You don't own me, Riddle

Chapter 17- The first meeting

Ari opened the door and was met with absolute silence and dim light. The room was so quiet that her initial thought was that she had gotten the time wrong. She peaked inside and met the stare of eight pairs of eyes. Some were filled with curiosity, some with hints of anger or even disgust, and then there was Tom. He looked as confident and smug as always.

She walked inside and closed the door behind her, feeling her heartbeat speed up. This time not because of what she felt for Tom, but rather because of nervousness and even excitement.

"Ari, come sit." Tom said, with a forceful gentleness to his voice, gesturing for the seat closest to him. She nodded in response and sat down on the chair. Alvin offered her a reassuring smile. "Hey miss late arrival" He greeted her, and she could not help but return his smile. Even though she did not know the boy, she felt some sort of comfort in having him there. "Hello, Mr early bird" she offered back and watched as his smile slightly grew.

As she returned her attention to Tom, she noticed that he was watching them with a stern look, his gentleness from earlier completely gone.

"Friends" Tom started and looked around the room, his eyes lingering on Alvin for a moment before he glued his stare at Ari. "Today, miss Ari Coyet has finally decided to join us, which will be a great contribution."

Ari heard a snort from her side and turned her head to see Malfoy lean back in his chair, his arms crossed over her chest. "Malfoy, is there a problem?" Tom asked in a calm manner, but when Ari turned back to look at him, she noticed that his jaw was clenched.

"How do we know that we can trust her? She hangs out with mudb" "Abraxas!" Rosier, the boy sitting next to Malfoy interrupted him. Tom stood from his chair and slowly made his way over to Malfoy, slowly leaning towards him. "She is my guest. It was my decision to invite her. Are you implying that I was wrong to do so?" Tom asked him, and Ari shuddered at the tone of his voice.

"No, of course not my Lor, ehm Tom. I'm just concerned about her" "I ensure you Abraxas, she is non of your concern" Tom quickly awnsered him, starting to look annoyed. Ari was not sure if she was happy that Tom was sticking up for her, or concerned about the authority he seemed to hold over his friends. Malfoy simply nodded and looked down at the table, not meeting Tom's eyes.

"Ari is a contribution to us. She has studied the dark arts in a way most of us could only imagine. And as some of us witnessed, she is also very skilled in both nonverbal magic as well as dueling. We all have a lot to learn for her." His eyes met Ari's and she tried to force a smile at him. "With that said, you will all treat her with the utmost respect." Tom finished his speech and sat back down in his chair. The rest of the boys nodded and hummed in response.

"Now Ari, perhaps you could show my friends who unfortunately missed your performance on Halloween a new chance to witness your skills?" Ari gave him an unsure look but eventually nodded. If she had a chance to practice dueling, she would absolutely take it.

"Let's see.. Lestrange perhaps? Would you do us the honor?" She felt like it was becoming more strange by the second how Tom ordered these guys around. The word friends seemed to be extremely misfit in their situation. Lestrange immediately agreed and got up from his chair, standing beside the table, grinning from ear to ear.

Ari followed his lead and got up in from of him, but made sure to keep her distance from him. The look in his eyes made her uncomfortable. They both stood there staring at each other for a while, and Ari was starting to wonder if they were expecting some sort of signal to mark the start of their duel.

"Ascendio!" Lestrange shouted, almost catching Ari off guard, but the deflected the spell easily. She could not stop herself from grinning, as she saw the smile on His face falter just a tiny bit.