stubborn girl//tom marvolo riddle

chapter 4// regret burns through your skin like acid

hey guys!! i suggest you listen to songs by andrew bird for this chapter. my recommendations are: Pulaski at Night, Sisyphus, Anonanimal, Oh no, and Give it Away. this chap is a bit longer than my normal ones and i'm already working on a new one btw. ENJOY XOXO

-scroop

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September 23rd, 1944. Great Hall, Hogwarts.

7:19 am.

"This is a great tragedy and the perpetrator will in fact be found soon. For now, only Prefects and Head Boys will be able to walk the hallways after dinner time." Dippet announces in a booming voice as he stands at the front of the Great Hall above the rest of the members of the room, making sure not to mention the new and controversial position of the Head Girl. As he pauses, Quinn can clearly hear the quiet sobs coming from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw table as they grieve the loss of their friends, making her blood run ice cold.

Minerva McGonagall, a girl that had always been incredibly kind to Quinn was especially upset as Jasmine Pollymore was her best friend and she was the unfortunate soul who found the mutilated and lifeless bodies of Jasmine and Brone. Minerva was holding onto Celestina Warbeck's shirt as she cried into her shoulder furiously, with agonizing sobs and flowing tears. She felt like she was reliving the exact moment she found Jasmine's body.

Minerva was filled with rage that the school failed to mention the fact that they were two Muggle-borns. She felt that the rest of the Muggle-born students should know that they are in danger, but of course Dippet wasn't going to do or say anything that could cause the school to shut down. Which would result in him being jobless.

Although the rumors of the way the bodies were found were twisted for drama and histrionics, the general consensus about the condition they were in was pretty bad. Apparently the Cruciatus curse was used five times on Jasmine and seven times on Brone, leaving them bloody, bruised, burned and cold. They were sprawled outside of the Library apparently laid out in a way that made them look like they were literally dumped there with no care or compassion.

Quinn felt so helplessly rueful about the two innocent muggle-borns and everyone who knew them. Poor Minerva, having to find her best friend along with a kind Ravenclaw boy covered in dried blood and the lingering smell of burnt flesh, hunched over each other, lacking life. Those poor families, probably so devastated and regretful for letting their children enter the wizarding community knowing the dangers of pureblood supremacy. Their poor friends, probably torn to pieces about them, and terrified for their own safety. Poor Walburga and Lucrecia, probably confused and guilty about killing the two, probably so desperate to know who made them do this, and why.

She looked down and felt tears run down her cheeks, whether it was sensitivity or regret, they just showed up. As she looks up in front of her, she see's Walburga and Lucretia, sobbing into each other. Her heart dropped to her stomach and she just could not believe herself. Her best friends never cried, never felt anything. But there they were, crying into each other because they both knew what they had done.

I am disgusting. I am a horrible disgusting monster who deserves to die. I deserve to be Crucified and killed, just like Jasmine and Brone. Quinn thought as she looked back down and cried silently, trying to stop the tears and wipe them away, but brutally failing as they would just reappear on her face. As she looks down the table, she sees Tom looking at her with an emotionless expression.

Tom felt an uncomfortably negative tingle in his heart as he looked at Quinn silently cry. There was something different about her crying like this because it wasn't out of hysterics, or fear, or heartbreak. She was just sad, regretful. Nobody but herself made her cry, or at least that's what she thought, Tom knew this whole thing was because of him, but he was fine with Quinn living in the depths of self hatred for the rest of her life. Right?