Author's note: Hey guys, I initially intended to add some smut in this chapter but it would have been a bit too long, so... next time ;) Feel free to leave a comment if you like the story, I enjoy all of them, even just a smiley! To those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you're as excited as I am. Wish you a lovely week!
October 1944 - Amoureuse
Chairs rattled once the lesson ended and the Seventh Years zigzagged between the desks to head straight for the exit. Tom was standing in front of the black board, more handsome than ever as he patiently watched the students leave the room from the dais.
It was more than a week now that Professor Merrythought was sick and the Head Boy, who was the most gifted students of them all in DADA, had been appointed to replace her. Many girls had rejoiced to have the young man as a teacher, playing dumb to have him respond to their queries, or shortening their skirt in a desperate attempt to catch his attention. Yet, the school prodigy had been as cool and distant as any professor should be.
To all except to her.
"Miss Selwyn, may I have a word with you?"
Annabel lifted her glance to meet Tom's and she composed a detached air on her face when she felt the sideways looks the others darted her.
"Again?!" blurted Margaret quietly on her left. "What does Riddle want to talk to you so desperately about that he summons you after each class?"
"Just some extra homework I agreed on I suppose" she shrugged, but Sophia was already narrowing her eyes and darting the Slytherin a suspicious glance.
"We'll wait for you this time" stated the redhead while she slid the strap of her bag over her shoulder. She walked towards the front of the classroom and stopped before the dais with crossed arms while Annabel and her friends gathered next to her.
Sophia cleared her throat in a haughty manner, for Tom was busy sorting some documents on the desk, and he finally lifted his gaze at the discourteous call. A smirk showed on his lips as he observed the small huddle of Ravenclaws who were standing fiercely around his fiancée as if they meant to shield her.
"Well, ladies?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and Annabel shut her eyes in embarrassment for a second. "What can I do for you?"
"We're just waiting until you're done with our friend" stated Sophia bravely, moving a tat to the side as if to make sure her Head Girl pin was clearly visible on her chest.
"I see" nodded Tom pensively before he skirted the desk and leaned on the furniture nonchalantly, now looking at the group of girls from above.
"Does this mean that miss Selwyn feels so uncomfortable being alone in my company that she needs an army of valiant soldiers to protect her?" he asked with a smug smile.
Annabel understood the question was directed at her but Sophia was already chiming in.
"Cut the crap Riddle. Tell her what you meant to tell her and we'll be on our way"
Tom drew in a sharp breath, his gorgeous face stiffening like a Greek statue as he shot the redhead a miffed look. Yet, his anger seemed fleeting, like if he was simply dealing with an annoying midge and he stared each one of them down before his eyes landed on her.
"Miss Selwyn, would you please ask your friends to wait outside?"
His tone was gentle but commanding, and Annabel shot the Head Boy a knowing glance to which he only raised an inflexible eyebrow. She refrained herself from rolling her eyes and she turned her face to look at her friend.
"It's all right…" she coaxed.
Sophia frowned and opened her mouth as if she was ready to argue some more, but Annabel placed a hand on her shoulder.
"…I'll see you later"
The Head Girl heaved out a sigh and headed towards the exit.
Annabel saw her friends to the door and closed it behind them before she casted a locking and soundproofing spell.
"You have to stop doing this" she warned him with a false chiding voice but Tom was already behind her and he pulled her towards him.
"Why?" he cooed in the crook of her neck before he tenderly kissed her throat.
"Because they're starting to ask questions" she chastised him, trying really hard not to sigh in delight at the boy's ministrations.
Yet, she was smiling already, a silly grin as a token of her elation, for Annabel was ecstatic ever since Tom had proposed to her, because for the first time ever, she could fall asleep at night without fear of the future.
"Do you seriously think your parents would break off our engagement just because a bunch of kids find out about us?" he scorned playfully and he gently bit the base of her neck.
She whimpered, certain he would leave a mark once he began to suck on the skin.
"Besides darling, I'm having so much fun ordering you around" he revealed with a malicious smile.
"Don't take that away from me" he whispered, his voice low in her ear.
