She Saved Me | Tom Riddle

Suspicions

I'm back from vacation so it's time to get to work! 💪🏼 I'm a little annoyed because this was the only gif I could find that would fit the chapter, but ya know...whatever haha

Just one more chapter to go before Tom's trial, which will take me a while to write in itself because it will be split into two parts.

Here we go!

✌🏻

listen: Snape and the Unbreakable Vow from the Half Blood Prince soundtrack

16| suspicions

It was early the next morning when Ava found Tom sitting outside in the brisk air. Light was barely showing in the gray sky as the world had yet to wake up. They were part of the few who saw the world in these early hours of the day, experiencing the quiet and stilled scene before them. The breeze chilled Ava as she stepped out onto the back porch. She closed the door and wrapped her arms around herself tighter, hoping to fight off the cold. She watched Tom quietly for a few seconds before slowly approaching him, careful to not disturb him.

Tom was sitting on the last step leading off the porch, hands placed on either knee, starring ahead. He didn't say a word or indicate he heard her approach, he didn't move. He continued sitting still and breathing deeply, his breath forming small clouds in the air. Without moving more than his mouth, he finally addressed Ava.

"You can talk, I won't mind."

Ava breathed out, moving the rest of the way to sit next to Tom on the porch steps. "What are you doing out here?" She looked over to him to see he was in deep thought previously.

He gave a slight shrug, "I felt the need to be outside." His eyes flickered down to the ground, "it's more open."

"It feels like freedom." She smiled at him when his eyes snapped to her, "I understand. Being out here is the closest to it right now." She sighed, looking out into the yard, "you know I have those moments too. When I just need to get out, when I feel suffocated."

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "you get the feeling of suffocation, in your home?" He scoffed, turning away from her. "I wouldn't have believed that was possible, especially for you."

Ava scrunched her forehead, confused and bewildered. "Why would you think that?" When he didn't respond with anything other than a disinterested shrug, she huffed. "Everyone grows tired of being inside after a while. I'm no different."

"Well then," Tom sighed, "I guess I was mistaken."

Ava watched Tom's expression, her face a mixture of confusion and concern. Something was off with him, but she couldn't tell what. She started to think it was over what happened and they weren't back to normal like he said. She began to worry that maybe she had sufficiently messed up all the progress made with him since they first met. They couldn't afford that.

"This isn't..about what happened, is it?" Ava shifted to face him, hoping to get a better read on him. "Are things really not alright between us? I thought we had gotten all that sorted yesterday. Did you change your mind, or did you lie to me?"

Tom looked up, his brow furrowed, before facing her. He was confused; he couldn't believe she thought that was the reason for his behavior. "Of course things are fine between us, I didn't lie." Surprisingly. He paused, deciding on whether he should tell her or not. He eventually decided to admit how he was feeling to her. "Thoughts on my trial have been preventing me from resting. All I've been able to think about is the negative results of it."

Ava's face lit up with realization, "you're scared, aren't you?" Ava looked down in guilt from not thinking that was what could be bothering him. "It's alright to be scared, Tom." She slowly put a little distance between them again, not wanting to crowd him at that moment. "I hope you know though, that I'll be there for you. No matter what, I think..I think everything will be fine, in the end."