ethereal | tom riddle.

dinner & drinks

Later in that week, Slughorn's dinner was on their schedule. It was every alternate Saturday evening and Tom and Eliza would almost always go. They did both quite honestly like Slughorn and the dinners were not all that boring.

When the time for Slughorn's dinner came around, Eliza got ready in her own room. Tom apparated into her room, catching her slightly off guard.

"Oh good. You're here. Help me zip up this dress, will you?" She said, looking away from the mirror and turning to face him. She'd forgotten about the incident quite fast, especially since he didn't bring it up as often.

He raised an eyebrow as she hurriedly walked closer and faced her back to him. She held up her hair and he pulled the zip upwards, the dress tightening around her as he did. Tom held her waist, and leaned down to her neck.

He placed a kiss on her neck and then whispered, "I do hope I get to unzip this later tonight too."

Their eyes met in the mirror, and Tom smirked slightly at her blushing face as he let go of her waist and sat on her chair. She took a moment to regain her senses and move again. She cleared her throat and looked around her room in confusion. She looked for the necklace on her table, a step away from where Tom sat, looking at her in amusement.

Struggling to clasp on the necklace in front of the mirror, Tom gave her a look. "Would you like me to help you with that as well, darling?"

"No. I can do it myself." She said, not looking at him as she did.

After finally being fully dressed to go for dinner, Tom stood up and held Eliza by the waist once more, only this time with the intention of apparating them there. "No, wait. Stop." She said. "My hair will get spoiled."

Tom rolled his eyes, but let go of her. They left her room, her struggling in heels she had no ability to walk with. He found it entertaining, so he didn't offer her a hand. When they got to the stairs of the Great Hall, Eliza began to walk with a bit more confidence.

Wrongly so, because she ended up nearly tripping four steps in. Tom swiftly held her arm, stopping her from falling flat on her face and ruining her precious hair. He helped her walk the rest of the way down, not seeming too glad about doing so.

Slughorn welcomed them into his well decorated office, with tables of food set up for the party. "There you are, m'boy!" Slughorn walked over jollily, smile wide on his face. Eliza saw Tom's face transform into a smiling one, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how wonderfully fake he could be. Would it kill him to be that nice to me sometimes?, she thought.

Glaring at him at subtly as she could as she plastered a smile onto her own face, greeting the professor enthusiastically. The professor eyed their interlinked hands which both of them immediately noticed. Their hands then slid apart from each others grasp and they continued speaking to the professor until he got distracted by a table falling over.

Tom's expression dropped immediately as Slughorn turned away, and so did Eliza's. Tom walked over to the drinks table, Eliza following step. Theodore and Orion had been at the drinks table since the party had begun. Of course Slughorn didn't serve alcohol, but it was wonderful how far a little magic could get you.

Theodore noticed Tom coming over and poured another drink, waving his hand over it and passing the glass to Tom, who downed it as soon as the drink touched his hand. Eliza asked Theo for one too. He simply looked at her, and then at Tom.

Tom obviously must've nodded because Theodore poured a drink, waved a hand over it and gave it to Eliza. She smiled as she accepted it, although Theodore had put far lesser alcohol in hers than in theirs, she didn't notice or question anything if she did.

They stood by the drinks for a while until Slughorn called for dinner. Everyone sat at the long table and despite there not being assigned seating as such, Tom and Eliza always sat in the same place. Slughorn sat at the head of the table, left of which sat Tom and beside him sat Eliza.

After eyeing the food carefully, she picked served herself a cup of some sort, poking at it with great interest. "Eliza, those have Everdales." Tom commented, giving her a look as though he was disappointed that she had not been more cautious.

"Oh." Eliza frowned, swapping her plate with the Everdales for Tom's untouched one. "There. Sorted." Eliza smiled at Tom who simply looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

As they began the main part of dinner, Tom and Slughorn were engaged in a conversation Eliza cared very little for, so she was lost in her own thought as she ate her food. Her fork fell under the table, and she leaned down to get it. As she lifted it and got up, her head gently hit Tom's hand which was holding the edge of the table right where she hit her head.

As she set her fork on a tissue, Tom's hand moved away from the table's edge and onto her covered thigh. She was wearing a long evening gown made from black silk, draped to fit. There was nothing romantic about the way his hand rested on her thigh. It was more of an act of comfort for his hand than of affection for her.

She ate her food with her mind elsewhere until Tom lightly pinched her thigh as a way of getting her attention. She immediately looked up at Slughorn and smiled.

He asked you how your father is doing, Tom's voice said in her mind.

"My fathers doing just fine, thank you for asking. He's a bit unwell as of late but should be much better in no time." She replied and Slughorn nodded.

"I do hear he is looking for a husband for you. Though I do wonder, if you don't mind me saying, why you and Tom don't get married yourselves. Seems to me like quite a good match." Slughorn seemed to be genuinely curious as to the relationship of the two, and he spoke as though he really did think they should get married.

Eliza felt Tom's hand on her thigh pause for a moment before he continued gently caressing through the slit in her dress.

Eliza simply laughed politely as she tried to come up with a response. When nothing came to her mind, she desperately probed Tom's mental barrier in hopes of him responding in her place. Clearly he got the message, because he then said, "Oh, how can I deprive all others of fighting for such a pretty girl's hand. Simply not fair, is it?" He spoke in a light tone, but Eliza knew she would be thinking about that sentence all night.

After all, he called her pretty.