Author's note: Hi everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! Thanks to those of you who take the time to read this story and following and favouriting it, it's very stimulating! Leave a comment if you feel like it, I'm very happy to read about your thoughts, no matter how long or short!
Next update exceptionally on Friday.
A few edits on some mistakes sorry!
TW: a teeny-tiny bit of explicit content down below.
June 1943 - Little White Lies
Tom had a plan. A well-concocted one.
He could not be kept out of school for that long... He would go mental if he had to spend the next few years that separated him from his majority at Wool's.
So after a night of racking his brain for a well-structured scheme, the idea crossed his mind as he was reading in the Slytherin's common room where he had seen a group of First Years exchanging small figurines of what looked like a troll army. It reminded him of the tin soldiers that one kid at the orphanage, Dennis Bishop, used to play with. The boy, who had self-proclaimed unbeatable on military strategies, had taken an interest on Mongols' raids after their teacher had broached the topic at school. He used to ramble without end about the fascinating tactics of those fierce fighters, to Tom's great annoyance.
Yet, the boy's blathering suddenly seemed opportune once the prefect remembered one of their ploys. The Mongols used to spare a few of their enemies's lives during battle, to let them spread words of how merciless and bloodthirsty those warriors, thus causing fear and despair in the nearby populaces.
Who would have thought that a ruse as old as the hills would now turned propitious?
Yet, Tom feared he could not do it entirely on his own, for he was already the one who had found the girl's body. All he needed was a helping hand, and he had asked Annabel to help him with his scheme. Which proved to be... difficult, at first.
"What if we're making a mistake? What if we wrong him? A damaged reputation can have terrible consequences" she had initially argued, to which Tom had wanted to respond that of course they would wrong him, but why did it matter? They needed a culprit, someone who looked shady enough to fit the role, and this boy had an excellent profile. Besides, wasn't she the one who had suggested him, thus handed Tom the perfect culprit on a silver platter?
Naturally, he had kept his true thoughts to himself, simply asking whether she believed her parents would want to marry her off as early as this very summer if the school did not reopen next autumn…
It had worked wonders. Annabel had agreed immediately.
All they had to do was to sow the seeds of doubts, make a good use of the rumours about that half-giant boy, that the gossips had already condemned before he was even proved guilty, until he -
"Is everything all right?"
Tom opened his eyes, jolted out of his thoughts. He glanced at the girl half immersed in the water. He had almost forgotten she was there, all absorbed he was in his own considerations.
"Did… Did I do something wrong?" she apologised, lifting her green eyes to look at him.
He considered her for a second, propped on his elbows, half lying in the pool.
"I was just spacing out" he replied before he softly removed a wet strand of her hair that stuck to her cheek. His thumb moved to the lower part of her face where he grazed the plump skin of her lips, spreading the red of her lipstick down her chin. She could be pretty if she was not that dull, he thought as she devotedly opened her mouth again and proceeded to suck with greed the finger he pushed through her parted lips.
It was the first time he had her. She had approached him in his common room a few weeks back, all dainty and well-behaved as she was. Many Slytherin girls had that air, as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths, yet turning surprisingly promiscuous behind closed doors. And when that very morning at breakfast, after Tom came back from his morning workout with his friends, when he caught sight of her gaze, that lingered on the thinly chiseled muscles of his chest as he lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off of his face, he thought he had just found another way to help relieving some strain about his day ahead...
"Keep going darling, you're doing wonderful" he added as he finally pulled her face back to his crotch, bringing her sweet mouth back to where it belonged.
He glanced at his watch.
"I need you to go a little bit faster though. Do you think you could do that for me?"
She nodded and Tom put one arm behind his head. He closed his eyes, ready to give in to the girl's ministration.
He shuddered when she bent over again, her tongue soft and warm around his shaft and she hastened the pace as best as she could.
Yet, her movements were disorganised, her hands unsteady on his thighs as she tried to move quicker. The water was slowing her down, and her speed was not exactly what he had anticipated.
After a few clumsy back and forths, Tom sighed in boredom.
He noticed how the girl shot him a seductive glance, as if to make out for her poor oral skills but he glanced at his watch once more.
He really needed to get going.
He pushed the girl away and stood up.
"Wait" she protested but he was already outside of the tub, leaving small puddles of water on the tiles with each footstep. He dried himself with a spell and slipped on his clothes, walking back to the door already.
"Are you seriously going to leave me here just like that?!" she gulped before her voice broke, and he stopped.
He looked at her over his shoulder as he tightened his tie, found the girl on the brink of tears.
"Oh, sweetheart" he frowned, his tone honeyed and falsely concerned as he walked back to the naked girl.
"I should have been more precise when I said you could join me here" he pursued as he kneeled next to the tub, stroking her cheek with one finger before he grasped her chin and tilted her face.
"I don't have time for beginners" he whispered in her ear.
—
Annabel was pacing in front of the library, her arms crossed. She had rushed, reluctantly abandoning the remnants of her lunch in the Great Hall to make it on time.
"You're late" she hurled at the boy when she saw him climb the flight of stairs in that usual indifference of his.
"Not yet" he replied coolly as he headed towards the library's entrance without granting her a look. He seemed to be in a sour mood, which made her wonder if he was preoccupied or simply grumpy. A sweet feminine perfume permeated the air the very moment the Slytherin walked past her and Annabel asked herself if he had been lazing around with some girl before their appointment. Yet, if that potentially explained his delay, it did not justify his bad temper.
