A/N: We! Get! To! End! Terry! (Or, well, his relationship with Lena at least. Tom can do the rest later ^-^)
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It took two months for her to realize that Tom had been right about Terry Boot.
Two months for the nightmares and red flags to crack the golden necklace in half, making her realize that the bad things were louder when she wasn't being influenced by whatever magic was on that pendant.
And then Lena started to notice that his sunshine had been almost completely diminished.
He was now teaching older Slytherins how to run pyramid schemes in the common room, laughing at Theo's dark jokes about killing other annoying students, standing his ground against anyone who tried to get in his face, and often dragging her to abandoned classrooms so they could make out rather than study.
Not that any of that was too bad- even if the kissing was sort of meaningless to her - but he wasn't the same boy who had made her feel like she was doing something right.
Now his touch was laced with something uncomfortable, numbing against her skin in a way that she didn't like- but she didn't want to prove Riddle right. Not when they hadn't talked for longer than she liked, as Terry always told her that he thought the locket ruined her focus when she wanted to put it back on, to have Tom with her.
The other thing was that no one seemed to notice anything was wrong about Terry and she felt almost as if the boy was all she had anymore with how distant the others were being.
No one had said anything but Theo and he'd only claimed that Terry reminded him of his father, leaving it at that.
Lena was darkness and shadows and blood. The other Slytherins already had a bit of that sharpness and hidden ruthlessness, hence being resistant to her corrupting presence, but she'd seen the same thing happen still with Ginny and the rest of the house even if they kept the better parts of themselves safe from her corruption.
However, Terry had been exposed.
Without a shield or defense, the sunshine boy had been turned into a slimy shadow of his past self. Taken in by her possessive nature and left to foster an obsession of his own that reminded her of the diary... but worse, venom slicking his skin to make her numb to it.
She didn't feel regretful.
There wasn't much left of the boy she'd known to be regretful for.
"Terry." Taking his wrist so he stilled in where he was trying to slip it up her shirt, she pushed him back slightly. "I think that we should break up."
"Lena, I know that you're stressed with the end of the year exams next week, but really- this is silly. Let me take away some of that-"
She shook her head. "No, I think I'm fine without."
When she stopped him again, sighing and about to try to talk it out, his face twisted into something dark. "No!" Her hand was shoved away, breath coming shortly as she was pushed up against the wall of the empty classroom harshly. "You can't break up with me! Not with everything I've done for you! I think I've been patient in waiting for you to catch up, but now-" His hand moved to try to fumble with her jeans.
"Stop." The word, even without it being magic, had enough power in it to make the boy freeze. Ripping his hands off her and backing away, feeling her hands shake just slightly, she licked her lips and rubbed at her face. Taking out her wand, she pointed it at the boy. "You will remember this: you got tired of me and decided to break up, as I'm too taken with some boy named 'Tom' for your tastes. When you leave, you'll decide to go around the school and tell this to everyone who'll listen, as well as telling the truth about what you really think about the Slytherins. Mutatio Memoriae."
Lowering her wand and releasing the boy's frozen state, she watched as he turned to her with a slightly blank look. Then he sneered. "Why am I still here? You're just some popular skank, along with the rest of your friends. I had thought that I could get Greengrass behind your back, but she threatened to curse me, the bitch." Waving his hand at her, the boy sauntered out. "Whatever."
Releasing a deep sigh, she reached up with still trembling hands and took off the necklace, staring at it. Eyebrows furrowing, she brought it closer, actually looked at the intricacies of the designs for the first time. They were geometric but formed a pattern she knew was advanced arithmancy.
Letting it drop from her hand, she felt a wave of cold wash over her like ice water.
He'd used his knowledge of arithmancy in a sort of compulsion charm as he probably knew that she had protections again normal mind magic and amortentia.
Feeling slightly sick, she knew she'd be giving Albus the half of the pendant that had broken off. Then she stamped the heel of her shoe down on the necklace over and over until the raw ache of betrayal and rage had lessened. And for good measure, she flicked her wrist at the golden necklace and watched it melt under the flame of the controlled feindfyre.
Then when she could breathe again without her hands shaking, she made her way back to the common room slowly.
Blaise looked up with a hint of a frown on his lips when she entered. "Where's your boy toy?"
"I set him free to make a fool of himself." Lena sat back in her armchair, pulling her legs up to cross under herself. "He was kind of a jerkwad, wasn't he?"
The whole group shared looks of amusement.
Theo nodded with a slight smile. "Yeah. He was- thanks for finally noticing. We were considering taking your crown for continuing to let in that slimebag alone, much less for being so oblivious about it."
