A pair of large brown eyes peeked from behind one of the ancient bookshelves in the Hogwarts library.
Should've come here earlier.
There were way too many people for her own liking but she had a mission today that she had been ignoring for way too long. It was the day she would do her research on Basilisks.
Maybelle quickly went back to scheme through anything related to the great beast.
Hmm...let's see.
How to Feed Hippogryphs, 1000 Recipes with Dragon Meat, Curses Through the Years, Most Brutal Hexes, Best Amorentia......should I read it later?
No, focus Leo.
Mermaids and Sirens, The most dangerous beast.....
Hmm...
Let's see that one.
Maybelle smiled to herself and started pulling out the huge book from the shelf. However, no matter how much she tried, it won't budge. She slightly frowned and gave a powerful tug on the old bind, finally securing the book in her hand.
A pale hand peaked through the empty space where the book was before. Maybelle raised a questioning eyebrow, trying to understand its origin. Was it a Hogwarts library thing to show hands after taking a book?
Before she could stop herself, her hand automatically decided to poke the strange hand to check if it would move or not. She almost screeched when the hand jerked back. With a large gaping mouth, she crouched down to the level of the now vacant gap to peer through it.
Instead of a ghostly pale hand, she was met with piercing dark eyes glaring right at her very soul. Within seconds she has backed away from the cursed shelf quite dramatically managing to knock over a few other books that were piled behind her.
It didn't take a genius to know who those eyes belonged to. Maybelle already knew that she would have to trust her super ninja skill to avoid facing him and eventually getting her book snatched away from her.
She almost flew towards the petite looking woman who was the librarian and slammed the book on her table almost sending her to the afterlife.
"Oh deary, you almost scared me to death," she stuttered and pushed her glasses up on her nose.
"Need this book."
The woman gave her a displeased look for her straightforward language but decided not to say anything.
Maybelle almost broke her quill in half while signing her name in her drunk cockroach handwriting and sprinted out of the door. She was pushing past all the busy students towards her Ravenclaw dorms. She could even hear a few girly squeals cutting through the air but she knew better than to stop.
Her robes almost appeared like her raven wings as she climbed up the stairs with almost godspeed.
Just a corner. Come on Leo.
Her breathing was becoming more and more laboured. She mentally cursed at herself for not doing any physical exercises anymore. With so much to explore, she barely got time to polish her karate skills.
As soon as she took a turn, her legs literally screeched to a sudden break. In front of her, stood the golden boy of Hogwarts with the look of a serial killer about to drink the blood of his victim.
Okay, that was a bit of exaggeration but you get the idea.
His hands were folded in front of his chest as he stood with perfect posture. So perfect that it almost looked comical.
Maybelle was tempted to say something out of the blue just to see his reaction. But she had to force her mind back to find an escape route.
The only thing that came to her mind was to create a diversion and just run for her life.
So, she did that.
Her eyes met his deep pools of black void for a few agonising seconds. But those tiny fractions of time was enough to see the storm that was just about to swallow her.
She quickly looked away and set her gaze behind him. Then she summoned her inner actress and widened her eyes dramatically. Her one hand flew on top of her mouth while the other hand pointed at something behind the fuming boy.
"Oh, Merlin! What in the heavens is that?!"
She didn't wait for him to turn back. She just whipped her body and started running as her life depended on it. The empty halls were filled with the loud squeaking of her shoes. But oddly enough, the walls remained unchanged. She ran faster but an invisible force seemed to trap her in her place.
Her head turned back only to see Tom holding her robes and preventing her escape. Her body immediately slumped in his grasp as if she already accepted her death.
The brown-haired girl slowly turned her head back and faced Tom who was still trapping her in his death grip.
"What do you want?"
Tom might have just exploded right then and there after hearing her casual question in an even casual tone.
"Why don't you enlighten me, Ms Wright? You were the one who was running like a madwoman all over the school premises breaking at least eleven rules," he said through his gritted teeth.
Maybelle always found it amusing when he couldn't keep his cool around her. The ever so cool and mysterious facade that he usually showed everyone always came off when he confronted her.
"Oh, I would love to humour your questions but the last time I checked, you are still too young to be perfect," she said smugly, quite enjoying the scowl on his face.
"I grabbed the book first, hand it over to me."
"Well, I borrowed it first. You can read it after me. Now, can you release my robes?"
Tom glared daggers at her. He felt frustrated. He wanted to just take out his wand and blast some hexes at her. How could she even dare to talk to someone like him? He knew that she was capable of a lot more than she intended to show.
His fingers slowly uncurled from the soft fabric of her robes. His eyes were fixed on the book in her clutches. He took in deep breaths to calm down and his perfect student face, which he probably practised in front of the mirror a hundred times to make it perfect, came back.
His eyes travelled up to meet Maybelle's, who was eyeing him with curiosity.
"I must apologize for the inconvenience, Ms Wright. I should take my leave now. I hope we can find ourselves in a better scenario, the next time we meet," he explained and flashed his famous smirk which always had the girls swooning over him.
Ooooh, he's using the silver tongue again.
"I beg your pardon," Tom frowned at the girl.
