Chapter 21 – Feigned normalcy

Serena scurried over to the bathroom where Tom stood regarding her, grabbing her clothes on the way.

"Are you serious? I'm going to be so late!" She said. Tom shrugged. She managed to push him out of the way and reach the sink where she frantically brushed her teeth.

"I don't think it really counts as washing them if you only do it for a few seconds," Tom smirked from the doorway.

"You know what? I'm going to be super late!" Serena cried, too tired to deal with his sarcasm so early in the morning. "I can't get ready with you standing there, distracting me," She, walking towards the door. Tom crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Distracting you?" He asked. She rolled her eyes and managed to shut and lock the door.

"Hey!" She heard him cry. "I'm sorry Tom but I really have to hurry."

As soon as she was alone, she turned on the water and carefully removed her new necklace, before jumping into the shower. Hurriedly, she washed her hair and body before jumping out and frantically searching for a towel.

There was a knock on the door.

"Serena," Came Tom's voice. Her eyes darted all over the floor, but she could find no towel. She heard the 'click' of the door unlocking and wrapped herself in the not so clean sheet, shivering in the cold.

Tom entered the room, carrying a white, neatly folded towel and smirked.

"You shouldn't have locked me out," He said, not handing her the towel.

"T-Tom! Pl-please it's so c-cold!" she said through chattering teeth.

"Take off that sheet. It's dirty anyways," Tom instructed calmly, leaning against the doorframe.

"R-really Tom, its freez-zing!" She said, wrapping the sheet tighter against her body. Tom didn't respond, but merely looked at her. She sighed, too cold to care to argue and let the sheet slip off of her. She wrapped her arms around her body, trying not only to cover herself, but also keep herself warm. His eyes grazed over her body, instantly making her flush with embarrassment. She walked towards him and reached for the towel.

"Tom!" She whined, when he pulled it away from her. "I don't have time for this! I have to get dressed."

"But see, I would really care to disagree with you there," He said.

"Thomas, you don't want to be late on the first day of school, do you?" She asked. He smiled.

"I wouldn't be. You would," He said, his enjoyment of teasing her obvious. Serena gritted her teeth and folded her arms against her chest, getting very annoyed.

"Why don't you ask me for the towel Serena dear," Tom said. She rolled her eyes.

"Can I please have the towel Tom?" She asked, exasperated.

"What did you call me?" He asked, not really sharply, just taking his sweet time as she froze in the chilly morning air.

"Tom- my, lord," Serena flustered. Tom hesitated.

"Voldemort," She finished. Satisfied, he let the towel fall open and wrapped her up in it. Serena clung to the soft warmth as he leaned her back against the wall and kissed her passionately. "Tom!" she squeaked, when he moved away and made a grab to the counter. She turned to see what Tom had grabbed and realized it was her necklace. Almost solemnly, he placed and clasped it around her neck. It seemed heavy. Almost like a heavy shackle she didn't notice was missing until it was put back on her. She forced herself to smile, shaking off her feelings, and looked up to thank him. Before she could say anything, she but found her lips had been caught by his.

She closed her eyes and almost lost herself in his tight embrace. She angled her head to give him better access as he moved his mouth from her lips to trail down her neck. His hands found their way underneath her towel and trickled over her body sending shivers up and down her back. Serena found her breath coming faster and she forced herself to push him away.

"Tom, I really don't have time for this! I have to get ready for school!" He rolled his eyes and reluctantly pulled away from her.

"Fine. I'll wait outside," He said, turning and walking through the bathroom door. Once he had left, she shut the door and dried herself. Then she did a hair drying charm, makeup charm and threw on her clothes. Satisfied with her appearance, she opened the door.

"Tom?" She asked, as she peaked around the door, finding the bedroom empty. She wondered if he had left her and gone on to breakfast already. But she had finished in a record fifteen minutes, thanks to magic. Serena grabbed her purse and slipped on her shoes before continuing down the stairs to Tom's private common room.

