"I am not quite sure."
Malfoy and Avery face-palmed for the nth time. It had been nearly an hour since Nott gained his consciousness. Both the boys had been asking him endless question to figure out what had happened to him. Even Tom sacrificed his visit to the library to get some answers but Nott was being anything but helpful.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, at least tell me you remember meeting the girl outside the school!" Malfoy snapped.
Nott grew silent for a minute, making Tom roll his eyes. The boy pursed his lips to remember anything from the night prior but all he could recall was waking up in the infirmary after a deep sleep.
Malfoy heaved a sigh, shaking his head in disappointment. He turned his head towards Tom, "Should we bring her to us?"
Tom didn't meet his eyes. Instead, he shook his head and straightened up. He wanted to leave as his classes would start soon, "We will discuss this later. For now, go and attend your classes."
As Tom was about to walk away, Avery stopped him, "Are you trying to protect the girl, Tom?"
Tom let out a dry laugh and slowly turned to face the boys who all had the same look of doubt on their faces. For a moment, he had the sudden urge to snap all of their necks and watch their dead body fall to the ground.
It was for the first time that they had dared to question him and he would certainly make sure that it would be the last.
"Avery, you do know that I absolutely hate repeating myself," Tom uttered through his teeth. Noticing the sudden drop in Tom's voice, Avery averted his gaze to the floor.
"We will discuss about this after the classes. Make sure you think twice before questioning me, boys. You might end up in a worse situation than Nott."
Tom waited for his threat to settle in their minds before leaving without another word. He couldn't help but scoff under his breath. Why would such a thought even occur to them? It was not like he needed to protect Leo. He never treated her any different from how he treats a stray cat.
How ridiculous of them to assume that he was in favour of her!
Tom shook his head from side to side while entering his potions lesson, which was with the Ravenclaws. His eyes unconsciously started looking around for a certain wild haired girl who he wanted to ignore since last night. By the time he realised his action, it was too late.
Their eyes had already met.
Leo, as usual, was sitting at the end of the class, all alone by the window. She waved her hand in a small greeting which made Tom look away immediately. He could almost hear the little smirk that was on her lips.
He quickly found his seat which was right in from of the teacher's desk. He quietly sat down and opened his book to scheme through the contents. For a few minutes, he was quite enjoying the new topics. But soon his moment of peace was interrupted by a slight disturbance at the back of the class.
He lifted his head to see the the processor was yet to arrive. Deciding to mind his own business, he buried his nose deeper into he book and continued reading.
The students at the back started shouting louder. He could even hear someone jumping on the desk. His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. All he wanted was a peaceful morning. Was it too much to ask for?
His prefect's batch gleamed under the sunlight as the heir of Slytherin decided to play his part as the school's prefect. But before he could get up and insult everyone until they cried, Leo jumped into the empty space next to him and dumped her notebooks on desk with a loud thud.
Tom glanced down at her in confusion and slight anger, "What do you think you are doing?"
"Why, good morning to you too, Riddle," Leo wished with a sarcastic grin.
Tom hesitantly looked behind him to see Leo's footprints all over the desks. His eyes widened ever so slightly and he snapped his head towards the girl, "Did you just jump on the desks to come here?!"
Leo shot him a smug look, "Of course, I did! It is simply called- taking a shortcut."
It took all of Tom's strength in order to keep him from shouting his head off. He looked absolutely done with the world. His ears were burning red due to embarrassment and yet he kept a straight face. All while, Leo swung her legs and watched the boy suffer with a proud smile.
"Where is the professor?" Tom muttered to himself.
"I saw him having a talk with the headmaster. He would be arriving a bit late," Leo answered while doodling something on her notebook.
"I wasn't asking you."
"Sure you weren't," Leo teased him.
Tom decided to ignore her and go back to reading. Unfortunately, ignoring Leo was not that easy of a task. Not even a minute passed when the girl started singing an unknown song.
