butterfly effect, tom riddle

07. | past

She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Norma, who turned a startling shade of crimson and shook her head wildly, burying her face in her arms. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes!" Ethelle chortled teasingly, turning to me with a broad grin on her face. "Last year, on Valentine's Day, Macmillan-from Ravenclaw, you've probably seen him in our Herbology class, blonde hair, lots of freckles-walked over to us and got up on the Slytherin table in front of everyone-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Norma muttered, her voice muffled, causing Ethelle to laugh even more.

"And went over to Norma, holding a bouquet of flowers, and started singing some off-tune love song-" at this point, Ethelle was guffawing so loudly and obnoxiously that everyone was staring in our direction. I imagined the scene in my head, and started giggling along with her. "And then-and then-"

She shrieked with laughter, throwing her head back and causing me to laugh even more, eager to hear what happened next.

"He stretched out the flowers to her, and said, and said-" she started gasping because of how much she was laughing, tears leaking out of her bright blue eyes. "And then he said-"

She took a sip of water from her goblet and inhaled deeply to calm herself down. Then, in a deep, theatrical voice, said, "'For you, my darling love-will you be so kind as to be my valentine'?"

At this, she howled with laughter, and I joined her, clutching my stomach. Norma couldn't help it; she began laughing too, and soon, the three of us were attracting disgruntled glares from the other students because of how loudly we were laughing.

After dinner, we headed downstairs to the Slytherin common room. Ethelle wanted to go upstairs and get ready to sleep, while Norma wished to do her homework. I, on the other hand, wanted to write down an entry in my 'Tom Riddle' journal. The common room was mostly vacant, anyway, and I knew Norma was not the nosy type.

I started writing down a few things and then scratching them out, and the process continued for a while as I tried to accurately describe Tom Riddle's personality. He seemed to be a bit narcissistic, and clearly preferred to work alone.

After about an hour, Norma stood up and yawned, finished with her homework. She stretched and rubbed her eyes drowsily, before shooting a small, sleepy smile at me.

"I think I'm going to head to sleep," she informed me, her voice groggy. "You wanna come, or..?"

She nodded towards my journal. I glanced down at the small text I had written, and decided that-seeing as I was not too sleepy-I should continue. I shook my head at her as politely as I could and smiled.

"I think I'll stay here for a little more," I stated. Norma nodded.

"Got a lot of thoughts, huh?" she replied, a little teasingly. "I'll leave you to it."

I chuckled and nodded at her in appreciation. The sleepy girl wheeled around and headed for the girls' dormitories, while I returned to my writing.

I was able to write in serene, perfect silence for about five minutes, when the stone wall entrance to the common room split open, revealing a tall silhouette.

I watched inquisitively as Tom Riddle stepped forwards, the virescent light from the windows illuminating his sharp features, and making his pearly white skin look even paler, somehow.

There seemed to be a fire in his eyes; he wore a strangely victorious grin on his face, and he seemed so-so proud that he swaggered towards the sitting area and sat right across from me without even noticing me.

"Good evening, Tom," I saluted, watching him curiously. At once, he seemed to snap out of his joyful daze and blinked at the sight of me.

"Er-Viviette," he muttered, the flame in his eyes smothering. Just like that, his expression turned perfectly polite and emotionless. "I didn't see you."