She smiled when she saw him sitting on the couch, perusing through a book. He looked up as she approached and smiled.

"You took long enough," He said, standing up and meeting her at the edge of the stairs.

"I finished in record time!" Serena said.

"Wow, I'm impressed," He said sarcastically.

"I am," She said.

"Well, I was rather amazing last night, wasn't I?" Tom said, as his fingers looped through one of her spaces between her buttons and pulled her closer. Serena rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't really talking about that, but I can't complain," She said as she let him kiss her gently, her fingers finding themselves on his chest. He released her after a little, slowly tracing her face with his fingers, causing Serena to blush and look away, a bit uncomfortable.

"The necklace looks gorgeous on you," He said, as his fingers slipped off her face to run across her neckline, while his other hand crossed her waist, holding her to him.

"Thank you. I really like it," She said.

"You know, after this summer," Tom started, avoiding her eyes, "I don't think I can be away from you for very long."

"Tom-" Serena started, a bit uncomfortable by his sudden sentimentality, but he cut her off.

"Serena, I don't think I can let you go," He said, his thumb on her chin forcing her to look at him. Her eyes fluttered up and stared at him, her breath catching. Was he serious? Suddenly fear clouded her thoughts and she wanted to pull away from him, but his grasp tightened, pulling her closer.

"We're still young Tom, I'm sure you'll get tired of me eventually," She said, trying to remain clam and not freak out too badly. She remembered Professor Lena's warning from the previous year and felt her knees bending under his supportive arms. Tom actually smirked.

"I don't think so Princess," He said, bringing his face down so that it hovered just above her lips. She could feel the heat of his breath on her skin and against her will, she felt herself waiting for his kiss, wanting it. Her eyes fluttered back up and her thoughts became muddled as one of his hands slipped underneath her shirt. He looked into her frightened, unsure eyes with his own dark ones. "You're mine," He whispered, before kissing her again, this time much more fiercely. It was hard to think, and her heart was beating faster due to adrenaline and lust.

After a bit, he pulled away from her.

"We should go now or we might be late," He said. Serena was a bit unsure of what to say now that he had reverted back to his "normal", school-obsessed self, so she merely nodded and placed her hand in his offered one.

Reflecting over what had just happened as she walked with him to the great hall, she realized giving in and kissing him might not have been very good. She just hoped he had been exaggerating. They reached the great hall and Serena left him with a smile to go in search of Heather and Eve.

She found them sitting at their house table, engrossed in a conversation. She saw their heads rise and look her way before making shocked faces and turning back to frantic, hushed whispers. Serena rolled her eyes knowing she was about to face a serious interrogation.

She sat down next to them at the end of the table and began to help herself to some pumpkin juice as it started.

"Ahmen…" She heard Heather fake cough.

"Soo….Serena," Eve said. Serena looked over at her two friends who were now sporting huge grins and staring intently at her. She couldn't help smiling at the cute picture they made.

"So…what?" Serena asked, pretending she had no idea what they were trying to get at.

"You whore! You know full well what we're talking about," Heather said.

"Shh. Keep your voices down," Serena said, looking around the make sure their conversation was still private.

"Where they hell were you last night?" Eve said, making sure her voice was very low.

"With Tom," Serena admitted quietly.

"The whole night!" Heather gasped. "Did you get any sleep?"

"We weren't having sex the whole night!" Serena cried indignantly.

"OH! So you guys did have sex then," Eve slurred sarcastically. Serena rolled her eyes again.

"Slut!" Heather cried.

"Whore!" Eve joined.

"I don't know why I bother telling you guys anything!" Serena sighed.

"Skank!"

"Elle est la bicyclette de la ville!" Eve said to Heather in French. Serena dropped her mouth.

"I am NOT!" She cried, actually offended. "Seriously, if you guys don't shut up, I'm not going to tell you guys anything else!"