"Do you remember the plan?" whispered Tom with his back turned to her.
"Of course I do" she snapped back, vexed by the boy's discourteous manners.
She remembered how the Slytherin had discreetly slid a note inside her palm the day before, benefitting from the tumult of the students leaving the Great Hall after Dippet's announcement. He had not mentioned the girl's death, simply hinting at an "accident", probably to avoid any panic reaction within the school. He had, however, asked whoever witnessed any suspicious behaviour to come and talk to him immediately...
Tom had shared his idea with her, a two-steps plan, simple, yet efficient. Her single role consisted in casting doubt on that boy's innocence. "Most folks underestimate the power of accusatory words, especially those from respectable people" he had whispered as they met on the second-floor, in a secret storage-room he knew. "You will tell Dippet the exact same thing you told me about that boy." She had initially withdrawn. The risk of making a mistake was too great and she had not liked his commanding tone. Yet, when Tom hinted at the probability of her having to marry earlier than planned, she had finally complied. After all, he would be doing the most difficult part of the job: catching the boy red-handed and turning him to the teaching staff… All she needed was to gather proofs before having a small conversation with the Headmaster.
They split, Tom walking straight to the reception desk while Annabel stopped in front of the first bookshelves. The latter displayed the library's latest acquisitions and a wide array of newspapers. The girl grabbed the the newest edition of the Wizarding World News and mechanically turned the first few pages.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw the prefect greet the librarian with a charming smile and lean over the desk.
"Mrs Runereader! I haven't seen you in a while, you look stunning! Are these new glasses?"
She kept herself from rolling her eyes, but by Merlin was he good at foxing old ladies.
"I have been searching everywhere for the second volume of the Deadliest Plants and Flowers but I cannot lay my hands on it. Did someone borrow it lately?" he questioned with a baffled voice.
The librarian casted a "book-search" spell with an unusual high-pitch voice but the library register that lied on the counter remained ostensibly still.
"Well, looks like no one has it… I suppose it must have been misplaced somewhere" she chirped with a flustered smile before she stood up and headed towards the Herbology section closely followed by Tom.
The Ravenclaw waited until Tom's voice - who was apparently making small talk with the librarian - stopped echoing against the walls before she rushed to the counter. She was confident it would grant her enough time to lay hands on Rubeus Hagrid's library card, for the book they were now searching for was patiently waiting at her parents' house. The girl had borrowed it during the Christmas break and simply forgot to bring it back. At least had she had the intelligence to secretly delete her name from the library register, which she now congratulated herself for. She would bring the book back in September, eventually. "If Hogwarts does not close by then…" she found herself thinking.
She sneaked behind the desk and pulled the drawer that contained all the library cards from the students whose names started by the letter H.
She casted a spell, to be quicker, and Rubeus Hagrid's library card flew immediately to her palm. She glanced at the photograph of the beady-eyes face, at the tousled dark hair of the boy. Her stomach churned suddenly. She felt sinful, strangely, as if her gut feeling was telling her she was doing something wrong... Yet, she swiftly slid the card in the inside pocket of her robe and she left the library, heading straight to Dippet's office.
She flied up the stairs that appeared behind the gargoyle's statue at the second-floor, until she ran into the familiar silhouette of the Headmaster, who shot her a quizzical glance.
"Professor" she declared, slightly out of breath. "Since you asked us to report to you any suspicious behaviour... I have doubts about that one student. His name is Rubeus Hagrid?"
—
Tom saw her walking down the corridor that led to the Headmaster's office. He was waiting near to the staircase, in front of the painting of a bucolic landscape where a phoenix stopped every now and then.
"I did my part" she whispered once she stood before him, her tone cold.
Tom shot a cautious glance around them before he placed a hand on the small of her back, leading the girl towards that secret store-room he knew, which would give them some privacy.
"How did Dippet react?" he asked once he shut the door, glancing at the girl who was standing in the darkness. He noticed the Ravenclaw's slightly slouched posture, how she had wrapped her arms around herself as if she was cold. She took her time to respond, her voice monotonous when she spoke.
"He tried not to let anything show. But I felt that he was tense"
"Tense?"
"Tense but listening. I think he is glad to have a lead"
Tom nodded, weighing the various options he had in mind. Ideally, he would leave a few days between Annabel's confidence and his capture, to let the doubts creep, sink in.
Yet, there was something about the girl's behaviour that worried him. As if she was having second-thoughts, as if remorse was insidiously surrounding her.
"You're feeling guilty" he stated and she looked away, bit her lower lip.
She did not respond, clamming up, unresponsive to his words. He inhaled, suddenly alert, scared that she might chicken out, so much so that she could scuttle his plan.
Tom spontaneously decided to change strategy. He would hunt that boy down that very night, to confirm her accusations. To ease her mind.
Yet, he needed her not to run back to Dippet within the next few hours, he needed her to keep a cool head.
He placed his hands on her shoulders, pinning her against the wall behind her.
"What if it had been someone you know?" he asked.
"What if it had been one of your friends?"
She winced and looked away and he accentuated the pressure of his grip, holding her tight.
"What you did was right" he insisted.
She shook her head, ever so slightly and his hands left her shoulders, stroked her arms to reach her neck.
He could not let her ruin everything.
He cupped her face, in a gentle but firm manner and his thumbs stroked the skin of her cheeks, that he found soft and warm. He forced her gaze to meet his.
"Annabel listen to me. You did the right thing"