You don't own me, Riddle

Chapter 16- Butterbeer and heart-to-heart pt 2

Stella had started to look a bit concerned when Ari had said that she and Tom kissed at the Slug club, which made Ari nervous. "What about Jack?" Stella asked, and her heart sunk a bit. Ari looked down onto the table, earning a sequence of Kat's hand. "You know he also really like you" Stella finished.

"I know he does. He didn't see Tom and me, we went out from the party to talk and it just happened. I think he could tell something was going on between us, however. He told me that Tom was bad news and to be careful around him." Ari sighed and closed her eyes.

"I don't want to hurt Jack. I told him he was important to me. But I can't return his feelings." Ari felt memories from her past creeping up on her. She carefully placed her hands in her lap, releasing Kat and lowering her gaze.

"I've had problems before, back at Durmstrang." She whispered and felt the girls leaning closer to her. She looked up at them, meeting each of the girl's eyes before continuing. "I'm part Veela" She started, letting them think about it for a while "And I can't control my charm, and believe me I have tried." She said, feeling very vulnerable. 

She looked up at them and saw a mix of surprise and concern on their faces. "A lot of guys said that they liked me before, but I could never differentiate between if it was real or if they were just trapped under my spell" Ari said and felt a lump form in her through.

Ari took a breath before she continued, eying her bearly touched butterbeer, and proceeded to look around them to make sure no one else was listening. 

She saw a couple of other students sitting around a table near them, happily laughing, empty glasses on their table. "The other girls hated me for it" She continued, feeling a sting of pain in her chest. Ari once again looked into each of her friend's eyes seeking confirmation. 

"We would never hate you" Stella quickly responded, seeing the uncertainty in Ari's expression. "You definitely don't need to worry about me at least, I will not be competing with you for any boy's attention" Georgia said, leaning back in her chair with a smug smile on her face. "I'm sorry you had to go through that Ari, but you have us now" Kat added. 

She felt herself calm down, but a bit of the anxiety was left. Would they feel the same if they started to like someone, and they started to like Ari instead? Would they really not blame her? She doubted it. 

"How do you know Tom is not affected?" Georgia asked, earning a look from both Stella and Kat. Georgia rolled her eyes at them "What?" she snapped at them. Ari half smiled at her "I thought about that too, and I can't say anything for sure, however.." She started and leaned forward a bit, making sure that no one except them would hear her. 

"However, before when I affected someone, they always acted as if they were trying to gain my favor. No one ever talked back to me, and they always listened to my every request without argument. Tom is different, he tried to make me obey him, rather than the other way around."

This made Georgia grin "He tried to make you obey him? Oh, do tell us more" Ari felt very split. On one hand, she wanted nothing more than to tell them all about Tom, his friends, and his desire to know more about the dark arts. On the other hand, she had promised him not to tell anyone, and she wasn't ready to risk their relationship before it had even started. 

"He wants to meet up tonight" She said and told herself that this was not a lie. "Omg, what are you gonna do?" Kat asked, forcing herself to keep her voice down. "You know that it is against the rules to leave the dorm during the night" Stella flecked in, worry in her voice. Georgia snorted "What are they gonna do, expel the smartest witch in Hogwarts?" She told Stella. 

"I doubt I'm the smartest in Hogwarts" Ari said with a laugh. "I said the smartest witch, your lover is probably the smartest magic user, apart from some of the teachers of course" Georgia told her without batting an eye. 

This made Ari laugh a bit. It was really refreshing how blunt Georgia was sometimes. 

"I think I'm gonna go" She told them, and Kat suppressed the urge to scream by holding both of her hands in front of her mouth this time. "Just be careful okay?" Stella told her, smiling but with the same concerned look in her eyes as before. "Yeah, don't get caught" Georgia added, taking a few sips of her butterbeer. Ari smiled and nodded at them.

After talking about everything from schoolwork to traditional dishes from different countries, the girls started to head back to the castle. Ari taught them how to use the Vocatio spell and promised to use it to tell Georgia and Kat when she got back from her meeting with Tom. 

Ari had made Stella promise not to tell Elizabeth and Helen anything, and she agreed that at least Elizabeth was not Tom's biggest fan. After pretending to go to bed along with the other girls, Ari carefully got up from her bed, carefully got dressed, and headed out to the common room. 

To her joy, the common room stood empty, but she still made sure to walk as soundlessly as possible out to the corridor. 'Lumos' thought wordlessly, and hurriedly walked towards her location, not stalling to disturb any loud paintings. After hearing footsteps around a corner of the corridor, she slightly panicked and looked for a place to hide from whomever it was. 

'Nox' She said in her head, and placed herself close to the wall of the castle, as the light of her wand disappeared. She saw the light of the other person's wand start to light up the corridor and held her breath in order to remain as quiet as possible. 

Soon she saw the figure of Apollyon Pringle, the caretaker of Hogwarts become visible before her. 'Confundus' She casted in her head and saw Apollyon blink a few times before he started to giggle like a small girl while watching the light at the top of his wand. 

She felt bad for him. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She then hurried away from the scene and finally saw the wall where the door they had entered before sometimes was. She did as Tom had instructed her and walked past the wall a few times while imagining the room they entered the first time, and the door slowly became visible. 

She took one final deep breath before pushing the handle down. 

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A/N

She told her friends at least part of the truth. Did she do the right thing? What will the first meeting be like?

Have a good day!

-Naomi