Poison Ivy | T. Riddle ✔

[09] Pebbles In The Lake

The woods were as calm as when Perseus had last visited. The trees were shaking gently in the breeze and the still lake waters were bestowing the clearing a characteristic tranquility and charm. Perseus sat on a rock by the stream with Demelza beside him.

His brow was furrowed as if deep in thought and Demelza simply observed him, noticing how correct Tom Riddle had been regarding his weakening health. There were dark rings round his eyes as if he hadn't slept for weeks and his complexion had turned pale. Even the usually sparkling blue irises were devoid of mirth and it seemed as if the skin was stretched a little too tight over his bones.

"Perce, is everything alright?"

He looked up at her startled as if realizing her presence just them, "oh... I... I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," she remarked gently while her eyes shifted in concern, "come on, tell me what's bothering you. We have never kept any secrets, right? I'll try my best to help you out."

He shook his head and a bitter rejection spread on his features, "you can't help me out, Demi. No one can."

"But at least tell me what's wrong with you? It looks as if you have not eaten for days and it's so evident that you've been sleep deprived. What has happened to you?"

"Tom Riddle happened," he gave a vague reply and continued staring ahead into the distance.

She shook her head dismissively, "look, he's not that bad as you think he is."

"Oh really? And what do you think of him as?" his head snapped up in her direction and she was a bit taken aback at the sudden reaction.

"Perseus, you're worrying about all the wrong things," she resumed apparently ignoring his question, "Riddle looks up to you as a friend and if you think he's trying to take your position in Uncle's eyes..."

However, he interrupted her almost immediately, "who said I held any position in father's eyes other than a sickly boy who couldn't even go to school?"

His voice was harsh and laced with anger. It shook her because she had never before seen Perseus like that. They had spent their childhood together, both treated the other as a sibling and were closer than best friends. And never in those years had he ever talked with such bitterness, never before had his voice risen to such an alarming pitch. 

Out of them both, he was the composed one, the one who preferred logic over emotions. And she couldn't understand what had made him tick off so bad. 

"Perce, try to understand. Uncle Caractacus may not show it but he loves you and cares for you just like every father does for his son," she took his hand in hers in an attempt to calm him down, "you have no reason to worry about that. You have no reason to feel threatened by Riddle."

"Why are you coming to that dreadful subject again and again?" he spoke up, "I'm not jealous of him, if that's what you want to hear. I'm not scared that he will rob me of my father's trust and faith... I do not feel threatened by him, at least not in the way you're thinking."

There was a short pause after which she asked, "but you do feel threatened by him?"

At first, Perseus didn't reply and just resumed staring ahead of him. But when her grip on his hand tightened, he let out a weary sigh, "sometimes... Sometimes I feel like he wants something from me and would not stop until he gets it."

Demelza was slightly confused. She had no idea why Perseus felt that way. After all what could someone like Tom Riddle want from him so badly?

"But why do you feel like that?"

He shook his head, "I don't know. I just... There's this nagging feeling in my heart which warns me against him, which tells me that he's not what he seems. I don't know why, Demi, but at times I get frightened by him, by his words, by that eerie way he looks at me."

She kept silent pondering on his words. Why had she never felt that way about Riddle ever? To her, he was the most charming, handsome and considerate gentleman. 

The way he had come to their house just for Perseus's sake and the way he talked about him as if he really thought of him as a brother only showed how much he genuinely cared for him. She couldn't understand why Perseus couldn't see Riddle's concern and sincerity.

"What changed, Perce? You two were good friends."

His eyes flashed in either irritation or anger, "we were never good friends. It's him who gives that impression to others. He pretends that he enjoys my company and leaves me no choice but to continue the act even though I feel so suffocated when he's around."

He picked up a pebble and threw it in the lake, his eyes following it until a ripple formed on the still waters, "look, Demi. You see how one stone disturbs the calm of the lake? A ripple forms but then all gets still again."

"And what does that have to do with the current situation?" she asked a bit curious, following his gaze to where the ripple had formed.

"But if I keep throwing pebbles like this," he stood up and one by one threw the pebbles into the lake forcefully as if taking out all his aggression, causing quite a cyclone in the water, "then it takes a lot longer for the disturbance to fade. Do you know everything Riddle does is like these pebbles I throw in the lake. Every act of his combines to create a cyclone and it has not faded yet because he never stops. That is what's wrong with me. I am exactly like this lake; heavily disturbed."

A while passed like that and the cyclone of ripples created in the lake faded as well. His eyes reflected anxiety and a slight shivering took over him, "Demi, you have to promise me one thing. If you won't, then I fear I won't be able to rest at all."

"Percy, you're freaking me out," she stood up as well, holding him by the arms trying to make him still.

"Just... Just give me your word. Tom Riddle will try his level best to get through to you. He will make you believe that he is the one on the right path, that he's completely sincere with you. But the truth is that he isn't. You have to promise me that whatever happens, whatever he tells you, you will not trust him. He can't be trusted, Demelza, he will destroy all of us if we give him that power."

His words flew over her like a rush but she nodded, "alright, just calm down, okay? I promise. I won't let Riddle get through to me, I won't trust him."

She made him sit down on the rocks again, afraid that he would fall if she didn't. He had never been so weak. 

She could see he was heavily disturbed and at the moment she couldn't decide what to say to him in order to relieve his tension. She simply sat beside him in silence as he held his head in his hands.

There was something deeply wrong with him and maybe he was right. Maybe Riddle was the one messing with him. Maybe there was much more to him than what met the eyes. Maybe he had been fooling them all along and only Perseus was the one who could see right through his well managed facade.

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