She closed her eyes, surrendering to his touch as Tom's lips traced a path all the way to her earlobe which he captured between his teeth. He nipped on the soft flesh for a while, his breath warm in her ear and she melted in his arms, her womb clenching at the sweet stinging.
"I hope Merrythought will be sick a bit longer" she confessed, and he grunted in pleasure, tightening his clasp around the girl's lithe body.
"Oh sweetheart, beware of what you ask for…" he warned, his threat so thrilling that she could not help but giggle.
"… because if this lasts for too long I'll find a reason to have you detained so I can have you all for myself"
She bit her lower lip lustfully, closing her eyes in relish at his sweet menace. Oh, how much she wished for that fleeting moment to never end, the two of them simply enjoying each other's presence. Yet, Tom was stepping back already, and she groaned in frustration.
"However" he regretted with a sigh. "As much as I would love to spend time with you right now, I'm expected to supervise a detention soon"
Annabel caught hold of the doorknob to steady herself once the young man pulled away and she turned around, to watch Tom climb back up the dais.
"You're leaving already?" she asked with a twinge of disappointment.
The last two times Tom had asked her to stay after the end of the class, he had pushed her against the closest desk, kissed her greedily until her lips were all swollen. He had held her tight, as though his life depended on it, kept her jealously close for a while before his many obligations had forced him to free her, and she had wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed his jaw, his forehead and his nose, left an innocent peck on his mouth before she had begged him to stay longer, which he had agreed on, at the cost of being late himself afterwards, which he usually never was.
All day she had yearned for such brief instant happiness, a stolen moment of bliss that she deeply cherished. It was two weeks now that she had last spent the night with him, after he had found out about her past, and Annabel longed for more time with the boy, because despite the embarrassment and the pain of Tom knowing everything about her, which made her feel all the more exposed at times, there was a sheer relief to it, for the young man finally saw her for who she was, no matter how broken, dirty or weak, and there was no reason for her to hide any longer, and she could finally be.
Annabel probed the Head Boy with her silvery eyes but he only asked her to wait while he fumbled in his bag that lay beneath a chair. She climbed up the dais after him and sat on the desk, her feet dangling above the wooden floor. Her glance settled on a stack of books that stood near a few loose leaves and she frowned at the title, picked the one on top of the pile.
Healing Vol. 1.
She opened the textbook which seemed brand new and she turned a few pages before she buried her face in the paper, closing her eyes in relish at the smell of the freshly printed volume.
"Glad to see you like it. Hope you'll still do so after a few weeks of training" she heard Tom say with a smile and she opened her eyes, to notice that the young man was looking at her.
"Training?" she asked with a light tension at the thought that it was also how her grandfather used to call what he had her go through.
As if the Slytherin sensed her trouble, he swiftly rectified: "Let's call it a teaching"
He handed her a parchment sheet which she recognised as the Ravenclaw's timetable for the Seventh Years. Next to the core classes - the only ones she was taking - were Tom's notes.
"Monday, Wizard Physiology three hours, Tuesday, Magical Remedies three hours…" she read out loud with her brows furrowed until it clicked.
"Is that my studying schedule?!" she gasped.
Tom remained quiet, watching her grow pale as her eyes scoured the page further.
"Six hours of witchcraft-induced diseases on Sundays?! By Merlin Tom!" she exclaimed. "Are you telling me that you expect me to do all of this while preparing for the NEWTs?!"
He nodded before he added with a firm voice that oddly contrasted with his previous sweetness:
"You're starting tomorrow"
She grumbled, to show her discontent but soon enough, the young man was handing her another parchment.
"This week's programme" he indicated.
Annabel's eyes wandered on the detailed objectives the young man had grouped by categories and she swallowed thickly. She hated exams, which she found dull and limiting, but what Tom was asking was going far beyond revising, it was pure cramming.
"I'll quiz you each Friday" he added with his back turned to her as he casted a spell for the sponge to erase the words he had previously inscribed on the dark surface with a chalk.
"If you pass, you'll get a reward"
Her mouth fell open in surprise but soon enough, she shot him a cautious look.
"And what if I… fail?"
