kneel | Tom Riddle

𝟓𝟔

56| London

"Seraphina!" Layla screamed as soon as she saw the Slytherin witch step inside the Hogwarts' Express, "Wait!"

Seraphina huffed and turned around to see the Gryffindor running towards her, "What is it?"

"Leo asked me to give you this," she was trying to catch her breath when she finally stepped inside the train after Seraphina. Handing her an envelope, she continued, "He didn't have the courage to say these things in your face, so he wrote it down."

Seraphina frowned, not understanding what he could possibly have to tell her that was so terrible he couldn't say it in her face, "Alright, thank you. He is okay, though?"

"He is," Layla nodded her head, "My job is done. Have a good summer."

"You too," Seraphina didn't even bother to smile when she saw the girl turn her back at her and walk towards a compartment.

"What's wrong?" Abraxas was just entering the train with Magda when he saw her confused expression, "What happened?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter," she sighed and gave Magda a small smile, which wasn't returned, for obvious reasons, "I'll find Tom, then."

Abraxas nodded his head and Seraphina walked away from him towards the last compartment in the train. While she was on her way, she felt the train taking off and started breathing anxiously, for some reason believing the next time they would come back to Hogwarts would be extremely different. Why did she have such a bad feeling?

She opened the door to the compartment and found Tom, Nott, and Mulciber inside. Closing the door after she entered, she sat next to Tom and he automatically placed his arm around her shoulders, "Where are Lestrange and Avery?"

Mulciber shrugged, "Probably saying goodbyes to their special ones," he answered sarcastically, obviously not knowing that might actually be the case. After all, Lestrange was with Layla and Avery was probably saying his goodbyes to Harry.

Seraphina looked at Tom, "In which stop are we leaving?"

"We'll leave in London. I'll warn you when it's time, you can sleep until then," he told her, brushing her hair out of her face.

Mulciber and Nott looked out of the window, being very uncomfortable with the scene in front of them. They were not used to see Tom showing affection like that, especially in public, which made them wary of their connection, to say the least.

Seraphina did look exceptionally tired, but the reason was only known to Tom who was the cause of it. It had been one week since he took her virginity and they had never been closer, even if they didn't have sex again, not because he didn't try, but because she was scared after her first time. She loved Tom and she wanted to do it again with him multiple times again, but she couldn't help but feel scared. By all means, right after he took her virginity, she was in a great deal of pain for a few hours. And he understood her pain, giving her some space.

However, on that very Sunday morning, their last days of classes, they were meant to be on the train at 9 a.m., but Seraphina wanted to respect their tradition on last time that year. So, as they always did every Sunday morning, they went to the prefects' bathroom to enjoy some time alone before they could leave Hogwarts for the summer break.

Being forced to wake up way earlier than usual, it meant she was remarkably tired and sleepy, but it was worth it, for her time with Tom in the prefects' bathroom was the most peaceful she had had in weeks. Just the two of them, enjoying the first rays of sunshine in the early morning.

With that one thought on her head, she laid her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath, closing her eyes and waiting for sleep to overtake her.

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