Different worlds

Y/N slowly woke up and felt something hold onto her hand. She looked to where her hand was and lifted her head slightly to see Tom sitting beside her, sound asleep. She smiled a little and tried her best to sit up without disturbing him.

Once she was out of bed, she walked over to her closet and stared at her clothes. She grabbed the first set of clothes that looked decent before walking into her connecting bathroom. She locked the door behind her and analyzed the scars on her arms and legs. She took her wand and tried to heal away what she could, but some of the injuries caused far too much damage to be treated by a non-healer. She then walked over to her mirror and immediately took notice of how fatigued she looked, how long was she out for?

She sighed and stepped into her shower, her mind racing to the memories of yesterday. Her father raising her voice just enough to cause panic, but never enough to alert more guards. The precise cuts placed upon her to ensure her clothes were never ruined, her face was never harmed. The harsh words spoken by her mother, calling her a disgrace, a burden, something she wish she had gotten rid of years ago.

Then, her mind wandered further back to when she was younger. She remembers so clearly the day she learned her father didn't need a 'stupid piece of wood' to cast magic. She was with her father in a large cell, two guards standing outside, one standing inside. She remembers the moment her father knocked out the guard and cast a barrier spell around the cell door so the guards outside wouldn't hear anything. She remembered it all as if it had happened yesterday rather than seven years ago.

Y/N, still trapped in her thoughts, hopped out the shower and dried herself off. She got dressed and rolled up her sleeves, reaching for her hairbrush. 𝔸 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕒𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥, 𝕟𝕠 𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕞𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝. She looked at her reflection and stared blankly at it, 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕤 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕓𝕖 𝕤𝕠 𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕗𝕦𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜? Her father's words rang through her head as she continued to move her hands mindlessly. She didn't quite realize the moment she set down her hairbrush and chose to just stare at herself.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕒 𝕃ℕ, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕔𝕥 𝕒𝕤 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕙. Her hands subconsciously tightened around the sink. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃ℕ 𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔, 𝕟𝕠 𝕨𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕦𝕡 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕦𝕝𝕝 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝. For just brief moment, Y/N swore she saw her father standing behind her in the mirror, glaring down at her, ashamed of the person he was forced to call his child. Y/N couldnt process what had happened next, a shattering sound echoed in the back of her head, her body slowly turns towards the sound of knocking- no, banging.

She fell to her knees and used her arms to support herself, her right hand burned in pain...but she couldn't tell think why, it looked normal. She looked around her, she was back in the prison, her father sanding before her. He was speaking, but all she could hear was high pitch ringing. But she could read his lips clear as day, he was casting the spell that activated their magic. She looks to see her father taking one step forward, wand in his hand and-

"Y/N!"

She felt a pair of hand hold onto each side of her face, and looked to see Tom staring at her, a mix of shock and panic displayed in his eyes. She looked briefly to see Lestrange standing in the doorway, also looking down at her with worry and panic. A sharp pain goes shooting through her hand again and looks down at it to see it bleeding, small shards of glass sticking out of it. She looked up to see her mirror completely shattered. "What-"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Tom draws her attention back to him. He's grabs onto her wand, which has the smallest bit of blood clinging to it.

"I-" Y/N looks around her to see more glass from her mirror strewn about. She draws her attention back to her wand and sees that some of the blood on it began to fuse with the wood. "What happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?!" Lestrange stepped into the bathroom and stared down at Y/N. "We should be asking you that."

"You locked yourself in here." Tom stared down at her hand, he was waiting for a house elf to help remove the glass before healing it, "when we finally got the door open you were pointing your wand at your hand and chanting..."

Y/N widened her eyes and shook her head, "No...I wasn't here- I wasn't the one chanting! My father-" She stopped herself and it all set it, she was in her own head. She let her father's words get to her, he got under her skin. She forced herself out of Tom's grasp, which wasn't difficult as he wasn't trying to hold her still, and forced herself to her feet.

"Y/N..." Lestrange stood over her and tried to reach a hand out only to have it smacked away.

"I'm fine." She brushed herself off and accio'd her wand to her left hand, "I don't need your pity." She pushed herself past them and walked out of the bathroom.

Lestrange sighed and looked at Tom, "Azkaban."

"What?" Tom stood up and brushed himself off as well, he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, seeing as he was abruptly woken up to the sound of glass shattering.

"That's where she was...visiting her parents in Azkaban." Lestrange stared at the shattered mirror and sighed, "her father doesn't need a wand to use magic and-" He felt Tom push him out the way, completely cutting him off. He hears the sound of Tom's shoes rushing out the bathroom and further out of the room.

