Hogwarts: a school of Witchcraft and Love (Tom Marvolo Riddle x F!reader)

Chapter 0-06

You didn't mind the slow rocking motion of the Hogwarts Express. Only the way the whole carriage sometimes rattled when you went over a rough patch of tracks startled you. But, when one boarded a train, unexpected starts and stops or sudden accelerations were part of the pleasant (or unpleasant depening on the eye of the beholder) experience. Admittedly, there were a few times where you got nearly knocked into the wall. You would have if your feet didn't stop you from losing balance.

The time for a bathroom break arrived, and you were awkwardly walking down the impossibly small hallway, on your own, having just finished your business. You came to find out that there was a certain amount of practice involved in getting from place to place. There wasn't enough room to squeeze by another person, so if a student appeared at the other end of the hallway coming towards you, one person pretty much had to back up and let the other person go by. You were glad that you didn't have to do it a lot because, well, strangers.

Sadly for you, you weren't fortunate enough to make your way back to your carriage without bumping into someone. And when you said bumping, you meant literal bumping. Bumping, as in not looking where you were going and then feeling your forehead collide with something hard.

Definitely not an inanimate object, because inanimate objects didn't yelp. Whoever the unfortunate soul was cascaded ungracefully to the floor, and as you peeked down with frantic eyes, the first thing that caught your gaze was hair so blond it almost appeared white, splayed over a face. It was vividly bright against the dullness of the train's browns and blues, and after some moments of prolonged staring, your eyes widened further when realization struck you. It was the boy you'd seen at King's Cross!

You snapped out of your train of thoughts (pun intended) and apologized. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking!" You knelt down by the victim of your uncarelessness, only to feel yourself suddenly lose steadiness. Your feet couldn't save you this time and so you fell flat on your bum.

"Ow!" You let out a short gasp and rubbed the hurting spot on your lower back, and glared at the person who had pushed you over.

"Git! Look where you're going!" He hissed and mimicked your action.

"I said I'm sorry!"

"And I say I don't care!"

You were struck dumb by his rudeness, but a look of stubborn defiance still lingered on your reddening face. You had apologized, what else could you do? There was no need to make you feel even worse about it! It wasn't like you did it on purpose!

Only five seconds into your encounter and he already left a bad taste in your mouth. He sounded snobby and certainly behaved like it, rising to his original height and dusting his perfectly dressed body off, not bothering helping you up.

When he happened to spare a grumpy glance at the klutz who caused the accident, his thick, light eyebrows pulled apart from what was an almost-monobrow. Something in him changed and the silver eyes that stared down at you suddenly shone with something you couldn't identify.

"Oh-it's no big deal at all." To your surprise, he stuck out his hand for you to take. You gave it a dirty look, wondering what made him change his demeanor so abruptly.

After a moment of silent deliberation, you came to the conclusion that the floor wasn't a very comfortable place to sit for longer periods of time, and so your fingers filled the empty gaps between his as he helped you stand upright but kept your fingers intertwined.

"Are you okay?" He queried.

"Good." You replied cuttingly. Good wasn't an answer to the question you were asked and even if it was, your response was spoken too quickly to convince the boy you were fine. You weren't. Your pride was bruised. In shambles. You were overexaggerating, but you didn't care.