Note: I shamelessly used a line from the song I listened to on repeat as I wrote this ending. The song is 'The Other Side' by Ruelle and the line is in italics. This song has become the theme for this story and several of my others if not all my HP fics and the impossible ships I love to write. It may just be my muses personal theme song at this point.

A huge thanks to Ruelle for sharing her gift with us in the form of song so that I could even have it to pull on!

He was already moving before the last of her name left his lips. Summoning his magic around him in a display he never planned to demonstrate in front of other people, Tom focused and apparated. The force of his spell was a loud crack that bounced painfully off the stone walls of the tower as he appeared at her side in midair. Wrapping his arms around her even as she cried out in shock, Tom pushed his body and hers into black mist, defying gravity as he pulled his witch off of her path towards death and back up into the sky with a cry of his own.

Leaving behind the horrified crowd below them and the castle grounds, Tom kept his arms tightly around Hermione as he flew over the forest until he reached a hill that overlooked the entire area. His mind a whirl of chaos once again, his landing was less than smooth and they stumbled a few steps, his arms tightening around her to keep her on her feet as he fell to his knees in front of her.

"What the fuck Hermione…why?"

He knew his voice was loud in the silent night but he couldn't find that calm center he was used to operating from. Pushing to his feet in a fit of rage, he grabbed her arms and shook her none too gently with a growl.

"What could possibly make you not only contemplate that but actually go through with it? Do you have any idea what a waste that would have been? You stupid, empty-headed, over emotional witch!"

Her tiny hands came up as she jerked out of his grip, her magic flaring to shove him back a few steps away from her. Her face twisted with agony and anger and the look caused his heart to crack a little more in his chest.

"What would have possibly been wasted Riddle? I'm not worth anything…you proved that to me when you walked away like I was just another pointless piece of trash to be ignored. I told you years ago…everything that happens in a person's life shapes them, has consequences! What did you think was going to happen when you took my heart and soul from me and then walked away? I am not made of stone you asshole!"

It was the most emotion he had seen cross her face since he started trying to distance himself and the physical reaction her anger elicited was entirely inappropriate and yet felt so right. He could feel her rage and her pain radiating against his magic as her own rushed up to lash out in her defense.

"You would have died…"

He knew his confusion bled through his words but the chaos that was his insides wouldn't let him hide anything in that moment.

"That was the point!"

"I don't understand how I could matter so much to you that you would throw away your entire future in one fell swoop. You were always better than me…than us…"

Her scornful laugh sent pain through his chest but he kept on anyway.

"I knew the moment you said those fucking words that I would end up hating you because that concept is just ludicrous to me. Love is used to manipulate, to steer someone the way you want them to go…my mother taught me that…you know that!"

Turning in frustration, Tom let his magic lash out and score the rocks around them with deep grooves as he tried to fight off that bottomless pit of rage that was washing up and over him. Her scoff only rubbed against his anger like sandpaper and he spun around with a sneer on his face to be met by her own glare of aggravation.

"That is a pathetic crutch you have there…Riddle."

"TOM!"

The derision in her expression as she raised an eyebrow caused him to pause. She had not looked at him like that since the potion's accident and he didn't know how to take it anymore.

"We chose what we believe, what lessons we take from our lives. No one forces you to make choices like that. Yes…your mother was fucking insane and she did awful things to get what she wanted from your father. That isn't love you ignorant ass…that is obsession, greed, selfishness…not love."

She took a step towards him and for the first time in his life he was afraid. His feet took a step back before he had a chance to tell his brain to hold his ground. Not caring that it seemed like he was retreating, Hermione kept coming until his back hit one of the rocks he had just attacked and he stumbled to a halt. Her hand rose towards his face and he knew he flinched when her eyes turned from angry to sad.

Her hand dropped back to her side as she looked away from him and up to the stars. A shiver went over him as her irises filled with the starlight and the warmth drained from her gaze again. He could imagine that is what the stars felt like…a cold fire burning deep in their center.

"You asked me why once before when I saved you from the potion accident in third year. I gave you a generic answer then, the only one I was willing to admit."

Her eyes dropped back to him and the depth of her pain hidden so far behind the ice pierced him deep in his core.

"I knew then that you were special. I had never met anyone like you…so much like me. Every day I fought you and I stood my ground against you and your lot…and I hated it. Not because I had to defend myself against bullies once more but because I had to fight against someone who I knew should have been on my side. We were two sides of the same coin you and I. And yet you treated me like I was a worth less than nothing while you walked around like you were made of the finest spun goblin silver."

Turning her back to him she walked to the edge of the hill and looked down. His heart stuttered to a stop before picking up a hard rhythm of fear. Moving so that he was within touching distance, he held his ground and watched her with his single minded focus as she seemed to contemplate the drop once more.

