butterfly effect, tom riddle

36. | past

"What an excellent badger, Miss Swan," praised Dumbledore as he wandered around the Transfiguration classroom, nodding at the badger I was petting approvingly. He glimpsed over at Maverick next to me, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Ah—well, better luck next time, Mr. Avery."

He winked at us and sauntered away, a twinkle in his brilliant blue eyes. I snickered at Maverick, who was eyeing his furry cauldron with a miserable expression on his face.

"How are you so good?" he groaned, crossing his arms across his chess petulantly.

"Practice makes perfect," I sang cheerily, causing Maverick to huff in a bad-tempered fashion.

The bell rang, announcing our dismissal. The unpleasant sound of chairs scraping against the floor as students got off their seats wrecked our eardrums, and I winced slightly as I stood up from my own seat.

I petted my badger one last time before transforming it back into a cauldron with a simple flick of my wand, and gathered my spellbooks in my hands. Maverick, on the other hand, just glared at his breathing cauldron annoyedly as he attempted to turn it back to its normal state.

"Come on, you stupid thing!" he grouched, whacking the furry cauldron with his wand.

I giggled and brandished my own wand, successfully managing to turn the cauldron-badger hybrid back into a normal cauldron.

"Thanks," Maverick grumbled as I pocketed my wand, a smirk decorating my face.

The two of us started making our way out of the class, Maverick looking as if he had swallowed a particularly sour lemon, when someone blocked our way.

I blinked as my eyes met a pair of cold blue ones. "Er—hi?"

"Callie," Maverick greeted, sounding surprised. "What's up?"

"We have a meeting this evening in the Room of Requirement," Callum Mulciber proclaimed curtly. "The Dark Lord asked me to notify you."

He nodded towards me, and before I could respond, he spun around and stalked away. I gawped after him, my brain struggling to process the information.

"Great!" Maverick enthused, a beam on his face. "I've been waiting for one for so long."

"You're weird," I retorted, shaking my head disappointedly at him. "Why the hell would you be waiting for a meeting hosted by a sicko?"

At once, all traces of elation faded from Maverick's face, and he frowned disapprovingly at me, an action so uncharacteristic of him that I was momentarily taken aback.

"I like you, Vivid, but you can't just insult the Dark Lord like that," he scolded, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Whatever."

Despite my physical nonchalance, I felt absolutely overwhelmed by the news of this upcoming meeting. How was I going to face Tom?

I parted ways with Maverick and headed to the library—one of the only places where I felt truly safe, without the weight of my roommates or Tom lingering on my shoulders. I decided to study for my O.W.L.s, which were fast approaching.

But thoughts of Tom still circled in my mind as I flipped through the pages of my spellbook. The mere thought of this evening made me feel stressed, but I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to make amends with Tom—to convince him that his undoubted feelings for me were okay.

The perfect opportunity to, perhaps, start the process of changing him for the better.

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