His eyes swept over the woman standing against the cold stone wall, her thin wrists tied up with chains suspended from the ceiling, her head dropping to a side and her fierce green eyes shut as he approached.

She seemed to have drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep, looking almost lifeless if not for the steady rise and fall of her chest. He stepped even closer, unable to tear his eyes away from her beautiful face, eyes lingering onto the scratches and bruises that had formed on her pale skin.

He didn't realize when his hand reached out to caress her cheek and she woke up with a start, green connecting with stormy grey. She pulled her face away from him, her eyes flashing with anger.

Yet she had always looked most irresistible to him when she burnt in the scorching flames of her intense hatred towards him.

"You can't detain me here for long," she threatened, "you can't get away with everything."

"I am really impressed by how you still threaten me while you're the one in a pitiable condition," he spoke, "I never wanted to do this to you but you don't leave me another choice."

"I hate you!"

He stilled, the words cutting through him. He didn't know why but he felt something break inside him upon hearing her say that. He had never had any other feelings for her except lust yet hearing the hate lacing her tone pierced his stone cold heart.

"Of course you do," he mumbled, voice unbelievably soft but slightly wounded, "that's why you go about spending time with the likes of Silas Avery."

Her features paled realizing that he must have seen the two together. She was just getting Avery to tell her about what he was up to, finding out about Hepzibah Smith through him. But it was clear Tom must have seen her with him and could piece the clues together.

If he found out she was tracking out his followers and using them against him, he would not be so lenient.

Her throat felt raw again as the terrifying flashes of the worst night she had ever borne sparked again in her memory.

However, Tom saw what she was thinking and froze, recalling that night from a faint snippet of memory and it was then he realized that it must have happened and he must have forgotten about it. There was no other way she could have the exact same remembrance.

But before the flash of that memory, he had seen something else and that was enough to distract him momentarily.

"I see you've been going about consorting with my own followers," he stated, fist clenched to suppress the rage he felt at her.

She knew there was no use in hiding it from him anymore, it would only enrage him further so she thought of catching him by shock instead, "what followers? Surely you meant to say Death Eaters, didn't you?"

He couldn't fathom how she knew it but chose to mask it quickly, "are you a Legilimens too, love? Or... Are you from the future?"

He felt a faint recognition spark in her marble green eyes, a very faint flicker that made him think as if she had known he was going to say that. How that could be possible was still a mystery to him.

Everything about her was a mystery to him.

"Think what you like, I don't give a damn," she seethed.

His jaw clenched but he resisted against the urge, speaking in a forcefully calm tone, "what's going on between you and Avery?"

"Nothing."

"I refuse to believe you."

She snapped back, "I refuse to be held accountable to you."

"Sadly, you don't have a choice," he thundered but she didn't even flinch, "you're telling me what's going on in between you and Avery or else I'll use other means to find out."

"What other means? Are you going to read my mind?" Her voice was challenging.

His hand closed on to her jaw tightly, not letting her pull away as his hold tightened, causing red marks of his fingerprints to dent her skin, "I will force it out of you and you won't like it one bit."

"Go to hell," she seethed as he let go of her at last, the back of her head hitting the stone wall.

"To go to hell one has to die first," he replied, a calm taking over him, "and I am never going to die."

"I will kill you and prove you wrong," she threatened again, "just you wait and see."

A smile broke out on his face, hand reaching out to cup her cheek gently, "how fascinating..."

She tried to pull apart but he stepped closer, both hands clasping her face. Grey eyes melted into her furious green as his thumb traced the curve of her lips.

"Tell me, Eleanor, what have I done that has made you hate me so much?"

"You are a murderer," her reply was immediate, "you kill with no conscience. You killed your fiancé even though she had done nothing wrong to you, you killed Hepzibah Smith in front of me and if you don't stop now, you're going to kill many more. Is that not enough reason to hate you?"

He shook his head slightly, eyes meeting her gaze again, "I feel like I have wounded you personally though I can't seem to recall it. I haven't killed anyone who was very important to you, have I?"

"Not yet..."

Surprise turned into confusion but he leaned closer, brushing his lips upon hers for a brief instant, pulling apart before she could retaliate, "you really are from the future, aren't you?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"It matters a lot to me. Tell me, love, what happens in the future?"

She sealed her lips shut, turning away from him but he didn't let go of her.

"Do I become immortal? Do I gain enough power to have the whole wizarding world under my control?"

She gave no reply, trying to struggle out of his grip while his fingers trailed down to her neck, the cuts and scratches healing one by one.

"Tell me, Eleanor, what happens?"

"You will see for yourself," she replied vaguely, refusing to answer any further questions.

"Not if you succeed in killing me," he breathed, healing the cuts on her arms, then unchained her wrists at last, "though it feels as if you have killed me already a hundred times and it is somehow repeating over and over again."

She fell forward, unable to support herself due to the intense pain shooting up in her frozen veins. He caught her gently, lifting her up in his arms as he looked down at her; she was trying her best not to let the tears escape her large green eyes.

Seeing her in pain somehow always made him falter and yet he couldn't help that the circumstances always led him to be the reason to her pain.

He carried her out of the dungeons, ascending the stairs that led to the livable areas of the Manor. He spotted Roxanne Malfoy in a corridor but she quickly went inside a room, it was evident that the woman did not want to face him.

However, he knew where he had to take Eleanor as he had already ordered a room to be arranged for her. Her eyes had closed from exhaustion, a stray tear streaking down her cheek.

There are times I hate myself too, he thought as he laid her down on the soft mattress carefully, pulling up the blanket over her. I hate myself for being a monster to you but I just can't help it. I can't help it when you challenge me and thwart me and push me to the limits of jealousy and anger. You truly are something exceptional, Eleanor Troy, and that must be because you are from the future.

His hand gently caressed her face again as he whispered, "I'll be back soon, love. Don't you dare try to run away while I'm gone."

***