I arrived back in the dorm, Cathy was already awake. She was sat at the desk, studying quietly. I closed the door behind me as I entered and sneaked over to her. She already had her school clothes on and was staring down at the piece of paper, trying to figure what to write.
She turned around and jumped when she saw me, when she realised it was just me she signed loudly and the first thing she looked at were my clothes, then she sniffed me strangely.
"You smell like...Riddle. Are you wearing his clothes...wait. Have you been doing something with him?" She inquired as I sat down beside her, kind of implying that she thought we were doing something sexual. She glared at me as if she was disappointed and I leaned back in my chair trying to find a way to word it.
"He...uhm. He brought me some clothes, it was very cold down there, nothing happened though. We just spoke." I tried to be as honest as possible but I left out a lot of details.
"He's manipulating you, whatever you do don't trust him. He wants you to trust him so he can hurt you even more." She informed, maintaining an odd expression. She looked over my clothes once again then back at her work. I kind of agreed with her, but maybe this is real, maybe he's becoming...nice.
"Have you thought of taking anyone to the ball?" I queried, walking over to the cupboard to collect my robes. I opened the drawer then looked back at Cathy who seemed nervous and scratched her head hesitantly.
"I- I don't know, Thea. There's this boy I like..."
"Ron?" I interrupted. She shook her head and dropped her pen, which made a huge blot of ink, ruing the work she was writing. She cursed quietly then began to speak again.
"...not Ron, Ron was just a...cover up, I suppose, for the boy I truly love. I want to keep it a secret for now because I know he doesn't love me back. Unrequited love. He will never love me the way I love him. I don't know what to do." A tear spilled out of her eye, she held her cheek in her hand and looked down out of sadness. I ran over to her and wrapped my arms around her, she nested her head in the crook of my neck and tears kept leaking out.
"Who could not love you, Catherine? You're the sweetest, most intelligent...the best girl I've ever met. This boy you're talking about must be out of his mind for not loving you." She held my waist softly, sniffles and crying sounds filling the room.
"We've been best friends ever since first year at Hogwarts, we met in a compartment and had an instant connection. We tell eachother our secrets. My, I remember that one day, I hurt my leg when falling down some stairs and he comforted me the whole night at the infirmary. God do I love him." She sniveled. I began to suspect who it is, Timothy or Blaise. It has to be one of them, it has to be.
"I will be able to help you much more if you tell me who this boy is." I stated, and she looked up at me, her blue eyes painted with tears, stuttering a little bit.
"T- Timothy." She trembled. I knew it.
"Why would you think he doesn't love you, you two always seem to be together." I comforted, but she pulled away from my touch.
"He...h- he likes you, Clover." She said, a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"What? No..no, we're friends." I admitted, shocked at her words.
"He's planning on asking you to the ball. This morning...today." My mouth fell open in shock.
"As friends, right?" I began to feel a bit nervous and bit my lip.
"I don't know, he didn't state anything like that."
"Why don't we all go together, hmm? Me, you and Timothy. Blaise is going with some girl in Ravenclaw, I heard. As friends, obviously." I reasoned, a small smile lit up on Cathy's face, "I'll make sure to give you some alone time." I whispered quietly and she rolled her eyes.
"Thank you so much, I thought you were going to take this the other way." She gave me one last hug then picked up a tissue from the desk and wiped away the mascara that had fallen down her face.
"If you love him, I'm not going to get in the way of anything, okay? Don't ever think that. I'm going to go get dressed now." I said and she nodded. I went over to my side of the room and began to get dressed.
A knock on the door was heard and I quickly put on my robes then headed over to the dark door. I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned it, nervous to see who was on the other side. I sighed as I saw chocolate brown eyes and a huge smile.
"Good morning." Timmy grinned, sliding through the doorway. He looked over at Cathy's tearstained face and ran over to her, they hugged eachother and I left the room leaving them alone. They were absolutely adorable together, I just hoped and hoped that Timothy liked her back.
A few minutes passed and I came in again to see the two of them joking together on the bed. "Heyy, Clover, can I talk to you?" Timmy requested, he got off the bed and gave Cathy one final hug before walking out of the room with me.
"Can I say something first?" I pleaded and he smiled, nodding kindly, "I thought maybe you, me and Cathy could go the ball together. And we can swap around our dance partners, is that okay with you?"
"Yes that's perfect!!" Timmy beamed, "I was actually about to say the same thing. You two are my favourite girls ofcourse."
"Why, thank you. That's the best title I've ever been given." I stuck my tongue out and he gave me a playful nudge before we opened the door and entered the room once again.
