vulnerable ~ tom riddle

+ two +

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rosie reached out, attempting to pet the creature in front of her. it had a skeletal like body, and its features seemed odd. a winged horse like creature, but with reptilian additions to its face. nevertheless, the girl found it beautiful. gedric and elise watched her, their eyes furrowed together, as they couldn't see what she seemed so fascinated with. elise, who had studied almost everything about hogwarts, knew what the creature was, however was slightly stunned that rosie could actually see it.

"uhm, that's a thestral" elise stated, smiling sympathetically at the girl. gedrics mouth formed a slight 'o', finally understanding what the girl was currently touching. they had learned about it last year, however, the professor failed to mention that they pulled the carriages each year. rosie giggled as the creature nuzzled against her hand, cooing slightly, before pulling away. "he's very pretty" she complimented, turning towards the two hufflepuffs.

elise and gedric decided not to question her, instead climbing into the carriage. rosie looked worriedly at the tall step, biting her lip before trying to climb into the 'vehicle'. gedric laughed a bit at her pitiful attempts, before reaching down and pulling her up. rosie blushed, muttering a small 'thank you' as he smiled at her flustered state.

"to hogwarts?" elise questioned with a slightly raised brow, an amused look on her face as her friend swooned for the new fourth year. "to hogwarts" rosie confirmed, her eyes focused on the path ahead.

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         rosie stood behind the line of first years, her plush bottom lip trapped between her teeth. she tapped her foot anxiously on the ground, not sure where to look, as she was met with eyes no matter where she turned. she could barely hear the names being called, her mind not processing which houses the younger students were being sorted into. she tried to calm her nerves, but it was very obvious it wasn't working, as the shaking girl was gaining even more attention as time passed.

the stiff looking teacher continued to go through the list, finally coming near the end. he finished the last few names on the list, before looking up at rosie, the sole student waiting to be sorted. "finally, we have a special student this year" he coughed slightly, clearing his throat. "rosemary blythe" he called out, raising a brow as the girl hesitated.

her robe almost floated behind her as she stumbled up to the platform, a bright pink blush on her face. she sat down on the stool, fear very apparent on her soft features. she let out a small squeal as the hat began to talk to her, her eyes widening. "another blythe? you took a while" the hat started, its voice a bit gruff and sassy. "your mother, ravenclaw, father gryffindor, and your cousins gryffindor. well, i don't think either of those suit you. you're smart enough for ravenclaw, sure, but you're rather clueless, to naive for such a house. you don't exactly fit slytherin ideals, certainly not cunning enough, though a bit of ambitions is in there. gryffindor, maybe, however i believe that's not your house, they're too reckless, a bit too rowdy for you. better be..... HUFFLEPUFF" the hat shouted out.

the table full of yellow robes students erupted in clapping and hollering, seemingly louder than all the previous students sorted. however, the loudest cheering came from the well known duo. gedric and elise were both standing, jumping up and shouting to grab her attention. rosie blushed, getting off the stool and walking towards the hufflepuff table as quickly as possible. she grinned, giggling as gedric pulled her into a hug, twirling her around slightly.

however, what the three of them didn't notice was the tall, slytherin boy giving gedric a glare that could kill. his venomous green eyes were stuck on the small girl, even once she was seated with her back to him. he didn't know where these emotions came from, they were unfamiliar. the boy had never had even something so small as a crush, so being suddenly infatuated with a stranger was abnormal. low growls escaped him whenever she brushed against gedrics shoulder, and he was already forming ideas on how to make the male hufflepuff hurt.

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          rosie laughed as she sat in the hufflepuff common room, already feeling at home. briar was sat in her lap, the feline curled up, yet stayed staring at the scene in front of her. elise has performed a spell on gedric, so his tongue was now thrice its normal length. they watched in hysterics as he licked his forehead, though made disgusted faces all the same. rosie squealed, leaning away as he wriggled his tongue at her, rolling her eyes slightly.

          elise continued to laugh, before casting the counter curse. gedric smiled as his tongue returned back to normal, his eyes trailing towards the red faced rosie. he couldn't help it, she was different than almost any girl he'd met before, he just wanted to wrap her in a blanket and protect her forever. if he knew about tom riddles interest in her, he probably would've been seething, even though he knew full well that tom was much more advanced in magic than he was, especially the dark forms.

            elise looked around the common room, and realizing that they were the last people still out. she glanced at the clock, noticing it was quite late "i think we should head to bed, don't want to be late for the first day of classes" she suggested, turning to look towards the other two. rosie nodded, yawning a bit as she decided that she actually was quite tired.

         the trio stood up, with a few complaints from gedric "do we have to?" he questioned, giving elise a pleading look. she nodded her head, rolling her eyes at his protests "yes, goodnight gedric" she hummed, jogging up the stairs. gedric turned towards rosie, giving her a smile that could melt any girls heart. "goodnight little flower" he murmured, using one hand to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. rosie's face flooded with an apparent blush, her heart beating erratically. "goodnight" she mumbled shyly, giving him one last smile before running up the stairs, briar clutched in her arms.

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        tom riddle stood at the corner of the hufflepuff girls dormitory, his eyes trained on rosie's sleeping figure. he hadn't moved for the past 30 minutes, content just listening to her slight whines and yawns as she tossed and turned in her sleep. he smirked as the clutched her stuffed animal tighter to her chest, cooing a bit at the adorable sight. he wished that he could just take her, and that they could run far away, however he knew now wasn't the time, his 'group' wasn't ready yet.

          his captivating green eyes stayed on her, until the sun started to rise. he made his way out of the dorms, sparing one last glance at rosie before he left. he entered the slytherin common room, sitting down on the green couch. he figured that now wasn't the time for sleep, he could do without it anyways. he stared at the fire until a pale boy entered, his white hair slightly disheveled.

               toms eyes snapped towards him as he walked in, letting out an almost unnoticeable sigh. "thinking tom?" abraxas questioned, knowing not to push the brunette very far, as he could easily snap. tom rolled his eyes, a scowl on his face as he looked away, focusing on the dancing flames once again. "you could say that" he answered, before standing up, flattening his robes a bit.

          he didn't bother bidding the malfoy farewell, thinking it wasn't worth his time. instead, he just walked out of the common room, leaving abraxas alone as he walked aimlessly around the hogwarts castle. he needed to know everything about rosie, he wouldn't settle until she belonged to him, and he was willing to kill anyone who got in his way.

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