Tom Riddle - Downfall

Chapter 49: Caught

I look at him expectantly and he takes my other hand. "We're together now, you can ask me anything..."
"It's just that... now we're officially together, and we can be open about our situation. And I wanted to know what you would like me to do in case someone asks about us. If someone were to ask what's going between us, what should I tell them? And how would you like to do this?"
"The truth, I'm your girlfriend, and I don't care what anyone else thinks about it. Okay? Don't worry about it. "
"Then I won't. If anyone asks, I'll be sure to say just that then. And I'm perfectly fine with it, I really like you, and I want people to know that you're mine and I'm yours, so that's the way it's going to be." I smile at him."You ... don't have much experience with relationships, do you?" I say, teasing him, knowing full well that no one could get to him before me. He hadn't opened up to anyone before. Meanwhile, we continue walking back to Hogwarts. "No, I don't. I've always been a bit more closed off, and I've never really fully trusted anyone other than myself. Until now. Now I trust you. You're the only one I've really opened up to."
"That honors me ... really"

We walk the rest of the way in silence. We sneak back into the castle and walk quietly through the corridor. Until, surprisingly, we are caught by Professor Slughorn.
Professor Slughorn: "Mr. Riddle, Ms. Grey. What exactly are you doing in the corridor at this time of night?" he says with a serious yet slightly smirking tone while holding his Lumos-covered wand in our faces. Tom has a good relationship with him. Maybe he can talk us out of it. Tom quickly glances over at me with a serious look on his face, as we both are caught out in the hallways in the dead of night at Hogwarts. Of course, both of us are taken by surprise when Professor Slughorn catches us, and we don't really know what's going to happen to us as a result of this now. Would Slughorn tell the headmaster the next day, or would he just let this slide? Tom quickly clears his throat, and he speaks up now. "Professor, this is... well, we were just out for a late night walk. It really was a beautiful night, and we couldn't resist the opportunity to take in the fresh air. We didn't mean to break any school rules." Tom says this with a calm and even tone with his usual smooth demeanor as he tries to talk the two of us out of this situation now. We are watching him closely now, as we're curious to find out how Slughorn will handle this.
Professor Slughorn: "Yes, yes, I see. Mr. Riddle, I'm glad you've been devoting yourself to things other than class lately, however..." he says and looks at him closely and then smiles over at me "However, I cannot tolerate you wandering around here" Tom smiles and nods at that, as he realizes that Slughorn is aware that we were out past curfew.
"I understand, Professor. We will make sure not to repeat this in the future. You have our word that it was an innocent moment of weakness, and we won't let it happen again." He is taking full responsibility for this, and it seems that Slughorn finds this very likable.
Professor Slughorn: "I won't tell anyone that I saw you here today, but I'll give you detention for this. Both of you." he says and winks at us "and now goes to your dorm" shortly afterward "separately, of course, " he adds and laughs a little. Tom chuckles a little and nods his head. It doesn't seem like Slughorn is going to tell anyone about this, and that's a really good thing. Plus, this detention is something that we can easily handle, so that shouldn't be much of an issue.
"Yes, Professor. We will both be headed back to our respective dorms now." He gives a friendly smile to Slughorn as he says this, and then he turns to look at me now. Then the professor goes his way, and we can quickly go to the common room. You can still hear him talking to himself
Professor Slughorn: "Oh, young love."

I look at Tom on the way to the dorms. "You can be really charming, Tom. That was really close. " Tom laughs a little as he thinks about that too, Slughorn's reaction to us being out in the halls in the middle of the night. It had been a close call, but we were both able to handle it really well, and he was impressed with how we dealt with the situation.

"Thanks. I think I can be very charming when I want to be." He says this with a playful smile, as he also really enjoyed how we were able to handle this. As we keep walking, the two of us are almost at the dorm now. We arrive there and I turn to him. "We should say goodbye for today." Tom nods his head at this, and he also seems to agree. The two of us had a great night earlier, but it's probably a good idea to end it now before the night goes on for too long.
"Yes, it's probably best to say goodbye for tonight. I hope you don't mind, but I'll say that I would like to see you again tomorrow evening for sure."
"We will be. But we're lucky Peeves didn't catch us. He would have reported the headmaster immediately..." Tom laughs at this for a moment, just in case he might hear Peeves screaming across the courtyard at this point.
"Yes, luckily, it was just a friendly professor this time. But next time we go out like this, we should really be more careful. We can't always count on Peeves not being around." I start laughing."I'm not sure if we should do this more often. " I kiss him and say,"Good night, Tom..." Tom gently puts his hand under my chin as we are starting to kiss now, and we really enjoy this moment together. I can feel that there is a bond between us now. He smiles as I kiss him goodbye now, and he says, "Goodnight, Lucia," with a teasing expression.