Of Monsters and Men- Tom Riddle x OC

14

"Are you good?"

Animo glanced up to see Avril observing her with a worried expression, the corners of her lips turned inwards. Today, her hair was curled into raven ringlets that framed her face. After their encounter in the Divination room, the girls had become rather inseparable, despite the age gap. Alphard had even commented on their "unnatural girly companionness."

"Yeah," Animo puffed out a long breath as she glanced towards the door of the Transfiguration classroom. "Just had a lot on my mind."

The Slytherin's amber eyes lightened, the beams of sunlight from the window behind them lit her head like a halo. "I know." She pursed her pale lips. "You should really make up your mind on whether to talk to him or not."

Animo stiffened, trying not to turn back towards the door. "I don't know—"

"One, you're a terrible liar," Avril held up a primly painted fingernail in her face, "you go all twitchy. Two," a mysterious quirk lifted her lips, "I may not understand everything, but I know you've been avoiding Dumbledore for days."

"I—"

"And giving him sad eyes whenever he's not looking," widening her gaze in a pathetic pout, Avril waved Animo away. "It's driving me mad!"

Animo laughed softly as her friend disappeared into the masses of students, her dark head bobbing here and there amongst the crowds. However, her mood sobered as she shuffled towards Albus's office. The words of the Demiguise had been trailing her for the last week, insistently bobbing at her heels. If there was anyone that could make sense of the creature's riddles, it was the riddle master himself.

Striding forward with renewed purpose, Animo slide through the stone doorway and maneuvered her way through the desks, which were strewn in an even more unorganized fashion than when she had last seen it. Brilliant madman he may be, Animo mused as she climbed the staircase to the office, Albus was an enormous slob.

She paused outside of the doorway, collecting her thoughts before she raised a fist to rap on the wood. The door swung open immediately, without Animo's skin even having made contact. Albus looked up and she once again had to remind herself that he didn't wear his golden spectacles during this time. His drawn face was rather empty without them.

"Miss Wallis," Animo didn't miss the bitter tone at her forged name, "I'm afraid your essay on the foundations of human transformation is not due until next week. I'm not offering any tutorials at the moment."

Animo grunted in frustration, pushing forward into the room before the door could close on her face. "You know perfectly well why I'm here, Albus." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I need your help."

There was a long pause before the professor leaned over his desk, rubbing at his eyes with his fingertips. Albus looked exhausted, the purple tinge to his eye bags aging him a decade. "Ani, I don't have time for—"

"Albus, who do you think is going to stop him?" Animo sat down in the chair, wincing at the stiff wooden seat. "In my time, you—"

"I AM NOT THAT MAN!" Albus's blue gaze flared with anger as he stared Animo down, his nostrils flaring. Animo flinched, unused to hearing such a tone from the gentle brother figure she had grown up with. His expression softened slightly. "Ani," he flicked his wand, causing the tea in his mug to warm and release a waft of steam. "Whatever version you knew of me, I am not him. I beg you to understand that. The sort of pressure that comes from having to live up to—"

Animo shook her head, "Albus," she ignored the professor's narrowed gaze at being interrupted. "But he is you." She tapped her fingers on his desk top uncertainly. "Those qualities you already possess." She tilted her chin, mimicking his movements. "It is our choices who make us who we are, far more than our abilities."

The man's shoulders sank slightly as a wistful look filtered across Albus's face. "I gather I said that?"

Animo smiled as the rage siphoned from his posture. "Yes. You could be a most excellent mentor. Al," she reached forward, grabbing one of Albus's hands, thankful that it was not blackened from the ring's curse. "You could become an even better man than who I knew in the future. You're one of the wisest people I know—"

"Ani." This time, Albus's voice was gentle as he slowly removed his hand from her grasp. "I cannot challenge him."

"You can," Animo's resolve didn't falter while she plowed onward. "We just—"

"Ani, we made a blood pact when we were young." A sigh emitted from Albus's lungs, shaking his body. "We agreed to never harm the other. Gellert took the vial after our last confrontation. I daresay he will have hidden it at the ends of the world."

Silence fell on the room with a weighted plunge. Animo processed this information in disbelief. Albus couldn't challenge her brother. "But you were able to duel—"

The professor raised a hand to cut her off, his brow firmly set. "Ani, I should hear no word of the future—"

"Because you can't or because you won't?" Animo retorted, her patience crumbling into despair. "Al, you are the only—"

"I am tired." Albus replied simply, a few gray strands of hair sliding in front of his gaze. "And I cannot find it in my heart to do more." His blue orbs flared with a plea for understanding. "Ani, have you any idea what it's like? I already left him once. To betray him entirely," he shuddered. "I am trying my upmost to protect those I can. Perhaps it is best for the world that Gellert and I do not meet again."

A frown crinkled Animo's forehead while a great heaviness settled on her heart. She could still remember Gellert's rare smile when they were children, toothy and full of mischief. "But if we do not try to stop him, who will?"

"I have noticed the way you watch Tom Riddle." Animo's attention flipped as Albus abruptly changed the subject, folding his hands in his lap as he peered at her carefully. "I imagine he is something of an enigma in your time. For good or bad, I can only guess."

There was an undeniable question in his statement and Animo's resolve hardened at his probing manner. Perhaps Albus wasn't so different from his future self after all. "That is yet to be seen."

Worry lined Albus's grimace as he adjusted the hem of his periwinkle robes. "Ani, that boy is a monster—"

"And Gellert is so different?" Animo challenged, pushing back her chair with a wooden scrape.

Closing his eyes, Albus seemed to barely reign in his temper. "Ani, you cannot make someone change. I know this—"

"But what if you could?" her tone was soft as Animo turned to watch the faint sunlight trickling in through the stained-glass window. An array of colors played across the stone floor. "In the end, it is the individual's choice. But what if there is a chance? I've," swallowing thickly, it became rather difficult for Animo to carry on. "I've lost too much to not at least try." She let the warmth of the sun's rays restore her courage.

A flare of confusion flashed across Albus's gaze, but he simply joined her stare out to the Scottish countryside beyond the glass. "Be careful Animo. You are treading a dangerous line."

"But if there is a slightest bit of hope," Animo replied, basking in the tentative peace of the moment, "it will be worth it."