Malefic [BOOK 2]

Wild flowers and floating slimes.

Tom fiddled with the strange-looking picture in his hands. He had just received a letter from his father. The old man had been sending those quite often. Tom could tell that he was trying to be the father that he was supposed to be years ago.

Not that Tom appreciated being called every now and then to receive just another letter asking him he should start an owl farm to start his own message network or how much profit would percentage would he have to give Tom if he were to start an industry where Tom would duplicate things using his magic.

Tom was done explaining to him that magic was not for muggles like him. In reply, Mr Riddle would only say that it was Tom's phase to go against him and soon he would too start thinking more about profit and less about world domination.

Yes.

Tom did share his schemes about becoming the greatest wizard of all time with his father. Mr Riddle wasn't as worried as Leo though. He only called it Tom's phase yet again and waved it off. Tom was kind of glad that his father was less than interested in his works. That way Mr Riddle won't be much of an obstacle.

However, after yesterday's little confessions from him as well as Leo, he found himself frowning every now and then thinking that his father might have been right about the phase concept. But something told him that Mr Riddle didn't figure it out on his own and Leo had something to do with it.

Whatever Tom had promised to Leo, he was willing to follow through. Because unlike her, Tom was a man of words. He didn't break promises. Instead of thinking about immortality, he wanted to figure out what was going on with Leo.

Thinking about her, his eyes travelled back to the photograph he was holding. It came along with his father's obnoxious letter which was now on the floor in ashes. Tom started at it, trying to pick up every detail. The photograph was the one Leo took with him the day she was taken away by her fake parents.

It was from the world of muggles. So, it didn't move. Both of them were frozen in an awkward pose. Leo was staring at the camera with an unsettling look. But Tom was not paying attention to her still picture. Tom was rather looking at himself.

He was taller than Leo. Leo only reached to his chest making him tower over her. In the photograph, Tom was looking down at her. His eyes had a look that he couldn't quite read. But something told him that he always looked at Leo with that expression.

Was it attention? Anger? Worry? Adoration?

Tom couldn't decide. Whatever the look was, he was feeling quite embarrassed about it. He didn't know why. What was there to feel embarrassed about? It was not like he stared only at Leo with that look in his eyes.

Then again, he wouldn't imagine himself staring at anyone at all.

Tom sighed to himself.

He placed a hand on top of his heart. It was beating quite fast. The heart that he thought was completely frozen for as long as he could remember was beating unusually fast.

He nearly crumpled the fragile photograph in his palm. He shook his head and started walking out of the owlery. The photograph was now carefully tucked inside the pocket of his cloak. He had a few minutes to spare before his potions class.

He walked aimlessly through corridors, lost in his thoughts. He only glared at a few juniors every now and then just to keep up the strict prefect of Slytherin image. Other than that, he felt very distracted- A feeling that was foreign to him but peaceful nonetheless.

Who would have thought, that not having a particular goal in life could be relieving sometimes?

Although, he wondered what Avery and Malfoy would think about his sudden change of plans.