The air became warmer in temperature and the sky became an astounding shade of blue, signaling the arrival of spring and easter. After that odd encounter with the Knights, I avoided them at all cost—Maverick was rather insistent on befriending me, but I managed to evade him majority of the time, as well. I became closer to Tom—who continued to treat me with the utmost respect—and Antoinette, which did nothing to improve my already damaged relationship with Norma and Ethelle. It seemed as if we would never become friends again, and that was truly starting to bother me.
On Friday, the day before easter break, our last lesson of the day ended with Defense Against the Dark Arts, which also meant that we would be having our last dueling class. Everyone was rather upset about it, seeing as after easter break, Professor Merryheart would return to note-taking and quizzes.
"Expelliarmus!" I exclaimed, aiming at Tom—who was my dueling partner, as always.
His reflexes were, as always, irritatingly quick; he deflected my Disarming Charm with an effortless wave of his wand. His sooty eyes shone as he smiled affably at me.
"I am curious, Viviette—why is it that you always use that spell?" Tom quizzed, shooting a spell at me that I dodged by simply stepping out of the way.
I shrugged, a sly smile creeping into my lips. "I have a feeling that one day, it'll beat you."
Tom's brows knitted in befuddlement at my words, and I was satisfied to see that he was truly puzzled. My smile grew as I hastily deflected one of his spells with a simple Shield Charm.
"And why do you think so?" Tom asked, keeping his tone polite—although the underlying impatience within it was nearly tangible.
I shrugged, containing a smirk. "Just intuition."
I sent another Disarming Charm his way as sneakily as I could, but wasn't surprised when he swiftly blocked it. His lips curved into a victorious smirk, and he quickly sent a spell my way—but I ducked at the last second, narrowly avoiding it.
"That's all for today, class!" Professor Merryheart bellowed, putting an end to the countless spells bouncing against the classroom walls. "This was our last dueling class of the year, so I hope you all enjoyed it and are now proficient."
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Ethelle groaning quietly as sweat dripped from her forehead like a waterfall. I almost released a chuckle, before realizing we weren't friends anymore.
I wheeled around to face Tom, sending a polite nod in his direction, which he returned with a smile as sweet as honey. It was unnerving, to say the least.
I pocketed my wand and turned to leave, my mood dampened after that cruel reminder that Ethelle and I were very unlikely to be friends again—but was stopped in my tracks by strong fingers clasping around my wrist roughly.
I spun around questioningly, my brows connecting as my eyes locked with a pair of dark brown ones. Tom's gaze was as intense as always, but his smile was soft and inviting.
"We have a meeting today, with the Knights," he informed me lowly, his eyes watching my expression carefully. I made sure my face stayed as blank as possible. "Meet us in the Room of Requirements after dinner."
I blinked, before nodding and, without another word, walking away. A meeting with the Knights—just what I needed.
I strolled aimlessly through the slowly emptying corridors of Hogwarts, disheartened. Neither Norma nor Ethelle seemed willing to put an end to our feud—and my only friends seemed to be my teenage grandmother, the darkest wizard of all time, and the dark wizard of all time's sycophantic followers.
How delightfully pitiful.
•
Dinner that day was even more depressing. Everyone around me seemed to be bursting with joy and laughter, seeing as this was the last day of school before easter break. I was not so cheerful; I would have to remain at Hogwarts this year, seeing as I did not wish to return to that dreary Muggle orphanage—and neither did Tom, which was probably the main reason for me not returning.
The majority of Slytherin house seemed eager to abandon the castle—most of them were wealthy, spoiled children from prestigious pureblood families, who lived in lavish mansions. As I examined the joyous crowds of students, I couldn't help but envy them; they would be able to return to the comfort of their homes, and they would be able to embrace their mothers in bear hugs.
I had checked the list of students staying at Hogwarts this easter, and to my dismay, Tom and I would be the only members of our House to remain. Perhaps I should have been glad—this would give me a chance to learn more about him.
