RIDDLE. DISCONTINUED

➹ chapter eighteen

18 | take my hand

TOM RIDDLE'S HEAD SEEMED about to go astray. He walked side by side with Merope, both lacking the courage to utter any word. When adverting his gaze to her, though, he could not seem to accomplish the understanding of her brain -- mostly because, well, she seemed to be skilled in Occlumency and left no small dot for him to look into.

Still, he was confused by her actions. I allowed the basilisk to kill someone, he thought, why did she not leave me?

They had a silent agreement between each other, something that allowed him to reveal himself as he was, but he had never truly shown his true colours to her. Yes, he had been rude on a couple of occasions, but had never let her see what he could actually be -- desperate for power, even if that meant to kill someone. In part, Tom had refused himself to be that comfortable around her because she and her intelligence might come in handy one time, he didn't want to scare her away.

But once he let that atrocious side of him be revealed, she hadn't fled to Professor Dumbledore like he had expected, and that made a subtle admiration grow for that girl. She had even done as much as kissing him, -- something that he never quite understood about teenagers like him -- probably out of pity. How could she still find something worth being bothered for in a monster as vile as him? He couldn't understand it.

Merope's mind was blank. She walked through the stone floor in automatic mode, focusing only on trying to ease the headache that was starting to build up. She's dead. There is a girl death inside the castle. As they began to reach the Astronomy tower, something clicked inside of her brain. It was not time for class yet, they still had some minutes to spare -- time to arrange a convincing plan.

"Thomas," she said, making him stop along with her, she gestured to a small place under the stairs to where he followed her before speaking again, "we need an alibi."

He nodded, she could see how he quickly understood her words. "What do you suggest?"

They had both been out of everyone's sight, and when they found the girl, the professors will think firstly of the people who weren't inside the Common Rooms -- and with this much danger lurking around, the people who dared to roam the castle were very few. Suddenly and intensely, a sharp pain hit her temples before she could developed her thoughts any further.

"I can't think," her hand moved to massage her forehead, dropping the it after feeling a raise of temperature, "and I don't think I'm in much of a condition to simply lie."

He nodded once more, placing his hand back where she had been a second before. He frowned. "You're extremely hot."

"I know I am," she said, offering him a small smile. He removed his hand from her forehead, "bloody hot, even."

"I don't think we have time for your wise comments," he began, voice dripping with sarcasm while leaning further against the wall, "and I think I may have something working for both of us. You may not like the idea, though."