"No more relationships out of house then." Her smile was faint and didn't reach her eyes. "I've learned my lesson."
Lena sighed deeply, tired from the relentless jabs about her poor taste in men the Slytherins were dishing out as some sort of petty revenge and moved to her room so she could take a break- But she froze, paralyzed with fear when there was only an empty space where the locket usually sat.
Riddle.
How long...
She couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen the locket.
Searching her room and then moving back to scour the Common Room, she dug through the couch cushions, around the bookcases... but the locket was nowhere to be found. Leaned against her armchair heavily, she honestly felt like she was going to cry.
She'd lost her last chance, the last-
"Lena." And as if fate was punishing her, Terry's voice spoke up. "Would you like to go-"
"I thought I made it clear that I wanted to have nothing to do with you anymore." Her voice was chilled, her magic pooling around herself as she turned to glare poisonously at where the boy stood. "Now I am having a very bad night and unless you can give me one good reason I should not break one of your legs for daring to show your face in my presence, I would recommend you leave."
Terry blinked. "And here I thought I would get a kiss at least, what with how easy it was to take over... What a waste." The boy sighed softly in a way that had her pausing.
Stepping forward, she tugged the boy's collar to the side and let out a shuddering breath when a gold locket was hanging around his neck. Giving a deep shuddering breath and letting her head fall forward to rest on the possessed boy's shoulder, her voice was the barest of whispers. "Darling- my idiot darling... you scared the absolute life out of me."
A hand reached up to pet at her hair affectionately in a way Terry would never do, a chuckle vibrating through the broad chest and though it sounded different she could almost hear his voice in her mind. "I take that as a sign you missed me?"
"Merlin- get out of him you idiot- you'll get fleas." Pulling back and then pausing, she then brushed a hand against the possessed boy's cheek, smiling softly when he leaned into it with half-lidded eyes. "We'll have our day in the stars eventually."
"Not even a kiss? Just one?" Leaning in with the eyes bleeding into a sort of maroon, he paused just an inch away from her so she could feel the warm breath against her skin and then let his eyes flick between hers. "Strange... As much as I want nothing more than to steal your breath as my own for just a moment, I sort of hate the idea that I would be using this parasite of a body to do it."
She tilted her head with an amused half-smile. "Hm. Your obsessiveness and possessiveness seem to be warring with each other." Her lips stretched into a wider grin when he huffed slightly. "So? Who wins?"
"The one that's decided it will be much more satisfying to just curl up with you in our pile of blankets and happily await that day in the stars when I'll be able to feel your hair in my own hands." Maroon eyes still fixed on her with their faces inches apart, he motioned a hand lazily to the locket. "Care to do the honors?"
Reaching up to slowly unclasp the locket, she reverently clasped it around her own as Terry blinked slightly, making sure the locket was hanging securely around her neck before she let her hand curl into a fist around it, kicking the boy in front of her in the stomach. Magic following through with the action, she watched lazily as he was sent tumbling back, the wind firmly knocked out of him.
Darling?
"I'm here, lovely."
She let her hands clench slightly, stalking slowly to stand in front of Terry.
Good. If you don't mind, the pillows will have to wait just a moment.
Riddle's grin was audible. "Oh, no, take your time."
"Terry Boot." Her voice was glacial, sinking to her knee harshly and making the boy yelp as she did so right on his chest. "Tell me... did you enter my rooms without permission and take my locket?"
"N-no? Why would I want such a dumb thing?"
Reaching for his hand, she hummed softly as if a scolding parent and held it in hers gently. "Ah, but then why were you wearing it?" With a short movement, she snapped his ring finger so it was bent at a very painful looking angle, smiling grimly when he gave a short yell of pain. "You see... I am not usually a cruel person, nor don't want anything more than to make you leave my sight and never return, but you touched something very very important to me and I'm not feeling particularly merciful today."
Gasping in pain, the boy blinked up at her through tears in his eyes. "I- I stole it! But- but I didn't expect..." The boy's eyes darted to the locket with fear underlying his gaze. "It- it spoke to me! Told me that I would regret ever touching you!"
Oh?
"He already is, isn't he?" Riddle sounded like he was pouting, being called out this way.
You're adorable, darling.
Lena smiled thinly down at the boy. "Ah, was he charming then- the memory of my dearest Tom?" And when the boy shook his head slightly she frowned and grabbed his middle finger in a blatant threat.
"No- ah- he was charming! R-really charming!"
