tom's flirtatiousness.

  "I simply must get a picture of the two of you together for my wall at the next slug club party. The first invitation has both of your names on it- the future Mr and Mrs Riddle!" Slughorn laughed ferociously at his own joke, wondering off before he could see the embarrassingly red faces he had placed on Tom and Rose.

  Tom looked back down at his work, planning to go directly back to it and avoid talking to the girl next to him any further. He picked up his pen and started writing, he didn't get far, however, until he felt a jab in his side. He looked at Rosalie who seemed annoyed.

  "What?" He asked, playing it off like he hadn't a care in the world.

  "Let go of my hand now Tom, I need it to write." She swallowed and flickered her eyes all over his face.

  Tom was hesitant, however, to let go.

  "Can't you just write with your left hand today?"

  Rosalie looked traumatised by his response, her eyes growing wider and more disturbed by the minute.

  "Let go." She said curtly.

  Tom released his grip on her and Rose's hand slipped away from him. He wondered if he would ever recover from the empty feeling. His head was suddenly lonely without hearing Rosalie's voice, and when she moved her chair away from him again, the arm that had touched hers also felt empty.

  He really did hate the way she made him feel, but he was building up a tolerance to it.

  "Ben hates me for getting him kicked out, right?" Rosalie suddenly whispered, aware that he didn't sit far from them. Tom's ears perked up at her voice again.

  "Most likely. I tortured him for what you said he did."

  Rosalie's face dropped, and she looked at Tom, even more mortified than before.

  "Tom, tell me you didn't" She pleaded to hear his sweet words of him saying she was right, but he only looked at her in a way that gave her an answer.

  She tilted her head back to catch a glimpse of Ben sitting at the back. "Fuck."

  Tom smiled, having completely forgiven and forgotten her trail of lies she had made to get closer to him. He found it romantic in a sense, his head spiralling into lust filled delusion.

  "Don't worry, he'll never hurt you as long as you're with me.'

  "As if you would even care." She raised her eyebrows and looked back down at her parchment. Tom stalked her movements, thinking for a while.

  "You're right, I wouldn't" He lied to her and himself.

  Rose found herself smiling sadly, believing his words, and in the back of her mind, wishing he had said the opposite.

---

  The class ended quickly after that, Slughorn eager to get his own work done in the quiet of his own company with a bottle of brandy. 

  Rosalie couldn't help but notice Tom's urgency as he exited the classroom with Ben in tow. Memories of their previous dynamic flooded her mind; Ben had been Tom's right hand. She had guessed that Tom must have felt the need to bring Ben up to speed on recent developments.

  Amidst the bustling crowd, Rosalie made her way to the door, her gaze following the pair as they swiftly disappeared around the corner, engrossed in conversation. She couldn't help but wonder what they were discussing, the seriousness of their exchange fueling her curiosity.

  She kept walking in her trance until she bumped shoulders with a boy standing in front of her looking away, apart of a different conversation. He turned quickly at the unexpected contact, his eyes melting when he saw who had accidentally hit him.

  Rose closed her eyes for a second, holding up her hand out of guilt.

  "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." She tilted her head, getting lost in his green eyes and dark blonde hair. He smiled, and it was so contagious that she had to share it.

  "It's fine. Absolutely fine." His voice was deep, and with a different accent from what Rosalie was used to around Hogwarts. He was American, and Rosalie was glad to hear some variety.

  The boy moved himself to face Rosalie fully, leaving his other friend's conversation behind, a few of them looked at Rose, their faces ranging from disgust to pity to jealousy. Tom had certainly made his mark on her.

  Rosalie swallowed, looking past the handsome boy, wondering if it was then appropriate to walk away after apologising to him. Though, he managed to capture her attention again when his mouth opened to speak.

  "I'm Daniel Allen." He spoke again, offering her his hand with a generous look.

  Rose quickly went to shake it.

  "Rosalie Evans." She let out.

  Daniel nodded, the look behind his eyes told Rose that he was trying to figure out what to say next, or how to say the words already loaded in his mind.

  "Right, we have a few of the same classes but I don't think we've been fully introduced. You're not from the UK are you?" He finally asked, picking up on her mild accent as he brushed down his Gryffindor robes.

  Rose tutted, she was sure that people noticed her accent, but no one commented on it. She tried hard thinking back to all the times she had seen Daniel in class.

