Arabella's wrath had fixated on John, and she was intent on tormenting him endlessly, much to their classmates' humour.
Whenever they were in a lesson, he could feel her burning gaze on the back of his head, searing through his scalp and injecting his thoughts with self-doubt, worry, and anxiety. She could make his skin crawl with a single glare, make his face redden with only a blank stare. It was like their first year all over again, when John had mistakenly called her a bigoted troll with brains the size of a shrivelled kidney bean (he had meant to insult Nikolai but had somehow confused their names).
Yet, curiously enough, she was perfectly amicable, although a bit reserved, with both Will and Halia -- especially directly in front of John. It was as if she enjoyed torturing him slowly, driving him mad day by day.
Her warm smiles had been replaced by a mask of seething rage, with an ocean of fire reflected in her usually serene blue eyes. Her calm demeanour was gone, transformed into a paranoid, jittery behaviour not unlike that of a wild man who believed that even his own shadow was out to get him. Something was eating her alive, consuming her very soul, but John just couldn't put his finger on what it was. It had to do with Tom Riddle and her brother, but just what exactly it was, he hadn't even the faintest inkling.
He was startled out of his ever spiralling thoughts by his book falling to the floor of Gryffindor's common room. Glancing up, he caught sight of a shadow swiftly disappearing towards the Fat Lady.
Gritting his teeth, John stood abruptly, abandoning his half-finished Charms essay on the various uses of Aguamenti as he followed the direction of his mercurial heart.
✧ ✧ ✧
Nikolai and the others were lounging about in an unused classroom, having converted it into a sort of headquarters for their daily meetings. Tom had cast multiple protection spells that hid it from wandering eyes, making the door appear as if it led to a dusty broom closet.
Turning his attention from one of Malfoy's typical Mudblood tirades, Nikolai interested himself with gazing out the window towards the Black Lake. It glinted in the sunlight that was becoming rarer by the day, tempting him to revisit its pebble-strewn shores once more.
"--and then I told her that she's nothing but a pathetic little half-blood," Edmund Mulciber boasted, to laughter from every other boy sitting on top of the desks.
Noticing Nikolai, Yaxley called out to him, "What would've you done, Travers?"
"Hexed her, obviously," came Malfoy's reply for Nikolai. "No filthy half-breed would ever dare talk to me like that."
"I believe he asked Travers, Abraxas," Tom's cold voice said in a clipped tone.
Malfoy muttered something under his breath but said nothing as the whole room fell silent, all eyes trained on Nikolai.
"I... I would've done the same, my Lord," he stammered.
Riddle's face morphed into a sneer. "What would you have done?"
"H-hex the girl," Nikolai clarified, hastily adding, "my Lord."
Tom relaxed into his leather arm chair, which only he could sit in. The air hung heavily in the room, pregnant with the dread of eleven faces.
"I do believe, Nikolai," he said slowly, "that you ought to pay more attention when you're with us. You wouldn't want to convey the idea that you think half-bloods are equal to us, do you?"
"M-my Lord," Nikolai bowed. "Forgive me."
Tom inclined his head slightly, motioning lazily towards the door. "You may leave now."
"My Lord?"
"I said you may leave," he repeated forcefully, the door slamming against the wall as it opened at the flick of his hand.
Nikolai hesitated, his eyes lingering on all his friends' stone faces. Not a flicker of emotion registered on any of them.
Pushing himself off the window ledge, Nikolai set off for the door, stopping only once to bow much too low. "My Lord," he growled through gritted teeth, rising and shutting the door behind him.
Tom turned his attention back to those amassed before him, painting an amused smile on his face as if nothing had happened at all. "Does anyone else wish to leave?" he asked pleasantly. "Rise now if you do."
Nobody blinked.
"All right, then," Riddle said. "Where do we stand with our plan?"
Yaxley cleared his throat, standing up. "My Lord, it is nearly complete."
"And what do you mean by 'nearly?'" Tom said harshly.
"She has lost trust in that inferior Mudblood, my Lord, and is grief stricken still by her father's defection." Yaxley couldn't help the smile that curled across his lips. "We expect her to crack at any moment now."
Riddle nodded curtly, motioning for him to sit down as he toyed idly with his wand. "I see. If she hasn't broken down completely by next week, we must do something to... accelerate... her decision. It's time for a little meddling, boys."
✧ ✧ ✧
Arabella kept her focus trained on the broom closet's door. For three days now, she had crouched behind the statue of a three-horned goat rearing and waited for them to appear.