"Sooo, we're going to be eachothers ball dates!" Timothy shouted over to Cathy who was smiling crazily, "Oh by the way, you know that Ravenclaw girl Blaise asked to the ball, Daisy or something. They're going on a date after school today so maybe I could get a suit in hogsmeade and you two could get dresses!!"
"I can't wait." Cathy exclaimed, "But we should really be getting to class now, what do you two have."
"Astronomy." I grumbled, Timmy rolled his eyes, "You?"
"Herbology, it's quite interesting I suppose." Cathy muttered, picking up her books from a drawer.
I let Timmy and Cathy walk together infront of me as I followed behind. I noticed them gazing eachother at random moments or Timothy making a joke and her laughing. I just wished that one day I would have a connection with someone as beautiful as theirs.
Cathy went another way and we waved as she went down a lone corridor, leaving me and Timmy alone. I stepped next to him and he put his arm out for me to hold, I obliged with his request and placed my hand on his arm as we strolled through the corridors.
"Is she okay. She was crying, right? She wouldn't tell me why, oh, I hope she's okay."
"She's okay Timothy, it's about a boy, she really likes him and thinks he doesn't like her back." I explained, he looked over at her walking away, her bright red hair easy to spot in the distance. His eyes were pitiful as he glanced back at me.
"Ron?" He asked.
"No, it's someone else but I can't say, she'll tell you at some point I hope."
"This boy must be extremely stupid for not liking her back, she's just so...I don't know what I'd do without her." He exclaimed, a lot of sadness in his voice. I contained a smile at his words, the honesty apparent as we shortly arrived at the classroom.
Our professor wasn't in there which confused the two of us and there were students running around the classroom. Blaise was sat down at his desk, waiting patiently, he smiled as he saw us enter. I went straight over to him, asking, "Where is professor Sinastra?"
"She left us on our own, she told us she had business to attend to." Blaise spoke dryly. I looked around the classroom, noticing the students in there. Mattheo, Draco, Pansy and...another girl with green eyes and dark hair who was sat stood extremely close to Mattheo...Astoria. They were all stood in the corner of the class, seemingly gossiping between them. Mattheo saw me looking at them and waved at me, this gave me unwanted attention from his other friends. Astoria was giving me a bitchy glare and Pansy was laughing to herself.
"Hey, Clove," Blaise turned me around to face him. "I think Astoria might have joined their little group, I think it's for the ball so they all have dates. It's stupid really."
"About the ball, what happened with Daisy?" I wondered, sitting next to him on the desk. Timmy sat beside me, looking very interested to see what Blaise had to say.
"She's amazing, we are going to go on a date today. But I actually got a letter from Bella and I really don't know what to do." He mumbled pitifully, grabbing a letter from his pocket and passing it to me.
It read:
Dear Blaise,
I miss you so so much, my love.
I should've have sent you a letter sooner but it's just been really hard finding the money to get here and stuff.
Beauxbaton is a lovely school and the people here are so kind but without you, I just, I feel empty.
I really hope we can arrange to visit one day, here in France. I will tell you everything about the elites' stupid plot on me in person.
There is so much I need to tell you.
I love you,
Bella Rose.
"You need to send her a letter, you need to arrange to meet her. This could be your only chance." I asserted, passing him back the letter. He nodded and read the letter once again, a tear forming on his eye as he slammed it onto the desk.
"I will." He said, a saddened tone in his voice, "Who are you going to the ball with, mate?" Blaise shook his head and looked at Timmy.
"I've actually got the honour of going with both, Cathy and Clover!" He boasted.
"Hmm sounds fun," Blaise cackled, "Fuck, Riddle is coming over."
I turned back behind me to see Theo walking towards our desk, followed by Astoria. He looked quite worn out actually, his eye bags prominent, his clothes put on messily and a grim smile on his face.
The two of them sat next to each other by our desk, watching us with evil looks. Astoria made some stupid comments about us and after a few minutes I was completely fed up but tried to keep my cool. But every look, every snigger drew my closer and closer to the edge.
"If you're going to say something, say it to my fucking face." I ranted, standing up and pointing over at the two of them. They both chuckled and continued to make comments. Our professor still wasn't back so I knew this would be my chance to do something.
I stepped over to the two of them and got my wand out, pointing it at them, "Did you not just hear me? Don't you fucking dare think you can get away with saying bullshit about me and my friends!"
"Calm down, darling." Riddle teased, looking down at my wand then back into my eyes. That whole infirmary thing was a joke, a sham. He's back to normal and I hate him for it.
