Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter character's or anything related to the works of J.K Rowling. I also do not own 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'-Shakespeare does. I only own the plot, this series, this chapter, and any other original characters you may notice.
I do not have a beta to help with any errors in this chapter and this is a long so it might have a bunch of errors. Let me know and I will fix it as soon as I can.
Thank you for reading this! Thank you to all those who favorite and follow this series! Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Also a big thank you to those who review! It lets me know that this story is being read and doing decently! Anyways-enjoy the chapter.
November 20, 1943
Dear Mum,
I'm fine. I definitely was not irresponsible at any point in time this week and everything is fine….
Ophelia grimaced at the parchment paper in front of her. What a terrible way to start a letter with!
If Wendy Darwin read this letter, immediately she would know something was off with her daughter. The Hufflepuff bunched the would be letter to her mother and tossed it into the bin that was closest to her bed. Maybe a letter to Ben Darwin instead of Wendy Darwin would be best for now.
Dear Dad,
How are things back home? Things are the same as ever here, snow actually started to fall yesterday morning. I was actually kind of relieved-better for it snow yesterday than the day I got kidnapped and possibly stoned beyond injury….
An irritated huff escaped the brunette's mouth and with a blink she instantly crumpled and tossed the letter she'd been writing to her father to the bin as well. Ophelia was still stuck on the events that happened not too long ago. She had every right to be! She was scared out of her wits! She scared of the bratty, spoiled, men-children the Slytherins were. She was scared of how easy it was for Tom to be a serious cause of pain for multiple people at was scared how easy it was for all of them-the bratty Slytherins and Tom-to act like that event never happened.
At first it made Ophelia feel like that was all in her head; that it never even happened. As if Ophelia dreamt the whole thing up and it was only a bad nightmare that went too far...But Ophelia knew it wasn't in her head so maybe that would not be enough to go crazy. It was only enough to make her fear Tom for the rest of her natural life. It didn't matter much that he saved her, nor did it matter that he walked her safely to the Hufflepuff entrance.
She also hadn't been able to sleep well since the incident and maybe that why her mind was so scattered?
Ophelia sighed and began to write another letter.
Dear Poppa,
I want to come home. Remember that Riddle person I've told you about since I've been in Hogwarts? Turns out he isn't mean. No. Actually, he is evil incarnate with the hormones of a teenaged boy!
"Oh, sod it all!" Ophelia threw the letter for her Poppa away as well.
"Language!" Margo hissed from her bed. The muggle copy of A Midsummer's Night Dream by Shakespeare was in her hand. Margo tsked at her friend as she turned a page, "You've been very irritated as of late, Pipa."
The brunette rolled her eyes at the blonde. "It's been a rough week, Margo."
"A rough week?" Margo scoffed, "Rough would not be how I put it. Yesterday, Lestrange walked by us and Peter and I saw that mean look you gave him! Poor thing ran away from your meanexpression."
Him? Poor thing?! I am the 'poor thing' here!
"Whatever." Ophelia quietly mumbled under her breath. She picked herself off her bed and began to put her writing utensils away for the weekend. "It's just been a rough one, okay?"
Margo was going to open her mouth, she was going to propose going to Hogsmeade in the next hour to help lighten her friend's terrible attitude. Instead Ophelia's sleepy expression as she struggled to put on her boots and winter coat only warranted a confused look from the blonde. "Where are you going, Pipa?"
Ophelia gave a tired sigh, "I need to clear my head." She worked on the buttons on her winter coat, "I know I am in a foul mood right now and I need to go calm down. Then when I am better, I will come back." This particular method seemed to work wonders for Ben Darwin whenever Poppa or Wendy Darwin were too much to take in all at one setting. Maybe Ophelia took after her father in that sense-the need to get away to get into a better mood.
Margo only bit the bottom of her lip and nodded. It's not like Margo would try to stop Ophelia for trying to deal with her own emotions like a proper lady.
As Ophelia made her way out of the Hufflepuff dorm room, she ran into Peter.
Without being warned, Peter spoke the first thing that came to his mind. "You look like death."
Ophelia sighed and gently brushed past her friend. "I'll see you in a bit, Peter."
The pure-blooded male would have asked if is she was going to the infirmary and if she wanted company, but by the time he thought to ask that question, Ophelia was ways away from the Hufflepuff house.
The delightful sound and feel of snow under her boots calmed the half-blooded witch's nerves. Granted the cold was terrible, snow still fell from the sky, her skin began to dry out, and her hair was all over the place-but hey-calm under not so perfect weather conditions was still calm.
Onward Ophelia wondered, until she found herself at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A frown etched into her face, but besides a change in facial muscle movement Ophelia stayed in her spot. White powder was all she saw. Snow encased every tree and branch; snow covered up the usual paths that were made by students and teachers alike; snow erased the dirty, hard forest floor completely.
Christ, Ophelia thought as her eyes darted around, string up some holiday lights and put in a house with a chimney a-smoke and it looks like a winter seasonal card.
