Star Crossed

Chapter Six- The fourth silhouette

It was now reaching the end of February, and the icy weather had turned to a blanket of thick cloud and heavy rain. Tom had been particularly distant over the last month, with us all. He had not attended out first meeting of the New Year, and to Wiglaf's annoyance hadn't even had the 'decency' to send an owl.
I had continued to wear my necklace, hidden underneath of my shirt, and had so far avoided any more questioning from Wiglaf. Yet I would be foolish and optimistic to believe that he had forgotten about it, Wiglaf was always unable to drop an inquiry until he has obtained a satisfying conclusion, a trait funnily enough he shared with Tom.
It was not until the last day of February that we would hear from Tom. I was sat watching Lazarus and Wiglaf play a heated game of wizard chess (Lazarus is a sore loser) in a secluded corner of the Great Hall. He approached us calmly and sat down beside Lazarus, opposite me and Wiglaf. Not an indication of awkwardness regarding the fact he had chosen to ignore us for weeks.
"Risky move Lazarus," he smirked, as Lazarus moved one of his Bishops, resulting in it being taken.
"Dam it!" Lazarus exclaimed, slamming a fist onto the table.
Laughing, I turned my attention back to Tom and my laughter faded. I couldn't help but notice how tired and run down he looked, his skin was if at all possible paler than usual and his eyes looked heavy and had deep dark circles enclosing them. He made eye contact with me and averted his eyes under my concerned gaze.
"What do you want Tom?" Lazarus snapped,
"Not very friendly Laz," Tom chuckled, "It's really no one else's responsibility that you lost yet again at a game of wits and logic," he winked at Wiglaf, who smirked back in return.
"Perhaps I could give you good healthy competition some time Wiglaf," Tom prepositioned,
"Accepted," replied Wiglaf curtly,
"Well I can't wait for that one. Let's see you lose," Lazarus said spitefully,
Tom merely smiled at him clearly amused.

The bell chimed as we all stood in unison ready to break apart once more to attend our respective classes, Wiglaf disappearing the chess board and its pieces into thin air with a casual wave of his wand. I looked around me quickly trying to catch sight of Tom, who I found gracefully slipping his way through the crowd of students pushing through the great double doors leading out of the Great Hall.
"Hey," I gasped, slipping my hand around his thin wrist to stall him as we entered the corridor. I felt him tense under my touch and I quickly realised him. He turned around quickly on the spot to face me,
"McLaggen," He addressed emotionlessly, I faltered. I thought perhaps we were past formality, I felt my chest give a little tug.
"Tom I... are you alright?" I asked weakly. I inwardly cringed, I sounded ridiculous.
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Yes..." He said tersely
"Well good," I replied, biting my lip. "I was just concerned, I haven't seen you for a while," I continued sheepishly.
"As much as I am flattered that you are clearly missing my presence, I have been busy..." he responded, a smirk sitting firmly in place as he blue eyes bore into me,
I felt an all too familiar prickly heat raising into my cheeks, I knew I had just become two shades pinker,
"You flatter yourself Riddle," I smirked, trying to rescue my pride, "You do look tired," I continued more seriously. Tom clearly felt the shift in tone, as his amused expression was replaced by one that was completely unreadable.
"I am not tired. I am very well," he replied, his voice now becoming unmistakably colder. "Now if you will excuse me, we both have classes to attend,"
"I..." but before I could reply Tom had already turned back around swiftly and continued to walk down the corridor, becoming lost in the throng of students still bustling through the halls, I sighed.

The sky had started to turn a deep crimson as the winter sun set behind the horizon, I sat as I often did on one of the stone boundaries, swinging my legs idly, I thick winter cloak still draped around me to block off the chill, my hand repeatedly tracing the outline of my pendant through my thin shirt. No matter how hard I tried my thoughts continued to return to Tom and the brief conversation we had, had earlier that day. I grumbled to myself shaking my head, what I really needed to think about was Quidditch practice, the new season was quickly approaching and Gryffindor needed to claw back their reputation after the shameful defeat to Slytherin at the end of the previous year.
Movement in the distance across the large expanse of the castle grounds caught my eye. I straightened myself up and leaned forward, wondering if my eyes had simply played tricks on me as I stared.
Four black clad figures stood gathered on the edge of the forbidden forest. My curiosity raising its ugly head as it often did, I pushed myself gently off of my perch and began to walk across the grounds, keeping close to the boundaries as to better conceal myself. I stopped, around twenty feet away from the figures, masking myself behind a large oak tree; I frowned trying to peer around the side of my hiding place.
My breathing hitched in my throat as I recognised the shadowy figures. Abraxas Malfoy, an obnoxious, self-obsessed Slytherin in my year, Christian Avery and Fabian Lestrange two well respected Slytherin's from Tom and Wiglaf's year that I only recognised from their frequent trotting around the castle after Tom like a pair of attention hungry lap dogs. I squinted my eyes, the fourth and final figure of who seemed to be holding the conversation, had their back to me and the hood of their cloak pulled up over their head. I tutted urging them to turn around so that I could get a look at their face, after waiting for what felt like an agonisingly long time to be hiding behind a tree on a cold February evening, the figures appeared to stop talking and began to turn towards the castle ready to head back across the grounds. My stomach churned as I caught a glimpse of the fourths profile. There was no mistaking those handsome. sharp pale features. What was Tom doing? Whatever it was could not be good if Malfoy of all people was involved, I frowned.