***

Tom walked out the room, gripping his wand tightly in his hand. How could she not tell him something that important? Why was he upset that Lestrange knew it seemingly long before he did? Tom let out a huff and waved his wand, "homenum revelio".

He looked around to see all the illuminating figures in the house, but none of them were her. He kept walking, recasting the spell when he needed until he caught sight of someone in the stable area. Tom ran down the stairs and out the front door. He immediately ran to the stables and up the stairs, taking a moment to catch his breath as he looks at her.

Y/N turned her head to look at Tom briefly before looking back at her hand. She was very carefully removing the pieces of glass from her hand with her wand, being more cautious than usual since she was using her non-dominant hand. She felt the sofa she was sitting on sink down beside her, "What do you want, Riddle?"

"So we're going back to formalities?" Tom made sure to not distract her as she kept examining her hand, but he knew she wasn't going to let him speak once she was done. He reached over and held onto her hand stopping her from working, "why didn't you tell me where you were going yesterday?"

Y/N sighed and moved her hand away, "Ferula." Her hand began to bandage itself up, prompting her to stand up and try to walk away.

Tom, understandably, wasn't having this and grabbed her wrist pulling her back towards him. "Don't ignore me."

"I'm not ignoring you!" She glared at him and tried to free herself, but Tom showed no signs of letting her go.

"That's exactly what you're doing!" He removed her wand from her hand and placed it in his inner pocket beside his own. "Again, why didn't you tell me you were going to Azkaban?"

"Because it's none of your concern. My family matters don't involve you!"

"They do when you return home completely unconscious and covered in dozens more scars than you left with!"

Y/N sharpened her glare and kept fighting to be let go, which kept ending in failure. She straightened herself up and took and deep breath, "Why does it matter to you?" She looked to see the question had visible caught him off guard, "Why are you so invested in learning about my family? Maybe you think getting me to open up, getting me to trust you, will cause me to, what? Tell you all my weaknesses? Hear all ways to defeat my family? Maybe even learn how to use my magic?" She had surprised him enough that he loosened his grip on her just enough for her to get out of her grasp, though it still required a fight.

"Colloshoo." Tom watched as Y/N froze in place and looked down at her feet. "Were you really willing to leave without your wand?"

"It's just a stupid piece of wood. Besides, you would've given it back." Y/N turns her head to look back at him and scowls. "Now let me go, Riddle."

Tom walked around so he was actually facing her, "You're not going anywhere until you talk."

Y/N rolled her eyes and gave an irritated smile, "I'm not saying shit until you answer my question."

"I believe I asked first!" Tom furrowed his brows and looked down at Y/N, challenging her gaze. "Allow me to reword this. How long have you known your father didn't need a wand to cast magic?!"

Y/N's eyes widened with panic for a brief second before going into a deeper scowl than they were before. "Why do you insist so much on knowing about my family?! Does it really matter how long I've known this information?!"

He grabbed onto her wrist and rolled up her sleeve to expose all the scarring on her arm. "Your father did this to you, for what, fun? Imagine how many people in that prison have been harmed by his hands!"

"My father doesn't need magic to hurt others, that's why he's bound to his damn cell!" She looks at her arm briefly before meeting his eyes again. "He's as methodical as he is sadistic. He makes sure guards are incapacitated and that bystanders can't scream or run for help."

"Even more reason for you to talk, L/N! Whose to say he can't break out of prison, causing mayhem and fear all over again?!"

Y/N tried to pulls her arm free, but she couldn't with her feet still bound to the floor. She wasn't quite sure why she was humoring him by thinking she was trapped and had no other choice but to listen. She could've undone the spell the moment it was cast, now she feels in too deep to try.

"My father can't escape his cell, he's not strong enough to break the locking spell on it!"

"Are you positive of that?! You said he was boud to his cell, yet he seemed to out of those restraints no issue!" He tightens the grip on her arm, forcing her to look at all the damage that was caused. "Maybe he just hasn't had a reason to leave."

"What reason would a psychopath need to not break out of jail?!"

"For years he was in prison with his wife and daughter, all his known enemies were either in prison with him, or dead! I'm positive he could easily break out of his cell and walk out the front door of that damn jail if he really wished to!"

"Oh please, my father would've taken the first chance of escape the moment it appeared!" She tried to free herself again but there was no use, he wasn't planing on letting go.

"You just said your father was methodical, does he really seem like the type to rush an escape after you explained all the effort he goes through to ensure the guards and ministry never realize how strong he actually is?!"

