Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters!
Chapter Five.
October 6th, 1943
Just over a month had passed since school started, and neither Tom nor Emma could find what they were looking for. They also hadn't had another "meeting" at three o'clock in the morning since, but to have one would be impossible. Now in their O.W.L year, it was almost impossible to not be up until that time doing homework, anyways.
"Prefect duties tonight." Tom said quietly as he approached the couch Emma was sitting on. "You up for a chat?"
"Yeah." She replied, looking over at Malfoy, who was watching their exchange curiously, and giving him a small smile.
"Good. Nine o'clock, Ashwood." Tom shot her a secret smile and she went back to working on her Defense essay.
"What's going on with you two?" A voice asked, and Emma looked up, mildly surprised. Abraxas was standing where Tom had just been, a look of annoyance on his face.
"Nothing, Brax." Emma replied warily, "Don't worry about it. And don't you dare try threatening him again. I don't want you to get hurt." She said harshly. Malfoy looked taken aback, but said nothing. He turned around and walked away, and Emma felt a cruel sense of satisfaction.
She closed her book and left the Common Room, walking up to the Great Hall to get some lunch before it was finished being served.
"Emma!" She whipped around to see stringy haired Myrtle following her. She smiled widely.
"Myrtle! What are you doing here, down in the dungeons?"
"Olive chased me down here." She said miserably, before bursting into tears. Emma watched awkwardly, not quite knowing what to do.
"Erm— would you like to come up to lunch with me?" She asked, and Myrtle nodded, smiling.
"Maybe if Olive sees me with you, she'll leave me alone." She resolved, "Will Tom be there?" Upon finding out that Emma and Tom were not in fact together, Myrtle seemed to decide that she, like almost every other girl in the school, would realize her massive crush on him.
Emma shrugged. "He might," She answered truthfully, "He and I don't coordinate our schedules."
Myrtle just giggled (presumably at the thought of Tom), and followed Emma up the stairs. They made it to the corridor above the dungeons, and when they got to the Great Hall, Myrtle giggled in delight at the sight of Tom, who was sitting with the usual crowd of Avery, Lestrange, and Mulciber.
They made their way over, and Tom spotted Emma right away. If he was shocked at her company, then he didn't show it. Emma walked over to the Slytherin table and Lestrange automatically shifted so that she could take her place next to Tom.
All of the boys were looking at Myrtle, who had come around the other side, with contempt, and Emma looked at them expectantly. "Avery, Mulciber." She said, her tone commanding, "Separate."
They both glanced between Emma and Tom for a split second before they obeyed, moving aside so that Myrtle could sit right across from Tom.
"Riddle, pass the rolls, please." Emma requested, not even sparing him a glance. He handed her a small bowl filled with little rolls of bread, and she said, "Thank you."
They ate in silence for a while, and Emma barely looked up. When she did, she was annoyed to see that Myrtle was staring at Tom from across the table. Could she be more obvious?
She cleared her throat. "Have all of you finished the Potion's essay?" She asked, looking mostly at Avery, Mulciber, and Lestrange. Two of them shook their heads, but Lestrange nodded.
"I finished, as well." Tom spoke up, turning his head to face Emma. She looked past him and saw that Dumbledore had finished his lunch and was leaving the hall, presumably to go teach the next class. She relaxed, but only he could tell—that look of holding her breath in for the entire conversation was gone.
"Good." She said, letting a small smile grace her features, "I expect Slughorn won't be too happy if not many of us turn it in."
"Well he won't be happy if we don't turn it in." Avery chuckled, "But I doubt he could care less about his perfect Prefects." Emma looked at him sharply, and he closed his mouth immediately. She then remembered Myrtle, who was sitting there quietly.
"Myrtle, what class do you have next?" She asked quietly, and the younger girl looked up.
"Transfiguration." She muttered, almost stuttering. Emma looked over at Tom to see him staring at Myrtle with an intense gaze. She nudged him with her knee, and he nudged her back.
"Stop." She hissed in his ear, her breath tickling him.
"Stop what?" He muttered back, turning that charming smile onto his friend. She just smirked challengingly at him.
"We have Charms and then Potions." Emma said, turning a smiling face back over to the Ravenclaw, "But you know, Myrtle, I saw Dumbledore leave, so maybe you should go to class?"
"Good idea, Em." She smiled brightly, "Thanks for letting me sit with you guys! Bye Emma!" She started to run out of the hall, before calling back, "Bye, Tom!"
"I reckon we should get going to class now too, eh Tom?" Lestrange said, and the good looking boy, who was still staring Emma down, nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't move a muscle.
Finally, her eye twitched and then she blinked, and Tom finally looked away, a smug look on his face. "I win again, Emma." He muttered, and she rolled her eyes.
"I just caught sight of Horny Hornby coming this way. Of course I twitched." She replied, and went into a coughing fit as a plump but pretty black haired girl came towards them.
"Good afternoon, Tom." She said, her voice thick and too sweet, "How are you today?"
He seemed to be stifling a laugh, much to Emma's pleasure. "Hello, Olive," He said in a cool tone, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"The pleasure is all mine, Tom." Olive said back, casting a dark glance at Emma, who was still sitting rather close to him.
"Oh hey Hornby." She smiled gently at the older girl, "How are you today?"
"Shut up, Ashwood." Olive said with a scowl, "I wasn't talking to you."
Emma shut up, but glared at the girl, wishing her a slow, painful death. "So Tom, Hogsmeade is coming up." Olive continued as though she hadn't just scorned his—for lack of a better term—best friend, "Would you like to come with me?"
