Hogwarts: a school of Witchcraft and Love (Tom Marvolo Riddle x F!reader)

Chapter 3-04

"B-but professor-" you begged, trying so hard to make your case.

"I'm sorry, (Y/N), but my answer stands."

It felt like a gut to the punch. You couldn't wrap your head around it. McGonagall knew your background, and the school prided itself on knowing its students intimately. So why would she reject you to go to Hogsmeade so easily? She couldn't sign your waiver, as she wasn't your legal guardian, but you didn't get her decision.

It was because she didn't come up with a solution for your predicament that you stood stiffly by the side as your classmates gathered in the garden. They were going to go go on and have fun together, while you were left behind, counting the days until you went there.
You could go on your own without permission when you were of age, meaning that were going to have to wait for four more long years...

It was easy to blame your emotional state for your changing hormones. It was to blame for the resentful glare you inflicted on McGonagall. She did look sympathetic, but sympathy wasn't what you wanted. You wanted action, a chance to experience the joys of Hogsmeade like everyone else! If she really felt sorry, she would have let you go!

Will and Alyssa were both gazing at you with mourning stares. So long went your promise to go to Hogsmeade together...

When the hour came for the third-year students to leave under McGonagall's supervision, you were left alone on the steps, abandoned once again. It was a familiar feeling, being left out, and it ate away at you. Life seemed so unfair in those moments.

You didn't like feeling this way. To change that, you tried to make most of your day by seeing the silver lining in having the place to yourself with all of the other years being in their classes. The empty hallways and fields promised privacy and freedom, but they couldn't fill the void left by your longing for Hogsmeade. Even thirty minutes of flying on your lightning-fast broomstick couldn't stop the depressing thoughts. They only diminished when you saw one other lone student studying in the Great Hall, all by himself.

You plunked yourself next to him without words. There was no need to. Although Tom hid it well, hidden beneath his brooding,

He understood.

*~*~*

When the horde of the third years stormed into the Great Hall, their hunger overpowering their manners, you looked up from your Intermediate Transfiguration textbook. The tables were occupied quickly and as a result of that, the peace was disrupted.

Among the latecomers were Alyssa and Will, at who you instinctively smiled. But it was a short-lived one when Will's expression changed upon seeing who your company was. There was fear in his eyes? You were too far away to make out what he whispered into Alyssa's ear, and they both changed course toward a different table.

Hurt stabbed at your insides, causing your body to tense up. Why didn't they choose to sit with you? But maybe it was for the best, as listening to their adventures in Hogsmeade would only worsen your already tender emotions.

But what you hoped to avoid found its way to you regardless, in the forms of a 5'3" figure with tousled brown hair and a 5'4" figure with of unruly raven locks. Unfazed by you sitting at their table, Avery and Lestrade swaggered over and vied for Tom's attention, sharing their experiences about their day out while ignoring everyone else those around them. Tom, with his detached engagement, nodded politely.

Avery, the obnoxious bully you've learned to avoid, mostly kept from bothering you. Even so, his icy glances still played a malfunctioning game of peek-a-boo with you. During one such glance, you saw that his previously injured cheek had completely healed. His hand brushed against the pimple-riddled skin, a motion that went unnoticed for the most part.