Just then, a familiar student plopped down on the seat next to me. I whipped my head around, meeting a pair of coal-colored eyes.
"Tom," I greeted tepidly, forcing a half-hearted smile at him. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you, but you don't seem to be," Tom answered, his brows furrowed in faux concern. "You seem...sad. Are you all right?"
I opened my mouth to conjure an appropriate response, when yet another familiar person occupied the seat across from me. I turned my gaze away from Tom's, and blinked as my eyes met a pair of big brown ones.
"Viviette," Norma Quirke breathed, and I noticed her visibly swallow as her eyes darted around nervously. "Er—hi."
"Er—hello," I acknowledged, my heart beating thunderously against my ribcage. "Norma. What—what is it?"
"I—well, I just—I just wished to talk to you," she admitted, anxiety decorating every syllable of her sentence. "Ethelle doesn't want me to, but I can't stand it anymore."
Her wide, chocolate eyes darted leftwards, and I followed her gaze to see Ethelle watching us disapprovingly. Once Ethelle noticed my gaze on her, she looked away and resumed her conversation with Anita Rosier.
"I just want to know why," Norma implored, as I averted my gaze from Ethelle and turned to her. "I don't get it. Did we do something to you? You just—after the Antoinette and Theodore incident, you didn't comfort Ethelle or anything, you just defended Antoinette for no reason. And now you're hanging out with her. I just don't understand."
"I told you," I said, though I felt too happy that Norma was finally speaking to me again to sound angry. "After you guys left, I noticed that Antoinette was struggling against Theodore, so I blasted him against the wall. Then Antoinette told me that he was having arguments with Abraxas or something, so that was why he was doing that—as some sort of twisted revenge or something. She was innocent, that was all I was trying to tell you."
Norma's brows knitted in concentration, and I could see her thinking deeply about what I just said, her teeth gnawing on her bottom lip contemplatively. After a few moments that felt like a millennia, she finally nodded.
"I'm sorry we didn't listen to you," she apologized. "I—I just...maybe I should talk to Antoinette? Learn it through her side of the story as well?"
My lips curved into a smile involuntarily, and I nodded in encouragement at her. "Yeah—I'm sure she won't mind."
Norma beamed radiantly at me, and leaned across the table to envelope me in a tight embrace, earning odd looks from everyone around us. I succumbed to her hug willingly, my smile growing.
"It's so nice to finally talk to you again, Vivi," she confessed.
"Nice to finally talk to you too, Norms," I replied, feeling my previous despondence morph into a state of gaiety.
Norma sent one last smile in my direction, before inhaling deeply and standing up, making her way to the Hufflepuff table. I watched her for a few seconds, before turning back to my food, grinning like an idiot.
All of a sudden, a cold voice snapped me out of my merry reverie.
"I do hope you aren't falling for her lies?"
I revolved in astonishment, blinking as my gaze met Tom's. There was something unusual about his face; his expression was as smooth and pleasant as always, but his eyes held something akin to a cold fury in them. I felt a shudder crawl down my spine, as if someone threw a bucket of icy water over my head.
"I—what?" I sputtered, my brows furrowing in perplexity. "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean."
"She was lying, clearly," Tom explained, his voice coolly detached. "You've recently been getting praised a lot by the teachers, and she must have noticed. Why else would she approach you now, after so much time?"
"There are a lot of flaws in that argument," I defended flatly, finally understanding what he was implying. "One: I always get praised by the teachers. Two: Norma herself gets praised a lot by the teachers. And three: she could have been wanting to talk to me for a long time now, but plucked up the courage only now."
Tom's eyes hardened, but before he could muster an answer, a tap on the shoulder diverted his gaze from mine. I glanced up at a blue-eyed boy with short black hair and a square-shaped face that was permanently contorted into a frown; Callum Mulciber.
