how it feels to be alive {tom riddle}

fifty-nine: erratic

ERRATIC

*trigger warning for this chapter*

It had been a relaxing couple of days that lead up to the other students returning to Hogwarts after Christmas break. Lucia and Tom had just spent the time enjoying each others company before the stress of N.E.W.T.s returned.

Everything was so good.

They were not without their faults, but they had been the most honest with each other they'd ever been. That had to count for something.

It was the first day back of classes, so in the morning Tom had showered and was now headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

As he entered the large space, it was almost shocking to see it full with students again. He had become so accustomed to the quiet castle over the Christmas break.

After scanning the Ravenclaw table for Lucia, he chuckled to himself that she wasn't awake yet. The first day back at classes and she was already sleeping in.

Instead he headed to the Slytherin table to get coffee and food, not feeling totally welcome to go to the Ravenclaw table without her.

His eyes found Tobias down the end of the table, beside Apollo and opposite Jared. The straw haired boy met his gaze with a cold glare. It satisfied Tom to see that scars still littered the skin visible outside of his uniform.

Tom poured two coffees and wrapped a couple of pastries in a napkin, then made his way out of the Great Hall. He thought it best he woke Lucia himself rather than her sleep through her classes.

As he walked in the direction of Ravenclaw Tower, he ran into Lysander and Lorcan making their way to breakfast.

"Did you see Lucia by any chance? Or is she still asleep?" Tom asked politely to the twins.

"I haven't seen her. I assume she's still sleeping though, sounds like her to sleep through first day back of classes." Lysander chuckled.

"Yeah, last time I saw her was last night." Lorcan confirmed, still avoiding eye contact with Tom from their encounter on Halloween.

Tom gave a curt nod and continued towards the tower.

After slipping into the common room and up the stairs of the girls dormitories, Tom came to the outside of the seventh year room. He lightly knocked on the door just in case there were any of her roommates getting changed.

His knock was met with silence, so he opened the door and stepped inside the blue-hued room.

The curtains remained closed for the large window on the side of the dorm, so Tom pulled open the deep blue drapes to let more light into the gloomy room. He then made his way over to the closed curtains of Lucia's four-poster.

"Lucia, I have coffee and breakfast. Wakeup!" Tom teased, placing them down on her nightstand. He then moved to pull back the curtains surrounding her bed.

As the blue fabric was moved, he saw the shape of her under the covers and still in bed. As he pulled the curtains back further, he saw her hair sprawled across the pillow.

"Darling, we have class." Tom sighed, sitting on the edge of her bed and placing a hand on her back over the sheets.

There was a lot of heat coming off her body, and he wondered for a moment why she was under so many covers when she was obviously overheating.

Due to the lack of response he'd gotten, he gave her a gentle shake which caused her to roll onto her back. When his hand came to brush the hair from over her face, he felt the perspiration coming off of her skin.