In My Blood - Tom Riddle

Chapter 6

Over the following months, Tom soon realized that she was his match. The school quickly bow down to her glamorous pull. She became the head girl, and top student in many classes, and teachers often saw her as intelligent if not more than Tom.

Tom's interest piqued the more her sharp-minded independence challenged his. While Tom would never admit it, he enjoyed playing psychological chess. Her success spurred him to work harder and refrain from becoming nothing but her shadow. When he managed to get more praise and attention than she did, he felt a small sense of satisfaction.

During their nightly patrol, Tom's voice rang out behind her, "Rose." He spoke coolly taking a position beside her. He remained tall and well-composed with nothing but the faintest smirk playing at his lips.

"Yet again, its Ros-i-er you incompetent crétin," her heavy French accent twisted into an insult, as she stared at him with the shadows hanging over her eyes.

Tom's heart leapt with surprise, from being met with such a strong reaction. He felt something ignite within, along with his surge of pride in the sudden fire that brewed within her. "I thought that perhaps this time to catch your attention, a gentler approach would be fitting," Tom continued to stride down the dim hallway, that faint smirk still plastered on his face.

'Rose' stared at him unblinking, unbothered to even hide the confusion walking alongside her, "since when are you anything but uptight?" She wondered aloud, searching Tom's distant green eyes for a readable emotion. 

Tom's eyes remained on the hallway ahead of them, "perhaps you are causing me to loosen up a bit." His slight flirtation did not go unnoticed. She smiled slightly to herself, hardly noticeable to anyone but the perceptive two patrolling the night.

Maybe that was the turning point in the tension between them, or maybe it was the dark secret she harbored beneath the curtains that threatened Tom's worst fear...

Tom had snuck out into the dark blanket of night slipping through the shadows, when he spotted midnight hair buried in a book while headed towards the Black lake. He immediately knew there was something wrong, when she had continued on her mission not even glancing to Tom's presence.

Tom had followed with a curious look in his eyes, stalking the shadows right behind her heels. He did not feel the urge to make himself known, because he felt as if for once he was peering into her secret thoughts without her being aware.

She continued on, only briefly glancing up from her page when the terrain got rocky. Why was she so distracted? Tom questioned. Normally, Rose was aware of every tiny detail not letting a thread go unread, however, in the dark of night she couldn't have been more unaware.

Eventually she had settled against a tree on the dark shoreline with nothing but the serene silence of night. When out of nowhere, she let out a pained screech and through the book angrily at a tree, while simultaneously bursting into flames, the contents never to be read again as each letter was engulfed into red. Her façade fell while she thought she was alone, and small sobs echoed onto the ebony of twilight.

An internal battle fought Tom between stepping out of the shadows and comforting her, or holding his new advantage over her hostage. The pain of her shed tears glimmering in the dying flames, and for the first time he felt sympathy. He wanted to ease her pain, however, he was not accustomed to this was an emotion he was completely unaccustomed to. Tom stepped forward into a beam of the moon, "are you alright, Rose?" He asked softly, concern weighing heavily upon his voice.

Vinda stood up abruptly pulling her mask up tight as quick as she could, aiming her wand towards him. Her eyes turned dark, as though a cloud had fallen over her. The only tell of her emotions prior being her smudged eyeliner and slight quiver on her inner mask letting him peer slightly into her pain, "what are you doing here?" She demanded an answer aggressively, in fear for her pain be known.

Rose's seemingly impenetrable façade has cracked, and Tom was doing his best to preserve her secrets. He stepped forward, before taking a knee before her, raising his hand tentatively. His voice was softer, yet determination still rooted the foundation, "I could ask you the same thing."

She looked down at him, her wand slowly lowering. "I was just... Reading," Tom's gut twisted with the smallest bit of worry, that this time her lie was not convincing.

He gave her a questioning look, but he was afraid to push her too far. This was unknown territory to him, he never cared before, but something was different... "Rose," he started unknowingly turning the name used to prod at her annoyance, to an endearing nickname. "You can tell me the truth," he spoke softly easily able to sense her lie, for the first time.

Her hard blue eyes, glassing over, and she swallowed her tightening throat. "I... I can't," she shook her head dropping her wand and hugging her arms. A small sob escaped her lips as she stepped back and slid down to the base of the tree. "Why me?" She whispered her words breaking.

Tom lowered carefully beside her, trying not to seem invasive. His heart twitched at her state of helplessness, and the way the moonlight caught her tears made her seem so vulnerable. "Why not you?" He spoke softly, keeping his now warm presence close beside her.

"Blood curse," she spoke bitterly trying to wipe and hide her tears. Vinda needed to look like she was okay and cool like always; But she just couldn't muster up the strength to pull it back in. 

Her pain brought an ache to his chest he had never experience before. It was an urgency for him to help her. To bring her the strength she needed. His hand stretched forward, touching her arm slightly. "What are you dealing with, Rose?" He asked tenderly.

Skin like porcelain, eyes like a roaring ocean, and hair of a charcoaled goddess. Vinda seemingly had it all, from grades to intelligence. Nobody would have expected the darkness that crept the corners of her life. "Many decades ago, a war took place. During this, many muggleborn witches feared for their husband's lives. They cursed the pures, not wanting them to overpower their families. All spelled were blocked but two. The Greengrass's And the Rosier's." She spoke with disgust and disdain to the past. "This malediction passed down genetically, weakening the victims," her words quieted as she stared out to the grey smog floating across the surface of the Black lake.

The severity of her chosen fate hit Tom like a bunch of bricks. He felt a pang in his chest as his hand tightened on her arm protectively. So Tom made a silent promise... One that he would search the ends of the earth to cure her...