Tom sighed, "Olive. You've asked me every single time since I was in my third year. And the answer remains the same. I'm going with Emma again this year, and possibly Avery and Lestrange." Mulciber didn't have permission to go to Hogsmeade since his privileges were revoked last year after he sexually assaulted a girl. He would have been expelled, but thanks to Tom and Emma, and a new piece of magic they'd been working on, her memory was slightly altered. They suspected Mulciber, but they couldn't pinpoint him for sure.
Olive's face became angry. "Why do you always go with her?" She practically shrieked, "You're not even dating!"
Emma shrugged, "Guess he just likes my company better. Sorry, Olive." She shot her a death glare before rearranging her face (again) into a lovely smile, "Maybe you can join Tom and I next time?"
The damage had already been done. Olive was staring at Emma, terrified, and she turned and stomped away without another word. Emma felt Tom's gaze on her again, and as they stood up to go to class, he whispered, "What did you do?"
"Don't worry." Emma said quietly, "She's getting what she deserves, and she'll never bug me again. And she won't tell a soul." She stopped dead in her tracks. "Can you cover for me? Say that I'm sick or something—I'll stop by the hospital wing and everything."
Tom nodded. "Yeah." He said, "Just be careful, okay?"
"I will be." She said breathlessly, "But almost everyone needs to get to class. Now."
He nodded once again, and turned in the other direction, going towards their classroom. Emma turned back the way they came, and slid behind a tapestry stealthily, waiting for the halls to be empty.
Finally, the last bell rang, and the hall was empty except for one straggler—a seventh year Hufflepuff girl; same house as Olive. Emma nearly snorted at the thought, but she peeked out from behind as the girl began to walk by. Expelleramus. She thought, and non verbally disarmed the girl.
Her wand came flying into Emma's hand, and the blonde Slytherin stepped out from behind the tapestry. She had her face set to her most menacing look as she whispered to the girl, "What's your name?"
"R-rebecca." The girl managed to squeak, and Emma smiled.
"Hello Rebecca." She said, and then, "Silenco!" She looked the girl once over again, "Petrificus Totallus!" She was stiff as a board, and Emma nonverbally levitated her along to the secret passageway behind the tapestry.
She propped Rebecca up against the wall and turned to face her, making complete and total eye contact. She held up her own wand, and stared at it for a moment before putting it away. She took Rebecca's wand out and put it to its owner's temple.
Emma did some more non verbal spells—dark magic that she and Tom had discovered over the last year or so that she'd been practicing on her parents—and then said very softly, "Rebecca, you and I had a little talk today about Quidditch. I told you that I was hoping that Slytherin wins, and you said they had no chance. We debated but then you left. I was very polite and sweet, and I told you that I was headed to the hospital wing. You went to class. Now you will go to class and act completely ordinary. No one will realize anything is different. Tonight, after dinner, you will go up to Olive Hornby's dorm. You will wait for her to arrive, and then you will take a knife and attack her with it. You will not kill her, but scare her. Then you will take full accountability for your actions, and go on with life as normal. Nothing will change after this event." She did not break the eye contact the entire time, and was satisfied to see that Rebecca's pupils were getting bigger and smaller as she spoke. She muttered a few more incantations under her breath, before removing the wand, which would give her ten seconds to remove the body bind curse.
"I don't care what you say, Ashwood. Hufflepuff is going to win this year." Rebecca said, before looking at Emma closely, "You don't look too good—didn't you say you were on the way to the Hospital Wing?"
"Yes." Emma smiled widely at the girl, "Thank you for reminding me! I'll see you later, Rebecca!" Emma called, and she made her way up the stairs to the hospital wing.
Three hours later, Madam Pomfrey came over to her bedside. "Well, my dear, I don't know what was wrong with you... but you're perfectly healthy now! Your blood tests have run clean!"
"Thank you, I should get going to Prefect duties anyways." Emma smiled nicely at her; she'd always liked the matron, and felt bad when she had to fake an illness, but it was necessary. She got up and left, walking briskly down to the library where she and Tom would meet.
"Emma." He seemed relieved, "What did you do?"
"Something horrible." She said, "She will never say anything to me again."
"Was it stupid enough that you can get caught?"
"I didn't use an unforgiveable curse, if that's what you're asking. I'm always afraid they can detect those." Emma said quietly, "I used that spell we learned last Christmas."
"And it worked?" Tom's face was pure disbelief, but it morphed into a real smile. "It really worked?"
"Yes!" She said, "I mean I used it on a Hufflepuff, but it worked. So we might actually be able to get away with using it when we..." She trailed off: he knew what she meant.
"Let me take you somewhere." Tom said, "Blow off our Prefect duties for—one night. How many do we get these days?"
"Zero." Emma said quietly, "But I never thought I'd see the day where Tom Riddle wants to blow off duty."
"Just this once." He said, "Just for you." And then he took off, walking quickly towards the closest set of stairs. Emma almost had to run to keep up with his long strides, but they ended up on the seventh floor in front of a big patch of wall.
"Where are we?" She asked breathlessly, and he just gave her a lopsided smile.
"This, Em, is the Room of Requirement."
A/N: Sorry if it's a little bit rough... I didn't look over it because I'm pumped to just go to bed tonight! So this chapter shows a bit more of Emma's malevolent and cruel side, I guess. I think I just want you to remember that she's not there to be a girl Tom Riddle falls in love with or something. What shall happen next in the Room? What will happen with Horny Hornby (sorry I love that name) and a fast fact: Rebecca was Emma's original name, but I decided to change it last minute. (I WAS HONESTLY GOING TO NAME HER REBECCA BLACK TO BE LIKE SIRIUS' AUNT OR SOMETHING, BUT THEN I REMEMBERED THAT STUPID SINGER)... that is all! Thanks for reviewing/alerting! See you next time!