No matter how pretty and safe something looked like, if it was terrible underneath all the features that made it pretty-it was still terrible...At least according to Wendy Darwin. Ophelia simply hated the Forbidden Forest and the frown on her face still remained as she turned away from that horrid place.
Her body felt sluggish as she trudged to the library: it was always nice and warm in there.
Tom wanted absolutely nothing to do with his so called 'Knights of Walpurgis'. They proved to be useless and worse of all: lacked any type of determination to carry out their own plans. Merlin, he was actually going to trust them to help rebuild the wizarding world in his image?
A rough scoff escaped the Slytherin's mouth, not even Malfoy was completely safe from his wrath. At this rate, Tom thought bitterly to himself as he tried to skim through two different books at once, Ophelia has a better chance at being my right hand man.
He found himself concluding that more often than not. It made sense in its own way: Tom needed someone smart enough to help him if need be-but not someone smarter than him. He'd also needed someone who feared him yet stayed loyal in spite of their fear toward him. He'd need someone who would be a mindless follower but still had enough common sense to function on their own...Plus, Tom could fuck her as a way to relieve stress if need be.
Ophelia Darwin was a damn near perfect, cookie cutter mold for those things...But for fuck's sake Tom knew she lacked the ambition and vigor he had, on top of how different they viewed the world of magic. That alone could possibly, maybe, might be a turn off during sex.
He wanted complete and utter rule over all things tangled up in magic, and yes, so what if he thought only pure-bloods should be allowed to stay and practice it? Once he got that much power, who would stop him?
Whereas Ophelia wanted...Tom stopped his attempt to correlate and cross reference 'History of Dark Magic and Curses' with 'Magical Laws and Rules from The Dark Ages.' Obviously, Tom Riddle knew exactly what he wanted in life but not once did the want of a certain Hufflepuff ever cross his mind. What would Ophelia want in life? He tapped a finger on the edges of the books; the half-blooded witch probably didn't want much.
A loud creak echoed through the library and Tom peaked up from his books. He didn't smile, smirk, or express any other emotion that could have hinted anything.
Speak of the devil, Tom thought as he immediately recognized the female who rushed into the library, and she shall appear.
Brown eyes met green eyes from across the way. Ophelia looked at Tom with a slightly stunned expression and wondered to herself if she should turn and run away.
She didn't.
It was cold outside-it was warm inside where she was, hell no Ophelia wasn't going to turn and run back to the cold!
Tom arched his perfect eyebrows at the female who walked to his table, there were specks of snow littered on her winter coat, some even in her hair which was a mess, on her usual peach colored face- a dash of red stained her cheeks from being out in the cold.
"Went out for a stroll, I see." Tom leaned away from the table and positioned himself more comfortably against the chair he sat on. He crossed his arms against his chest; his button up shirt didn't even wrinkle in the slightest. "Tell me how many other students enjoyed a lovely, warm, stroll on this sunny day while you were out? Was Slughorn going for a walk as well?"
Ah, so we're still pretending nothing happened then. Ophelia sat down across from Tom and worked her way out of her winter coat. "I was going crazy stuffed in my dorm room while trying to write a letter to my family." Ophelia reached for one of the books in front of Tom and flipped it over so she could properly read it. "I needed to clear my mind for a minute."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Yes because it is so grueling to write a letter to your parents , you need to clear your mind." His voice was bitter.
His father was mudblood and his mother was a squib. Her mother was a mudblood and her father was a squib...Honestly, Tom sneered at her, she could be as ambitious as me…
"This paper for our History and Magic lesson was due three days ago," Ophelia furrowed her eyebrows. "Unless this is a different essay for a different class, but with the same topic as focus?"
Tom rolled his eyes at her, "I got an extension."
"Of course you did." She shook her head and pushed the book back towards Tom. "Perfect, prefect Tom Riddle. The champion prince of Slytherin, no one would ever suspect-."
Oh shit...Ophelia's green eyes widened as she stopped herself from finishing the sentence.
It was too late-Tom figured what Ophelia was going to say. The blank expression of apathy was replaced with a careful hint of malice; without even so much as a blink of an eye, he apparated behind Ophelia.
The girl stood up as soon as she felt Tom behind her, Ophelia turned around so she could at least be face to face with boy she knew to be dangerous. The only barrier between them was a wooden chair.
"Suspect?" Tom breathed lowly, "suspect, what?" He placed his left hand on the top of chair and gripped it.
I should think more before talking! Ophelia backed away slightly, only to have the back of her legs hit the table behind her. "Nothing, Tom. They wouldn't suspect anything."
Tom forcefully pushed the wooden chair out of his way; Ophelia flinched. Sometimes, Tom found it too easy, too quick to get reactions out of her and he rather enjoyed that. Do I feel merciful today? The distance against their bodies disappeared as he had one leg comfortably pushed in between Ophelia's inner thighs and another leg pushed along the outside of her leg.
Tom brought one of his hands to the Hufflepuff's right hip, the other hand was about to go for the neck.
A silent gasp escaped almost made its way out of the girl's mouth; Ophelia knew where his hands wanted to go. So instead, she placed her left hand over the base of her throat as a protective measure.
