𝐵𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑒 ; ᴛᴏᴍ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴏʟᴏ ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇ

27

Tossing and turning, Lilith regretted the kiss with Tom. She was happy with Abraxas and she didn't want to hurt him. The look on his face after finding out her and Tom kissed was the last thing she wanted to see right now.

After a while of the same repeated cycle, she fell asleep and was completely knocked out. After being in the hospital ward for days, it made her more tired than she was supposed fo be.

But with that, she began getting the weirdest dreams. Dreams that felt real, too real. That's what happened this night.

Lilith woke up in her bed at the Rosenyx residence, her silky bedsheets and soft mattress that she didn't have at Hogwarts. The light and airy feeling that was like being on a cloud. Her usual white satin robe was tied on her waist and the feeling made her smile.

She didn't want to wake up and be back at Hogwarts with constant stress and Tom Riddle lurking at every corner. What he said about being in her mind couldn't be true, or else he'd try and ruin this dream of hers.

Sitting up, Lilith looked ahead at the vanity in front of her bed, all clean and shiny with perfumes and jewelry all neat and displayed. The mirror was bright and she looked at her reflection. It's been a while since she's seen her in her own image. Her hair was long and shiny, at its natural state of slight curls at the ends, her skin was like glass with the smoothness she wanted back. Her eyes were brightened from her usual state of dull gray. She was Lilith again.

If this was a short dream, she wanted to cherish every second of it and think of it throughout the week to get her through her last month or so of Hogwarts. So, Lilith rose to her feet, the wood pressing against her as she felt her weight all fall down to her feet, making her feel more elegant than usual.

If she opened the door, then she'd see her hallway with paintings that she hasn't seen in forever. The paintings that she went to personally look at in the muggle world, in France and Italy. It was all fascinating what the muggles could do without magic.

The door creaked open and it was exactly how she imagined it, the gold lining and paintings all in perfect place. This was too good to be true.

Lilith stepped out and traced her hand along the walls, grazing her fingers over each crease of the wall. She looked down at the grand staircase that led downstairs. Its railing and carpet was all clean and fresh. But it got disrupted with the sight of another presence at the end.

It was too good to be true.

The presence was a man with dark hair in wavy locks but was neatly styled. His broad shoulders almost stretched the white button up shirt he wore, the sleeves were rolled up to reveal his bare arms and hands that were slender and veins traveled to his arms to his hands. It was like he came out of one of those muggle paintings she saw from one of their religions, Catholicism.

But no, she knew who he was. The way he stood gave it away completely. His posture was straight and upright, his arms were behind his back while his hand held onto his wrist. He was observing something and she could tell by the way he tensed with every movement.

God, she couldn't escape Tom Riddle.

It was like he could hear her thoughts since he turned around and his eyes met with hers. Those eyes that she saw everywhere. They were like a snakes eyes with how his pupils looked. Not enough words in the English vocabulary could explain what Tom Riddle looked like.

"Lilith."

His voice, his voice. His low tone and the way he didn't drag his syllables. It wasn't blunt but it wasn't consuming.

It got harder to swallow the lodge in her throat but she nodded at him.

"Tom. You're in my dream." Oh, Merlin. She began to doubt things, wondering if she sounded brainless to him.

From a distance, she could see that he had found it amusing, letting out a small chuckle before leading his way up the stairs.

"Dreams say many things, Lilith. Me being in your dreams isn't a coincidence. Is this a dream?" Tom lightly tapped his hand on the railing as he went up step by step, maintaining eye contact.

"Yes, it is. You, as a whole, aren't a coincidence, Tom Riddle." Lilith watched as his finger bounced up and down on the hard railing and she folded her arms.

She waited for him to say something, anything. But, he stopped once he was in front of her and his gaze lingered everywhere on her.

"However, how can you be so certain that it's a dream? Especially after the incident?" Tom's eyebrows raised and there was a slight curl of his lip as his hand reached out and brushed her hair back behind her ear.

"It's peaceful. I fell asleep and woke up here, how could it not be a dream? How could it be anything other than a dream if you're here as not a threat?" She was confident in that, this was not real life. Not even Tom's mind games could convince her otherwise.

Tom's hands were now reaching to her face, cupping her cheeks in his hands and tilting her head up so that she'd look up at him.

"If it's a dream like you say, then you should allow yourself to indulge in what you desire, feeling it once and sensing it forever."

Lilith felt his thumbs graze on her face, his other fingers in her hair. A fear washed over her. No, Tom was not the Tom Riddle she knew. Was this good? She couldn't answer any questions she had but if this was a dream, there couldn't be much harm, right?

She wanted to say something but she couldn't so instead, she kept on looking into his eyes but it wasn't enough. There was an urge to touch him, to feel him. To feel his cold skin against her. It was all a flash in her mind with him pressed against her. What was she thinking?

Tom got a sense of what she was thinking and his hands dragged down her body, lightly going down her shoulders, to her arms, and then her hips. He began moving up slowly, the satin fabric of her rob cinching as his hands settled on her waist, gripping onto her. Now, she was fully lost of words. All she could manage was "Please."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss him. This was wrong, it was wrong of her to do this. Even in her dreams, she could never stop thinking about their kiss. The kiss he probably didn't even mean. But now, his response was melting into her lips and biting her with his teeth.

Tom pulled away, looking at her with a smirk on his face before lowering him, down on his knees and dragging his hands down from her waist to her hips and down her legs. He looked up at her while on his knees almost between her legs.

Lilith clamped a hand over her mouth when she realized that she was only wearing a robe. She was exposed to him in her dream. A dream she has never experienced.

"Tom,"

He furrowed his eyebrows, his hands on her thighs and rubbing circles on her. This wasn't like him at all.

"It's a dream, like you said." Tom answered, his voice echoing as he kissed her inner thigh. A sensation all over her that started from her core. All she wanted to do was grip onto his hair.

His lips pressed against her one more time and her eyes fluttered shut before he pulled away from her and looked up at her. Lilith's eyes scrunched closed and a hand still clamped on her mouth.

She opened her eyes when she felt that he wasn't continuing and looked down, a silent gasp releasing. No, that was not Tom Riddle.

His hair was platinum blonde and was straight and messy. His eyes were low and covered with his dark eyebrows. His jaw was like a V shape and it was different from Tom's.

"Abraxas? What? Where..?"

"Is it still a dream?"