"I'm worried about you." Mary Figglestill frowned as she pulled up a chair at the library table I was sitting at.
"Why?" I asked curiously as I narrowed my eyes. After all, it seemed there were quite a few things going on in my life right now.
I had been spending all of my time in the library and in my dormitory. These were the two places Tom couldn't reach me. He obviously did not have access to the girl's dormitory. However in the library the librarian had angrily barred him from talking to me, saying the library was no place for courtship.
He had previously caught on that I was spending some time in the library and after a few evenings he came in to talk to me. He, like Mary, knew that something was bothering me. He said that he deeply cared for me and it was troubling him to see me so upset.
I thought all of his interactions up until now were methods of ensuring he obtained control over me. But now I wasn't so sure. His actions showed he did genuinely care about me. But after analysing the friendship I had with Newt I knew I couldn't trust my own judgment and didn't care to find out what Tom truly felt about me. I'd rather just keep my distance.
Which is also another reason why Mary could be worried about me.
"You're not your usual shining and charming yourself. I can sense something is off." Mary stated smugly.
"What do you mean by that?" I snapped, being quite unimpressed with Mary coming over to say these things to me.
"Take those words with the highest regard. I can tell it is part of your culture and nature – as both part Veela and a Slytherin. Instead of using your good looks and sly cunning ways to influence people to like you, you do the opposite. You do it to get people to leave you alone. You're set in your lone wolf ways." Mary explained to me.
I struggled to keep myself composed. On the inside I was seething but I managed to keep shooting Mary a blank look. It was absolutely easy for her to say these things to me and analyse my personality. She was highly adored by all teachers, including the hard-to-please Slughorn. She had a loving family at home with no unreasonable expectations of who she was supposed to be. She wasn't part of a house that hated her based on her mother's heritage. Therefore her words were rubbing me the wrong way.
As if she read my mind, Mary continued on.
"I don't have many friends. People seem to be afraid of strong women, or have another motive as they want a favour from the Head Girl. You may be a Slytherin but you're still a genuine person and you're a true friend to me. That's why if something is troubling you – I want to help you." Mary revealed.
Guilt immediately washed over me at Mary's words. I had grown so jaded and untrusting due to Tom's questionable manipulations and Newt's betrayal that I failed to see Mary's bona fide friendship. I hadn't been shown a lot of love or care in my life coming from the Black family, so one couldn't blame me for my initial stance.
"I-it's Riddle. He keeps bothering me to know my thoughts and feelings on certain topics. So I've started to avoid the common room to keep my distance from him. I'm not sure why he's doing this, he's the one who ended things between us. I feel quite harassed." I admitted to Mary.
This was how I felt up until recently, but I wasn't sure whether I still felt this way. I still wanted to keep a distance but maybe he just did it because he cared. He was the one who wanted to 'pause' the relationship anyway. Not end it.
"Have you told him this? Have you asked him to leave you alone?" Mary asked as her eyes widened.
"Well, yes. I have. A few times. I guess I haven't been very strong with it each time. He's very charming you see. I'm quite weak to his charms." I explained to Mary as I fidgeted in my seat.
I suddenly felt absolutely pathetic. This was the first time I was telling someone my true feelings about Tom, it was even the first time I was saying these feelings out loud. It was correct in that I had feebly told Tom to stop bothering me a few times. But I was never strong enough to enforce my stance. Therefore it made sense that he would not take my request seriously. He wasn't really doing anything wrong.
I also felt inadequate indulging these thoughts with Mary. She was so bright and talented – and also strong as she put it herself. She always seemed to be on good terms with Tom, but I had never seen her fall for his charms. The fact that she preferred the boyish Andrew Hartwell over the handsome and charming Tom Riddle with no hesitation said a lot about her. She probably thought I was really silly for not properly telling Tom to leave me alone.
"Oh Tori. Even before we became friends I've been watching you two for a while. You and Tom are after all the two most attractive people in the school. I saw you two becoming a couple a mile off. But you never seemed to look his way, until this year. He's certainly laying the charm thick on you, and it is working." Mary frowned.
I chose not to respond but once again shot her a dirty look. I felt feeble telling her my thoughts and feelings but she was dictating them back to me in agreeance. I didn't like it.
"Therefore it's not your fault. He knows you're pulling away and he's losing control. You should only need to say no once. What he's doing is manipulation. I think we need to act upon it right now." Mary stated as she quickly shot up from her seat, grabbing my arm to yank me up from mine.
