I'M SO SORRY!! I read all of your lovely comments and messages and I am SO sorry that this is so late!! It's been almost a year now, hasn't it??? Um,,,what's up shawties ah ha ha. Awkward. I love you thank you for waiting for me.
I hope you're all doing well, and if you're not that's ok too. I'm always here if anyone needs someone to talk to :)
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Tom and I have been near inseparable since that night of the party, and as much as I hated to admit it to myself, I was growing attached. He made me miss my friends back in my own time period, and that's how I knew I had to end things soon. The only issue was how. I couldn't just abandon him after all the time we'd spent together, and as his only real friend I knew I couldn't just disappear with no explanation.
Any way I did this, it was gonna hurt like a bitch.
I contemplated all of this as I walked to Tom's dorm room so we could go to breakfast. To my surprise, he was still asleep and an evil grin crept across my face. I got a running start and launched myself onto his bed with a shriek akin to a strangled banshee.
He let out a pained wheeze and flailed around in an over dramatic display that ended in him falling off the bed.
"Wow you should really watch where you're going." I advised wisely.
"...You jumped on me." Tom forced the words out.
I tsked his clumsiness, "You should try not to fall off your bed so often. It's unhealthy."
"I hate you so much. So much."
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
I fiddled with the golden wristwatch that I'd kept on ever since that day in Dumbledore's office. How could I leave this time period without Tom reverting to his bitter and hateful ways? I began plotting, and a plan started forming in my mind. This was going to be very, very difficult.
I did my research and had conversations with my drug dealers. I mean, *scholarly connections. Typo. I had everything mapped out in my brain - the only thing I needed now was to execute it.
The next day after class, I sat in the common room shuffling papers absentmindedly. All of our classes were over and at this point I was just waiting for Tom to finish his work so he could rescue me from my incurable boredom. Speak of the devil, the handsome mastermind-to-be came shuffling down the stairs in his slippers and bathrobe.
"Well don't you look spiffy, Mr. Riddle," I complimented mockingly.
"I know darling." He yawned and raked his hand through his unusually messy hair.
I didn't know how to respond to that. "Wanna go for a walk? It's a lovely day outside." I smiled and stared at him with the intensity of a dog waiting for a treat.
He didn't seem amused, "I absolutely would on any other occasion, I swear, but the slippers-" He started but I didn't let him finish.
"Ok cool, I'll meet you outside in ten!"
He tipped his head back and groaned but didn't protest hard enough for me to actually care.
It was cold outside. Who's decision was it to go on a walk again? What a terrible idea. I was shivering noticeably and Tom rolled his eyes, shrugging off his wool coat to throw it around my shoulders. I murmured a thanks. Why didn't he just cast a warming spell? Huh.
We'd reached the entrance of the forest and I noticed Tom hesitated, but I continued along the quickly dwindling path and he hurried after me. The sun was soon blocked out by the towering trees and the open light of the rolling hills was far behind us.
"Y/N- don't you think we should turn back soon?" Tom said in a steady voice.
"Oh, let's just go a little farther! I've never been to this part of the forest before." I said cheerfully and skipped ahead. The birds were chirping and the deer were grazing and the centaurs were off talking shit in some isolated corner - ahh, nature. So serene.
Just then, a sharp flash of light and a deafening shrieking noise came from a distance off the path to the left. I jumped and Tom's head whipped over.
"You stay here, I'll go check it out." He said firmly and I nodded nervously.
Tom's POV
I was on edge already because of this creepy ass forest but I knew Y/n would be able to handle herself. She was a strong witch for her age. I walked quietly towards where the flash of light came from, withdrawing my wand from my sleeve. The trees creaked and moaned in the whistling wind.
"Lumos." I illuminated the area around me with my wand and was puzzled to find nothing out of the ordinary. Leaves, dirt, weird trees. Yup, everything was normal. So what was that noise from? I prodded around in the forest a little more before giving up and heading back to where I left Y/N.
"I think it must've just been a stray banshee or something-" I declared as I approached the path, only to find it empty.
"Fuck." My brow furrowed with worry. Where could she have possibly gone? Oh no. What if-
Just as the thought crossed my mind, a pained shriek came from the other side of the path.
I swore and sprinted towards a clearing that only I knew was nearby. Please no please no please no please no pl-
As I approached I heard a faint whimpering and I saw what I'd been desperately hoping not to see: Y/n, her leg caught in a tainted steel unicorn trap and paling quickly.
I sprinted to her side, screaming a spell to unlock the trap. But it was too late. The metal jaws dropped open and she fell limp into my arms, her ankle twisted at an unhealthy angle. Scooping her swiftly into my arms, I sprinted out of the forest as quickly as I could, screaming for help.
"Stay with me, ok Y/N?" I panted as I ran furiously, not daring to stop and check on her. As we approached the castle, I spotted Dumbledore wandering peacefully in the outside gardens.
"PROFESSOR," I bellowed, "She needs help!" My legs began to buckle from exhaustion, only to find Y/N lifted out of my arms and onto a floating stretcher. Dumbledore waved his wand and she disappeared off towards the infirmary. I started after her but he stopped me with a firm hand on my shoulder.
"What happened?" He demanded gently.
I shook my head. "No time...poison...have to...get to her." I tried to catch my breath.