"Don't tell me to calm down, and don't call me darling." I stepped closer to him, my wand reaching his neck. Astoria was just beside him and brought her wand out, as Mattheo put his hand on her thigh. She pointed it at me. Blaise and Timmy exchanged scared looks as I brought my wand back ready to cast a spell.
"Expelli-"
"Miss. Diggory!" The sound of professor mcgonagall bellowed in my ears and interrupted my spell casting. Astoria was quick to put her wand away and leaned into Mattheo's chest as if nothing happened.
"Get back to your seat and give me your wand." She nagged, Mattheo was still laughing, his eyes completely fixed on mine as he placed his hands on Astoria's waist. I turned around and passed my wand to Mcgonagall, feeling humiliated as the whole class looked at me.
"Where is your Proffesor?" She questioned, putting my wand in her pocket.
"She left for some business." I answered, trying not look back at the faces of the students in my class.
"Miss, it's not her fault, the two of them were making fun of us." Timmy explained and stood beside me, "She was standing up for herself, you know?"
"Well, that's lovely, Clover, but I can't let you have your wand if you're going to abuse the rules. I will give it back to you at the end of the day, next time come to me if anything happens with them, okay?" Mcgonagall asserted, smiling then left the classroom probably to find Sinastra.
I turned back to the class whom were all talking amongst themselves, Mattheo and Astoria especially. They kept touching eachother and looking at each other seductively which made a burning pit in my stomach.
I sat back down next to Timmy and Blaise who both looked pretty awkward. They also noticed how close Mattheo and Astoria were and looked sick.
"Can't they get a room." Blaise joked, opening his astronomy book and looked through the pages. Timmy looked over at them then back at me and scratched his head.
"You okay?" He inquired, placing his hand on mine which was on the desk.
"I'm pretty tired and I feel like our teacher ditched us so we might as well go." I advised, standing up and walking towards the door. Timothy and Blaise followed, his hand still on mine.
"Where are we going to go though?" Blaise took my other hand, "Like aren't we going to get in trouble."
I looked back and most the other students were following us, Astoria barged past me and said, "Oops, didn't see you there." She smiled evily and took Mattheo's hand pulling him with her down the corridor. Riddle seemed kind of angry with her and looked back at me with a smirk. I didn't look back at him, knowing all he wanted to do was mock me.
"We could go to the astronomy tower or something." Timmy persuaded, tightening his grip on my hand as he saw Pansy and Draco joining the little gang.
"Sure, maybe our teacher is up there, seeing with how obsessed with astronomy she is." Blaise laughed.
We took a turn down a long corridor then up some stairs. The stairs were long spirals that seemed to go on for ever, each step tiring my even more until I could barely be bothered to move. Blaise and Timmy were basically pulling me like a dog on a leash once we got to the last few steps.
We finally arrived at the top and I took a deep breath, Blaise laughed at my tired state. I shoved him slightly and he shoved me back."Hey!" He shouted smiling stupidly. Timmy had already vanished through the doors into the tower.
I hadn't explored this part of the school yet so I was extremely excited to delve into this new area. I opened the door a bit further and went through, a sudden cold winter breeze greeted me and an enchanting view of the huge expanse of the grounds. The sky was quite bright as it was early in the morning, grey clouds were circling on the horizon.
I could see a group of familiar students laying together on the grass, the elites. Astoria was layed on Mattheo's chest and Pansy on Draco's. They all were looking off into the distance but after staring at them for a few moments Mattheo caught my eye. I looked away, feeling strangely embarrassed but could still feel his eyes on mine.
I stood at the edge of the tower taking in the views and enjoying the breeze on my skin. Timmy and Blaise stood by me, watching me in awe as I looked over every single part of the grounds. I remembered the words of my mother:
"we will find you a beautiful place to stay."
This truly was as she described. Even better, in fact. The perfect school, with the kindest people. But as I looked down at those horrible students below me, I realised it wasn't the most perfect school after all. Nothing can ever be perfect, not even something as gorgeous as this.
"It's lovely." Timmy interrupted my thoughts, "The view would be much better if those fuckers weren't down there to ruin it! I don't even know what they're doing, sunbathing in the fucking cold. I don't know anymore."
I looked down once again and Mattheo was holding a cigarette, a different cigarette.
"Muggle herb, hmm of course." Blaise rolled his eyes, picking at his fingernails as he sat down against a wall. I wasn't really sure what he meant, "Drugs?"