"My lord," he saluted respectfully, bowing his head discreetly so as to not attract anyone's attention. "You requested for me to remind you of our meeting, scheduled for ten minutes from now."
I raised my eyebrows, half-impressed and half-unsettled at his robotic voice and punctuality. Tom nodded curtly.
"You may leave now," he instructed, before turning to me with frigid black eyes. "We will continue our conversation later. Now, we must go to the Room of Requirement."
"Now?" I repeated, alarmed. "But—I haven't even finished my salad yet!"
Tom disregarded my complaints, standing up and starting to swagger away. I released a sigh of irritation, glancing longingly at my half-eaten salad, before standing up and following him.
My thoughts were still occupied with the delectable salad as I trailed after Tom, barely noticing the Knights that joined us—well, until Maverick rudely elbowed me.
"Well, look who's here," he joked, grinning impishly at me. "How is our latest addition doing?"
"Terrible," I grumbled, shooting a disgruntled glare in Tom's direction. "They had my favorite salad—Caesar's."
Maverick chuckled appreciatively, patting my back in a good-natured fashion.
"Well, you'll eat your salad another time," he said sympathetically. "Tom's meetings are to die for."
I quirked an eyebrow up at him judgmentally as he stared up at Tom admiringly, shaking my head. Tom really had all of his so-called friends wrapped around his little finger.
At last, we reached the Room of Requirement. We had to watch awkwardly as Tom paced back and forth, his eyes closed tightly in concentration, before that familiar, intricately carved door formed on the wall.
Lestrange scampered towards the door and held it open for him, as Tom entered without even a grateful glance in the other boy's direction. I had to resist the urge to scoff at his sheer arrogance, entering after him.
I was, once again, momentarily taken aback by the bedazzling sight in front of me; the floating twinkling chandeliers, the regal decorations, and the stupendous cobra statues. The room was breathtakingly gorgeous—it was a pity that it was used for Tom and his band of sycophantic worshippers.
Speaking of his sycophantic worshippers, they were currently occupying their seats on the table, as if they had practiced this millions of times. Maverick gestured for me to follow him, and I did, albeit rather grudgingly.
The seven of us sat down in our seats and watched as Tom occupied the kingly throne at the end of the lengthy table, as haughty and self-assured as always. He smiled a charismatic smile as he regarded us all with his dark eyes—his gaze lingering on mine a slight second longer.
I made sure to keep my expression as calm as possible, resisting the urge to narrow my eyes unforgivingly at him. He cleared his throat importantly.
"Friends," he addressed with the air of a gallant party host. "As you all know, this is our last day before easter break. I have called on you all for a small meeting to say farewell, and to inform you that I am planning on achieving one of my most important goals at the end of the year."
His effortlessly entrancing voice left the entire room speechless, and I noticed the boys all stare up at him with an almost obsessive twinkle of admiration in their eyes.
"And what may that be?" I inquired challengingly, breaking the silence. There was a quiet shuffling as the Knights all turned in their seats to gawk at me.
Tom's eyes narrowed slightly for a fraction of a second, before he smiled charmingly at me.
"Ah, of course—it is no surprise that our recent addition may be a bit...clueless when it comes to my goals," said Tom, inclining his head graciously in my direction. "One of my main goals is to achieve immortality—and as I have told you before, Viviette, I have found a great way to achieve it."
I felt that familiar feeling of unsettlement form in the pit of my stomach, and it took all my strength to maintain an apathetic expression. There it was again, that strangely eerie word—immortality.
"With this piece of news, I have also decided that we will no longer be named the 'Knights of Walpurgis'," Tom announced, and I felt all my previous terror vanish.
"Thank goodness," I murmured underneath my breath, but judging from the momentary irritation that flashed across Tom's face, he heard me.
"I have decided to fashion us a new name—a name that is much more powerful," he continued, and I noticed a few of the Knights trade excited glances with each other as they all stood up a little straighter. "The death eaters."
