Forbidden Love (Tom Riddle Fanfiction)

Chapter 18

Iris was sitting alone in the courtyard; she was reading her diary entries during her first and second years at Hogwarts. She was doing her best trying to recall the memories she wrote down.

She was starting to see some truths in Tom's telling of their friendship, minus the few things he lied about. As she read the entries from her perspective, she didn't realize the extent of how close she was to him. But reading how she used to describe him, he doesn't seem like the one she sees today. He's much more cold-hearted than before. She's seen him and his group bully the other students relentlessly. He punishes students for the slightest things. She grew frustrated at the professors for remaining clueless about his actions just because he is the top of his class. Anyone can see that Tom is a strange individual. But what made her even more intrigued about his character was their interaction in the Astronomy Tower. He was uncomfortable setting foot in it in the first place. She could tell he was hesitant to chase after her when she went in. He fidgeted a lot and grew tenser the more he stayed. When Iris skipped her entries to read her last day at Hogwarts, she learned that she asked him to meet her at the courtyard before she left, considering it was her last day. Tom was unbeknownst of her situation, and he thought meeting her was just another day. Thus, he never made it a priority and he never came to see her in the tower.

Iris thought he must've felt guilty and regretted not coming. It wasn't his fault he didn't know it was her last day. Seeing the necklace again brought him memories he thought he'd buried. He still holds a lot of resentment, anger, and sadness. He was persistent on getting that necklace, he would even kill for it.

This then reminded her of something else that had occurred that night. The blood vial. When he wanted that necklace so much, he'd hurt her for it. The vial strangled his throat, trying to kill him in the process. Iris quickly turned the pages to find the entry where they made the blood oath.

"Stupid...stupid...girl" Iris muttered underneath her breath. She wondered how careless she was  to agree to something like that, but then again, they were young.

Dumbledore approaches her, "Iris! How are you feeling?"

She closed her diary and gave him her full attention, "I'm doing well so far. I haven't been out of control yet. Lestat has been a good friend since I came here, and my old roommates have been kind to me"

"And what you've got there" he looked at the diary she was holding.

"My diary, I managed to put it in my suitcase before Grindelwald destroyed my home. I've been reading it in hopes that it will get my memories back" she said.

"That's wonderful. I was hoping if you would come to my office, I'd like to show you something" he said.

"Of course" she said.

When they arrived at his office, she closed the door behind them. Dumbledore waved his hand over her as her disguise came off. Iris was curious as to why he did it, but didn't proceed to ask.

"Would you say that your stay here has been remotely helpful?" he said.

"It definitely beats what I've been doing before, but I must say it is quite boring. I feel out of place" she said.

"You may be young, but the experiences you endured have caused you to mature significantly. It's normal to feel out of place" he said

"Do I really have to stay here for a year or so? Can't I do something much more productive?" she said.

"The point of this journey is to feel free again. Make mistakes, learn from them, grow relationships. You missed a lot of your youth in those 4 years" he said.

"I've been reading my diary and nothing is working" she said.

"I brought someone here today. He was deeply affected by your "death". I can't bring myself to constantly lie to him anymore." he said.