"Mhm." Blaise and Timmy replied in unison, they both looked at eachother and began to laugh. I couldn't help but laugh at their funny expressions and we all ended up laughing together against the wall. Tears welling our eyes at every single little joke made, even if they weren't even partially funny.
.
School finished earlier than normal today, an hour early.
Blaise went straight back to his dorm to get ready for his date, leaving me and Timmy to look for Cathy.
We found her leaving potions and once she saw us her gloomy look faded into a half smile.
We went straight to hogsmeade, not thinking about anything else but getting our outfits for the ball. Cathy was especially excited, talking about the colour of dress she wanted and the length. She said she wanted a light blue dress which was just past her knees. Timmy thought it was a great idea and knew that we would be able to find the perfect fit.
I didn't interrupt or join in their conversations, I didn't want to ruin what they had going. Cathy seemed glad that I wasn't getting in between them and I just walked to the side, feeling a bit like a third wheel but I was happy for them. They're my best friends, why wouldn't I be?
Soon after, we arrived at a dress shop in Hogsmeade. There were a few girls in our year around the shop. An old woman greeted us and led us over to the dresses, Timmy followed awkwardly.
"So, what are you looking for?" She asked us, I let Cathy speak first.
"A light blue dressed which ends just over the knee." She smiled. The woman nodded and went into a closet, she casted a spell and out came a dress exactly as described, it had a small and quite tight bodice and a long flowy skirt. It also had a white bow at the back which matched perfectly with the blue.
"I'm going to go over to buy a suit, you guys stay here." Timmy told us and left the store in a matter of seconds. Cathy had ran over to collect the dress and went into a dressing room to try it.
"What would you like, sweetheart?" She looked over at me.
"Oh, I haven't really thought about it yet." I spoke. She nodded and took my hand, leading me over to the closet. It was absolutely huge and the woman began to pick through loads of different dresses and picked out a gorgeous one.
It was a dark green, mid-thigh length, backless dress. She turned it around and the back was longer than the front, quite flowy and long which she showed me could be taken off which left the short simple dress. The bodice was quite tight and was heart shaped around the breast area.
"It's perfect." I said, she passed it over to me and grinned. I took the dress off her and went over to find Cathy.
I found her stood waiting outside the closet holding her dress. I didn't really feel like trying mine on and knew that if it didn't fit me I could always use a charm to enlarge or make it smaller.
We went to the counter and bought the dresses, I bought mine with some money Amos had given me before I got to Hogwarts. He actually gave me quite a lot of money, Cedric taught me how it all actually worked because I really couldn't understand any of it.
After we both the dresses, we left the shop and found Timmy stood just outside holding his suit. He took our dresses and put them in a bag.
"I'll look after them." He assured and he seemed to be looking to the side quite frequently. His eyes narrowing.
"Is it Riddle?" I looked behind me and Mattheo was stood with Astoria coming out of the dress shop with her dress in hand.
"Let's go." Cathy said, dragging us away and we started to walk back up to the castle. They followed just behind, talking about us as usual. They were especially talking about me being a third wheel which just reminded me of the first day I met Mattheo, when he was a third wheel, I couldn't help but laugh at the image in my mind.
I was awkwardly stood behind Cathy and Timmy, feeling somewhat vulnerable to the students behind me. They began to pace faster and moments later they were stood on either side of me.
"Good afternoon, Diggory." Mattheo said, standing right beside me. I didn't reply and began to walk quicker, trying to get back to the others. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back, Astoria had disappeared now and was further behind us, standing with Pansy.
"Cat got your tongue?" He mocked, letting go of my arm and smirking.
"Was that whole infirmary thing just to mock me? I'm glad I didn't kiss you, you're fucking bipolar!" I shouted. Cathy and Timmy were long gone and probably hadn't realised I wasn't with them.
Mattheo kept silent and looked forward as if he was trying to find something to say. His jaw clenched as I looked at him and noticed that his eyes were slightly red....from the drugs. And his hair was extremely disheveled but he still looked beautiful.
"Did you not learn from the last time you disrespected me?" He growled as we entered the school once again. His hand firmly gripped my arm and he pulled me right up to him, our noses slightly touching. I panicked a bit and tried to push him away but he pulled me even closer to him. My breathing increased and I could feel my heart pounding as he dragged me behind a pillar where no other students were anywhere to be seen.
"I'm not scared of you." I blurted out meaning to say it in my head to not let him get to me. I tried once again to get him off me, it didn't work. His eyes scanned my face and flashed from my lips then back to my eyes. His fingers stretched around my arms and he moved his face further from mine.
"So pretty, innocent." He whispered, gliding his finger down my arm. I shuddered at his touch.
