𝐵𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑒 ; ᴛᴏᴍ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴏʟᴏ ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇ

7

The screaming continued and Lilith didn't know what to do.

Abraxas took Lilith's hand and guided her through the crowd.

Everyone was in a state of shock. No one knew where the screaming came from.

"Who's screaming?" Theo asked, looking in the bathroom where they first heard the scream.

"We don't know, you dipshit. That's why we're trying to figure it out." Gatsby said, silencing everyone.

Everyone was silent and they hear another scream of agony in the distance.

"Merlins beard—" Catherine mumbled.

They tried to do something about the screams but they were just hopeless students.

"Students are out of bed!" Dippet said in an angry way.

"Fuck. What do we do?" Abraxas asked all of the seventh years.

"Run." Lilith answered as Dippet's voice grew closer.

All of the students nodded and rushed towards the exit including Lilith.

Once they got out, they all started running as fast as they could back to their house dormitories.

But Lilith stayed behind.

She had to find Tom.

Lilith ran through the empty corridors. The darkness made it hard to see.

She got out her wand.

"Lumos." Lilith whispered. She felt someone breathing down her neck and she turned around pointing her wand at them but they were quick and grabbed her wrist before she could point her wand at them.

Lilith made out who it was.

Black, wavy locks, light blue eyes that looked clouded, perfect bone structure, and they stood over Lilith.

"Riddle." Lilith whispered and Tom didn't say anything.

Instead, he let go of her wrist and took her wand.

"Hope you weren't planning on attacking me, Rosenyx." Tom glowered at her.

"I would've if you weren't too quick with your reflexes." Lilith shot back.

Tom smirked a little and made her lit wand go dark without saying a word.

His eyes darted around and he heard footsteps.

The footsteps grew closer and so did a light.

They got a clear view and saw blonde hair and a tall figure.

"Malfoy. What are you doing?!" Lilith asked him.

"Was wondering where you were." Abraxas answered plainly.

"I was just catching up with Tom." Lilith said passive aggressively.

"Tom's here?" Abraxas asked, shining his lit wand around.

Lilith looked around to see no one else but them.

"No. He isn't." Lilith said, unsure.

-

Lilith had only been to Hogwarts for three days. Three.

And yet, it felt like years.

The news of what happened at the party last night only remained between the seventh years.

Lilith didn't see Tom anywhere and Abraxas couldn't bring himself to look at her for some reason.

"I'm telling you, what happened at the party wasn't normal." Theo said, putting his wand back in his robes.

"Obviously it wasn't normal, you mentally deficient pain in the arse." Gatsby said, hitting his shoulder.

"What's got you bloody mad?" Caspian asked Gatsby.

"Didn't you notice that when the screaming started, Tom Riddle disappeared." Gatsby said, trying to get them to connect the clues.

"No, he was with Lilith, right? Lilith?" Catherine said, looking over at Lilith who sat upright, staring at the wall with a dead look on her face.

"I'm going to ask Slughorn something. I'll be back." Lilith said, monotony.

She grabbed her bag and got out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible.

Lilith darted into the dungeons and towards the Potions classroom.

She opened the door to see not only Professor Slughorn but Tom Riddle as well.

Professor Slughorn sat at his desk while Tom was standing in front of a fireplace with his hands behind his back.

Tom has his robes on and didn't look distressed or worried at all. As if what happened last night, hadn't happened at all.

"Why, Miss Rosenyx. I was just answering one of Tom's questions. Come in, come in." Slughorn invited her in with a warm but worried smile.

Lilith looked at Tom and looked at Slughorn.

"It seems you're occupied. I'll come back another time..." Lilith said, backing away.

"Nonsense. Come on in. Tom doesn't bite. Hopefully." Slughorn said, chuckling at his own statement.

Tom looked at Lilith with a vacant expression on his face. It was like as if he was testing her.

"I was just about to leave, sir." Tom said, his eyes fixed on Lilith.

"Hope you enjoyed your first few days at Hogwarts, Lilith." Tom said as he left the classroom.

Slughorn's smile dropped immediately.

"Did something happen?" Lilith asked Slughorn.

"I am just worried about Hogwarts. We've had incidents happen over the years and the safety of the students aren't fully guaranteed." Slughorn said, lowering his voice.

Lilith looked at him eagerly.

"Things at Hogwarts are worse than before. The screams we heard last night were something of dark magic that can only be produced by an heir of the houses founders. A scream of terror and agony which means that danger has come. And that danger is in Hogwarts right now. Of course, I wasn't allowed to say that. Goodness me, forget every you heard." Slughorn was frantic with his words and he pressed his two fingers on his temple with a look of worry.

"What do you mean by that?" Lilith asked.

"You shouldn't be too curious. It's not good for you to be worrying over nonsense. Now what did you want to ask me?" Professor Slughorn straightened his glasses and cleared his throat.

"I was just going to ask about Tom. Tom Riddle. He's a clever student and I would like to learn more about him. It's impossible for me to learn from him so I figured I'd ask his favorite teacher."

"Well, he is a very intelligent boy," Slughorn took a deep breath. "He may be hard to get through but he's a good student and peer. He's top of his class in potions and Defense against the Dark Arts, I believe. He's also a long time member of the Slug Club. Ah! Speaking of, I'd like you to join Slug Club. It'd be nice to have a change since it's been rather dreadful these past few weeks. I see in your records that you're an excellent student so you'll fit in easily."

Lilith smiled and was smiling even wider internally. "I would love that, Professor. Remind me when the club meetings are."

"I will. There are also dinners and parties that you'll love. I believe our next dinner is in a month or so. Well, off you go then. I suppose you have studies to get to and I don't want to keep you here too long." Professor Slughorn got up from his desk and Lilith followed as he walked with her to the door.

Before she left, Slughorn managed one last thing to her.

"Try talking to Tom sometime. I'm sure he'd love nothing more than to interact with a new perceptive mind."