Haunting Accommodations

Moaning Myrtle was the girl that died in the girl's bathroom fifty-three years ago and the only girl known to have died from a Basilisk's stare. They were talking about it like it had happened just yesterday. All the colour drained from her face. She looked up absentmindedly and saw a pair of green eyes staring right back at her.

Riddle had witnessed it all. He never really took his eyes off of her during all of his classes, but now he didn't even bother hiding the fact. He saw how Luna's attention was grabbed by the two students' conversation. He also saw how she reacted to the news. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that someone had died in the school or something else entirely. Either way, he was going to find out. However, there was one thing he was certain of. Luna Lovegood was not present last night when the girl's body was discovered.

Goosebumps rose on her arms and dispersed itself down to her feet. He had saw how her calm, even bored, composure change into a worried wreck. She raked through her brain for a good explanation. A death at the school of Hogwarts was unheard of! Of course she would lose her composure over such shocking news. But she had heard of it. She had heard of it in her first year when Harry Potter killed the Basilisk that was living in a secret chamber within the halls of Hogwarts. It was the Basilisk that killed Moaning Myrtle fifty years ago, but also petrified Mr. Filch's cat, Colin Creevy, Justin Fletch, Nearly Headless Nick, and Hermione Granger four years ago. Why were they talking about it like it was the hottest topic? Luna couldn't help but look searchingly into Riddle's eyes.

Riddle couldn't believe what he was seeing. His penetrating gaze did not usually garner the look of a lost puppy. It usually generated mass pandemonium and a need to run as far away from him as possible. He was definitely not used to this. Giving no response, he turned back around to face the front. This girl was certainly beginning to create a real problem for him. For once in his life, he didn't know how to handle her. There were usually only two ways he treated people: one, induce heart-stopping fear to those he found useless or two, manipulate those he found could help him achieve his goal. Luna Lovegood categorically did not belong in the second group, but treating her like the first group didn't seem to get the desired effect either. Riddle was baffled at how to face her. She was many a firsts for him.

Professor Babbling dismissed the class and everyone ran for the door to get ready for dinner. The only two remaining in the classroom were Riddle and Luna. That was the way they had left every class to avoid students hearing a phantom chair being pushed back. She got up tentatively from her seat at the back of the room. Luna wasn't sure how to act. She was afraid he was going to pounce on her right then and there and start his interrogation, but his latest expression might prove otherwise. She watched as Riddle slowly rose from his seat. She stared at his back, trying to gauge what his next move might be. He stood, unwavering, then walked out of the room leisurely.

Luna was dumbfounded. She was fully prepared to endure his wrath. Luna's protuberant eyes darted side to side. She had to find a way to weasel her way out of the arrangements, but defeat soon washed over her and her body slumped in response. Even if she did, there was no way Riddle would let her go. In a way, Luna felt she belonged to him. He was the only one who could see her and he had chose to take her under his wing. There was no fighting it now. She was going no where so long as Tom Riddle was around.

Luna stepped out into the corridor and headed down the spiralling staircase. Riddle was no where to be seen. She knew Slytherin's common room would be in the dungeons and made her way carefully down. If the halls seemed dark and cold yesterday on the third floor, she didn't even know how to start describing the dungeons. The hallways were barely lit with any torches. Any corners where no light reached gave Luna a feeling that something terrifying was about to jump out at her. The shadows that were cast by the torches seemed to cling to her life force, trying to hold her down and tie her to the desolate hollows of a school she didn't know anymore. She didn't let her eyes wander anywhere past the stones that were laid underneath her feet, afraid her imagination might carry her away. Hoping and praying she was getting closer, Luna hurried herself along. Her prayers were answered when she bumped into a pleasantly warm wall. She already knew who it was.

"This is getting really old," Riddle's voice drawled.

Luna could feel herself blushing under the dim light. She cursed herself for allowing herself to walk into him like that again, yet the warmth emanating from his body made her grateful for her stubborn mistake. She looked up and drew back at his reaction. His usual expression was clouded with a mixture of uncertainty bordering between disgust and intrigue. She wasn't sure which she would prefer though disgust would seem more consistent with his behaviour. She stole another glance and saw that his confusion was gone and was replaced with his usual contempt. He stepped aside to reveal a hole in the stone wall. She hesitated, peering in to see a short passageway leading into a plush-looking common room. She peeked up through her eyelashes to check if it was alright to enter. Riddle looked down his nose at her with a quirked eyebrow. Luna hurried through the passage and stepped onto the plush green carpets of the Slytherin common room.

