Battle of Wits: Tom Riddle x Reader

Part Four: He Who Strikes the Dead

Normally noises in the castle were taken with a grain of salt, as it simply came with living in such a grand structure, but at night every little sound was suddenly very strange. So, hearing a crash of such magnitude was sure to alarm more than just one set of prefects. If they didn't move to check out what had caused the noise then surely they would get bad marks from the head boy and girl, not to mention ridicule from the other prefects. For someone of toms caliber (Your Name) was honestly surprised that he hadn't already bolted towards it.

"We'll have to talk about this later." (Your Name) decided, moving past him instead and down the hall at a quick pace. She could only imagine the agitation that blossomed on his features as she ran away from him.

The hiss of air leaving from between his lips as the flattened into a thin line. Perhaps his hands even raked through his locks with frustration. She wouldn't deny that refusing to give him attention was satisfying to her.  His attempt to cause pity from her had caused his time to run dry, now he would have to wait.

After a moment or so she could hear him begin to follow, giving himself away easily with the way his heels clicked against the marble floor. It didn't take him long to catch up with her and even quickly pass her up with his long and nimble limbs.

They moved down the stairs as fast as their legs could carry, almost as if they were in a silent race to see who would make it there first as the sounds of commotion began too grow louder. (Your Name) could make out other voices speaking in slight whispers to some unseen being, seeming to try to calm the commotion down without attracting too much attention.

Sadly though, as (Your Name) has noticed, the sound had been heard from nearly all directions.

The sight before them was honestly a bit ridiculous in (Your Name)'s opinion. The reactions from the Hufflepuff prefects was just as ridiculous, almost humiliating for them  really. The two Slytherins stood in their spot at the bottom of the stairs, the shorter with her mouth slightly open while the taller watched on with his wand held loosely in his hand.

Peeves had managed to destroy an entire hallway within seconds. Papers were scattered all about the floor, Black ink dripping down the walls and onto tipped iron knights. The poltergeist was angry, that was easy enough to see considering the way he was clanging about in the only iron suit left standing. As to what had him so utterly pissed was a mystery...well, aside from his chanting of:

"He cursed me! He cursed me!"

The Hufflepuffs weren't doing so well, but seeing the two members of the badger house struggle to avoid Peeves' swings was just a tad too humorous to ignore. The two of them stood there for a moment or so before finally joining in the chase for the poltergeist.

"Come off it peeves, just get out of there and lets us have a proper talk!" (Your Name) tried to reason, pulling her wand out Incase he planned to turn on her next.

"I can't!" Came his reply, sounding utterly annoyed by her words as he did so.

"And why not?" Tom asked next, wand already pointing at the suit before even parting his lips.

"BECAUSE HE CURSED ME!"  Peeves roared in response, causing (Your Name) and the Hufflepuff prefects to jump back in surprise.

Tom remained unphased by the poltergeist, face stony as his response to the clamor.

"Who!" Came four responses at once, all varying in different tones and expression.

(Your Name) had been expecting him to blow up again, voice raise to some unbelievable new volume as he gave his response. Instead he grew quiet, causing a much more undesirable effect to mingle through the quartet.

"I don't know." Even his posture within the suit seemed to grow less boisterous with the words. He seemed, dare (Your Name) day it, frightened. Intimidated even by the person he kept referencing. "He moved so quickly. I had been looking for— something when I saw him."

"it wasn't another ghost?" The female prefect for the Hufflepuffs asked, being the one to first put her wand away as she spoke.

"No, they can't do such things to other ghosts. They're dead, the magical energy's gone." (Your Name) responded, following her example by sheathing her wand as well. "If anything Peeves would be able to do it to them, considering he's a poltergeist and not a normal spirit."

"The picky little prefect has the right idea." Peeves replies, arm swinging in (Your Names) direction as if to point her direction. She just barley ducked in time to avoid a direct hit to the face from the metal.

"So.. What you're trying to tell me is that for some reason some random man came in and scattered the paper and ink all about the place?" The male Hufflepuff then interjected, blonde brows furrowing in clear doubt towards the iron suit. He then turned to the others, brows then raising as if to coax an answer out of them. "how do we know he isn't just trying to pull one over on us?"

"Why force hims-"

"WHY WOULD I TRAP MYSELF IN THIS WRETCHED SUIT FOR A PRANK?!" And again, three prefects jumped back in response to the yelling. Tom had broken off from the group during the short attempt to calm the poltergeist to walk down the length of the hall. He was searching for some sign of the man peeves claimed to have seen.

He was unsure if it had been a student or not, but if the jinxer happened to be the latter then that would mean that Hogwarts had a breach..and most importantly to Tom: a breaching point.

"Alright Peeves, alright. Look, we're not going to get anywhere while yelling and screaming about like this." (Your Name) said, choosing then and there to act as the voice of reason in the situation. "we need to come up with a plan."