Y/N kept trying to free her arm, being forced to stare from the scars on her forearm to her newly bandaged hand. She knew he was right, but didn't want to admit it. She shut her eyes tightly and looked away, "Relashio!" Tom, unwillingly, let go on her arm and she purposefully tried to take a step back, "finite!" Right as she began to trip from the spell, her shoes were free from the floor benteath her and regained her balance.

"If you can manage minor spells without this," he held her wand just barely out of reach, "you can't possibly believe you father is incapable of so much more!" Tom watched as Y/N checked her wrist for any possible signs of bruising.

"I know my father is powerful," She pulled her sleeve down and straighted herself up, carrying herself with elegance and pride, "but I have to believe that prison can hold him."

"Why are you dead set on that?!"

"Because if that's true than it means he's tortured me, for years, with no real reason!!" Y/N put her hand over her mouth and immediately regretted what she said. She stepped back from the shock and tried to avert her gaze to literally anything other than the person standing infront of her.

Tom let the words echo in his head, grasping what was just said. He took a deep breath in and sighed, running a hand through his hair. "How long?" He looked at her and tried to take a step forward, only for her to take another step back. "Y/N, how long have you know he didn't need his wand?"

She felt her hands begin to shake and looked up at him. "Does it really matter?" She laughed a little to herself and let out a shallow breath. "I answered your stupid question, not like you actually cared to hear it."

"I beg your pardon?" Tom looked at her again, both getting irritated, once again.

"You crave power, glory, respect! You're a younger embodiment of my parents!" She held her hands to her side and forced herself to stand properly 𝕒 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕨𝕤 𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕟. "You don't actually care about what happened to me, you know why? Because that requires you to actually have a heart!"

Tom tried to speak up, to argue, but she cut him off, "Do you know how annoying it is to watch a lowly orphan, a non-pureblood, share the qualities my parents so desperately wished for me to possess?!" She took a few steps and got in his face, "Let me ask you again, Riddle...why do you care so much about what happens to me?"

Tom stared blankly at her, trying to figure out the reason himself. He didn't have a clear answer as to why he cared, why he was so worried, why any of this mattered to him. He watched as Y/N grabbed her wand, hearing her move towards the stairs; he knew he couldn't let her leave. However, he didn't say a single thing, he just let her walk away, too prideful to admit any of the possibilities. Tom heard the door to the stables slam shut and ran a hand through his hair "...shit."

○○○

Mattheo walked around the back garden, taking in the peaceful nature of the day. He watched as the house elves meticulously tended to every single plant, making sure everything looked perfect.

"Mr. Rivers!"

Mattheo looked to see Tolrey run up to him, with a cheery smile. "Tolrey, you seem awfully happy today. Did something happen?" He wouldn't admit it, but he had grown fond of the house elves. It had grown clear that the main four knew who he was, but would never say anything about it, which he respected.

Tolrey nodded his head and pointed to the stable, "There's something up there Tolrey thinks you'd wish to see."

Mattheo nodded and followed the little house elf toward the stables, where he saw Draco was already there and waiting.

"There you are." Draco looked down at the house elf, "they came to me earlier and ask for me to look at something." Draco opened the door to the stables and gesture up the staircase.

Mattheo walked up the stairs and opened the door that lead to the first floor. He stood there blankly and stared at the pensive that resided in the middle of the room. "Ummmmm, why is that there?"

Draco followed after Mattheo and stood beside him, "the door was locked when I got here, that's why the elves asked for assistance. They just wanted the door open, but they didn't know the pensive was here."

"What's the memory of?" Mattheo looked at Draco, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe you should see for yourself." Draco push his friend closer to the pensive before walking back downstairs.

Mattheo looked at the pensive took a deep breath before lowering his face into the memory.

~°Memory°~

Y/N was sitting on the sofa and staring at her bracelet, which was moving around on the coffee table. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and turned her head to look at who it was. "Riddle, do you need something?"

Tom wanted to retort a little to hearing his last name but decided against it. He didn't move from where he was standing in the doorway either, "You were right...my father was a mudblood, I'm a halfblood."

Y/N sighed and looked back at her bracelet, patting the empty space beside her. She felt the sofa sink down beside her as Tom took a seat. "Did you come all this way just to tell me that? I'm sure it could've waiting till I returned-"

"I hate this." Tom cut her off, staring at the bracelet as it continued to move around and play without a care in the world. "I hate this..." He says again, looking at Y/N and gesturing to the both of them.

