The Girl from Azkaban ~ Tom Riddle (18+)

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖞

~✧~

The day had come. Finally. Taraphina had been looking forward to it for weeks. From the end of September until the beginning of December, she had been completely loyal to her only activity: studying. More often than not, she had even skipped meals in the great hall to continue ambitiously preparing summaries for each subject. And in fact, it had already paid off. Her grades were getting better and better, and other classmates seemed more annoyed than excited by the flood of information she presented in class. Taraphina also had the impression that now that Tom was no longer by her side on a daily basis, people were forgetting who she was and who her family was. A year ago, no one dared to give her an annoyed look or even talk about her when she was within earshot, but now no one seemed to care. People could only be glad that Taraphina didn't care much at the moment, because otherwise even half of her own house would be in the infirmary. So much for loyalty, Taraphina had often thought, but tried to ignore the thought with a roll of her eyes. She wondered how Tom had managed to maintain such great respect all these years, after all he was still worlds better and the teachers still emphasized it often enough despite his absence. Tom was someone who was feared by everyone, but Taraphina was sure that this was not the only reason why everyone respected him and did not dare to say a bad word about him to the teachers.

The young witch sighed as she put the finishing touches on herself, running the small prongs of the brush through her long, dark mane a few more times to make sure she had combed out every knot. Then she rose and left the small room.

With quick steps she wandered through the large castle and shone in the eyes a joy of life that no one had seen in recent months. She turned the corner of the basement and then she had reached her destination. With a big grin on her face, she ran and finally threw herself back into the arms of her beloved friend. A little over whelmed by the warm greeting, the young wizard stumbled back a few steps before he could intercept her momentum. A small smile played around his lips as he looked down at the brunette witch, who had her face completely buried in his chest and was clutching his black sweater with her hands. It had been so long, but now she finally felt the warmth emanating from him again and could breathe in the smell of expensive collonge and smoke. This was what safety smelled like to the young girl; with Tom, she knew that no outsider would ever harm a hair on her head. He was her anchor in the raging sea.

Tom gently pressed a kiss against her forehead after holding her close for a moment, "Someone missed me," he stated with a grin, and in return he collected a small slap from Taraphina against his upper arm when she finally broke away from him again.

"You didn't miss me, did you?" she asked with a pout.

"How could I not miss my little witch?" he replied, leaning down so he could cover Taraphina's pink lips with his own. It was a truly heartfelt and warming feeling. Tom felt Tara's hands tighten back into his black sweater and watched her closed eyes as well as filled mine. Gently, he stroked his thumb over the fabric of her dress at her hip. 

"I'm here now," he promised as they broke away from each other again. Slowly, he slid a hand further up her lower back and applied light pressure, prompting her to slowly move inside to the slugdinner.

"Ready?" he asked as he placed his hand on the door handle. Taraphina stood on her tippy toes, picked up another kiss, and then nodded.

Together they entered and all the looks that had even been hateful and full of escaped nerves on her in the past weeks, all too suddenly changed to respectful and deferential towards her.

Taraphina only smirked in response; what fools people really could be.

"Tom my boy," the professor propped up with outstretched arms, "what a joy it is to finally have her back with us," he continued to greet the boy as he pulled him into a warm embrace.