"What? I didn't say anything," Maybelle shrugged trying her very best to keep the neutral face and keeping her thoughts at bay.
Tom still looked unconvinced but nodded anyway. He started walking away from her, his shoulders brushing against hers ever so slightly. As soon as she knew that he was far enough, a long sigh left her lips. Her shoulders slouched down and she placed a hand on her waist like an old woman.
Her feet dragged her towards the Ravenclaw dorms in lazy strides.
Ah, I am not paid enough for this.
She stood in front of the large portrait which was apparently the entrance of the Ravenclaw dorms.
Now came the part which she despised the most about the Ravenclaws. She just wanted to know, who was the genius who came up with the idea to make the students answer a stupid riddle every single time they had to enter the dorms.
Different people had different kinds of intelligence. It was always not important that each and every Ravenclaw was magically capable of solving riddles. She was one of those unfortunate folks who absolutely sucked at riddles.
The painting lady opened her eyes ready to ask her.
"What starts with E and ends with E and has only one letter?"
Maybelle just stood there, dumbfounded at the question. Was that lady even serious?
Now, I think Slytherin would've been a better option.
She swiftly turned away and started walking towards her next favourite spot where there were no riddles to stop her.
The astronomy tower.
She held her book securely against her chest while venturing towards the high tower. Her safe place. The place where she stayed awake every single night to avoid bad dreams.
As soon as she reached her destination, the wind slapped harshly at her face. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. She choose a spot away from the spiral stairs and sat down with her back pressed against the rocky walls.
She finally opened her book and ran her eyes over the contents.
' Basilisk; the king of snakes '
Bingo!
Well, it was a hundred-page chapter that took her almost an hour to read, considering the ancient English they used in the books. Her eyes grew heavy, but she still couldn't find a way to defeat the great snake.
She almost gave up when only one paragraph was left but her eyes caught the small word "kills".
"Killing the great beast can prove itself to be very difficult. However, legend says that the crowing of the rooster immediately kills a basilisk. If not, the only other way to kill the king of the beasts is by mirrors."
Well, that was helpful. Now all I need is a bunch of mirrors and a huge rooster.
Should be easy enough.
••••••••••••••••••
"I am sorry, what?"
Maybelle huffed and grabbed Zayden's collar harshly. She had enough playing around. She brought his face closer to hers until their noses were touching.
"Listen here, you green-eyed alien, I need you to get me a rooster by the end of the day. I don't want to repeat this again. Do you understand?"
Zayden visibly gulped and tried to pry off the girl's death grip. But she was like a python ready to choke him to death until he gave in.
"F-fine. I'll do it."
He let out an uneasy breath as soon as he was released. He felt a sudden glare burning into his skull making him whip his head back. His bright green eyes met with a pair of black pools throwing a murderous glare at him. But it was for such a short time that he thought that he imagined it.
Maybelle frowned and followed her friend's gaze to find a very stoic Tom surrounded by his followers at the other end of the corridor. She brought her fingers in front of Zayden's eyes and snapped to gain his attention. He jumped slightly and returned his gaze to his little friend.
"Why do you even need a rooster?"
"I...I can't tell you. You have to trust me on this one."
Zayden pursed his lips trying to hide the fact that he was a bit sad. They always agreed that there would be no secret between them. Though he couldn't blame the girl.
He had made a lot of new mates in his own house. He barely got any time to spend with her. When she had come to him earlier today, he was quite happy to spend some time with his best friend but little did he expect that he would agree to find a rooster for her?
His thoughts were interrupted when Maybelle tapped his shoulder and waved a silent goodbye to the boy.
Now, I have to find mirrors.
Maybelle had to attend transfigurations before that. She was already disliked by professor McGonagall for being a 'rebellious student'. She certainly didn't want to add to the long list of complaints she had already achieved.
Her feet took her in front of the class just in time. She pushed the wooden double door and entered the noisy class. Her eyes fell on the cat sitting idly on the table.
Ah, the old trick.
She silently made her way towards the back keeping up with her backbencher reputation and settled down. Her mind drifted to the ultimate idea she came up with for the mirrors.
I am a girl. I stay in the girls' dorm. I want mirrors. Girls have mirrors. So I steal.
Perfect.
"Settle down students, we don't have all day. Ms Wright, do fix your tie."
Maybelle nearly rolled her eyes. She fumbled with the wrinkled and poorly knotted tie not even trying to make it look better.
She could almost hear the disappointed look on her professor's face.
"Okay, today we will try to change a glass into a glass quill," she declared and prepared her wand.
"Follow my words children. Your wand movement should be two left twirls and an inclined swish," she did as she told, "Convert Portiri!"
Her glass turned into a beautiful red quill with its body decorated with golden glass crystals.
Maybelle huffed in annoyance and took out her wand hastily. She held it between her thumb and index finger like she always did and pointed it at the glass in front of her.
She held her breath, trying to use the least amount of magic and cast the stupid spell. The glass disappeared with a purple poof and was replaced with the most normal-looking quill ever. She carefully placed her wand inside the folds of her skirt.
As soon as she touched the quill, a loud snap interrupted the class. The glass part of it was broken into two pieces from the middle.
