Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

17: A wine induced duel.

Siobhan did look breathtaking when she made her way into Malfoy Manor that night. She was walked inside by Altair, holding his arm as they strode up the steps towards the entrance. Once they were inside, he took her long coat and handed it to a couple of house elves that stood waiting for them.
The manor reminded her of her own home. It was huge, with high ceilings and tall windows. The house and it's land were slightly smaller than that of the Selwyn family, but the Malfoys were definitely considered Slytherin royalty as well. The main difference was that this house was predominantly painted in light, pale colors.

Shiv heard her dad mutter something about the back of her dress to Amos, whom she didn't hear nor expect any protest from. She clenched her jaw and held onto Altairs arm again.
He felt steady and grounded next to her. That was welcomed, since she still had an uneasy, restless feeling in her body.
Both siblings took a glass of champagne from a table at the entrance of the main hall. There were a lot of people already, Shiv noticed.

Right before the Selwyns wanted to leave, Altair and Cillian had gotten into a huge screaming match. Both men had very different ideas about what they should focus on tonight. Altair wanted to do a background check on Tom. Cillian just wanted to impress him.
Cillian had been talking loudly about the different dramatics he hoped would happen that night. He had a tendency to cling onto anything that interested their father. Shiv suspected that by pleasing Tom, Cillian hoped to get on their father's good side as well. But he was wrong, Dorian Selwyn had no good side.
She had learned last week that she was going to get hurt either way. Physical, verbal, or emotional, their father had no love for his children and would abuse them even if they were to become Minister of Magic themselves one day. But she had to stop feeling so damn sorry for herself. She really wanted to enjoy these few hours where her father couldn't watch her every move.

She moved along with Altair, stopping briefly to chat with Mr Rosier. He mentioned that his children were already off with Abraxas. After that, he and Altair started a very long and boring conversation about a new bill that was being passed at work.
Without interrupting the conversation, she gave her brother a polite smile and walked away. She had to find a bar.

She spotted Abraxas, Anthony and Rome walking towards a statue of a mermaid that seemed to be pouring wine out of its tail ends. Raising an eyebrow at the statue, she walked over to the group of young men.

'Siobhan,' Abraxas grinned, 'Are we friends now?'
Shiv smiled and gave him a polite hug. 'Well, I had to thank you for your families generosity with this party. ' She stepped back again and looked at the three well-dressed Slytherin boys.
Abraxas smiled, 'No need.'

Anthony put his hands in his pockets and looked Shiv up and down briefly. It wasn't surprising, Anthony had fucked almost every Slytherin girl older than 16, and was probably starting to explore the other houses by now.

Shiv pushed her waterfall of curls back over her shoulder to cover her exposed back. As she turned around to fill an ampty glass at the fountain behind her, she suddenly stared into a pair of dark brown eyes.
'Merlin-' she was startled by his intense gaze.
Tom took a lazy sip from his glass of wine and raised one of his eyebrows at her in a slightly judging way.

Siobhan filled up her own glass, trying to look nonchalant.
'Good, you didn't stop wearing it,' Tom said casually, looking at the chain of rubies on her wrist. He sounded more relaxed than usual. The slight red flush on his cheeks made Shiv suspect this wasn't his first drink of the evening.
'Hm-m,' she looked back up at him again. He was wearing a black turtleneck, covered by a matching black blazer. The fingers around his glass seemed to have gained another ring, and Shiv didn't want to admit that she had always loved it when men wore rings.
Milo always wore a beautiful ring with a blue gem in it. Milo.. she had been so absorbed in her families social circle that she totally forgot about her best friend and her brother. She hadn't even replied to his letter yet. Again, she felt guilty. She just wasn't able to find to space in her mind to go over her possible feelings for Milo these days.