𝕬 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝕭𝖔𝖗𝖓 | 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 |

Chapter 15- Eternal Snow

Tom found himself standing in a blank space with nothing as far as the eye could see. Well, almost nothing. He attempted to walk forward and escape this hellscape when he tripped over something and fell to the ground. After a brief moment of recovery, he looked over at what he'd clearly failed to notice. A body had been lying directly at his feet. Tom scurried back as fast as he possibly could, positively terrified by the gruesome sight. Whoever they were, they clearly hadn't just lied down for a quick nap. They were dead. He'd fallen over the corpse of a girl in a white dress, which would've been blended with the ominous nothing if not for the fact that it was splattered with a great deal of blood. Her face could barely be seen through the thick strands of brown hair that scattered over her and lay out on the ground like the roots of a tree. However, it was clear to Tom who she was meant to be.

Tom wanted pretty much everyone he knew to just disappear, however he was almost certain that this was the one person he did not want to go. Her skin was still soft and did not yet reek of death and decay. She really hadn't been dead for long, and the only evidence of death was her still body, slightly curled in a fetal position, and the fact she was covered with splashes of fresh blood. He wanted to run far away, but couldn't bear to leave her like this when she clearly needed him. He cautiously approached her, wondering which one of his emotions would take charge of his actions. He'd only moved an inch closer to her when he was attacked by a high-pitched ring, followed by shrill voices.

You did this. It was your fault. You're a killer! An absolute monster!

Did he really kill her or were the disembodied voices merely lying to him to cover up their own deceit? Tom may have been described as a tad sociopathic in his recent past and had killed a particular bully's beloved rabbit, but he wasn't a complete psychopath. He wasn't a murderer.

Before he could question the voices, his eyes shot open. He was no longer standing over a freshly dead body, but was back in the empty dorm room, lying in his bed. It had been a horrible nightmare. Tom sighed and sat up. He'd forgotten to draw his curtains, but it was alright because all the Slytherins had gone home for Christmas, except for him and Peter. Now, Peter would've gone back with the others to their hidden little town of purebloods that had birthed their house's founder, if his parents were not currently traveling abroad. His parents had apparently always wanted to travel after school, but instead they were forced into marriage and had him. So, they had never gotten the chance to go away until now, leaving Tom stuck with him all vacation. Tom looked over to Peter, who was currently sitting up in bed as well, staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" Tom snapped. Peter jumped a little but did not retreat like he normally did. He could be spineless at times. Not today.

"You woke me up. You were speaking some sort of foreign language in your sleep." Peter explained, in his defense. "It sounded a lot like Parseltongue..."

"What's Parseltongue?" Tom asked. He hadn't heard of whatever that was, for once. He had decided to skip the whole 'raised by muggles' innocence by reading everything he possibly could about this world. It was probably the first time he had asked someone else a question.

"It's the ability to talk to snakes. However, it's extremely rare. The only well-known Parselmouth was Salazar Slytherin himself." Peter answered. "I highly doubt that was actually it. It was probably German. You're originally from Germany—or Albania—or something, right?"

"No, I was born and raised in London. I only know English," Tom replied, sounding a bit irritated and confused. Where did he hear that rubbish? Had the boys become so listless, since he wouldn't tell them anything about himself, that they were just starting to make stuff up on their own? Pathetic. "It's not like Mrs. Cole would've paid for us to go to regular school, let alone language school."