"I didn't know you were so smart, Vivi-can I call you Vivi?" Ethelle said during dinner, a smile on her face.
I laughed. "I'm not smart, I just read," I denied, although inside, I felt my heart swelling in flattery. "And yes, you can."
"Oh, don't be so modest, Vivi," Ethelle gushed, and I was reminded of Ainsley again-she used to always call me Vivi. "That was really impressive. In no time at all, you'll be invited to the Slug Club! Our little Normy here's already in it."
Apart from the slight blush that blossomed on her cheeks, Norma barely reacted.
"It really was impressive, Viviette," she agreed, sending a kind smile in my direction. "The Slug Club is all right-but, well, a bit horrendous."
"Why? What even is the Slug Club?" I questioned with a slight giggle, although I myself was already perfectly aware of how horrid the Slug Club was. Professor Slughorn initially invited me because my uncle was the notorious Ludo Bagman, but then he started favoring me among the other Ravenclaws for my superb potion-crafting skills.
"It's Professor Slughorn's fan club," Ethelle answered with an amused smirk. "Every month or so, they gather to hang posters of Slughorn around the castle and worship him."
I giggled at that, while Norma rolled her eyes.
"You're so immature, Ethelle," she scolded, before turning to me. "It's a club created by Professor Slughorn that hosts parties every few weeks. Slughorn handpicks his favorite students or his well-connected students and invites them to the Slug Club."
I nodded, and Ethelle added, "Yes, for example, Tom Riddle. He's really polite, but usually doesn't like it when students sit next to him."
She glanced over at me questioningly. "But you guys seemed to be getting along fine."
At that, I released a rather unladylike snort. "Is that what it looked like? We were actually arguing about cockroaches and adder tongues."
"Oh," Ethelle replied, dumbfounded. "Well, still. He's really handsome, so you should go for him, if you'd like."
"Ethelle!" Norma reprimanded, just as I burst into a fit of uncontrollable guffaws. I imagined myself and Lord Voldemort, on a romantic evening date with flowers and candles.
"What?" Ethelle replied innocently, a small smile forming on her face at the sight of me laughing. "You really would look great together, Vivi. Although I was partly joking, because I doubt Tom Riddle would ever date anyone."
My giggles slowly died down, and I raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? Why is that so?"
"Well, like I said, he's incredibly good-looking, but he's never seemed interested in anyone romantically," she clarified. "So many girls have the biggest crushes on him. Some even go up to him and confess!"
She spoke of that as if it was the most scandalous thing to ever exist, and I was about to frown, before I realized that in the 1940s, it was probably uncommon for girls to make the first move.
"But he's never taken interest in anyone," she concluded with a sigh. "Even Rosemary Nott, and she's like, gorgeous! I remember how she was crying hysterically in the common room after being rejected by Riddle, with all of her seventh year friends surrounding her."
"I think that's good of him," Norma said approvingly. "He should be focusing on his studies, not romance! And that's exactly what he does."
Ethelle rolled her eyes at me. "I bet Norma and Tom Riddle would be best friends if they knew each other. They're both the biggest goody-two-shoes ever! Oh my, have I told you that story about our Norma and Mr. Macmillan?"
She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Norma, who turned a startling shade of crimson and shook her head wildly, burying her face in her arms. "Oh, no."
"Oh, yes!" Ethelle chortled teasingly, turning to me with a broad grin on her face. "Last year, on Valentine's Day, Macmillan-from Ravenclaw, you've probably seen him in our Herbology class, blonde hair, lots of freckles-walked over to us and got up on the Slytherin table in front of everyone-"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Norma muttered, her voice muffled, causing Ethelle to laugh even more.
"And went over to Norma, holding a bouquet of flowers, and started singing some off-tune love song-" at this point, Ethelle was guffawing so loudly and obnoxiously that everyone was staring in our direction. I imagined the scene in my head, and started giggling along with her. "And then-and then-"
She shrieked with laughter, throwing her head back and causing me to laugh even more, eager to hear what happened next.
"He stretched out the flowers to her, and said, and said-" she started gasping because of how much she was laughing, tears leaking out of her bright blue eyes. "And then he said-"
She took a sip of water from her goblet and inhaled deeply to calm herself down. Then, in a deep, theatrical voice, said, "'For you, my darling love-will you be so kind as to be my valentine'?"
At this, she howled with laughter, and I joined her, clutching my stomach. Norma couldn't help it; she began laughing too, and soon, the three of us were attracting disgruntled glares from the other students because of how loudly we were laughing.
After dinner, we headed downstairs to the Slytherin common room. Ethelle wanted to go upstairs and get ready to sleep, while Norma wished to do her homework. I, on the other hand, wanted to write down an entry in my 'Tom Riddle' journal. The common room was mostly vacant, anyway, and I knew Norma was not the nosy type.
I started writing down a few things and then scratching them out, and the process continued for a while as I tried to accurately describe Tom Riddle's personality. He seemed to be a bit narcissistic, and clearly preferred to work alone.
After about an hour, Norma stood up and yawned, finished with her homework. She stretched and rubbed her eyes drowsily, before shooting a small, sleepy smile at me.
"I think I'm going to head to sleep," she informed me, her voice groggy. "You wanna come, or..?"
