Riddle [Tomione, On Hold]

Chapter Six

Chapter Six
Surprises

For most of his life, Tom had known that he was destined for greater things.

During his miserable stay at the orphanage he had been left in by his pitiful mother, he had often dreamed of being told that he was special (although he already knew he was) and be whisked away from that horrible place to somewhere where he would be accepted and maybe even loved (though the latter part was discarded as the years passed for Tom had no need for it) and as he grew older, he would often come up of scenarios where he would grow to be someone with great power or talents, the world bowing to him as he would mold it the version that he always envisioned it to be.

Because of this, Tom never really felt any shock or surprise when a strange man had come to the orphanage to tell Tom that he, an orphan left and discarded by his parents, was indeed special.

Well, he never found himself surprised about anything, really.

So, it was no surprise to Tom when the Headmaster had called him to tour the constantly glaring and awkward brunette witch that he had saved around the school grounds.

And it was certainly no surprise that the girl seemed to clearly despise him, the initial surprise that she had tried so hard to conceal when they had been standing in the Headmaster's office now turned into a murderous glare.

The only thing that Tom couldn't seem to understand was why.

He certainly had not met the witch before— hells, he had even forgotten her name. And if he ever had come across her, he was sure that he would have at least some inkling of who she was— she just didn't seem the type of person that he would forget about (even if he had completely forgotten her name) although Tom didn't exactly know why.

All he could think of was finding more about her.

"Listen," the girl started as she pulled her warm hand free from his icy grasp with such force that Tom almost stumbled down the steps.

Almost.

"I don't like you and you clearly don't like me," she stated matter-of-factly, looking almost proud at her courage for having said those words. "So why don't we just stop pretending to?"

Cute, Tom thought, smirking as the wheels in his brain started to turn, formulating the most infuriating way to annoy the much shorter witch possible.

Ever since he had started his studies at Hogwarts, he had slowly begun to notice how some first-year girls seemed to blush whenever he decided to try to speak to them or how the teachers would soften their gazes and bend to him whenever he would say a few sweet lies and send them his brilliant smiles. It was months after his arrival that he had properly learned to cultivate and take advantage of his natural confidence and casual speech, manipulating and twisting those around him without the people themselves aware of it, like a puppet being pulled by the strings that he had crafted himself, gently coaxing them to do what he wanted them to do and say what he wanted them to say.

Which was what he had exactly planned for the fuming girl standing before him.

"Do I—," Tom took a step towards her, savoring the fact that his towering figure allowed him to look down at the glaring girl. He lifted his hand to brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear and leaned towards her, letting his lips brush faintly against her ear as he breathed in a hint of hazelnut.

"—really?"

Tom could hear her breath hitch in her throat as he pulled away, his lips pulled into a rather arrogant smirk as he noticed a light blush coloring her cheeks. He noticed her fists clench as she quietly fumed, taking note of how easily he provoked her and how he could use that to his advantage for later on.

"Well then, now that's settled—"

Smack.

Before Tom knew what had happened, he felt a painful sting in his cheek as he could only stare at her in disbelief, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance as she shook the hand that she had used to slap him as if, Tom guessed, she was attempting to shake away the sting.

"Never—" she said, recovering as she jabbed a finger into Tom's chest. "—do that again."

And with a confident swish of her robes, Hermione—he now remembered her name— walked away from Tom, the man destined to be greater than even Grindelwald himself, with her head held high.

≪

As Hermione rounded the corner and confirmed that she was nowhere within sight of the smirking Head Boy, she leaned against the wall and covered her face with her hands, willing her heart to stop beating so rapidly in her chest.

Tom Riddle was indeed manipulative, cunning and lethal, all three qualities that Hermione had mentally prepared herself for during those long hours that she had stayed in her cot while Freya, Charlotte and Liam had class and couldn't visit.

She didn't, however, prepare herself to be able face his charming smiles and open flirting, and before she knew what had happened, she had struck him in his cheek.

Hermione wanted to smack herself.

Why why why why why.

Although the embarrassed witch couldn't decipher the flurry of emotions she felt inside her chest, she knew one thing for sure.

That it was surprise that Hermione had seen on his face right before she rounded the corner and disappeared from his sight.

The chapter's quite short and I feel like it could have been written better but I hope you still enjoyed it! I've been trying to update weekly so I thought it would be best to make the chapters a little shorter than usual.

Feel free to comment any constructive criticism you have or what your thoughts on the chapter are!

See you in the next update ♡

s i d e n o t e
700 reads jahdjajahdakakcn