Vicious

- Chapter II -

Tom has no slight interest in befriending Vicious—at least not for the kind she wants. He will dig information out of her; that's all only. And to get that, he must get close to her.

One might think that pretending to befriend a Hufflepuff is easy. After all, they have all the good traits of being patient, loyal and all of those 'goodie-two shoes' traits. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot of duffers. Vicious is different, though. She is neither clumsy or awkward. She does not show it all the time, but he can feel the constant calculating eyes and daredevil attitude.

She will be difficult.

After the last period, Tom spends some time reading in his room as refreshment. He would go to the library, except there will be some annoying girls bugging him constantly, thus losing the main purpose itself. At 6.20, he bookmarks his book and leaves for the Astronomy Tower. He is climbing up the stairs when he hears a feminine voice singing.

"Two hearts, two hearts that beat as one
Our lives have just begun

Forever (oh) I'll hold you close in my arms
I can't resist your charms

And love oh, love
I'll be a fool for you I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh, you know I don't mind"

He sees her singing on the top of her lungs, so soft and sweet like petals, as she leans against the railing and stares out at the sky. Her voice echoes everywhere. Beautiful. Melodies. Powerful.

"'Cause you,
You mean the world to me
Oh I know
I've found in you
My endless love…."

It isn't until she ends the song that he dares to approach her. There is something mystical about the way she sings that scream otherworldly to him. Even in a world such as this, he finds her to be in another level of magical.

What is this feeling he is having exactly? Is he having feelings of her? No, that cannot be. It is simply just his curiosity, he tells himself. Once he knows her secrets, he will not be as interested of her as this anymore.

"You have a beautiful voice," he compliments her truthfully. Vicious glances at him as he takes a spot beside her, also leaning against the railing.

"It is a beautiful view, the scenery. It deserves it," she replies artistically. Indeed, it is. Tom watches as the sky colored in pink, yellow and orange. The sun is setting. And soon, it will be dark with stars.

"Why did you pick that song? Romance does not become you." In all these years of knowing Vicious, if one can call this as such, being someone's lover is something he does not from her. In fact, just by the thought of her wrapping her arms around someone boy's arm makes his blood boil for an unknown reason.

Disgust. That must be why.

"Tom," she says suddenly, her voice serious. He thinks she is about to answer his question, when instead she asks, "Let's be friends. I promise you won't regret it." She holds out her hand.

He stares at it, hesitating for a second. Even if he is only pretending, he still has appearances to maintain. He has always sees her as an arch-nemesis. It will be strange if he just suddenly jumps in joy from her request.

Finally, he reaches out and claps her hand. Vicious gives it a little shake, before suddenly pulling him towards her.

Tom is caught of guard when he finds himself suddenly being yanked forward. He collides with her, her slightly smaller frame wrapped around him. He can feel her arms closing around his waist, her head buried on his chest. What he definitely does not expect is to find out how huge and around her breasts are. Curse the Hufflepuffs and their over-friendliness!

"What are you doing?" he asks in a hiss, struggling to break free.

"I've always wanted to do this since five years ago," she admits unashamedly, making him recalls the innocent, definitely less erotic gesture. They were so short back then, just two little first-years.

"Okay, you can let go now," he says after a while. Vicious immediate releases him, a board smile spreads on her lips. "Not enough!" she exclaims cheerfully, before giving him another (tempting) embrace.

"Alrighty~ then. Now that we're official friends, why don't you ask me?"

"Ask you?" slightly mind track-sided, he repeats, "Ask you what?"

"What you want to know. You want to learn my secrets, don't you?" How does she know that? Is he really that obvious? "No really. I'm just good at reading people."

He thought he is the only one! Well, at least among the students. At last, she bests him in this department as well. How come she is so good at reading him, though? Don't tell him…. Is she a Legilimancer?

"And no, I'm not using Legilimancy." How does she keep doing that, then? "Lots and lots of practice," she answers again.

"Get out of my head!" he hisses, throwing his arms up in a desperate attempt to block her, even though he and she both know that it does not work that way.

"What? I thought you'd like it. It will be practical to communicate this way, anyway. Besides, you're the only one who are used to reading people. I thought you'll feel more comfortable with this," she explains elaborately, as if it is in the best interest of his heart that she is able to head his thoughts without the use of magic.

If what she claims to be is true.

"You don't believe me, I see."

"Stop it! Stop reading my mind! Just talk like a normal person!" he demands angrily.

Vicious takes a step back, giving him room to breathe. "How about this. I have someplace I want to take you to. You can learn my secret there," she offers.

"Where are you taking me?" Tom asks, curious again.

"My home."

"Oh," he thought she means somewhere they can go to now.

"Let's go," she grabs his hand. "Wait, what?" he asks, puzzled. "I thought you're inviting me to your home."

"I am and we're going now."

"Hogwarts doesn't allow its students to go outside its territory without permission, especially during term seasons," he recites the rule by heart.

"I know, but they don't have to know that." They walk down the stairs, pass the hallways and head towards the basement. They keep on walking and Tom somehow allows himself to be dragged by her. Once she makes a stop, he stops too, finding himself in front of the Hufflepuff common room.

"What are we doing here?" he asks her.

"You'll know. Come."

She leads down to a flight of stairs, passing a few doors and levels. Finally, she opens one of the doors and pulls him in. They end up, Tom later realizes, inside the girls' dormitory.

"Are you insane?" he hisses almost too loudly, consequences be damned. If the teachers know where he is now, he will get a month worth of punishment.

"Relax. No one's here."

"Tell that to the few students who saw you dragging me here!" he yell-whispers to her.

"No one did. I cloaked us with an invisible barrier," she tells him, which surprises him a little bit. Throughout the whole way to here, he does not recall ever seeing or hearing her performing a spell at them.

He stares at her in disbelieve. Though now that he thinks about it again, no one also stopped them when they head to the Hufflepuff girls' dormitory.

"Here, this is it." There are four bedposts in the room and she leads him to one at the middle right. Hers naturally looks neater and classier than the rest. Somehow he just knows that she is secretly a neat freak like him, despite never seeing her room or bed before. He eyes pass the pile of yellow silks and stares into the inside of the posts. In two meters tall, a painting is hung behind the bed.

A beautiful golden frame holds it together in place. The painting looks almost realistic, like one of those portraits at the halls. And like them, he can see the leaves move as illusive wind blows through the giant tree. There seems to be people living inside it.

"Okay, that's a nice big painting. You're rich. I get it. Can we go now?" Tom is about to leave when a hand stops him.

"Wait, I haven't finish yet. This is what I call a Portat, named after the combination of the words 'portal' and 'painting'. Through this, we can travel from Hogwarts to my home."

Tom stares at her for a few seconds, digesting what she has just tell him.

"No way," he says, again in complete disbelieve.

"Yes way."

"They are only four known ways to magically travel, and from those four options we are only qualified to travel by brooms or floos. You can't possibly say that that," he points at the painting, "works."

"Wanna test it yourself?" she challenges him.

His frowns grow deeper. This cannot be happening. It cannot be possible. But it is. Right in front of him. Just within an arm length of reach to proof.

Carefully, he stops closer towards the bed, climbing on top of it as his hand reaches out for the painting. "Seraph of the End," he hears Vicious mutters behind him, before he touches the surface.

But he never does, because he watches as his fingertips sink through the painting instead. He quickly retrieves his hand.

"It's completely harmless. You don't have to be afraid."

"I'm not afraid," he says defensively.

"Then go through it."

He does.