"Innocent? Like you've ever had sex, Riddle." I smirked and instantly regretted it as he pushed me against the pillar. He looked away from my arm and back at my face.
"My, my. I'll let you off this time, but you deserve to give me a dance at the ball. Or would you rather I punished you?" He smiled at my anger, his finger still moving over my skin.
"Punish me? What the fuck does that mean? You know what, I don't really want to find out. I'll fucking dance with you. But let me go, my friends are probably wondering where I am."
"They didn't really seem to care. You wouldn't be in this situation if they really cared about you." He cackled. I grabbed his arms at an attempt to get away, "Merlin, just go. You're pretty weak not being able to get me off you."
"Stop trying so hard to keep me in place."
He slowly let go of my arms and watched me as I fixed my robe then walked away. I was kind of confused. Why would he want to dance with me at the ball? How was he so different that night to now? I looked back behind the pillar and he was still there, watching me leave. Why is he watching me?
I trudged away, finally getting back near the common room. I found Cathy and Timmy walking in my direction.
"What happened?" Timmy asked when I got near them.
"Nothing. I'm tired, I'm gonna go bed." I said, walking quicker and entered the common room.
"Aren't you going to get dinner?" Cathy came infront of me, blocking my way.
"No. I'm fine. Not hungry." I went around her.
"You sure you're okay?" Timmy reached out for my hand and I pulled away, not really feeling like getting comforted. I just wanted to go to sleep.
"Yes, I'm fine." I walked away from the two of them and went into the dorm, lying on my bed. I was still in my school clothes but easily drifted off.
.
"Léon!" Mother shouted up the stairs. My brothers had been sleeping in my room for the past few nights, as they were having horrible nightmares and wanted me to comfort them. Léon being two years older than me did make this whole situation a bit strange, but they both said I have a positive aura. Like a dream catcher, they always seem to sleep perfectly when I'm with them.
"Yes, mother!" Léon replied, snapping his head out of bed, tucking his hair behind his ear.
"Get down here, right now!" She screamed, "Scrap that, all of you get down here!"
"What did you do this time?" Léon asked Xavier. Xavier rolled his eyes and layed back in his bed, not a single thing troubling him.
"Fuck off." Xavier growled, covering himself with the cover. I sat there between the two of them, trying to figure out what bad things I...we had done in the last week.
Oh. We may or may not have put in pink dye in mother's shampoo and body wash. Xavier came up with it. He's the prankster of the family, he always has a trick up his sleeve.
"Pink, fucking pink. We're done for!" I exclaimed, the two boys looked at me and laughed, "We should make a run for it, I've got some money in my purse."
"Thea, this prank isn't even that bad. I have many worse ones in mind. Just pretend we didn't do anything, she'll probably think it was father, you know what she's like." He smiled and Léon nodded.
"You know we're going to be really suspicious if we stay up here, we should really go downstairs." I told them, they both nodded and got out of bed.
We ran down the stairs to find an extremely pink mother, her eyes full of fury. We all looked at eachother, trying not laugh. Xavier's face even went red and I looked over behind mother to see a sign, 'Marquez', it read. Our last name, of course.
"You three are in so much trouble. This isn't funny at all, what kind of games do you think you are playing?" Mother barked, her eyes widening as Léon let out a cough, trying to maintain his composure.
"It wasn't us mother, we wouldn't do that to you. We love you." Xavier tried to act all cute and innocent but this drove mother crazy.
"I don't enjoy swearing infront of you but that is complete...complete....complete....b- bu-"
"Bullshit?" I interrupted.
"Yes. Thanks." She smiled then her face turned to anger again, "You three are going to be cleaning the bathrooms for the rest of the week. I could've given you a much worst punishment, so you should be glad."
"Really, mum! Have you seen the shits father takes in there, they fucking stink the house out. I'm not cleaning his massive shit." Xavier remarked.
"Well, maybe learn from your mistakes and you won't have to be cleaning your father's poo anymore, my dear." She said sweetly, Léon looked kind of awkward.
"Go, get the products and clean! I'll tell the house elfs to stop cleaning the bathrooms so you can have them all to yourself." She mocked and walked upstairs in her towel. She was smug, very very smug. And the three of us exchanged looks of anger and humour.
.
"Marquez, Marquez, Marquez!" I opened my eyes and started to get excited, "That's my fucking last name, Clover Marquez. I need to search up in the library!"
I soon realised I was talking to myself and rolled my eyes, squeezing my them shut once again and falling asleep, wanting to carry on the dream I had just experienced.