Hogwarts: a school of Witchcraft and Love (Tom Marvolo Riddle x F!reader)

Chapter 4-13

On Monday, your results were in.

Naturally, schoolgoers complained that Kettleburn shouldn't have chosen today to burst their bubbles. Everyone was still waking up from the luxurious two day weekend, but that didn't deter him from telling the class exactly what he thought of the average scores.

You got an Exceeds Expectation!

Had you not been so happy with your grading, you wouldn't have given any thought to your stalker.

Only a certain blackhaired had the power to make the bones in your knees feel weak while at the same time wanting to run for the hills with the simple raising of your first name. Open communication was a two-way street, but yours was firmly closed off with roadblocks that felt as heavy as cement.

The stubborn (Y/N) in you refused to mess up more before the schoolday was done. You'd look behind you every five mins or so to avoid your stalker. Every time you sensed his tallness near your vicinity, you'd ask the teacher to go to the restroom and didn't return until coast was clear.

You were being gaslit, of course, but you were too young to know what that was. Am I really going to apologize again, all I did was cross a boundary, you didn't hit him as an attack, you were trying to...

The toll of the tower bells announced the end of the period and you couldn't wait to get up to make your exit, fleeing before you could realize were doing it,
but he was just as fast in going after you.

Never by your side, instead shadowing you by keeping a couple of paces behind.

Faster you went; faster he went. Slower you walked; slower he trailed...

Running away from your problems never solved anything, and the likelihood of him catching up to you in seconds flat was high, but it sure was tempting to try, your shorter height easy to lose within the clusters of body-to-body corridor traffic.

Talking now filled you with a sort of dread that you weren't ready to confront yet. You played Where's Waldo with Will, but today, you were the one doing the hiding, delaying the confrontation waiting to happen by being a ninja.

Looking for the perfect hideout was half of the fun and what better place was there than the dark, spacious library?

He wouldn't easily track you down there. That was what you believed until it was proven just how invalid that thought was.

Rumour spoke that someone who received multiple detentions from Madam Pince had taken revenge on her with an enchanted object. She got sick touching it and so was not on guard duty.

But her temporary absence, while a blessing for most, was a curse for you. With no replacement available to keep people from disobeying the rule of no talking, no one was going to hush the Gryffindor breaking your jog.

"Do you need anything, Miss (Y/N)?" The firsties assistance wasn't that helpful when coupled with nerves that got the better of his speech. "W-why do you..."

"RIDDLE!"

The blood in your face plummeted instantly. The gasp of a female student on your behalf ripped all thoughts of responding away from you. You literally jumped a foot, almost falling as you did so, only your hold on the counter used to return borrowed books saving you.

After education hours people would meander the library, taking out books that they'd need to read up on. Not exactly exciting for most but necessary. If they didn't, dropping grades and shadows without physical sources would haunt them into doing so.