hey guys. heres the next chapter. i hope you like it. it is basically chapter 5 but in toms pov. i dont own anything!
What have you done now?
She walked right passed me this morning. She didn't make any indication that she even knew I was in the room. Not a grunt of displeasure or a roll of the eyes to show that she noticed my presence. This annoyed me beyond belief, I wasn't quite sure why but I knew I didn't like it. I slammed by book onto the glass coffee table, causing a crack in the center of the table. I sighed before grabbing my bag and heading for the door. I wasn't hungry so I went straight to Potions. As I expected, no one was there to irritate me further. I sat in my seat in the back of the room and pulled Granger's book from my bag. She left it in the Common Room last night and for some reason I decided to take it.
It wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. I grew up in the muggle world and knew of Jane Austen. She was a great writer. Granger had good taste. I wrinkled my forehead at my own thought. Grander had good taste? The door creaked open, I didn't have to look back to know who it was. It was as if she knew I was thinking about her and came to investigate. I heard her sigh before she reluctantly sat in the seat next to me. I pretended to keep reading when really I was looking at her from the corner of my eye. She was... decent looking I concluded. I had never cared about girls much (even though they all swooned over me like a bunch of morons) but Granger was different. I wanted to know her secrets and not for my usual diabolical purposes but simply to feed my curiosity.
Moments passes and she began to tap her fingers on the table top. I keep a straight face but my mind was going haywire. This girl was trying to get a raise out of me, her reasons for doing this were unclear but I liked her attempt. The tapping stopped and she let out a sound that sounded like a scoff of announce. I chuckled because of her frustration. I felt her eyes burning a hole into the side of my head which only made me laugh more. She turned away and my fit stop. I closed the book and stared at the front of the room. Why was I acting this way? I could not remember the last time I laughed or even smiled for that matter.
I took my chances and directed my eyes towards Granger, thankfully she didn't notice. My only conclusion for my strange behavior was the girl. It was the only reasonable explanation for my... softer actions. For some reason the Voldemort side of me was not fighting this too much. Today Tom Riddle was in control. I would never say I had a split personality but there were definitely two sides of me that fought to be dominate. I don't know who I wanted to be yet, but I would have to decide soon and I think the girl who sat next to me would be a part of the deciding factor. My eyes drifted once again to Granger. She seemed to be completely oblivious to my looks. Slughorn walked into the room and told us the potion we would be making today. It sounded simple enough and for that I was thankful. Granger got up to get the potion ingredients when I felt my hand shot out to stop her. She whipped her head around and gave me a look. My hand was still resting on her shoulder. I caught myself doing this and dropped my hand quickly to my side. What was I thinking? Granger was still looking at me like I had gone insane. Maybe I had.
"I'll get the ingredients," I started. Her face scrunched up questioningly. I had to think of something quickly so she wouldn't become suspicious of my change in behavior. I worked my voice so it held an icy tone. "You know, I wouldn't like you to mess up and get the wrong things." I walked past her and accidentally ran into her. I let out a deep breath after my back was turned to her. My fingers involuntarily stretched themselves out to their full ability. My fingers tingled at the spots where they made contact with her. It was the strangest feeling.
I gathered the various ingredients necessary and hurried back to our table. I set them up neatly and went to sit in my chair. I remembered from yesterday that she would have preferred to work alone. It was not in my nature to sit around while another worked but I thought I would amuse her. She glared at me which only made me smirk. Granger's eyes narrowed dangerously before returning to her work.
I studied what she was doing. Every step she took was precise and neat. She worked on for a while before her eyes drifted to me. Her chocolate brown gaze was intimidating but I welcomed it. My gaze switched to the cauldron to see she was still pouring snake's blood into the the bubbling liquid, it was an insanely large amount. She must have seen my eyes and turned back to her work. She quickly turned the bottle up right and placed the stopper in it. She inspected the potion. It must have looked alright to her because she grabbed for the next ingredient. I couldn't have been sure of what it was until I saw it drop from her hand and into the cauldron. She had just signed her death certificate if that was a moon stone.
"No!" I said more to my own thought that to her action. I felt my body fly through the air and tackle her to the ground. The potion started to fizz and bubble as I raced towards her. If I had been a fraction of a second later we would have both been done for. The potion exploded behind me, I was still on top of her and used my body to shield her own. I buried my head into the nape of her neck to keep debris for hitting it. The room went quiet and I believed it to be safe. I pulled my weight from Granger, hoping I didn't crush her too much. You're hoping you didn't crush the mudblood? An ice cold voice in my head scowled me. I tried to shake it away but the fury coming from it was almost too much. You're weak, Tom. The voice taunted me now. I was quickly becoming furious. I looked up and saw Granger. She suddenly repulsed me and I wanted nothing more than to infuriate her. "Are you trying to kill yourself?" My voice was as cold as the one inside my head's. She looked at me with almost guilty eyes that only enraged me more. "You cannot mix a moon stone with snake blood! At least not in that proportion! Are you always this incompetent?!" She scoffed and stood up. I stayed on the ground for a while collecting my bearings.
The Voldemort side was coming out again and I wasn't sure I wanted it to. The endless pit of anger in my stomach would not go away, I supposed I would have to endure it until Tom Riddle could come back. Without my knowledge Granger had got up and walked away from my position by the table next to our wrecked one. Granger looked at me a few moments later.
"You're bleeding," She sounded detached and uninterested. I reached up to feel my forehead and winced. Now that the adrenaline was wearing out the pain was coming on. I removed my fingertips from my head and looked at them. They were, indeed, covered in the salty, red liquid. The sight and smell of my own blood disgusted me. I vaguely heard Slughorn telling Granger to escort me to the Hospital Wing.
