Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

55: Restricted.

Shiv closed her eyes, rested the back of her head against the arm of the small couch she was sitting on, and allowed the sunlight to spill onto her face. Both hands were clasped around a glass of red wine, nearly finished. It wasn't her first glass. Neither her 3rd or 4th.
Her head was a little light, but pleasantly. She followed the slow movement of her chest, rising and falling at a rhythmic, calm pace.

'No, that goes against the elemental laws of transfiguration,' she heard Florance sigh at the table a little to her right.
Shiv opened one eye and caught a glimpse of her friend, taking a piece of parchment out of Anthony's hand whilst shaking her head in disappointment.

Shiv closed her eye again and tried to focus on the crackling of the nearby fire.
She and Flo had talked about the situation in the dorms right after it had happened, but the conversation hadn't been very lengthy, and Florance had seemed too embarrassed to share many details. All Shiv knew was that the two of them had started hooking up regularly since Anthony definitively broke up with Rosalind.

A pottle restless, she opened her eyes again, and watched the specks of dust fly around in the beams of light for a while. Her buzzed brain found the whole thing very picturesque, and it reminded her of her family home with an extremely rare spark of nostalgia.
The library was quiet. At least, the floor they were on was empty except for them. Them being Shiv, Flo, Anthony, Abraxas, and Rosalind. The last two were working together on planning an end of year party in the Slytherin common room. Rosalind did most of the planning, Brax just took out the money afterwards.

'Why are we hidden away. There's no one on the other two floors,' she heard the cross voice of Tom from behind her.
Turning her head, she looked up at him as he passed her. His ringed hand lightly stroked the top of her head as he made his way over to the table and sat down. He reached over to the bottle of whiskey that sat on the table in front of Brax and poured himself some in a coffee cup he had brought.

Brax, leaning back and grinning at Tom a little, spoke up after a few moments of silence. 'So, care to explain what happened to Alex?'

That peaked Shivs' interest, and she sat up a little straighter. 'Nott?' She asked, looking at Brax. He nodded.

Tom leaned back and took out his cigarette case. He shrugged and answered, 'He acted up.'

'And you did what?' Shiv asked, knowing very well what he meant by that.
She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy this whole thing at least a little. There was something about being so fiercely protected and defended by someone. Something that made her feel warm and exited. Honestly, it turned her on immensely. It made her want to act first and think later.

When Tom didn't answer, Brax did. 'I have no idea, but he looked very beaten up at breakfast this morning.'

'Tom!' Shiv whisper-yelled in fake repulsion that she managed to pull off as genuine enough.

Tom rolled his eyes. 'If this is what having a girlfriend is going to be like, then-'

'Girlfriend?' Rosalind interjected him abruptly, all at once completely torn away from her party planning.

Silence fell around them. Florance was looking at Shiv with big eyes. Not because she didn't know what had happened, but because she knew Tom hadn't referred to her in this way yet.
Abraxas looked from Tom to Siobhan slowly, and she couldn't read his expression to save her life.
Rosalind on the other hand, was very clearly displeased with this new development. She had a nasty look of jealousy in her eyes. It made her otherwise pretty features contort in an ugly way.
Had she been planning to move on to Tom now that Anthony was done with her? Perhaps she thought he'd sleep with her again. Poor Abraxas, he was probably next.