Broken Wings / tom riddle

Chapter 5 - Draught of Living Death

Tom marched into the common room with a stern look on his face. Lestrange looked to him as he let out a heavy sigh, he knew this was not going to be good. "Room of Requirement. NOW!" Tom commanded as he left the common room just as quickly as he had entered it.

The group gathered around on the velvet chairs in the mysterious room.  "So what the fuck was that?" Avery asked as the group stood in silence.

"That girl is a freak," Abraxas said bitterly to the group.

"Casper," Tom began to speak, "What did you find out about her?"

"She swears she's a pureblood, her family had to change their last name apparently as they were being hunted," the blonde said.

"Well I don't believe it," Tom spat back at him.

"What about you Aleks? You were quite close to her at the feast surely you have some information about the girl," the dark wizard said turning his attention to the brunette.

"No, not really, all I know is that she's an orphan and apparently a pureblood." 

"Way to state the obvious," Lestrange said with a chuckle, earning him a displeased look from Tom.

"I want you all to listen carefully, this girl is not your average witch, there's something off about her. She keeps secrets and her magic is...odd. You all need to be digging for answers, she could destroy everything we're working towards."

"So you want her gone?" Abraxas asked.

"No, not yet, she could be useful but we need to understand her first before we make anymore moves. You may go." Tom dismissed them.

______

Briar sat alone in the courtyard trying to finish her Merpeople assignment. When Cordelia approached her from a far. Briar liked the girl, so far she was one of the only people who didn't treat her like she was a disease. But she wanted to be left alone right now.

"Hey," she said as she nudged Briar on shoulders.

"Hi," Briar replied in a low tone, she didn't meet Delia's eyes.

"You okay?" she asked as she sat down next to her on the grass.

"No, not really."

"Homesick? That's normal, things will get better though," Delia said trying to be comforting.

"I don't have a home, how can I be homesick?" Briar asked. "I just am so sick of never belonging anywhere, I hate it."

"Hey I know the feeling of being a misfit you know?" the witch said to her. "I'm the first and only Gryffindor in the family," Cordelia confessed to her.

"Really? Your whole family?" she asked.

"Yep, the whole lot of them, Slytherins," she sighed, "But not me, 'crazy Cordelia' the only lion," she said to Briar. "But you make your home, you find your place, and Hogwarts is a great place to do that, just give it time." She rubbed Briar's arm.

"Time," Briar scoffed, "I've got a whole lot of that to spare I guess," she said with a soft smile.

______

3 weeks had passed and not much had changed for Briar, she still had exactly one friend, and avoided a certain black haired boy at all costs. However her attempts to stay away from Tom were becoming more difficult. He had taken a certain interest in the girl for some reason and it confused her why.

He couldn't possibly know her secret, could he? Absolutely not. Briar shook away her worries, there was no way of him knowing, she was just being paranoid, but he was becoming suspicious of her.