Star Crossed

Chapter Twenty Five- An unlikely defender

Some people keep their light well hidden but sometimes just sometimes you can catch a glimpse.

I sat in the Great Hall on our first morning back after the Christmas holidays alone, the only other student here yet was Tom and he for some reason had not come down to the Great Hall for breakfast yet... he was always early. I fingered the pendent beneath my shirt, I had not been able to stop thinking about it, wondering what it was that Tom had meant, why he had charmed it... 

I was brought out of my thoughts by the loud creaking of the Great Hall doors opening as all of the students who had just arrived back from Hogsmead station piled in. I scanned the crowd looking for Lazarus and Wiglaf but I couldn't catch sight of the them there where far too many peoples heads bopping around as they chatted excitedly making their way to their seats. I waved towards Amber as I managed to spot her but she hadn't noticed me as she was too busy standing by the open door whispering into peoples ears as they came in, I furrowed my brow, if there was one thing Amber was terrible for it was gossiping, I wondered what had happened but I was sure it wouldn't be long until I caught wind of it. 

Reunited finely at the end of the school day, myself, Wiglaf, Lazarus and Tom had decided to walk out to the greenhouses together while Tom and Wiglaf checked on their mandrakes they had been having to look after as the practical aspect of their Herbology OWL examinations, Wiglaf had taken it very seriously indeed. I suppressed a laugh as Tom rolled his eyes, 
"I do hope it has been alright over the holidays without the proper due care and attention," he muttered.
"I'm sure it has missed you terribly," Tom droned, "Why don't you pull it out of its pot to say hello when we get there, I'm sure it will welcome you back with open arms and tell you all about its Christmas," 
Wiglaf fixed Riddle with a glare as Lazarus and I shared a laugh from behind them. Lazarus had seemed to have put the events of the Christmas party behind him, well almost...
"Speaking of catching up I suppose you and Myrtle will have a lot of catching up to do, after all you need to make it up to her after spending the end of your night in a pile of curtains why she was left to wonder the party alone." Tom smirked, 
Lazarus grimaced, "Shut up," he groaned, "You are never going to let me forget this are you?" 
"Never," Tom grinned from ear to ear. 

Our laughter soon died down however as a large group of girls and boys most of which I didn't even recognise began pointing at us and wolf whistling,
"Get in there Lazarus," one of the boys shouted, making us all look to Lazarus confused, yet Lazarus looked just as perplexed as we did. Another of the boys winked at him as a few of the girls laughed and mimicked a high pitched giggle... who where they-

Then it struck me... Myrtle Warren.

As the group walked passed us, Lazarus called to them, "What are you talking about?" he asked, faking joining in with their amusement.

"Your Christmas party rondavous, I didn't know she was your type." laughed one of the boys as they walked away. I recognised him as, Richard Tracey a Gryffindor Quidditch jock in our year. Lazarus's face went pale, he spun around and turned on Tom. 
"I've met some pricks in my time but you are a fucking cactus." He spat, Tom's eyes widened.
"I beg your pardon? Lazarus leave the insults to the professionals or you're going to hurt yourself," Lazarus ignored him, 
"You told people about what happened at the party?" he looked so frustrated that he seemed to be on the brink of tears. 
"Lazarus I'm going to need you to put those few little brain cells you have together and work with me okay?" Tom smirked patronisingly, Lazarus looked as if he wanted nothing more than to slap Riddle right across his smug looking face. 

