𝕲𝖔𝖊𝖙𝖎𝖈[𝕬 𝕿𝖔𝖒 𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊 𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞]

Dancing in the dark.

"You look like a widow."

"I do not!"

"You cannot wear that to the party," Tom sighed tiredly. It was indeed quite tiring. Leo and Tom had visited three different clothing stores and Leo chose the exact same black dress in all the three different places saying that she needed clothes as dark as her soul- whatever that meant.

On top of that, she hated walking around and wanted to buy clothes from the very first store but it was Tom who dragged her around hoping that she would choose anything that was not black or grey.

"You know what? Fine!" She exclaimed and dropped the black dress. She vanished within the depths of the store and searched around for a while.

Her eyes scanned the endless mannequins in search for the brightest colour. At last, her eyes fell on a yellow dress with fluffy frills decorated with tiny yellow flowers.

Perfect.

She called for the store lady and showed her the dress she wanted. As soon as she saw her choice, her eyes sparkled in delight making Leo roll her eyes. Money was indeed everything.

The lady packed the dress for her and she payed her an unnecessary amount of Galleons. All while, Tom just sat in front of the store waiting for her to finish. He shot her a few doubtful looks as she refused to show him the dress.

As soon as they were done, Leo's grin was brighter than the sun. Tom grumbled under his breath as she started nagging him about eating some pastry at the new pastry shop. On the other hand Tom wanted to visit the book store to find something related to his research.

"But we need to fill our stomachs!"

"You act like a child."

"I am a child! So are you! So, act like one. I know you have a sweet tooth too~" Leo sang with a teasing smile on her face. Tom rolled his eyes but lead her towards the pastry shop anyways, as he was not in the mood to indulge in an argument with the girl.

The place was quite warm and cozy. However, Tom had to stop Leo from ordering every single thing on the menu, and convince her to get just a blueberry cheesecake. He ordered himself some tea and a lemon cake.

A comfortable silence fell between them as they munched on their little snacks. Slughorn's party was due in the evening. Leo had strongly protested against going to the party but Tom had somehow convinced her to go. He was indeed quite persuasive.

"Tom," Leo called out which stopped Tom midway from sipping his tea. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her serious tone.

"That day, when you told me about horcruxes, were you thinking about...making one?" She whispered the last bit of her sentence. Tom looked as stoic as ever. He calmly placed his tea on the table and focused his intense gaze on the girl who was refusing to meet his eyes.

"No," he answered. Leo didn't get the chance to celebrate as he continued, "After some deeper research, I realised that it is possible to make seven horcruxes."

Leo bit her lips, trying to hide the reaction that Tom wanted to see. She remained nonchalant and nodded.

"I want to become the greatest wizard of all time and complete what Salazar Slytherin had started," he stared off into a distance. Leo felt defeated. No matter how much she hoped for the better, Tom was still the same.