"I only had a split second to decide between you or myself when I heard that hiss and it really wasn't a decision at all. It was a simple deduction on my part that was made by the small piece of me that longed for you to see me the way I saw you…as an equal, someone I could lean on and care about and protect from everyone else."

Her face turned towards him, the agony back in her eyes as her tears leaked past her lashes and fell like silent accusations down her face.

"I couldn't imagine…didn't want to know the other side of a world without you so I pushed you out of the way and could only hope if I didn't survive that you would go on with your life with a softer heart towards the next me you met."

Tom felt his something inside him shift in an odd way as the truth of her words shone so brightly in her eyes. He had to physically restrain himself from reaching for her as she continued to talk.

"I didn't mean to fall in love with you Riddle but that kind of thing is not exactly something you can control. Once things changed and you were there by me instead of against me…I think it was inevitable. How could I know you and not love you? And I thought if I gave it time, if I showed you that what your mother called love was not truly love that maybe…one day…you could love me too. I would have waited till the end of my days for that…for you."

That pain intensified in his chest at the same time that the rolling warmth spread through his limbs, raising the hairs on his arms and legs and the back of his neck and making his head feel light.

"The only selfish thing I did was tell you when I should have kept my mouth shut. But I wanted you…no…I needed you to know that you meant that much to me and in that moment I didn't give it time to find the words to express it in a way you wouldn't freak out over. I was high on pleasure and the bliss of being in your arms and I left my brain somewhere between 'oh gods yes' and 'please don't stop'. And apologizing for that seems asinine so I won't."

Her repeated words from that day set his blood on fire and he knew by her stuttered breath that his eyes turned dark with desire. Keeping a tight leash on that animal instinct, he stepped closer to her and stared down into her upturned eyes.

"What does love feel like then Hermione…if not what my mother described?"

Her breath panted across his face as she swallowed around what he guessed was a dry throat. He knew his close proximity always had that effect on her physically and he used it shameless in this moment to keep her mind on him and away from that cliff. He couldn't have explained it to anyone or himself but the very thought of her falling through the air like that again sent his insides into a state of panic.

"It's many things Ridd…"

He knew his look was reprimanding even as he lifted his hand to grip her neck gently in his hand. He felt her pulse beating like a trapped butterfly under her skin and could feel satisfaction roll through him knowing she was not as cut off as she tried to portray between her bouts of emotion.

"…Tom. It's a warmth that keeps you in the coldest of times. It's joy and satisfaction at having someone to share your triumphant with and security and comfort at having that same someone stand by your side when the world is falling apart around you. It's pain and agony when they are angry or silent, when they storm away or refuse to let you help them and sheer pleasure when you are one with each other and on the same page."

"Love is all encompassing. It can build the strongest foundation to stand on and if not tended correctly, it can break a person so deeply that life is not worth seeking anymore. It can be good and it can be bad but it is priceless and uncompromising and worth every single second you are able to have it. Sometimes it is fleeting, like with young people who think they have found the one only to drift apart. Other times it is forever, the very air you breathe, the spark that keeps your soul powered."

Rubbing his thumb back and forth over her pulse, Tom assessed all of the many damnable emotions that had plagued him the past two years and with her falling from the tower burnt into his mind, it was like finally solving an arithmacy problem that had been just out of reach of his understanding.

He could feel his eyes widen as he whispered 'fuck' in surprise. Looking back and forth between her eyes as he let his newest realization sink in, Tom couldn't help the wonder that took over his face.

"Tom? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Her worry flooded her eyes as she lifted her hands to touch his face. He had no idea what she had interpreted from his face but he was sure she had misread. Of course since he normally hid all but the most surface feelings…he really wasn't surprised. Closing his eyes at the remembered softness and warmth of her hands, he leaned his face more fully into her hold as he let a self-deprecating chuckle pass his lips.

"Salazar Hermione…I'm so fucking sorry."

He felt her start and opening his eyes he made sure she could see the truth of his words.

"I used my mother's sins and mistakes as an excuse to keep everyone including you at arm's length. In doing so, I have wasted the past two years that I could have had drowning in your warmth, fighting a ghost. For someone so supposedly brilliant…I'm an idiot aren't I?"

For the first time in two years he felt a real smile pull at his lips and he watched more tears form in her eyes and fall as she looked at him.

"I don't understand."

He let the laugh that statement caused bubble out as he tossed his head back. For the first time in his eighteen years he was free to laugh, to feel, to believe and he let that wash over him with no resistance.

"I am positive I will never hear those words out of your mouth ever again so I am going to make a pensive memory of this moment to look back on years from now Hermione."

