ethereal | tom riddle.

golden

Eliza went running to Tom's room, everyone she passed giving her strange looks as she stumbled through his door.

Shutting the door behind her, she jumped onto the bed and sat up to face him. "We're getting married!" She giggled, her head crashing onto the pillow. "My father wrote back to me. He said that he will let me marry you."

Tom hadn't expected her to be this excited but he did realise that it was less her excitement about marrying him, and more a celebration of her relief of not having to marry a strange someone she didn't know.

Tom looked at her with the typical amusement he felt every time she would get all happy and giggly. She sat back up, grinning like a little kid on a sugar spike. "I can tell you're not excited but that's not going to stop me. It's too late for you too back out now. You're stuck with me." She tied her hair back as she said that, smiling at Tom.

Tom opened the drawer on his beside table, pulling out a black box from it. Eliza's expression dropped, her lips parted as she saw him open the box and give it to her. Maybe it wasn't the proposal she'd always wanted, like one from the romance books she read, but she nearly gasped when she saw the ring inside the box.

It was a golden ring made to look like twines wrapping around the dark green emerald in the centre. The gold was delicately twirled around the gem, almost seeming mystical as she looked closer. "You're joking." Eliza gaped.

He took the box, picking the ring up as he took her left hand in his own. "I don't joke, Eliza." He said, almost smiling as he slid the ring onto her finger.

Eliza's jaw hurt from how much she had smiled that day, but she couldn't stop. The relief she felt that she would not be marrying a creepy old man made her feel overwhelming relief. And of course, that wasn't the only reason.

She loved that she proved her parents wrong. The thought of the things her mother said to her that day started rushing back to her head. She couldn't get the things her mother would always say to her out of her head, suddenly changing her mood. Tom frowned as he looked at her.

"Eliza. Look at me." He said in low voice, turning her face to him gently, both hands holding her face. He felt her thoughts flooding into his mind. "You're the prettiest girl I have ever seen. I'm right here, okay? I'm not going anywhere." He gave her a kiss on her forehead, and then looked back at her. He was being a lot gentler than she'd ever expected. "Let's go down for lunch now, alright? You can flaunt your new ring to everyone."

It was so unlike Tom to be so kind to her and it was very different from his usual method of dealing with her daily roller coaster of emotions. She was happy, though. Her mood had been uplifted by his unusually gentle behaviour. She walked with him to lunch, wearing his blazer since she forgot to take her own again.

She nearly skipped into the Great Hall, Tom following behind her with his generally unenthusiastic demeanour. "Woah. That's one nice ring." Theodore nodded in approval as she sat down at her usual place.

All the boys turned to look at the ring she was showing Theo; Abraxas shooting a thumbs up to Tom, which Tom obviously ignored.

They all made sounds of excitement as they looked at the ring, all loving how strangely different it was. "Seems like marrying Peverell's comes with benefits." Rosier said, looking on the ring appreciatively.

Eliza frowned. "It's not Peverell." At that, all the boys looking at the ring looked at her curiously.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us who it is?" Orion asked the question on everyone's mind.

Tom simply rolled his eyes as he turned to Eliza and waited for her reply like everyone else. "Figure it out yourselves." She grinned at them, eating the food from her plate as they all groaned in annoyance. Tom's hand remained gently caressing her thigh throughout lunch, and though he didn't speak much, his touch was a constant reassurance to Eliza.

They pestered her till the end of lunch and classes but she didn't budge. She found it hilarious how desperately all of them tried to figure it out but couldn't.

She walked past a group of girls having a conversation, unintentionally overhearing what they had been gossiping about.

"It was so good. Painful, for sure. He likes it rough." A girl giggled.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Another girl asked her, leaning in.

That's all Eliza heard, but she tensed. She set out to the common room to find Abraxas. He sat alone in a corner doing his work. She didn't know where the others were but they were probably all at practice or getting yelled at by a professor.

"Abraxas." She said, sitting down in front of him.

"Yes, Lizzy?" He put down his book and looked at her.

"Can I ask you something?"

Abraxas raised an eyebrow, unsure of where that conversation was going to go. "Of course you can."

Eliza made a few faces as she tried to think about what exactly to say. Opening and closing her mouth a few times, not able to find the right words. "I- how," she paused. "Does the first time hurt?"

Abraxas didn't know what he had been expecting her question to be but it certainly wasn't that. "You mean, first time having-?"

"Yes." She said quickly.

He smiled at her, genuinely happy that she trusted him enough to talk to him about that. "It does, but not for long. It gets better with time."

"But why? Does it hurt for boys too?" She asked, looking up at him as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.

"Do- do you know how it works?" He asked her, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"A little." Her cheeks flushed as she looked down.

"It's okay I'm not judging you, Liz. Okay, are you free now?" He asked, she nodded in reply.