"You'll be punished" he replied quite simply, with a shrug at that as he began to pack his bag.
Annabel scoffed and hit the desk with her fist in objection. Oh, Tom Riddle and his quaint methods…
"I'm not a child!" she protested.
"No, you're not" Tom acquiesced while he shook his head casually, obviously struggling not to laugh at her nonetheless childish pout. "But in my experience, students need incentives"
He slid the leather strap of his bag on his shoulder and stood in front of her. He finally smiled, amused by her glaring eyes.
"Don't you worry darling, I'll make sure that all sanctions serve a learning purpose" he cooed before he kissed the crown of her head and turned around.
"Wait-" she called when the young man was unlocking the classroom door.
He peeked at her above his shoulder with a questioning glance.
"When do I see you again?" she asked, with more neediness than she had wished and Tom shot her a patronising smile.
"Tomorrow, sweetheart" he indicated before he disappeared through the door, yet stating loud enough for her to hear:
"You'll also have to start learning how to read"
Annabel's brows furrowed at his nasty comment and she took a look at the timetable Tom had handed her, which she was still holding.
There, on the fifth day of the week, in Tom's elegant handwriting:
"Friday, Basic Anatomy two hours"
—
The night was falling on Hogwarts already, and Annabel shivered at the damp air that was enveloping the school. The girls were crossing the park after their class of Care for Magical Creatures, their steps rustling on the fallen autumn leaves. Yet, Annabel and Elena were dawdling behind the group for the latter had linked her arm to hers, willingly slowing the both of them down as she asked with a tone full of innuendo:
"Sooo, what's going between you and Riddle?"
Annabel shot a discreet glance around her, wary of any nosy pairs of ears.
"Nothing" she lied blatantly.
"Right" teased her friend, a few strands of her blond hair jiggling around her face with each step she took.
"He's been looking at you a lot ever since the beginning of the year" she pursued with a smirk.
"Not only during classes but also in the Great Hall…"
Annabel tightened her cape around her silhouette with her free arm as a gust of wind suddenly rushed into her clothes.
"And he still hasn't been seeing anyone in the prefect's bathroom as far as I know…"
Annabel felt hot finally and she suddenly let go of the woollen fabric she had been holding tightly against her waist a second ago.
"And now Tom Riddle has been asking you to stay after class… How odd, don't you think?" pondered the Ravenclaw out loud with a cheeky smile, a finger patting her chin thoughtfully.
"He-" chimed in Annabel, racking her brain for a creative alibi.
"He's been applying for a job at the Ministry. To work under my father. He wanted some advice, that's why he's been asking me to stay after class" she claimed, relieved that she had found a proper subterfuge.
"I suppose he was only looking at me because he did not know how to approach me"
Elena raised an eyebrow at her improbable arguments and Annabel knew her friend did not believe a word of what she had just been saying.
"Leonus once said that Riddle had a soft spot for you"
Her cheeks turned a bright crimson as she remembered Nott's disobliging remark during the first and only time she had attended the duel club, when the Slytherin had pointed to Tom playing favourites. Yet, Annabel did not utter another word despite the many sideway glances her friend was shooting her.
"All right, I won't torment you any further" finally conceded the blond girl with a disappointed frown and Annabel sighed in relief. She glanced at the sky from where a fine and misty rain was beginning to fall.
"We should hurry" she said.
They quickened their pace, the other girls from their dorm awaiting them in front of the castle's main door already. Yet, Elena slowed once more and she held Annabel back by the arm, her fingers in the crook of the girl's elbow before she bit her lower lip.
"Anna" she whispered.
"I do understand that you might not want to share this with me, or with anybody but I just…" she paused, letting go of her arm to grab her hand.
"I just… wanted to say to you the same thing you had once said to me. After you learned about Leonus and me" she pursued.
"The only thing that matters to me is that you're happy"
Annabel stood still for a second before her heart felt full of gratitude for her friend's worry and she squeezed the girl's hand.
"Thank you" she whispered, a warm smile showing on her lips as she realised that for the first time in months she was not lying when she replied.
"I'm happy, Elena. I am incredibly, unbelievably happy"