The Dark Lord's Queen||Tom Riddle

Chapter 7~Improvements and Interrogations

The ring lifted off the ground, one meter, two meters, three meters, before dropping to the ground.

I gasped and let out a squeal of delight as Tom simple smirked next to me.

"I knew you could do it," he said, pushing himself off the wall upon which he had been leaning. I waited for more praise, but after picking up and pocketing his ring he just looked out of the door of our abandoned classroom and them looked back at me.

"We ought to be going if we want to eat lunch." He swiftly walked out of the door, and after a minute at gaping after him, I followed him.

"Tom!" I whisper screamed, not wanting to draw attention to myself. Tom simply looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. I caught up to him and glared. "I just lifted something- with my mind! Don't you have something better to say than 'I knew you could do it'?" He just shook his head, looking amused, as we turned into the Great Hall.

"Melissa, your powers fascinates me, but you will never get one of those 'Oh my god you are the most amazing person ever!' reactions that your friends give you." He laughed at my frustrated expression as we walked by our tables.

"Tom, honestly-"

"See you tomorrow?" He inquired, stopping by the Ravenclaw table. I let out a sigh and pushed a curl out of my face.

"Tomorrow." He nodded, pleased, and then walked towards his table, looking back only once to wink at me. Shaking my head in disbelief, I made my way over to where my friends were sitting, placing my bag on the ground.

"Were you with Riddle again?" Callie asks me curiously. Nodding slightly, I plopped down in my usual seat, with Aly on my right and Zeke on my left. At least half of my friends frowned, or looked suspicious.

"Are oo guys like, best buhs now or sumfing?" Russell inquired around a mouthful of foods. I shot him a look of disgust, and sighed.

"No, calm down, he's just been, um- helping me with some things." Penny's mouth dropped open. I immediately regretted my word choice.

"WHA-"

"No, no, no, not like that, some spell stuff," I hastily said, trying to calm her down. Aly gave me a suspicious look.

"What happened to not trusting him?"

"Well-"

"And never being friends with a Slytherin?"

"I mean-"

"And not believing 'a single word that came out of his slimy Slytherin mouth'?" she quoted me.

"Aly-"

"And," Tessa piped in. "What happened to not falling for his heroic story from last year?"

"Well, it's not about-"

"What about how absolutely disgusting he is?" Zeke added, raising his eyebrows.

"Zeke, don't start-"

"Aaand, how about when you said that if you ever got along with a Slytherin, you were probably under the Imperius Curse," Aly said, staring at me. I faltered.

"When did I say that?" Aly shrugged.

"It was a while ago."

I took a deep breath. "Look, guys, I know I've always harbored a hatred for Slytherins, and I grew up in a pureblood household where a lot of Slytherin beliefs were upheld, but Tom and I-"

"TOM?" Aly shrieked, causing a lot of people to look our way. I frantically shushed her, not wanting others to eavesdrop. "You call him by his first name?"

"I thought calling him by his first name was like Taboo," Penny mused quietly, while Duncan nodded. (AN: See what I did there, with the Taboo name XD. Ok nvm, back to the story ;D )

I shook my head at the way they were acting.

"Calling him Riddle got kind of weird, so I just started saying Tom," I admitted. "Anyways, we just started talking in the library, and he knew a lot of stuff about different types of spells and stuff, so he just started talking to me about it, and I thought it was pretty cool-" They were all staring at me like I had grown another head. "-And before long, we just kinda became friends. It doesn't mean that I completely trust him, or ever will, it doesn't mean that I like every single Slytherin, but it does mean that you're going to see me talking to Tom more." Ty pretended to pass out at that, and I rolled my eyes.

"Well," Penny started, and I tensed up. "Can you introduce me to Malfoy, then? He's-"*dramatic sigh* "soooo hot."

I laughed, loving Penny at the moment, and responded "Sure, why not?" She beamed at me, and I knew that she would support me no matter what. Callie, however, leaned across the table, and spoke to me in a hushed tone.

"Do you like him?" I drew back, confused.

"What?" Callie, smirked, and arched an eyebrow.

"Do. You. Like. Him. As. More. Than. A. Friend?" She stared pointedly at me, and suddenly, I remembered her crush on Tom.

"Oh, no, Callie, don't worry I'd never-" She brushed my protests away.

"Oh Lissa, I only think he's attractive. I would never go further than a one night stand with him." I gaped, as she continued. "But, what I want to know, is if you are attracted to him, since you've been spending so much time with him."

I felt as if I had swallowed something heavy. Did I like Tom? After what he did to Rubeus? After he successfully wrapped everyone in this school around his pinky finger? Did I like Tom?

"No," I said finally, in a solemn tone, although my heart was racing. "No, Callie, I'm not attracted to him in the slightest."

Zeke let out a breath next to me, and I turned towards him, confused.

"Later," he said quietly, and I nodded.

"Now, is this interrogation over?" I asked everyone. Aly leaned back and stared at Tessa, who looked towards me and smiled.

"Yeah," she said, leaning over to squeeze my hand. "You know that we're all just looking out for you, right?"

I looked around at the people surrounding me. Aly, Tess, the twins, Connie, Zeke, the other guys, all people who I cared about, and who cared about me.

I smiled, a real, genuine, smile. "Yeah, I know."

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A bit of a filler chapter, but I just wanted to show you guys that Melissa is NOT isolating herself from her friends to be with Tom. Aaaand, she hasn't fallen head over heels for him, and she still doesn't trust him completely. In fact, she never will.

Thanks to all the people who have messaged me about my story, I love your feedback! <333

~Calliope Brown