"The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake~"
Tom had to bite his tongue to keep himself from snapping at her once again. He sometimes wondered how in the world she always made up songs with such odd wordings.
"Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?"
Tom heaved a deep sigh. Who was he trying to fool? He had been reading the same sentence for the ninth time already. It was almost a universal law that if Leo was there one couldn't just stay in peace.
He lifted his head and turned towards the girl who looked absolutely ecstatic while singing the song.
"Stop it, Leo."
Leo scoffed in disbelief, "How can I stop singing now? It's time for the best part. Come on, sing it with me."
"I'm not singing-" he cut himself of with a sigh when Leo started doing a little dance with her index fingers waving in the air.
"Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling, it's better
Down where it's wetter
Take it from me~"
"Leona Hart, stop now or I will bury you alive," Tom threatened and quickly looked around the class to see if anyone was looking. Even though no one met his eyes, he knew all of them were witnesses and considered destroying an entire class, or gauging their eyes out. He was desperate to save himself from the embarrassment.
"Under the sea," Leo continued, making Tom hide behind his book, pretending not to know her.
"Under the sea
Nobody beat us
Fry us and eat us in fricassee."
Leo stopped just before professor Slughorn entered the class. Tom had never been so relieved to see the professor ever in his life. He paid extra attention to the class and put actual effort in making the potion.
Leo, on the other hand, simply drew little cactuses all though the professor's lecture and was busy brewing a purple colored solution instead of following the original recipe just because the colour looked pretty.
When the professor came to check their work, he was indeed surprised to see Leo sitting right beside Tom who was looking like he was ready to pop a blood vessel.
"Oh, dear," that was Slughorn's immediate reaction after seeing Leo's potion.
Tom took a small peak at her bubbling beaker and shook his head.
"The colour and the smell is absolutely wrong! What did you make, my child?!"
Leo stared at her creation proudly before answering with a simple shrug.
A shrug.
Tom shook his head yet again.
"Maybe we should test it out! It could be the discovery of the century," Leo proposed.
Tom and professor Slughorn could only watch when Leo transferred some of her potion to a vial and downed it in one huge gulp within a matter of few seconds. The whole class gasped loudly, seeing her do something so dangerous without even thinking.
Tom watched as Leo smacked her lips as if she was deciding on the taste of the potion.
"Tastes like blueberries and dirty lake water," she confirmed with a nod and offered a smile to professor Slughorn who looked like he was about to faint.
"Maybelle, you should not taste potions without knowing their properties! They could be poisonous!" The professor exclaimed
Leo immediately dismissed his words with a slight wave of her hand, "I am perfectly fin-"
That was when the girl's legs gave out and she fell back into Tom who caught her instinctively. All he could do was blink. He had absolutely nothing to say. He wouldn't even be surprised if she were to turn into a fire-breathing dragon and destroy Hogwarts.
Nothing surprised him anymore.
✱ ⁕ ❋ ✻ ✽ ❃ ✿ ❊
Tom paced in front of the entrance of the room of requirements. He hesitated to enter, knowing that the boys were already inside, waiting for his arrival. His prefect duties would start in a few minutes and he was pondering on whether he should visit Leo, who was still passed out inside the infirmary.
He groaned while clutching his hair in frustration. He shouldn't even feel hesitant. It should be easy enough to choose.
With a huff, he entered the room of requirements. All heads turned to face him and he regarded every one with his cold eyes. He could sense that all of them had several questions about Leo but he didn't know whether he was ready to hear their opinion about her. They didn't know Leo. It would be foolish of them to judge her based on a few incidents.
Tom sat down on his green couch and waited for someone to start talking. Avery was the one who spoke first.
"We need to do something about the girl. She might pose danger to our plans, Tom."
Nott nodded, "If she has the capability to completely wipe off my memories, she is a threat."
Avery hesitated before continuing once again, "Now, we are waiting for your orders, Tom. We can take care of her, if you want to."
It didn't take a genius to understand what Avery was referring to. The boy wanted to make sure whose side Tom was on. The heir of Slytherin simply smirked at Avery without saying a word.
