𝕬 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝕭𝖔𝖗𝖓 | 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 |

Chapter 23- Hogwarts and the Half-Giant

"No! Quin!" Frankie yelled, noticing what he was doing only seconds too late. He had pulled off the securing buckle and the book went crazy. The book was chomping on Quin's head; little pieces of paper were flying everywhere, while he yelled and struggled to pull it off. Frankie stood up on the couch, to reach the top of Quin's head, and stroked the spine. The book fell to the floor, defeated.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Quin asked, backing away from the book on the floor and jumping up onto the couch with Frankie.

"It's called The Monster Book of Monsters. Calm down—it's just a book." Frankie answered, stepping down to retrieve the book from the floor. She probably should've apologized or something, but she weirdly didn't feel like it. the incident was entirely his fault.

"Why doesn't that thing try to kill you?" he asked, looking at how she was actually holding the book in her arms.

"All you have to do is stroke the spine." she replied, opening the book to her bookmarked page. It was a miracle it stayed in there and didn't get destroyed. She had put her old scarlet red ribbon to use as a bookmark. However, seeing it in the pages now, it'd probably be best if she took it out. It wasn't anything too special, but it was one of the only things she still had from her parents.

"I'm going to take Ethan back to the room, till he stops hiccoughing..." Monty stated, suddenly, leading Ethan with him toward the stairs. He tried to put on a concerned expression about his friend being attacked. However, you could just see it on his face that he wanted to laugh about what had just happened. The two left, leaving an awkward silence between Quin and Frankie as she began to get back to reading.

"So, are you going anywhere for the winter holiday?" Quin asked, suddenly, in a desperate attempt to peel her away from her book and break the silence.

"No. I'm staying here again." Frankie replied, still sounding a little agitated. She was trying to tune him out and concentrate on her book.

"Aren't you going to be lonely? Hardly anyone is staying here."

"I have plenty of friends planning on staying at school."

"Do you mean like Riddle? He's not good company," Quin added. "I don't know why you continue to associate with a guy like that."

"Funny, he's said almost the exact same thing about you." Frankie replied, still trying to concentrate. If she just ignored him and kept reading, maybe he'd drop it and leave her be. However, it was hard after what he had just said about Tom. Sure, in the past Quin said things in a similar vein, and Tom had most certainly roasted Quin to shreds with even harsher words. But for some reason today it felt more infuriating. Slander against Tom shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, when there was so much of it in the orphanage, but every time she couldn't help attempting to protect him. It'd been that way since the day they met.

"Yeah, but we're different people. He's a Slytherin. I mean—don't you ever get a bad feeling about him?" he stated. He drew closer to her face, trying to peer over at what she was reading that was apparently so much more interesting than him. She backed away immediately.

"What exactly is so wrong with being in Slytherin? You know not all of them are as bad as people make them out to be." Frankie snapped back, angrily shutting the book in his face.

"I'm not saying they're all bad. It's just that Riddle—"

"I've known Tom for a long time. He's not a bad person."

"He only acts sort of nice with you because he fancies you."

"Funny, he's said the exact same thing about you." she repeated, with a particular brand of severity that could've given Tom a run for his money. "It's strange to think both of you like me. Neither of you act like it at all...!"