The Fearsome Name of Riddle

An Apology

The Great Hall’s walls were lit up with torches and candles, the floor lined with tables full of food and students. Victoria Malfoy sat between her friends. Walburga Black to her right and Eileen Prince to her left as Tom came up behind them. 

"May I?" Tom asked Walburga, his silky charm clear in his smile as he gestured to the sliver of space between her and Victoria. 

"You may not, Tom," Walburga said sharply, frowning at the boy, one year her junior, "don't cut her off."

"You're right," he smiled reluctantly, stepping back to reevaluate his approach, "I wouldn't want to intrude. But, Victoria and I have something to discuss."

“We're not going anywhere,” Walburga frowned bitterly, holding onto Victoria's arm as she tried to stop the Malfoy girl from giving in to him. “Wait.”

Victoria managed to focus on Walburga as she tried to change the conversation. 

"Your brother got into Slytherin, that's wonderful," Walburga said, ignoring Tom as she held onto Victoria's hand in a firm attempt to keep her away from Riddle, "you must be proud, I always get a little anxious when the hat takes a moment. There's always a chance." 

"Yes, but it's expected," Victoria agreed, shrugging off Tom's hand as he tapped her shoulder, ignoring him as he called her name softly, "Your cousin started last year didn't he? How's Orion doing?" 

"Very well," Walburga smiled, not doing as well to dismiss Tom's presence. 

“Let a man make amends, would you Prince?” Tom said, offering his best pleading look to Eileen who looked utterly cornered. “That's all I want, may I sit between you for a moment?” 

Eileen stuttered and stumbled as she glanced at the back of Victoria's head. She couldn't tell whether Victoria would want him there or not. Eventually, with only the look in Tom's eyes to go on, Eileen relented and shuffled across the bench to give Tom enough room to sit down. 

He let out a grateful sigh and immediately took the seat offered before the other girls could stop him. Close enough to touch her, he made sure his leg was against her's and reached under the table to pull her leg closer to him. 

"What?" Victoria snapped, pulling her knee from his hand. 

"I'm trying to apologise to you," he said softly, his brow scrunched making his eyes look sad, "why won't you let me?" 

"You really annoyed me." Her voice was sour as she wore a deep frown. "I don't appreciate being belittled for your friend's amusement." 

"I know and I'm sorry." Tom gently placed his hands over hers, luckily for him she didn't pull away that time. "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that, it was a crude joke. I wanted us all to sit together, I've been alone all summer and I wanted to see all our friends together. And I missed you, I wanted you to be closer to me." 

"You mean that?" Victoria's voice softened as Tom snaked his other hand over the small of her back, holding onto her tightly and making Walburga groan as she let go of Victoria's hand. 

"I do," Tom smiled, pulling her just a little closer, "why don't we take a walk before bed? I want to talk to you more about what we were starting to get to on the train."

Tom moved his hand from hers to lift her chin to him, brushing his thumb across her bottom lip. His dark eyes were a melted brown in the candlelight and it captivated Victoria's gaze like a kind of hypnosis. 

"What do you think?" he whispered, looking down at her lips rather than her eyes. 

"I'd like that," Victoria agreed, lost in his smile and his metallic scent as he sat so close to her, "Let's go now. I'm not hungry anymore."