She scanned the room and noticed many green leather sofas and love chairs clustered in groups all over the room. The walls were lined with intricately woven tapestries illustrating the different adventures of the medieval Slytherins. The yellow glow from the lit fireplace caused the green in the room to dance. The windows looking out to the waters of the Black Lake added to the eerie effect. She walked towards the only windows in the room and stared out into the depths. The setting sun was creating a graceful rippling of colours that seemed to weave in and out between the seaweeds at the sandy bottom. She watched as fishes and sea creatures of many different shapes and sizes swim by.

"Haunting, isn't it?"

Luna didn't hear his approach. He was standing directly behind her, overlooking her head into the same spellbinding water.

She smiled her dreamy smile. "Hauntingly beautiful," she replied softly in admiration. She felt his eyes warming her face and looked over her shoulder.

He was staring down at this girl with the waist-length dirty blonde hair. Her eyes were too large for her face, and the untamed hair didn't help to bring out any of her good features. Her eyebrows were set so high that it gave her a permanent surprised look. She was a good foot shorter than him and her long robes swallowed her. Riddle found nothing about her pleasant to the eyes and yet he couldn't help but feel somewhat comforted around her. He didn't know if it was the correct word to describe what he was feeling for he never felt comforted, nor did he ever need to be comforted. However, there was a warm, fuzzy sort of feeling that washed over him whenever her large eyes bulged at his cutting words or when she'd bump into him while walking with her eyes on the floor.

Ironically, the comforting feeling made him very uncomfortable. Luna Lovegood appeared out of nowhere, and decided to force a whole new perspective on him like pushing a young boy into the deep end of the pool without armbands and expecting him to swim like a fish. He was revolted by the idea and wanted to push it away. He wanted to push her away. He headed towards the stairs leading up to the girls' dormitories. "The room is this way." He didn't wait for her to follow and mounted the stairs.

Luna couldn't help but notice the judging looks he was giving her. For once, she felt self-conscious and unworthy. She knew she was different and her peers had often times confirmed this to her, but she never felt like she had to prove anything. She felt confidently comfortable with who she was and didn't mind that it was a joke to others. Riddle, however, made her feel incompetent. Luna was certainly not used to it and was struggling to find herself in the situation. She was already lost in the school she had grown to love. She was not ready to lose herself either. Especially to Tom Riddle.

They stopped at the third highest landing and Riddle led her down the hall to the right. He opened the fifth door on the left and revealed a comfortably-sized room with five four-post beds. The room was an exact replica of the common room: green plush carpets, gilded bed frames with silky green sheets and duvet, yawning windows looking out into the murky water, and thick tapestries covering the stone walls. "You will stay here for the time being." With that, he moved for the doorway.

"Wait," Luna mumbled just above audible volume.

He stopped in his tracks. He took a moment before he swivelled around and waited expectantly.

There was so much she wanted to say, to ask, but there was not much she could do without frustrating him.

"Now that we're alone," Riddle began calmly, seeing as she dared not start. "Would you care to explain to me what happened in Astronomy?"

Luna's misty eyes froze. She knew there was no use for her to feign innocence, but she was also not ready to fully reveal what her musings were for she wasn't certain they were true. She let out a long breath. "The killing." She was distracted by the casual stance he held leaning against the bedpost. She was getting more nervous by the second due to his abnormal behaviour. "That happened yesterday?"

"Yes." He elongated the 's' and she thought he almost sounded like a snake. "The whole school knew about it the moment that girl yelled bloody murder." He pushed off from the post and stalked towards her slowly, his familiar smirk growing. "Where were you?" He stopped directly in front of her. His voice imitated indifference, but she knew better.

Luna swallowed. She had to choose her words carefully. If she wanted to live past today, she knew she couldn't lie to him. She couldn't tell the complete truth either, because even she had a hard time straightening out what she was beginning to realize. "I was eating in the Great Hall." Luna forced herself to look directly into his eyes. She felt as if his stare was digging through her memory, hoping what she was saying was a lie. "I never caught the news until today, because I was called to the Headmaster's office." Luna saw her life flash across her eyes as she knew her lies wouldn't hold up for long due to Riddle's cleverness.

He stretched out a long finger and tilted up her chin. His touch was much warmer than she had anticipated. It matched the heat she felt emitting from his body. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me," he clipped. Luna doubted his words. She knew they were only used to give her a false sense of security. "I'll eventually find out whether you want me to or not." He leaned in a little closer, too close for her comfort. His breath smelled like peppermint and cinnamon. "Now whether you're ready for the consequences of lying to me," he paused. His smirk widened into an obscene smile, showing his straight, white teeth. "That's a different story." Riddle straightened up and walked out the door, which closed silently on its own after he left.