Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

49: His first Horcrux (Part 1).

Rubeus Hagrid was expelled the next day. He was walked out by 6 aurors, his large wrists in chackles. When the group marched past her in the hall, Rubeus' face red from what she assumed had been tears, she couldn't bring herself to look him in his eyes. Guilt had been consuming her the whole night. She hadn't slept a minute. She had no idea what was going to happen to the boy; he was so young after all. Maybe he wouldn't be punished too severely. Maybe he would even be spared a prison sentence.

The days after went by in a haze. Shiv attended her classes, but most of the time she couldn't even remember that she had sat through the entire hour. When she looked down, she was often surprised when she looked down at her notebook and saw that she had made notes. After classes, she spent every free minute in the library, pouring over books and finishing homework that wasn't due in more than two weeks. Her continued sleepless nights were spent with her head in books as well, a desperate attempt to shut out the thoughts racing in her mind. She read hundreds of pages without actually processing the words. She had finished 3 novels in 2 nights already; she had no idea what they were about.

On Friday night, people started leaving. Shiv said goodbye to Anthony and the Rosier twins in the blue twilight on the steps of the courtyard. She was dazed with sleep deprivation, and the remaining bit of wine out of an old bottle she had found and finished earlier hadn't helped much.
Tom wasn't there to say goodbye. She hadn't seen much of him at all, in fact. The last time she had seen him was in the dark entrance hall a few nights ago.
The only people left were Shiv and Abraxas, now waving off the others as their horseless carriage pulled away.

'How are you doing?' Brax said, standing next to her still waving. 'And don't lie. You look terrible.'

She didn't even have the energy to fight him. Dully, she reached in her pocket for her pack of cigarettes. She opened it, lit one, and then glanced up at him wideways.
'I'm still alive,' she said with a faint grimace.

He let out a small chuckle, but he took off his scarf and draped it over her shoulders. Behind the answer, he had clearly spotted a fragile, exhausted young woman. His demeanor reminded her of Altair a little, the respectful but gentle way he approached her.
They walked back in silence. Shiv was glad. She didn't know if she would be able to hold down a genuine conversation right now.
When they parted, she even forgot to hand him back his scarf. He either didn't notice or didn't care, gave her a hug, and went off to the dungeons.

The castle was quiet. Only a handful of students had decided to stay this week. Many were going anyway, but the panic of the last few weeks had caused many to make last-minute arrangements.
One of those students was Florance. She had originally planned to stay at school with Shiv, but when Milo decided to go home late last night (she was sure the fact that Tom was staying at Hogwarts that week had something to do with it), she followed.

They'd exchanged a hurried goodbye right after Shiv returned from the library, a little before midnight. She couldn't really let the emotions in, afraid she would end up crying the whole night. There was something about Flo leaving that made her develop a huge sense of dread. She felt truly alone now; her dorm completely empty, the common room quiet.

She walked over to the small kitchen corner in Ravenclaw tower. She opened cabinet after cabinet until she found a half empty bottle of firewhiskey hidden behind a crate of butterbeer. She took it with her to the couch closest to the crackling fire.
The bottle was empty in about 10 minutes, and Shiv dozed off in a dreamless sleep.

When she woke up, it was too late to get breakfast. She read a simple mystery novel for an hour, than started going through her trunk to find pieces of clothing that needed to be altered, until that turned boring as well. Around noon, she strolled downstairs by herself, wondering if their was any lunch served already.