Her brows drew down in annoyance even as her lips tilted slightly in a smile.

"Fuck witch…I love you. Why didn't you hit me over the head until I realized that sooner rather than letting me push you away like the idiot that it appears I am?"

Her eyes rounded in shock as her breath seemed to stall in her chest. He cupped her face this time as he brushed the tears that continued to flow down her face.

"You are supposed to say something witty or use that sharp tongue to flay me alive for my denseness or at the very least tell me you love me but hate me and will never forgive me until I make you or something equally sappy and ridiculous."

Her frozen expression caused a tiny wave of fear to skitter down his spine. Sliding his hands into her hair, he tilted her head and took her mouth with a desperation of a man who knew he was about to lose his very reason for existence. She had to know! She couldn't…she just…she had to forgive him…right?

At first it was like kissing a warm, life like statue. As he pressed his lips to hers, brushed them back and forth to try to coax her into a response, she simply stood there. Just as he whimpered and feared he had truly lost her, she gave a muted sob against his lips and fell into him. Her hands gripped the front of his robes as she pushed up on her toes and lined the length of her body against his. He dropped his hands to wrap around her back, pulling her tight against him as he lost himself in her kiss and suddenly remember just what forever tasted like.

With just as much force she yanked away from him, the cry of frustration and anger rippling through the air and straight into his soul. Her hand lifted and he knew she was going to strike him but at the last second he watched that rage turn on its owner and she crumpled to the ground in a heap. The sobs that tore from her throat felt like knives inside his chest as he followed her down.

She fought against his hold for only a moment before giving in to his strength and letting him gather her into his arms and lap even as her pain fell between them with the sounds of a wounded and dying animal. She had never been so out of control in all the time he had known her and he hated himself for being the cause of it. If it had been anyone else that had caused this in her, he would have handed them their heart, still dripping in blood straight from their chest.

He couldn't actually hand her his heart physically like she deserved in this moment of darkness but he could hand it to her in a different way. Steeling himself for the rejection he believed he deserved and hoping his little lion would once again prove him wrong, he stopped trying to be perfect in every little thing and laid himself open.

"I know I hurt you and you did nothing to deserve it. You were always light and warmth, laughter and relief. I let my own disease infect you…infect us and what we had. I tainted it and I am sorrier than I know how to express for that. There are not enough words in any language with which to ask for your forgiveness or tell you how sorry I am."

He rubbed soothing circles along her back and he held her to him like the precious gift that she was.

"And it's not fair to ask this of you but you have to stop crying because I can't handle it. I know that is selfish and such a fucking Riddle thing to say but it's the truth and I'm not above begging you. Please…please stop crying. Please Hermione…hate me, scream and rage at me, tell me that you will never forgive me or let me inside your paradise again but I'm fucking begging you…please stop crying."

Her sob came out as half a laugh as she shook her head against his chest.

"You are such a prick Tom Riddle."

Pulling back just enough to lift her head, her eyes red and puffy from her tears, her face streaked with running kohl from her eyes, she took in his face before hers softened.

"You deserve all of that and more. It has been so cold…so utterly lonely without you and you left me that way. I should get up right now and walk off that cliff and finish what I intended from the tower and let you spend the rest of your life knowing you had love in your hands and let it go."

Her sigh was so forlorn that he feared that was exactly what she might end up doing. His hold tightened on her even as he shook his head in denial.

"But…I won't do that. Because no matter how much of an idiot you were…or are…you are my idiot and I love you. I knew loving you might come with a lifetime of yearning and pain and still I loved you. I just never expected to have to watch you with someone else instead of being with me. You broke a piece of me that I couldn't seem to get back or see past and suddenly nothing seemed worth trying for or caring about."

Her eyes turned to hard slits as she reached up to grip his hair in a painful tug.

"Don't ever do that to me again Tom or I will show you what happens when I let anger win out over sorrow."

Letting the pain wash over him and rinse him clean, he closed his eyes and nodded his head as best he could in her grip, the pain radiating along his scalp as it pulled his hair even more. She released him then and leaned her head against his chest, her breath still shuttering out as she tried to contain her sorrow and pain.

"About Drucila…"

"Don't! I don't care what the reason or circumstances are or were….not yet at least. I can't take that tonight. Just shut up and hold me. The rest of the world can go fuck itself for all I care."

His chest tightened in pain even as it lightened in relief. Tightening his hold on her again, he laid his head on top of hers and gently rocked her as the winter wind swirled around them and his witch slowly found her way back from the edge of oblivion. Casting a warming charm over them, he smiled as she stopped shivering and seemed to sink into him even more. He had a lot to make up for but he could start easy and keep her safe and warm…it was the least he could do for all the things she had given him. No matter what…she would never be alone or cold again.