cold as you ||t. riddle||

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆

┏━━━━•❅•°•❈•°•❅•━━━━┓
𝖊𝖞𝖊𝖘 𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖓
┗━━━━•❅•°•❈•°•❅•━━━━┛

3 January 1943

The new year had brought with it a change in the atmosphere at Hogwarts. The students returning from the holidays would find the castle to be colder and more dangerous, thanks to the efforts of one Tom Riddle. The last three days Elena helped him research his lineage, if making sure he wouldn't find anything relating to the Gaunts could be considered helping. As his frustration grew so did his ambition, and as he dived into why Slazar Slytherin had created the chamber, he began toying with the idea of unleashing the beast within it. His plans would've had to wait however, as their primary concern at the moment was Tojo Rin.

Elena fixed her gaze on the crowd getting off the train, trying to find Orion and Abraxas. The blonde girl rushed to her, pulling her into her signature hug, almost causing Elena to lose balance.

"Oh, Elena! I have so much to tell you!" The girl said excitedly, ignoring Elena's pleas to let her go.

"You know I'm not really a hugger-"

Orion finally let go, mumbling a 'sorry'. She looked around, spotting Abraxas behind them and started walking as if she was running from him. Elena could spot in the distance Rin joining the other Ravenclaws and she joined Orion in running to the nearest empty carriage. They sat down across a timid girl from Ravenclaw.

"Why didn't you wait for Rax?" Elena asked.

"Why didn't you wait for Rin?" Orion was impatient. As soon as the carriage started moving, she let out a deep breath and continued, "Rax and I had a fight."

"Why?" The two of them fought a lot, but never to the point of not talking.

"He... He told me not to tell you this..." Orion sighed, "He caught me eavesdropping on our parents and their guest. It was weird, the whole time I was home they wouldn't even let me out of my room."

"Who was the guest? You said it was a distant relative."

"It was Vivian Mortem, your mother."

Elena's heart skipped a beat. It couldn't be. Her mother was last sighted in America with Grindelwald. If she was back here, could she have been the one who wrote the letter the last summer? "Why was she there?"

"I don't know. Abraxas came before I could hear anything else."

Her mother wasn't worth the two of them fighting. "Go and apologise to Abraxas."

"What?" Orion couldn't believe what the girl was saying. "He's the one who's keeping secrets, not me."

"He's trying to protect you." Elena sighed, "I don't care about my mother, you don't have to push him to tell you the truth."

"Are you sure?" Orion was still uncertain. Elena nodded.

"Let's change the subject." Elena's gaze wandered around searching for something to talk about before landing on the Ravenclaw girl.

Orion had also had the same idea. "Hey, I'm Orion Malfoy, and this is Elena-"

"Mortem." The girl said with a shaky voice. "The Slytherin prefect."

Orion's attempts at calming the scared girl with her smile were failing. "Yes. What's your name?"

"Myr- Myrtle Warren."

•❅────✧❅✦❅✧────❅•

Classes weren't to start until the morrow and Elena had spent the rest of the day helping Orion unpack. Today wasn't simply the return of the students however, it was the day her and Tom would carry out their plan. As Elena descended the stairs of the dormitory, she could see Tom sat next to the fireplace, reading the book they had found about the four founders. He stood up when he realised Elena was the one approaching, a sly smirk playing on his lips.