It was one thing when you wanted something and you didn't know what it was like. You could imagine it would be awful to make you feel better about not having it. It's another when you let a good thing get away. Tom was staring down at the ribbon in his hand.
Right at the beginning when she had started to take a liking to him.
Now, Professor Slughorn had tried to give him advice on what he needed to do to get her back.
Tom had never wanted to punch someone so much. He felt like a piece of him had been ripped out. He tucked the ribbon in his pocket, and made his way out of the heads common room.
He was quickly regretting his numerous dalliances with the other girls of Hogwarts. They were nothing compared to her.
Tom rounded a corner and spotted Ophelia sitting on a bench reading. Her eyebrows were knitted together in concentration, and her mouth moved as her eyes travelled the words. He recognized it as her copy of Hamlet.
"Lia, what are you doing here?" Asked Jason leaning against a wall near her, "reading. Thinking too I'll bet."
"A dangerous habit, I know, but I just can't help it." Said Ophelia and Tom hid behind a wall. "I just wanted to be alone for a bit."
"I'll leave you then." Said Jason,
"No, stay we can be alone together." Said Ophelia and Tom beard Jason sit down next to her.
"I'm not sure how that would work." Said Jason. "What were you doing in Germany?"
"I can't tell you for legal reasons." Said Ophelia and Jason let out a sound of disbelief.
"What did you do?"
"I signed a contract with the government of Britain." Said Ophelia. "And a contract with the Burlingtons."
"Oh, and that prevents you from telling me?" Asked Jason.
"It may or may not have involved getting a German official drunk." Said Ophelia,
"Say no more, are you going to the Quidditch game tomorrow?"
"Are you shitting me? It's Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff I wouldn't miss that game for the world." Said Ophelia, "Sandra isn't coming though, something about impending NEWTs."
"I'll sit with you." Said Jason, "Watching McKenna practically kill himself on a broom is the highlight of my week."
"He saved your beaten up arse." Said Ophelia, Tom heard her hit him with her book.
"An arse you couldn't seem to get enough of." Said Jason, only to get hit again. "You find fighting sexy?"
"Fuck you." Said Ophelia,
"You wanted to didn't you?" Taunted Jason, "Don't give me the finger."
"You weren't good enough for Lolita and you're not good enough for me." Said Ophelia, standing up and collecting her things.
"You hurt me!" Said Jason, "What are all these buttons for?"
"Glad you Asked I have a bit of a collec-"
She fell out of earshot and Tom rounded the corner again. He sat where she had been sitting . The scent of honey still lingered in the air.
He shook himself and stood up walking away. He knew he should really stop getting jealous. But when you have an ex like Ophelia, an ex you wish you could still be with, it's incredibly difficult. In his mind she was still his.
She still whispered sweet nothings to him at night and told him how much she loved him when he asked. She still wore his shirt to sleep, still danced with him at Slug club parties.
Ophelia was right when she said that it was cruel to tell him that she would have married him had he asked at the end of the year. But he had insisted she tell him. And Ophelia was always honest with him.
Tom walked into the kitchen to see Primrose Halpert and Daniel McLaggen speaking in hushed tones.
"Riddle." Said McLaggen, alerting Primrose to his presence.
"McLaggen." Said Tom, "Halpert, are you alright?"
Primrose looked pissed, "You should know by now that Ophelia tells me everything. I don't want you to confuse her."
"I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about." Said Tom and Primrose rolled her eyes. Tom got food from the house elves but not before hearing,
"I heard he can't get it up anymore." Said Primrose to McLaggen
"That happens, mate, your body's way of saying you're not with the right person."
"Are you serious?" Asked Primrose,
"Yep. It was in Witch's weekly, I'm surprised you don't know about it." Said McLaggen.
"Learn something knew everyday. Yesterday I learnt why the sky was blue." Said Primrose, and Tom was finally out of earshot.
Tom hated his life again, everything seemed to be a constant reminder of what he didn't have. Happiness.
"My lord." Said Malfoy from behind Tom.
He turned around and looked down at the blond.
"What is it, Malfoy?" He asked and Malfoy looked shaken.
"May I speak candidly for a moment?"
"What is it? I haven't got all day." Said Tom and Malfoy looked down.
"I think you're handling your breakup wrong. If you wanted any hope of getting back together with her you shouldn't be spreading rumours." Said Malfoy and Tom glowered at him.
"Go away, little ferret." Said Tom and Malfoy legitimately scurried away. Tom sighed, he couldn't help lying it was second nature especially when it came to protecting his reputation.
Tom took another breath and returned to his common room to eat as he studied for his NEWTs. Only one thing that really halted his study was the Oxford shirt on the chair. The one Ophelia had been so fond of wearing. He had never had the heart to move it.
It smelt like her. Honey. He did hope that she had liked the candies he sent. He could have sworn his heart would beat out of his chest when he'd heard she was in the hospital wing.
Then he had seen her with a bandaged arm.
And he had come back to talk to her without the barriers of her friends. She had not looked peaceful at all as she slept almost like she was dreaming of some horrible unforeseen future. He liked speaking to her.
It was merely another reminder of what he had lost. Then he had made her cry. It was one of the worst feelings in the world. She had called him love again. And that had eased the pain he felt in his chest.
He wanted her back, in any way he could have her really. Just to see her smile at him again would be enough.
