I know not Love
Chapter 7
lavya0393
The large oaken doors held on iron hinges that contained the library were bolted and locked shut. Tom sighed. This wouldn't be a problem of course, just an unnecessary hassle. As if anyone else in the entirety of Hogwarts would be tempted to enter the library at seven in the morning. As if anyone in the entirety of Hogwarts would be tempted to rush off to the library at all. Hurriedly, he whispered "Alohomora", thinking that they really should do more to secure such an important part of the castle. He placed two hands on the black metal handles and pushed them open.
Amaryllis Catarinna Shirley Yvonne Covington III sat hunched in a distant corner of the library. She didn't know the exact time, but she figured it was around 7 in the morning, because the early-morning light was dimly shining through the archery-holes. She was tired and exhausted but not from physical stress. There were so many things running through her mind. She had been sure to wake up extra early and sign herself out of the hospital wing. She didn't want to face Riddle after what had happened. She knew she had been very, very close to giving everything away. After all, she had been stupid enough to drink verataserum, and try as she might, she couldn't completely resist its effects.
Amaryllis had been sure to leave Riddle a note as soon as she could pull herself together. She didn't want him to ever see her in a position like that again. She had been in the library for around…. 4 hours or so, crying and struggling with herself. Everything was starting to catch up to her again, and she couldn't let it… Remembering that fateful night almost four years ago had been hard enough, but almost letting someone else get involved was far too much for her to handle. Especially someone like Riddle. Everyone knew how…different he was. There were even rumours that he was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself. -Or that he was actually a Mudblood. A Muggle-born in Slytherin! Imagine that. They would have torn him to pieces already if that had been true. But about his ancestry….Well Everyone knew that Slytherin wasn't a sunshine-and-daisies sort of place. They had a dark reputation and Amaryllis didn't want to get involved with that sort of thing…And Riddle was the ringleader too. It wasn't good to get on his bad side, but neither would she lay down for him to walk all over her. She wasn't scared of him, but neither was she also not afraid. It was a complicated situation, a tricky business, this. It was best if she just stayed out of his way for now.
She thought back to first year, their first train ride together, and almost laughed at her naivety back then. She wondered about the rumors, and why he had lied to her about being a half-blood. -If he was a muggle-born. He might even be a pure-blood, for all she knew. But she couldn't know for sure, I mean, they had never actually talked more than that, had they? And what little communication they did have was nothing more than a few words and usually involved a few insults and insinuations. How had she every thought that she could have been friends with him? She knew how, because she was stupid, and she was eleven. Eleven-year-olds usually think that the world is a happy place, and that everyone was friendship material. So really, in short, she realized that she knew absolutely nothing about Tom Riddle. She didn't even really know if he was being truthful when he said he was a Half-Blood. She didn't know if he was related to Salazar Slytherin himself. In fact, all she did know was just as much as everyone else in their year, and possibly in the whole school: that he was undeniably intelligent, and positively charming. And, in her opinion, a stuck-up, manipulative, cold-hearted, evil wretch. There was absolutely nothing good about him whatsoever.
She wondered why it was always the quiet, handsome ones that turn out to be the biggest jerks. Amaryllis slapped herself suddenly. What was she thinking? How dare she even think such thoughts? Handsome? Tom Riddle? Well, if she did look at him with objective eyes like the rest of the female student body, she supposed he was handsome. Obviously. But she didn't, her image of him was distorted by the pure hatred she held for him. He was ugly. In her mind, she would rather marry a cockroach than admit that she knew that Tom Riddle was handsome.
She was shaken out of her denial and guilt by a creaking, clanging sound, which she realized were the doors of the library opening. She panicked; who else was in here at about seven in the morning? Who else would choose this place to go to? She had to leave now. She was forced to leave. She couldn't stay here any longer. Damn to the depths whoever had opened those doors. Didn't they realise that she was in a position of painstaking confusion here? And that she needed some quiet time to shift around her messed-up thoughts to where they should be?
With that, Amaryllis Covington pulled herself together and ran as fast as she could around the ancient bookshelves and to the back door of the library, accidentally stubbing her toe in the process. Cursing and praying to god that whoever it was at the other end wouldn't see her, she jerked open the heavy handle and closed it behind her with such force that a deep reverberating, ringing sound could be heard throughout the rest of the library.
At the other end of the library, a drowsy Tom Riddle stood. The back door of the library was a little to his right and far away. He could have sworn that he saw a slight, chocolate-skinned figure hastily disappear through it, as a sharp, loud sound echoed through the vacant library. So now he was having hallucinations? Maybe he should have stayed in the infirmary a little longer. He sat down at the nearest table to collect his thoughts. He need a little quiet time to regain himself. He didn't have time to dwell on the mysterious stranger he had seemingly evicted from the library at 7 in the morning.