Before He Was Voldemort (A Tom Riddle Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Note Passing

November, 1943

Even a few days in, the month of November was already proving itself to be even drearier than October. Seemingly, this was fitting. With the recent events that took place in Corinne's life, the gloomy outdoor atmosphere suited her demeanor well.

Corinne felt that she and Tom were back at square one, with neither of them on speaking terms ever since their kiss on Halloween. They couldn't even look at each other. She had two theories. Either Tom was so completely disgusted by the mere sight of her that he didn't want to have anything to do with her again, or he was simply too uncomfortable to speak to her. Corinne really couldn't see him as the type to become embarrassed by anything, so the odds of the second theory being plausible was low.

With the likelihood that Tom had now permanently removed himself from her life, Corinne was lonelier than ever. And she didn't think that was even possible.

Today was a typical drab Monday that no student in Hogwarts was particularly looking forward to. With a month until semester exams, professors were assigning homework in each class by the boatload. After a long weekend of writing five full parchments of a Potions essay and cramming for an upcoming Transfiguration quiz that she could not afford to fail, Corinne was in no shape to withstand seven hours of lessons. In fact, she was struggling to keep her head from falling onto her desk all during History of Magic. Just as she was about to drift off again, she heard a light plunk sound below her and glanced down.

Someone had thrown a folded up note onto her desk.

Professor Binns was, of course, not paying any attention to the class and was facing the chalkboard, which gave Corinne the opportunity to peek behind her to find the culprit of the note. Everyone in the class was either asleep, chattering in small groups, or staring off into the distance. There were a select few who were trying to scribble everything down that Professor Binns was saying. Then there was Tom, who showed no expression or sign of fatigue as his hand moved across his parchment with fluidity. As if he sensed her looking, Tom glanced up. Corinne's heart leapt when her gaze accidentally met his.

She spun around as quickly as she could, almost losing her balance and falling out of her chair. Now that would've been a catastrophe. She was suddenly out of breath, as if she'd just made eye contact with a Dementor that was beginning to suck out her soul. Each time Corinne blinked, she swore she saw the hue of Tom's deep blue eyes imprinted on the insides of her eyelids. The brief moment they just shared was the first time they had really looked at each other since the incident.

Corinne was so busy momentarily fretting about Tom that she forgot about the note. Her fingers paused as she started unfolding the paper. Could this be some sort of trick? She thought, pondering the possibilities. Perhaps Olive and her friends sent me a Howler, or Jinxed the note somehow.

Her curiosity got the better of her. The note was opened before she could stop herself. Corinne's whole body froze.

Olive told me this morning you moved out of our dormitory to go live with the house elves that work in the kitchens. Is it really true?

-Drusilla

P.s. I know you still fancy Riddle. Let me be the one to tell you that there is no chance that he will ever be interested in someone like you.

A familiar, obnoxious giggle from nearby made Corinne turn around. Drusilla Seymour, Olive Hornby's righthand woman in their group of friends, was whispering something into Alphard Black's ear, her red-painted lips sporting a smug expression as Corinne stared at her blankly. She was not in the mood to deal with Olive or her brainless minions today. Especially Drusilla, the daftest and sluttiest one of them all.

Corinne managed to keep calm until the end of class. She kept her head down as Drusilla and the rest of the slackers who sat in the back passed her. Not very subtle about it, Drusilla swept her manicured hand across Corinne's desk and brushed everything laying on it onto the floor. None of the remaining students in the classroom batted an eyelash at this act of cruelty. The girl laughed as she exited the classroom, leaving Corinne in her state of disarray.

A massive mess laid around Corinne's desk. Her books, parchment, and quills were strewn about, and even a full bottle of ink had shattered from hitting the floor, splattering black ink everywhere, including all over Corinne's shoes. Sighing, she leaned down and began gathering up her items, not even caring that this would make her late for her next class. Just as she was about to grab her now ink-covered textbook, another set of hands had beat her to it, picking it up with grace and holding it out for her. Corinne recognized those pale, nimble fingers anywhere.

Without looking directly at Tom, she muttered, "Thanks," before reaching out to take her book from him.

"Wait," Tom said, pulling out his wand and pointing it to the book, whispering some sort of foreign incantation that cleaned all the ink off the book. He proceeded to do the same to everything else on the floor that was covered in ink, then muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa," to return everything onto the desk. Corinne sat in her seat, stunned.

"You're welcome, Carrow."

She finally looked up at Tom, who was gazing down at her amusedly. He seemed pleased to leave her so speechless. It reminded Corinne of how he treated her before they kissed. His typical arrogant, egotistic attitude towards her has returned. But why all of a sudden?

Before she could say anything, Tom beat her to it yet again. He held out a slip of paper for her and added, "Here's a tardy slip. Consider yourself lucky."

And with that, he strode out of the classroom without another word, leaving Corinne utterly bewildered and dumbstruck. Looking at her, it would seem comical how her mouth gaped open and her eyes widened. No one has left such an effect on her like Tom Riddle has done. She was frustrated, yet completely entranced by him. He truly lived up to his namesake; a living riddle that was impossible to solve.

Drusilla's harsh words echoed in her mind: Let me be the one to tell you that there is no chance that he will ever be interested in someone like you.

Corinne's focus was brought back to reality when student by student began walking into the classroom for the next class. Panic bubbled in her chest. There was no way she could avoid getting detention from Professor Merrythought. Unless...

The tardy slip. Being a Prefect, Tom had the authority to hand out occasional tardy slips to students experiencing emergencies. Tardy slips coming from Tom Riddle were extremely scarce. Corinne didn't have the faintest clue why Tom gave one to her, but she sure wasn't complaining. He's helped her out more today than she ever thought he ever would in a lifetime.

Just to see if it was too good to be true, Corinne inspected the slip for its authenticity as she made her way up the series of moving staircases to the third floor to Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. It seemed legitimate, with Tom's signature scrawled neatly at the bottom. For no real reason, Corinne flipped the paper over, and stopped in place. She had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing it correctly. But it was unmistakably Tom's handwriting. She recognized it from when they used to exchange notes.

The message was short, but it was enough to get Corinne's heart racing.

Meet me by the Black Lake at midnight. Do not be late.

- T.M.R.

~ ~ ~

A/N: I know you guys have been waiting for a new chapter for ages, and I apologize for the long wait! Thank you to those who have kept this story in your libraries and waited patiently for this. I hope this little comeback chapter was alright.

I will post the next chapter next Tuesday. This may change, but I'm gonna go for posting one chapter a week until I can get a good pace going again.

I hope you guys enjoyed! I'd love for you to vote, give me feedback, and maybe share! Thanks for reading!

-MeganWritesBooks 💋