"Do not inflate your ego Lazarus, I don't have the will to spend my precious time gossiping about you to a bunch of mindless trolls." 
Lazarus scoffed, "You would do anything you could to humiliate me, you think the whole thing is hilarious. "
"Why I think you do a pretty good job at that yourself," Tom smirked, looking not one tiny bit intimidated by Lazarus's murderous expression, if anything he looked amused. 
"For Merlin's sake that's enough." Wiglaf bellowed finely losing his temper, "I don't believe any of us would have spread those rumors,"
"Oh you believe him then," Lazarus retorted bitterly, 
"No I believe logic," Wiglaf said patiently, "What would any of us gain from it Lazarus, calm down and think about it for once." 
Lazarus seemed to loose a little of his bravado, as his shoulder slumped down he looked defeated. 
I saw another gaggle of students walk by down towards the greenhouses. They to were giggling and as I spotted Amber walking right through the middle of them. Seeing her prompted my memory and it was then that I remembered what I had saw in the Great Hall that morning. I couldn't believe she could be so snide. 
"Amber!" I shouted, trying to keep my tone conversational, she looked over and waved at me. I waved her over, she gave her friends I quick explanation before she jogged over to where we stood. She had an irritating smile plastered all over her face, that I very much wanted to wipe clean off. 
"Tell me you didn't," I said quietly, 
"Didn't what?" she replied, but here eyes kept nervously glancing towards Lazarus behind me. 
"You know what," I hissed, 
"Look I just told the truth that's all," she said, crossing her arms defensively, Wiglaf sighed loudly. 
"Oh where you at the party? I don't quiet remember anyone caring to invite you," Tom said silkily, 
"Well I... no I wasn't there but-"
"You are a seer then? Or perhaps telepathy?" Tom continued, Amber's face had almost turned the colour of her red hair. 
"I... " Amber was at a loss for what to say, "I saw him heading down to the party with her," she muttered quietly, 
"Are you always so stupid or is today a special occasion? Your lack of intelligence is giving everyone a headache, I suggest you go and find something to do that will actually improve your chances of amounting to something other than creating a false sense of popularity for yourself. You will take the time to tell every single person you have bored with this nonsense that you have lied to them." he voice was demanding, there was no leeway in his instructions. Amber was almost in tears now, as she looked to me for support but I just fixed her with a look of disgust and disappointment, she hid her face as she made to walk away. 
"Oh," called Tom a large smirk on his face, Amber stopped but did not turn around. "That's twenty points from Gryffindor," Tom smirked, Amber nodded shakily.
"And a detention with your head of house will be arranged for poor attitude and disrespect of your fellow classmates." Wiglaf added, again Amber nodded before hurrying off hiding her face in her hands. 
"Twenty points from Gryffindor?" I smirked, nudging Tom in the arm.
"You're right better be thirty points," he added, I let my mouth drop open as I nudged him in the arm once more. Git.
"Merlin did someone drink polyjuice potion? " Lazarus said, speaking for the first time. We all turned around to face him, he was  looking at Tom amusement in his dark eyes. 
"Making your life a misery is a hobby of mine Lazarus, I can't let competition just wonder around the castle," Tom replied. Lazarus smiled a true smile in return as they both elbowed each other in the arm.
"I guess I do like you somewhat Riddle, sometimes. " Lazarus smirked. 
"Steady on Lazarus," Tom warned, holding up a hand.
"Oh yes you don't want any more rumors going around do you?" I laughed. 
Wiglaf smirked at me shaking his head, I shrugged. 
"The Heirs standing together," I laughed, Tom rolled his eyes but ruined the effect with a smirk.

"Grisha..." a soft voice called to me out of the shadowy corner of the common room. 
"I don't want to hear it," I growled, not bothering to turn around as I paused on my way up to the dormitories. 
"Please," she begged I sighed and turned around to face her, her face was all red and blotchy and her eyes were big and swollen. 
"I didn't mean any harm, you know what I'm like..." she whispered, moving closer towards me.
"I wish I didn't," I replied coldly. 
"I just... I've done as Riddle said. Everyone knows it wasn't true..." she hissed, "Everyone's really pissed off with me actually..." 
"I hope you're not looking for sympathy," I asked, raising my eyebrow. 
"No... no I'm not honestly I just... I just wanted to say I'm sorry," 
"It's not me you spread rumors about," I replied, "I'm going to bed, I'll see you later." 
"We're still friends aren't we? Me and you?" she pleaded, tears threatening to leak out of her eyes at any moment. 
I sighed, she had helped me through some difficult times since I had met her on our first ride upon the Hogwarts Express, she had a tender heart but a lethal mouth. 
"Your mouth is going to be the death of you," I replied as she smiled weakly. 
"I know, I'm working on it I promise," 
"Don't promise me, promise that to yourself. Our friendship depends on it." and with that I turned and made my way up to bed. Would we ever all unite without a bang? 

The next day resulted in Amber following me around like a lost sheep. Trying a failing every ten minutes or so to go in for a hug, even during dueling practice in Defense Against the Dark Arts. 
Tom had worked his influential magic and the rumors had stopped instantly, leading to Lazarus being in incredibly good spirits all day. He even didn't drop his smile during Care of Magical Creatures when the fire crab he was feeding burped fire at him, singing his fringe. I had only briefly seen Wiglaf as he was pretty much beginning to live in library the closer OWLS where approaching. Tom however was not in the library or anywhere else really for that matter. I had not even seen him hanging around with his group of desperate fellow Slytherins. It was only when I was heading back to the Gryffindor common room after supper in the Great Hall that I saw him coming down from the second floor corridor and back towards the moving staircases. 
I smiled at him but he seemed to be too intently focused on something to notice me, which was unusual as he could usually so perceptive that he could sense someones presence from ten feet away. I did manage to catch a glimpse of his face as he passed by his expression was strange, eerie almost... it was smug but yet not like I had ever seen it before, there was something darker about it... I decided that if I wanted to find out what Tom Riddle did when he wasn't with us then I would have to stop catching him by accident and start catching him on purpose.