Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The weekend dragged by slowly.

Avalon only left her room once to take a shower, otherwise sitting curled up in her bed while Zelda kept her company. Over time, it became easier for her to speak, and she eventually told her roommate everything that had happened on that godforsaken night.

It helped to talk about it, and thankfully, Zelda was a phenomenal listener. So, they talked, cried, hugged, and sat together as seconds turned to minutes turned to hours turned to days.

There wasn't a word adequate enough to describe how grateful she felt to have Zelda in her life. She valued their friendship more than she could ever dream of describing. In a time where her isolation was her only constant, it was nice to have someone who grounded her-- who reminded her that she mattered to someone.

After the first night, Avalon insisted that she felt okay enough to sleep on her own. But, for the first time in ages, that night... she finally had a new nightmare.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw green.

Green eyes.

Green magic.

It was always green.

Come Monday, she had deep-set circles forming beneath her tired eyes from lack of sleep. Getting out of bed was hard, but Zelda made sure to bring her breakfast and coffee-- with cream and sugar, of course-- to help make it easier.

She dressed herself slowly, making sure her sleeves covered the purple bruises littered along her wrists, but avoided looking into a mirror the entire time. Her own reflection felt foreign to her. She didn't want to see it.

She dreaded going to class. The thought of having to come face to face with him made her skin crawl. Zelda had told her that he was in the hospital, but that had been days ago, and she hadn't heard of him since.

Word had spread that Lestrange had 'fallen off the moving stairwells.'

Apparently, it was some massive freak accident caused by 'his excessive alcohol consumption.'

Fury. Dark coffee eyes. Furious.

She knew better than to believe that it had been an accident.

It didn't make sense to her. It didn't make sense why Riddle would have stepped in, or why his eyes would hold so much rage, or why he would try to take care of her after. It didn't make sense how he seemed angrier at Lestrange than he had ever been at her, even when she had invaded his mind, even when she had dueled him, even when she had brought up that he was a half-blood.

She didn't know what he had done to Lestrange, but she didn't doubt his involvement in the boy's hospitalization.

But, why?

That was the question that had been on her mind all weekend.

Admittedly, finding the Horcruxes had not been a priority for her over the past few days. But, as she thought about Tom, she couldn't help but admit that he had complicated things. Whether she wanted to accept it or not, he had confused her.

And for the first time, thinking about having to kill him almost caused her to throw up again.

"Are you ready, love?" Zelda asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Slowly, she nodded, picking up her book bag and walking out the door, her roommate at her side the entire way to class. When they arrived, they made sure to sit right in the front of the room, as far away from where the boys typically sat in the back.

Riddle and Rosier arrived together a few minutes after. She could feel Riddle's eyes trying to catch hers as he walked by her and Zelda's table, but she made sure to keep her gaze down, focusing on her book until she heard the two of them take their seats far behind her.