Death's Daughter || Tom Riddle

Morning Argument | 18

"Waltz with me?"

His words stopped her in her tracks. Was he up to something?

A part of her wanted to flatly decline his offer and watch his confident face contort into a face of disbelief. But yet, another part of her wanted to know what this was all about so she reluctantly took his hand and they started waltzing.

Some music played off from somewhere but she didn't mind. As long as no one was going to open the door to find her dancing with Riddle, she was fine with it.

As usual, she would constantly step on her partner's feet which made Riddle's face turn from annoyance to even more annoyed. "Stop stepping on my feet." Just for her amusement and to annoy him even further, she purposely stepped on his foot. This made him snap and the music stopped. The only sounds left were her breathing and Riddle hissing in pain.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?" She teased-fully asked. An innocent smile plastered on her pale face.

"Stop stepping on my feet! Your waltzing looks like a penguin waddling and twirling around and it looks stupid."

"Well, I think penguins are cute and the image of them waddling and twirling around is adorable. And if you think my dancing skills are terrible, why don't you teach me?"

She didn't know why she would suggest such the idea of him teaching her but it was too late to take it back. Riddle was contemplating the idea and finally, who looked at her and held her gaze while saying, "Is the daughter of Death, requesting me to teach her how to dance?" She pushed him hard on the shoulder and took a step back. He merely looked agitated at her childish act but nevertheless, he held out his hand, waiting for her to place her own in his.

She was actually taken aback when he took her request seriously. After recovering from her shock, she gingerly placed her pale hands in his cold ones. He led her left hand, the one in his hand, onto his broad shoulder, placed his other free hand on her waist, which somehow made something in her stomach twitch, and positioned his other hand ready to dance.

The music from nowhere started to play a slow tune and they started to move along with it. This time, whilst waltzing, he gave her clear instructions on how her foot should be placed and the right time to twirl around. She followed his steps without question. To deny it was stupid but he was indeed, a good teacher. When she danced with Caelum, he couldn't very well teach her or give the best advice but when Riddle taught her, it seemed to click in her mind.

They continued waltzing for a long time. Every so often, Riddle would point out more of her dancing flaws until she perfected every single one of them.

It was dangerous, listening to what the devil's spawn had to say. But what was more dangerous was following his orders.

She was in a vulnerable position but could you blame her for listening intently to the boy in front of her? Her mind told her she lacked sense, she was blinded and needed to stop dancing with the murderer but her heart says otherwise. Was it that bad she wanted to please him? To fix her flaws until she was perfect in his eyes?

Yes, it was bad. He was the bad guy in her story. Or was he?

Either way, she needed to keep her distance before it was too late.

"It's getting late, I better go before someone catches us."

And before he could open his mouth to utter something, she hurriedly left.

~————————————————~

When she arrived at the common room, everyone seemed to be in their dormitories. She walked forward, headed for her own room but quickly glanced at the stone wall to her left. There, hung a large dark clock. Its shorthand was pointed at the number two.

Had she been waltzing with Riddle for that long?

After her mind seemed to have realized what the time was, she started to yawn in exhaustion. She slowly trudged up the steps to her dorm and quietly opened the door to reveal three beds. Two were occupied by two sleeping girls whilst the other bed was empty. That would be her bed.

She quickly rinsed herself in the shower and changed out of her school robes and into a night dress. She stepped out of the shower and climbed into her comfortable bed. She pulled her dark green sheets up and was soon sound asleep but before sleep took over her entirely, she could've sworn she saw a pair of dark brown eyes staring right at her. Riddle.

~————————————————~

"Fuck you!"

That jolted her up from her deep slumber. She twisted her head to the owner of the voice and her onyx eyes landed on one of her roommates. Flora Evergreen.

Someone sitting on a bed nearest to hers was sniffling loudly whilst the other figure was towering over the sobbing girl. However, after Evergreen saw Abigail's tears streak down her face, her own moody face began to falter. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it come out that harsh." The towering girl apologized and knelt down to the same level as the other girl. "It's because of your new b-boyfriend! He's changed you! Where's the old Flora who used to care about everyone else's feelings?"

After taking in the scene in front of her, Nyx got out of bed and sauntered towards the two girls. Her actions seemed to have woken up Abigail's sleeping cat, Dorothy. Dorothy the tabby brown cat walked over to her owner and leaped up onto her lap. Its purring intensified.

"Is there a problem here?"

Evergreen's neck snapped towards her and she narrowed her eyes down at her. "No, this is none of your business Rivers. Go away."

"She happens to be my friend and friends look out for each other." Those words left her mouth before she could stop them. This must've taken Evergreen by surprise since she looked genuinely shocked. She also thought she saw Abigail's mouth twitch upwards. Admitting she considered Abigail as her friend was definitely not on her to-do list.

"Well, she's my friend too."

"You're doing a bad job at being a friend then."

The two girls glared at each other. One trying to look as threateningly as possible, whilst the other already had a threatening look on her all the time. But Abigail, who had now stopped sobbing squeaked out, "It's fine. Let's forget this ever happened and go back to our usual lives."

Evergreen and she took a bit more time to glare at the other but in the end, Evergreen turned her eyes elsewhere and left to change and leave for breakfast.

She had won the staring test, again.

She changed into her uniform and waited a few minutes for Abigail to finish her makeup and they left for the Great Hall together. And for some ominous reason, there was a wide grin on Abigail's face.