Letting go, she stood slowly and looked at the boy with a piercing stare. "Of course he was. My darling Tom is nothing if not charming. Now unless you wish to find out exactly why my darling and I are so very much alike... I would suggest that you not speak of what happened here. Ever." Tucking her locket into her shirt gently, she raised her eyes to look across the room to a group of sixth years that were watching her in well-disguised fear. "Lucian, if you would help Mr. Boot fix himself up, I would very much appreciate it."
Moving over quickly, the boy kneeled next to Terry and fixed his finger with a single spell.
"Is there something wrong here?" The heavy presence of Severus Snape moved silently from his door where she guessed he'd been lurking, looking at Terry with emotionless eyes.
"She-she broke my finger and- and that locket- it's cursed!" Terry pointed at her with a wave of his hand, the Common Room stilling as Severus slowly turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.
Lena tilted her head slightly, staring blankly back at him as if daring to do something.
"Mr. Boot, it is offensive slander to blame this on Miss Farland when you have no physical evidence. Not to mention this is not your House and I am appalled you would sneak into my student's private area." The man didn't look away from her, lip curling up slightly in a sneer. "Mr. Bole, if you would make sure Mr. Boot leaves..."
Lucian roughly dragged Terry to the door, slamming it shut behind the boy.
"Is this how you are planning to kill the Dark Lord? With childish spite and a temper that lasts only as long as something of yours is on the line?" Severus's voice was cool. "And here I thought we agreed that you would live until you turned seventeen. If not for my sake, for the sake of everyone in this room."
She let her lips quirk up slightly in a humorless smirk. "Funny, coming from the one who doomed me to an unfinished life from the moment he told the Dark Lord the prophecy that sent me to the orphanage."
The Common Room was as quiet as a grave around them, unwilling to provoke either of their ire.
Severus watched her for a long moment more before his shoulders dropped and he sighed slightly as he reached up to rub at his face tiredly. "And how long do you plan to keep being angry with me about something I had no control over?"
"Who knows." Shrugging slightly with a dark smile, she moved to set down more than a few chocolate bars on the table. "I have a very good memory after all."
No one spoke or got in her way as she stalked to her room, shutting the door firmly before going to lay down in her bed so she could curl up in Riddle's arms.
Sinking into her mindscape that was reflective of the Slytherin Common Room, she moved to stand by where he was sitting in a leather armchair. "Hey."
"Hey there, beautiful." Holding open his arms, Riddle smiled. "Come sit with me?"
Nodding slightly as she moved to sit across his lap sideways so she could lean into him, she sighed softly at the contact, the warmth clean and bright against her skin. "I missed you... Terry kept making excuses to not have me put you on, as I think he knew that you made me more resistant to his charm, not to mention he tricked me into wearing some sort of compulsion-laced necklace or something. It was strange- it seemed to make me more susceptible to his words and I'm going to have Albus look at it when I can."
Voice soft, the normally so composed boy wrapped himself around her, forehead tilting forward to rest against hers. "I missed you."
Closing her eyes, she pulled him closer, as if they were both trying to absorb the other into their very being. "I'm sorry I was so combative about him in the beginning. I wasn't thinking and you always know how to press my buttons to get me to act outside my normal logic."
With a soft chuckle, the boy nosed at her cheek slightly, his amused mutter a warm breath against her skin. "It's because you're too fun to wind up."
"Idiot."
"Brat."
Burying her face further into his chest, she sighed. "Never again."
Long fingers carded through her hair. "It's alright. As long as you come back to me in one piece, then it's alright, because at the end of the day as long as you're safe and in my arms, I won't be able to stay upset with you. Plus these trials we go through will just mean that when we decide to spend the rest of our natural lives living like this in each other's arms... that we'll know every side of each other and you'll be less likely to stab me."
"I would never." But her voice was amused.
"Really? I could feel the fire in your chest when you looked at that scum laying on the ground before you. Didn't you want to stab him?"
Lena gave a muffled snort. "You're nothing like him."
Pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, Tom hummed softly. "I hope not. Because if I was, then I would actively encourage you to leave me... and I have been waiting for the day that I will be able to hold you in my arms for so long that the thought of one boy ruining that for us makes me want to rip his throat out." His voice was soft, stroking back her hair gently though she knew that he was holding back real anger. "You are more precious to me than anything else, lovely. I would burn the world down before losing you to something I could prevent."
"You're such a sap." The mutter was teasing, though it lost its heat when it was muffled by where she was clinging to him in return, face buried in the collar of his robes.
She could tell he smiled at that. "Only for you, Lena. Only for you..."
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A/N: What a way to start the new year! 😉 Terry can go die in a hole :) Happy 2021!~