Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

20: Cold hands.

January bled into February, and the air became colder by the day. Hogwarts was covered in a thick layer of pearly white snow, and most students had swapped their dress shirts for sweaters.

Siobhan hiked up one of her her knee-high socks as she sat down at a table in the library. Juno hopped on the chair next to her and looked up at her owner with a curious expression.
'Just a few more hours..' she mumbled as she scratched her dearest possession behind her ears. She had been in classes for the last 8 hours and had just finished her dinner.

Tom would meet her here in a few minutes. They had done this dozens of times before these last two months. Besides the extra potions lessons and the slugclub, it was the only time she spent with him.
The slugclub hadn't gathered since winter break, though. Siobhan was glad for it. She was done attending fancy gatherings.

She looked up through her lashes and saw Tom enter the library in the distance. She let out a small sigh and started taking her books out of her bag.
They had spent the last weeks going through different family trees. Tom was hyper fixated on the Gaunt family and his connection to Salazar Slytherin. He kept asking Shiv to write to her father for more books. It annoyed her, cause Tom damn well knew she didn't like to correspond with her dad when it wasn't absolutely necessary.

He pulled back the chair that Juno was curled up on and picked her up. He placed her on the ground with an uncharacteristic gentleness.
Tom sat down next to Sionhan and started putting his own stuff on the table without speaking. That was normal for them, they spent most of their time in silence. Shiv didn't mind, she really didn't know what they could talk about otherwise. He knew more about her than she liked, so she wasn't planning on revealing much more for no reason.

She didn't regret telling him what she knew about his family. The information, combined with the fact that she wasn't mad about what he did to her brother anymore, seemed to make him more palatable towards her.
If he had thought she would hold his outburst against him, he was wrong. She had seen Altair get hit with much worse.
And maybe.. maybe she had a slight fascination with Tom's explosive temper. He was always so calm and indifferent, but the moment he released his full potential, he became deadly. It was terrifying. He was terrifying. She hadn't seen someone so young be so powerful before.
To be very honest, she wanted to learn from him.

'These came in yesterday,' she said as she levitated a stack of old looking books onto the table. They were all about the founders of Hogwarts in some way. Shiv could understand Tom's fascination with Slytherin, but she didn't really understand why he would want to read the biography of Helga Hufflepuf.
Tom pulled the books towards him and began flipping through them. Shiv watched him for a second. His long ringed fingers lingered on some pages for longer than others. Her mind drifted towards New years Eve and how he had caressed her lips with those same fingers. He hadn't touched her after that, and she hated to admit that it created a sense of frustration in her body.

'What's your birthday? I also got a book on orphaned witches and wizards and recourses for them to reconnect with family members..' she mumbled whilst unrolling a fresh sheet of parchment. Tom scoffed quietly at the word 'orphaned'.

'31st of December.' He answered in a monotone voice.

'Wait,' Shiv started, 'It was your birthday at Malfoy Manor?'
She looked into his eyes for the first time since he had sat down next to her. He nodded, but didn't elaborate much. 'I hate birthdays, Siobhan. Congratulations, I managed to stay alive another year, big fucking deal.'

Shiv rolled her eyes, 'No need to get all snappy.'

He didn't like that. Their eyes met again, and his narrowed slightly. He opened his mouth to speak, but Shiv beat him to it. 'Have you visited Little Hangleton yet?'