Memories of Love
By Misha

Disclaimer- Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling and is not mine, however much I might wish differently. However, I am not making any money off of this, so please do not sue me!

Author's Notes- This is just a short, bitter McGonagall/Voldemort piece. I know that it's a creepy pairing, but I couldn't resist. It's strange and rather angsty. Well, that's all, enjoy!

Pairing- Tom Riddle/Minerva McGonagall.

Summery- More than fifty years had passed, yet she still could not rid herself of the memories of a love that had once been so beautiful.

Spoilers- All four books, I guess, especially "Chamber of Secrets".

Rating- PG

Minerva sat alone in her quarters and couldn't help but remember the broken promises of yesteryear. In a moment of bitterness, she dragged out old pictures of her youth.

She looked at the people and images and shook her head at the foolishness of her youth.

Especially when she looked at the picture of a young boy and girl, so much in love. Completely unrecognizable as the people they grew up to be.

How different things had been then.

This wasn't the first time she had been haunted by the memories. No they were with her everyday.

"The world will be ours, Minnie. Yours and mine. I promise you that."

She could still hear the youthful male voice, husky with passion whispering those words into her hair as he held her tight.

She remembered how kind and gentle he had been. How much she had loved him.

She flipped through the images, wondering what her students would think if they could see them.

She doubted that they would recognize their stiff, stuffy professor as the young, carefree girl in those pictures.

She had changed so much. And mostly because of him. Because of the boy she had loved so much.

She looked at his picture and shook her head.

It still amazed her that he could change so much.

She smiled sadly.

They had gone to school together. He had been a Slytherin and she a Gryffindor, but back then, it hadn't mattered as much. There wasn't the division between the two houses that there was now.

Oh, there had been rivalry, of course, but not the outright hatred that existed now. Somehow they had been able to be together.

They had done everything together. They had even been Head Boy and Head Girl in their final year.

Everyone thought that they would always be together. She had thought that.

She had loved him so much. And even now, she didn't doubt that he had loved her back then.

She often searched her memories to try and remember when they fell apart. When he had become the man he was today.

But she couldn't pinpoint the exact moment. It had just happened gradually.

He had grown moodier and more secretive. He often lost his temper with her. And she began to feel distant from him as he became less and less the boy she had fallen in love with.

Still, she hadn't admitted it, even to herself. Nor had he. For a while, they clung to what they had.

But it couldn't last.

When he decided to leave England, she chose to stay and let him go. Maybe in her heart she had known that he was already gone.

Still she missed him every day for the next years. She threw herself into her work, but made no attempts at a personal life.

She had loved once and knew that she would never love again. However, she also knew that there was no turning back.

When mentions of a Lord Voldemort began popping up over a decade later, she knew. She had known instantly who he was.

"Lord Voldemort", it was a name he had begun to use in school, with select groups of people.

Still, a part of her couldn't believe that her Tommy could become this dark figure who was reeking havoc on the world.

But soon, she knew for sure.

That Tom Riddle had become Lord Voldemort. The name didn't cause her fear like it did so many others, but she still didn't say it.

She had her own reasons for never speaking his name.

As long as she didn't say it, she didn't have to acknowledge it. But, at the same time, she did.

She fought him. She joined the resistance and fought against him.

Because she had to. Because this evil creature wasn't the boy whom she had loved. Because her Tommy was gone.

When he was defeated that night in Godric's Hollow, she was both saddened and relieved. Relieved that the monster was gone and that they days of Hell were over, but she also mourned for the boy that the monster had once been.

Because she knew that before their had been a Lord Voldemort there had been a young man named Tom Riddle.

In the years after his defeat, se tried not to think about him often.

But sometimes she couldn't help it. Sometimes, she just sat there for hours, wondering what had gone wrong.

When had they fallen apart? They had been so much in love and had, had so many plans for the future.

It just wasn't fair. Those thoughts were with her four almost fourteen years.

The pain grew when she learn that he had been behind the Chamber of Secrets years ago.

She had never blamed Hagrid, but at the same time she had never even suspected that it could be Tom.

She realized now that she should have seen it, but love is blind.

Still, she tried not to dwell on those thoughts.

Until the day that she learnt that he had risen again.

The very idea terrified her.

When he was gone, she was free to wonder, to think about her Tommy and forget what he had become.

But now that was impossible. He was no longer a distant shadow in her mind and heart.

Once more he was real threat and ever-present darkness.

She fought against him again, trying not to think him of who he was. Because if she ever thought of him as Tom, then she wouldn't be able to do it.

During the second war, she did not go near her photo albums.

She banished all the memories of Tom from her mind for a time. It was the only way she could cope.

Then, suddenly it was all over.

Once again Harry Potter emerged from battle victorious.

Only, this time it was forever. Voldemort had been destroyed once and for all.

And with him, whatever was left of the boy named Tom Riddle.

It was strange, but when the news came, she felt a pang of sadness along with the joy and relief.

He was truly gone.

But she still wasn't able to move on. She knew that in her life, she'd only ever have one love.

It may have ended badly, she may have end up hating him the way she once loved him, but Tom Riddle was still the only one for her.

She had given her heart away at sixteen and though it was not meant to be, it had still been very, very real.

And that was why, she still sat alone in her room at night pouring over the pictures, losing herself in the memories.

Because no matter how it had ended, a part of her would always be that girl who had been so much in love.

The End