  "No I'm not, I was living in Hungary before coming here this year."

  "Ah, I see. Well that explains the accent." He nodded, his smile still showing no signs of leaving his face anytime soon. She watched his hand as he ran it through his hair, finding a certain beauty in the way he looked at her.

  It was then that Tom turned back around the corner, searching for Rosie over the crowd of people. He locked eyes on her pretty quickly, one of the few blondes in the pack, and felt his blood run reptile cold when he saw she was talking to a Gryffindor boy.

  "And it's not hard to guess where you're from." Rose continued the conversation, feeling redness hit her cheeks.

  "I've been here three years and the American accent hasn't seemed to water down." Daniel chuckled, finding himself walking closer to her. He knew who Rosalie was, who she hung out with, what kind of person she could've been, but in the short time he had spoken to her he only saw a beautiful girl with just as much chance to do something great as anyone else.

  Rosalie hummed at him, "You sound good though." It wasn't meant to be a flirtatious comment, but both of them read it as that.

  Tom walked closer to them through the crowd, his eyes not leaving Rosalie's frame.

  "Well, thanks." He laughed, feeling his heart pump happily in his body. 

  A surge of jealousy coursed through Tom as he watched Rosalie's smile in the company of another, her laughter echoing through the air. Insecurity gripped him as he couldn't help but wonder: was Rosie ever that happy in with him?

  "I think we have a project coming up in Ancient Runes." Daniel began. "I know it's a lot to ask but I know you're doing well in that class, would you be my partner?" He asked.

  Rose raised her eyebrows, surprised at the offer. Looking up and down at him, she wouldn't mind being in a room alone with him.

  Tom was metres away.

  "Sure, of course, I mean." She breathed. "I would be happy to."

  "Happy to do what, Love?" Tom approached the two of them quickly, his eyes glaring over Daniel's face with a false smile. 

  Rose felt her shoulders lock up, an uncomfortable air now around the three of them. Daniel bit the bottom of his lip and looked between him and Rosalie, noting how frightened she seemed in his presence. 

  Rosalie looked between the two boys who were about the same height and stature.

  "We're working on a project together, Tom." Daniel spoke casually to him, like they had been friends in a past life.

  Tom walked closer to Rosie, snaking his hand around her back as he brought her closer to his body. Rose felt herself tingle under his touch, not daring to look up at him at this close a vicinity. Daniel took a step back.

  "Really? Did you ask me, Rosie?" He looked down at the girl standing tightly in his grasp. She held a blank expression, her eyes twitching around and noticing everyone that stared at them.

  "I wasn't aware I needed permission." She spoke coldly.

  Tom swallowed, looking back at Daniel who looked overly cocky and proud. Riddle would've loved to take out his wand and watched the boy suffer at his knees for even looking in Rosalie's direction, but for the moment, that was a bit dramatic.

  "We'll talk about it later, come on." Tom dropped his arm off of Rose and grabbed on to her hand. He gave Daniel a nod to excuse the both of them, Tom bit down on his own jaw out of annoyance of the situation.

  Daniel's eyes tracked Tom's determined stride as he led Rose through the maze of bustling bodies, her smaller frame struggling to match his long strides. Despite the challenge, she managed to keep pace with him, her determination evident in every step. Finally, they emerged into a deserted corridor, away from the eyes of curious of people.

  "What the hell was that, Riddle? You're not actually my boyfriend, don't make me look like a complete twat in front of people!" Rosalie finally slipped her hand out of Tom's, and he looked down quickly to where it had once been, then back up to her angry face.

  Tom frowned at her. "I don't care. Don't talk to him, him or any other man trying to get in your pants." He kept his distance from her, part of him afraid that if he did come any closer he would hurt her. His veins pumped red, his forehead sick with sweat.

  Rose grimaced. "He was not trying to get in my pants, he just wanted help with the project."

  "Help with the project? You're not that stupid Rosie." Tom began to pace about the hallway, his hands over his eyes.

  "Stop calling me that." Rosalie said, her voice softer than before.

  "No."

  Rose watched him as he walked, every act of frustration running through his head. She just couldn't understand him in the slightest.

  "Promise me that you won't sleep with him." Tom said after a moment, he walked up to her slowly and lowered his hands from his face. He seemed tireless, a worry gnawing at his stomach that he had never felt before.