"Not good at all, Ms Wright."
Maybelle screeched like a banshee and placed a hand on top of her chest where her heart was beating like crazy. She wheezed out an apology. People should really stop appearing from nowhere. She would definitely die from a cardiac arrest one of these days.
"This is outrageous, Ms Wright! I request you to stay back after this class," the angry lady scolded her with her shrill voice.
Her shoulders slumped down in defeat and she shrank away from the angry teacher. Her head dipped down in agreement.
The class ended in a breeze. Maybelle waited for the students to clear out the class so that she could talk with her professor. She collected all her stuff, including the broken quill and dropped them inside her satchel.
She was slowly dragging herself towards the angry professor to face the usual lecture about having potential and not using it. How to be more like a lady, how to hold a wand properly and lastly give her a ton of homework as a punishment.
However, her feet immediately stopped when a familiar raven-haired boy entered the class with his perfect student posture.
"Professor, you have asked for my presence."
McGonagall looked up from the stack of papers and smiled at Tom. Maybelle had to do everything possible to hold back another scream seeing the horrifying grin on the lady's wrinkled face.
Tom didn't even bat an eyelash when he flashed his million-dollar smile which made her gag in a very unladylike manner.
"Mr Riddle, I am in need of your assistance with one of my students."
Both of their eyes focused on the girl who was slowly trying to sneak away from the scene through the window. Realising that she had been caught in the act, she tried to cover it up by knocking on the wooden frame as if checking its quality.
"I do not understand professor," Tom said with another rehearsed smile.
"Ms Wright, come here!"
Maybelle huffed again and walked towards the duo with lazy strides. She stopped in front of the professor's table trying to figure out the presence of Tom in the room.
"You see, Ms Wright has been lacking academic performance since the beginning of this year. On the contrary, you have shown perfect scores throughout the year."
If Tom's smile could get any faker, Maybelle would get diabetes.
"So, I would like you to tutor Ms Wright till she shows some progress, only if it's not too much fo-"
"You can't set me up for this cliché stuff!"
Maybelle slammed her hands on the table while glaring at McGonagall. Whatever came out of her mouth was just a pure nightmare for her. First of all, she didn't want to be under Tom's watch. Second of all, she totally didn't want to be a part of some romantic story where he will fall in love with her through library rendezvous.
But when she felt two piercing gazes burning into her soul, she realised what just spurted out of her mouth. Her hands that were still pressed against the table flew over her mouth in a poor attempt to hide her embracement.
"I mean...I ...I...." She mumbled through her palms.
Professor McGonagall looked like she was about to explode any moment. The veins on her neck popped when she snapped her quill in two pieces. Tom looked utterly uncomfortable but kept the perfect student face nonetheless.
"As you see Mr Riddle, Maybelle clearly had some issues with her behaviour. I request you to guide her throughout this year and next year as well till your OWLS. That will be all," she managed to say and glared down at her stack of papers.
"To- I mean, Mr Riddle certainly has no time for someone like me. I think we should think this the-"
"Oh, I do not have any problem, professor. It will be my pleasure to help my fellow classmate," Tom answered making her jaw drop in surprise.
"Wonderful!"
McGonagall cheered and waved at them to attend their next class.
Maybelle just wanted to bury herself somewhere and stay there forever. She didn't want help, she wanted to live in peace. Heck, she even had to take care of a rooster in the recent future. She didn't have time for people like Tom riddle.
"Ms Wright, we have the same class now. Shall we go?"
No.
Maybelle nodded and brushed past him, purposely bumping her shoulder roughly against his chest earning a soft growl from him.
They had History of Magic together which she despised with all her passion. Every time she heard Tom's footsteps, her anger would increase.
Stupid silver-tongued snake.
"Excuse me!"
Her head whipped towards the boy who was already glaring at her.
"What?"
Tom closed the distance between them with fast strides. The logical thing to do was to back away and eventually be pressed against the wall by him. But being the rebellious teenager she was, she stood her ground with puffed cheeks.
Tom kept a respectable distance away from her but was still close enough, that she got a whiff of the smell of forest and old books. She had to restrain herself from sniffing him.
Tom leaned closer to her face and glared at her, "You must refrain from calling me such names, Wright. Just be glad that you are going to get lessons from me."
God, he smells like fresh tea.
Tom's eyes widened and he backed away immediately. Maybelle just wanted to smash her head against the wall for thinking something like that. On top of that, she couldn't understand why on earth he could hear her thoughts so easily.
To prevent herself from further embarrassment, she did the best thing that she could do.
She ran away.
A/N: oukay.
This is the author speaking, many years after this chapter was published.
Minerva McGonagall was indeed a student in hogwarts that time. Unfortunately, when I was writing these chapters, I was just a depressed teen stuck in a boarding school with limited time and no free internet.
Therefore, I apologize for the wrong information [here as well as other chapters] because of my lazy ass not doing enough research.
So this is an apology and a warning that there might be many incorrect information in the future chapter. I humbly request my lovely readers to just ignore it, maybe... 😬
Or you could stop reading if these things really bother you. I will understand and promise not to cry at night about it.
Sorry and thank you for reading my book!