Rain tapped softly at the windows. Elias and Orion sat side by side on the soft carpet, eyes wide with curiosity. You sat on the couch, curled up with a blanket over your legs and one hand resting on your growing belly.

"He was the most feared wizard in the world," you said. "No one dared speak his name. He could command entire armies without lifting a wand. People believed he couldn’t be stopped."

"Did you fight him, Mummy?" Elias asked.

"I did," you said with a nod. "He was cold. Always ten steps ahead of everyone else. He had this way of looking at you—like he already knew how you’d lose."

"Did you win?" Orion whispered.

"Eventually," you said, smiling faintly. "But not with spells or curses. I won showing him something he’d never expected. Something he didn’t believe existed."

The door creaked, and Tom stepped into the room, removing his coat. His presence still carried that quiet intensity—an echo of the man he once was. But now his eyes found yours first, and softened the moment they did.

"Still telling bedtime stories about your husband, I see?" Tom said dryly, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

Elias leapt to his feet. "Daddy, Mummy said you were the scariest wizard in the whole world!"

"She wasn’t wrong," Tom replied, crouching beside them. His voice lowered just enough to sound dangerous—on purpose.

"Did you really have a snake?" Orion asked, in awe.

Tom tilted his head. "I had many. But one... was very special."

"Why did you stop being evil?" Elias asked, more seriously.

There was a pause. Tom’s gaze lingered on both of them, then moved to you.

"Because someone saw what was left in me when everyone else had given up," he said softly. "She didn’t flinch. She challenged me. She made me furious—until she made me feel something I hadn’t in years."

"Love?" Orion asked.

Tom nodded. "Yes. And then came the two of you." He reached out and rested a hand gently on Elias’s shoulder, the other on Orion’s. "You changed everything. Now… I’d do anything to keep you safe."

"You’re not scary anymore," Elias said with a grin.

Tom gave a quiet chuckle. "I wouldn’t be so sure. But now the only monsters I fight are the ones under your beds."

"And Mummy still wins the duels," you added with a smirk.

Tom looked at you, amused. "She cheats."

"You let me win," you said sweetly.

"Always," he murmured.

There was no denying who he had been. But there was also no denying who he had become.