ethereal | tom riddle.

the dance

a/n: I hate this chapter, i beg you to just not read this one I just can't like just genuinely so seriously skip it PLEASE

People whispered things to their friends as they walked down the stairs, stopping to stare. Their group had arrived late but mostly on purpose so the girls felt like stopping and staring. Rosier had come with his girlfriend, but none of the others had wanted to get a date. They all took turns ball dancing with Eliza, even Rosier ditching his girlfriend (who was busy flirting with another guy), to dance with her.

The boys danced with multiple girls, doing a little more than just that with multiple throughout the night.

Tom took his turn dancing with Eliza too and they slow danced to the music. Her arms were on his shoulders, him pushing her against him with his hands on her waist. The others hadn't dared going to close to Eliza, keeping their hands higher in her waist than they did with the other girls.

Tom, however, had no one to be scared of, his hands doing whatever they wanted with her and holding her however close he wanted. He spun her around, leading the dance, the song changing.

The ball ended by midnight, but the after-party in Theo's dorm begun immediately after. As they walked down to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons, Orion asked Rosier where his girlfriend was.

"Fucking some other guy. Ablerton, I think." He shrugged, unbothered as the rest of them laughed.

They all started the after party by lighting their cigars, Eliza simply sitting on the floor waiting for them to join her. They removed their coats, unbuttoning their shirts a little more because of the heat. Theo just removed his altogether, being the first to sit down on the floor with his bare back against the wall.

The rest of them sat down one by one, Zabini pouring the drinks sliding them across the floor to everyone. "Eliza?" He asked, preparing to pour her a glass. She nodded, kicking off her heels. Zabini looked at Tom, who also nodded, before giving her a glass.

They weren't the types to play the games of truth or dare or spin the bottle, thinking it very boring since Eliza was the only girl of their group which meant that more boys would up kissing each other than they wanted to, and even touching Eliza would result in instantaneous death. But, the card games didn't seem as fun in that moment.

Few too many bottles in, they span an empty bottle. It landed on Eliza and Abraxas. Eliza giggled, "I dare you to kiss Theodore."

Abraxas didn't think much of it, too drunk to question or refuse the dare. He had been lying down on the floor, his shirt almost entirely off as he got up. Theodore was beside him, leaning against the wall. "Yeah?" Abraxas confirmed, his voice hoarse, and Theodore nodded in response. Abraxas held Theodore's face and kissed him hard. Theodore's head against the wall, Abraxas didn't stop kissing him and Theodore returned the kisses eagerly.

Orion narrowed his eyes at them, blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't just imagining that. "Can you stop?" Rosier requested, squinting at them as he looked between the two. "I'm not in the mood to see two boys have sex. Maybe later."

Abraxas pulled away, his cheeks flush. Eliza frowned as she thought of something, but the fell back into Tom's lap, and looked up at him. He looked annoyed which made her feel bad because she thought she was being irritating. She sat up clumsily leaning her head against the panel between the legs of the bed. "Pour me another." She said to Zabini.

"I think you've had a little too much." Zabini responded, not pouring her another which made her glare at him.

"I don't think you like girls either because you poured these boys way more drinks than me." Eliza frowned at him, her vision blurry.

After a quick glance at Tom, Zabini gave her water, mixing in something from a tiny vial in her glass, making her think that it was another drink. She gulped it down, shocked by the sudden bitterness.

Her vision blurred once more, before clearing up. It was that day that they remembered why she didn't usually drink a lot. Her head cleared up a bit, the queasy feeling in her stomach settling down slightly as a result of the contents of the vial. Zabini usually poured that syrup into the tea that Eliza would make for them to help their hangovers.

It did work too for when Eliza drank too much, turned out. Tom tied her hair black with her ribbon, steadying her as she tipped forward.

She fell asleep almost seconds after, tiredness overcoming her in waves. She was knocked-out asleep in Tom's lap immediately. The rest of them decided to call it a night as well, retiring back to their own rooms- most of them at least.

*
a/n: i just can't imagine Tom as a teenager doing normal teenager things like going to a ball and ball dancing??