Solving Riddle (Harry Potter Fan Fic)

24. Misplaced Trust and Old Friends

I've got to admit, this is a little bit of a crazy chapter and you could go either way with whats going to happen eventually... big news at end :)

______________________

I was ignored by all for the remainder of the school year, Rubeus Hagrid was expelled for killing Myrtle, and Tom slipped out of the incident scott-free. I spent most of my time staring Robert's photo album and wishing he was here, he always knew better, he could help me.

A letter arrived on my bedside table randomly one day as the school year was finally finishing off. It read:

Library, 7:00, tonight.

All the girls in the dorm were packing except Cassidy, she sat on her bed, staring at the canopy of her four poster. I folded the note quietly and checked the time. 6:46. Getting up, I rushed to the library. "Hello?" I called, looking for who ever sent the note. There was a feeling in my stomach saying I knew who it was, but I didn't want to think about it.

"Why'd you come?" Riddle's voice sounded from behind me, surprising me slightly.

"Why'd you ask me to?" challenging probably wouldn't get me anywhere, but I was slightly angry. He told me I was foolish for talking to him, showed me his true colours, then beckoned me back to him.

"Foolish people always come back. You are so easily manipulated!" Riddle laughed incredulously, as if he could believe that I had come back.

"You. Asked. Me. To," my teeth gritted in anger.

"I could have lured you into a murder trap and you would have fallen for it!" my anger welled up inside of me, boiling until rage consumed me entirely.

"That's what people do," I whispered, rushing out of the library towards an empty corridor I knew I could hide in. Riddle was obviously following me.

"Then people are idiots. Its obvious why some are too weak to rule, they misplace their trust, they put it into the hands of those who will hurt them! But in the end, it all leads to a powerful empire, a superior nation!" he yelled after me.

"You're the fool, Tom Riddle! You'll never know trust, understanding, friendship, you'll never care for anything except yourself; you...sociopath!" I was breathless after I screamed at him. The halls were empty, everyone else packing in their dormitories or spending the last day with their friends so nobody heard me.

"It's extremely ironice because... last time I checked, you didn't believe in any of those things either. It's the same with you, all you care about is power," Tom scowled, approaching me angrily.

"I've changed. I know now, I know myself," I backed away quickly as he got nearer.

"No you haven't. You're the same, unsure, unconfident, pathetic Ruth I met in September on that train. Still dumb, still hopelessly lost," Tom looked down at me, smirking, "but if you say you have changed..." he started, obviously feeling a surge of power, "then you'd believe in love,"

My heart dropped, of course I didn't, however it didn't mean it didn't exist, I've just never loved anything or anyone.  "You'd love your precious little brother, love your little friends, every person who has helped your sorry self in the past, and most of all... you'd love me,"

"I would never!"

"Oh, but you would!" Tom's eyes lit up devilishly, his eyes glinting like a child on Christmas morning, looking at all of the presents with his name printed upon it's paper. "Why else would you keep coming back to me?" he approached me too quickly, grabbing my face roughly, "why would you continue to crawl back to my feet again and prostrate yourself in my presence? Give me an answer, lovely. I dare you," his face dropped into a cold stare and he began to play with my hair.