A Puppet on a String-(Tom Riddle x OC)

Chapter 4

Reese approached the table of students, coming smiling at her, others sneering, but meaning she was meant with looks of curiosity, which is on brand coming from Ravenclaw students. She stopped somewhat near the end of the table, right where she saw people that kind of looked her age.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Reese asked politely, she didn't want to have a conversation with them, but just eat in peace.

"Of course! I'm Bella by the way, welcome to Ravenclaw!" A girl with bushy blond hair said she was pretty and it seemed like she was friends with the people around her, as the boy next to her was looking at her with hearts in his eyes, and everyone else around them smiled politely at her words.

"Thank you, I'm Reese." She said, very straightforward, hoping to not have to answer any invading questions.

"May I ask what year you are in? You seem about our age, all of us are 6th years." The boy next to Bella said, "Oh and I am Gavin by the way, me and Bella are twins."

Reese almost started breaking out in laughter. She COMPLETELY miss read there relationship, but she managed to contain herself and said,

"Nice to meet you, I'm 16 so I'm the same age as the rest of you, they just enrolled me in seventh year because our curriculums are different." She let out only a bare amount of information, just to explain herself, but she was hoping the conversation wouldn't continue. Reese didn't want friends really, just to ride out her final years of education and then hide away.

"Cool! Well that's sad we won't be in classes together, but I'm sure we will see you around." Gavins words were cut off as the food appeared on the table. It was the most magnificent display she had seen in her entire life. This spread of meat, vegetables, and sides was exponentially better than the bland food that she had at Erehnoll.

Reese stayed quite the rest of the dinner, but she could tell the people around her were looking at her with questions looming in their mind, too many of them a coward to ask her. Legilmency was mastered at her school, but she never really had the chance to use it since everyone around her was also trained in occlumency, now she could use it though, knowing many of the people around her could not even tell the tickling of someone entering your mind from a headache.

She made eye contact with one person who was looking at her throughout the night, they were at the other end of the table, and seemed to be older than her. The moment their eyes connected she heard the voices,

"I thought we didn't get transfers, where did she come from?" her eyes connected to person next to him,

"She is pretty, I wonder what year she is in?" and the next person,

"I wonder if she is related to dumbledore? Why else would they bring her in the middle of the year?" The last one made her chuckle to herself, but all of the information she was getting was quite boring. She continued to eat her food until she herself began to feel a tickle at her head. Perhaps one of the people she used legilimency on knew, how could she be so careless?

Right away she put up her guards, and tried to look around at who would be skilled enough to invade her mind. She looked at each person in her own house before determining it was not one of them, then she looked over at Gryffindor, nothing. Hufflepuffs would not have the courage to do this so she looked at slytherin and low and behold the head boy she had been interacting with earlier was making direct eye contact with her.

When her eyes met his gaze, and he realized she was looking at him, Tom riddle's lips turned up into a smirk, acknowledging how he knew how strong her guards were, before he looked away at one of his friends who began to speak. What a peculiar boy she thought to herself. Not only was he head boy and seemed quite popular, but he was also very strong in his magic. Reese could not draw his attention, but his familiar darkness was pulling her towards him, and she couldn't help being curious how far his darkness really went.

Students began to go up from their tables, it seemed everyone really had free will in the castle, they got to decide when they wanted to leave, unlike the strict schedule of Erehnoll. As Reese began to stand, a boy came up behind her.

"Hello, I'm Alastair Reynolds, I am one of ravenclaws preficts, would you like me to show you to your room?" wow people are really just approaching me out of nowhere she thought to herself, before simply nodding and following his lead out of the dinning hall.

As she made her way out of the dinning hall, she could not help but feel shivers going down her spine from the eyes that were looming her figure the entire time she walked. Forgetting this feeling, she realized she was at the ravenclaw tower.

"You get in the commons with a riddle, I can show you" Aston spoke, breaking the silence of their walk.

"What is always in front of you but can't be seen?" was spoken, Reese pondered the answer but when she got it she spoke before Alastair was prepared.

"The future" she said confidently, the chambers opened to a room covered in royal blue, truly a beautiful sight compared to where she slept before.

"Well it seems like I didn't have to show you, you will do just fine here." Reese smiled at his words and followed him into the room.

"I believe we did not have any extra rooms in the girls dorms, but they have an extra bedroom with two beds just for emergencies, it is the furthest down the hall on the stairs on the right, I assume your items will be there, only you will not have a roommate for now if that is okay."Aston spoke, his inner prefict really coming out.

"Yes that will be fine, thank you for your help." Reese spoke as she walked away before he could answer.

As she made her way down the hall she couldn't help but think of the future ahead of her, so much unknown, and she had no connections with people. Perhaps tonight she could set her intentions on getting information on the castle, so it would be easier to navigate.

She opened her doors and was delighted to see a small cozy room with two beds, a dresser, and a fireplace. It felt comfortable, and for the first time in a long time, Reese truly felt safe. She placed her wand, (which she wasn't knowledgeable on how to use yet), and her robes on the opposite bed before laying down, not bothering to shower since she was truly exhausted, and fell asleep with a smile on her face.