SHE GAPED AT HIM. "Date? As in date date? Like girlfriend boyfriend date?"
"Yes, Rosalind. A serious relationship, where two people supposedly love each other," Tom answered, as if he was explaining to a five year old what's 1+1.
"What's in it for me?"
"Well, this thing will benefit the both of us. Since you obviously are infatuated with me, and I can't deny my partiality to you, we should date. This would really increase our popularity and importance here. We'll constantly be the talk of the school. Can you picture it, the Golden boy with the Golden girl? We would have double the influence and the power on others. Everyone would love us, even the teachers.
"Also, this might hopefully increase the chances of others joining my order. This really is a perfect plan. It would make everyone stop wondering about what we are. How did I not think of this before?" He pondered on his own, while she just stared at him, flabbergasted.
"You're literally telling me to my face that you will manipulate me for your own good!" She exclaimed, running a hand through her hair irritatedly.
"It's not manipulation if we're both benefiting."
"It is! You're blatantly telling me that you'll use my feelings for your benefit. I won't let you use me like that!"
"Listen, we can both be satisfied in this 'relationship', but if you really don't want that, then it's up to you," Tom answered, and she was kind of shocked. She didn't expect his heartlessness to stretch so far, to the point of hurting her feelings.
"I don't," She finally sat on the couch, her arms crossed over her chest angrily.
Tom sat next to her, a hand stroking her cheek while he spoke softly. "Are you sure, Rosalind? Are you sure you don't want this?"
His voice was husky, which made her shudder slightly. He started kissing her neck, softly, tenderly. He knew this was her weakness, and he was taking advantage of that.
"Tom, please stop." She breathed, but made no endeavour to stop him.
"No," He whispered, as he continued exploiting her. Every kiss he placed, sent an electric shiver throughout her body.
"Do you really think that you can seduce me into doing this?" She questioned incredulously, finally trying to push him off of her.
"Yes."
"Well, I hate breaking it to you, but it'll never happen."
"Why not?" By now, Tom had her trapped, once again, between him and the couch. She really didn't understand why he insisted on executing this ridiculous 'plan'.
"Why do you expect me to always agree with everything you suggest?"
"Because, everything I suggest is beneficial to either one of us, or both of us."
"Your fan club will kill me."
"You're strong enough to defend yourself."
"We'll have to be very affectionate and intimate in front of everyone."
"I'm sure that we'll both like it."
She remained silent, because she was sort of convinced by his words. Plus, she really liked the idea of having something with Tom, no matter how fake it was.
"Well, we have a deal then."
***
Rosalind and Tom stepped into the Great Hall, fingers intertwined, the next morning. She liked the way all eyes immediately went to them, making them the centre of attention. This always occurred when they were together.
And if their 'relationship status' wasn't clear enough by their hand-holding, the way Tom dragged her with him to the Slytherin table definitely got the message across. Rosalind sent a quick apologetic glance towards her two best friends, who were seated on the blue table right across the green one.
Tom sat next to Rosalind, so close that their sides were pressed to each other in a manner that they both hoped looked romantic.
"Why don't you just sit on my lap? You know, we have to be all close and lovey-dovey!" Rosalind whispered when she was sure that no one within earshot could hear them. Everyone seemed busy doing something.
Tom chuckled, raising an eyebrow at her rambling. "Can you just shut up? This is not the right time for your sarcasm. We need to act all in love, you know," Rosalind scowled at him as he scolded her. "Oh and the look you're giving me right now doesn't help at all. You look like you want to rip my throat out."
Rosalind pretended to laugh at his words, as she hit his chest playfully, yet purposely pinching his arm under the table. Tom didn't even wince.
"Remind me why I agreed to this?" She whispered to him through gritted teeth, when she noticed the number of eyes watching their every move. Even the Slytherin table had gone silent.
"Why, because you love me, of course," Tom answered in a matter-of-fact tone. A faint blush coloured her face when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She could never get used to this.
By now, everyone was interested in Tom and Rosalind's moment. Actually, they all had expected the pair's 'friendship' to blossom into something more, but the sudden way they were acting around each other was really strange.
"Kiss me."
"Huh?" Rosalind asked in a dumbfounded state. She perfectly understood what he wanted, she just wasn't sure if she could do it.
It's not that she didn't have the courage, she just wouldn't have kissed him like that in front of the whole school –especially not when all attention was on them– if they were in a real relationship.
"Everyone's looking, kiss me."
"No. In case you haven't noticed, I hate PDA," She answered, and Tom only cursed under his breath.
"Fine," He muttered, before pressing his lips to hers. She heard a few gasps around her, and she rolled her eyes at that. This kiss was different. It felt fake. All of their other kisses –that don't exceed the amount of three– took place when no one was around. They'd kissed each other simply because they wanted to.