  Rosalie furrowed her eyebrows. 

  "Did I say I was going to?" She asked, sarcastically.

  Tom grabbed onto her hand harshly again.

  "Just tell me that you won't fucking sleep with him Rosie."

  "Why?"

  "You're not that dumb either. Surely you've figured it out." He looked in pain, and Rosalie couldn't see through it. Tom was pleading with her, he had seen her have a moment of happiness without him and it scared him shitless. He had never felt such a horrifying emotion as fear. Perhaps thats why he loved inflicting it upon others. 

  It was effective. It made people do the things he wanted, but now he was a bitch to it.

  Rose shook her head, not having a clue in the world what he was talking about.

  "If you do, if you betray my trust like that- don't expect that I wouldn't hurt you or your little friends." Tom looked down into her eyes, having trouble controlling the rate of his breath.

  Rosalie's face went pale at the unnecessary threat.

  "You're something else Riddle. Do you ever wonder why people don't love you, why you have to put up a fake face to get anyone to like you?" She bit back at him, hoping the threat he had made against Lily was empty, but in the back of her head she knew better than to underestimate him.

  "I don't want love anyway."

  "Liar." Rose retorted.

  The air was cold against their faces. Each of them took a moment to think behind their calculating exteriors.

  "And how do you know I'm lying?" Tom asked finally, caving in to speak first. He would always cave in to Rosie.

  Rosalie felt a shiver down her back at the sheer depth he looked into her eyes. With anyone else, eye contact had always been easy. But with Tom- looking into his eyes was just an accident waiting to happen. Once you waded too deep you couldn't leave.

  "I can see it in your eyes." Rose's voice broke.

  "It's everything you are-"  

  "A weak little boy desperate for love that he doesn't deserve."

   Tom was on her in a split second, her head crashing harshly back into the brick wall of the castle, his cold hands around her neck in a grip she could barely breathe. Rose's eyes closed, then opened sleepily at the contact, her vision was dizzy.

  He was so close to her that he could hear her beating heart, feel the blood beneath her skin, see the way her body reacted under him. Rosie was addicting like that, he could feel just how afraid she was that he would hurt her, but she didn't show a drop of that emotion on her face.

  Rosalie kept her sight on Tom, showing her strength even though her breath was quickly draining out of her.

  "Tom." She rasped, her face turning pink.

  Tom couldn't think of anything apart from the fact that she was right. He was desperate for a love he didn't deserve.

  Hers.

  Out of the blue, Rose's hand slid itself into Tom's free hand, she maintained eye contact as she held him, his grip slowly loosening on her. As it did, she breathed more freely, her chest moving up and down in quick time.

  Eventually, he had no pressure on her neck, his hand was simply placed there. Neither of them moved, their bodies in equilibrium to each other. For the first time in a long time, Tom felt his jaw quiver from what he had almost done. The familiar feeling of guilt washing through his blood.

  The hand on Rose's jaw slowly moved up to her chin, revealing the red mark that he had no doubt would later bruise. Tom's fingers brushed against Rosie's pink lips, and it had both of their minds filling up with ideas.

  He leaned in gradually until their foreheads touched, the warmth of their breath mingling in the space between them. His gaze lingered on her lips, his mind swirling with a multitude of thoughts and emotions. When he finally met her tear-filled eyes, he moved instinctively, his gentle touch brushing away the tears that spilled down her cheeks.

  "Don't cry Rosalie." He could smell her maple scent so vividly it etched itself into the deepest parts of his memory.

  "You know I didn't mean it." His eyes looked at her, soft and comforting.

  Rose smiled, but it fell back into a frown quickly. She leant into Tom's hand and looked through his soul, tattered and broken, needing a lot of work to repair.

  "But you did mean it." She blinked and pushed herself out from under Tom, who didn't reject the action.

  He watched her painfully as she walked away from him yet again.

---

  Rosalie Grindelwald was now thinking that it had been a horrible idea to involve herself with Tom Riddle. She was having inexplainable feelings, different desires, and above all, she was no longer sure what she was here to do.

  She was first tasked to find if Tom was a threat to her father.

  Then she tasked herself to find a way to get rid of them.

  Now, she almost wanted to task herself with fixing him.

