Tom's eyes darkened as he took in the sight of me.

"Nothing of importance," he said in a cutting manner. He shoved his hands in his pockets before quickly walking towards me. I hastily took a step back, thinking he was coming towards me, but ended up tripping backward over the brick he had been kicking around.

"Oh sh-" Tom's arm snapped out and stabilized me. I clung onto him as I regained my footing, and then slowly raised my eyes up to meet his gaze.

He stared at me for a minute, his jaw working as he swallowed and his eyes widening a fraction of an inch, before he abruptly let go of me and turned away.

"I was just heading out of this filthy alley, Carnell," He said darkly, before continuing on. My mind took a moment to process his words before it clicked.

"Wait!" I dove out and grabbed his robes, nearly stumbling and falling over another brick. Tom lurched backwards, and had to grab me to stable himself. His face was full of annoyance.

"Really, Carnell? Are you trying to take us both down?" I winced at the malice in his voice, and was about to let go of him, when I realized that was exactly what he was trying to do. Push me away. I wasn't going to let it work.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Tell me why you're avoiding me." His eyes narrowed to mimic mine.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." I let out a huff and through up my hands in frustration.

"Don't lie to me like that, Tom! A few months ago, I hated Slytherins, the whole lot of you, but then we became friends, and you actually had me convinced that you weren't all that bad, and then you started training me in sorcery, and I thought that we were close, oh I've actually become quite good by the way, and then we had the deep talk in the tower, and-"

"Don't." His voice was hard and icy.

"What?"

"Don't, Carnell." His voice was also very strained.

I gaped at him, then continued talking. "And that's another thing. Why do you keep calling me Carnell? I thought we were past this last name business. I-"

Suddenly, my back was to the wall, Tom's hand was covering my mouth, and his eyes were seething.

"Stop. Talking. I swear to god, stop talking." I didn't move, scared. This was the side of Tom that I had been scared of since the first day of school, the side of Tom I had seen throughout my years at Hogwarts, when he scolded a younger student or glared at someone.

Tom seemed to realize that I was shaking. His eyes softened, and his hand loosened over my mouth, just a bit.

"If you were anyone else, Melissa, you would probably be- gone." I sucked in a breath. Tom chuckled dryly, and then let his head hang. "But it's you."

I reached up and slowly removed his hand from my mouth.

"What's so special about me?" Tom looked up at me, his jaw set grimly, a look of sadness covering him.

"I don't know. I thought it was your power, but, that's not it." He put a hand on the wall next to me and pushed my hair behind my ear with the other. I didn't stop him.

"It's your intelligence, your innocence, your strength, your beauty, your everything. It calls out to me, like something only I can hear, but every time I get too near you I can feel myself collapsing." He stopped, taking a breath. "The problem is, you don't feel it. It's Valentine's day and-" He clenched the fist near my ear before opening it again and placing it flat on the other side of me. "I know that you had a date with Forester, and that, that just hurts me. I hate it, I hate being near you, I hate you-" My eyes widened.

"-But only because I want you."

I stared at him, uncomprehendingly.

Tom's eyes seemed to be swirling with sadness, two dark orbs reflecting my light ones.

He seemed to be debating something in his head. I was too shocked to move. Was he going to yell at me? Hurt me? Kill me?

"Tom-"

And then, he was kissing me.

A jolt of energy traveled all the way up from my feet making my body feel as if it was burning.

My skin was tingling, my pulse was throbbing, and all I could feel was Tom's lips against mine, like two stars colliding, making my whole body feel like a supernova.

My head was spinning, I was feeling lightheaded, and I was feeling- short of breath.

I suddenly realized that I was leaning into him, kissing him back.

With a gasp, I broke off, my eyes wide, full of disbelief.

Tom drew back, one side of his mouth curling up into a lazy smirk.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Lissa."

He lightly tugged on a strand of my hair before briskly walking out of the alley, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I hadn't moved a muscle, still gaping at the boy who had the strangest mood swings I'd ever seen.

I slowly looked down at my hands, and realized that I was lightly glowing, probably because I was so overwhelmed. Something that had never happened with Zeke. No wonder Tom had been smirking.

I sighed, and slowly sank down, against the wall, trying to sort out my thoughts.

What the hell do I do now?