𝑃𝐻𝐼𝐿𝑂𝑃𝐻𝑂𝐵𝐼𝐴|𝙏.𝙈.𝙍+𝙃.𝙅.𝙋

|S L U G C L U B|

—THE WEEKS PASSED BY AND RIGEL WAS NOW BACK AT SCHOOL. More specifically, he was getting ready for the Slug Club party he was invited to. He hadn't been to any of the meeting because he just didn't feel like it, but he couldn't get out of the party or else it would be seen as highly disrespectful.

"—and the door of the cabinet is now fully fixed." Draco finished explaining like his cousin had just told him to do.

Rigel nodded, trying to fix his hair by the mirror.

"That's good," The Black heir said. "right now, however, you've got to start enjoying your sixth year, Draco. You can come to the party with me."

Draco sighed. "I can't, Ri. I've got to finish this. Alone."

"Draco, you don't—"

"Yes, I do." said Draco, then frowning when he noticed Rigel's bloodshot eyes. "Ri, are you feeling alright?"

"Of course." shrugged Rigel as if it was obvious, tying his tie. "I'm just tired. I suppose I'll be seeing you soon."

••

Rigel watched the party in boredom, occasionally sipping on the glass of firewhiskey in his hands.

The thing he was glad about was that nobody dared to come near him or try to make conversation with him, all of them being too scared, even occasionally throwing glances at his way.

All except for Slughorn, that is.

Rigel sighed as Slughorn walked away from him after a conversation about his biological father and mother, even giving him a small photograph of the two, which he immediately hid in his pocket.

He looked around the party one last time just before walking to the door and walking out of the room, not wanting to stay there anymore.

••

The view from the Astronomy tower was beautiful.

That's exactly what Rigel thought everytime he went there, like he was doing right now.

There was just one problem.

It was getting bad.

Bad to the point that Rigel couldn't hold it in anymore.

Bad to the point that Rigel didn't bother to stop himself from getting addicted to the cigarette in his hands.

Bad to the point that Rigel started having.. horrible thoughts.

'Hey.' Tom's voice said in Rigel's head.

Rigel jumped, mentally slapping himself for forgetting his Occulemency shields again. Whenever he felt too stressed or something, his Occulemency shields would go down without him even realizing, due to him being too busy with his thoughts.

'What do you want, Tom?'

'Any chance you can sneak out of school?'

'I thought you were on a raid?'

'No, that's tomorrow.' Tom easily lied.

'Fine. I'll see you there.'

••

"You don't have to come here whenever it gets bad for me." said a voice behind Tom, making him turn around.

Tom's breath hitched as soon as he saw Rigel wearing a suit, a cigarette dangling between the boy's lips. "No, I don't, but I want to."

Rigel frowned in confusion, exhaling some smoke. "Why?"

Tom glared at him and snatched the cigarette out of his hands, throwing it away, but only getting an eye roll in return. "C'mon, let's go somewhere before we get caught."

"Oh, here's this." said Rigel, handing him a box.

Tom's eyes widened when he opened it. "You found Ravenclaw's diadem in the..— hold on, how do you know what it is?"

"I felt a pull towards it. Keep your horcruxes safer next time, would you?"

••

While Rigel was writing on the parchment that Tom had given him to relax, the older boy was looking at the stars in silence.

His lips quirked upwards when he realized that he could tell a few constellations apart and their names, mostly thanks to the many times he spent listening to Rigel talk about them.

Pointing to a constellation, Tom asked, "That's Orion, isn't it?"

Rigel, who had his legs up to his chest and his back on a tree, looking up from the parchment he was writing on. His eyebrows rose when he realized Tom was right. "Yes. Yes, it is."

Tom looked smug, making Rigel's lips twitch. "I guess listening to you talk about the stars and constellations has helped me tell a few apart."

"You listen?" asked Rigel in shock. Of course whenever Tom had asked him to talk about the stars, he did it, but never had he actually believed that the older boy listened to him talk about them.

"Whenever you talk about them, you have this look in your eyes and this tone of voice." mused Tom with a thoughtful look. Then he whispered, "Of course I listen.."

Rigel stilled, but it seemed like Tom hadn't noticed as he was back to looking at the stars again.

The 16-year-old sighed and burned the parchment, catching Tom's attention. "Feeling better?"

"A bit." said Rigel, then frowned. "You did have a raid, didn't you?"

"No—"

"Sirius told me he was going on a raid soon. So, Tom, why did you cancel a whole raid to come here?" Rigel knowingly asked.

Tom smiled slightly. "Because no matter what you feel, you're never alone. Not while I'm here, anyways."

Rigel shook his head in confusion. "Why are you so keen on making sure that I'm alright?"

"Y'know, Ri," started Tom, ignoring his last question. "at first, I wondered why you were so cold and mean towards.. everyone. I wanted to figure you out, I really did. The problem was.. not even you had figured yourself out.

...I stayed because I wanted to figure you out.

Now.. I'm staying because I want you to figure yourself out."