  The very thought of it was crazy. Especially after he had tried to kill her. But that may have been the reason she was thinking about it, the pain she saw in his eyes that day had changed something in her. He didn't just seem like a monster, he was just lonely.

  Maybe it was a mistake to think like that as well, but Rose was used to making mistakes by now. One was sitting in front of her, doing his homework. Coriolanus and William had slowly grown warmer to her after the past couple of days, noting the disastrous bruise on her neck that she didn't bother to hide. She wanted Tom to feel bad about it.

  "I'm still getting stressed that we won't find people to recruit before the next meeting." William spoke under his breath to the table. Rose and Coriolanus looked at him with an understanding.

  "Tom will have our heads if we don't bring someone." Coriolanus nodded at him with a rather loud sigh.

  Rosalie looked out over the rest of the library where they sat and noticed a couple of fifth year Slytherins minding their own business at their table.

  "How many do you need?" Rose leant back down to ask them. William and Coriolanus opened their mouths hesitantly to her.

  "Just a couple, otherwise your boyfriend will throw us from the astronomy tower." William said, half sarcastically and half confused.

  Rosalie twitched her eyebrow, still not used to ever having Tom referred to as her boyfriend. She raised up her hand and letting out a short whistle across the library. The Slytherin boys looked over to where the sound came and watched Rosalie motion them over to their table, they got up hesitantly and started walking over.

  "Two enough?" She asked. Coriolanus nodded very quickly for the both of them.

  The blonde boy and the black haired boy took their place at the table, waiting anxiously at why they had been called over by peers older than them.

  "What are your names?" Rosalie asked quickly, with a sense of determination and leadership.

  The black haired one gave his friend a glare.

  "Abraxas Malfoy and Nikolai Dolohov." The blonde one spoke. Rose smiled at hearing what she knew were pure blood names, exactly the type Tom wanted. 

  "Tell me, Abraxas, what do you think about our world right now." Rose asked him, triggering a long thought process in the boys brain.

  He shrugged his shoulders. "Father says the ministry has gone to shit." He spoke casually, looking at Dolohov.

  Rosalie nodded with a small smile.

  "And you, Nikolai?" Rose kept her eye contact with him, refusing to let him out of her grasp. The boy had stayed quiet in the conversation till now.

  "Change is always recommended." He said cryptically, but it was all the information that Rosalie needed to get under their skin.

  "You're right." She nodded, her smile neutral, her eyes thin like a predator.

  "Do you boys ever crave more? You're both smarter than you look. You know that the old ways are no longer serving us. We need something new."

  Dolohov and Malfoy seemed interested, but to Rosalie's great happiness, so did William and Coriolanus.

  "It might not be, as pure bloods, that you hate muggles. It's not up to me to decide and object to your opinion. Personally, I do not see muggles as lesser; but other. Not worthless, but of other value. Not disposable, but of a different disposition. Magic is granted to those who live for higher things. Don't you think the ministry would work so much better if they took that route of thinking? Do you understand how much we could achieve?"

  The words that her father had once spoken rolled off of Rosalie's tongue like honey, her web of charisma locking in the boys across from her with only one swoop. They looked to be ready to sign away their lives at that very moment.

  "My father had always supported Grindelwalds ideals, but he's never contributed because he knows the man can't win this war." Dolohov spoke, seemingly renewed by the speech Rose had given.

  Rosalie leant in to the boys.

  "What if I told you there was someone else. Someone fit to implement these motives. Someone that doesn't lose, and can't lose, because he can't die. Someone you can place your trust in that will put muggles where they belong, and bring the world into a new age of peace. Not to mention, money is always rewarded." Rose leant back into her chair.

  "You're telling us that this person can offer us apart of this?" Malfoy tried to reiterate for himself.

  "He can. He's offering it to the three of us at this very moment." Coriolanus butted in to the conversation.

  "If you do decide you want a part of this, just be aware that the work involved isn't always kind, but it's for the good of our world." 

  Malfoy and Dolohov looked between each other for a moment like they were reading each others thoughts. Eventually, after a while of eagerly awaiting a response, the two of them nodded at Coriolanus, William and Rosalie.

  "When do we start?" Dolohov asked.

  "Come to the next meeting." Rose stated, ignoring the look of amazement that passed over Coriolanus and William's faces.