Don't Let Me Fall (a Tom Riddle not-so-short-short-story)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Rose paused outside Dumbledore's office after her time at the lake. Despite her previous thoughts Tom was not quite out of her heart and that was stopping her from opening the door and talking to the Professor. My brother. For my brother. She kept repeating that over and over in her head until she got the courage to open the door and walk in.

Dumbledore looked up from his work and smiled at the Slytherin, "I was wondering when you would stop by." His twinkling blue eyes annoyed her, why, she did not know.

"Sorry for the wait. I need answers before I tell you anything," Rose met the Professor's blues eyes dead on. Dumbledore looked as though he expected her to say that and her dislike for him grew. For my brother. For my brother.

"I will tell you what I can but I may not know all the answers to what you seek," his cryptic answer annoyed her for he never spoke normally when talking about serious things. For my brother. For my brother.

"Why am I here?" Rose said, getting straight to the point.

"To learn," Dumbledore's simple answer pissed Rose off.

"That's not what I meant! Why was I sent back in time to here?" Rose practically hiss between her teeth at the old man.

"I do not know but I have my theories," Dumbledore said calmly. He folded his hands in his lap as he watched the Slytherin pace back and forth in front of his desk.

Rose stop suddenly and glared at the wizard, "What are these theories of your's, sir." She tried to stay respectful but was finding it to be impossible.

"Now is not the time for you to know. The time will come and you will figure it out on your own." Dumbledore was shocked when Rose sent a chair near by flying across the room with non-verbal and wandless magic.

"I came here for answers, not for cryptic words of an old man!" Rose stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut.

Dumbledore frowned, he did not mean to piss the girl off. He realized his mistake too late. He pushed the Slytherin girl closer to Tom Riddle instead of away. He hoped he could fix his mistake before it was too late.

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"Why me?" Rose growled as she paced back and forth in a corridor of the west wing. "Why was I sent back in time? Why am I here? Am I to change the future? Why must I be able only to trust that old fool? Can I even trust him? Why Minerva? Why?" Her brown hair was in a mess from her pulling and tugging at it in frustration.

She slid down a wall and put her head between her knees. Her icy blue eyes started to fill with tears. She missed her friends, her family. She wanted to go home. She wanted to know why she was sent back into the past. A single thought came to her as she tried to blink back her tears, I can save my brother. I can save lives.

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Tom was looking for Rosier when he found Rose curled up asleep in the corridor. Her face was red like she had been crying. Why? He wondered. Rose did not look like the type of girl to cry. She seemed to be stronger in will and her pride wouldn't let her cry. Why was she crying? Tom decided to bring Rose back to the Slytherin common room but did not want to carry her.

Tom stalked over and nudged her with his foot. Rose jumped up, wand in hand, pointing it at her 'attacker'. Seeing Tom she began to relax before she tensed up again. Rose ran off quickly, leaving Tom looking rather confused. Why is acting like that? What happened? What changed?