You Promised Me→♡•°Tom Riddle°•♡

chapter 21

Christmas at hogwarts never failed to raise Faith's spirits; the glistening lights twinkling in the hallways and the colourful decorations littering every inch of the festive great hall made christmas time feel especially magical to Faith.

Tom still had not spoken to her, and in all honesty, Faith did not desire to talk to him either. He had used her. Pretented to be her friend, kissed her and left. Tom Riddle was an arse, Faith had decided, and she chalked down the feelings she had felt for him that night to the fact that she had consumed a considerable amount of fire whiskey.

And, though it would not have been Faith's first choice, and she desperately missed Lottie and Daniel's airy company, spending time with Walburga and her clique wasn't half bad. Sure, she was a snobbish, pretentious and generally unlikeable person, but she could be rather funny on occasion, and she was considerably intelligent too.

Things had not been too bad between Walburga and Faith. That was until December 12th.

It was a rainy afternoon, and most students resorted to the library for shelter and warmth, including Walburga's group and Faith.

Faith sat next to Amara, as they worked on an extremely boring essay on the history of goblin origin together.

"Urgh, why do we even have to learn this?" Amara whined, stretching out her hand, "When in my life am I going to need to know the origin of Goblins?"

Faith laughed in reply, shaking her head as she put down her quill for the day; that was all the history of magic she could handle that day.

"Oh look who it is," Walburga sneared, as she sat opposite Faith, her eyes fixated on something behind their table.

Faith turned around to see Lottie and Daniel approaching them, throwing cautious looks at their table.

"Come to visit your dear friend Faith, have we? Forget that she replaced you with us?" Walburga grinned menacingly.

"Shut up Walburga," Faith muttered, keeping her head down so her hair fell over her flushed face. This situation was bound to end badly.

"Actually," Lottie narrowed her eyes at Walburga, "We're just collecting a book. So if you'd kindly take your big nose out of our business that would be greatly appreciated."

Walburga grimaced, the grin wiped off her red face. "Who do you think you are?!" She yelled, "I am a Black!"

Lottie rolled her eys as Daniel pulled a book off the shelf next to them. "My greatest apologies," She sneared, "Just fuck off will you, slimy little git," She added.

Walburga was fuming. She stood up, her face flushed with anger and her eyes wide. Daniel tugged at Lottie's robes, trying to escort her away. But Lottie resisted, her eyes fixated on Walburga.

"Please," Walburga glared, sneering, "You're so insufferable even your own disgusting muggle father is trying to die just to get away from you!" She cackled.

Everyone at the scene tensed, their eyes widening. Walburga had crossed the line.

"Don't even fucking talk to her, Black!" Faith yelled, uncharacteristically, swifty getting to her feet, anger flashing in her eyes.

Walburga's gaze switched to Faith, an amused smile planted on her menacing face, "Come on Silvers, you do realise everyone knows Lottie hates you!" Walburga laughed.

"Just leave her the hell alone!" Faith felt her teeth grit, her face flush, as her grip on her wand tightened.

All eyes were on Faith and Walburga, watching with tense fear and curiosity.

"Faith, you and I are the same. Pure. You're really going to stand up for that disgusting mud-"

Before she could even finish, Walburga was interupted by a flash of red light, hitting her directly in the chest, sending her flying backwards into the middle of the library with such force that she hit her head on a bookshelf she'd landed by, sending an avalanche of books onto her unconscious body.

Faith's eyes widened as she froze in place, her wand still pointed towards where a smug Walburga had stood seconds before.

After a second of stunned silence from the rest if the students in the Library, a commotion of worried students gathered around the unconscious girl, Amara and Mary rushing to dig her out from under the pile of books.

"What in merlin's name happened!?" A glowering Madame Pince stood infront of the crowd of students, who all pointed in the direction of Faith, who was still frozen in place, unblinking and wide eyed.

"Miss Silvers?!" Pince shouted, her face angry and confused, "This was your doing?"

Faith did not reply. She simply stood, staring back at Madame Pince in shock. Lottie and Daniel were still standing behind Faith, shocked.

☆

Professor had Mcgonagal arrived shortly after the incident, glowering, and had escorted Faith, Lottie, Amara and (of all people) Tom, who had been at the scene too. Mary had taken Walburga to the hospital wing.

Nobody spoke. Amara was glaring daggers at Faith, she could feel the angry stare piecing her skin, making her feel hot and shaky. Amara was never going to forgive Faith for this.

Lottie looked more confused than anything else, eyeing Faith curiously, her gaze was considerably softer than Amara's.

Tom did not look at her once. What a surprise.

"You three," Mcgonagal pointed at Lottie, Amara and Tom, "Wait outside of my office until I am done with Miss Silvers."

They nodded and Faith stepped into Mcgonagal's office, taking a seat opposite Mcgonagal.

"Faith, what on earth possessed you to behave so unacceptably?! Miss Black could have been seriously injured!"

Faith shrank into her chair, feeling very small. "I'm sorry, Professor," she uttered.

Mcgonagal shook her head, "You should be directing your apologies to Miss Black, not me." Her anger seemed to subdue as she watched her, concerned. "This was extremely uncharacteristic of you, Faith."

Faith just nodded. "I didn't mean to hurt her Professor," She spoke quietly, "I was just angry..."

"Well, that is not an excuse, Miss Silvers. I would have thought better of you." She shook her head.

Faith didn't try to defend herself. What she had done was wrong, she knew that. The guilt rose in her chest. Walburga had deserved it, but Faith knew that she had been the one to cast the first spell. Walburga wasn't going to hurt anyone. But Faith did.

"You will report to my office tonight for detention, and I will decide any thurther punishments. Now if you kindly send in the others, so I can get to the bottom of what exactly happened."

Faith got up from her chair, nodding, her head low.

As soon as she left Mcgonagal's office, she was almost knocked over by a hug from Lottie.

"I'm sorry I've been such a prat to you, Faith. I should have known better," she whispered, clutching Faith as though they hadn't seen each other in years.

Faith felt a wave of relief wash over her as she hugged Lottie back, throwing her arms around Lottie's shoulders. "No, I'm sorry," She whispered.

"Thank you for defending me," Lottie smiled as she pulled away from the hug.

"Walburga was being horrible. I couldn't just sit there..." Faith shook her head.

"Well, thanks," Lottie grinned.

Amara didn't speak as she watched the encounter sourly, and entered Mcgonagal's office with Lottie.

Faith turned to leave, but she felt a pair of eyes on her. Turning around, she saw Tom, staring at her, almost confused. Faith stared back for a second, until Tom quickly entered the office with the others.

As Faith walked down the corridors, she felt the thought of Tom enter her mind again. Quickly, she pushed it away. Lottie was het friend again, that was all that mattered. Not Tom.