Once again my negative thoughts towards Mary quickly vanished as her words resonated with me. I already knew it was the case that Tom knew all of his interactions with me were quite intoxicating to me. That, as much as I wanted to run, his touch always rooted me to my spot and he always seemed to have complete and utter control over me. But hearing someone else speak negatively about Tom's authority over me made me feel a lot better. All of my fellow Slytherin seventh years were always saying how lucky I was to have gained Tom's affections which clouded my judgment. But hearing Mary's unfavourable opinion over the situation was clearing my thoughts.
"What do you propose we do?" I asked Mary suddenly.
"As members of the house of Slytherin, you and Tom share a common head of house. Professor Slughorn. We're going straight to him." Mary responded as she frogmarched me from the library and through the corridors on the path to Slughorn's office.
"Slughorn doesn't actively dislike me, but has no favourable feelings towards me. On the other hand he absolutely adores Tom. This isn't going to do anything." I loudly protested, but made no effort to stop Mary as I followed her willingly.
"That may be true. But we've got a few things to our advantage. Slughorn has always liked me a lot as well. As Head Girl he'll listen to my case." Mary stated.
I nodded, in order to let her continue as I could tell she had more to add on.
"This is going to be very harsh to hear and let me say I completely disagree with Slughorn's stance. But at the last Slug Club party, I was under the impression that Slughorn wasn't a big fan of a relationship between yourself and Riddle. He kept pushing me towards Riddle. When that didn't work he tried my sixth year Hufflepuff prefect, the one that's related to that famous alchemist." Mary started to babble on.
This was perhaps the cruellest thing that Mary had said to me today. Every other thing she had said to annoy me were just facts and compliments. Although not a compliment, her statement was a fact. I had overheard Slughorn say the exact thing to Newt, that he felt I wasn't up to Tom's standard. Therefore Mary's statement didn't bring out any ill feelings inside of me. I didn't blame her for Slughorn's rationing and I had long accepted that Slughorn did not think I was a worthy person.
"Yes, that is true." I responded with no emotion evident in my voice. Mary shot me a weird look and I guessed it was due to my neutral response, before she continued on.
"Therefore if you're going to him to say you wish to cease Tom's advances, he's getting something out of it too." Mary quietly said as we reached closer to Slughorn's office.
For the first time in my life I was absolutely glad that I wasn't one of Slughorn's favourites. What Mary was saying made perfect sense. I wasn't sure what Slughorn would say or how he would propose to get Tom to leave me alone, but he most likely was on the same team and would be able to help this happen.
We finally reached Slughorn's office and Mary rapped on the door loudly. Feeling a little nervous at what we were about to do I made sure to stand behind Mary.
Slughorn opened his office door and blinked in confusion at the sight of Mary and I. His confusion turned into a smile.
"Miss Figglestill, Miss Black. What a lovely surprise. Come through, come through. Can I get you both a drink?" Professor Slughorn offered as he stood aside to let Mary and I through.
Mary asked for a butterbeer as she stepped in but I noticed that her eyes landed on something that made her stop in her tracks. I followed her in but when I saw what she was seeing, I too skidded to a halt.
"Professor Scamander and I were having a drink together. I'm thinking of travelling next year over the summer. He was giving me his expertise on Bicorn horns as I'm thinking of gathering some. Purely for academic purposes of course." Professor Slughorn explained.
My back stiffened at the sight of Newt. It had been about a week since Andrew and I had stumbled across the letter from the Veela institute. I hadn't confronted Newt about it. I didn't feel capable of gathering the courage to ask him why he taken a shining to me. I also didn't want to admit to him I had read his private mail. Therefore I had kept a distance outside of class. I wasn't sure whether he was catching on or not, but he seemed to be directing more questions to me lately over other students in the class.
"Oh hello Victoria, what an absolute pleasure. Lovely to see you too, err…I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name." Newt stated and then turned to Mary with a sheepish grin.
"It's Mary Figglestill. Don't worry, you won't be forgetting it when I'm a famous Arithmancy researcher after I finish school," Mary piped up very coolly before turning to Slughorn "Actually, Tori and I were hoping to be able to speak to you alone, Professor Slughorn."
"You can have Professor Slughorn in a moment. I'm interested in hearing all about your aspirations in Arithmancy. I myself was never great with numbers." Newt responded as he patted the two seats next to him around Slughorn's table.
I was hoping that Mary would take a seat next to Newt. Instead she took the spare seat next to Slughorn and I reluctantly sat myself down next to Newt.
