A baggage of love ( Tom Riddle x Reader )

Chapter 20

Y/n's POV:

I spend most of my day observing Tom, his interactions with everyone, anyone that looks at him, hoping to gather some information on who could possibly want to frame him.

But I get nothing.

There's tension between him and Ascot, but Tom acts as if he doesn't exist and everyone else acts as if Tom doesn't exist, they move away whenever he's walking through the halls, they stop talking whenever he walks by.

I think I maybe won't discover who it is and I give up. This isn't my mission, this wasn't my task.

" y/n" i hear Tom say as he catches up with me in the halls.

I turn around and smile at the sight of it, " yeah?"

" I've been thinking, your polyjuice potion wasn't a bad idea and maybe we could take more veritaserum from Slughorn's office" he says.

His voice naturally isn't loud, but we are walking through the corridors and if any student is out to get him, he ought to be quiet.

I talk in a more quieter voice in hope for him to get the hint to be more discreet, like he normally is, he seems to not hide the fact that he talks to me.

" maybe but maybe we could also just... act as if we aren't doing anything" I say.

He abruptly stops us both in the halls, " are you suggesting for us to just sit back and not do anything?" He asks.

I stutter for words, " no! I think if you do have some kind of stalker that they know what we are doing though" I say not knowing where my words are heading, unsure of what point I'm making.

" you want me to just wait until I get framed for something else" he says.

I look at sympathetically, " I've ran out of ideas to find this person-"

" it's been a day!" He snaps angrily, some students turn their heads as they jump when they walk past.

" but I don't think we should waste time-"

" oh, helping me is a waste of time?"

" no!" I say almost like I'm begging.

" I didn't mean-"

" forget it, you don't care what I get framed for, I understand" he says like he's disappointed in me as he walks away.

I chase after him, " that's not what I was saying"

" then what were you saying?!" He asks as he continues to hurriedly walk away from me.

" Well... I " truthfully I don't know.

" I mean we can't question everyone in the school, you said yesterday that everyone is your enemy" I point out him.

Tom stares at me with an unreadable expression and I think he's about to say something when he just shakes his head at me, walking further away from me.

I watch him leave sadly, wishing I never said a thing.

" all he seems to do is make you sad" Ascot says as he walks up to me, I didn't even notice that he was close by.

" it was my fault" I grumble.

" was it?" He asks like he's doubting me.

I shrug, " I don't know anymore"

" this shouldn't be happening" I say, this is getting in the way of my real task.

" what shouldn't be happening?" Ascot asks me.

" you being involved with Riddle? If so, I agree" he says.

I give him a small glare, " you don't have to hate him, you saw that he was innocent"

" because he didn't beat me up when he did? Good one"

" he drank the veritaserum! It wasn't him" I say.

" I don't care, I've never liked him and it's not going to start now" Ascot admits.

" well I wish I knew who was framing him" I say.

" why?" Ascot asks and he sounds irritated.

" because it's driving me crazy! I hate not knowing and I'm scared for him, what if-"

Ascot raises both his hands up and closes his eyes, processing my words before interrupting me, not wanting to hear the rest.

" I don't understand why you care for him, what has he ever done for you?" He challenges.

I try to think of all the nice things Tom has done for me and it's not much, but when he nice, it feels special and meaningful but Ascot would never understand, so I shake my head and let him think he's right.

" exactly, come on, let's go get some food" he says.

I glance back at the direction Tom walked in before we leave.

Tom's POV:

Daylight turns into nighttime as the day goes by pretty fast, recently I've been hating myself more than ever for such thoughts that I cannot seem to erase.

One of them being if y/n is the library right now, is she waiting for me? Is she wondering why I'm not there? Is she wondering where I am?

I take a good look around the chamber of secrets, I've come this far. I've doubted many things, I've wondered if it's worth it but it's here, the power I hold is here.

With one hiss of a sentence I could set this thing free, I could officially murder my first target. The first worthless muggle born.

I still could, a lot of people suspect me in the past disappearances and beatings, but this would be easy. This would be sly, this would work.

" what am I doing?" I grunt to myself.

I kick the rocks across the pathway out of distress, I've done what I've wanted to do. Nearly. Why can't I finish it?

I can always come back. I can open the chamber whenever I want.

But when I exit, it feels like I've leaving for good. For a reason that I cannot detect, my heart seems to ache whenever I think of y/n finding out that I have killed someone.

I patrol the halls, not ready to go to the common room when firm hands grab mine, pulling my arms behind me as if I'm about to get arrested.

I twist my head to see professor Dippet, stronger than he looks as he holds my hands down.

" what's going on?" I ask calmly.

Then I see it.

A girl being carried out, down the stairs, an arm hangs loose as her skin is pale and the colour makes her appear sick.

" Tom Riddle, you have been accused of the murder of Myrtle Warren" he tells me but he also sounds calm.

I bite my tongue until I feel and taste it bleed.

" we're going to take you to my office for questioning, where you will be drinking veritaserum, now is your chance to confess" he says, there are multiple guards and other professors behind him.

" I didn't do it!" I say.

" Did you or did you not open the chamber of secrets?"

I pause and my heart rate increases, I clench my jaw and try to breathe.

" I did"