—
"I. Am. In. Love. With. Elizabeth. Bennet." Said Ophelia as she clutched her copy of Pride and Prejudice to her chest.
"I know." Said Dottie as they completed their rounds for the evening.
"I just love her she's all witty and refined as fuck." Said Ophelia and Dottie nodded.
"I'm gonna see if McKenna is willing to switch partners with me." Said Dottie, as Ophelia continued to hold her attention.
"No, no, I like seeing you, it is a rare luxury that I spend so much time with my favourite cousin." Said Ophelia, looking up at her. "I like using fancy words." She beamed at Dottie who rolled her eyes.
"Now does that include your second cousins?" Asked Dottie,
"You've never been to prison have you? That changes a person." Said Ophelia, thinking of many of her cousins who had gotten caught.
"I suppose it would, What is muggle prison like?" Asked Dottie, "worse than Azkaban?"
"About the same I should say. At least in Azkaban you don't have to shower communally." Said Ophelia.
"Primrose get you word of the day toilet paper?" Asked Dottie who then got hit with Ophelia's book. "Hey!"
"I'm smart, I read Jane Austen now, but I don't know if I want to be Elizabeth Bennet or I'm just in love with her." Said Ophelia, staring down at the book in awe.
"Let's go with in love." Said Dottie, "I'm sorry I missed you at the Christmas party. I heard your friend from Beauxbatons was there."
"Oh I love Lolita, she's great, she keeps sending me reminders to be strong and Confident and exchange I baked her cookies." Said Ophelia as they came to a halt at the midway point between the Hufflepuff and Slytherin common rooms.
"She sounds it, sometimes you need that in the morning." Said Dottie, "Good night, Lia."
"Good night, Dot." She replied before walking away her face back facing the pages of her new favouritest book.
She ran straight into someone. "Oh, sorry I wasn't looking where I was, Oh hi." She looked up to see Tom Riddle staring down at her. "I already finished my rounds so you can't get mad at me for reading."
"I wasn't going to." He said, "but out of curiosity what are you reading?"
"Pride and Prejudice, I'm a little in love with Elizabeth Bennet but that's okay." She said, marking the page of her book.
"They have it at the library near the orphanage. It's a good book." Said Tom, subtly reminding her of how honest he had been with her. She bit her lip and looked down.
"Yes, well, I'm going back to Hufflepuff. Good night, Tom." Said Ophelia, but he fell into step beside her. "What are you doing?"
"I haven't completed my rounds yet." He said and Ophelia raised a brow.
"Where's Edgecombe?" She asked and Tom shrugged,
"She prefers the divide and conquer approach, and I don't particularly enjoy her company. I was spoiled before." Said Tom and Ophelia rolled her eyes.
"Edgecombe is brilliant." Said Ophelia,
"She doesn't talk." Said Tom.
"I thought you didn't like that." Said Ophelia, looking up at him.
"Not when it's you." He said and Ophelia blushed.
"We're broken up, Tom. Flirting is meant to be off limits." She said her face blank.
"I was merely making an observation." He said, shrugging. "You're not good at staying mad at me."
"Shut up, Tom." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Would you prefer it if I were openly mad at you? What do you want me to do scream at you until I'm pink in the face?"
"Openly mad?"
"You're spreading a rumour that you broke up with me because you finally came to your senses after I ensnared you with my special skills. What the fuck, Tom, and do you know the looks I get from Slytherin girls? Like I've just won slag of the year." She rambled,
"I have a reputation to protect."
"And I don't? I am head girl." Said Ophelia, and Tom frowned. "I am very mad. Because you are very confusing."
"Confusing?" He questioned, and Ophelia nodded vigorously.
"One minute you're being a perfect gentleman, the next you're spreading lies, and then you've got your tongue down the nearest girls throat." Said Ophelia, her face rather pink.
"Feel better, getting it out?" He asked, grimacing at how right she was.
"Loads." She mumbled. "How are you?"
"Preparing for NEWTs." He said and she nodded. He liked that she still cared about him.
"Sandra has us studying around the clock, the reading during the patrol was because I don't have recreational reading time scheduled until June." She said, lightly, he felt the corners of his lips tug upwards.
"You're breaking the rules." He said.
"Sometimes you have to break the rules. Otherwise I wouldn't have found the love of my literary life, Elizabeth Bennet." Said Ophelia, looking down at the book and smiling a bit.
"Rules were made to be broken." He said and she raised her eyebrows and looked up at him.
"Nothing is made to be broken other than pinniatas, and-"
"Rules." He said and Ophelia laughed. It was small but it was there. It really wasn't fair how easily they fell into each other.
Ophelia then snapped an elastic band on her wrist, he looked at her quizzically.
"What is that?" He asked and Ophelia shrugged.
"Gift from Lolita." Of course thought Tom, "her suggestion for getting over you. Whenever I think about you in that special way, I snap it. I shouldn't be surprised at the suggestion Lolita is very good at conditioning."
Tom took hold of her wrist only to see it very very red.
"So when you said no break up sex, at Christmas, there really was a reality where I was getting some?" He asked and Ophelia snapped the band three more times.
"I'm not telling you." Said Ophelia and Tom smiled down at her. He watched as she seemed to melt under his smile, "yes there was, but oh we are at Hufflepuff and it's an impossibility now."
He frowned as she tapped the barrels with her wand and entered the common room. But he didn't miss the three more times she snapped the elastic on her wrist.
This was going to be easier than he expected.