Mary then began to launch into speaking about her passion for the subject of Arithmancy. I wanted to listen out of respect for my good friend, but I found my thoughts drifting away. It was hard. Arithmancy was quite a tiresome subject and I barely understood a word that Mary was saying.
"Very enlightening. Thank you Mary. I feel like I've learned quite a bit about Arithmancy this evening." Newt politely responded once Mary had tied up her lecture.
"Now girls, what do I owe you the pleasure of this visit? As lovely as it has been unfortunately bedtime is coming up." Slughorn asked Mary.
Mary and I shot uncomfortable looks. I wouldn't feel easy with any other teacher being privy to the information we wanted to share with Slughorn. But right now I really didn't want Newt to be involved with my private life. What if he went and wrote to that Veela institute? Surely Tom and I must be an interesting topic. The Veela was the one left being charmed and looking like a fool.
"As I stated before. I think Tori would feel more comfortable if it was just us. Sorry Professor Scamander." Mary awkwardly stated, biting her lip as she turned to Newt.
This immediately got Newt's attention as he sat up straight.
"Tori, you're in trouble? What's going on?" Newt asked seriously.
"It doesn't matter to you!" I cried out, the first time I had ever been anything less than polite to Newt as I felt my emotions overcome me "You're just my Care of the Magical Creatures teacher! Nothing more."
The room grew silent at my words. It took a while for Newt to respond.
"Oh. Oh, I see." Newt sadly stated as he got up from his chair. My statement seemed to have really hurt him.
I was torn between emotions as I saw Newt's reaction to my blunt statement. I must admit I felt a bit of glee. Newt was displaying feelings that I did when I read his letter. I was guessing he was hurt because he now realised that the relationship between us was just a formality.
But then guilt and sadness washed over me. Why was he upset by what I had said? If I was just a study to him, why would this be a problem? It was also hard to see such a happy-go-lucky person grow sad because of a cold statement I had said. I may be a Slytherin, but I wasn't that cruel.
Whilst Mary didn't seem to pick up on any seriousness to what I had said, I noticed that Slughorn was shooting weird looks as he looked between Newt and I.
"Thank you Professor Scamander. I'm sorry that as a student I've asked you to leave, but it's quite serious. There's a boy that's harassing Tori, and we wish to report him to Professor Slughorn." Mary stated curtly.
"Is it the Lestrange boy? I've noticed he's always been quite horrible to you Tori. I may have a history with that family, but I can say with certainty that boy is quite cruel to her." Newt spoke up.
Without even realising that Newt had almost inappropriately used my nickname, Mary responded to him.
"Rangvald Lestrange is a nasty piece of work. But it's not him. It's Riddle. He's still obsessing over Tori and holding full control over her. He called things off between them, but he still wants her under his control. It's sick." Mary stated loudly.
Newt's head shot towards me upon hearing Mary's words. I avoided his gaze. I felt awkward after snapping to him that he was 'only my teacher' and saying that he meant nothing more to me.
This also caught Slughorn's attention. He shot a very dirty look towards Mary.
"Yes, Newt. Perhaps if it is best you left. I wouldn't want a faculty member to be subject to such slander against the brightest student this school has ever seen." Slughorn stated seriously.
"How do you know its slander? You haven't heard her out yet." Newt darkly responded as he put an arm on my shoulder whilst meeting Slughorn's gaze with his own intense one.
Mary looked increasingly uncomfortable as she saw the stand-off between Newt and Slughorn. I could tell she didn't mean to cause tensions between two teachers and as a do-gooder who never caused trouble it wasn't settling well with her. I'm guessing she also wasn't used to not having Slughorn's approval.
"I-I'm sure it's not something Riddle realises he's doing. But for his and Tori's own good, maybe you could have a word with him to ask him to stop chasing after her?" Mary meekly asked and I could tell she was trying to backpedal a little in order to remain in Slughorn's good graces.
"Miss Figglestill, you know better than this. You know it is poor practice to make such bold accusations with such little evidence. How do we not know that perhaps Miss Black is feeling a little scorned after being dumped by Riddle and is playing into his polite and gentleman actions? Perhaps she's seeing what she wants to see." Slughorn angrily lectured.
I felt a lump form in my throat. I knew Slughorn would react negatively to Mary and I coming to see him to report Tom harassing me. I just never expected for him to be so nasty and say such horrible things. I certainly wasn't strong enough to defend myself against such harsh accusations and instead I stayed silent as tears pricked my eyes.
"Sorry, Professor Slughorn," Mary said with her head held down in shame "But if you keep an eye out for it, and see it with your own eyes, then will you do something?"
