LIGHT AND DARK
Lucia was awoken by a stream of dazzling sunlight piercing through the thick green curtains of the four-poster bed. It took her a second to take in her surroundings, especially the green hue that engulfed the small space.
Her cheek was against Tom's chest, slowly rising and falling with each of his breaths. He was still asleep, which was quite unusual considering he was usually the first awake. However, he supposed this wasn't the most dramatic change she'd seen in Tom.
Luckily it was a Saturday, so there was no rush in getting up. Lucia recast the muffliato on the small space, as she heard the rustling of covers as others in the dorm turned over in their beds.
She lay her head so she could look at Tom subtly, his aristocratic facial structure reflecting the light beautifully. His face was totally relaxed, with no tense in his jaw or lines in his forehead. She wished she could see him like this all the time.
They were both completely naked still, legs intertwined and breathing in sync. Lucia wouldn't have minded staying there forever.
"It's rude to stare." Tom mumbled lightly, his eyes still closed but his mouth turning up at the corners slightly into a smirk.
"How did you know?" Lucia asked in shock, considering she hadn't seen him open his eyes once so far that morning.
"You underestimate me, Lucia." He fired back, his dark eyes that were strangely bright in that moment fluttering open to look at her.
She had moved to have her chin resting on her hand on top of his chest, her hair tickling his skin lightly.
"How did you sleep?" She asked with a light smile.
"I am inclined to believe that that was the best sleep I've ever had." Tom revealed, bringing his hand to run through her hair from the back, both its colour and smooth texture was like golden honey dripping from his fingers.
"Me too." Lucia said in agreement, enjoying the prickles that ran down her neck from his touch.
A buzzing sound came from Tom's draw beside his bed, and Lucia stiffened.
"Is that my phone?" She asked in confusion.
"I was meaning to give it to you, but I didn't think it would work in the castle anyway." Tom explained, leaning to reach outside the curtains and into the draw for the device.
He placed the phone in her hand as she sat up and turned it on quickly. Tom's hands wrapped around her waist as she sat, obviously irritated she'd severed contact with him in the moment.
Muggle technology really didn't work inside Hogwarts unfortunately, but you could get a glitchy kind of picture of the screen on more advanced devices such as mobile phones.
There were many messages and missed calls from her friends, which she hurriedly looked at to ensure she hadn't missed anything important.
Mel had texted many times with messages addressed to Tom, considering last she'd know he was in possession of Lucia's phone.
Mel: Hi Tom, Have you been in contact with Lucia yet? I'm worried about her being so far away at boarding school in the state she was in when I left her.
Mel: Hi Tom, Can you post Lucia's phone to her by mail? I know you care about her andI need to see if she's alright, I don't want her to do anything stupid.
Mel: Hi Tom, I wouldn't tell you this if I wasn't worried for her safety, but Lucia has had some addiction and mental health issues in the past and I'm worried what's going on between you guys at the moment could trigger a relapse. I don't think they monitor them well at her school. Call me if you can.
"Fuck, she must be so worried about me. Why didn't you reply to her?" Lucia groaned, typing a text in reply.
"I tried but it didn't send, the signal wasn't strong enough." Tom explained tiredly.
"Why didn't you give it to me earlier?" She asked with a slight edge of accusation in her tone, "If you thought talking to my friends would make me change my mind about you, you're wrong. And, if that was the case, you know I don't like you trying to control me." She looked up from the phone to see his response.
"It wasn't that. I honestly just have a hard time considering other people's feelings, Lucia. I completely and utterly didn't even think about Mel. I was so focused on us and school and everything else going on, I really just completely forgot about the phone, I'm sorry, I should have considered it."
"It's okay, she just worries about me sometimes." Lucia ran her hands through her hair in stress, tugging at the roots lightly to relieve some of the tension, "I'm going to try to call her."
Lucia held the phone to her ear, biting her lip from the guilt bubbling in her stomach for Mel worrying after all she had done for her.
It rang a few times before Mel picked up the phone.
"Tom?" Mel's voice rang through the speaker, slightly fuzzy and broken up, but audible nonetheless.
