ghost; tom riddle

(01) - Personal Hell

Tessa fiddled with her wand as Professor McGonagall continued to ramble on about how pronunciation is key in transfiguration spells. Beside her, her best friend Gilbert Hill almost screamed with joy as he managed to transfigure his book into a quill. She gave him a sideways glance and almost laughed as he said, "What? You know transfiguration is hard for me, Tessa." Tessa huffed and replied, "Could be because you haven't done your transfiguration homework since Third Year."
His eyes widened and he motioned for her to shut up, as though McGonagall didn't know about his homework dilemma already. "Just because you're in Slytherin doesn't mean you have to throw me under the bus every time you see an opening!", he cried in a low voice, making Tessa burst out in laughter.
Professor McGonagall suddenly turned around and remarked, "Is anything the matter, Miss Fletcher?" Tessa immediately shut up and wildly shook her head. Gilbert snickered beside her. However, she hit his arms under the table and he stopped. The pair kept their shenanigans to themselves for the rest of transfiguration.

"Was hitting me really necessary?", Gilbert whined to Tessa when classes had ended. "I don't know, Gil, was laughing at me?", Tessa countered, her eyebrows raised. He gave a pout and shoved her side. They both exchanged glances before bursting into the second fit of laughter for that day. "You should've seen your face when I mentioned your homework! You looked like you were going to die on the spot", Tessa snorted, almost toppling over of laughter. "And you should've seen yours when McGonagall turned around! I've never seen you look that intimidated by a teacher!" Their bickering and laughter continued for a while until they sit on the ground of the hallway after deciding standing was too much labour. Tessa had spread out her numerous paper scrolls of homework on the floor by the time the next wave of students passed by them. Gilbert watched as the other walked by them. As a certain Potter and Malfoy walked by them, he said, "You think they'll ever stop sorting us students into houses?" Tessa looked up, puzzled. "Why would they? It's been working fine for the longest time, hasn't it?"

"But like, we're friends and Potter's friends with Malfoy and all the Weasleys still talk to each other despite being in different houses," Gilbert explained, though Tessa didn't quite get his point. "So? It's not like being in different houses is designed to keep people from being friends." "Yeah, but it gives you these stereotypes about others, doesn't it? I mean, I never would've talked to you if you hadn't stood up for me back in First Year right after the sorting ceremony." Tessa smiled, saying, "Gil, that's all old history now. And even if there are stereotypes, we're still friends anyway, yeah?" "Right." "Now go on and do your homework, or else you'll fail your N.E.W.T.s and then all this whining you do about changing the school will be for nothing, because they won't let you work at the ministry anyway." Gilbert picked up the transfiguration book, scrunching his nose at the long essay Tessa had already written about the assigned homework. Of course, he hadn't really been listening to McGonagall's lesson earlier. "Maybe I'll just become a hermit and live somewhere in the mountains, selling fake love potions to muggles," he suggested with a seriousness to his tone that made Tessa laugh. "We can open a business together." Gilbert sighed dramatically, putting the book down again.

The rest of their time in the hallway was spent complaining, as per usual, until they were shooed off the corridor by Professor Longbottom and had to seek refuge in the library. Later on, Tessa walked Gilbert to the Hufflepuff dorm, then bid him goodnight and continued to the Slytherin dorm on her own. When she arrived, all of the girls in her room were already asleep. It didn't take Tessa long to get into bed, either. That night she dreamed of him for the first time.

When Tessa opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by tall black pillars. The ground was wet and cold. The air smelled dusty and rotten. It took her some time to adjust to the dim light and to be able to make out more than just the pillars and the floor. She sucked in a breath once she saw the giant snake heads carved in stone — she was in the Chamber of Secrets, she knew now. She'd never seen it before, but she knew. There were few people alive to have seen the Chamber, three of them being the Golden Trio. And now she was here. At the end of the platform that she was sitting on, surrounded by water, she suddenly noticed a figure. A boy — curly-haired, tall and skinny. Her breath hitched when she saw him turn around. He stopped when he saw her, sitting on the damp ground. From afar it looked as though there was a look of shock etched onto his face but when he approached it was gone. He looked rather charming with his soft dark curls and his brown eyes, illuminated by the firelight. The boy wore the same Slytherin robes Tessa herself was wearing. He stopped before Tessa, looking down at her. They stared at each other for a while until he seemed to have found his voice, asking her, demanding, "How are you here? It's impossible." Tessa continued to stare at his face and then finally answered, "I don't know." "You don't know?", he questioned again. Tessa shook her head.

He chuckled, throwing his head back in the process and looking at the arched ceiling of the chamber. "As if hell couldn't get any better," he muttered under his breath, but Tessa picked it up anyway. Hell. What on earth was he talking about? Tessa wasn't dead. And she sure as hell wasn't, well, in hell.

She sighed and got up from the floor. Now, the boy still towered over her, being almost a head taller. "If this is hell, then how am I here with you? I'm certain I'm not dead. And isn't hell like a solitary confinement sort of place? A place where bad people go?" "It has been for quite some time now, yes." Tessa took another look around the chamber. On second glance, it looked washed out, like it was only a copy of something different. "So, dead stranger, what's your name?" "Tom," he said curtly. "Uh-huh, Tom. Well, I'm Tessa. And as far as I know, I should still be alive."

The way Tom looked at her seemed disconnected, somehow. Sometimes, however, there was an unmistakable gleam in his eyes — emotion — as though he'd never had a person speak like this to him before. "Perhaps you died in your sleep. That still wouldn't explain why you're here, though," he speculated. "Were you a particularly bad person?" "Not that I know of. I'm a Slytherin. Like you, apparently," his ears seemed to perk up at that, "but that doesn't make me evil, right?" He didn't answer. 

Tessa sighed. "This is the Chamber of Secrets, right? How did we get here?", Tessa asked Tom to distract herself from the fact that she might be dead. "It is. But the questions isn't 'How did we get here?' it's 'How did you get here?'. Because I know for certain how I got here," Tom explained with a look of curiosity flashing in his eyes. "And how did you get here? All I know now is that you're dead. But there's more to that story." His eyes met hers. Tessa had never seen anybody look at her like that in her whole life. Like he was superior to her in every way — like she was worthless. She shuddered under his intense gaze. Finally, he answered, "There is. Surely, you must've heard of me before. Does the name Tom Riddle ring a bell?"

His eyes glinted mischievously, while his lips formed a lopsided grin. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in thought. Tom Riddle... She was certain she'd heard the name before. But where? She was certain the name had been dropped in History of Magic before. But why History of Magic? Who was he? Who? Who, who— Tom Riddle. The Tom Riddle. "Oh my God," she muttered in disbelief, taking a step back.

"There's no God to save you now, Tessa. We're the only ones here, believe me, I would know," Tom remarked, closing the distance between them. "Which is why I'd like to know just how you got here. If you managed to get in, that means there's a way out." A mischievous grin spread on Tom's face, as Tessa's contorted in absolute fear.