You don't own me, Riddle

Chapter 12- the slug club

Ari kept her hold on Jack's hand as they entered the party. The rest of the guests were already seated around a big oval table, decorated to the brim with luxurious decorations in gold and food almost as overflowing as it is in the grand hall during celebrations. She immediately recognized several students around the table. Frank, the Ravenclaw prefect sat next to his girlfriend Petra, who waved frantically at Ari and Jack. Ari returned her wave with a nod of her head and a nervous smile. Her eyes roamed over the table and landed on Alvin Avery who already had his eyes on Ari wearing a cocky smile. Ari repeated her gesture and gulped as her eyes landed on the student opposite Alvin. 

When she switched her attention to Tom, she saw that his eyes were in vertical slits, glued to her hand that was still holding on to Jack's. She cleared her throat and let Jack go, giving him an apologetic smile. To her relief, Jack gave her a reassuring smile, seemingly not offended. 

"Astrid Coyet! The guest of honor has arrived at last!" Professor Slughorn praised while standing up from his seat at the table, making his way towards them. He grasped Ari's hand and shook it with enthusiasm. "And you brought young Mr. Lewis with you! How wonderful." He continued, offering Jack a smile, while still holding on to Ari's hand. Ari smiled awkwardly at him, not knowing what to say. 

"It's nice to see you, Professor" Jack said politely, placing his hand on Ari's back and offering her a dimpled smile. She was really thankful that he came along. 

"Likewise Mr. Lewis! Come, sit!" Slughorn continues gesturing towards the end of the table, where two seats were vacant opposite each other next to Slughorn's seat. One of the seats was next to Alvin, the other next to Tom. Ari gulped. To Ari's delight, Jack confidently walked towards the seat next to Tom. She was not in the mood to spend the next hours next to him, afraid of how she would react if he touched her, or worse if he ignored her. 

She sat down next to Alvin and ignored the glare Tom was giving them. "Hey Coyet, important folks always arrive late, right?" Alvin said and offered her a wink. She smiled sheepishly at him, but before she could reply Slughorn took his place next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. 

"Dear student, I believe all of you are familiar with miss Coyet by now. She transferred here from Durmstrang at the beginning of this year" Slughorn began tightening the grip on Ari's shoulder. "Since then, she has shown remarkable abilities in, dear I say, all of their present subjects, no less in my own class" Slughorn turned his head towards Tom " Tom my boy, I believe you might have met your match!" This statement made Tom's mouth twitch. 

"That might be, Professor" Tom answered and held Ari's gaze in a challenging manner.  This made Ari raise her eyebrows at him. Obviously, the boy did not believe she would be a match for him. She felt an urge to prove him wrong. 

"So miss Coyet.. may I call you Astrid?" Slughorn began. "I prefer Ari, Professor" She answered politely as Slughorn took his seat and gestured for the students around the table to start dining. "Right, Ari" He began. "Tell me, what does your family do?"  He continued as he piled some mashed potatoes onto his plate. 

"My grandfather is, was the head of the Swedish Auror office, but has been transferred to the British office on account of the recent events." Ari reluctantly explained, feeling the eyes of the entire room land on her with her statement. She hoped this explanation would be enough to satisfy Slughorn's curiosity. 

"You don't say, ah of course. Manfred Coyet is it not! How astonishing! " Slughorn clapped his hands as he drew the conclusion. Ari nodded, and her eyes unintentionally fell on Tom. His cold expression had exchanged for a slight grin, and as he met her eyes, she saw his features soften. 

"And your parents?" Slughorn continued. Ari took a breath. "Dead" she simply said, still holding Tom's eyes. "Oh, I apologize, was it.." Slughorn began, obviously referring to Grindewald's current war, but Ari interrupted him "No sir, my mother died in childbirth, and my father was killed by the breath of a Nundus before I was born." She continues, not batting an eyelash at the lie she told the professor. She did not enjoy it when others were snooping around in private matters. 

"I see, tragic" Slughorn concluded and sipped on his drink. Luckily the subject of her family was dropped, and she instead spent the rest of the dinner answering various questions, mostly related to Durmstrang, while sparsely nibbling on the food. 

"Are you okay?" Jack asked her and handed her a glass of some sparkly drink. The table had been moved, to create a space for the student to mingle. Slughorn's attention had, to Ari's delight, been returned to his favorite student, and Ari watched as Tom politely answered all of his questions. 

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired." Ari answered sincerely and took the glass from Jack. "I'm sorry about your parents, I didn't know" he continued. She smiled weakly at him "It's okay, but if you don't mind, could we talk about something else?" She said and sipped on her drink. It tasted sweet and fruity. "Of course" He answered and lifted his hand to softly grip a strand of her hair and placed it behind her ear. He really took every opportunity to touch her today. 

Jack opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a voice behind her. "Miss Coyet, may I have a word with you" Tom said as she turned around to face him. "In private" he added and switched to look a Jack with a smug smile. "Riddle. Actually, we were just about to" Jack began but Ari cut him off by raising her hand while giving him an apologetic smile. "Actually Jack, I also have something I wish to discuss with Mr. Riddle" She said, looking into Tom's eyes as she pronounced his last name. 

Tom smirked and offer his arm for her to grab. "I'll be back in a bit" She told Jack and tried to reassure him by lightly squeezing his arm, before grabbing onto Tom, letting him lead her out of the room. 

"So, back on last name basis, are we Mr. Riddle" She said sarcastically, earning a chuckle from him. "I apologize, Ari, I assumed you would not like your boyfriend to think that we are close." He answered sternly, keeping his eyes in front of them. "Friend" she corrected "He is not my boyfriend". Tom raised an eyebrow and met her eyes. "I see" he mumbled. 

They walked in silence until they stood outside the come-and-go room, as Tom had called it. As Tom let Ari's arm go, she grabbed a hold of him to stop him from opening the door. "Tom, I prefer to discuss this alone, without your friends" She pleaded. "Of course" He answered and gestured for her to walk in front of him.

She reluctantly opened the door and walked inside. The room resembled the one she visited with him earlier. Instead of the table, there was a dark green couch in the center of the room. Luckily, there was no sign of his gang. Ari did not think friends were the right thing to call them, as they did not seem very friendly towards each other.

He closed the door and sat down on the couch waiting for her to do the same. "Tom" She began, slowly sitting down as far away from him as possible. "You look really beautiful today Ari" He said moving closer to her. She felt her heartbeat speed up. He lifted his hand and placed it on her cheek. As opposed to how it had felt when Jack touched her face, Tom's fingers made her skin feel like it was on fire. She felt the skin on her arms begin to prickle, and she shuddered. Tom smirked, obviously aware of the effect he had on her. 

"He really is not your boyfriend?" he asked, and she saw his gaze dart towards her lips, before returning to hers. "No" she said and cursed herself because of how weak and shaky her voice came out. 

"Good" He stated, as she involuntarily bit her lip. This made Tom's gaze once again linger on them for a second before he continued. "I don't like him touching you" She took a shakey breath "Why" she whispered. 

"Because"  he started and, she felt the authority in his voice as he uttered the next words. "You're mine" She drew a sharp breath but had no time to answer him before he crashed his lips on hers. 

___________

A/N

He kissed her! Do you think his feelings toward Ari are sincere? Will she still be able to decline his offer? How will she respond?? 

Team Jack or Team Tom?

Have a good day!

-Naomi