"Riddle! Wake up!"

Tom flinched and jerked his upper body from the table it had been laying over the moment before. He sat on the same exact spot he had sat the previous evening, going through his books. It had been a shame to wake him up, really, for he had looked so different while in deep sleep. So... peaceful, somehow.

"What time it is?" he groaned.

"Almost eight o'clock. It's time for breakfast".

"What? It's a Saturday morning, Elara", he replied. "I'm not going anywhere at this hour."

"Well, you're awake already, aren't you?" I said and grabbed his arm to pull him up. "Let's go, I'm starving!"

Tom let out a deep sigh and rolled his eyes. "Fine, then!"

"Have you been here all night?" I inquired as we stepped out of the Common Room.

"Does it look like I was sleeping in my own bed?" he replied sarcastically.

I threw him a weary look, which made him snort. "Don't be a smart ass."

"Yes, I was reading all night", he said. "Didn't notice the time."

"So you found something interesting?"

"I think so."

"Care to elaborate?"

There was a pause.

"Later, perhaps", he replied ambiguously.

Curiosity burned in me, but I knew better than to press him on it. It bothered me a bit that he refused to share such an important discovery with me, though. It wasn't like him to exclude me like this!

Later that afternoon, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop thinking about what Tom had meant earlier. I had decided to return to the Common Room alone as Tom, Abraxas and a few others were still by the lake, enjoying the evening. An idea had struck me, and as much as I hated to carry it out, the urge was simply too strong to resist. The Common Room was nearly deserted, so I headed straight towards the boys' dormitories and through the door which lead to the dormitory Tom slept in.

I had never been there before, but it looked quite similar to the girls dormitories. It took me a few minutes to find the books Tom had borrowed from the library, but eventually I spotted them on a pile next to a bed that had to be Tom's. I sat on the edge of the bed and picked them up, only to browse through them hastily.

"What am I doing?" I mumbled to myself as I held The Secrets of the Darkest Arts in my hands. I had no clue where to begin, I barely even knew what to look for! Still, something in the book I was holding had caught my attention from the moment I had seen it in the Great Hall. I opened it and browsed through it while my eyebrows travelled higher and higher up my forehead. The book was filled with the most gruesome imagery, and contained dark magic spells I had never even heard before. When I caught a glimpse of a few images portraying a spell somehow splitting a person in the most painful way imaginable, I slammed it shut.

I sat on the bed for a few minutes, merely staring ahead expressionlessly. A wave of shock and disgust made its way through me, and I was utterly at a loss for words. After a period of deep breathing and calming down, I thought it would be best to find Tom and confront him immediately. I ran out to the empty corridors and found Tom in the Entrance Hall, heading back toward the Common Room. He didn't even have time to greet me when I had already pulled him into an empty classroom and closed the door behind us.

"What is this?" he inquired. "Why have you been acting so strange today?"

"I... I'm just worried about you..."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw that book you were reading, Secrets of the Darkest Arts-"

"How did you come by it?"

"-and I don't understand why you've borrowed such a book, it has nothing to do with family h-"

"You went through my stuff!" he exclaimed, eyes blazing.

"No! I-"

"Don't lie!"

"Fine! I admit", I sighed, lowering my eyes. "I couldn't stand not knowing what you had found out since you refused to tell me!"

He let out an incredulous laugh and crossed his arms. "And that's your excuse? Now, how could you expect me to trust you after doing something like this?"

"Oh, so you trusted me before?" I spat. He rolled his eyes and groaned.

"When did you become this insecure?" he exclaimed, eyebrows raised.

"I'm not insecure! You always keep me at an arm's length, yet constantly ask me for help and it's getting pretty damn tiring!"

"Then how about you express that, instead of sneaking into my dormitory!"

"As if that would do me any good! You're as easy to talk to as the gargoyles in this school!"

Tom snorted and glared around the room, everywhere except in my direction. "You know what? Maybe it's better if you and I spend some time apart."

"Fine!" I retorted defensively, even though cold dread had already made a place for itself in the pit of my stomach once again, smothering all the anger instantly and leaving behind nothing but anxiousness. Once again I had crossed a pivotal line and cursed at myself for being so foolish.

Tom said nothing, merely glared at me one last time and left the room, slamming the door behind him. I leaned against the wall, gazing out of the window while tears were burning my eyes. All I had wanted to do was to understand him better, but I had only managed to push him further away.

Once I'd had enough of contemplating my life choices and wallowing in my despair, I stared to aimlessly wander around the castle, until I came across Lucretia in a deserted corridor near the staircase that led to the astronomy tower. She came to a halt as she saw me and glared around in a somewhat guilty manner.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What are you doing here?" she replied.

"Just wandering."

She observed me through narrowed eyes. "Uh-huh. And do you wander around the castle often?"

I remained silent and avoided her gaze.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" she inquired and beckoned me to sit next to her on a windowsill.

