Broken Wings / tom riddle

Chapter 29 - Distasteful Dinner

Briar woke up nestled in the arms of Tom Riddle. Her back ached immensely from sleeping in a large chair the whole night. Tom was still sleeping. She didn't want to move and wake him, he looked so peaceful when he slept. He looked humane, not like the sociopath that he actually was. But she knew if they didn't move now they'd miss class.

She shifted in the seat and intertwined her fingers with his. He groaned and finally opened his eyes. They both sat forward on the chair. "What time is it?" he asked. His morning voice was raspy.

"Not enough time to freshen up in the dorms, that's for sure," she said. She stood and walked over to an old mirror that was rusting. She tried to use magic to make her appear presentable. She waved her wand and her hair tidied and a soft flush of makeup came over her face. Tom joined her at the mirror and ran his fingers through his floppy curls. She turned around to face him. "Here," she said waving her wand once more. The ruffled mop of hair quickly transformed into his signature neatly styled curls. "Come on, we might still make the end of breakfast."

"Briar," he said, gripping her wrist as she began to walk away.

"What?" she asked.

"Not a word of what happened last night, to anyone." She gave him a disheartened look. "Please," he said.

"Fine, let's go."

As they walked out of the corridor and into the great hall, many students were beginning to leave for classes, mostly younger students. The knights were still seated at the Slytherin table. "Merlin! There you two are! You've been missing since lunchtime yesterday. Merrythought was furious at your absence," Lestrange said.

"Where were you exactly?" Abraxas asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Business with Hagrid took longer than expected," Briar said. She glanced at Tom. He said nothing.

"What did he want?" Casper asked.

"Long story, I will fill you in later," Tom finally spoke.

____

Defence against the dark arts was boring. After receiving an interrogation from the professor about their absence, Tom made the excuse of important prefect duties that he needed help with. She was hesitant but she bought it.

They made their way to potions class together silently. Briar wanted to hold his hand as they walked down the hall, but she wasn't stupid. She knew she could never have that with Tom Riddle. But it didn't stop her from wanting it.

As they took their seats Professor Slughorn approached their table. "Hello!" he said cheerfully. "I'm having a little dinner party in my office tonight. I hope to see you all there?" He smiled brightly nodding his head.

"We wouldn't miss it professor," Tom said.

The lesson began. "Today I wanted to challenge you all! With your schooling coming to a close in a few months you would all benefit from learning the difficult potion of Amortentia!"
Subtly, Briar glanced at Tom, his eyes had grown darker and his lip twitched slightly. "It is said those who are conceived under the potion of Amortentia cannot experience love." Tom blinked slowly. "However, recent studies have proven otherwise. Leta Lestrange, a famous witch who died in 1927 during a battle with Grindelwald was said to have loved a Scamander wizard," Slughorn said.

"Yeah but which one?" Avery snickered. The class laughed.

They began brewing their potions. Briar could feel Tom's gaze on her every few moments. She didn't look. She could only imagine how painful this lesson must be for him, she didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Slughorn began doing laps around the classroom. "Mr Avery, care to enlighten us with what you smell?" he asked.