"We're just kidding!" Heather said.

"I don't think you are THAT much of a whore," Eve said, hugging her. Serena shrugged them off and helped herself to some more toast.

"So…what happened then?" Eve asked after a little while. Serena sighed.

"Well, I don't know if I should tell you," Serena said.

"Oh come on Serena!" Heather said. Serena smiled.

"Actually, it was so sweet! He was so romantic," Serena swooned. Heather rolled her eyes.

"No wonder he got in her skirt that easily," She said under her breath. Serena shot her a deadly look.

"I'm just kidding! Go on!" Heather said in apology. Serena sighed before continuing recounting the previous night's events which were met with giggles, and 'awws', and then sniggering. Serena left out the part about Tom calling her his as she felt it was a.) Irrelevant and b.) Not true.

They finished breakfast as their schedules were passed out. The girls were ecstatic to find they had all their classes together. Then, breakfast was over. There was a short speech given by Headmaster Dippet and then the students were released to prepare for, and then head off to their classes.

Serena caught Tom's eye on the way out and smiled quickly, before heading up to her bedroom with Heather and Eve to grab their books.

If she had expected classes to be any easier or different than her previous years, she was sadly mistaken. If anything they were harder than before and filled with more note-taking, quizzes, and obnoxiously long essays. It was a nice surprise though, to find that she had most of her classes with Tom as well. That way, when there was only two seats to desk, she could let Heather and Eve sit together and she could sit with Tom.

She played with her quill while the Professor went over his expectations of this year. It was a good thing Tom was so school-obsessed, she thought, because that way she wouldn't be distracted by him when she should be paying attention to the Professor. And, if she ever found herself missing notes from a lecture, she could easily get the ones she needed from Tom, as Heather just didn't take notes, and Eve's were poorly done.

He watched her, tapping her quill absentmindedly on her scroll. Her chocolate eyes were off, gazing into the distance as the Professor rambled on about the way he expected students to act in his class. She was beautiful, he thought to himself, even without trying to be. Her deep chocolate hair was put up in a hurried bun, with strands falling out everywhere. She kept yawning, obviously tired because of the previous night's activities.

This made Tom smirk. Over the summer, he had been busy, testing his abilities on unsuspecting muggles. Some of whom he practiced on had belonged to his orphanage, and others had been random passer-bys. He had been pleased to see how strong he was and how easily it had been to control people, both with the Imperius curse and without it. His easy charisma and good looks both proved to be valuable assets. It had been annoying though, to come back from a good days work and not have her there.

He often found himself thinking about her, wishing she were there with him. After a week he had missed only her body and the physical gratification she offered, because he had thought about other women but even in thought they disgusted him. She seemed the only one who could satisfy him, which was annoying. But, by the third week he was missing not only her body, but also her voice, her laugh, her sparkling eyes, and whimsical mouth, with those soft lips he longed to kiss nightly. He found himself dreaming of her at night and found her face invading his thoughts during the day. And, it seemed that nothing could rid himself of this desire for her; not killing, not torture of kids, not planning for his world-conquest, not even conversing with Nagini, his pet-snake. It disturbed him at first, but gradually, he came to admit to himself that he missed her, and rationalized it as just that. She was like his favorite toy that he had to do without for three months, and he realized then, that he didn't like "doing without" her.

By the middle of the second month, he had managed to control his thoughts of her. By concentrating, he could erase her picture from his mind and focus on more important things, like a new torture curse he had invented. He found himself very proud indeed of his new ability. And, it was easier now, with her back with him at Hogwarts for him to think less of her. She didn't dominate his mind as much and he could easily drown it out when she did by focusing on school-work or his Lord-Voldemort-work.

Thinking of himself as Lord Voldemort brought a new smile to his face. She didn't know it yet, didn't believe that he really would be the most powerful wizard alive, and that she would be there with him, as his dark queen. He couldn't wait to prove himself to her, to lavish her with rich gifts that being a poor orphan, he couldn't.