Y/N looked down at her hands that rested in her lap. She had a hunch what he was referring to, but she didn't want to talk about it.

"The last time I was here, you asked me a question and I let you walk away. And things haven't been the same since then."

𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦? The question rang in her head. She had asked him that during winter break of their 3rd year...now they're almost done with their 4th. Since then the two rarely spoke, they avoided eachother outside of class, both strayed away from the restricted section in case the other happened to be there. They'd speak and talk whenever they were with their friends or studying together in class, but that was it. They felt like total strangers to eachother.

Y/N looked up at Tom and smiled, faking obliviousness, "Riddle, what are you talking about?"

"That! That is what I'm talking about!" Tom watched Y/N flinch slightly at the sudden raise in his voice. "You've never, never, called me Riddle before now. I can't stand hearing it!"

"Everyone calls you it, how is it any different with me?"

"Cause I got so used to hearing my actual name from you! I had grown used to being called Tom. Hell, I sought comfort in hearing it from you." He took hold of her hands, almost possessively and looked into her eyes, "I just want things to go back to normal, what will it take to do that?!"

"This is the new normal-"

"Bullshit!" Tom tighted his grip on her briefly before loosening his grip again, "you hate calling me Riddle, it's written on your face, clear as day! You force yourself to not speak to me when leaving class, to not smile on the rare occasions we passed in the halls. You even ask Lestrange for updates about me! Admit it, you hate what's going on more than I do!"

Y/N looked at Tom for a second before focusing her gaze down at their hands, "why does it matter?" She felt him tense up and heard his breath hitch. "Why did it matter then, and why does it matter now?" She looked up at him and pulled her hands away from his, "that's all I want to know..."

Tom felt a mix of panic and pride rush through him. He had spent over a year and a half debating over that very question, wanting to admit everything to her...but he just couldn't. He was too prideful to stoop so low, too afraid of how she'd react, too frustrated with himself for actually getting attached. He felt the weight of the sofa vanish as Y/N stood up and started to walk away.

"You can stay the night, but i want you gone by tomorrow morning." She picked up her bracelet and coiled it around her arm, walking towards the staircase. She was stopped at the feeling of Tom holding her wrist and pulling her back, wrapping a hand around her waist as he forces her to face him. "Tom, what the hell are you-"

She was completely cut off by the feeling of his lips against hers. Every alarm in her head was telling her to fight him, telling her to push him away, but she couldn't. She took her free hand and ran it through his hair, slowly closing her eyes. She felt as both of them relaxed and melted into eachother's touch.

Tom pulled away from her, seemingly as shocked as she was about everything. He had no intention of doing that, he only wanted to stop her from walking away. He let go of her wrist and cupped the side of her face with his hand, admiring her while he tried to formulate words in his head.

He sighed, "I spent a year and a half trying to figure out why it mattered to me whether or not we spoke." He never once took his eyes off her, afraid she'd disappear the moment he looked away, "the day you left to visit your parents, I could do nothing but worry..."

He let her go and took a few steps back, pacing as he spoke.

"I didn't know where you were going, what you were doing, and it drove me insane." He ran a hand through him hair, lightly gripping the ends of it. "I tried so fucking hard to distract myself from it...but I couldn't." His voice had lost its calm undertone, he kept pausing and taking moments to catch his breath. His hands moved around constantly as he spoke, he was positive he looked miserable and he hated it.

"Tom-" she wanted to speak, it was clear that he wouldn't let her.

"When Lestrange showed up, carrying you in his arms...you were so pale and limp that I-" he took a moment to recompose himself, "I thought you were gone. Then I saw you were covered in scars and got furious knowing someone was foolish enough to harm you."

Y/N looked down at the floor, her head filling with thoughts. She remembered that visit to her parents in perfect detail, the pain coursing through her body, the blood slowly coating the stone beneath her, the vulgar screaming of her parents. The words of her parents echoed through her head almost every day.

"I tried to not let it bother me, but you were in pain. You were stuck in nightmare after nightmare, and all I could do was watch. Then I woke up to the sound of glass shattering and found you trying to use magic you promised yourself you'd never use unless absolutely necessary..." Tom gently took hold of one of her hands, causing her to look up at him. "I don't know happened that day...but I-" he stopped himself for a second, knowing there really was no going back from any of this. "I want for you to be able to trust me. I want to be the one you complain to about your life, to be the one you go out with for the hell of it. I want you to talk with me about things that aren't related to school, or learning or- any of it."

Y/N held his gaze and took shallow breaths, doing everything in her power to fight back the tears welling up in her eyes.