"Yes. If I see it, I would. But I doubt I will." Slughorn curtly responded.
"I believe Victoria. She has no reason to lie. She's part-Veela, I think that counts for something. If she wanted Riddle's attention she would easily be able to obtain it with her Veela charms. Considering she's here instead trying to plead her case, well. I think that speaks volumes." Newt spoke up in defence.
Once again I couldn't face him. Whilst I appreciated that he was backing me up, I didn't enjoy his statement. It seemed like concrete proof that he was in fact studying me as he had bought up my heritage.
"I must warn you, Newt. It appears maybe her charms are working on you. As she said to you before – you're just a teacher to her. Don't let yourself get too caught up and go into dangerous waters purely for a pretty face." Slughorn scorned.
My sadness disappeared as anger started to course through my body. For too long I had let Slughorn look down on me. I had long accepted he never thought I was good enough for his club, or that I would amount to much after I finished school. I had accepted accidental insult, after accidental insult.
That was the issue. It had been building up for long I was about to unleash it all.
"I understand, Professor Slughorn. You don't think I'm anything special and thus the only reason why Newt and I would connect is due to powers I may possess. But I can assure you I'm a very good Care of the Magical Creatures student. You connect with some of your female students, are you saying they've all got charms on you?" I unleashed angrily.
Tension grew in the air that was so thick it felt you could slice it with a knife. I could see Mary wince at my statement, whilst Newt held a very proud grin towards me.
Slughorn on the other hand looked livid and could only let out angry splutters. After a few moments he was able to string together a sentence.
"No – that's – entirely – different!" Slughorn defended with his voice raised.
"How is it different? I find it quite insulting that you assume Newt has fallen under some kind of Veela charm because he teaches a subject you know nothing about." I shouted angrily.
"I know a lot about magical beasts thank you very much. Now why don't you scuttle al-" Slughorn tried to state but I quickly cut him off.
"Tell me then. What do you give Bowtruckle's as a distraction if you wish to take woods or leaves from its tree? What were Shrakes bred for? What are the difference between Ghouls and Ogres?" I quickly asked him.
There was complete silence. Slughorn darted his eyes between Newt and I, and with a sad sigh he hung his head to indicate defeat.
"Bowtruckles are best distracted by wood lice or fairy eggs if you wish to collect from the tree it's guarding. Shrakes were selectively bred by wizard fisherman to harass some muggle fisherman that insulted them – these creatures will chew through muggle fishing equipment. Ogres don't possess the slimy skin or buck teeth that ghouls have. They're also a little more intelligent as well." I answered.
There was more silence between us all until Newt was the first one to speak up.
"She's right in every single point, in fact if this were a test she'd receive extra credit for referencing lesser-known facts." Newt stated to back me up.
"Therefore you can see that it's possible that Newt and I could share an academic connection and why it's quite insulting you can think otherwise." I stated smugly.
"Well. I must apologise to everyone in this room, I did not think this meeting would get so heated. Professor Slughorn I mean no disrespect, and as stated before I just hope that should you see Riddle do anything inappropriate you will then act upon it. Now I'm going to bed." Mary quickly blabbed before she sent me a small smile and scurried out of Slughorn's office.
I could have been annoyed that Mary had thrown me into the lion's den by organising this impromptu meeting and then had abandoned me, but I wasn't. Mary had come here to defend me and had put her reputation on the line to try and get me help. She was one of very few who had stood up for me and I appreciated her gesture. I was glad for her sake she was able to leave on an almost-amicable note.
I had expected Slughorn to continue to be incredibly angry due to our heated exchange and the fact I had showed him up. But instead he broke out into a wide smile.
"I never thought I'd see the day that you'd unleash that famous Black temper that runs through your family. Good for you!" Slughorn complimented me.
This time it was me who abandoned my anger. Deep down I knew that I should be livid that it took this much time and effort to finally have Slughorn treat me with a bit of respect. But I was just overjoyed that I had finally earned it. Therefore I ended up sending him a sweet smile and calmed down.
"Thank you Professor. Now, with that Tom business. I'll communicate with him directly, and be a little more assertive. I'm sure this will clear up any er, misunderstandings." I sweetly smiled, beaming towards Slughorn.
"Thank you Miss Black. Now I must insist you leave, as I'd hate for you to get into trouble. If not from Professor Dippet, but Peeves who loves torturing students who are unauthorised to be outside their common rooms outside of hours." Professor Slughorn kindly stated.
