"Hello, Riddle," Harry said, in a more confident tone than he should have. My eyes were wide and his were glaring right back into Toms.
"Run along now, Potter" Tom waved his hand away, "Shoo,"
Harry rolled his eyes and walked back to where Ron and Hermione sat. I watched him sit down and so did Tom. As soon as we made eye contact I gave him an apologetic smile, but was quickly yanked away by my arm.
"What the fuck were you doing talking to him?! I thought I specifically told you not to talk to him?!" He yelled, but in a hushed way.
"I-" I didn't know what to say. I took a deep breath and looked up at him, "He's the only Gryffindor that actually wants to be my friend. Everyone else is either scared of me or doesn't like me." I said calmly.
"I know, when I was a 1st year no one wanted to be my friend. The only person that would actually talk to me was professor Snape. After that year I realized it's better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not. " He looked down at me. He took a deep breath, "Fine, I don't care if you're friends with him, but you can only be friends. And we are not telling father." He said.
"But what if he asks about it? I can't lie?" I said. Now I'm panicking. Father is trained at Occlumency and so is Tom, but whenever I've tried I just can't seem to clear my mind fully. "Just say you and Malory are friends. That's not a lie and he won't question it." I nodded and he let me go.
He turned and started to walk away, but stopped, "y/n?" I looked over to him, "I'm...sorry." He said. I smiled. "It's ok" I mouthed at him. He smiled but his eyes were filled with sorrow.
He left the library and I walked back to where Harry was sitting. He looked up at me, then looked around to make sure Tom wasn't there, "he left" I said with a smile. "And I would be happy to sit with you at lunch dinner tonight."
He smiled so big and my cheeks flushed with heat, I turned and walked away.
Later that day, I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, on one of the leather couches, reading my book I'd gotten from the library. It was called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was a very cool book, about all the different types of animals in the wizard world.
I looked at the clock that was sitting above the fireplace, and saw it was almost time for dinner. I put the book in my dorm and took off to the hospital wing.
"Ah! There you are Ms. Riddle, I was beginning to think you forgot." She led me over to a bed and examined me. "You seem alright to me, but if you feel anything wrong, anything at all, come and see me." I nodded and made my way to the great hall.
I saw Tom and Matteo talking to each other on one side of the door and two girls on the other side who were constantly looking over at them. They looked a couple years older than me.
I walked up to my brothers and the girls just stared at me. Did they not know I was their sister? Whatever.
"Hey Matteo, how did cleaning the Quidditch goals go?" I asked with a smile on my face. He didn't find it amusing in the least. His hands were shaking.
"I lost a hold of my broom and fell off onto the ground." He said. Tom seemed to be trying not to laugh. "He was two feet in the air" Tom was bent over wheezing at this point and so was I.
Matteo was annoyed, "You know what guys? I-" he paused, "Whatever" and walked away.
When I was finally able to breathe I stood up and leaned against the wall behind me next to Tom.
Tom took a long breath and turned to look at me. "Made any other friends?" He asked. "No," I said looking at the ground. "That's alright, you will eventually, I think Matteo did. Not sure though," he trailed off. "Did you?" I asked. "Did I what?"
"Eventually make friends?" I asked. He took a breath and looked forward, not looking at anything specific, more of a day dreaming look, "No, the kids were scared of me. I was so excited to come to Hogwarts, finally make some friends my age. But then people found out my name was Riddle. So they came up with rumors and I stopped trying to be their friend. Then they called me antisocial. That was it, I was done being nice to them. I was only going to be nice to people who deserved it."
He looked over at me and saw the fear in my eyes, but smiled. "I mean, you are a little antisocial." I said with a small laugh.
"I'm not antisocial, I just can't stand people." He said with a straight face.
We walked into the great hall and took our seats. I sat down next to Harry and he sat with Matteo and Draco.