Tom reached up with his free hand and placed in on her cheek, wiping away a stray tear that began to fall. "I was too prideful to admit it then...and even now- I'm fighting every instict I have to just walk away and go back to pretending you don't exist. But I know I'd couldn't live with myself if I did."

ℕ𝕠 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕜𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 It was the one thing her parents ensure she knew, but for the first time in years, the voices ceased.

Y/N placed her hand on top the one holding her face and smiled. For the first time in her life, she wasn't going to let the voices in her head win.

"I remember the day I learned you were an animagus, you had accused me of being jealous and I refused: swore against it." He paused briefly, taking a moment to relive that day in his mind, "and I was- I still am. The students that can't help but stare when you walk past, the dazed look on their faces when they hear to speak or laugh, it was all torture to witness. Then I'd watch from afar whenever you were with Lestrange and watched as you would genuinely laugh and smile as if you didn't have a care in the world, as if everything was perfect."

Y/N forced herself to be quiet, she refused to let her own pride ruin the moment. She wasn't blind to the students that took advantage of Tom's absense in her life; hell, she found it amusing. But she also wasn't blind to the students that took advantage of her staying away from Tom either. She'd silently cursed all of them whenever she watched them fall even more for that charismatic smile of his. It was annoying to see them believe he actually cared for them, that he was actually interested.

"I want to be the reason you smile, the person who make all your worries go away. I just want you."

Y/N jump forward and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, hugging him tightly. "When I first met you, I tried so desperately to ignore you, but you kept reappearing." She buried her nose into his neck, hugging him tighter, "You're right, I hated ignoring you, but you weren't any better. You practically memorized my schedule to ensure we'd rarely cross paths. You restrained yourself from waiting for me during our shared classes. You also asked Lestrange about me."

"I'll admit, I hated watching students swoon over you and convince themselves you were genuine whenever you smiled at them. I hated the moments your little following would purposefully brag about you infront of me." She looked up at him and smiled warmly, "I listened to Lestrange complain about how our stubbornness turned him into a messanger." She let out a contet sigh, "I don't think you realize how long I've waiting for you to say someone remotely close to what you just said."

Tom smiled a little and placed his forehead to hers, pulling her closer to him. "Thank you, for waiting."

~°End of memory°~

Matteo lifts his head up from the pensive, eyes wide from disbelief. There's no way it hell that was real, he refused to believe it. There's no way his father could ever let himself be that vulnerable...especially about something like that. He fell to his knees and stared blankly at the foot of the pensive.

He knew why he didn't want to believe it, if the memory was real, it meant that his father was actually capable to human emotion, that his father actually loved the person he was supposed to call his mother. It meant that his father had killed the person he loved, that he chose power over all. He didn't want to believe it, he wanted to believe his father was far more heartless, that this was all an act, a lie to gain power.

Mattheo heard footsteps arriving up the stairs and looked to see who it was, which wasn't the person he was expecting. "Mr. Lupin...have you seen this as well?"

Remus looked at the pensive and shook his head, "didn't know it was here...apparently this door locked after her death."

Mattheo froze hearing that...this was technically his father's memory, but why? Why did his father leave this, what message was he trying to convey? "So...this doesn't belong to Y/N?"

Remus sighed and sat down beside Mattheo, "afraid not. Can't even begin to imagine whose memory this is." He looked to seem Mattheo seeming distraught and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe it's for the best, they seemed to not have cared for the memory if they made it so easy to view." Remus looked up at the pensive.

Mattheo looked to Remus for a second and sighed "Why are you actually here?" He noticed Remus become a little confused. "At the house, I don't this a random person from the ministry would turn down their task at observing this place."

Remus smiled and looked down at the floor, "She came to me a few days before her passing, begging me to keep an eye on this place once she was gone." His smile falted slightly, a sad look slowly appearing in his eyes, "I didn't know what she meant until I learned from the elves she had planned to run away."

"But, wasn't she killed before she got the chance to?"

"It seems that way, but Y/N was always full of surprises." Remus stood up and helped Mattheo to his feet, "Plus, I always imagined she go out in a far more interesting way".

Mattheo tilted his head a little at the comment, unsure of what to make of everything he just dealt with. He thought of the memory he witnessed and remembered the silver bracelet she was messing with...that's gotta be why he was sent here. "I truly believe Draco and I have stayed here long enough...we should leave tomorrow morning."

Remus nodded his head faintly, "if you insist."

He looked back at the pensive for a few more seconds before following Remus downstairs and out the stables