Love of my life

Chapter 15

I wake up the next morning to the memories of last night. My mind goes from the person I was dancing with to when I saw Lestrange. I don't know which memory to focus on first.

The more I think about it, the more my brain hurts. I look at the clock to my right, which reads 8 am. It's Sunday so I don't have to worry about classes.

I force myself to get up and get ready so I can go get breakfast. My feet hurt from dancing in heels yesterday. It makes me go back to thinking about who I was talking to. I thought it was Lestrange at first, but I was completely wrong.

I exit my dorm and head to the exit of the common room. I head to the great hall and sit down at the slytherin table. I'm one of the few people up this early on a Sunday. Many people are sleeping in after the fun they had last night.

I'm tiredly smearing some jam in my toast when I see him. Riddle walks in and looks around. We make eye contact, but he abruptly stops and sits at the opposite end of the table. Away from me.

I keep trying to make eye contact, but he avoids my gaze like the plague. I didn't even notice when Lestrange came in and sat next to me until I hear him talk.

"Good morning, darling," he says. He sounds and looks a little hung over.

"Morning," I say with little to no emotion. He doesn't seem to notice as he starts eating his breakfast. I keep looking from him to Riddle when it finally clicks.

Of course, I confused Lestrange with the man I was dancing with. Lestrange was dressed just like Riddle. I even commented on it. I look back at Riddle desperately, hoping he makes eye contact, but he doesn't.

He is obviously doing this on purpose. He must know. He knew before me. That's why he never came back from the bathroom. But that doesn't explain why Valentine was with him. Not just that but why they were alone together. He would insult him until he left him alone.

As I think of many questions that I don't have answers to, he gets up. He walks out as fast as he can without making a scene. I should follow him.

I'm about to get up when Lestrange says something that I couldn't hear. "What?" I ask, a little impatient.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" He asks more sober than before.

"Uh, not really," my mouth says before I can even think about what to say. "Why?"

"Uh, no reason," he says, not looking me in the eye. Maybe I should be looking into him instead of Riddle. I ponder on it for a minute but ultimately decide to find Riddle.

I can't believe I actually enjoyed dancing with him. I actually said he wasn't that bad, and he responded with 'you're not so bad yourself darling'.

I walk away from the table, not even bothering to hear what Lestrange says behind me. I speed walk out the great hall fast enough to catch a glimpse of which was he turned.

I try to jog through the corridors and turn after turn to catch up to him, but it's no use. I lost him. I stopped for a couple minutes to catch my breath. It's like he disappeared.

As I start to head back to the great hall, I overhear voices. Not just any voices, voices of Riddle, and another man. A much older man.

I walk over to where the voices are and put my ear against the door. I soon realized that the older man sounds a lot like professor Slughorn, the head of Slytherin.

"Professor I believe I should switch my classes,"

"Switch your classes? Why on earth do you switch classes, my dear boy?" Slughorn laughs a bit.

"I feel as though I would learn better if my classes were switched,"

'Ah, I see. Does this perhaps have to do with a certain young lady I saw you dancing with during the masquerade?" Slughorn responds in a cheery way.

"Professor, I'm not sure what you're talking about," Riddle clears his throat.

"Oh, don't worry, my boy, I know what it's like to be young and in love." Slughorn says in a knowing yet dreamy way.

"Love?" Riddle's voice cracks a bit. He sounds...nervous.

"Yes, Tom, let me tell you something I wish I knew when I was younger. Love is special. Love is a gift. If you ever find it, cherish it and don't ever give up on it. Love gives us strength and security. Don't mess it up. In fact, do whatever you can to make it last forever," Slughorn says sincerely.

"Professor, this is great advice, but I'm not in love. In fact, I barely know the girl to ever love her. Why I want to switch my classes has nothing to do with love. Is there any way you can change my classes?" Riddle says, trying to put on a charming voice.

"No, I will not change your class,"

"But -"

"No buts, you may not think you're in love, but you are. You can deny it all you want, but the truth is you are. If you weren't, you would not be in my office right now, asking for a schedule change or denying your emotions. Love works in mysterious ways. You can simply fall for someone with just one look, so why not one conversation?" This keeps Riddle quiet for a while. So long that Slughorn decides to continue.

"I know love can be scary at first, but it's a wonderful feeling that you should enjoy,"

I hear footsteps walking towards the door as Riddle says, "You're wrong, I can't enjoy something I don't feel."

I quickly back away from the door, making sure I'm a few feet away. Riddle opens the door and immediately sees him. He pauses for a moment but then walks in the opposite direction of me.

"Wait! Riddle!" I say, running to catch up to him. He doesn't stop or slow down.

"Were you spying on me?" He says anger is apparent in his voice.

"No," he gives me a look, knowing I'm lying. "Ok, maybe a little bit. But I needed to talk to you," I say, having to keep running to stay next to him.

"What could you possibly need to talk about?" His voice is still furious.

"I know it was you," this stops him.

"What?" He says, looking into my eyes willingly for the first time today.

"I know I was dancing with you," he looks into my eyes for any trace of a lie but sees none.

"And? So what?"

"And we need to talk about it,"

"There is nothing to talk about," he scoffs and rolls his eyes.

"Yes, there is, I actually enjoyed dancing with you, and you seem to feel the same way," I say matter of factly.

"Enjoyed? I only danced with you to get away from Macmillan," he says, taking a step toward me and causing me to back away. "If you think for a second that I'd actually choose to dance with you and enjoy any second of it, you're delusional and naive." His voice is lethal. So lethal that it hurts.

"I-" he interrupts before I can continue.

"Don't ever say that again," he says furiously and storms away.

His words sting, and I don't know why. I don't know why, but when I overheard professor Slughorn talking about love, I felt a little happy. Maybe it was hope, but the way he acted felt more vile and hurtful than anything else he could have done.

This wasn't a stab to the stomach but a stab to the heart.