COMPATIBLE DAMAGE

18- he's back

~~~~~Tom's Pov
I've spent hours searching through books and spells to figure out what the numbers meant.
I went through important dates from Izzy's life that i knew about.
Looking for any clue.
The fact that she's a seer made everything more difficult, it could about something that hasn't even happened yet.

I took the ring from my pocket, getting a better look at it.
Something i haven't realised before in the dark, now caught my eye- the bird was missing it's head.
I know Izzy has a ring, a raven's head.
She must've been really close to Nikolai, she isn't one to get attached to people.

Mindlessly i put the ring on my own finger and went back to reading.
I was on the last book in the library that could be helpful, reading it's last pages, loosing what was left from my hope.
I casted another spell at my parchment that had the numbers written down on it.
To my surprise it worked- or more like did something at all.
The numbers started melting and shifting into new ones.

3     12     1    16    28          14     22     26     22
|       |       |     |       |             |        |        |        |
15     7     23   25   22           1       18     10      7

Oh, that's just splendid.
I spend the whole night on nine damn numbers just to turn them into new ones.
My nerves started shaking, flooded with all kinds of frustration from the past two weeks.
At this point i wasn't sure if i wanted to punch someone or for someone to punch me, knocking me out.
I looked at my watch- the classes were about to start.
At least i get to see her again.
I cleaned up the desk and headed to potions, finally a single positive emotion filling my body.

~~~~~ Izzy's Pov
I barely woke up and already the aching between my legs hit me.
I was so exhausted from last night i slept through breakfast.
I opened my eyes wider, only now realising the lights were on.
Theo walked over to me, handing me a potion to get my legs sorted.

"Hello, love. Did you sleep well?" His charming smile made me soften a little.
"I don't even remember. You completely knocked me out last night.-" I heard him chuckle at that
"Also, this-"   i swirled the vial he handed me "- is not going to be enough."
"I figured, that's why this one is stronger." He said putting hi tie on and looking himself up and down in the mirror, taking a hot second at his crotch.
"Did you just check out your own package?" I gave him an amused look, gulping down the potion, it really was stronger.
It felt like it was going to burn out my throat, making me gag a little.
"One more comment and you'll be gagging at something else." He said coming over to the bed and towering over me.

I knew with Theo this was going to get real heated real quick and my body was not ready for another round yet.
I got up, kissed his cheek and quickly skipped to the bathroom to take a shower.

After i was all fresh and dressed i picked up my bag and grabbed the door handle.
Theo put his hand over my and pressed his front against my back. "One more thing, love.." He whispered in my ear as he put my hair over one of my shoulders.
"Yes?" I asked shyly, my voice close to breaking.
It's been months and he still makes me nervous by the smallest actions.
"From now on- you're not allowed to shower without me." He pressed a single kiss on my neck and opened the door, letting me before him.

As we were walking to class i noticed Theo's unusual closeness.
He was always pretty touchy but this was more at the clingy side.
He pulled my by my waist close to his side, glancing around without moving his head.
"What's up?" I asked.
He took a while to respond, a displeased look on his face. "...he's back." he snarled, not making eye contact.
"Your brother? Why's that bad? I thought you two were close, inseparable even." I was confused.
As we were walking through the door to potions he lowered his voice "I don't like sharing what's mine."
He pulled me even closer if that were even possible at this point.
He was going to take a seat between me and Tom but the fury in my eyes did it's job, letting me sit there.

"Hi, Tommy. Where have you been?" I smiled delighted to finally see him.
"Nowhere important." He smiled back.
I pride myself at reading people well, i'm observant- something that comes when you avoid conversations with people a lot and need to focus on something else.
I could tell when someone was lying, even he couldn't fool me.
I wouldn't make a big deal out of it but it was unlike him to lie to me.

"If it weren't important you would not have disappeared for over two weeks without a word. Which i'm still mad about by the way." I pressed.
"I was doing something for my father, it's not a big deal." He shrugged, his hands deep inside his pockets, looking at the teacher.
I looked at Theo who slowly shook his head.
I already knew it wasn't for his father before but now the look on Theo's face made me even more suspicious.
He was starting to wonder what was going on too.

I was so caught up i haven't even noticed that there was a different professor in class.
Instead of potions with Snape we were having charms with prof Flitwick, wonder what Snape could be doing...

We were supposed to interpret what our favorite charm tells about us.
Professor Flitwick spend a lot of time with prof Trellawney, you could tell.
He was more spiritual now, less essays, more self discovery lessons.

He passed us crystal balls that were supposed to show us what was the spell.
I couldn't focus, my mind was constantly drifting off back to Tom.

I looked at him as he started to do what was asked of us.
He put his hand on the crystal ball and it showed  a striking red light.
I knew this curse- crucio.
Suddenly it hit me that although he was my friend and he cares about me, he still is dangerous.
I wasn't scared of him but it made me feel uneasy.
So many people feared him, fell to their knees begging for their lives just at his sight.

"You like feeling powerful, to have advantage, to be above someone." I murmured knowing he liked inflicting pain too but not wanting to actually admit it.
I looked at Theo's ball.
There was a string of light similar to Tom's but it was blue- Imperius.
"You like to be in control, dominant, for everyone to obey to your will." I said a bit relieved at Theo's, it could be worse.

"Your turn." Tom's voice was stern.
I didn't want to show my charm, i believe it shows weakness.
I hesitated for a moment before putting my hand on my ball just as professor came over to us.
I'm one unlucky girl.
My ball showed a circle of black flames, dancing in harmony and then they turned into a dragon.
I could feel three pairs of eyes staring at me intensely .

"How do you know this charm, miss Volliov?" professor asked concerned.
"I've read about, in a book from the restricted section a few months ago." I looked confident.
It doesn't matter how big of a lie you tell, if you look confident enough- anything will pass.
The professor nodded his head and left, he must've thought i already had detention for it.
Like i said- confidence.

"Protego diabolica" Tom said eyeing me suspiciously.
They were both starting at me, wondering if it's because it gives you the power to kill more than any other spell.
They clearly didn't know me well enough.
"I..I like the feeling of absolute safety and control of my surroundings. I also have trust issues but the spell can't be fooled, it knows your true feelings and intentions. It's beautiful as well, so beautiful." I said hypnotised by the black dragon made of fire.
How it's flames gracefully moved.
I could watch it forever and never get bored.

After a longer moment Tom got a little concerned at my behavior and took both his hands out of his pockets and covered my ball.

I looked at his fingers and gasped in shock seeing a particular ring.
My eyes stayed locked on it.
I didn't know how to react.
I haven't seen it in so long, i thought it was gone forever.
I was also furious at Tom, there's no way he found it accidentally, he must've been in our orphanage.
That's what he must've been doing these past two weeks.
He lied to me.
He violated my privacy after i made it clear i wanted it left alone.
I felt my heart break so hard i could almost hear it crack.
Not break with sadness- with rage.
I was absolutely livid.
I am going to hurt this boy.