Loyal | Tom Riddle

11: The Plan

"M-my Lord," Nikolai bowed. "Forgive me."

Tom inclined his head slightly, motioning lazily towards the door. "You may leave now."

"My Lord?"

"I said you may leave," he repeated forcefully, the door slamming against the wall as it opened at the flick of his hand.

Nikolai hesitated, his eyes lingering on all his friends' stone faces. Not a flicker of emotion registered on any of them.

Pushing himself off the window ledge, Nikolai set off for the door, stopping only once to bow much too low. "My Lord," he growled through gritted teeth, rising and shutting the door behind him.

Tom turned his attention back to those amassed before him, painting an amused smile on his face as if nothing had happened at all. "Does anyone else wish to leave?" he asked pleasantly. "Rise now if you do."

Nobody blinked.

"All right, then," Riddle said. "Where do we stand with our plan?"

Yaxley cleared his throat, standing up. "My Lord, it is nearly complete."

"And what do you mean by 'nearly?'" Tom said harshly.

"She has lost trust in that inferior Mudblood, my Lord, and is grief stricken still by her father's defection." Yaxley couldn't help the smile that curled across his lips. "We expect her to crack at any moment now."

Riddle nodded curtly, motioning for him to sit down as he toyed idly with his wand. "I see. If she hasn't broken down completely by next week, we must do something to... accelerate... her decision. It's time for a little meddling, boys."

✧ ✧ ✧

Arabella kept her focus trained on the broom closet's door. For three days now, she had crouched behind the statue of a three-horned goat rearing and waited for them to appear.

Every few minutes, she had to urge her mind to concentrate on the unchanging scene before her instead of wandering to thoughts of her father, her brother, and her boyfriend. Everything was falling apart, out of her control, and she despised that helpless feeling deep within her chest as she could do nothing but watch her life slowly tear itself into a million pieces. This was supposed to be her best year yet at Hogwarts, but now, only three months in, it was a complete disaster on every front.

A noise caught her attention, and as she raised her now glassy eyes to the door, whose knob had turned. Grasping desperately at her robes for her wand, Arabella fell backwards. Expecting to fall flat on her bottom, she instead hit something hard on her way down, something that gave out a little yelp of surprise.

Turning around to determine what had cushioned her fall -- or rather who -- her eyes narrowed. "How dare you come and--"

She was cut off when warm, familiar lips crashed onto her own, their owner's hands reaching out wildly to wrap around her torso as they balanced awkwardly on their knees.

When she pulled away, the door wiped from her memory, she was greeted with John's grey eyes smiling down at her. There was something different about them, almost as if they were the wrong colour or drained of their usual brightness.