lodessa | Tom used to be so hot...

Prologue

Minerva had never been this angry in her life...and she never would be again. She also would not cry again. Now she wiped her tears away and breathed deeply, seeking to regain her inner poise. Essentially widowed at seventeen. She started to familiarize herself with the concept. He was dead. Ulysses was was dead. Falling from the observatory window had done it, no one could survive that fall. Minerva had never truly believed the stories, it was just superstition that the window was cursed. It was a handy way of murdering people though, she thought to herself. That was what it was. Murder. It would not go unavenged. Minerva was not going to rush in foolishly; she would not give him anything to use against her, but she would get her revenge.

She knew who it was who had done this. He might be able to fool the ministry and all of the teachers, but Tom had not pulled the wool over her eyes. Did he actually think that killing her true love would make her fall into his arms, or was it pure vengeance? Did he just want to make here suffer? Well there was no way of knowing what the psychopath had in mind but whatever it was she was not about to give it to him. Rowena Ravenclaw may have failed to protect her loved ones, and Minerva may have fared no better so far, but she would never give up and never give in to the manipulations of a Slytherin so twisted and cruel. Morgan might be at fault but the boy had to deal with the consequences of his actions. Minerva hated him. She did. She had never hated anybody before, but Minerva hated Tom Riddle. She would fight him to the bitter end. Yet she knew she would need to wait until she could do it without negative repercussions. She wanted to blow him to bits, but that would not solve anything. That would be like letting him win. She could tell Albus; he would believe her, but what good would it do; unless she had proof she could not openly accuse him. She had to persevere. She had to be there when there was no one else to stand against him, had to save Helga this time. That was one way she could advert the past. Rubeus was imprisoned; Myrtle was dead; Ulysses was dead, but there would be more people who needed her help. The feeling of being needed soothed her. It did not take away the pain, but gave her the strength to endure it.

"Tom will not graduate head boy, that I can do now. It is grossly insufficient but it is something. He will not get that out of this crime" she thought to herself. "Well it's a start."

She started shaking again but managed not to cry. She clutched the window sill, her knuckles turning white. She looked down at her wedding band, swore never to take it off. Then she whirled around as she heard footsteps behind her.

It has him. Standing there, devastatingly handsome and unabashed. He looked at her, an expression of concern pasted on his face. She didn't know what to expect. Was he going to laugh at her? Would he pounce her, and attempt to have his way with her? Or was he simply going to push her out the window as well, and let everyone believe she committed suicide? "Wait" she thought had that last idea came to her, "I got that from somewhere."

Suddenly she saw Salazar, crying. "She jumped!" he sobbed. "I only wanted to help but she didn't understand! And I didn't kill him! I didn't kill Myrrdin!" he cried, "You believe me, don't you?" His hazel eyes bored into hers.

She knew he was telling the truth there, ever since he was a small boy. Salazar could never lie to her without her knowledge. "Of course, I believe you, my child." She told him, holding him to her. She had to protect him. Everything was falling apart, Godric would be here soon and he would not understand as she did. She had to makes sure Salazar was far away before Godric found him. For all his goodness, she did not trust Godric to control himself, if he thought Salazar had killed Myrrdin...and now Helga. Godric was impulsive and she was genuinely afraid he might kill the boy if he found him here.

Minerva gained control of herself and saw once more Tom, whom she wanted to kill, rather than his ancestor, whom she recalled protecting. He stepped towards her. "Min...I heard" he whispered.

"Get away from me" she warned.

"I just want to help" (this time she knew he was lying)"Minerva...you know how I feel, I would never hurt you."

"Really?" she retorted, "Killing and framing my closest friends is hardly when I would call benevolent"

"I don't know what you are talking about" he said, looking hurt.

"Don't you? Well I do."

"Minerva..." he had her backed up against the window, "Why won't you trust me"

Minerva struggled to control her emotions. His face was close to hers. She could feel his breath against her cheek. She shuddered. He reached forward and cradled her face in his hand.

Chapter 1

"I love you Minerva Dumbledore."

