Perfidy | Tom Riddle |

39.

"Lyra," Alexander stopped twisting her towards him with the secure grip she had on him, " I'm sorry I didn't know the two of you were..."

"We absolutely are not." she voluntarily cut off his sentence, "I'm not with him," she sighed contentedly dropping her head, "I'm with Riddle."

"As in Tom Riddle?"

She shook her head.

"Tom Riddle the Slytherin prefect?"

Once more she shook her head.

"Tom Rid-"

"Oh my god, how many Tom Riddles do you know of in Hogwarts."

"Sorry," he said with a faint smile, "Mhm. Not surprised though Alastor and I bet you'd either kill each other or date each other."

Lyra pushed him and let out an embarrassed laugh, "What is it with my friends and betting on me."

"From the looks of it, I suppose things aren't going well on your end either?" Alexander flung his arm over her shoulder and the pair continued to walk.

"He's a moron. We're fighting at the moment." she looked up to him and turned away, "Do you and Mul- Alastor talk about your feelings often?"

"Always, it helps us understand one another and usually prevents us from getting in any arguments. Initially, it felt like he pulled away, I saw how uncomfortable it made him so I backed off. But after we fought once he changed his odd ways. In private I feel like he treats me as if I'm the center of his world. I love him and acknowledge his fear of our relationship possibly being exposed one day but around other people, it's like he's a different person."

"But it comes to a point where it just gets tremendously hard and makes you feel like you're dating two different people?"

"Yes! Finally, someone who understands. I feel like I'm going mental trying to figure out which one is the real Alastor. Riddles the same way? "

"That man is... bipolar I swear," she revealed, swaying her head.

"Looks like we, unfortunately, fell for the odd ones." Alexander laughed. The two went to the gift shop where Lyra had to pick up Tom's gift. The store owner revealed the squeaky-clean watch with the custom image she asked to engrave and marked the second engraving on the inside.

"Merlin that's nice." Alexander let out while Lyra paid and waited to get it gift wrapped, "Any meaning behind the engravings?"

"The image is a part of a second gift I had planned for him, and the one on the inside is something significant between us. Ugh, maybe this is too cheesy? I should've gotten him something else." she justly complained looking around the shop for something else.

"I think it's perfect, and there's a meaning behind it which makes it more valuable to him. Never pegged you as a romantic type of person."

"Here you go wrapped in green and silver as you asked." the shop owner delivered her a small black bag with a green ribbon wrapped around the top. "Thank you, sir."

"How Slytherin of you." Alexander chuckled when they walked out. She twinkled and levelled her eyes, "I think if I handed him a red-wrapped gift his heart would stop."

The journey back to Hogwarts was short and quick, it felt nerve-wracking to come back knowing that there was a likely possibility Nott told Tom about what he saw in the alleyway. If Tom was to find out she possessed yet another male friend, he might just put them and her in the infirmary himself.

"I need to drop this off at my dorm, do you feel comfortable coming with me to the common room? Or would you prefer I meet you at the great hall?"

"We're almost there anyway, it's fine we'll be in and out quickly."