the end, again - tom riddle

chapter three

Longer chapters will follow soon, sorry for the short ones so far.

If you notice errors please let me know. Thanks for reading.

Edited: 2/11/22

September 5th, 1951.

"And that is why it is important to always have a good shield up while dueling! The last thing any of you want is to have a bad shield that breaks during a duel while you throw hexes. Things will end badly for you, and fast. Work on your shields!" The last part was somewhat barked from Mara as she answered a question on shields from a fourth year.

It wasn't even part of the material she had been going over that morning, but when a student asks you "Why are shields even important?" with that ignorant look on their face, it's guaranteed to tick off their professor. It just so happened that having a good shield had saved this professor's life on numerous occasions and said professor was very passionate about the subject.

The bell rang and all of the students got up to pack their bags and leave. Merlin, teaching was exhausting. Mara almost understood why Snape always had a stick up his arse. Almost.

As Mara was tidying up the classroom before lunch, there was a knock on her door and Riddle walked in.

"Hello, Riddle. How can I help you?" Mara asked while putting papers that needed to be graded in a stack.

"Tom." Riddle lightly reminded. "How has your day been?"

Mara pasted on a smile. "It's been okay. I had a fourth year ask me why shields were important just now, but other than that it's been pretty normal. Yours?"

"The same, I'm afraid." Riddle responded as he walked around her room. He smiled and looked in her direction. "A sixth year melted a cauldron today, so while they clean it up I thought I'd come talk to you."

Mara turned to face him fully. "That sounds awful, melted cauldrons are no fun. What did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to make sure you were still okay with announcing next Monday. Dippet approved for the first lesson to be on Thursday, and then we have to host every Wednesday and Friday following like normal." he said, addressing the matter of the dueling club that Mara had been avoiding.

That was sooner than she anticipated, she was hoping Dippet would approve at the end of next week and they would start the week after. And Fridays? She didn't want to waste her Friday nights teaching. "That was quick. Monday sounds fine though, and I'm sure the students will be excited to start." Mara turned back to sorting parchments by class. The amount of names she had to memorize the past week had sent her mind for a whirl. Teaching really put things into perspective for her, and it hadn't even been a full week. McGonagall must've always been in danger of having a heart attack with those Gryffindors.

Mara noticed he was still there and she turned over her shoulder. "Was there anything else?"

Riddle seemed pulled from a daze. "No, that was all. I'll see you at dinner?" He bid her goodbye and left after she gave a nod of affirmation.

Of course she would see him at dinner, like she did every night this week. Every night where he felt the need to talk to her directly after dinner for nearly half an hour or walk her back to her room, as if she wasn't capable of the two minute walk to her room. It was completely unnecessary and very annoying.

Riddle still unsettled her, but they had moved from the stiff, tense conversations to something that was slightly more comfortable. Mara kept telling herself not to get anymore involved, but Riddle had been trying to talk to her more. Get to know her more.