Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

34: Wine, hangover, bath.

Shiv didn't see much of Tom the following weeks. He spent every waking hour in the library or the Slytherin common room, reading and planning. It became a rarity to see him at breakfast or dinner. He almost only attended lunch in between classes, and he was in and out within minutes.

She herself was more than busy as well, with her upcoming O.W.L.'s. She was taking 11, all except for muggle studies (because she wasn't allowed), so she and Florance returned to their old ways of doing things: studying together every night until they fell asleep with their books scattered around their beds.

The weather was slowly but steadily getting nicer, although only the younger students that had less to worry about seemed to be able to enjoy it.
Shiv and Flo still spent every Friday on their favorite ledge, drinking wine and now enjoying the early signs of spring. The trees were slowly turning green again, and in some places, you could even see dandelions come up.

Today was a Thursday evening in the middle of March. Which left them with a strong urge to drink the week away, but an immense amount of work that still needed to be done. They compromised by curling up on a couch in the common room with a bottle of red wine to split, and all their books stacked in between them.
Flo was making a summary of their last Charms classes whilst Shiv scribbled notes in her Arithmancy textbook. She was a little ahead of Florance in most classes, so they worked separately most of the time.

'I swear, normally wine makes things easier for me to understand,' Flo giggled as she took another sip from her glass.
Shiv grinned at her friend's slightly slurred speech. 'We need to to bed, Flo.'

'No, we don't! You'll be gone for 4 days after t'morrow, and I'm going to be sooo bored. Please stay up with me a little longer, Shivvy. I'll even pretend to study,' Flo said with a pouty lip.

Shiv downed the remaining bit of her wine. 'Okay, fine, but let me get on your level,' she chuckled as she filled up her glass again.
It was true. They hadn't been able to spend a lot of time together just having fun, and Shiv was leaving for Paris tomorrow evening. She could use some laughs before she was going to be surrounded by the much harsher and still less familiar company of her fellow travelers.

'I'm not even looking forward to it, even though it's supposed to be this exciting thing. It's just going to be a bunch of teenage boys having a big dick contest,' Shiv groaned.

Flo laughed and the handful of students still in the common room looked over at them, annoyed. They ignored them.
'Shivvy,' her friend started, and the look in her eyes told Shiv that she was going to ask something she was too afraid to ask sober, 'Will you tell me about what happened that night you turned up all bloody at the ledge?'

With everything that had been happening, Shiv had almost forgotten that she never told her friend about the fight and kiss. Compared to the secrets she now held concerning Myrtle, the basilisk, and Tom's horcrux plans.. it seemed so tiny.

'We had a fight, but no duel. He.. I said some really nasty things to him. About his parents and his capabilities.. it was stupid of me,' she started in her usual rambling. She wasn't exactly sure why she started off by excusing his behavior, he had nearly given her a concussion after all.

'So he hit you over the head with a brick, like I said?' Flo said, raising her eyebrows.

'No! He.. pushed me into a tree a little too rough. That was right before he, ehm, kissed me again,' she quickly added in a mumble.

Flo's mouth fell open. 'Twice now? Oh Shiv.. that wasn't okay, he hurt you!'

'If I wanted to, I could've stopped him, Flo. I let it all happen. I provoked it for Merlins sake..' she hid her face in her hands and groaned.