"We saw what happened at potions class today. The girl isn't scared of you like the rest of the students. Some might even say that you two are close acquaintances," Avery concluded.
Tom rested his cheek on his closed fist and looked bored.
"But the girl did save Tom from drowning," Malfoy pointed out making Avery give him a look.
They all waited for Tom to say something. The heir of Slytherin maintained a stoic face, "Avery, if the girl poses threat to you, you are free to get rid of her. No one is going to stop you. However, whether I am associated with her or not is none of your business. So, I would suggest you to never mention something like that again."
The words that came out of his mouth were simple. But the way he glared daggers into Avery's head clearly indicated that it was a threat. If Avery or anyone would mention his relations with Leo ever again, they would have to go through Tom's wrath. Tom is known to never hold back during those times.
Therefore, Avery read the message quite well and looked down.
When it was a game of power, there was no doubt that Tom would win.
He took his leave without another word. It was time for his night petrol. While passing the dark hallways, he couldn't help but take a detour and start towards the infirmary. He just wanted to make sure that Leo was alive. Maybe she was a cat in disguise. She had been dying and coming back to life every time like nothing happened.
On reaching the infirmary, he peeked inside to make sure there was nobody around. The school healer greeted Tom with a sleepy smile which he returned. He quickly navigated through the place and soon went to Leo's bed.
Well, it was supposed to be Leo's bed except, she was not there. Tom remained staring at the empty bed for a minute in disappointment. The cold wind coming from the window swept his hair to the side, revealing his furrowed eyebrows.
Of course, a window!
Out of all places, they just had
to place Leo beside a window. Tom rubbed his face with his palm, trying to calm down and think whether he should go and search for the girl or just let her be. It was really late at night and she could be either sabotaging the kitchen or taking a walk in the dark forest.
Well, at least he knew that she wasn't dead.
Tom exited the infirmary and started his way towards the kitchen. It was not a place where he went often. There were days when Leo would drag him with her for a snack or tell him to pick up a cookie or two for their study session. Those days seemed like a distant memory to Tom now.
He stopped in front of the huge door and knocked twice. One of the elves opened the door and stared up at him. Both of them looked utterly confused and not eager to ask the first question.
"Has a wild hair girl, about this height-," Tom showed Leo's height with his hand placed right above his elbows, "-come to steal some food?"
The elf shook his head from side to side before going back in and shutting the door on Tom's face. The heir of Slytherin clenched his jaw and slammed his fist against the door. He turned away with a dramatic swish if his robe and started stomping towards exit of the campus.
Once he was outside, his sharp eyes searched around the field for the silhouette of the troublesome girl. He started walking across the snowy field with furious steps. It was freezing outside and he could barely keep balance on the slippery ground. Only a mentally unstable person would want to take a walk outside in the middle of the night.
As he was walking past the black lake, his eyes noticed a slight movement in the still waters. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a head immerging out of the surface to take a deep breath.
At first, he refused to believe that Leo would be foolish enough to take a swim in the freezing waters. She must be drowning. Were there no limits to her ridiculous ideas?
The boy dashed towards the muddy shore and nearly fell flat on his face. He caught Leo's eyes and glared. Leo, on the other hand, waved at him excitedly. She took another deep breath and went under water. A minute passed when Leo broke the surface and started walking towards the boy.
"Fancy seeing you here, Riddle."
"You were supposed to be in the infirmary! It's too cold to be outside or worse, swimming!"
Tom watched as she struggled to walk up to him. Her hospital gown was covered in mud and was drenched in water. Tom immediately took off his robe and wrapped it around her, his face full of worry and annoyance.
Leo clutched the robe tighter around herself and sat down on the ground. She was breathing heavily and shivering nonstop. She patted the ground beside her for Tom to sit.
"I'm not sitting here! We need to get inside," Tom ordered.
Leo looked up and scrunched her nose, "Just for a minute. I do not want to go inside yet."