Every few minutes, she had to urge her mind to concentrate on the unchanging scene before her instead of wandering to thoughts of her father, her brother, and her boyfriend. Everything was falling apart, out of her control, and she despised that helpless feeling deep within her chest as she could do nothing but watch her life slowly tear itself into a million pieces. This was supposed to be her best year yet at Hogwarts, but now, only three months in, it was a complete disaster on every front.
A noise caught her attention, and as she raised her now glassy eyes to the door, whose knob had turned. Grasping desperately at her robes for her wand, Arabella fell backwards. Expecting to fall flat on her bottom, she instead hit something hard on her way down, something that gave out a little yelp of surprise.
Turning around to determine what had cushioned her fall -- or rather who -- her eyes narrowed. "How dare you come and--"
She was cut off when warm, familiar lips crashed onto her own, their owner's hands reaching out wildly to wrap around her torso as they balanced awkwardly on their knees.
When she pulled away, the door wiped from her memory, she was greeted with John's grey eyes smiling down at her. There was something different about them, almost as if they were the wrong colour or drained of their usual brightness.
"Should we stand up?" he asked nervously.
Arabella nodded, letting him help her to her feet. Everything was wrong between them, from the way he hadn't tried to get her attention to how he snogged her. Never before had he been so hungry, so urgent and messy with their kisses, nor had he ever put his arms around her waist like that. John was more of a sweet, slow kisser who preferred to cup her face the whole time, occasionally running his fingers through her hair.
"I missed you," he whispered into her ear, taking hold of her hand.
She bit her lip, staying silent as she wrangled with her pride and forced into a corner. "It was wrong of me to be so rude with you," she finally blurted out. "I'm sorry."
John raised an eyebrow, a languid smirk spreading across his face. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Stop gloating," she snapped. "I really must have been awful, if you're acting like this."
His smug face paled. "L-like what?"
"Like you're some snobby prick," she answered with a laugh, "which is the complete opposite of what you are."
He laughed nervously, shifting from foot to foot. "I'm sorry, I just haven't been myself lately. It was hard, with you always looking at me like I'd killed your father or -- oh, that was a terrible joke. Merlin, I am sorry. Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean -- I forgot -- I'm so sorry."
Arabella dropped his hand. "You do realise this is exactly why I've been ignoring you for the past few weeks?"
John offered her a small, guilty half-smile that reminded her of someone, someone she couldn't think of.
"I guess you're ri--"
"Would you look at that! The Mudblood and the Blood Traitor are back at it again," a voice that made her freeze in fear commented as footsteps drew nearer.
"No, Tom," she said as bravely as she could, "we're just --"
"Sorting things out," John cut her off smoothly, taking her hand once more and paying no attention to her attempts to let go of his, which only led him to squeeze hers tighter. "We've come around to an understanding."
Tom Riddle appeared before them, studying them with a cross of amusement and satisfaction. His usual goons were lurking in the background, leering at them with idiotic grins and beefy arms folded across their wide chests. She noted that both Nikolai and Malfoy were missing from their ranks.
"I'll let the other Prefects know not to come into the lounge tonight. I'm guessing it's safe to assume that it will be... occupied?" Tom smiled devilishly.
Arabella was about to inform him that he was quite wrong, but a silent hand clamped her mouth shut.
Again, John answered him suavely. "That's always a good idea, yes. Thank you, Riddle."
Arabella watched in anguish as one by one, each Slytherin turned and walked past them, oblivious to the objection flashing in her eyes.
John turned to her, smiling. "Let's go down there, then."
Still unable to talk, she gave in and allowed herself to be escorted by her oddly behaving boyfriend towards the Prefect lounge, where privacy awaited them. Once they were within its safe confines, away from the exposed hallways, he locked the door and started a fire in the hearth with a snap.
"Sit down," he commanded, his face beginning to distort in the firelight. Arabella didn't know if she was imagining it, but it almost looked as if his chin had lengthened and his nose had straightened.
Warily, she lowered herself onto a plush red sofa.
Standing with his back to her, John studied the flames dancing in the fireplace.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
"What?" Arabella asked suspiciously. His hair looked nearly white now, and he looked taller than usual, leaner.
"Fire," he replied absentmindedly. "I'd really prefer if it were green, though."
\\
This was fun to write, so I hoped you all enjoyed it!
As usual, let me know what you thought of this chapter, because it really helps! What do you think happened? What is Tom planning? Why is John acting so oddly?
Today's Question: Who is your least favourite character?
The weekend is finally here, so that means more updates :-)
One last question... what are some good names? I need a few for the Draco fic that will go up either tomorrow or the day after. I hope you'll all like that one as well!
-o