After All These Years

Chapter 45

*TOM RIDDLE POV*

I sat with (Y/N) during lunch.

While she ate, I continued to write in my notebook.

I placed myself a bit far from (Y/N) as I wrote, a bit paranoid that she would try and peak at it again.

Continuously, I would discreetly glance back at (Y/N) while she would gaze around the room as she ate.

This continued until I began to notice her seeming quite bored and uninterested with everything, and so I decided to ask her a question I've been meaning to ask her for a while.

"Are you leaving for winter break?"

-I asked her, closing my book and positioning myself to face her as I did so.

She quickly turned her head towards me but took a few seconds to anwer.

"Um- no, my parents are away so I'd have to stay here."

Does she want to stay here? Or would she rather be at home, away from this whole mess. I suppose if I were her, having been through what she had to go through, I'd want to go home, I'd want to go far away from this.

"Hm, so you say you're not attending the Yule Ball as well?"

She watched me with a confused, odd face as she thought of an answer for the question.

"I'm not too sure yet, if I do go, I'm certainly not dancing."

-She finally answered, sort of laughing at herself as she quickly looked away though, this made me more confused.

"Why?"

-I demanded to know as anger started to come out along with my confusion.

" I- um I don't really know how."

-She laughed again as she looked back up at me, her face slightly red with embarrassment.

This doesn't make much sense, she said earlier that she knew how to dance, why is she now saying that she doesn't know?

"Wait- though you said you already knew how to dance today, Professor Mcgonagall could have taught you if you only stayed a while longer."

" I don't know Tom, I just wanted to get some sleep, and the ball isn't really my thing. I've never gone with someone as a date, it's always just been with Bellatrix for fun."

I could tell that she was getting more and more uncomfortable with keeping eye contact but I still continued to watch her, still a bit annoyed that she made us leave early when she could have just stayed to learn the dance.

"Ok."

-I responded, leaving it at that as she did have some valid reasons but some much not good enough.

And to my response, she then rolled her eyes and turned her head the other way.