The Barrier - Tom Marvolo Riddle

26

The month went by pretty well, October rolled in and it was getting chilly. Silver was sitting down on the couch in the common room when somebody barged in talking about some kind of Halloween ball. The girls shrieked excitedly and some of the boys groaned. Leona sat there smiling, thinking to herself. Silver nudged Sophie to look at the smiling Leona, Sophie giggled. She's obviously thinking about going with Alfred to the ball.

The Halloween ball was all the students talked about. A rumor was going around that Tom is now dating Druella and is taking her to the ball. Silver scoffed at this, Tom would never, unless he needs something from the Black. Alfred and Leona were quite awkward, they clearly liked each other but are just too shy to admit it and ask each other to the ball. Silver didn't blame them though. Sophie kept asking Alfred to ask Leona to the ball, but every time, Alfred would just sigh and his cheeks would turn a bit pink. Leona seemed quite disappointed that Alfred hasn't asked her yet.

They were all studying together in the library when Leona went away to find a book. Silver nudged Alfred. "The ball is in a week! Why haven't you asked her yet!?" Alfred groaned. "I- I can't!!" Sophie rolled her eyes playfully. "Would you rather see her go alone or even with another guy? Who knows, maybe she'll go out with Malfoy!" Alfred hit Sophie's arm with a piece of paper. Sophie had to put her hand on her mouth to contain her laughter. "You guys don't even have a date anyway!"

Sophie blushed. Silver gasped. "Sophie!!" Sophie played with her pen. Alfred shoved her playfully. "So, who is the lucky guy??" Sophie giggled. "Okay, okay! It's Weasley!" Alfred laughed. Leona came back and sat on her seat. "What did I miss?"

Silver smiled slyly. "Sophie has got a date for the ball!!" Leona's eyes widened. "Who!? Why didn't you tell me!?" The librarian shushed them and Leona shrank down a bit. Sophie covered her red cheeks with her hands. Silver mouthed 'weasley' to Leona and she gasped playfully. Sophie turned the attention to Silver. 

"Who's YOUR date anyway, Silver?"

Silver smiled. "Oh, he's perfect, he's tall, handsome, smart, and really kind to me!" Alfred pretended to gag. Sophie gasped. "TOM RIDDLE!?" she whisper-shouted. Silver shook her head quickly. "No! I- I was joking! I have no date to the ball, sadly." Leona burst into laughter. Sophie slumped. "But he fits all the description!" Silver thought for a bit. Yeah, he's tall, handsome, and smart, but he's a monster. Silver shook her head. They went silent for a while and Leona looked at Alfred, kind of hopeful. Silver noticed the tension.

"Uh, Leona, do you have a date already?" Leona shook her head and let out a sigh. "No, nobody wants to go with me." Alfred's head snapped up. He laughed. "Come on, that's not true!" Leona groan. "Nope, sadly, it's true." Alfred scrunched his face up, looking at Leona like she's ridiculous. Sophie looked out of the window, not wanting to disturb the two. Silver let out a little laugh.

The next day, Silver saw Abraxas and the knights sitting together outside, laughing about something. Silver walked over to them. The boys groaned and rolled their eyes seeing her in front of them. "What are you doing here, mudblood?" taunted Rosier. Silver waved him off.

"Do you all have dates to the ball?" they laughed at her. Abraxas raised his head to look at her. "I'm going with a hot girl from Slytherin, don't even remember her name, starts with a B or something." Silver rolled her eyes. "What, you don't have a date?" Everyone laughed loudly. Silver groaned. "Yeah, I don't. What am I supposed to do, walk in there alone? That's just sad." Lestrange scoffed. "Your existence is sad, Prennington. Nobody wants you."

Silver rolled her eyes. She was about to walk away when Druella and the girls came up to them. "Aw, sad no one has asked you? Multiple boys has asked me." Silver raised an eyebrow.

"Okay? Good for you, I guess." She laughed. Druella stomped over to her. "You're just jealous that Tom doesn't even look at you anymore! Why would he anyway, mudblood!?"

Silver smiled and nodded. "Black, Tom may not think of me, but I'm sure you have dreams about me at night." The boys chuckled and Druella's face reddens. "No, I don't!" Silver shrugged. "Then why are you so obsessed with me? Coming over here just to talk to me." Black tried to slap her, but Silver moved away.

"What the-" Druella pointed at her face. "If you really want to know so badly, I came over here to look for Tom!" Silver's eyes narrowed at her. "Why? Trying to ask him to the ball? Too bad he'll reject you." Druella was about to punch Silver when Tom came into sight.

"What is happening here?"

Druella quickly moved back from Silver and faced Tom. "Uhm, Tom, I just wanted to, uh... gowithmetotheball?" Black's friend shrieked and whispered to each other. Silver scoffed. Tom looked Druella up and down and put a REALLY forced smile on his face, of course, Druella couldn't tell. "Black, I appreciate this offer, but I'm afraid I'll be too busy. I'm a prefect so I'll need to take care of the ball." Druella's face fell. Silver put her hand over her mouth to stop her from laughing.

"I promise to save you a dance, though." Black jumped. The girl was about to run along with her friends when she stopped and gave Tom a kiss on the cheek. Silver turned from containing her laughter to containing her disgust. Druella skipped off with her gang, leaving a grossed out Tom. He wiped her cheek repeatedly and sat down next to Nott. Silver turned to the boys. 

"Guess I'll just go alone."