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

Chapter 6-03

The only thing that you heard in the last several minutes was some older Gryffindor's boisterous laughter.

Your objective at hand had been quickly forgotten about when you noticed a few couples sitting together on the benches, one of them a guy in a light gray sweater sitting next to a model of a girl with mile-long legs, looking warmly at him. Unassuming. And laughing.

If you thought that her dressing better than you ever could imagine being was reason enough for jealousy, you really should have braced yourself for his next move— reaching across, and bringing the back of her hand to his smiling mouth with a soft laugh.

The ease with which the male student showed his affection, like there was no such thing as shame, just the two of them in their own shared universe.

There was something about him. Something to do with...

The way he smelled? The way his magic locked perfectly with yours?

Or the way he turned his head as he talked, like he was calculating the best way to draw attention to the pale line of his throat?

If you just looked a little longer... Spend a little more time deciphering who it was, you were sure that answer would come to you.

It did.

Your first, panicked thought was that you needed to leave before they sensed your presence, pretend as though you never witnessed this. But your legs simply refused to move. Your eyes would not, could not turn away from the sight.

Loyalty was an amusing concept to consider when Tom had moved on this quickly and scored a new date.

You were loyal to the people you loved. For him, your loyalty to him seemed in an entirely different league. For him, loyalty was not just giving up your life for him, anyone could do that. For him, loyalty was everything. You knew this.

So it was silly that despite all the loyalty in the world you had shown him, not once had he ever looked at you that way, so sweetly.

Why? She wasn't gorgeous. The thought was reflexive, automatic, and wrong.
Jealousy could make one think mean things, such as, she definitely had no business knowing a creature that looked like Tom.

You didn't know her, so you had nothing of substance to judge her on. It was unlike you to do that anyway. It had to be your bitterness trying to cope with them being far more desirable than you could ever hope to be. 

If only Tom would treat you with all the respect you deserved, as you were the only person he saved from a monster. The time when he shoved you behind him and did a remarkable job of keeping the monster from attacking by… glaring at it. He hadn't seemed horrified. Just angry and defensive over you.

And you were also, the only person he had ever tucked into his bed (as far as you knew). The only person he declared his love to. You always slept better when you shared it—the small, uneven mattress that barely fit for you both.

That was an annoying revelation, but a true one all the same. Every time the tiny expanse of cheap floor had been flooded with light coming through the holes in the curtains, the orange carried over your soundlessly sleeping form.

The beds may be more comfortable here, but it had been only Tom's presence that let you sleep through whole nights.

Thank the stars the cute pair didn't look away from each other. If they had, they would have seen you, hands clasped over your mouth.

He's a mind reader, (Y/N)! HE KNEW YOU WERE WATCHING, HE KNEW. HE KNEW.

No, no, he didn't know you were there. Wasn't looking your way. He didn't know anything. Pull it together.