Tom was taken aback by her unusually soft voice. Before he could read her expression, she averted her gaze towards the black lake once again. Tom was hesitant but he eventually sat down beside her. He scrunched his nose already sensing the amount of mud that he would have to wash out of his uniform the next day.
"You do know that this lake is not for swimming. There are mermaids and a giant squi-"
"Riddle, stop pretending that you care about me, okay?" Leo interrupted him. Although she said it quite lightly, Tom couldn't help but feel like she was behaving a bit odd.
"Well, there might be a possibility that I do care about you after saving your life more than enough times," Tom pointed out lightly as well but the smile on Leo's face dropped.
"No," she shook her head and looked straight into his eyes, "you cannot care for me. You are incapable of feeling, you said that to me yourself."
Tom frowned at the sudden change in topic. Since when did she ever take his words to mind?
"What are you trying to presume?" Tom inquired.
The boy had never seen her act that serious. He felt like she was not trying to talk about his incapability to love but she wanted to make herself remind that he was as emotional as a rock.
Just as Tom had expected, Leo's serious expression dropped and she shot him a mischievous smile.
"If you are claiming that you do care about me, then it must mean that you fancy being around me."
Tom knew where she was going with that. She simply enjoyed saying things that would make him annoyed. Therefore, he refused to react at all. He kept sitting there with a bored face.
Seeing that as a challenge, Leo inched closer, "And if you like being around me, you must be thinking about me when I'm not around. You get jealous when I talk to other boys. You know what I like and what I don't."
Tom scoffed with a roll of his eyes, "You are absolutely delusional."
Leo inched even closer, "Am I?"
Tom nodded.
Seeing that her tricks were not working, she backed up making Tom smirk in triumph.
But she wasn't done yet.
"You see, Riddle, love is not a single emotion. All the positive emotions that you have will lead you to loving something, or someone. If you say that you are incapable of loving and caring for others, you wouldn't be here, in the middle of the night, sitting on mud and chatting with a delusional girl like myself."
Despite Tom's tries, he couldn't help but look away from her teasing gaze. He tried thinking of a reply, anything to give him the upper hand in the argument but his brain stopped working completely. All he could think was the arithmancy formula that he had learned in class today.
"When you don't know how to do something, you learn. And you, my boy, are learning to love," Leo explained like she was explaining something to a child.
Tom turned to shot her an annoyed look which she ignored.
"Now, shall we kiss?" She asked dramatically while puckering her lips and leaning towards Tom.
In a moment of panic, Tom put his hand on her face and pushed her away with a bit of force. Leo yelped and fell face first on a puddle of mud.
"Oh dear Merlin," Tom mumbled. He didn't know whether he should help her or drown her in black lake.
Leo pushed herself off the ground and spat out some mud, "Mother of cheesecakes, I was joking, Riddle!"
"Do not shout! It is past curfew," Tom scolded making the girl roll her eyes.
"Past curfew? I will show you past curfew," Leo muttered. She grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at Tom which hit him square in the face.
Tom was blinded for a second. He wiped of the dirty stuff from his eyes and scowled at the girl, "So, this is how you want it to be."
Leo scraped some more mud into her hand and raised her eyebrows, "What are you going to do about it? Cry?"
In the next second, both of them started throwing mud at each other like it was a matter of life and death. From far, they would look like two crazy teenagers trying to embarrass each other. But reality was harsher.
That night, Leo almost died when Tom tried to drown her. Tom nearly became blind because Leo was spraying muddy water into his eyeballs to save herself from drowning. But at the end of the night, they did end up calling it a truce and helping eachother back to their dorms like the best friends they were.
Or, maybe just a bit more than best friends.
A/N: Tom Riddle be predicting future like it's nothing 👀
I hope you people enjoy the chapter. It's a bit longer than usual because I haven't updated since- I don't know. I have lost the concept of time.
Please do comment and vote. It really helps me to know your thoughts.
Byeeeee (^o^)／