"She stepped on a unicorn trap enchanted with a poison that creates a gradual but easy death upon contact - almost like falling into a deep sleep. It's almost irreversible, I have to get to her now, we need to find an antidote-"
"How do you know all this Tom?" Dumbledore asked calmly. I wrestled out of his grip and took off towards the infirmary.
"Cause I'm fucking evil, now COME there's no time!" I spat impatiently.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Y/N's POV
I drifted in and out of consciousness, catching brief glimpses of things before sinking back into the warm comfort of sleep. I was in a hospital bed, I knew that much.
A stifled sniff. That was Tom's sniff! I couldn't move a muscle but I listened and the scene formed in my mind.
"There's gotta be something you can do." He sounded defeated. I'd never heard him like this before. It's okay Tommy, I'm right here! I wanted to say. But I knew I couldn't even if I wanted to.
"I'm sorry. The most we can do now is make her comfortable and let her family know." That must've been the doctor.
"She doesn't have any family. She has me." Tom growled.
The doctor muttered his apologies and left to give us the room. I felt a weight on the side of the bed and knew he must have sat down.
"You idiot. I told you to stay still, didn't I? And now look what happened. You just couldn't listen, could you." He chuckled through thick words.
The steady beat of my heart monitor punctured the silence in the room periodically, an irritating beep that I wished I had a snooze button for.
"You said you'd always stay with me." A drop fell on my bedsheets, then another. Tears. "Why aren't you staying with me, Y/N? Why does everyone I love die."
I felt my own eyes well up and squeezed them closed tighter.
"Do you remember when you first came here? I was so mean to you back then. I wish I hadn't been. We've had months together Y/N, months. We were supposed to have YEARS." His voice was strangled with sobs. "How am I supposed to keep living normally when I see you in everything I do? Hell, I can't even get off the bed anymore without being reminded of your dumbass tackling me."
He grasped my cold, paralyzed hands. "Tackle me again, Y/N, I'll let you tackle me a million times. You can give me a fucking concussion you can paralyze me from the neck down I don't care, I just need you to not leave me." His voice cracked.
I started getting sleepier. I'm sorry Tom, I wanted to say. The beeping of my monitor got slower and slower, until it was one continuous beep and I fell back into the darkness, barely feeling his body collapse on top of mine.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Do you remember when you were little and you'd fall asleep in the car or on the couch downstairs and then you'd wake up 8 hours later in your own bed? That's exactly what this felt like, except this isn't my own bed.
This wasn't a bed at all, actually. This was a casket. I surveyed my surroundings amusedly, noting with approval the red satin that they'd lined my deathbed with. What's the difference between a casket and a coffin anyways? It doesn't matter, I'm dead! I thought gleefully. There's something really...fun about being a dead person. Technically I've only been dead for less than a day but by god let me have my moment.
I wondered if I was in the ground yet. I knew I was to be buried in the graveyard on the school grounds, but I wasn't sure how quickly funerals happened. Wait...I could hear some faint murmuring and a couple sniffles. I think I woke up in the middle of my funeral ceremony!
In case there's any confusion, I was very much planning on being dead.
- Queue super cool swirly flashback to ~a day earlier -
"So if the person takes the antidote ahead of time, the poison isn't lethal but rather coma-inducing?" I asked Slughorn curiously.
"Precisely, my dear. But in what situation would you ever come into contact with such a rare poison?" The jolly man questioned.
"Oh, I'm just studying up for my O.W.L's." I gave him a beaming 4.0 GPA student grin and he bought it easily.
I think it's probably becoming clear what happened afterwards. Unknown to Riddle, I'd been scouting out the Forbidden Forest for weeks prior to search for ideas. It was purely on accident that I'd stumbled across one of the traps, and a poor unfortunate squirrel ran into it with me.
It was because of that brave squirrel that I knew of the traps' effects. Long live Sergeant Fuzzy Nut Cheeks. May he Rest In Peace.
The shriek that distracted Riddle for long enough to allow me to 'wander' off into the trap was a simple ventriloquism spell. But by Merlin's Balls, it hurt worse than Satan's hot rod of sin stretching open your-
I think you get the idea.
After that I really didn't have to do much except make sure I had my time turner watch on me, and wait until I'm buried to travel back. I felt absolutely awful having to leave Tom like this, but I thought of all the possible ways to leave and this one was by far the best. By having my death be caused by something he created, he'll internalize his sadness rather than taking it out on everyone else. He'll see that his greed will only create tragedy, and hopefully change for the better. But for all of this, my death needed to be the catalyst.
And so there I lay, twiddling my thumbs and yawning while listening to the most boring funeral speech I'd ever heard in my life. I know I just woke up for my death coma, but is it too soon to take a nap?
"-And she will be forever missed. Would anyone like to say a few words?" The unknown speech giver wrapped up his sermon of tediousness. No one spoke up but I heard a few sobs and I felt another twinge of guilt. This was the easiest way.
"Well then, commence the lowering of the casket."
My legs were cramping and I was dying to stretch. Haha, dying.
I was a little offended that no one dramatically threw themselves on my grave weeping and screaming but I supposed it was for the best. Tom once told me he hates funerals. I wonder if he was here at mine?
Soft clumps of dirt began falling on me like an unsteady rain, and I figured now was as good a time as any.
My eyes watered slightly. "Goodbye, Tom."
I pressed the button on the side of my watch three times and the world went light.