Infatuation - Tom Riddle

Nine

Tensions were high after the Hogsmead trip ended on a rather bitter note. Of course after Tom had left, Merida and the rest of the group stayed behind and managed to enjoy themselves a bit before returning to Hogwarts, but the feeling of guilt and nostalgia still latched on to the American girl, even hours after arriving back at school. After months of repressing how she felt after getting expelled, trying to block out everything that happened the past year, it finally all came rushing back to her.

Merida sat on the bathroom floor, sobbing into her hands as the rest of the students were eating dinner. She couldn't hold it in anymore. She missed Ilvermorny, she missed her old friends, even though they probably hated her now, and she missed Mr. Brown. Feelings of regret overtook her as she let out a gut-wrenching wail and continued to cry into her sleeves. She felt stupid. All this misery, all because of a boy and her stupid curious nature. Merida felt like gagging. Memories flashed before her eyes, the last spell she cast at Ilvermorny, the walls crumbling down around her, oh God and Lucy... she couldn't take it. Merida ran into one of the stalls and vomited. She was a mess. Her throat burned, her eyes were bloodshot, and her skin looked almost transparent, all color drained from her face. If any of her Slytherin friends could see her now. The thought of that had her let out a quiet scoff, before returning to her hunched over position in the toilet stall and vomiting once more.

Little did Merida know, someone had heard her sobs from outside and slowly crept in to check on her. "Hello?" Merida wiped her mouth and turned around, startled. Stood by the doorway was a short black haired girls sporting two pigtails and small, rounded glasses. The girl looked at Merida curiously and pitifully. "Merida Waters?" She spoke out. Merida just nodded, unsure as to how the girl knew her name, but too exhausted from the vomiting and crying to ask.

"Does anyone else know I'm here?" Merida asked, still seated on the bathroom floor. The other girl shook her head. "No one saw me come in here, well, it's not like they ever do." Merida raised an eyebrow. The girl walked over to where Merida was sat and crouched down in front of her, crossing her legs over one another and pushing up her glasses further onto her face to prevent them from slipping before letting out a small sniffle. "Are you alright?" Merida asked her. The girl let out a small high pitched giggle, "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You smell like puke."

Merida smiled awkwardly, this isn't the best scenario to meet someone new, but she was glad the girl was there. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Myrtle. I'm a Ravenclaw, you don't know me." Merida just nodded slightly. The girl in front of her looked upset but she didn't say anything, instead, she lifted her hand and awkwardly patted Merida on the shoulder. This caused both of the young girls to giggle. "Sorry," Myrtle whispered, "I'm usually the one doing the crying in here, so comforting someone else is new to me." Merida frowned, this poor girl, why would she be crying in here alone? It seemed rather ironic now that she thought about it, there were so many people at Hogwarts, so many individuals fighting their own battles. She wondered why she hadn't made much of an effort to get to know any of the students from the other houses. Perhaps it was a good thing though, the less people she talked to, the less questions about her being there.

"Wait a second," Merida picked her head up to look at the girl, "how did you know who I was?" Myrtle just chuckled. "You're so pretty, and you hang out with Riddle and his friends, everyone knows you guys." The girl practically spat out Tom's name, distaste coating her words. Understandable, Tom was an ass. Merida smiled sadly at the girl.

"I'm sorry you come cry in here alone." Perhaps not the best wording, but Myrtle got the point and blushed.

"You're nice for a Slytherin." Merida just smiled. "How about we get ourselves cleaned up and head back out into the dining hall?" Myrtle nodded and helped Merida off the floor, and the two girls walked over to the sinks to freshen up before leaving the bathroom hand in hand. Merida liked how Myrtle didn't ask questions, and in return Myrtle liked how Merida didn't tease her for her confession to crying alone in the stalls. Even though the girls were polar opposites of each other, they managed to click anyways.

"There you are!" Corvus ran up to Merida and hugged her tightly, which surprised the girl. While Merida was gone, Corvus was terrified that Tom had done something horrible to her when they arrived back at Hogwarts. However as soon as he saw the brunette walk into the dining hall accompanied by a smaller Ravenclaw girl, he let out a sigh of relief, one only Tom had noticed, but didn't mention. Merida awkwardly pulled away from the boy's grasp.

"Corvus I was only gone for a little while." She smiled up at him, nervously chuckling. If only he knew she had just spent minutes that felt like hours crying her heart out in the bathroom. But she hid it well, and to her relief he just smiled back down at her and led her back to their table. "There's our American princess!" Abraxas winked as Merida sat down beside him. "I was worried you got lost." She rolled her eyes, "Malfoy, I've been here for around a month now, I think I know my way around the school." Abraxas just shrugged and continued on talking to Perceus as they ate. Merida looked at the plate in front of her, not bothering to grab anything. She had lost her appetite and to be fair she could still taste some of the throw up from before in the back of her throat. Tom eyed her suspiciously.

"You can't go to bed without eating anything," he said plainly. Merida's head shot up to look at the stoic boy. "What does it matter to you." Tom just rolled his eyes.

"I just don't want to hear you whining in the morning about a headache because you skipped dinner." Some nerve he had. Tom was hot and cold. One minute he was playing along with her sarcastic jokes, next he was looking at her with unreadable eyes, throwing unpleasant remarks about her character at her without warning. Merida glared at him and picked off a grape from the fruit platter, popping it into her mouth with a brow raised. Happy? The smirk Tom gave her made her want to jump off the astronomy tower, she hated how he always seemed so pleased with himself. She was always questioning her behavior around him, and he looked at her as if he enjoyed her discomfort. Merida was frustrated, out of everyone at Hogwarts, he was the hardest to understand.