The Matchmaker

Chapter Eleven: Writing a Book?

Chapter Eleven: Writing a Book?
"Wisdom requires not only the investigation of many things, but the contemplation of the mystery."
Jeremy Narby
~

Holly Renée was ready to kiss Professor Merrythought, but Tom Riddle was ready to murder him. Holly hadn't done anything to Tom but, on principle, Tom hated Holly Renée. He hated the way she walked, the stupid colors she wore, the constant smile that spread across not only her face, but her body as well; he hated how contagious her laughter was, and how she seemed to brighten the room when she walked in, but most of all, he hated that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hate her. Not really.

Holly had been spending a lot of time with Charlus Potter, Dorea Black, Lyall Lupin and Rubeus Hagrid, though it was clear that she did not like Antonin Dolohov, which was odd because Tom found him to be quite delightful, the only Gryffindor that he would ever say that about.

For a moment, Holly was enjoying spending time with her mum and dad and not worrying about saving the world, but having Merrythought assign partners for Defense Against the Dark Arts project was an opportunity that Holly knew she couldn't miss. She only smiled at him when she sat down next to him, a smile he didn't return, and got out her textbook about the topic: Hex-Repelling spells.

Salvio hexia, according to the book was the name of the hex reflecting spell. Of course, being over 500 years old and taking this class many times, Holly already knew that, but she still read up on the topic. Maybe there was something she could still learn, maybe there was something she'd missed the last time she studied it. There was always something new to learn about.

What she couldn't miss, however, was the obvious stare she was receiving from her right. She glanced over at Dorea who shot her a confused look, not sure why Tom Riddle looked like he was trying to mentally kill her.

"You're staring." Holly pointed out after a moment. She didn't even bother to look up to see Tom roll his eyes.

"I'm not staring." He protested and she snorted, jotting down a quick note about the spell.

"You and I apparently have different definitions of staring, Riddle, because I define it as someone who is constantly staring in my direction."

There was a pause.

"You can't use the word in the definition," he pointed out and she shot him a confused look. He sighed and explained, "You can't use the word stare to define stare."

To be honest, Holly was more focused on the textbook in front of her instead of the boy next to her.

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Tom continued, grabbing his own book and opening it, "because I wasn't staring."

"He was definitely staring." Dorea told her as the two girls sat in the common room with Lyall, Charlus, Hagrid and, much to Holly's dismay, Antonin. The two had a mutual understanding after spending a month together. They hated each other, but they would put up with each other for the sake of their friends.

"Is the great Holly Renée actually going to break down the walls of Tom Riddle?" Charlus joked and Dorea let out a laugh.

"Oh please, no one will ever be able to break down those walls. Riddle is more guarded than Azkaban." She pointed out and Holly laughed and nodded.

"I will break down those walls the day that pigs fly." Holly joked and the others laughed. Holly let an inner smirk take over her body. Oh, how those pigs would fly.