Turned - Tom Riddle

Chapter Seventeen

"You're joking," Matilda gasped silently.

"No, I'm completely serious," Elizabeth reassured her. She had just spilled about what had happened with Tom that night. "It seemed real."

Matilda's look of excitement quickly vanished into a pit of worry, "What about Joshua?" Elizabeth froze. He hadn't even crossed her mind. "Beth, you have to tell him. Make it sound like Tom kissed you."

"No," Elizabeth shook her head. "Joshua can't know, it would ruin me. You can't tell anyone either, promise?"

"I swear," Matilda nodded. "Let's go up to dinner so we can take our minds off of this. We'll even sit with Wal and Melissa. I'm sure they've missed our presence." She always knew how to brighten Elizabeth's day. Even with everything going on between her and Tom, she could always rely on Matilda.

Elizabeth followed her up the stairs and out of the flourishing Common Room. They walked to their meal in such a manner, you couldn't even tell anything had ever been wrong in their lives. Once they reached the Great Hall, they returned to their usual seats across from Walburga and Melissa, who look astonished.

Walburga leaned in and whispered, "You know you two can't be sitting with us, what if he sees?" She looked over at Tom and the rest of their eyes followed. He was having a conversation with Malfoy.

"Oh curses to him, you are my best friends and I'll sit with you at my meals if it's the last thing I do," Matilda said firmly. They smiled back at her.

"We've missed you two so dearly," Melissa squealed excitedly. "I have so much to tell you!" She began talking very quickly about her and Pevlos, but Elizabeth found herself zoning out. Melissa was one of her best friends, but all she ever talked about was Pevlos.

An arm around Elizabeth's shoulders made her jump, but her nerves were calmed as she saw it was only Joshua. He had brought Klaus, Bonnie, and Henry with him. They all sat down. "Good evening, girls!" Bonnie chirped in a melodic tone.

"Evening," Walburga spoke with distaste. Of course, it was as if polar opposites had met. Bonnie was bright, perky, uplifting, and as sweet as could be. However, Walburga was another story.

"So I was thinking we could all play a friendly game of Quidditch tonight before the sun sets," Bonnie suggested. "Since we've got these two lovebirds over here, it'd be a good idea for our two groups to, you know, mingle!"

Joshua gave a warm laugh, "Bonnie, don't go scaring them off." He had his arm around Elizabeth. "I do agree, however, maybe Quidditch isn't the best activity," he pointed out.

"I have an idea," Klaus spoke up and opened his cloak to reveal a bottle of alcohol. "We can go up to the Room of Concealment."

"The Room of Concealment?" Matilda questioned with amusement.

Klaus shrugged, "It needed a name."

"Wouldn't you call it the Room of Requirement? It presents itself when needed, or is required," Elizabeth suggested.

"So it's decided," Klaus stood. "Let's go have some fun in the Room of Requirement." They all rose to their feet. "Don't all leave at once, go in pairs of two, it'll look suspicious if all eight of us go together."

"Henry and I can go first, you know, to make sure it's empty," Klaus whispered to them. "Then Joshua and Elizabeth go after thirty seconds, then Melissa and Matilda, then Walburga and Bonnie." They both gave each other a sideways glare.

Klaus dismissed them and left with Henry. Elizabeth counted to thirty. "Okay, it's been thirty seconds." Joshua nodded and they both stood. He intertwined his fingers with hers, causing her to grin up at him.