Not About Angels (A Tom Riddle Story)

Chapter 20

I walked by, 

So did you. 

I looked at you, 

And you glanced at me. 

And I thought, how I loved you so. 

More than you can ever imagine. 

................................................

Penny's new presence disturbed utterly Abigail's short-lived peace. Penny, always quite the social butterfly, was quick to befriend the other girls in their dorm. 

 Penny glanced upon Abigail, her glare  laced with an unexplained sense of bitterness. 

At the same time, Abigail trained harder than ever for the upcoming quidditch game. She threw herself entirely into the game, giving it her all and more. Every morning, she got up earlier than any soul in the castle, to practice her movements in the darkness, even before Gabriel arrived.  

Her hands were covered in callouses and bruises from the broom. Her palms so weathered that they bled in between cracks on the skin. Her legs blue and purple from the falls and dives, her cheeks stung pink by the harsh November wind. 

But she beat on, against the bitter current. 

Gabriel clapped, cheering for her impressive battle with the ever-mischevious golden snitch. 

"Record time!" He yelled from below. 

She beamed.  

"Are you ready?" Gabriel asked. 

"I guess. I hope." 

"Be more confident, Wool. I see your moves, give yourself some credit."  

She only smiled. In that smile, Gabriel saw an untainted sense of pride, of genuine kindness. 

A purity unseen anywhere else.  

"Where are you from?" he suddenly asked, curious. 

"Me? London." 

"I've lived there before. What do your parents do? I've always been a bit curious about muggles and their jobs. Like I've heard they have these people to fix your teeth. Denters? Dentures? Something like that."  

"Dentists." She corrected. "But I've never seen one. Only rich people can afford them. They don't have those at the-" But she stopped herself, self-conscious.  

"At the what? " 

"Nothing. About my parents-uh-well, I miss my mother terribly." She said, smiling again to cover up the hurt in her eyes. 

"All first years do. Need a tissue?" he remarked, teasing.  

"Why do you have a problem with first years?" 

"I don't. They adorable, for the most part. It's a process, you see. Every first year goes through it."  

"But not you. You didn't go through it." She said. 

"Why not me?" 

"Because you're Gabriel Delacrioux. I hear loads of people talking about you."  

"Yea? What do they say?" 

"I-I can't repeat that! They talk about your hair and-whatever." 

"What is that "whatever"? What are the people saying about me?" 

"Never mind. I have to go to breakfast. I'm hungry."  She responded, turning pink at the thought of the outrageous things the girls whisper about him. His hair, his body, his everything.   

They also say those things about Tom Riddle. 

He laughed, amused.  

As her small silhouette faded in the background, he couldn't help but wonder, who is this girl?  

She came from a different world. 

He could not quite wrap his finger around it, but her intricate sense of simplicity fascinated him.   

Who is this Abigail Wool? 

................................................. 

Down the breakfast hall, Tom Riddle sipped his pumpkin juice, reflecting on the events of the past few days. 

The voice. The spiders. The snake. 

An unknown past, finally brought to life. At last, he felt at ease with the past. 

So what he suspected, or rather, hoped, all along was true. He was no common orphan, no abandoned muggle-born. He was an heir.  

Heir to the single greatest legacy on the earth. 

Heir to the legendary Salazar Slytherin. 

All of a sudden, everything made perfect sense.  

He saw a small, worn figure entering the great hall, her robes wrinkled, her hair ruffed by the   Abigail sat down next to Sam and Cassie, across from Penny. Sam seemed to be the only one not warming up particularly to Penny, and for that, Abigail felt a tug closer to her friend. 

Penny greeted Abigail with another pointed glare of hers, forcing Abigail to look down into her plate. 

"How was your secret little rendezvous? Tell me everything." Cassie said immediately, dropping her waffle. 

" What secret what now? He's training me for quidditch. It was fine." 

"By that, do you mean that he was fine?" Cassie said, smiling. 

"Oh piss off! If you like him that much, just go up and talk to him!" Abigail said, a laugh playing on her lips. 

"She wouldn't dare, in a thousand years!" Sam said, chiming in. He shook his head in mock disappointment. 

"Not true!" 

"Yea? Why don't you go on now? Oh look! He's walking in with his friends as we speak!" Sam teased, pointing to the doorway.  

"Don't point!" Carrie said, covering her reddening face, suddenly embarrassed.    

Abigail's eyes couldn't help but drift off to the Slytherin table, watching Tom tell some seemingly amusing story to his friends.  

She couldn't help but notice how the morning light bounced off his temples, illuminating his chiseled, beautiful face. 

In the morning light, he was her angel again. 

The one by the moonlight. 

The one blazing in her feverish dreams, the one by the flower-covered sea cliffs. 

The one who rescued her from all the demons that lived inside the cold concrete walls of the orphanage.  

For a moment, his eyes latched with hers. 

A moment later, that connection was broken off. He turned his cheek to Avery, beside him. 

Penny noticed it too, rolling her eyes into high heaven. 

Short chapter for now :) But I promise, more is coming.