𝕲𝖔𝖊𝖙𝖎𝖈[𝕬 𝕿𝖔𝖒 𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊 𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞]

The black lake.

Leo couldn't concentrate on the paper that was in front of her. No matter how many times she tried to read the question, the words didn't make any sense in her head. She had never been so distracted before.

She was well aware of the reason behind her distraction. The heir of Slytherin, who was peacefully writing away in his answer paper. She unwillingly glanced up from her paper as her eyes settled on him.

She scrunched up her nose in annoyance. Since when did she care about someone so much? It was annoying how she stared at him every few minutes and he had been ignoring her for the past week. She assumed that he was simply busy preparing for his exams and she was the one who started ignoring him in the first place. But the thought felt heavy on her heart.

It was a game now. A game of cat and mouse. A game where none of them were ready to step down and talk first.

Leo huffed loudly. Loud enough for the professor in duty to throw a glare at her. Leo shrunk back into her seat and forced herself to just answer the damn question. It was her O.W.Ls for Merlin's sake! She had promised Riddle that she would actually try and bring good grades in the exam.

Her fingers started pulling her own hair in order to keep her mind focused solely on the exam. Time went slower as always. But Leo was writing. One by one the students started submitting their papers.

Soon, there were only two students left. One being Leo and the other was obvious enough. Tom was reading through his answers trying to find the smallest of the errors. Leo was still writing. The shuffling of benches caught her attention. Tom was submitting his paper.

Her eyes refused to leave his figure. Without acknowledging her existence, Tom gathered his things and left the exam halls.

Leo sighed loudly. The professor glanced at the wall clock and then back at her. There were more ten minutes to spare. Leo shook her head and went back to writing once again.

The full stop to her last sentence was extra loud. She dropped her quill and ruffled her hair. Deep puffs of breath escaped her lips. She rubbed her tired eyes and finally got up to submit her answer sheet.

The professor was sound asleep on his chair. Leo shook her head and dropped her papers with a loud thump. It didn't look like he was anywhere near waking up. She rolled her eyes and started leaving but stopped as a mischievous smile etched her chapped lips. She retraced her steps slowly and swiftly turned around to face the neatly arranged stacks of paper.

Her hands raised in the air with her fingers wiggling in excitement. The grin on her face only increased as she inched closer. Within the next second, all those papers were flying in the air as Leo's obnoxious laughter faded in the background.

The professor could only do so much in his half asleep state. The poor man just remained seated, watching all those papers fly as he silently accepted his fate.

Leo was still laughing as she walked all by herself though the hallways. It was lunch time. She usually walked along with Tom but since last week, he would manage to just disappear into thin air and reappear at his table. Leo's smily face melted into a frown.

"Hey," a voice called out to her. Without glancing up she just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Is everything alright?"

Leo pursed her lips and finally looked up to meet Tayden's worry stricken eyes. Leo forced a half smile on her face and nodded once again. Tayden didn't look convinced but didn't ask further questions.

"Well, if you are not too busy, there's somewhere I'd like to take you," he offered with a gentle smile. Leo tilted her head in confusion. She glanced towards the dining hall, contemplating her decision.