𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒, ᵗᵒᵐ ʳⁱᵈᵈˡᵉ. ✓

007.

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The Slytherin common room was quieter than usual, an unsettling tension hanging in the air as Daphne entered. She had been avoiding Tom for days now, and though the two weren't known to be publicly close, those who paid attention could sense the strange shift in their interactions. Tom Riddle had been colder than usual, his temper sharper, and Daphne's friends had noticed her growing silence whenever his name was mentioned. She hadn't meant for things to escalate this way.

___

It had started with a simple conversation—Aurora Riddle, Tom's younger sister, had approached Daphne in the library one day, curious and soft-spoken. Aurora had none of Tom's commanding presence or icy demeanor. She was warm, curious, almost kind. Daphne had found herself enjoying the younger girl's company. Aurora had even confided in her about Tom's overprotectiveness and how it sometimes made her feel suffocated. Daphne, wanting to be a friend, had offered advice, and that's where everything had gone wrong. Tom had found out.

___

She hadn't expected him to be so furious when he cornered her in the hallway after class, his face hard and expressionless, but his eyes dark with barely contained rage. "You've been speaking with Aurora," Tom said coldly, his voice low but lethal. Daphne had tried to explain, to defend herself, but Tom had cut her off. "You had no right. I don't need you meddling in my sister's life, Rose." His use of her last name, so formal and distant, stung. They hadn't fought like this before, not so openly, and it made her chest ache in a way she wasn't prepared for.

___

"I wasn't meddling," Daphne had said, her voice rising in frustration. "She came to me, Tom. I didn't seek her out. She just wanted to talk." "She doesn't need to talk to you," Tom replied, his voice sharper now, his eyes narrowing. "I don't need you telling her things you don't understand." Daphne's temper flared at that, her frustration finally boiling over. "Maybe if you weren't so controlling, she wouldn't feel the need to talk to someone else!" she snapped, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

___

Tom's expression hardened further, his jaw tightening. "You think you know me so well, don't you?" His voice was venomous, his words biting. "You think you can just insert yourself into my life, into Aurora's, without consequences." "I'm not trying to—" Daphne began, but Tom cut her off again. "You're overstepping." The coldness in his tone, the complete dismissal of her intentions, sent a spike of anger through her chest. She had never seen Tom like this—so unwilling to listen, so quick to push her away.

___

"Tom, I was just trying to help!" she shouted, her voice shaking with anger and hurt. "Aurora needs someone who isn't afraid of you—someone who isn't under your constant shadow!" Tom's eyes flashed with something dangerous, but it wasn't his silence that finally broke Daphne. It was the arrogance in his posture, the way he stood there, towering over her as if her words meant nothing. "You don't get to control everyone, Tom Marvolo Riddle!" Daphne yelled, her voice echoing off the stone walls of the corridor. "And you don't get to control me!"