She nodded towards my journal. I glanced down at the small text I had written, and decided that-seeing as I was not too sleepy-I should continue. I shook my head at her as politely as I could and smiled.
"I think I'll stay here for a little more," I stated. Norma nodded.
"Got a lot of thoughts, huh?" she replied, a little teasingly. "I'll leave you to it."
I chuckled and nodded at her in appreciation. The sleepy girl wheeled around and headed for the girls' dormitories, while I returned to my writing.
I was able to write in serene, perfect silence for about five minutes, when the stone wall entrance to the common room split open, revealing a tall silhouette.
I watched inquisitively as Tom Riddle stepped forwards, the virescent light from the windows illuminating his sharp features, and making his pearly white skin look even paler, somehow.
There seemed to be a fire in his eyes; he wore a strangely victorious grin on his face, and he seemed so-so proud that he swaggered towards the sitting area and sat right across from me without even noticing me.
"Good evening, Tom," I saluted, watching him curiously. At once, he seemed to snap out of his joyful daze and blinked at the sight of me.
"Er-Viviette," he muttered, the flame in his eyes smothering. Just like that, his expression turned perfectly polite and emotionless. "I didn't see you."
"I noticed that," I responded with a pleasant smile. "Why did you come so late-if I may ask?"
For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw his eyes narrow slightly at me-but then his face turned as neutral as always.
"Patrolling the corridors-I'm a prefect," he explained. "And, why are you up so late? If it's not too rude of me to ask."
I shrugged nonchalantly. "Just...writing."
I held up my small notebook, smiling slightly at the irony of the situation. He probably had no idea that I was writing down a psychological analysis of him.
Tom's eyebrows knitted slightly, but then he nodded. "I didn't...take you as the kind to keep a journal."
I raised my eyebrows at him. "Have you been analyzing my personality, Tom?" I teased, suppressing the mad desire to laugh.
He blinked, clearly not expecting my remark. I wondered vaguely if he ever joked, or if he ever found humor in anything. He always seemed so serious. I suppose evil dark lords don't laugh much.
"You just-" he paused, and for the first time, his face looked blank and clueless. "You, er, just don't seem like someone who keeps a journal."
"Oh?" I replied, my smile growing slightly, feeling more and more amused. "And why is that?"
"Well, you seem very outgoing and talkative," he answered swiftly. "Most people who keep journals are more...reserved, I suppose."
"Like yourself?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow at him.
He pondered over my question for a few seconds, but did not reply. Instead, he gazed out of a nearby window into the Black Lake, which cast a deep green-nearly black-glow on his face.
"You're very observant, I see," I remarked when he continued to stay silent. He turned away from the lake, inspecting my features with a cryptic expression on his face. "How did you gather that I'm outgoing and talkative?"
"You have many friends, despite this being your first day at school," he answered coolly. "You seemed to get along well with everyone at the orphanage, as well."
His black eyes bore into mine piercingly, and I stared back, trying my best to remain unfazed. It was clear that his words weren't meant as a compliment.
"You seem to not like the orphanage very much," I observed quietly. "Why is that?"
Tom furrowed his eyebrows. "You ask a lot of questions."
"I'm a curious person," I retorted with a shrug, before fixing my eyes on him again. "You seem to be one, yourself."
Tom raised his eyebrows coolly. "Seems like you're the one analyzing my personality."
Before I could stop myself, I burst into a fit of rowdy laughter. Realizing how high and unnatural my guffaws sounded in the nearly deserted common room, I covered my mouth, but a few giggles managed to escape me, anyway. I glanced up to see Tom staring at me with an expression of complete and utter bafflement.
"What-how can you be so amused by that?" he questioned, the tone of his voice implying a mix of disgust and amazement.
"I am very easily amused," I replied simply, a small smile on my face. "Life is so much better that way, don't you think?"
He simply blinked at me, appalled by my humorous attitude. Clearly, Tom's life was completely devoid of any jokes or amusement.
His penetrative eyes stared into mine so intensely that I felt shameful, as if he could read every one of my thoughts-before realizing that he probably was reading every one of my thoughts. With a sinking sensation, I realized that he was a Legilimens. As hastily as I could, I cleared my mind of all thoughts and placed borders around it.
His expression remained the same, but his eyes flickered with unpleasant surprise momentarily-he was probably not used to people blocking him out. I exhaled and forced my smile to remain intact, feeling triumphant at the fact that I had successfully blocked him from my mind.
These past two years-when I wasn't working on perfecting the time turner-I studied the art of Occlumency and made sure to master it, in case anyone in this time era was a Legilimens and could doom my mission by reading into my mind.
"It was a pleasure talking to you," I told Tom with a slight smirk, shutting my journal and standing up. "Good night, Tom."
He continued to stare at me, his gaze shrewd and inquisitive. I wheeled around, making my way to the girls' dormitories.
A/N: Hey guys! Thank you to all of the people who read my book. It means a lot to me! As you may have noticed, I changed some things-like the cover. Although the last cover was more detailed, I feel like this one matches the mood of the story more, even if it is quite simple! I feel like the last cover was too bright or something.
Anyway, thank you all again for reading and if you're enjoying the story so far, please leave a vote or comment some feedback, I'd love to hear it! :)