But now, they weren't on their own, in their shared bedroom or their own version of the Room of Requirement. They were in the Great Hall, in front of hundreds of students and a good amount of teachers, publicly confirming that they were a thing.
Rosalind could only hope that Tom's fangirls would lose interest by now knowing that he's taken. As much as she hated herself for her feelings, she liked the sound of that. The perfect, handsome and charming Tom Riddle –only in other people's eyes, since it was only Rosalind that knew the real him; even more than the Knights– was taken by her. He was hers. And she was his. She liked that, but she hated it at the same time.
Maybe she hated it because it wasn't real. Because no matter how much she enjoyed the physical contact and the compliments, she always had that nagging voice in the back of her head, reminding her that he was merely doing it for attention.
He he he. . Why was there not another he that consumed her thoughts? Why was she always thinking about him, and only him? Couldn't she just have a crush on Oliver? Even Malcolm Urquhart would've been a better replacement. At least they were normal people.
Why did she have to love the darkest wizard the Wizarding world will ever see? She wished she had an answer to her jumbled up inquiries.
Rosalind felt miserable, maybe because she didn't know that she was also the only she that occupied his mind.
The kiss left them breathless, panting even. And she would've liked the look of his swollen lips and disheveled hair if it wasn't for their current situation.
"I really hate you," She whispered in his ear, and he only raised an eyebrow in reply.
"The feeling is mutual," Tom winked, finally deciding to get his mouth busy with an apple, instead of her lips.
***
"So now you're telling me, that the lost diadem is in Albania? You can't be serious," Tom ran a hand through his hair frustratedly.
Rosalind had just unfolded the news of her new discovery, the place of the Diadem of Ravenclaw. After a lot of research and futile attempts, Rosalind managed to not-so-charmingly convince Ravenclaw's ghost –the grey lady, also known as Helena Ravenclaw, which reminded her of a certain unpleasant person– to tell her the whereabouts of the tiara. After all, she did have a short temper, hefty magical abilities, and an excessive vocabulary of insults that she wasn't afraid to use. It also slightly helped that she was a Ravenclaw.
"I'm positive it's there. She also said that it's in some forest or something."
"Great. Just great," Tom was huffing and fidgeting in his seat beside her. He was clearly vexed and irritated.
They were both seated next to each other in the library, pretending to be discussing their Charms homework. When really, they were planning on seeking a historical priceless artefact in Albania that Tom will use to become even more immortal –as if immortality can be measured– so that he could successfully destroy the Wizarding world in the future and rid it of all 'tainted' blood.
Yes, very pleasant.
"We went to Yorkshire and Brighton. I think we can handle Albania," She tried to sound comforting, when in reality, she was very worried. They'd came across many undesirable things during their last journey, and she didn't want to have to hit someone's head to a counter once again.
"It's a whole different country. We're going to have to start taking action from now."
"It'll all be good. We're Rosalind Bonaccord and Tom Riddle for Merlin's sake, we can make anything work."
***
"So, you and Tom, huh? Who would've expected?" Willow mused sarcastically, when Rosalind sat with her friends the first time that day during dinner.
"Yeah, honestly, no one knew that you two were hooking up," Oliver replied from the other side of Willow, who was sitting in between the blonde and the nerd.
"Hey! It only happened once," Rosalind defended, which only caused Oliver to mock her even more.
"Hey! It only happened once," He mimicked, waving his arms around in a 'girly' manner.
"I so don't sound like that."
"You do," Willow stated between mouthfuls of porridge.
"That's it, I'm going to sit with the Slytherins."
"Yeah, run off to your boyfriend!" Oliver sighed, "Why can't I get a boyfriend?!"
Rosalind opened her mouth to answer, but closed it when the realisation hit her. "Wait, what?"
"Oh, you didn't tell her?" Willow turned to Rosalind, "We've known that since fourth year, when he confessed that he had a crush on our Muggle Studies professor," She explained, finally pushing away her bowl.
Oliver just shrugged, "It was never really relevant to mention it to her."
"Well, now you know. So if you ever come across a guy who's hot and plays for the other team, make sure to give him the Dennington's– what do you guys call it?" Willow questioned, leaning back to stretch her muscles.
"Phone number," Oliver answered, a smirk plastered on his face.
"Yeah, that. Now, I have a Transfiguration homework that I need to finish while crying hysterically and pulling my hair out. So I'll see you guys later." Willow got up and left, leaving Oliver and Rosalind to chuckle to themselves.
Rosalind really liked having good company. She liked spending time with her two best friends, just goofing around and forgetting about all of their problems. But she knew that it wasn't going to last long. Grindelwald wanted her by the end of the year, and she was still trying not to see Samantha's dead body every time she looked into Willow's eyes.