The words echoed in Minerva's happy brain. She had never expected to fall madly in love. It seemed counter to her nature. Yet Minerva was desperately in love with Ulysses McGonagall. It seemed miraculous and impossible to her that he returned the feeling in any way, but he did. Ulysses worshipped everything about Minerva, from her way she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, to the way she phrased her potions essays, to the way her lily white neck connected to her shoulders. That this kind of love had found Minerva was exceptional, but that she had reciprocated it was more so. Minerva was, as a rule, rather reserved and intellectually driven and had never taken much interest in matters such as romance. The school heartthrob, Tom Riddle, was desperate for her affection, but she had ignored him as if he were no more than a fly on the wall. She chose to spend most of her time in the library, or with her father, the transfiguration teacher Albus Dumbledore, rarely engaging in the social follies of her classmates. Minerva was not the kind of girl whom one would expect to fall in love, especially at such a young age as 16.

Minerva and Ulysses stood there locked in an embrace, his head buried in her raven hair. "You're going to get sick of me." she told him.
"Min, I don't think I could get sick of you if I tried, not even if I had all the time on the world. Even if we lived a thousand years."

"Never in a thousand years" her lover declared, holding her close. Minerva became aware that she was once again in the past... about a thousand years in the past around the founding of the school to be exact. "Rowena promise me you'll never send me away" he begged.

"Why be so silly. You know I have no intention of leaving. Especially now" she said, patting her stomach.

Just then a boy of about four, with curly brown hair, came running to her. "Row-eeeeee-na!!" he called, "Come and save me from Myrrdin!"

She smiled at the childish game and told him, "Why, Salazar that's none of my business...you'll have to ask Godric if you need help"

"But he always sides with Myrrdin!" Salazar pouted, looking up at her, his large hazel eyes partly covered by the curls that had fallen in his face, "You know he secretly hates me."

She had to admit it was true that Godric wasn't overly fond of the boy and resented on Rowena's doting on him. Godric was a good man but sometimes a bit impulsive and blunt for the introverted, stargazing, Salazar. He saw Salazar as underhanded and manipulative, not understanding why Salazar was the way he was, and didn't trust him as far as he could throw him (although for Godric that was pretty far).

Minerva found herself back with Ulysses in the present. He was watching her anxiously. He still wasn't used to these trances she would go into randomly. Albus thought that she ought not to worry but to try to gather as much information as possible from them. So far they had discerned that during all of the trances Minerva fell into she lived bits and pieces of the life of Rowena Ravenclaw. Many of them, such as that last one were pleasant and not disturbing in nature and it was only rarely that Minerva was troubled by them. The guess was that there was something unresolved in Rowena's life which was attempting to come to light through Minerva's visions and that once they discovered what that thing was they could stop the trances.

"I'm fine really" she told him, resting her head on his shoulder

"It's just you looked so far away" he replied, ashamed at his worry being discovered.

"I was actually right here" she told him, "Just a thousand years ago".

"Well if you can manage to stay in the present for a few minutes I have something I want to ask you..."

"And what would that be?" she asked.

Ulysses kept ahold of her hand and went down on one knee. "I want to ask you to marry me Minerva" he looked up at her, pulling a box from his pocket.

Minerva gasped in surprise, "But Ulysses, we're so young" she protested.

"We don't have to get married tomorrow...I'm just asking you because I know that I at least want to spend my life with you. I guess maybe you don't feel the same way..."

"Oh don't be silly! I love you Ulysses. I love you with all my heart. I want to spend all eternity with you."

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Breaking the kiss he opened up the box. Inside was a beautiful sapphire ring.

"So, Minerva Dumbledore...will you promise to marry me, not today, or next week, but before we leave this life." He asked her.

"Yes, Ulysses McGonagal I will marry you." She replied, "There could never be anyone else for me. ever." He took the ring and slid it on her finger, and they once again lost themselves in an embrace.

They did not notice the shadowy figure watching them from above.

Tom turned away from the balcony, enraged. The time for moderation had passed. She was not going to fall for him at this rate. It had not ever seemed likely, but seeing her with someone else made it even clearer. To see her wasting her smiles and kisses on that mudblood was driving him crazy enough, but the promise she had just made drove Tom completely over the edge of sanity. The time for action had come. He had to have her. If he didn't he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Had he been someone else, he might have seen the impossibility of this and given up. However, he wasnÕt. He was Tom Riddle, the descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and he was going to get his. Issues of morality were not a consideration. Minerva would be his, no matter whom he had to screw over, no matter whom he had to kill. He had never killed a person before, at least not outright, but that made no difference. Tom laughed, thinking about the horror Minerva would feel if she were to realize she had created a killer. It would be entirely her doing, if Ulysses died. Tom knew she wouldn't want that. He knew she would sacrifice herself rather than be responsible for someone's death. He could use that to his advantage and he would.

