Insomniacs - Tom Riddle x reader (with pictures)

18 / incubus

Leontine crouches next to your bed, stroking your hand gently. The other three girls are standing right behind her and all look down at you with shocked and concerned faces.

You still feel a little disoriented, your head is spinning. You take a second to realize where you are; it's still the middle of the night and you woke up your roommates with your scream. Oh no.

"What's wrong, Fi?" Julie asks you in a gentle voice.

You wipe the sweat of your face with your sleeve. Trying to calm down, you take a few deep breaths. You need to make sure to not worry your friends even more than you most likely already have.

Finally, you respond in a shaky voice: "I was just having a nightmare, that's all."

Daisy steps closer and puts a hand on your forehead. "She's burning hot. We should bring her to the infirmary," she exclaims sternly, turning to the others.

You hastily shake your head. "No," your tone sounds sharper than you've intended. "I'm fine. Really." What are you going to tell Madame Blainey? That you had a weirdly realistic nightmare? That's ridiculous.

You look at Jane, who stares down at you with a pale face. She has been silent until now and seems to be extremely worried about you. You give her a pleading look and thankfully, she understands you. With a deep sigh, she addresses the others: "Let's let her sleep, guys. If she's not feeling better tomorrow she can still go to the hospital wing. The most important thing is that she gets some rest right now." The others hesitate.

Eventually, Leontine sighs and agrees: "Jane's right. Try to get some more sleep now, okay Fi? And you can always wake us if something is wrong." She squeezes your hand.

Your heart melts at her empathetic words and you simply nod. "Thanks, girls. I'm sorry for waking you." Daisy scoffs, almost offended by your statement. "Don't you dare apologize. You know we're here for you." She gives you a smirk. You know this took a lot out of her, since she is not usually one for sappy words.

You give all of them a weak smile and they slowly return to their beds. Jane lingers by your side just a little longer. She seems like she wants to say something but then decides against it.

You whisper: "Tomorrow." She nods understandingly. This time you will definitely tell her about the dream you had. You need her help figuring all of this out.

As Jane moves away, you let your head fall back on the pillow. There's no way you will be able to fall asleep after that. You stare at the ceiling and let the dream play back in your mind. Only... the more you think about it the less you're sure it was a dream after all. It was simply way too realistic. You've never experienced something of this sort, where you could remember every single detail so vividly after waking up. Sounds, smells, you even recall the temperature of the bathroom. No. This has to be something else.

﹌﹌﹌

You spend the remaining of the night racking your brain and replaying the events. You can still hear Tom speaking in Parseltounge and it sends a chill down your spine every time. Eventually, the morning light creeps through the windows and you sigh with relief. You almost feared at one point that you were damned to spend eternity like this. Laying awake in your bed and pondering. And the worst part is that you're not getting anywhere. You still can't place your experience... if it wasn't a dream... what in Merlin's name was it?

When your alarm rings, you jolt and immediately turn it off. Unlike usually, you're the first to swing your legs out the bed. Although you feel the exhaustion in your bones, you are more than ready to begin your day and get a little distraction. Even if it comes in the form of a History of Magic class with Professor Binns. The other girls slowly start to rustle in their sheets as well. Only Leontine is still snoring.

Julie sits up and rubs her eyes. She notices you and looks a little surprised that you're already up. Usually, the curly haired girl is the most energized of all of you in the mornings. "How do you feel?" she asks with a sleepy voice.

"Better," you reply with a thin-lipped smile, hoping to sound convincing. Truthfully, you feel like a Hippogriff ran over you. But you don't want to worry your friends further. You're already embarrassed enough by the scare you must have given them last night.

Without another word, you quickly slip out the door before the other girls are fully awake. You want to avoid their questions at least for now... you will have to deal with them later anyway, you're sure. As you enter the still empty common bathroom, the memory of last night is even more present in your mind. It looks exactly like the one you saw in your dream. Those same damn sinks in the middle of the room. The sinks... that magically moved after Tom... you stop in your tracks. "Stop thinking about it, Fiona," you scold yourself. Slowly, you approach and inspect the sinks closely. No embossed snake on any of the faucets. So you must have been in a different area of the castle... but where?

Still, you run your finger along the metal, similar to the way Tom did it. Or did he? It was a dream, it must have been. He didn't do anything. His dream version did. You have a hard time convincing yourself of that. You turn the water on and just stare at the jet for a second, almost hypnotized. Then you pull yourself together and bend down to splash it into your face. It feels like heaven on your burning cheeks.

Your reflection in the mirror stares back at you, when you straighten up again. For a second, you almost don't recognize yourself. Deep, dark circles under your eyes and sunken in cheeks... you shudder a bit. Merlin, you look horrible.

After brushing your teeth, you drag yourself back to the dormitory. The other girls are all gathered, sitting on Daisy's bed still in their pajamas and whispering to each other. When they hear the sound of the door creaking, as you enter, they fall silent. It's obvious they were talking about you.

You raise your eyebrows at them but decide not to comment on what just happened. You really can't deal with all of this right now. Instead, you rummage through your closet, pulling out a fresh school uniform.

The tension in the room is thick and you can feel your roommates' stares boring into you even with your back turned towards them.

Eventually, Leontine clears her throat. You slowly turn around. Here it comes...

"Fiona, we were just talking and...," she stops and looks at her friends unsurely.
Daisy gives her an encouraging nod and the blonde girl continues: "...and we're all worried about you. Can you please talk to us? What's wrong?"

Your gaze falls on Jane, who gives you an apologetic look. You know each other so well, you can almost communicate just through your eyes. And right now your best friend seems to say: "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop them."

You feel uneasy because of the way they're all paying such close attention to you now. They expect you to say something. But you can't possibly explain what you experienced last night, can you? They would probably think you're mental. And honestly, you're not sure if you maybe are.

"Guys...," you utter after a while. "I appreciate your concern. I really do." You're being sincere in this moment. You know they all just have your best interest in mind.

"But there's nothing going on in particular. I have just not been sleeping well lately and apparently it's getting to me. I'm sure it's going to be okay, though. There's no need to worry about me." You try your best to sound definitive, as to not leave room for discussion.

The girls exchange glances, seemingly not very convinced.

After a few seconds, Julie speaks up: "Okay... but please remember you can always come to any one of us. Whenever you need to talk."

You smile at them. "I know. Thank you so much." Thankfully, the girl let go of the topic and start getting ready themselves. You blow out a deep sigh of relief.

Jane and you exchange one more glance. At breakfast you will finally be able to talk to her... and you desperately need it.

I'm not super happy with this chapter to be honest :/ I feel like I'm in a bit of a creative slump... I still hope you somewhat enjoyed it