Tam Riddle: Sometimes the Hero Doesn't Win (HP Fanfic)

We Need to Talk

We walked back up to the castle and walked through the doors together, hand in hand.

Alex came walking down the stairs, his hands in his pockets, while he was talking to Harry and Ron.

I froze in fear. They turned and saw Draco and I standing there with our hands interlocked together. He squeezed my hand and I knew he was glaring at all of them. Harry and Ron were glaring at Draco, and Alex was giving me a pained stare.

"I see," he said sadly.

I didn't have to ask to know the meaning behind his statement. "I'm so sorry, Alex," I said, "I really do love him."

His stare got more and more pained and Draco squeezed my hand harder.

Alex cleared his throat and tried to stand tall. He gave a big sigh. "It's okay, Tammy. I guess, that means we are no longer together. I'm sorry if I couldn't make you happy," he said as he turned and walked away.

My heart broke with every step he took. Harry and Ron stared at me incredulously then gave Draco and I a very deadly glare and went off to follow Alex down the corridor.

I tried to hold back the tears but one slid through. It rolled down my cheek. Draco's lips caught it before it fell to the ground.

"It's alright," he said. "I will always be with you. I would never leave you."

I nodded and said, "I know. I love you, Draco."

He wrapped his arms around me and said, "I love you, too, more than anything or anyone else in the world."

I looked up at him and I was happy, but the tears falling from my eyes weren't tears of joy. They were tears of loss, because I probably just lost a good friend, a close friend, and my brother, because I fell in love with the enemy.

The days leading away from this event weren't bad, but they weren't terrific either.

Harry and Ron wouldn't talk to me and Alex wouldn't even take notice of me. Hermione would smile at me when she walked past me in the corridors, but she wouldn't stop to have a conversation either. My ties with Gryffindor House were now severed. And although the wounds were deep, I knew they had to come around again. Harry was my brother after all. Right?

By February, I was officially alone. Draco was off doing Death Eater business he still wouldn't tell me about. Blaise was with Stefani. Pansy was with Theo. I had no one. In one week, the Valentine's Day Dance would ensue and I wasn't going. It's not that I wanted to go, I didn't. But no one was around to ask me if I was going or not.

I had a dress special for the occasion anyway. White, long, and it looked like a ball gown from a Disney movie, only a shorter skirt. There were silver doves that went from the bottom of the dressed and spiraled around the skirt to end at a diamond and silver heart-shaped brooch over my heart. I had white heels to go with it and I had planned out my whole hair style and everything. But I just didn't want to go anymore.

I was lying on my bed, hating the world for creating the Dark Lord, when I heard a tapping on the window.

I looked up and saw a snowy white owl. I got up and walked over to my window and opened it letting in an owl and a gust of cold wind and snow into my room. I quickly closed the window before any more damage to my health could happen.

"Hedwig, is that you?" I said as I walked over to the owl now perched on my desk. Her head cocked to the left as if saying, 'Duh, you dingleberry.' Poppy was hooting in excitement in her cage at the sight of Hedwig.

I saw a small note tied to her leg and I went over to take it. When I opened it, it read:

Tammy-

Meet me at the Astronomy Tower after lunch, we need to talk.

-Alex

I looked at the note for a while longer before remembering that Hedwig was still in my room. I gave her a treat as thanks and opened the window and she flew out leaving another gust of wind and snow in her wake.

I closed the window and laid the note down on my desk and glanced at my clock. Lunch was going to be in five minutes. I was debating whether or not I should even go.

I went to my bed, grabbed my jacket, and left my room. As I was walking out of the common room, I felt like there was some impending doom coming over me. If I went to meet Alex, it would not end well. But being the ignorant and stupid girl that I am, I was bound to go sooner or later.

I walked down to the Great Hall and went straight to my seat. Blaise and Stefani were making out, as were Pansy and Theo. I was alone at the table picking at my food and occasionally eating some.

Being a non-Deatheater in love with a Deatheater had its costs, down sides, prices to be paid. Loneliness, for one, and life-threatening risks for another. But I was willing to risk it all for the boy I was in love with. Wait. Was I?

Before I knew it, lunch was over. I had hardly eaten anything on my plate. I stood up and headed towards the Astronomy Tower for my meeting with Alex.

I climbed the stairs at a slow and lazy pace. When I reached the top I walked into the room and saw Alex leaning against the railing and looking out at the grounds. He was in a thoughtful state.

I walked over to him quietly and stood a few feet from him looking out on the grounds as well.

"So you came," he said with a sour tone, he didn't even look at me when he said it.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I said as I glared at the back of his head.

"Well, I wasn't sure if your boyfriend," he spit out the word, "would even let you come out to meet me here alone," he said, still not looking at me.

I didn't say anything. I didn't want him to know that I wasn't with Draco officially but I thought he deserved enough, I'm such a nice person, not to lie to him. I should really be pissy sometimes.

He took my absent response as an answer anyway. "He doesn't know does he?" he said, side glancing at me. Damn me and my long hesitant pauses.

"Not exactly," I said looking down. "I haven't seen him all day."

I saw his feet shuffle and face me. "Typical," he said sneering. "He doesn't even want to spend time with you." Ouch.

"It's not that," I said with a pout, "he's just really busy these days."

"Doing what?" he criticized, "None of the professors gave us homework this week."

I frowned and kept my gaze down.

"But that's not exactly what I wanted to talk to you about," he said. I looked up at him and he was looking right into my eyes. I was caught, his eyes always captivated me. They were intense and bright; they were something that, at one point in my life, I loved to just gaze into every now and then. That is before I fell in love.

"So what did you want to talk about," I asked.

He started to come closer to me. I was backed up right into the railing and he was inches away from my face. He still kept coming closer and his hands had locked mine to my side. I was too scared to say anything as I was leaning over the railing and hanging off the edge.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!" someone yelled from behind Alex. Suddenly his body wasn't on mine and Draco's was in his place with the deadliest look on his face. I swear I could have died.