I just smiled and bid Slughorn a goodnight as I quickly scampered outside of his office and began to make my descent back to the Slytherin common room. I didn't expect for Newt to follow me, however moments later I heard him running to catch up to me.
"I'll walk you back to the Slytherin dungeons. We wouldn't want Peeves to pull a prank on you." Newt said to me.
"You're not meant to know exactly where our common room is. It's a top secret." I responded with a frown. I didn't want Newt following me to my common room but knew I couldn't really say anything to protest. He was a member of faculty, he could do whatever he wanted.
"You forget I once was a student here. I had a very dear friend in Slytherin and she told me where it was. But I can gladly tell you where the Hufflepuff common room is as compensation. It's near the-" Newt began but I cut him off quickly.
"Near the kitchens. I know. Kreacher, the house elf of the main Black family home told me over the summer holidays when I was there for an engagement party. He knows some Hogwarts house elves." I responded smartly. It was a silly statement to make, but as I was annoyed with Newt I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of telling me silly, useless facts he thinks I didn't already know.
There was silence between us for a few moments until Newt finally spoke up.
"Are you aware you just used your Veela charms on Slughorn?" Newt grinned, completely ignoring all of my coldness I had shown him this evening.
"No I didn't." I defiantly responded.
"You did, you're just not aware you did. It's hard to explain half-Veela powers in words. But along with your sweet words and sweet smile you channelled your energy to win Slughorn over and it worked." Newt went on to explain.
I chose not to respond to Newt as we were getting fairly close to the Slytherin common room. His statement was both infuriating and devastating to me. I thought that maybe I had won Slughorn over tonight due to the one time in my life I had shown some sharp wit. But according to Newt it was because I used powers I didn't even realise I was using.
"Have you studied Veelas in detail in your travels?" I asked him curiously. It was the best I could do to not fly off the handle and tell him about how I had read the letter on his desk about studying me.
"Not extensively, no. I've done bits of research here and there and made some enquiries." Newt responded.
I only sent a swift nod in response. It had been such an eventful night I no longer had the energy to be rude or show angst towards Newt. I quite honestly just wanted to go to bed.
"Well. Goodnight Professor Scamander. You may know the location of the Slytherin common room but I certainly can't let you in. There hasn't been an outsider in here since the late thirteenth century, and I can't let my house down." I honestly stated to Newt once we got to the stone wall which served entrance to the Slytherin dungeons.
"I certainly wouldn't expect that. Sweet dreams, Tori." Newt responded.
I wasn't sure how we would depart as I was awaiting for Newt to be the one to leave so I could state the password to get past the stone wall. I was growing a little curious as to how he would depart. Would he just turn away and walk off, or would he have another action?
I was also curious as to whether he was ignoring the fact I had been fairly cold to him this evening or whether he was blissfully unaware. He's been conversing with me this evening as if I hadn't been avoiding him this week, or as if I hadn't said he's nothing but a teacher to me.
Before he could do what he was going to do, the wall to the Slytherin dungeon rose and none other than Tom Riddle had emerged from the passageway from behind it. Tom looked surprised to see Newt and I but quickly composed himself with a smile.
"Good evening professor, Victoria. I noticed Victoria hadn't yet retreated back to the Slytherin dungeons for the evenings so I was going out to make sure no harm had come to her. Come along Victoria, I'll escort you back inside." Tom formally stated.
Newt immediately stiffened upon hearing Tom's words. I'm sure that unlike Slughorn, Newt probably believed Mary and I when we reported Tom's control over me. But now he was made aware he was able to see between the lines of Tom's polite demeanour and see exactly what Tom was doing.
"That's very noble of you Riddle. Let me inform you that Tori has had a very big meeting with Professor Slughorn and myself and most likely wants to go straight to bed." Newt spoke up.
My eyes quickly darted to Tom. I wanted to see his reaction to Newt's recommendation and also the fact that Newt had called me by my nickname 'Tori'. Unfortunately for me Tom had his usual blank look on his face that was completely unreadable.
"Yes Professor. She's more than welcome to go to bed, no one is stopping her," Tom said politely, but then his voice grew a lot darker "You two must be fairly close, only those close to Tori seem to call her by that name."
I knew Tom would pick up on Newt's use of my name. Mary didn't, but Tom certainly did.
"I'm going to bed." I briskly responded as I continued going down the passage of the now-opened path to the Slytherin common room.
I didn't bother bidding Tom goodnight or saying any further departing words to Newt. I didn't even bother sending a glance backwards or see if Tom was following me. Those two males were the only things causing confusion and complication in my life at the moment, and for once I was going to just simply walk away from both of them.