An Otherworldly Experience || Book 2 ||

6

Kelli decided to invite Hepzibah for tea with her every Sunday, though she took her out to cafés and the like. It would be imprudent to invite her to her own home, but Kelli didn't want to bring anyone to her home while she was setting up the Fidelius Charm.

For a while, it had been a perfectly fine arrangement. Until she had started to talk about Kelli meeting a young man that Hepzibah was quite fond of. It wasn't an easy conversation to skirt around considering Kelli should have no idea who she was talking about. Hepzibah never said who it was.

But eventually, Kelli relented and just decided to get it over with. If it was Riddle, then she'd be able to rebuff that further because they were kind of involved at Hogwarts but their friendship ended messily. And if it wasn't Riddle, then it was probably fine. That was the week she had finally took the time to complete the Charm.

If it was Riddle... then she wouldn't want him stopping by when he knew that she knew her, too. She really didn't want that at all. And she was her own secret keeper, which only made the charm more complicated, but such is life. She wasn't in hiding. Things were being hidden. Usually, the Charm was used to protect a person. But Kelli wasn't going to hide from him.

So Kelli went to Diagon Alley and met with Hepzibah at the newly opened Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlour. Kelli walked over to the table Hepzibah had found. It was a sunny day so Hepzibah had decided to sit outside so it wasn't difficult for Kelli to find her. And it wouldn't be difficult for whatever male guest she had invited to find them, either.

"Hi Hepzibah," Kelli greeted, standing behind a chair. "I'll just go and order-"

"Oh no, no, no, it's alright, I've got Tom ordering for us," Hepzibah told her, "take a seat, dear."

"Ah, so that's the mystery man's name... Tom," she said taking her seat. "I knew a Tom from Hogwarts. We were friends for a while."

"For a while? Did something happen?"

"A lot, actually. We were thinking about dating after we finished our fifth year, I was very stressed about OWLS," Kelli added, laughing a little. Kelli was being quite bubbly, her usual friendly demeanour around Hepzibah. "But our friendship ended after that. Haven't really spoken to him since then, really."

"Oh, he didn't tell me that. Tom told me you had both been rather close."

Kelli raised her eyebrows. "So it's Tom Riddle?"

"Yes. But I suppose he wanted to reconnect with you. You know how boys are, they don't know how to behave around a lovely girl."

Kelli giggled before saying, "That's true." While it may be true, Hepzibah didn't know that Riddle was an awful person who'd, sure, may behave better but still wasn't that great. However she wasn't too appreciative that he knew she'd be here, but she wasn't told anything.

The chair beside Kelli was pulled out and Kelli looked over to see Riddle going to take a seat. She tilted her head at him curiously. He looked... unhealthy. He was still very handsome, but he looked tired with dark under eyes, very thin, kind of pasty. "Riddle," she greeted, straightening the angle of her head.

"Watson," he said back.

"I suppose your friendship hadn't ended too kindly," Hepzibah observed at the sudden coldness at the table, despite the ice cream not being served quite yet.

"I just wanted the opportunity to apologise to you, about the things I did," he told her sincerely.

Kelli raised an eyebrow at him before looking away from him. "Right."

"Oh, I need to go to the ladies," Hepzibah then said, realising just how awkward this situation really was. She most likely wasn't expecting the incredibly frosty response from Kelli who she had known to be all smiles and charm. She quickly left the table.

"I really am sorry."

"Did you ask her not to tell me you were the person I was meeting?" Kelli asked him accustory, ignoring his apology.

"I didn't think you'd come if you knew."

"Well I most certainly would have had a reason to say no to this bullshit," she spat back at him, leaning back and crossing her arms defensively.

"Watson, I just, I just wanted to let you know that-"

"You're sorry. I get it," she cut him off, then she uncrossed her arms and legs which she hadn't realised she had crossed if she was going to be honest and turned to him. She leaned towards him and hissed, "You fucking tried to kill me. Literally end my life so you wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of your own shitty actions. I don't give a shit about your apology. It doesn't mean shit if you haven't changed."

"But I have changed."

"Oh really?" she asked him. "Because you're looking really shit like you've been getting into quite some dark magic."

"I haven't... not since we graduated, at least. I've wanted to be better. I've missed you a lot, and as your name pops up more and more, I want to be better. I want to know you again."

She hated him so much. Because, even though he didn't deserve it, he really didn't, she wanted to believe him. "I don't want to know you, Riddle," she whispered. She sounded weak and she turned her head away from him and standing up again. "I've spent too much time worrying about you, I'm not doing that again."

"Please, Kelli." His voice broke as he said her name. 

She just shook her head and left. That was... a lot harder than she thought it would be. At no point did she expect that. Vulnerability, even if it was fake. She wasn't expecting it at all. She hated him. 

~

sorry the chapters are small :]