antebellum [t. riddle]

xxiv.

december 1944
tw: suicidal thoughts/mentions of substance abuse

"why are you in such a good mood?" lestrange asked her as she sat down at the breakfast table. usually, she was the first at breakfast, and then all five of them would come in together, but today, lestrange was already there. rosier, nott, malfoy, and riddle were nowhere to be seen.

"it's a good day, my dear friend." she smiled. "an excellent day indeed."

he furrowed his brow at her questioningly, but then that confusion dissolved into a smirk. "i see."

"what are you talking about?" 

"oh nothing at all," he shook his head with an amused expression on his face. she sighed. whatever he was thinking, he was not going to tell her. she pushed her hair behind her ear and pulled out a rare potions textbook that madam glinda had lent to her. sipping her copy, she waved her hand to flip to the page she had last stopped reading. she was reviewing the properties of the ingredients, trying to make sure that once she changed the chemical configurations of them, they wouldn't become toxic. it was only taking so long because she was not reading it in her native tongue; the book was greek. 

she and lestrange made choppy, but polite conversation. he refrained from asking about what she was reading and she refrained from asking where the rest of his friends were. 

not long after, malfoy, nott, and rosier entered the hall, quickly making their way to the two already sitting there

"oh hello edwards," malfoy said, smirking at her as he sat down on her left. she raised an eyebrow at him as nott elbowed him in the chest. 

"hi." she said blankly, turning her face back down to her book. they were about to bother her about something, and she didn't feel like entertaining today, no matter how good her mood was.

"anything interesting happen recently?" rosier asked in an amused tone. what the hell are they getting at?

"no?" she asked, glancing up to see the unconvinced looks on all their faces. whatever it was they wanted to mess with her over, she hoped they'd do it soon. 

"nothing you want to tell us about?"

she painted an impassive look on her face, and looked up through her eyelashes, glancing from amused face to amused face. "whatever it is you're trying to say, out with it."

"no romantic endeavors you want to tell us about?" her head snapped up to rosier with a smirk on his face. she sighed. 

"oh, so that's what this is about." of course, she thought. malfoy and rosier had seen what happened at the quidditch match; she was foolish to think they'd forgotten, or that they hadn't told nott and lestrange. she wondered if they had interrogated riddle the way they were doing to her. 

lestrange smirked at her reluctance. "you mean the fact that you kissed riddle?"

"no, i didn't." how is life like this for me? why am i being interrogated by a bunch of teenagers about a kiss, when i'm a literal war criminal? she almost winced at the fact that one day, she'd just disappear and they'd never see her again. she forced herself to immediately swallow the thought; emotional attachment was nothing but agony that she couldn't afford.

"you kissed him, he kissed you. semantics." nott said, waving a piece of toast at her. that was a good point. why did she let him kiss her? more questions with an answer she didn't have. 

she didn't respond. she didn't know how to.

"oh don't be embarrassed, i thought you hated him," malfoy goaded, but his tone was laced with actual misunderstanding.