I rejected the idea. I do not need help from anyone, especially not a silly girl like Granger. The professor continued to argue with me until Granger finally got fed up and stomped out of the door, deciding for both of us. Finding myself tired of the situation I followed behind her. I caught the door just before it slammed into the door frame. I wanted the satisfaction of slamming it myself, I throw the wood so hard against the frame that the wall around it shook slightly. The force at which I slammed the door felt good. The burning anger inside of me was beginning to diminish. I quickened my steps hoping the rush of air I felt against my skin would help to calm the fury as well. I quickly over took Granger and fell into step a few feet ahead of her. We walked on in silence, she never fell far behind my long strides. We were almost to the infirmary when a sudden rush of dizziness took over me.
I halted my step, trying to stop the hall around me from spinning. I felt something push against my back slightly which only made things worse. The force of the spinning room caused me to loose balance. My knees buckled and I tumbled to the floor. I expected to feel the hard impact of flesh against marble like I had the day I arrived but it never came.
Tiny hands were wrapped around my waist and I was sitting on a lumpy form instead of the hard, smooth ground. The tiny hands that had been wrapped around my stomach now moved to push me off. I sat on the floor now, realizing that Granger had caught me when I fell. I tried to stand back up but Granger was restraining me.
"I'm fine," I told her defiantly. She shook her head at me.
"Yeah, that's why you just fainted," she told me. I only scoffed, I do not faint, ever. A little blood loss was not something to keep me down. I could make it to the Hospital Wing. I looked up at Granger, I noticed her face was not as angry as it usually was.
It held something that was a bit softer. It was not affection but perhaps tolerability. At the sight of her, the fury in the pit of my stomach evaporated. For the time being, I was Tom. Voldemort had retreated back into a black hole inside of me and it felt good. I wanted to get up but she once again pushed me down. She told me to just sit for a minute. I complied with her command, sighing slightly at the thought of being weak enough to do it. I watched as she searched furiously up and down the hall, I did the same. The hall was deserted leaving us completely alone.
She placed her tiny hands under my arms and helped me slid on the floor until I was against the wall. She sat next to me and examined my injuries. Now that I thought about it, the pain was intense. I feel the blood flowing down my face in hot, wet droplets. By the look on Granger's face it looked as bad as it felt.
The next thing I knew, the brown haired girl was taking off her robe. She then peeled off her Gryffindor sweater and handed it to me. I took it absentmindedly from her. My thoughts were still on the image of her taking the sweater off... She said something that made my mind snap back to the present. I didn't exactly know what she said but I figured she told me to put the sweater against my gash. She rested her head against the wall, I dared to look at her for a while. The sunlight was catching her face exquisitely. It framed her face in a way that almost made her hardened features soften. I smiled before leaning my own head back against the wall and closing my eyes. Why was I suddenly so interested in Granger?
Yesterday or even this morning I would have never thought I would regard her as anything other than someone with a weak mind that I could toy with but everything had changed in the course of an hour. It was strange, but I wasn't completely sure it was bad. I opened my eyes and looked at her.
"Hey," the words began to slip out of my mouth. She looked at me with her stunning chocolate brown eyes. "Thanks... for the sweater," I felt the need to elaborate on what I was thanking her for. She looked at me with a confused expression. I was hoping she was not going to get angry again. She simply nodded which didn't give me a clue to her mood. The corridor was silent as I continued to look at her. Eventually I averted my gaze only to have my attention focused back to her. She thanked me for helping her in Potions. I told her she was welcome. I closed me eyes again and once I knew she wasn't looking, I let out a smile.
I thought that this was a sign, maybe even a peace offering. We were even as of now and I thought she would be able to put the anger behind her. Moments passed and the dizziness faded, leaving my mind clear and able to function. I got to my feet, testing myself to see if I was able to continue on, I was. Granger stood up and began to walk before me. I managed to catch up to her once again. This time I dared to walk next to her. The worst thing that could happen was that she would slow down or speed up. I held her sweater firmly to my forehead, ready for whatever she brought. We walked on in silence.
"You know, I still hate you, right?" She told me randomly, breaking the silence that I wished was still there. "Just because you saved me doesn't mean you're still not completely vile, cruel, horrible-"
"Yeah, I get it," I cut her off gingerly. Fury filled me once more, giving me the feeling of whiplash. Today the two sides of me were battling fiercely, the tables had turned once again leaving me with Voldemort. The Tom side of me felt pain in his chest where my heart was. Voldemort just snarled at me. What did I tell you? You are weak. Letting your emotions get in the way, just like your mother. I had never felt more angry or hurt in my life. I let my mind open up to the possibility of that.... mudblood being someone I could trust, possibly even like and now... now that was never going to happened. I looked to the short girl next to me. "Nothing has changed," I stormed off down the hall and into the infirmary, leaving Granger and the thoughts I had been thinking far behind me. I had a moment of weakness, but never again.
I walked into the room smelling of illness and sat in a chair by the door. The old nurse came up to me and placed her hand under my chin. "What happened?" She asked me professionally. I told her the story and she set to work on getting the necessary things to treat me. I lowered the small sweater from my head and looked at it a moment. The sight of it made me clench my jaw now. I throw the thing as far across the room as I could. I wanted nothing to remind me of my stupid thoughts and ideas. The sweater slid across the floor and under a bed so it was out of view. I hit my head on the wall that I leaned against one fierce time. I felt like a fool, Granger had made me look like a fool. But never again. No, I let the thought of her enter my mind once, but I would never make the same mistake twice.
tell me what you think! i love to hear from you guys. this chapter was a bit confusing (considering tom was having mood swings throughout it) so let me know if you have any questions. thank you for reading! =]