butterfly effect, tom riddle

29. | past

Her leaving made me realize just how alone I was; none of my roommates liked me anymore, and Norma and Ethelle detested me—I couldn't exactly blame them.

I sighed and wheeled around to see that Professor Slughorn had wobbled into the common room, a grim expression etched onto his usually jolly face. At his entrance, the entire common room quieted down.

"I regret to inform you all that there has been another Petrification," he announced morosely, his lips curved downwards in a frown. "From this day on, curfew is at 6:00 and you will be escorted everywhere you go with a professor by your side."

A few people groaned, but most remained tactfully silent. Slughorn shot a few rebuking glances in the direction of the groaners, before spinning around on his heel and exiting the common room.

At once, the students all broke out into boisterous chatter. Picking on my nails anxiously, I sat down next to Maverick Avery on the black leather couch across the fireplace, who was conversing with the rest of the death eaters.

"Oh, hey Vivid," he saluted, his signature impish smile creeping into his lips as he regarded me with a tilted head. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I replied tersely, searching the death eaters for any sign of their leader. "Where's Tom?"

"Oh," Maverick coughed, exchanging knowing glances with the rest of the death eaters. "Er—he went up to his dormitory."

"Oh."

I stared at the emerald flames dancing wildly in the fireplace, a million thoughts flashing through my mind at once. And then, suddenly, a feeling of absolute resolution dashed through my veins, and I stood up from my seat.

"I'm going to see Tom," I announced shortly, disregarding the baffled expressions on the death eaters' faces.

"What!" Maverick cried, utterly taken aback by my proclamation.

"I am aware that you are an uncultured savage, Viviette, but Tom is in his dormitory," Abraxas drawled arrogantly. "The boys dormitory."

"Got my name right this time," I remarked, nodding at him in mock approval.

Abraxas' snowy complexion became a light lilac as his lips drooped down in a scowl. I whirled around on my heel, ready to confront Tom, when—

"You simply cannot!"

I rolled my eyes at Anthony Rosier's pompous voice, spinning around. He wore a scandalized expression on his face, his forest green eyes wide in horror.

"You are a lady!" he exclaimed as if I was unaware of the fact. "A lady cannot just strut into a gentleman's dormitory! To suggest the idea itself is preposterous! You can't!"

"Oh, I can't?" I asked, blinking in a faux clueless manner. He nodded earnestly. "Well, watch me."

I revolved on my heel and swaggered away, feeling their startled faces on my back. I turned a corner and found myself in the corridor of the boys' dormitories, reading through the labels.

At last, five doors down, I located the fifth year boys' dormitory. Without bothering to knock, I threw the door open and barged in; a monster like Tom did not deserve the privilege of privacy.

At once, I was greeted with the unmistakable scent of fresh laundry. This was surprising, to say the least; I expected a terrible smell from a dormitory full of boys, but it smelled...clean. There were four different beds for seven different boys; three bunkbeds and one single bed. Most of the beds were rather messy—some of them not even made—while a few were tidy.

The bunkbeds were located on the left corner of the room, while the single bed was on the right—almost like a commander in front of a line of soldiers. The single bed was the tidiest of all—with freshly ironed, emerald silk sheets and a nightstand with a lamp as its only decoration.

And it was currently occupied by a boy scribbling in his journal, his long legs outstretched and crossed on the silk sheets in front of him.

"Viviette," Tom greeted, arching a brow up at me inquisitively as he shut his book and tucked it away. "I would be surprised, if I hadn't known that you had a knack for acting on pure impulse at times. What do you want?"

I glowered at him before quickly casting an Imperturbable Charm on the door (so nobody would be able to enter or overhear our conversation), and stomping up to him. He studied me as if I was a mildly interesting textbook, curiosity swimming in the inky pools of his eyes.

"I know you're the Heir of Slytherin," I blurted out bluntly. Whatever he expected, it clearly wasn't that, because his flawlessly composed mask slipped and an expression of complete bewilderment formed on his chiseled features.

He stood up, towering over me by about a foot. I merely smiled up at him innocently.

He clenched his jaw for a second, clearly contemplating his options. I expected him to lie, to deny it, but instead he simply opened his mouth and asked, "How?"

I resisted the urge to falter underneath his intimidating glare, and instead scoffed. Somehow, pretending that I felt unfazed made me actually feel unfazed.

"Do you think after I saw you in the girls' bathroom I'd be daft enough to not realize?" I questioned, making up a lie. "After I saw you there, I went and examined the place—there's a small snake carved on one of the sinks. I suppose that's the entrance to the chamber?"

That was slightly true—I had explored Myrtle's bathroom thoroughly (out of sheer curiosity) after the culprit behind the Chamber of Secrets was discovered in my first year, and found the carving of the snake. It definitely wasn't true, however, that I'd examined the place after I snuck up on him in the bathroom that day.

I assumed he'd be furious, or shocked, or maybe a mix of both—but instead he only smiled.

"I'm impressed," he confessed, causing me to blink in surprise. "You truly are brilliant."

Despite the severity of the situation, I couldn't help but grin cockily. "You're just now realizing that?"

Apart from an exasperated roll of his eyes, he did not react in any way.

"You cannot tell anyone," he instructed sternly, his eyes glinting in a way that said that if I did, he'd take great pleasure in murdering me.

"I know," I retorted. "I'm not going to. We're—friends, remember?"

Tom smirked. "Well, seeing as we're such close friends, perhaps I could...show you."

"Show me?" I repeated, mystified. I felt my heart thump against my chest ferociously as his smirk widened.

"The chamber," he spoke softly. "Tonight."