Rose & The Riddle || Tom Riddle Story

Chapter Thirty-Two - Within Madness Lies Sanity

Tom found Rose in the common room late that night as per usual. It had unofficially become their meeting time, as they remained keeping a low profile during the busy hours of the day.

Her eyes were skimming the pages of her Charms textbook, which Tom knew all too well she did not need to be studying that subject, as she had already mastered seventh year Charm spells. She was doing it to pass the time as she waited for him to get there. The thought of her waiting up for him filled him with a sense of pride and control.

"Have we reached the point where there's no other subject to study except Charms?" he mused sarcastically. Rose looked up and smiled as Tom sat opposite of her.

"Just brushing up on material that will be on my O.W.L.s," she responded as she closed the book.

Tom's eyes fixated on Rose's. The green glow of the Slytherin common room saturated her eyes with a green color as radiant as an Emerald gemstone. It reminded him of his Slytherin roots. It was as if her eyes were created for his viewing pleasure and his pleasure only. He never wanted anyone else looking into her eyes the way he was now. He was temporarily at a loss for words as he strained his mind to think if he had ever seen something as beautiful as her glowing irises.

"Are you okay?" asked Rose, interrupting his thoughts.

"You know better than to question me, Davies," he muttered quietly. Rose smirked.

"Surely by now I've deserved that right, have I not?"

Tom smirked but did not respond. Oh, that smart mouth of hers. She has definitely found her confidence this year.

"Have you spoken to Professor Dumbledore lately?"

Tom remembered the reason he needed to speak to her.

She shook her head. "Other than in class, no... why do you ask?"

"I ran into him earlier whist everyone else was at Hogsmeade," he began as he leaned back in his armchair. His elbows resting on either arm of the chair and laced his fingers together. "He inquired about my relationship with you."

Rose huffed. "He's still on about that? I thought surely he would have let that go by now."

"What do you mean?"

"He's been... very interested, to say the least, about our involvement since the beginning of the year. I'm not sure why."

"It's because he doesn't trust me," answered Tom. "Not that I've ever given him reason not to trust me. He doesn't like me influencing a younger, talented student such as yourself."

"He's no fool," said Rose.

"That's where we disagree."

"Albus Dumbledore is a lot of things, Tom," argued Rose. "But you must admit, he is no fool."

Tom Riddle let out a small, but malicious laugh. That was the first moment that Rose could truly see the evil behind his eyes... and that scared her.

"Why do you believe he is a fool?" asked Rose timidly.

Tom could not tell her the exact reasoning behind his beliefs about Albus Dumbledore, because he could not tell her the truth. He had tricked Dumbledore into thinking that he loved Rose. And whilst Tom knew, deep down, there was something he felt towards Rose; he would never admit that it was love. It was against his nature. 

"Dumbledore overlooks facts and reasoning with feelings and emotions," answered Tom. "He believes that the strongest power on this earth is love. However, a wizard of his caliber, who is capable of magic beyond anything that most wizards will ever know, should embrace his strengths and the power that flows through his veins. Yet, he doesn't. He limits himself to nothing greater than a schoolteacher."