Eternity

The night was silent around the mansion in Little Hangleton. It was especially quiet around the graveyard. None of the villagers dared to approach it since the many incidents that had happened there. One of the more famous ones was, of course, the death of the Riddles. However, the mysteries did not stop there.

Three years ago, a group of teenagers neglected the warnings written on the walls by people living in the village before them and entered the premises of the cemetery on Halloween night. It was the break of dawn before only one boy staggered out of it with blood covering his body.

For days, people asked him what had happened but he would not speak. Exactly one year later, he died on his bed and the secret was buried along with him.

After he had died, rumors started to spread. Some people claimed that the boy was the one who murdered the rest of his friends. However, the guilt soon overwhelmed him and he killed himself. Nevertheless, no one could explain just why the boy died. There were no apparent injuries on him nor any signs of being poisoned. In fact, doctors were called in to check on him by the boy's parents and the doctor left with a befuddled expression claiming that nothing was wrong with the young man.

So the rumors continue to spread, regardless of what the truth was. It really did not matter since the villagers always enjoyed a good story, as long as they were not told to investigate the truthfulness of the story themselves.

Therefore, it was no wonder that on the night of Halloween, two years after the death of the boy, no one inspected the voices and bright lights that came from the direction of the mansion and the graveyard.

It started with a low murmur of "Lumos" at the edge of the hill that led to the mansion. A figure clad in black made her way towards the mansion after she had lit her wand. Even before she entered the mansion, she could already hear the screams of a victim being tortured.

She closed her eyes and opened them again.

What path had I chosen? She asked herself for the thousandth time. She knew she was walking down the wrong path. However, no matter what, she could not and would not leave him.

Two years ago, when she tried to block out the pleas from the innocent teenagers, she had already sealed her fate. Till this day, letting the group of teenagers die in the living room of the Riddle mansion still haunted her dreams. It was a guilt that would forever scar her mind, heart, and soul.

She knocked heavily on the door three times and waited for an answer. The curtain of the window to the left flickered and she saw an eye peeking out at her momentarily before it disappeared again. Seconds later, the door opened on its own and she was admitted into the mansion.

The person who had looked at her through the window bowed slightly to her as she made her way to the second floor.

She hesitated when she reached the door and wondered if the victim was still being tormented by him. She shook the thought away. He had always known of her discomfort with seeing people being harmed in front of her. Most likely, the prey would have been held in another room at this time.

She opened the door and found him leaning against the only table in the room.

"Where have you been?" he immediately asked as she sat down in one of the chairs in the room..

"I went to Diagon Alley," she admitted. "It's been a while since I've been there."

"Don't you know that Dumbledore could easily capture you and hold you as hostage against me?" he questioned, staring at her strictly. She looked at him for a while before sighing.

"Dumbledore wouldn't do that," she remarked softly.

"He's more manipulative than you know, Hermione," he commented as he walked over to the armchair behind the table and sat down.

Hermione Granger looked at the man she had followed for the past three years. Other people would believe that she was getting closer to Tom Riddle but it was the complete opposite. In fact, it seemed as if the wall between was becoming taller and thicker with each passing day.

"If you make such rash decisions in the future, I might have to reconsider the freedom I allow you," he suddenly declared. She immediately stood up from the chair and glared at him.

"You're not taking away my freedom!"

"You're forcing me to do so," he stated with an equal amount of fury.

"I refuse to let you treat me like some sort of animal!" Hermione seethed.

"I'm trying to protect you, Hermione," Tom explained.

"Bullocks!" she snorted. "I could protect myself quite efficiently, thank you very much."

"You trust Dumbledore too much for your own good," he assessed. "I'm not going to let anything get in the way – "

"You're being selfish!" Hermione screamed at him. He stopped talking and looked at her. "You can't just lock me up like I'm your possession. I'm a human, I have feelings as well. If you've expected me to be some sort of woman who would stay home and take care of the children and the house, then you've chosen the wrong woman!"

"I've never meant for you to become a woman like that," Tom corrected her as he got up from the chair and walked towards her. "In fact, I'm glad that you're not one of those kinds of women. Nevertheless, that's why I have to make sure of your safety."

Hermione felt the anger inside her increase. Apparently, he was already determined to lock her up in one way or another. He was just "kindly" informing her tonight.

"You're not locking me up," Hermione repeated. He did not answer but continued fixing his stare on her. "You know that I'll fight to the death if you dare try to lock me up."

"You leave me no choice then," he concluded, raising his wand at her. Before she could pull out her wand, he had already cast the Full Body Bind on her. Angry tears welled up in her eyes as he caught her in his arms before she fell to the floor. "My apologies, Hermione. I'm doing this for the both of us. I can't let them use you against me."

~-0-~

Hermione's suspicions that he had planned it out beforehand were proven true when Tom Apparated them to a place where she had never seen before. In the midst of the beautiful environment, there was a cabin, completed with a well and garden.

"You would have to excuse me for the primitiveness of this place. Nevertheless, I trust that your skills in magic are good enough to overcome these problems," he smiled at her as he carried her and walked over into the cabin. He placed her on the bed before he released her from the spell.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle!" she screeched as she stood up.

"I'm listening," he replied offhandedly.

"Argh!" she shrieked in frustration. She walked up to him and pulled him over by his robes. "You're not locking me up here. You're not!"

"My apologies again, Hermione," he repeated as he touched her softly on her cheeks. A sly smile appeared on his face. "If you could find a way past the wards I've set up around this area, perhaps I'll reconsider my decision." With that, he kissed her gently on the forehead before he pulled himself away from her and Apparating away.

Hermione let out another scream of frustration as she sat down on the bed and crossed her arms across her chest.

This was so wrong at so many levels! How dare he lock her up like this? It was not as if she was some damsel in distress who needed someone to save her. She could ward off enemies quite proficiently herself.

The nerves of Tom Riddle! The chauvinistic pig!

Hermione whipped out her wand and blasted the table into pieces, pretending it was Tom.

She then covered her face with her hands.

She then looked up at the spot where Tom had Apparated from before.

She would show him how wrong he was. She would find a way out of the wards if it was the last thing she did.

~-0-~