Always || Tom Riddle

Too close

It had been four and a half weeks since I had left Tom at Malfoy manor stood alone in his study.I would have gone back after two weeks like he had asked but I never was one for sticking to the rules.Ever since the two week point I had been receiving letters nearly everyday,the routine was clear,at 9 am I would get up and get dressed,go down for breakfast and then an owl would come around 10:30 with a letter from the very man himself.Most of the letters begged for me to come home whilst others showed his fury of me not returning home on time,he wasn't one for not being obeyed.

"Are you ready?"Penelope called out from downstairs.

"Yeah"I stood from the oak desk and placed the unopened letter down,I would read it later,and little did I know just how fatal later would be.Me and Penelope had decided to go shopping at Diagon Alley with Charlus tagging along just so that he could have the privilege of complaining about why girls buy so much or spend hours just looking into shop windows.The only bad thing about this little trip out was that I was going to have to wear a disguise otherwise aurors would be after me,oh joy.I changed myself into a women who was in her mid 20s with long ginger hair with green eyes,and the best thing was she bore no similarities to me.

After going downstairs to greet the others who were a little shocked with the surprise disguise we apparated to Diagon Alley just beside Borgin and Burkes.I gulped when I saw an auror head straight for us,I tried to casually walk away but Penelope grabbed my wrist and pulled me back forcefully and then her hand remained on my wrist so I couldn't try it again when she was preoccupied.

"Its alright,I just need your id to make sure no muggles or prisoners on the loose are here."Charlus was the one who took out the papers with all our "id" on and that was my chance to get away,when Penelope let go to sign something for the officer.Without her or Charlus  noticing I walked back into the shadows,luckily I was wearing a black cloak and so didn't look too out of place here.I needed to talk to the owner of Morindors pub,she was such a gossiper she would just blabber anything I wanted to know out without even realizing it.Upon entry to the pub several people looked up and once more I spotted death eaters,not that Casey the owner would realize,they were blending in well as was I.A tall man with grey eyes and platinum blonde hair walked past me and took a seat next to the Malfoys who I didn't even know were in here.I gulped, that would mean Tom was also in disguise pretending to be related to them.I looked away the second that Isabella looked over to me and walked over to the bar.

"Ello love what can I do for ya today?"Casey asked as I sat down onto a padded bar stool and fake smiled at her,I had never really liked her I just used her "Friendship" to get free drinks.

"Just a butterbeer please"Caseys eyebrows had gone up and I knew exactly why,none ever said please here.I was even getting a few stares from the other people in the room.

"Alright"With that she walked off to the back of the pub and Black entered the pub and took a seat next to me.I looked up and frowned at him.

"What? Am I not allowed to sit next to a pretty women?" I didn't answer that the last time I had opened my mouth people had looked at me,I wasn't going to risk getting my cover blown by Black just because I didn't want him near me.

"Here ya are!"Casey exclaimed back to her normal bubbly but annoying self.

"Its not often I see other women come in here,what brings the likes of you here?You aren't on any bad business are you?"I had just began to drink the butterbeer when she began to throw endless questions at me and so at the last question nearly choked on my drink.

"No,no I am not on any bad business I just came here to check the place out" Really? Clara seriously could you not think of anything better? Seven plus years with Tom Riddle the best liar there probably is and you learnt nothing?! As bad as the lie was Casey took it and flashed me a crooked smile.

"And what do ya think of it?Is it up to the standards folk set?"She asked and I looked around pretending to take the place in when in reality I was checking how many death eaters were sat behind me.

"Yeah its not bad!"At that comment I got an odd look from the platinum blonde Tom Riddle,oh shoot,I had said that the day he had first introduced this pub to me.

"Thats the Malfoys cousin,Pablo,he sure is a looker!"Casey whispered next to my ear when she followed my gaze,I had been staring right into those dark grey eyes but managed to look away before I fell into a trance and they all thought I was even odder.

"He sure is!"I turned my gaze back to Casey and shot her a dazzling smile.

"Oh look at the time,I really must be off,thanks!" That got me some more odd looks,I was doing really well at blending in wasn't I? I stood from the bar stool and made for the door catching out of the corner of my eye "Pablo" stand up and follow me out,that made me speed up,Tom better not have realized it was me or I was doomed.I had passed The Spiny Serpent when I realized I had taken a wrong turn and was at a dead end with no choice but to talk to Tom in disguise.

"Wait!"He wasn't doing a very good job of masking his voice it sounded a lot like his.

"What?"I snapped and spun around with a frown on my face pretending to act annoyed that he had followed me.

"You shouldn't be coming to pubs like that,people will think your odd,you could get hurt"I didn't know at that exact moment if Tom knew it was me or if he even knew I knew that he too was in disguise.

"What are you my father?You can't tell me what to do!"I hissed back in reply only to hear Penelopes voice a couple of streets away.

"Clara!"I wasn't particularly worried about my best friends temper at the moment I was more worried that in Toms brilliant mind it had clicked that I was stood only a few inches away from him,the closest I had been to him for a while.At the sound of Penelope calling my name Toms eyes seemed to water and he clenched his jaw with his hands turning into fists.

"Excuse me!"He just managed to speak through his clenched teeth before walking off in the direction of where Penelopes voice had came from.

"Oh no wait!"I called out after him and I must have been changing back after all the spell I used only worked for a short amount of time, so my voice sounded exactly the same as it normally did.Tom spun back around in shock,by the look on his face he was debating whether he had just imagined it.I cleared my throat and stood up straighter.

"Gotta go!"I said as quickly as I could so any similarities to my voice went as much as possible before rushing off to find Penelope and Charlus.That was too close.