Crimson || Tom Riddle [1]

𝖘𝖎𝖝

Once done, Arabella grabbed her wand from inside Tom's robe pocket. "I think we both know who won this duel," Arabella whispered.

She felt the students' eyes on her as she grabbed her bag and left class just as the bell rang. Arabella spent the rest of her morning in Divination learning about Dream Interpretations (which she thought was complete bogus).

•••

Finally, at lunch she got to eat. Looking around the Great Hall, she searched for the dark, coffee brown eyes of Tom Riddle, but he seemed to have not come. Arabella concluded he never really came to eat which was the most insane thing ever, because who wouldn't want to eat?

Sighing in annoyance, she decided search for him. She thought he needed a little nudge into her direction, so Arabella could set her plan in action - finding everything she needed to know about Tom Riddle. Because, honestly? She had an whole eternity of living and nothing better to do. It was exciting, finally having something to do.

She grabbed a large tray full of food with her as she walked out the Great Hall. Many students looked at her strangely, but Arabella ignored them and went to check the library for Tom.

She thought Tom would probably be reading nearly every book in the Hogwarts library to figure out what spell she had used against him - because it seemed it was Tom's first time he had ever been beaten at anything and he probably didn't know how to heal his bruised ego.

Sure enough, Tom Riddle sat at the very corner of the large library with a pile of books stacked before him. Arabella took a seat a few desks in front of him and sat in the chair facing him. She knew he would come to her.

Tom looked up from his book just as Arabella slammed a huge tray of all kinds of food onto her table. She looked at him while chewing on her lunch.

He gave her an annoyed look before proceeding to read, his eyes trained on the book but unmoving. Arabella just continued eating while staring innocently at him. Exactly 4 minutes later, Tom shut his book with a huff and walked over and stood on the other side of Arabella's desk. He slammed the book in front of her and asked, "What do you want?"

Arabella just shrugged, swallowing a mouthful of Shepard's Pie. "Want some?" She slid a plate across the table to him.

Tom looked down at it disgustingly before looking back up at her. "No," he harshly replied, glaring at her.

"Suit yourself," she answered and proceeded eating. "So, what are you reading?"

"What's it to you?"

Arabella shrugged. "Just curious."

A minute later, Tom took the seat in front of Arabella, rolling his eyes as if he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "I'm looking for your spell." He already knew she knew. But she wasn't going to say anything until he said it himself. Until he admitted it out loud in front of her.

Arabella's eyes perked up at that and she set down her fork. "Yes! It was a great spell wasn't it? I had never actually used it on someone before. It was originally meant for Albus but you-"

Tom's eyes immediately widened, intently focused on her."Albus? You mean Albus Dumbledore?"

Arabella waved her hand in the air carelessly. "Yes, that old fool."

"You do not like him?" he asked her, curiously leaning closer.

"No." Arabella scrunched up her nose, "Of course not. I don't imagine anyone would ever enjoy his company."

Tom nodded. Arabella noticed he wasn't frowning like before - instead his face was calm. He almost looked impressed. With her? She didn't know.

"So, you created that spell?" he asked her.

"Yes, how was it?" Arabella begged him eagerly.

"How was it?" he repeated confused.

"Yes, how was the spell? Did it hurt? How did it make you feel?"

It made me feel like I should kill you again, Tom thought to himself. Unfortunately for Arabella, his mind was blocked.

"The spell was supposed to work like a heart attack but feel much, much worse. While your shaking uncontrollably, it's meant to feel like someone is like repeatedly stabbing you in the chest and all your bones feel like they are breaking as you bleed on the floor, helpless. You cannot move a single inch of your body," Arabella explained with enthusiastic arm motions.

"You really hate Albus," he commented, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

"Oh, of course," stated Arabella darkly, her grey eyes narrowing at his sudden interest.

Tom didn't break eye contact with her as he asked, "What did he do to you?"

"Why do you want to know?" she inquired at him suspiciously.

"Did he do something to your family?"

Arabella suddenly realised what he was doing. "Oh, have you heard about my family?" she said, smirking.

"No, I have not. I've never come across the name 'Chambers,'" he grumbled.

Arabella shrugged. "My family is not important. They're all dead."

"Why do you hate Dumbledore, then?" He seemed to be trying to put her together.

"I can't tell you yet. You have to tell me something." Arabella had a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Okay, fine," Tom said, annoyed. "Those people I murdered were my family."

Arabella rolled her eyes. "Well, yes of course. I'm not stupid. Instead, riddle me this: why did you kill them?" She had a smile on her face, knowing how Tom hated what she just did. "And why with the wand of a Guant?" she added with a smirk.

Tom immediately look taken aback. "What?" he questioned in disbelief.

"That wasn't your wand you killed me with. It's different to the one you used today. And I read The Daily Prophet - 'Muggle Police Baffled by the Unexpected Deaths of a Muggle Family.' I read on about how Auror's got involved with the illegal use of the killing curse. The spell traced back to Morfin Gaunt who they sent to Azkaban." Arabella leaned closer and looked him in the eye. "You and I both know that is not what happened," she whispered.

"This whole matter is none of your business," Tom snapped, annoyed. "You were never supposed to be in that house, you were never supposed to come out alive, and you were never supposed to come find me at Hogwarts."

Arabella looked at him curiously. He had had a plan. She just needed to figure out what it was and why he framed the Gaunt family. "Who said I came out alive?" she hinted with a small smile.

She could practically hear the gears in Tom's head turning as he tried to piece together... well, anything. He then looked at her lost. "What do you want? You got your wand."

"I want to find out why you killed the Riddles. I want to find out why you framed Morton Gaunt. I want to find out why you have this whole school wrapped around your finger and I want to find out how you know such powerful, dark magic despite being raised by muggles." The last one was a complete guess, but judging by the surprised look on Tom's face, she knew she was right.

Then, as she did not enjoy being the one left behind, she walked out of the library, leaving a very confused Tom with piles of food in front of him (a extremely rare state to find him in).