Make It Right

A/N: i just want to thank my wonderful beta Blondie.

Enjoy!


Ch 2. Two Years Later


Lilith was walking quietly in the park with Lily cradled in her arms. The girl was dozing with her face nuzzled against her mother’s neck. Keith was with them, but he stayed quite a few steps ahead. Lilith was grateful for that small favour. She didn’t have to face his disapproving glare. Taking a deep breath, she took in all the wonderful smells of flowers in bloom and freshly mowed grass. Lilith was the kind of person who really took joy in nature.

Crystal Palace Park had always been her favourite place in the world. It had been her home away from home as a child, her hide-out. Her parents would stay in the main area with the cafes and neatly cut grass, while Lilith would sneak off into the trees and climb the dinosaur statues.

Back then, there had only been a few statues, but now they were everywhere. They had been arranged in and around the lake, and made to look almost lifelike. And there was now a one meter high fence around the area. An adult would’ve had no trouble climbing in, but a child would be kept out. Lilith guessed that that was the whole point. Why would an adult want to climb dinosaurs? Her two, nearly three, year old daughter suddenly pulled Lilith out of her daydream.

Lilith put sat her carefully down on the ground. The moment Lily’s small feet touched the ground she ran over to the swings, with her mother right behind her to lift her up on the seat. The little girl laughed and threw her head back in joy as Lilith playfully gave her a light tickle. Keith continued to the other side of the lawn, heading towards the café.

For a moment, Lilith felt free; just playing with her daughter who desperately wanted an ice cream. She waved to her husband trying fruitlessly to gain his attention. With a sigh, she turned to her daughter and sat on her knees in the grass. She was about to tell her daughter to stay put while she ran to get her an ice cream when her gaze fell on two men walking on the narrow path near the dinosaur forest.

Something struck her as odd about the two men. Both were drop-dead gorgeous, but the man with long blond hair wore clothes from another century; robes, a cloak, and even a cane. Lilith couldn’t help but giggle to herself. The dark haired man wore a more casual outfit that looked expensive. His posture was even relaxed, with his hands in the pockets of his black trousers. The blond on the other hand, seemed to be very tense. There was something vaguely familiar about the dark haired man, but she couldn’t remember who he was.

The two walked close together as if they were talking about something important. Suddenly they stopped and turned to face each other. The dark haired man tilted his head and scanned the area, as if looking for something. Their eyes locked for a brief second. Lilith quickly averted her eyes and cursed under her breath, just then realizing that she had been staring. She quickly turned her attention back to her little girl.

***
Tom Marvolo Riddle was walking in a muggle park with Cassander Malfoy. He had chosen that particular place to discuss business because no one would ever suspect that he would ever go out amongst muggles. His ‘hatred’ of them was common knowledge. He wanted to be left alone, especially by Albus Dumbledore. Just the mere thought of the man made him nauseous.

He started thinking about how much he hated his name. Part of the reason he hated it so much was because he had been named after his father, who had left his mother when she was pregnant in her 9th month. But the other part was that Dumbledore had always insisted on calling him “Tom”, when he...He didn’t want to think about it. It happened a long time ago and it was over.

He had made it clear that he preferred to be called Marvolo, but even after 15 years, everyone still called him 'Tom'. 'Marvolo' was the only part of his name that was linked to his mother and the wizarding world. Even though he had never known her, he still felt something similar to love for her. He supposed that it was just a child’s natural instinct.

Tom stopped suddenly and turned toward Cassander, stealing a quick scan of the park. Once could never be too safe when the Ministry of Magic was watching your every move. Then his gaze fell on two red-headed figures by the swings; a woman and a young girl. The woman was staring at him.

‘Damn Cassander to hell’, he thought to himself. Why hadn’t he bothered to transfigure his robes to muggle clothes? Tom already knew the answer, but it still annoyed him greatly. Muggle clothes could be a bit uncomfortable for someone not used to them. They were a tad too tight in the private area for his taste. He chuckled at the thought of Cassander wriggling uncomfortably in a pair of trousers.

Tom couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen this woman somewhere before. He turned his attention back to Cassander who seemed very nervous about something. This made Tom both curious and nervous because Malfoys were usually ice cold. It was usually nearly impossible to tell what they were thinking and feeling. Tom had come to admire that ability. So to see the head of the family, King Ice himself, standing before him stuttering; it captured his attention to say the least.

“C’mon Cass, tell me. I won’t hex you, I promise. What is it you want to know?” Tom sighed, doing his best to sound terribly bored to relax the blond.

Cassander closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “What are your intentions?”

Tom raised an eyebrow up to his hairline. “Damn, I know I’ve been a little spaced out lately, but I didn’t think my motives would be questioned just yet. Or is it my sanity that they’re not sure about?” he mused.

“Please don’t falter on me Tom,” the elder Malfoy pleaded. Cassander was the only one who had ever called him by his given name. The others had starting calling him ‘ my Lord’ when they found his temper to be rather unpredictable.