"Tom said he wants to spend some time away from me", I replied while glaring out the window.

"Really? Why? Thought you were inseparable or something."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But you're upset enough to be wandering around the corridors. Come on, just spit it out."

Letting out a long sigh, I glanced out the window where the sun was setting behind the Great Lake, making the water appear like it was ablaze. "Have you ever read a book called Secrets of the Darkest Arts?"

"Can't say I have", she replied. "Why?"

"I saw Tom reading it."

Lucretia remained silent for a good while, squinting her eyes at me. "You're upset because you saw him reading a book? I'm confused."

"Not just any book, the Dark Arts book! It was a very grim read."

"Well, I bet it was", she gave a laugh. "It is about the Dark Arts, after all."

I groaned loudly at her. "You don't get it! That wasn't just any regular school book, it was full of very weird stuff, stuff I don't think they even teach here, and I just don't understand why he's reading that!"

"Why didn't you just ask him, then? I mean, I've always thought he's a weird kid but he doesn't seem to be very secretive about it, since you saw him reading it?"

"Well... I didn't exactly see him read it", I muttered. "I kind of... looked through his bag while he was elsewhere. But only because he refused to tell me what he's up to!" I added, when Lucretia's expression reminded more of disappointment than sympathy.

"Let me guess; he found out about that, got mad and that's why you're moping around in here", she said. "Elara, what did you think was going to happen? You wouldn't like someone doing that to you, would you?"

"I know, but-"

"Besides, what makes you think he's up to something, anyway? It's one book!"

"Yes, we've established that", I sighed.

"All I mean is that you've always been a little... inclined to overreact, so to say. Please, try to process things first before making these type of decisions. It reflects badly on all of us."

"Overreact? If you had read it, you'd agree with me!"

"But still, you must give others space!" she exclaimed. "Maybe it's better that you two spend time with other people anyways."

"Yeah, I guess so", I muttered. I wasn't completely satisfied with the way the conversation was going, but nevertheless it was pointless to continue.

"Just go apologize in a week or so and I'm sure everything will be fine", she reassured and gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder. As I was reluctant to say anything further, silence quickly surrounded us, along with the darkness left behind by the setting sun.

"Well, I think we should return to the Common Room", she said eventually. "It's getting late."

"Yeah, by the way", I began as we headed toward the dungeons, "you never told me why you were wandering around in here at this hour."

"And I never will", she replied nonchalantly. "If it turns out to be important, you'll find out!"

"Right", I huffed. Yet another person who's reluctant to talk to me!

After approximately a week had passed, I planned to go talk to Tom just like Lucretia had advised. He had spent the week with mostly Abraxas and the others, and hadn't said one word to me. Not that I had tried to talk to him either. But by now I'd had enough of this silent treatment, and was determined to return things back to normal.

It was a late afternoon and our last class of the day, potions class, had just finished. As I was about to leave the classroom, I noticed that Tom had stayed behind to pack his bag. This was a perfect opportunity to talk to him, and I waited outside the doorway until the rest of the students had left. Then I re-entered and closed the door. Tom lifted his gaze in surprise, but as he recognized me his eyes filled with reservedness.

"Hi", I said quietly, squeezing my hands behind my back.

"Hi", he replied in a tone that gave nothing away.

"Do you have a minute?"

"I don't think I have a choice since you've blocked my way out of here", he replied with the same, blank tone.

I gave out an awkward laugh. "Well, do you want to hear what I have to say?"

He glared me for a while before answering. "Go ahead."

"Look, I know I can't undo what I did and I'm sorry. But the way we just keep avoiding each other really hurts and I wish we could spend time together again."

"Well, it wasn't me whose actions led us to this situation", he mumbled.

"I know", I whispered. "How can I make things right?"

Tom straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You know it's not easy for me to trust anyone", he said. "I need to be surrounded by people who I can be certain will back me up, whatever the situation may be."

"I know, and you can-"

"I also need to be sure that you trust me enough to believe me when I say I'll tell you later", he interrupted and took a few steps toward me, halting merely a couple of inches away from me.

"I'm sorry", I whispered. "I'll never do anything like that again, I promise!"

Tom examined me with his gaze, in a way that made me feel translucent. It was an intense feeling, but I didn't dare to look away either.

"That book may not have contained anything about finding my relatives, but it has helped me tremendously", he said, breaking the deafening silence. "I think I may have discovered something... marvelous. But you'll see when the time comes."

"See what?" I asked, the question slipping through my lips before I managed to stop it. Tom merely glared at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Right. I'll trust you."

"Thank you", he replied and headed toward the door. "Now, I believe it's dinner time already. Will you join me?"

The amount of times he had asked me to join him at the Great Hall over the years were countless, but this time the offer felt nearly symbolic in a way. Would I join him? Or would I find my place somewhere else?

Even after everything that's happened between us, the decision was almost ridiculously easy to make.

"Sure."