Malefic [BOOK 2]

Leo? Not Leo.

He felt like he had lost the ability to do anything. He felt weak. Tom absolutely hated feeling weak. Yet, he needed to know what had happened to Leo.

The said girl looked away from Tom, "I don't know. I can't remember. One second, I felt like someone had pierced a sword through my heart and the next second I was standing in the middle of the forest, completely fine."

Tom listened to every word that came out of her mouth like she was declaring new laws for the wizarding world. Dare he say that he hadn't been this attentive in any of his lectures.

"I thought I disappeared for only a day. When I went back to the town, I saw that months had passed and it was already time to go back to Hogwarts. So, I decided to meet you in the school," she shrugged like it was nothing.

"So, you don't remember anything?" Tom asked again. Her explanations were too vague. They barely made any sense.

"I guess. I don't know. It's confusing," she fumbled with her words.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her. Either the fever was making her say things or she was too bad at lying. Tom assumed that it was the latter. It would not be the first time for Leo to hide things from him. However, he guessed that she might have a reason behind it. When the time would come, she would tell him, like she always did.

Right?

"What did you do to Nott?" Tom asked.

Leo finally turned to face him. Her lips were pulled into a wolfish grin. Her warm brown eyes glinted with mischief. Tom almost thought that she was looking at someone completely different.

"Oh, you know. Just a little magic can do wonders," she wiggled her fingers in the air and made some glitters float around.

Tom hesitated at first but decided to speak his mind, "I assume you didn't use the imperius curse."

"I would never. Do you think I am a heartless person, Riddle?" She laughed a little too loudly.

Tom stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Just how many things was she hiding from him? What would happen when he would finally find out? Would it change anything between them?

Questions after questions flashed through his mind but he could barely voice out one. The heavy feeling residing on his chest suffocated him. Something about Leo changed. Starting from the way she fumbled with the loose string of her dress to the way she laughed seemed different.

She only looked like a shell and the real person was missing.

Tom didn't know what played on his mind but he slowly inched towards her and grabbed her right hand between his large ones. Leo didn't give out much of a reaction but Tom could feel her going stiff for a moment and then relaxing.

"Becoming bolder, I see?" Leo teased while playing with Tom's hand.

Tom pursed his lips and slowly curled his fingers around her small palm, caging them so that she couldn't pull away. His face looked grim. Her hand was unusually cold. He stared at their intertwined hands in slight worry.

"Riddle?" Leo called out.

Tom's head snapped up to look at her. She had a look of confusion on her face. Her brows were furrowed and her lips were stuck in an awkward smile. Her pale face looked like a ghost and the eye bags under her eyes made her look like she would pass out any second.

"Hey, I appreciate all the hand-holding and all but boys usually say something romantic after that. Are you capable of that, Riddle?" She tried to tease again.