to be or not to be| sixth year | draco malfoy

coffee stained breath

"careless whispers."
-

The sudden disappearance of Malfoy on the Marauder's Map unsettled me, but the map could be sometimes wrong. I didn't get much sleep that night. But, I was touching up my hair because I had a special dinner with Professor Slughorn.

Camille sat next to me on my bed. "Who's the special person?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I have dinner with Professor Slughorn and a couple of other students, remember?" I said. Camille sighs before flopping back onto my bed.

"You need a boyfriend or girlfriend already. It's getting tiring seeing you mope around all day." She said. I pinned up half of my hair with a shiny jewel.

"I don't mope, Cammy." I said. I hear Camille scoff. "You definitely mope." She said. I stood up on my feet and straightened my dress.

"Alright, Princess Fiona, go find your Prince Charming." Camille says looking up at me. I rolled my eyes before walking out of the dorms. I got a new nickname, sweet. I walked into the common rooms and I saw Coraline sitting on a table. I grinned.

"How do I look?" I asked the cat before twirling around. She meowed. I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the compliment, even though it was a borderline insult." She meowed again. She asked if she could go to Draco's room.

"Sure. If you can find him." I said before going to dinner. As I left I saw her run out the common rooms.

*

I opened the doors of the room to see a large table and people had sat around it. Their conversation quickly quieted down once they realized I was standing at the doors. I saw bright smiles and I heard slight gasps. I grinned shyly.

"Violet, my dear, you're here!" Slughorn said with a bright smile. I saw an empty spot next to Hermione and I walked over to the chair.

"Sorry I'm late—didn't get much sleep last night." I said while sitting. Hermione was looking my way and I gave her a quick smile. In-front of my face was an ice cream sundae. I must have missed out on dinner, too bad.

I picked up the spoon and scooped up a bit of the ice cream but before I could put it in my mouth I felt an eye dig into me. Ugh, please don't be who I think you are. I looked up to see Christopher freaking Woodland. He smirked at me before licking a bit of ice cream from off his spoon seductively. I cringed and quickly looked back down.

Why was he here?

After we were done with dessert the students had all left except for me. I told Harry I would stay back and try to speak to him about Tom Riddle. I stood in the room as he closed the door finally. He turned around and his expression changed once he saw me.

"Goldhorn." He said.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just—." I said before looking over to his desk which had hourglass with glowing dust inside. Okay what was that. "...admiring your hourglass." The both of us turn to look at it.

"Oh, yes. A most intriguing object. The sand runs in accordance with the quality of the conversation. If it's stimulating, the sand runs slowly. If it is not..." Slughorn trails off.

"Well I think I better be going then." I said with a grin.

"Nonsense. You have nothing to fear, my dear. As to some of your classmates, well, let's just say they're unlikely to make the shelf." He said chuckling. I looked at him with confusion.

"The shelf, sir?" I asked.

"Anyone who aspires to be anyone hopes to end up here." He said before pointing at a large shelf with pictures on them. We walk over towards it. "But then again, you already are someone, aren't you, Violet?" He asked me. He poured himself a drink.

"Did Voldemort ever make the shelf, sir?" I asked quite boldly. I heard Slughorn stop whatever he was doing. "You knew him, didn't you, sir, Tom Riddle? I mean you were his teacher, correct?"

"Mr. Riddle had a number of teachers whilst here at Hogwarts." Slughorn said, kind of starring off. "What was he like?" I asked.

There was a terrifying silence. I was being too bold, he'll start suspecting something if I kept going at this rate. "I'm sorry, sir. Forgive me. He killed my dad... both of them... technically." I said.

"Of course. It's only natural you should want to know more, but I'm afraid I must disappoint you, Violet. When I first met young Mr. Riddle, he was a quiet, albeit brilliant, boy committed to becoming a first-rate wizard. Not unlike others I've known. Not unlike yourself, in fact. If the monster existed it was buried deep within." He said. That's all I need to know for the moment.

-

funfact: only violet can communicate with her cat and understand it.