Malefic [BOOK 2]

Heartbeats.

It was supposed to be Tom's first night patrol as the prefect of Slytherin. His patroling area was on the third floor's west wing. He just could not wait to punish those pesky little trouble makers and cut points from the rival houses.

Oh, the joy!

He was done with his dinner and was set towards his destination. His heavy footsteps echoed against the walls of Hogwarts. The paintings hanging on each side of the corridors eyed his every move and whispered several comments on the heir of Slytherin, which he ignored.

A bunch a hurried footsteps from the opposite direction caught his ears. He stopped on his tracks with a raised eyebrow, wondering if there were students who were already trying to get in trouble. His hands were folded behind his back as he waited for them to appear right in front of him.

Much to his surprise, the anticipated truoble makers were none other than Malfoy and Avery. They had a frantic look on their faces and were panting like they had run a marathon. Tom frowned in annoyance while looking around them to spot any other prefects. When none were spotted, he guided the two to a more scheduled area without exchanging words.

The stopped in front of a large window, hidden away behind a pillar. By the time Malfoy and Avery had calmed down, Tom was on the brink of his patience. His right foot tapped against the cold tiled floor in a strange rythm. Malfoy was the first one to finally speak in a hushed voice.

"It's about Nott."

The name immediately caught Tom's attention. After the incident with Leo, Nott had oddly disappeared for a while. Tom and the others thought little to it. He might have felt a bit embarrassed and wanted to spend time alone.

"What about him? Is he not inside the dorms or did he get in trouble with the senior girls yet again?" Tom asked in disinterest.

"We thought so too but he is missing," Avery explained.

"Missing? He is old enough, Avery. A boy doesn't just go missing," Tom rolled his eyes with a scoff and prepared to leave.

"We searched the entire campus, Riddle. We found nothing," Malfoy pressed, making Tom stop in his tracks, "Shouldn't we inform professor Slughorn about this. A student is missing!"

Tom dropped his head while pushing his tongue against the inside of his cheeks. He slowly turned back to face the two boys who were being absolutely ridiculous over a small thing.

"Are you sure you searched everywhere?"

"Yes, we did," Avery confirmed making Tom nod twice.

With a quiet sigh he walked towards the large window and glanced at the night sky, "Very well. Let us inform professor Slugho-"

Malfoy and Avery exchanged glances between them when Tom stopped mid sentence. The heir of Slytherin looked rather out of character when he pressed his face against the cold glass and squinted hard. Malfoy and Avery pondered on what they should do as they had never seen Tom act that way.

After contemplating for a while, both the boys followed Tom and pressed their faces against the cold glass to look outside as well.

At first glance, it looked like any other snowy night with one or two bats flying around. The moon was high up on the sky. The silver light reflected against the fog that covered the forbidden forest like a heavy blanket. But Tom wasn't looking outside to see the beauty of Hogwarts.

His sharp eyes were glaring at something, or rather someone, who was standing right in front of the dark forest. It didn't take Tom much time to realise that it was Leo who was standing alone in front of the forest and waving at him with a big smile on her face.