Tom's jade eyes seemed to grow in intensity as he contemplated his next move. Images of various scenes, all of which concluded with Minerva in his arms, flitted across his mind as he considered the feasibility of each. However he was a little too logical and realized that threats would only lead Minerva to sacrifice her body to him, and he wanted her soul as well. Slamming his books down in frustration, he noticed that he has inadvertently crushed some ants and wished Ulysses was just as easily gotten rid of.

"He could be..." a voice whispered from behind him.

Though startled, Tom didn't turn around yet, "What are you talking about Morgan?" he said dryly, as if she hadn't said anything uncanny.

"Tom, Tom, Tom...why must you always be so clueless? I was talking about getting that Ravenclaw girl..."

"She's in Griffindor."

"Same difference. Godric and Rowena were always excluding everyone else anyway, they just had to be alone with each other."

"You know if I didn't know any better I would think you were jealous..."

"Why would I be jealous of that uptight, bookworm."

"I was talking about Rowena, not Minerva."

"As was I...though it really doesn't matter what you call her. She's still the same."

"No she isn't. If she was, she would have been put in Ravenclaw." Tom insisted
"Why do you care anyways?"
"I just do." He snapped.
"Because you are so madly in love with her!" Morgan teased.
"If you came here simply to harass me I would appreciate your leaving. I have important things to consider." Tom replied icily.

"Aww Tom... That's not very nice!" Morgan pouted, looking up at him with her sea-water blue eyes and biting her lower lip, "I was just trying to help you out...but I guess you don't need any help do you. Fine then..." she turned away, "I guess you can just figure out how to get rid of the mudblod without making her hate you on your own."

"God dammit Morgan!" Tom exclaimed, grabbing her arm, pulling her around to face him, and placing his hands on her waist to keep her in place, "Why didn't you just say that in the first place!"

"Say what?" she smiled mischeviously, her breath tickling his neck.

"That you knew how to get rid of Ulysses M. McGonagall...stop playing dumb."

"If you are going to be mean like that I'm leaving." Morgan threatened, rising into the air slightly, so that Tom had to grab a better hold on her to keep her there.

"Come on Morgan, you know I am just playing." He repented.

Lifting her eyebrows, Morgan smirked, "Make it better!" she demanded, her face suggestively close to his.

Keeping one hand around her slender waist, Tom lifted the other to her face, drawing it towards his, and kissed her lightly, almost teasingly.

"Now what's this plan of yours?" he demanded.

"You're so serious today." she remarked, "All work and no play."

"Come on Morgan, stop teasing me."

"Why should I? Why would I want to help you, when if I do you won't need me anymore? Besides you are the one teasing me."

"Morgan, tell me what it is you want and let's get on with this." he snapped.

"Make me!" she retorted, a glint in her eyes, almost daring him.

Tom backed her against the wall, his body pressed against her, one hand wrapped in her dark curls and the other snaking around her back and his hand coming to rest lazily on her breast. "Tell me and I'll give you want you want." he hissed.

"You first." she demanded, her nails digging into his back.

"Oh so that's how it's going to be." he laughed, leaning down to nip her neck.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll do as I say."

"We'll see about that." he smiled wickedly, kissing and biting down to her collarbone and grinding subtly against her.

Morgan whimpered, and tilted her head back, sliding her hands down him slowly. Tom observed her and, deciding it was the appropriate time, suddenly released her and walked away. Morgan gasped and outraged, flew across the room, knocking Tom to the ground and used her body to pin him there.

"Never!" she grunted, "Do that to me againÉyou understand."

"You aren't getting anything more from me without that information." He told her, pushing her small frame off of him and standing up calmly.

"Fine then! You can die never knowing for all I care!" She screamed.

"And you can lurk around for all eternity unable to die, searching for someone to satisfy you, or release you...Oh wait that's right. No one else can. Guess you'll be stuck here indefinitely."

Floating back up, Morgan grimaced, realizing he was right, "Alright, you win." she admitted, "Swear you won't go back on your word if I tell you. Swear on your mother."

"How dare you mention her!"
"I have every right to say whatsoever I like about her. If it weren't for me neither of you would even exist!"

"When you put it that way, this is all just so much more wrong."
"As if that ever stopped you before..."

"I was just commenting..."

"So are you going to do it or are you just wasting my time."

"Fine. I swear on my mother that if you tell me how to get rid of Ulysses I will find a way to make to alive again, and I will... entertain you until that time."