To Answer A Riddle [Tom Riddle Era / Harry Potter]

Entry #12

It was extremely cold outside. Elliott shivered and closed his arms on his chest. He had his winter coat on, boots to walk on the thick snow and mittens to keep his hands warm... and he was still goddamn cold. He sighed and walked faster.

The owlery was only a few meters away. His fingers tightened around the letter he had to send to his uncle. He probably would hear about the murder of Myrtle Warren and panic, as always. Elliott had to reassure him that everything was fine and that he could stay in Hogwarts till the Christmas vacations.

What a lie.

Nothing was fine.

His best friend had just killed an innocent girl with the help of the basilisk, and was getting away with it. It had only been a few hours since he learnt -and saw- that a girl had died. The rumor had quickly spread, but the professor kept everyone quiet about it. Everyone wanted to know what happened, even the living paintings on the wall: Rumor was that she had killed herself. Another rumor stated that her ghost now haunted the second floor's girl lavatory.

But no one knew the truth, except Elliott and Tom. The accomplice and the killer.

Because that was what he was, wasn't he? He knew that to make a horcrux, one had to die. He had planned this with Tom. He was as guilty as his friend was.

Elliott had not talked to Tom yet. He had avoided him last evening, and, this morning, he had woken up extremely early to leave before the other woke up.

He entered the owlery. It was still cold, but less than outside, since the wind was blocked by the large stone walls. Elliott searched for one of the school's owls: he had no owl for his family, nor other pet. He quickly found one who seemed energetic enough to brave the snow. He managed to attach his letter on the owl's small leg.

As soon as he did so, the owl screeched and flew away through one of the many open windows. Elliott had a sad smile. It would be a miracle if his uncle didn't immediately put him out of Hogwarts. He hated everything that was close to dark magic, and now a student had been killed. He wouldn't let Elliott get close to a source of "danger" like that.

He didn't know that Elliott's best friend had been the murderer.

And that Elliott himself was his accomplice.

The blonde sighed and passed a hand on his face. His uncle would ground him for life if he knew what he'd done. He turned towards the exit and froze. A too familiar silhouette was leaning on the door frame.

Elliott took a step back.

The silhouette came into the light. The boy's black hair was falling down on his face. His green eyes seemed sad. His winter attire didn't remove any of his presence, and instead augmented it. Elliott didn't know what to do. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't want to face Tom.

Elliott took two more steps back.

"Locomotor mortis!" exclaimed Tom as he quickly pulled out his wand.

His spell his Elliott who didn't even have time to move away. Huge ropes appeared around his legs and locked them together. He fell back and hit the ground hard. He grimaced and took out his mittens and his own wand.

"Evanesco!" he said quickly, but the wand didn't do anything and the ropes didn't move an inch. He saw Tom approach him slowly. He panicked and repeated the spell many times, without any result. He put down his wand and tried to push away the ropes. They didn't move.

Tom was dangerously close to him now. Elliott jerked back till his back hit the stone wall of the owelry. He swore and looked up at Tom, who was just in front of him.