I felt my breath hitch in my throat at the name as the newly formed death eaters all cheered, looking highly impressed by their new name. It wasn't the name itself that unnerved me; it was the fact that these teenaged boys were all a step closer to becoming part of the menacing organization that inspired fear in people's hearts in my time period—all a step closer to becoming the murderers of my mother.
As I scanned their jubilant expressions attentively, I realized that some of these boys could be the ancestors of the very people who killed my precious mother in cold blood. As that thought dawned on me, I had to summon all of my willpower to not straight out use an Unforgivable Curse on every one of them.
I glanced away, only to lock eyes with Tom, who had clearly been watching me for a while. His lips curved into a courteous smile, but I could see the glint of malice in his ebony eyes.
"Do you like our new name, Viviette?" he queried in a pleasant voice, but there was something chillingly mocking in the way he spoke.
"I suppose," I answered tonelessly, attempting to keep up my cool image. "It's definitely much better than your old name."
Tom bowed his head in agreement. "Yes—after your little comment, I realized it was a bit...childish."
"Well, people certainly don't praise your intelligence for nothing," I quipped feebly. He smiled.
"I suppose," he said, before averting his gaze from mine and turning to his death eaters. "That is all. You are all dismissed."
The death eaters all stood up, some of them lingering behind to compliment Tom or wish him a good break. I stood along with them readily, wanting more than anything to leave this room.
"Except for you, Viviette."
I whirled around inquisitively as the remaining death eaters all filed out of the room. Tom was still seated in his throne-like chair, his intense gaze fixated on mine.
He gestured to a chair to the right of him, smiling invitingly at me. "Sit, please."
After a few seconds of reluctance, I obliged, occupying the seat next to him and staring up at him with wary expectance.
"I wished to continue our earlier conversation," Tom proclaimed, and I started picking my nails under the table anxiously.
"I don't see what there is to continue," I mumbled charily, eyeing him with incertitude. "You're clearly mistaken."
"Am I?" Tom challenged, his expression as hard as steel, before it softened into one of compassion. "Viviette, you are my closest friend. I am only attempting to help you. Those girls—Norma, Ethelle, Antoinette...they aren't good for you. They aren't real friends, they are all jealous of you and your talents."
My jaw dropped in bafflement at his words, and at the artificial look of caring on his face—as if he truly believed that I would fall for his lies. I felt fury boil in my veins, but contained it.
"I'm sorry, Tom, but that's just not right," I argued, trying to keep my voice friendly despite how angry I felt. "Norma and Ethelle are definitely not jealous of me, and Antoinette? What does she have to do with anything?"
"You don't see what I see, because you're too biased towards them," Tom insisted, his expression contorted into one of empathetic desperation, as if he actually cared about me. "Good friends look out for each other, don't they? Weren't Norma and Ethelle the ones gossiping with that Anita Rosier about you? And Antoinette only approaches you when her other friends don't wish to spend time with her. I am only trying to help you see; I am your only good friend."
"You? My only good friend?" I repeated in outrage, before throwing my head back and laughing. "Good joke, Riddle. You don't sound like a very good friend right now; you just sound like a possessive friend who wishes to alienate me from the rest of my friends."
Tom blinked, clearly not expecting his attempts at manipulation to not work on me. Although he was excellent with words, I wasn't one to be easily manipulated. I, unlike everyone else, was perfectly aware of who he would become in the future—so his carefully constructed façade did not work on me.
"You don't understand—"
"I understand everything," I interjected, rising from my seat as my irritation increased. "Do you really think I'm as stupid as everyone else? I can see right through you, Tom Riddle. You may think that you've got everyone fooled with your oh-so-charming words and model student image, but you're wrong. I can see past that mask you wear—I can see that you're nothing but a manipulative, power-hungry moron who thinks he's better than everyone else."
