The Price of Gold | tom riddle

Chapter 24 - A Letter From Home

Ostara stood in the greenhouse, tending to a rather curious plant which was part of her herbology assessment. She had to grow it and care for it for the rest of the school year. So far, things were going well. The plant stood tall in height and was just the perfect shade of blue. Many in the class were jealous, considering it was such a difficult plant to grow and care for.

She had to pluck its own thorns from it's stem and feed them to itself twice daily. The more vibrant blue it glowed, the healthier it was. Star's plant was the envy of the greenhouse. It was even more unheard of that a Slytherin was topping herbology - there were only three Slytherin students in the class, the rest was made up of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

No one else was in the greenhouse. It was just Star. Maybe that was why no other plant but hers had reached the optimal colour, she seemed to be the only one who ever visited between classes and meal times.

But today, something looked different. Her Shrado plant appeared healthy upon first glance, but as she began plucking its newly sprouted thorns, it began to ooze a thick liquid that Ostara could only begin to compare to old blood. "What in Merlin," she whispered to herself, as she plucked another thorn and more liquid bled.

She pulled her textbook from her bag and began flicking threw the pages. There was evident panic in her frantic page flicking. Herbology was Star's best subject - she couldn't fail it.

Her ears perked up when she heard some snickers and laughs followed promptly by an even louder "Shh! She'll hear."

She sighed as she closed her textbook and lent over the windowsill. Below the window, stood Ed and Isidore. Her face scrunched in an expression of anger. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the two boys as they remained laughing almost in hysterics.

"Star! Relax," Isidore laughed.

"It's reversible. We just wanted to see you panic a little bit because it seems lately you've been spending more time with that hideous plant than us," Ed said.

"If you two don't get your pompous arses into this greenhouse and fix it now, you'll be the ones panicking!"

The boys hurried around the side, and entered through the door. With a wave of Isidore's wand, the Shrado plant returned to its previous state. "There you go! All fixed!" he said, with a smile.

"What are you even doing here?" she asked, exasperated.

"Letter came for you. It's lunch-time you know, you should really eat something," said Ed.

"I'll eat something on my way to my next class this plant needs my attention," she sighed.

"Well, you're not getting this letter until you come to the great hall. You're avoiding something, or someone. And I'm not going to stop until I figure out who it is," Isidore grinned.

"You can't do that! It's my letter! Give it!" she reached over and tried to grab it out of the auburn haired boy's hand.

"Are you avoiding Dumbledore? Another detention you missed? Or maybe the twins? Did Corrine slip a vampire fang into your salad? She made a nasty habit of that in second year." Isidore shook his head, disapprovingly.

It was true. She was avoiding someone, that someone being Tom. She knew from the way he kissed her three days ago that he was sincere. He cared about her. But nothing with Tom Riddle was ever that simple - there was always another motive at play. And she was determined to figure it out before she saw him again.

Know the players if you want to win the game.

But what exactly was the game they were playing? A dark, twisted game of embarrassment and infuriation? That was all they ever seemed to do to one another - except for the other night, god the other night.