Tom tsked at Ophelia. So she could cover her neck? There were other parts of her that could be grabbed. The hand that lingered in the air quickly attached itself to her brown hair; Tom gripped it firmly and tugged her hair back...He was slightly shocked that Ophelia's hair felt soft. (Tom had expected rough and scratchy sensation-not a pleasant one.)
"I want you to listen, Ophelia." Tom tugged at the hair in his grasp, it made the female's head title back and exposed the areas of her neck her dainty hand couldn't cover. "Listen closely-the day someone suspects me or something…" He couldn't help but look at Ophelia's delicately arched neck-Merlin. A low groan escaped Tom's lips and he tugged her hair again.
"That hurts." Ophelia whispered to his deaf ears as he soon brought his grip closer to the base of her scalp.
He ignored her. "If one day, for whatever reason, I am accused of anything-you will be the first person on my list." Tom felt Ophelia tense as he said tense as said that.
Ophelia felt slightly insulted. "If you are ever accused of anything, I'd go to your lovely little gang members first. They were the ones who accused you of liking filth, remember?"
"And?" Tom snickered, "You saw what happened-they got what they deserved. I can make the same thing happen to you" A memory echoed in Tom's mind and a small smirk came to his lips. "I'll curse you."
The first time Tom Riddle had said that, they were barely considered first years and he knew exactly zero curses then.
Tom seemed to know enough curses now.
Fear slowly coursed through Ophelia, but she couldn't let it show. "Not once, Tom." Ophelia started sternly as she tried to look him in the eyes. "Not once have I actually given you a reason to curse me."
If Tom knew how to, he was sure he'd take comfort in her words. If he had been a plain wizard who was weakened by human emotions and the imperfection of his childhood till now-Tom would have considered that is was him and Ophelia against the world. Of course that was 'if', and no matter how shitty his early years had been-Tom knew it carved him into a force to be reckoned with.
His little smirk went away, he released his hold on the brunette's hair and simply moved the hold to her left hip. Tom's strong fingers pressed into the fabric of her skirt as he brought her hips close to his. Tom brought his lips close to Ophelia's ear and whispered, "Then you of all people should keep it that way."
"I do...keep it that way…" Ophelia whispered for him. It hurt, emotionally. The feeling of complete distrust and lack of consideration he had for her tied knots in her hurt soul-at least Ophelia was sure that was what it felt like. A sigh flew from her lips, the kind of sigh one might even hear from someone who was beginning to give up on something. "You of all people should know that."
The broken and sullen look on Ophelia's face made Tom want to push his lips against hers, he wanted to kiss her until those lips of hers were red and swollen...Maybe, I prefer how she looks when she is sad? He wasn't going to kiss her though, not when Ophelia practically told Tom that he should know she'd never do anything to be cursed by him... Not yet at least. Bullshit, Tom thought, complete bullshit.
"Look," Ophelia broke Tom out of his thoughts. "I should leave you be-sorry I bothered you. Good luck on finishing up your essay." Her hands went to his torso to push him off, but he didn't budge. Ophelia pushed a little harder-still he refused to move. "Tom…" Ophelia's voice wavered.
Do you want her to stay? Yes or no?
"I have to go."
Yes or no?
"Tom."
Yes? No?
"You need to be finishing up your assignment-not holding me hostage for the second time this week!"
Yes.
Tom's voice boomed with authority over Ophelia's. "Since you want me to believe you so bad about never having a reason to curse you-stay then."
That statement didn't make the Hufflepuff want to stay. "Do you want help you with your paper?" Ophelia's shoulders slumped, " Is that it? Tom, I don't think you need help-."
"You're right, I don't." Tom interrupted. "But you should stay." His words sounded like an aggressive invitation.
Fucking hell. Ophelia's dull green eyes widened-she didn't understand what Tom wanted. "What? No-why can't-."
Lips crashed down into another set of lips, it silenced the half-blooded witch. Tom licked her bottom lip before forcefully slipping his tongue into her mouth, it deepened the kiss. A small gasp escaped Ophelia's mouth but soon she melted into his forceful kiss. The kiss only lasted for a minute before they had to pull away for air.
"Sit down, and stay." Tom demanded lowly; he kissed her neck but only after he placed a bite on it first.
Ophelia and Tom were in the library only for hour after that, they sat in silence as Tom's quill on parchment paper was the only sound between the two of them. Tom would look at Ophelia from the corner of his eye from time to time-her hand under her chin and the gaze in her eyes distant...Maybe she was thinking about what she wanted in life?
Without even trying, Tom read her mind. Tom slammed one of the books shut and stood up abruptly; he gathered his belongings and headed towards the library doors.
He left Ophelia alone in the warm library, shocked at his sudden shift in mood.
Love songs, Tom thought angrily to himself, the stupid witch was thinking about love songs.
Eventually, Ophelia wandered back to the Hufflepuff house. She found Peter and Margo curled up on the common room couch, in front of the fire, both of them had copies of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' in their hands.
Ophelia couldn't help but smile at her friends...At least they were happy, right?