Hogwarts: a school of Witchcraft and Love (Tom Marvolo Riddle x F!reader)

Chapter 5-09

(A/N: smut teaser at the end of the chapter!)

Love was a funny thing. Because it's said that everyone (including yourself) wanted to experience this magnificent thing, but what people never told you was how much you went through when you loved someone.

There were great moments, but also arguments, jealousy, disagreements and heartbreak-all of which of the above you experienced already.

For as young as you were, you were beginning to understand that love and pain were closely intertwined. You couldn't have one without the other. Such was the case between you and your closest friend.

Every time the other orphan had told you to go and watch the television instead of bothering him while reading had been burned into your mind. Maybe you might never forget all the times he had hurt you, but you loved the little boy through it. He was your best friend.

You groaned. You weren't sure if the groan was what had awoken you or if it was a result of the actions that had caused you to groan. Either way, it really didn't matter, you were awake. Wide awake. And the pounding sensations that were spreading inside of your head continued.

Though you were far too stressed to recall all of the details of the how and why right now, you knew that it was unpleasant. It was an intense, oddly feeling with no context you could grasp yet.

As if something dreadful was happening to you, but you couldn't remember what.

Quickly, it all dropped away.

Lost like a forgotten nightmare.

Suddenly unimportant.

I'm not even doing half of what I can do and already you're breaking?

Then it started up again. You looked ahead of you, but it was as if your eyes were closed. Total blackness. You wondered for a second if you'd gone blind.

A stinging buzzed in your head and you could hear him not from next to you, but inside of you.

Use your Occlumency! Shield yourself and push me out!

Words wilted in your throat. 'I'm trying'; then, 'not like this', then, 'it's the most I can do'. But there was no need to answer him because Tom was right there in your head. Whatever you thought of, he would know.

I think you're trying to get yourself another hour of detention by keeping this pathetic attempt at a shield, up. I told you to fight against me.

You were strong. You'd held out so far. You could hold out again. This wasn't forever. You could stand it. You could. But you couldn't get used to this.

He had come up with quite a few new ideas recently, and already you were feeling raw, shield cracked. But still you pushed through. You knew the consequences if you failed.

The Charms questions he had laid in front of you today would have been easy for you on a good day. Charms were essential to any growing witch or wizard. But weeks spent forced to continue working through the mild headaches of a had drained the joy.

Today was no exception. First, it was simple things. A random mental prod to try to distract you. A sensation of creeping dread that made you feel slightly on edge, but wasn't enough of a distraction to pull you from your sheet.

Then it escalated. The sensation of bugs crawling all over your skin. The nagging feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong. You tried to shore up your mental shields, but they were too worn to be effective.