O R P H I C. [Tom. R × Reader]

35. Secret Notes ✍

=🌿=

The chatter is loud as I take out mine and Tom's things. I sit close to him, almost in his shadow as the chatter overwhelms me.

The voices make me anxious, I wonder if anyone knows what Orion did, are there any rumours? I bet everyone thinks I'm so dirty. Tom clasps my hand as he starts scribbling down the date in his book, copying what's already on the board.

"Nobody knows" He mumbles,glancing up at me. The way he's sitting is facing me more than the board, almost as if shielding me. Oh how much I wish that were true.

"How do you know?" I wonder, singlehandedly opening my book as well. The teacher hasn't arrived yet, but he's left things for us to note until he arrives.

"Oh, trust me. I'd know" He assures me.

I don't want to let go of his comforting grip, but I'll have to if I want to get any work done.

I slowly pull my fingers away from his grip, picking up my own quill and dipping it into the shared ink pot. I see him look at me in my peripheral vision as I neatly copy the date he wrote.

Suddenly, I feel him reach under the table and across my legs to snatch my other hand, which rests on my lap. I look up at him, only to see him already back to his work, so I do the same.

His grip is freezing, but I don't mind. It's the thought that counts, and that itself is comforting alone.

=🌿=

I notice how short the classes are as Tom pulls me up, sliding our things into his bag and carrying it himself this time.

The ambient chatter of the halls I find myself growing used to again, finding comfort instead of paranoia in the indecipherable voices.

"What's our next class?" I yawn, lacing my fingers with his as we walk hastily to our next destination.

"You're attending?" He asks, turning his attention to me.

"Yes.." I sigh, glancing at a group of students laughing at eachother as we pass.

"We have Charms with Professor Hill." He says, weaving us through a tight gap between the students crowding the corridors.

Tom leads me down the stairs to the third floor before locating the Charms class within room 2E.

"Good morning, class!!" The professor yells once everyone is seated, sadly Tom and I at the front.

He begins to scrape a single word onto the chalkboard, so large that it fills the entire space.

"Today! We will be learning the Decendo charm!" By the time he's finished the sentence, the huge word on the board reads 'DECENDO'.

Tom already begins to scratch notes down frantically before the teacher explains anything. I lean back at an angle to see what he's writing, and it is, indeed, on the subject of the charm. He already has over half a page written on it. Of course he'd already have this class recited probably.

I roll my eyes, beginning to copy what the professor scrawls down.

"You see! If you were to cast this spell..." he scribbles, the chalk scratching at the board. "At an object... it would cause it to move... downwards.." every pause signals him letting his handwriting catch up.