Hogwarts Oneshots

Tom Riddle x reader - 'You Know Why'

Content warnings: suggested sibling death and a single use of strong language

9th May 1945

I could see students dancing below me, their joyous shouts echoing up to where we sat at the top of the astronomy tower. Music was coming from somewhere in the sky, and wizards were rejoicing the end of a war as I watched, letter clutched in my hand.

Printed letters filled the neatly folded page. It looked regimented and official and damning. In between the typed words lay smudged ink that had been obscured by teardrops that had fallen on it the previous night. Mother had sent it to me by owl that morning. It had dropped in my lap in a pristine envelope that only contained two things: the letter and a single photograph of my brother and I.

My thumb grazed over the corner, the paper was warped, stained red for eternity. The two people stared back at me, unmoving and muggle. He was looking down at me, his uniform was spotless, I was grinning like an idiot, holding pale daisies and wearing my smartest dress.  I'd grown out of it by the end of the war.

I glanced down at the letter, the words seemed to swim around each other, impossible to decipher over the cheers of those below.

"I regret to have to inform you" another tear fell onto the page "the War Office", I started skipping words until my eyes stopped, "The report that he is missing does not necessarily mean he has been killed, as he may be a prisoner of war or temporarily separated from his regiment."

It felt like a fruitless reassurance, it didn't feel like he was missing or being held prisoner, it felt like he was dead. It felt like Churchill had taken my brother to war and never thought to bring him back. I was hot with anger; I wanted to destroy the world until I'd taken everything from everyone, the same way I felt everything had been taken from me.

At the same time, I just wanted to destroy myself. If only I'd told him to stay, begged him to stay at home with Mother and Father, stay where he was safe. I wanted to steal a time turner, I wanted to find him and apparate us to Hogwarts where he would be safe. I wanted him to be fucking alive.

Through all of this, Tom sat beside me in silence, shifting occasionally to reach to put an arm around me before deciding better of it. Really, I should have shifted towards him, rested my head on his shoulder and wept with his arms around me; that's what I wanted to do, but I didn't.

I rested my head against the wall of the astronomy tower as we watched those below us. Neither of us bothering to look up when we heard footsteps on the stairs.

"What're you crying at?" the harsh voice from behind me made me stiffen, glancing over my shoulder to see the Malfoy heir staring back at me, "Cat got you tongue?" The leader wandered over to me.

"I don't appreciate your tone, Malfoy." Tom pushed me behind him, holding his wand in one hand, my own in the other. That was probably the moment my mind stopped working properly and went into overdrive.

It wasn't so much that he was holding my hand, it was more the implication of pushing me behind him. The same thing he'd been doing more frequently ever since first year, protecting me from any perceived danger - not that what he perceived as danger was always even remotely threatening. Tom had become my protector, an arguably possessive protector at that.

Never mind my brother, if a date went badly, they'd hear from Tom before anyone else.

People assumed we were dating, assumed we were each other's futures and forevers. I don't think I thought we were at all. Tom was a friend, but nothing more than that. The sort of friend you have picnics by the lake with, or spend your summers with, or lay awake at night thinking about. I spent a lot of time lying awake thinking about Tom.