Tom's lips parted slightly as he glanced up at me, and although he masked his surprise well, I could see that my words truly astounded him. He closed his mouth firmly and furrowed his eyebrows, as if confused.
"Viviette, please sit down. I don't understand what you mean—"
"Oh please," I scoffed, shaking my head as my hands balled up into fists at my side. "Don't keep trying to manipulate me. You just look even more stupid."
At once, that mask of kindness and befuddlement fell from his face, and his lips curled into an unnerving, reptilian smile.
"You are much smarter than I thought," he mused as he cocked his head to the side, inspecting me curiously. "I was wrong to underestimate you."
"Finally," I sighed in mock relief. "An intelligent word out of your mouth."
Tom's eyes narrowed into slits. "You should know better than to mock me," he threatened, standing up from his seat as well and easily towering over my frame.
I glared up into his well-sculptured face, any wariness I felt being replaced by utter distaste. However, now that my wrath was slowly melting, I realized that it was foolish of me to reveal the extent of my knowledge.
"I see you are not as dimwitted as everyone else," Tom commented silkily. "Perhaps it's for the best. I can help you, you know—I can make you reach your full potential. You are highly intelligent, but weak."
"And how am I weak, exactly?" I demanded, crossing my arms across my chest distrustfully.
Tom's lips stretched into a wily smile as he eyed my skeptical expression.
"You are weak, because the mere thought of immortality terrifies you," he began, "because you are concerned with trivial, foolish things like friendship and love—things that make everyone else so weak and powerless. But you, Viviette, are very talented, and have the potential to become an extraordinarily powerful witch—as long as you stay by my side."
"You see, that's where you're wrong, Tom," I countered. "Things like friendship and love are the things that make life enjoyable. It's strange, how you wish to be immortal, yet you don't seek friends or love or anything to make an immortal life worth living. If I were you—if I truly believed that friendship and love lacked importance—then I'd want my life to end as quickly as possible."
A high, belittling laugh escaped his mouth, the sound lacking any mirth. I held my ground, despite the chill that scurried down my spine.
"It's strange," he mimicked, his lips twisted into a snide smirk, "how you can be so intelligent yet so foolish at the same time. Don't you see? The thing that makes an immortal life worth living is power. I will be the most powerful wizard in the world, and I will do things that other, weaker wizards are afraid of even thinking of."
"Afraid of even thinking of?" I repeated, my brows connecting in mystification. "What—what are you talking about?"
"Immortality, of course," Tom responded with a sly smile.
I gulped involuntarily. "You still haven't told me how you plan on achieving that," I breathed. "You—you said you would."
Tom tilted his head to the side, his gaze fixated on mine appraisingly. And then his cunning smile grew slightly, as if taunting me.
"But I don't trust you anymore," he spoke softly, his voice as smooth as the petals of a rose. "You have to gain my trust if you wish me to divulge my secrets to you."
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him, feeling a mixture of aggravation and frustration at his words. He wasn't lying, however; I had definitely lost his trust today, a foolish mistake. I cursed myself inwardly and vowed to work on controlling my temper from this day on.
"Fine," I huffed, irked. "I don't want to continue talking to you anymore. Goodbye."
And with those abrupt words of farewell, I rotated on my heel and marched away. Angry thoughts of irritation at myself and my stupid temper stained my mind like unwanted blots of ink on a piece of parchment, and I commenced a series of breathing exercises to resist the urge to kick something.
Just as my hand hovered above the doorknob, ready to twist it and exit this magnificent but dark room, Tom's velvety voice cut through the silence like a knife.
"And if you wish to gain my trust again, my best piece of advice is to refrain from befriending those silly friends of yours again."
I clenched my jaw at his words and grasped the doorknob furiously, whipping my head around for a second to shoot a disdainful glower in his direction. He was watching me with a hint of a smirk on his face, anticipating my reaction.
"You are insufferable."
And with those words, I finally turned the doorknob and stalked out of the room.