Oh, Ophelia | Tom Riddle

What?

Tom sat in the common room reading, his arm around Ophelia who was completely absorbed in her own book. It was rare that she got like this. So laser focused.

Tom's concentration would sometimes break for a moment just to watch her read. He could see her react to each paragraph, her lips subtly mouthing the words.

His gaze returned to his book reluctantly. He scanned the Potions textbook repeatedly before curiosity got the better of him.

"What are you reading?" He asked, and Ophelia seemed shocked out of her little world.

"A book." Said Ophelia vaguely, her attention rapidly returning to the novel. He pulled it from her grasp and turned it over in his hand, "give it back."

He smirked and held it away from her so she had to lean across his body to reach it.

He read the title, "A muggle book?"

"Yes, a good muggle book." She said, still teaching for it.

"The picture of Dorian Grey?" He questioned reading the title,

"Yeah, Rose picked it for us to read.  I rather like it." Said Ophelia, she had settled back into him and her legs now crossed his lap.

He eyed the book, turning it over in his hands. He knew it. The immortal youth of the main character.

"It's a good book." Said Tom, handing off back to her.

"How does it end?" Asked Ophelia and Tom rolled his eyes, always so eager to jump to the end.

"I'm not telling you, you'll have to finish the book." Said Tom and her smile found its way to her face once more.

"Come off it, does he die in the end?" Asked Ophelia and Tom felt a smirk tug at his lips.

"I'm not telling you." Said Tom. She seemed put off by this but she settled back into his arms once again and resumed her reading, her eyes tracking each word faster as though antsy to reach the end.

—

Sometimes Tom really stepped back and examined his life. The first time he did it was when he was nine years old. He had felt sheer hopelessness. Worried he would outgrow his impoverished youth. The next time he had done it was when he learnt about magic. He was at Hogwarts and he felt his world looking up.

Then when he had established the Knights of Walpurgis. He had finally felt powerful.

Then after one Ophelia Marigold was assigned to be his partner for rounds. He was annoyed that a Hufflepuff blood traitor was going to be spending many evenings with him a week. Everyone knew the story of Cordelia Carrow who went against everything her parents had taught her, and married a mudblood. They had two children, one of whom was short blonde and talkative.

She was surprisingly intelligent, witty too, he took an interest and suddenly his prefect rounds were more tolerable.

He assessed his life once again after he had seen her kiss Theodore Nott. His insides had recoiled. Something inside him just ticked. He wanted her.

Then when he began dating her, it was better than he could have imagined. She was surprising, fun, funny, always found a way to lure a smile out of him. He rarely felt happiness, and that is what he felt when he was around her.

Ophelia seemed to be able to sense when Tom was jealous. It was one of his traits he always knew it would happen. But Ophelia was very accomodating, whenever a boy spoke to her in class when she was near Tom, she would find an excuse to touch him.

Right now it was the first of October. A Saturday morning and Ophelia was asleep in his bed. He sat at his desk he was trying to focus on an essay for professor Slughorn but he would get distracted. She looked like an angel. Sometimes her eyes would flutter, like she was dreaming.