AN: may I take this opportunity to say sorry for not updating as soon as I would've hoped but its just, ugh, schoolwork and assessments are finally getting to me D: anyway chapter 2 is here so enjoy!

Chapter 2: Doubts

Tom stormed into the Slytherin Common Room in a foul mood. First, for some reason he had been unable to kill a filthy defenceless mudblood, and second of all, he had just found out that the Ministry were reopening the case of the murder of Anna Rews, a girl he'd murdered back in fifth year. His fellow Death Eaters stood in front of him apprehensively.

"What is it?" he spat. They glanced at each other.

"Well the thing is," Dolohov stepped forward, "We've all been talking about…being your followers."

"And?"

"And well, we've sort of come to a decision. We don't want to be your followers anymore. Sure we still worship the Dark Arts, but you don't treat us proper anyways and we're always taking the rap for whatever you do," Dolohov finished. There was an ugly silence. Suddenly Tom laughed.

"So you think that just because I, more powerful than any of you can imagine, don't treat you equal to me are going to, what, stop being my followers?" he laughed mockingly. "Fine. Suit yourselves. The Dark Arts waits for no one, remember that. Besides, you all slowed me down anyway," he remarked. The others gaped at each other, unsure of whether he was actually letting them off that easily. Uneasily, they shuffled back to their dorms.

Tom draped himself over a couch and reflected. Why had he been unable to kill her? How was she any different to the other filthy mudbloods he'd previously killed? Tom couldn't accept the fact that somehow, he'd been distracted by that Ravenclaw girl. She was practically begging to be killed, being a defenceless mudblood lying on the floor wandless. WHY COULDN'T HE HAVE KILLED HER? He thought about her lying there bleeding, but it didn't give him the same sort of sadistic pleasure he wanted. He knew that she'd seen some expression on his face, what had she thought it was? Whatever weakness it was, it still didn't explain his second act of 'mercy'. Right after casting the Sectumsempra Charm, he had anonymously alerted a passing student who then raised the alarm and she had been carted off to the Hospital Wing. Why hadn't he left her to bleed to death? Abruptly, Tom stood up and left for the Hospital Wing. If he was going to try and find answers, that was the best place to start.

"Muffliato," he whispered as he snuck into the Wing. Quietly, he made his way past the many full beds, most of the he knew the reason they were there, until he reached her bed. Damn, she was still out. Well he wasn't just going to leave her and let her detail her 'horror' story to everyone else; he'd just have to wait until she woke up. Tom conjured a chair up and sat, subconsciously listening to the sounds around him. He picked up her heartbeat and her breathing pattern and tried to stay focused. She looked peaceful in sleep that he almost felt bad for trying to kill . Just watching her was interesting, the way she would occasionally scrunch up her nose, or when she quietly murmured things in her sleep.

How would he approach her about this? Of course, he could always drag her out and Crucio the answers out of her…but that seemed a little too mainstream for him. He did that to other people, people he was able to kill easily. First of all, he knew that she would be terrified at seeing him, so he needed to convince her that he wasn't going to harm her. All he wanted were answers. He needed to talk to her in a diplomatic , hold on there, diplomatic? What on earth was this girl doing to Tom? First he couldn't kill her, now he was suggesting diplomacy? This was serious.

Tom returned to the Wing in the morning to check on her, but found her surrounded by a group of girls. Her friends, he presumed. They were chatting animatedly, though the girl was still out, but chatter immediately turned to hushed whispers as they noticed him. Not wanting to seem like he cared, or anything, he gave them a scathing glare and walked off. Tom was agitated and why? Because of some stupid girl. This pathetic mudblood was responsible for his out-of-character behavious and he wanted to know why. He heard giggling behind him.

"Shush, he'll hear you!"

"I don't care, he's so handsome..."

"Have you not heard those rumours, he apparently killed Anna!" Then there was silence. By the time Tom had turned around, those girls from the Wing had gone. Sighing in relief, he turned back to the Wing. Thankfully, no one was there. As he reached her bed, he realised that the flowers on her bedside were dead. Muttering a spell, they bloomed once more.

"Thanks, they look much better now." Tom jumped back. The girl was sitting up and staring at him with a slightly amused but confused expression, though she was not cowering in fear like he'd expected. Another thing to add to his list of truly unexplainable things.

"I see you've woken up," he commented.

"I see you've come to visit me?" she remarked. "Let me guess, I'm thinking it's not for the sympathy?" Tom was shocked. She wasn't even remotely scared or furious at him. Rather, she was finding some humour out of this ridiculous situation. Unless she had some kind of ulterior motive...?

"You guessed correctly," he replied. Now to say everything he had rehearsed. "You're probably wondering why I didn't kill you yesterday?"

"Well sure I'm a little confused, but I'm glad you didn't."

"Ah, yes well you see the thing is, I want to know why."

"Why? Why what?"

"What did you do to me? I've killed mudbloods easily before, yet the best I could to you was to make you bleed." She winced and her hand moved towards her stomach. I felt a pang of...guilt? Guilt that I had caused this pain. How could this be happening to me?

"Uh, um are you alright?" Tom asked cautiously.

"Yeah, mostly. I've got a massive scar but the bleeding's stopped," she replied.

"That's uh, that's good." The girl's eyes widened.

"Hello, hello. What do we have here? The notorious Tom Riddle feeling guilt and sympathy for a 'mudblood' he tried to kill? Wow, if this isn't shocking, then I don't know what is." Tom let out an involuntary chuckle. Truly, this girl was something else. However something was pressing.

"Why aren't you afraid of me? You accuse me of murdering your cousin, I find it hard to believe you would be associating with your cousin's murderer," he asked hesitantly, though he knew he definitely wanted an answer. She paused before answering.

"Well I'm pretty sure you could see I was terrified yesterday, but if you couldn't kill me then, while I was wandless and pretty much screwed, then I'm pretty confident you won't do it now. Can't do it now," she answered carefully. He raised his eyebrows.

"You want to bank on that?" he asked slowly as he drew his wand from his pocket. The smug look on her face started to disappear.

AN: that's chapter 2 up, I hope it was alright. The good news though, is that on my iPod touch Notes, I've got about 8 chapters of this story typed up. You know, when you're bored or on the bus etc. if anyone knows how to transfer the Notes onto the computer please please tell me :D it'll definitely mean faster updates :D

Anyway please don't favourite this story without leaving a review, much appreciated.

Til next time,

xx