A curious look from Serena forced Tom to realize that maybe he had been staring at her for a bit too long.

Serena had felt his eyes on her for some time. She didn't mind him looking at her for a little, because, well, she wanted him to want her, but after a while longer, it was kind of creeping her out. What the hell was he thinking about? She sent him an inquisitive look which was met with an impudent, 'meaning-guilty-meaning he so was thinking about dirty things' thought Serena, look which lit up his devilishly handsome face. She sent him a 'you-stop-that-right-now' look as she rolled her eyes.

The professor was beginning his lecture, so Serena forced herself to ignore him and start taking notes. Tom watched her a moment longer, before joining her in jotting down key themes and ideas of the lecture.

Soon class was over and they were off to their next one. After that was lunch and then more classes before a break and then dinner.

"Serena," Tom cried as she was just leaving the great hall. She turned her head and smiled.

"Hi," she said as he reached her.

"What are you doing tomorrow night/afternoon?" He asked.

"Nothing, why?" She asked.

"I thought we could just get together…and…hang out," He said, smiling. Serena caught his drift and rolled her eyes.

"Tomorrow night or tomorrow afternoon?" She asked.

"Why not both?" He said, his dark eyes trying to plead with her.

"How about no," She said.

"Come on," He said, "one for tomorrow and one to make up for tonight."

"Why not tonight?" She asked.

"Rebecca and I have patrol duty," He said. Rebecca. Serena hissed inside.

"Oh," She forced. Tom sniggered.

"What?" She snapped.

"You're too amusing Princess," He said, looking at her. Serena gritted her teeth, realizing how obvious her dislike of Rebecca was.

"Ok, fine, tomorrow's great," She said. Tom smirked before kissing her cheek. He opened his mouth to say something else when his name was called.

"Oh Thomas! There you are," came a high pitched voice. Serena looked over and saw a gorgeous blonde running up towards them. She forced her hands to remain unclenched and not to glare as she reached Tom.

"Rebecca," Tom greeted, and to Serena's happiness, a bit coldly. Well, not really coldly, just detached. Polite.

"Here," She said handing him a tightly wound scroll. He looked at it inquisitively.

"It's the new schedules," She said excitedly. "We're still on for tonight but after today it changes."

"Thanks," He said. Serena watched her golden curls bob as she spoke exciedtly about new duty plans, etc. Serena felt her heart drop as she watched this beautiful, vivacious blonde talking to him and Serena quietly excused herself to Heather and Eve who had just walked out.

"Wow! Who's that Tom's talking to?" Eve asked.

"That's Rebecca," Serena said. Heather and Eve looked at her once more before grabbing Serena's arm.

"Sweetheart, don't worry," Heather said. "She's not that pretty."

"What are you talking about?" Serena cried as they made their way up to their common room. "She's gorgeous!"

"No, she's not," Eve said.

"And she's really annoying!" Heather said. "I have a class with her this year and she won't shut up."

"He's so going to ask her out," Serena said, dejectedly.

"Serena, shut up!" Heather said. "He won't, I promise."

"They're going to be all alone tonight, patrolling the halls," She said.

"Darling nothing is going to happen, I promise," Heather said. "And, if something does, I'll totally kick her ass. You know what a bitch I can be."

Serena smiled slightly.

"Besides," Eve said. "I know just what will cheer you up."

Serena looked at her dismally. Eve smiled.

"Our annual midnight party!" She cried.

"And that means drinking honey," Heather said, nudging Serena.

"I brought actually a few different types, but we'll have to use them somewhat sparingly because I won't get anymore until I come back after Christmas break," Eve said. "But I also brought tons of candy and stuff."

Serena smiled at her, and the special comfort that normalcy offered her. She hooked arms with her friends. At least that way she could try to forget about Tom being with Rebecca.