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

Chapter 4-05

Alyssa, Alyssa, Alyssa...

With a trio of words, fourteen letters and five syllables, she put you on the spot.
There were countless conversation starters she could have chosen while you had study time with her.

"Nice weather we're having, huh?" or "watcha doing nowadays?"  Heck, she could have even used other variations of her original question! "Where is Slytherin?" or "What is Slytherin?" or "Why is Slytherin?"

But none of that.

She went straight for the jugular with, "how is Slytherin?"

Your quill nearly poked a hole through your Magical Creature's homework. With your slightly longer, (H/C) falling in loose waves around your face, you looked every bit the studious Hogwarts student.

This homework, you liked to do. You had those answers tattooed on your brain.

Where do Bowtruckles live? Why, in the Magical Menagerie!

For realsies, they lived in forests.

The rapid-fire questions sidetracked you from your task, putting you back on the track of uhhs and uhms. You adjusted your responses to her freckle-dotted interrogation, mindful of her sensitivities about your House switch. "I thought it'd be bad, but, it could have been lots worse."

More questions followed in quick succession, not giving your mind a break. Have they been treating you well? What about your roommates? And did professor Slughorn have you taste his pineapple yet?

It felt like she went on for hours and you couldn't concentrate from the constant grind.

Most of them had been civil to you.

The ones that didn't treat you like you were a ghost, that was.

"They're all right." You wondered if the lie sounded any more convincing than when you got asked it by professor Dumbledore.

(Spoiler: Nope.) Alyssa made a good attempt at looking convinced—not so much for sounding it. "They're all right?"

She kept going despite your weak lying game, or perhaps because of it. Your idea of her talking with Rosalind and Eileen only made her dig in deeper.

"Yes! They're all right." On to the next question that was irrelevant to your associations with them! "Do Nifflers eat plants?"

"They do." Your try to alter her line of questioning was met with a pff.

A disturbance nearby gave you a golden  ticket to avoid her stare, as though her bullshit meter was ticking in the red zone.

Avery and his rowdy friends stomped by. You would think she knew better than to try riling him up by staring, given his troublesomeness and size advantage, as he claimed a table to sit at.

Or more accurately—sit on. Scoring the winning winning goal against Hufflepuff today had given him that right, apperently. It was a great pass, but him throwing back a full goblet of pumpkin juice and sucking it like a conquerer?

Over the top much.

Alyssa rooted for you to pick up your broom again, all chanty like. "Future Quidditch star (Y/N)! You should see if you can join their Quidditch team! You do so well up there!"

Did she forget that you signing up would have you fight against her House? Leaving behind your friends, your loyalties, and betraying the people that had let you in without even knowing you.

The Chaser's decency offensive only cemented your doubts. There was no working together with him.

You returned your mangled concentration to the half-done Magical Creatures homework scattered over the table. The questions were dull compared to the flying sport. How could you think about Bowtruckles and Nifflers when your hands wanted to feel the rubbery texture of quaffles again?