𝐵𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑒 ; ᴛᴏᴍ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴏʟᴏ ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇ

12

May 1st, 1943:

For a spring day, the rain poured heavily.

All of the students were rushing to get inside after a trip to Hogsmeade with their hoods up as they held their significant other.

Lilith walked in the mud. The rain pouring down on her like a shower that targeted her and her only. It was like the universe wanted her to suffer.

She walked to the castle with no hood, freezing as she could feel her thumbs slowly going numb and turning purple.

If I think hard enough, the rain and coldness will ease. Lilith thought, shuddering.

The pouring rain suddenly stopped.

Lilith turned to her side to see Abraxas Malfoy holding an umbrella over them. He wore a long black coat over his Slytherin robes and his hair still remained intact and dry.

"It's like London all over again." Abraxas said, smoke vapor was coming out of his mouth with every word he spoke.

"Suppose so." Lilith managed out, still shuddering.

They walked in silence for awhile until Malfoy spoke up.

"You're very reserved. I don't see you talk often. Why is that?" Abraxas asked. His tone grew significantly softer.

"I don't feel the need to speak when some things need only to be observed." Lilith answered quietly. Abraxas looked at her in understanding.

"Wisely spoken, Rosenyx." Abraxas answered as they got to the Hogwarts outside corridors.

"I have that effect." Lilith shrugged as Abraxas walked with her down the corridors.

"Since we're already talking,  I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend. Sunday?" Abraxas asked.

"Why not? I might need someone to hang around with." Lilith uttered as she squeezed the water out of her hair.

"That makes the both of us." Abraxas said as his face grew gloomy.

-

3 AM.

Lilith intended to finish her task quickly.

And that meant staying up until 3 AM to go to the library and talk to Tom, hoping they would get along and he would expose all of his secrets, leaving her with all the information she needs and boom. He's in Azkaban and she's free from this hell hole.

It was the same for Tom as well.

Lilith held something that he needed. He knew it. It radiates off of her.

He had to do what needed to be done.

After hours, Tom sat in the library. Not reading or writing in his diary.

Just thinking.

There was no point in killing Lilith to make a horcrux anymore.

She was just...

A necessity.

"Having fun?" A familiar tone said, taunting Tom.

He turned to see Lilith in the dim light, looking straight at him.

"I am." Tom replies blandly before looking back into space.

"You loathe me. I can see it." Lilith said, grabbing a seat and sitting next to Tom.

"I don't loathe you. You're like everyone else. Not special enough for me to hate." Tom said with an icy tone that Lilith was used to.

"Liar."

Tom turned his head to see Lilith close to him, their faces almost touching.

"You're so dismissing, Riddle. Either that or you're forgetful. You seemed to be friendly with me at the party, you always spend your useless days plotting a plan to get me vulnerable, you hate seeing me thriving and forgetting all about you.  You think about me constantly. I drive you into insanity." Lilith cocked an eyebrow and smiled.

Tom's vacant expression turned into a look of subtle anger.

"I don't think of you like how Malfoy thinks of you." Tom replied, completely avoiding the topic.

"I never said you did. I'm saying that you think of me. You never seem to think of anyone else but me. Why is that?" Lilith questioned him.

Riddle observed her body language.

Straight posture.

Narrow look.

Relaxed facial expression.

He knew what she was trying to do.

"Lilith Genevieve Rosenyx. Accused of killing her parents." Tom said in a sing song way. It was like whispers or a siren.

Lilith's smile dropped into confusion and realization.

"Rebellious 16-year-old rich heiress who speaks with such a wise tongue. On trial for the murder of her parents and put into Beauxbatons for savage behavior. Being hidden and shielded from the world to cover up the truth." Tom said, taking his index finger and raising Lilith's chin.

"You're just as bad as I am, you know? I chose to push aside those tactics of yours and you still choose to confront me." Tom looked her dead in the eyes and said those words.

"How do you know that?" Lilith whispered. She thought everyone forgot about the scandal.

"I always knew something was up with you. You always tailed behind me, doing everything I told you like a little dog on a leash. You killed someone for me and you exposed your secrets to me. It'd be wrong of me to not figure out why you were so dark. And now I know why. You're a sick maniac just like I am and you even proved it." Tom scoffed.

"I did tell you about what people thought of me." Lilith continued the conversation.

"But I didn't believe it. Until that night. The murder of Cecilia "Riddle". Mysterious disappearance. No trace of her body or her whereabouts. She just vanished." Tom was fully aware of what he was doing.

Lilith clenched her jaw.

"Obliviating before murdering. I never understood why you chose to do that." Tom was practically clawing at her secrets.

"It's better to kill someone when they have no recognition to who they are or what they are so that they die without remembering anyone they loved and knew. They would die not knowing anything." Lilith murmured.

Tom didn't react at all. He just continued staring right at Lilith.

"Why are you here?"

The question caught Lilith off guard.

It was like an interrogation.

"What I'm here to do. Unravel you." Lilith retaliated.

"That makes the both of us."