"Mel, it's me. I'm so sorry I haven't contacted you sooner." Lucia rushed out.
"Fucking hell, Lucia. I'm so glad you're alright. How did you end up getting your phone off Tom?" Mel's voice calmed down.
"Well... Tom and I talked and..." Lucia began to explain, unsure of the reaction Mel would have considering the state Lucia had been in when she came to her apartment in the early hours of the morning that night when everything was in shambles.
"I take it you worked it all out?" Mel assumed, "And when I say worked it out I mean you discussed things like adults, and didn't just shag and forget about it."
Lucia's eyes widened and a smirk grew of Tom's face who was obviously listening in.
"Tom and I conversed like adults, thank you very much." Lucia said defensively in a tone laced with humour, "And he's eavesdropping so don't say anything he shouldn't hear." She added, not wanting Mel to spill something Tom would grill her on after.
"Hi Tom." Mel greeted him through the phone.
"Hello Mel, apologies for not replying to your texts. I've been quite busy." He responded with a kind of feigned politeness he seemed to be able to slip into without even a seconds notice.
"I'm going to assume you mean busy with school or work, otherwise I don't want to know." Mel laughed, "Just be safe."
"Mel!" Lucia scolded, "For fuck's sake, you know I'm careful."
Tom quirked an eyebrow with a deathly attractive smirk plastered on his sharp features.
"For real though Lucia, are you all good? Focusing on school, drug free..." Mel adopted a more serious tone.
"I'm doing fine, Mel. I really appreciate you checking up on me though." Lucia thanked her, not wanting to worry her, "I've got everything under control."
"If you say so, stay safe." Mel said kindly, "And Tom, if you hurt her again, I will actually hang you up by the balls. I mean it."
"Noted." Tom said in a forced serious voice, and Lucia rolled her eyes.
"Love you, bye." Lucia said as she hung up the phone.
"She's a rather good friend." Tom observed.
"The best. She's so selfless and caring, I don't know what I did to deserve her." Lucia agreed, "I love Darcy for a good time, but she can be kind of self-centred and a bad influence."
"I don't like Darcy." Tom said rather bluntly, "She doesn't have good intentions. Who gives someone coke that they didn't ask for when you know they had issues with addiction in the past?"
"It's my choice what I put in my body in the end." Lucia defended halfheartedly.
"Someone with your best interest in mind wouldn't do that." Tom continued, "I saw the way she was looking at you when we went to that birthday. She's both into you and has a jealous hatred of you, it's rather pathetic."
"Darcy is not into me. Yes we hooked up for a bit, but we both agreed it was a bad idea. We're just friends and she knows that as much as I do." Lucia said in doubt.
"I know better than to argue with you on this, but just know that Mel is a much better friend for you." Tom sighed.
Lucia didn't respond, obviously rethinking all her past interactions with Darcy critically.
Tom pulled her down by the hips so she lay back down, her back pressed against his front as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I wish we could stay like this forever." Lucia said as he began to press his lips against her neck.
"I do too." Tom mumbled against her skin.
"What do you think would happen if we just ran away together?" Lucia laughed breathlessly, "Like just got a little apartment in a faraway city where we knew nobody and started a new life together, just us."
"That sounds delightful." Tom chuckled, brushing her hair away to bring his lips to below her ear.
"It's a nice thought." She continued imagining the life they could live.
But it could never happen, because the man whose arms were wrapped around her in that moment would become everything she despised, everything the entire wizarding world had lived in fear and fury because of.
The thought was heavy on Lucia's heart, weighing her down like a stone pulling her further and further below the surface of a well with no end.
The warmness engulfing her, the bliss she was in at this very moment... it was all temporary.
Tom couldn't stay forever.
But in this moment she pushed these thoughts away, because the feeling of his skin against hers, of his breath gently tickling her neck and the sereneness of this moment basking in the green hue of the Slytherin dorm room in these late hours of the morning was the happiest she'd ever felt.
Who could have guessed that the darkest wizard known could bring so much light?
author's note
40k reads, thank you so much. all your support means so much to me.
if I don't update beforehand, I hope you all have a happy holidays! see you all soon <3