“My intentions… Well, I intend to make it so that all magical creatures have the same rights as a witch or wizard in every aspect of the law, and the laws of their kind, or family to be regarded equal to the laws applying to everyone. I also want the laws of their kind to apply the same as any other law. In addition, I want every magical being to have its magic bound when leaving the wizarding world for more than a few hours. Then, upon returning, it will of course have its magic unbound. Also, I magical orphanages set up so that orphaned magical children will have somewhere safe to grow up where they are understood and not seen as a freak. I want children born to non magical parents to be given the choice of whether or not they want to stay with their birthparents or go to live with a wizard family. If they do stay with their muggle family, I want that family to take a magical vow so that they cannot speak about our world except with each other, and other families in the same situation. I want every muggleborn witch or wizard to attend a school where they will learn about our world. They will learn what any other magical child learns from a young age. This will spare them the trauma of suddenly finding themselves in a completely different world.”

Cassander sat and listened quietly; taking it all in. A lot of it made quite a bit of sense to him. He especially agreed with the part protecting magical creatures, him being part veela and all. “Everything you have just said seems very sensible,” he said when Tom was finished. “Not only would it create jobs, but it would make life in general a bit easier. We wouldn’t have to deal with clueless children every autumn.”

Tom nodded and continued. “I don’t want these children clinging to the first person that comes along and offers friendship,” he said, his voice shifting a little. He sounded like his mind was somewhere else; like he was reliving a bad memory. “I want their anchor in our world to be a real and steadfast one, not like mine was for me.”

The last bit of information caught Cassander’s attention. He had a feeling that Tom was talking about Albus Dumbledore. The blond had always known that there was something not quite right about the Hogwarts Headmaster, but he had chosen not to pursue it. He had a few ideas about what had happened, but he knew that his friend wasn’t ready to talk about it, so he remained quiet on the subject. He wasn’t sure he even really wanted to know. Something that made the normally stoic Tom Marvolo Riddle squirm at its mere mentioning was probably something best left alone. However, if Tom ever did need someone to talk to, he would be more than willing to listen.

While in school, Cassander had always been a bit protective of the smaller boy. While Tom could easily hold his own against any student, Dumbledore was an entirely different matter. By his second year, Tom didn’t even have to see the man to know he was there. He could feel the man’s presence watching over him.

A flashing image of a twelve year old Tom entered his mind. He ran into the dorm, his eyes red and puffy from crying. With his robes and hair a complete mess, he flung himself onto the bed and closed the curtains, using a charm to lock them closed. The muffled sobs coming from behind those deep green curtains had kept the other boys up the rest of the night with worry. Cassander would never forget that awful night.

Coming out of his reverie, the blond took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank Merlin you still have your head on straight. We had started to think that you had gone off your rocker.”

Tom looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Who are we?”

“Your inner circle of course. We were starting to get a little worried by your behavior. We all know Dumbledore is a manipulative fuck….”


Tom winced at the mention of the name. His reaction did not go unnoticed. “Sorry, but we were hoping that he hadn’t gotten to you. He’s been trying to turn you into the kind of dark lord he thinks you’re supposed to be. With all these newcomers who claim to follow you doing all these horrible things in your name… They are doing these things without your approval aren’t they?” he asked cautiously.

Tom grinned and shook his head. “Cassander, now that you know I haven’t gone crazy, you should be able to answer that one for yourself. I would never condone those sorts of actions. It’s all hype and hysteria.”

They started walking quietly around the lake licking at their ice cream. “Why you Cass?” Tom asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“Why did they send you to talk to me about all this?”

The blond shrugged. “They all supposed that since I’ve known you longer you would be less likely to hex me for questioning your sanity.”

Tom laughed at this so hard his sides started to hurt and tears welled up in his eyes. “On second though, maybe you are a bit unstable,” Cassander laughed.


”No…” Tom responded, wiping the tears from his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. “No, I just had a funny picture in my head. You with your hair standing straight up and looking like a tree on Christmas morning.”

“Ummm…. Alright then, let’s get you back to Slytherin Castle. I need to get home to my wife and son who is probably going rigid right about now because I promised him a broom.”

“Tell me, how old is Lucius now?” Tom asked curiously.

“He’s three and a half now,” Cassander replied. “He’s a bit young to be getting his first broom, but he just wouldn’t stop whining.”

“Oh really…?” Tom grinned sarcastically.

Cassander sighed deeply. He hated the way Tom could see straight through him. “You know I can’t resist those sad puppy dog eyes of his,” he scowled at his friend who broke out laughing again.

“Cass, you’re barely twenty five and already you’re going soft. I always knew you were really a sap.”

Cassander continued shooting his friend his best Malfoy death glare, until he too burst out laughing. A Dark Lord having a giggling fit was enough to make even the coldest person on earth either join him or run away with his tail between his legs.



A/N: let me know if you like our hubby Tom. review, ask me questions and let me know if it's got any promise.