kneel | Tom Riddle

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𝟓| 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐝

Seraphina focused on the movements of her quill as she wrote what Professor Binns said, not daring to turn her head to look at the brilliant wizard next to her.

Since the night before, she couldn't stop thinking about what Tom did to her. It wasn't surprising he had those horrible mood swings, but he had never hurt her before. That shocked her, making her unable to see him the same way.

She was not naive since she understood Tom had some problems and sometimes he could lash out on everyone. Seraphina had always known he had a really dark side, but she never thought he could show it directly to her.

For the first time around him, she felt scared and trapped.

She tried to be as interested as possible in that class, but History of Magic surely wasn't one of her favorite subjects and besides, she couldn't focus on what the professor was saying. Any other day, it could have been a little interesting, but that morning she didn't even feel like leaving the bed.

Tom, on the other hand, acted as if nothing happened between the two of them, making her not only angry but sad. Did he honestly think he was doing the right thing?

Seraphina wondered if she was overreacting, but she couldn't take the image of his hands positioned tightly around her neck out of her head.

The class groaned when Professor Binn gave them a long essay to do and after that, they left the classroom.

Tom followed Seraphina out of the classroom, "I received an owl from your mother this morning. She asked me if I'm spending the holidays with you and I had to say no."

Seraphina frowned, Tom never spent any holidays since the day they met away from her, "What? Why? Where are you going to stay?" She asked and he looked ahead while they kept walking, not bothering to look at her confused face.

"I have some unsolved business to take care of," he simply answered and she huffed.

"Thank you for being so specific, Tom", she told him sarcastically, still annoyed at what he did to her the night before, "What business?"

"It doesn't concern you," he shrugged, dismissing her questions, which only made her angrier.

"What about our birthdays? Or Christmas?" It surprised her that she still got worried about spending time with him after what he did, "You're hiding something and I don't like it."

"That's terrible," he rolled his eyes as they walked towards the Great Hall to have lunch.

"Tom, please. Just tell me where are you going and I'll stop bothering you," she asked and he ignored her for a few seconds before giving her an answer.

"Little Hangleton."

She frowned, "What's that?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out sweetheart," he gave her a half-smile as they entered the Great Hall, making her groan but still follow him to the Slytherin table.

She sat between Avery and Tom, leaving Abraxas, Lestrange, and Rosier on the other side of the table. Seraphina could also see Theodore Nott and Anthony Mulciber.

"What do you have next?" Avery asked her while she drank her pumpkin juice.

"Defence against the dark arts," Seraphina answered him, "Why?"