OF SERPENT AND ANGEL ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎➝ tom riddle ¹ | ✓ |

EIGHT

Eliza sat in the empty Quidditch stands as she watched the small group of trying out Chasers listen to Atha's instructions before dividing into three teams, one of them sitting down on the grass whilst the other two kicked up into the air. She watched as one of them, a third- or fourth-year, fell right off his broom and was sent off the field by the Captain who rolled her eyes. Eliza knew that Atha and Jack had been close and that he had been the team's best Chaser, and finding a replacement was tougher than usual.

A mere fifteen minutes had passed when two other players had been dismissed, and Atha ordered for the third team to get up into the air as they would attempt to defeat the other three remaining players. Her green eyes followed the spots of green as they flew around the field after the Quaffle, her mind this preoccupied with the previous night.

She didn't understand it; why, after six years of barely talking, was Tom Riddle so interested in her now? It didn't make sense to her, no scenario that she could conjure up was a satisfactory explanation. Why now? He had never seemed to pay mind to her existence before, he had barely glanced in her direction. Or so Eliza thought, in any case.

The girl let out a heavy breath as she straightened her posture, refocusing her mind on the game which was now only being held between three players, Atha having dismissed half of them. Atha was right; there was only one year left until they would graduate, one year until she would never have to see Tom Riddle again. She would found her own charity organisation aimed to help children living in unstable homes or unsafe circumstances, and when she was successful (hopefully by her thirties), she would settle down, get married and start a family of her own.

It was just one year. And what could happen in the span of one year? There surely wasn't much time for anything to take place that would interfere with her plans.

Wrong; a lot could happen.

Eliza did her best to shove Tom Riddle to the basement of her mind, locking the door so that he would remain there as she turned back to the field. Only two players were now remaining, a third-year girl with long brown hair who looked very small and fragile when compared to the sixth-year boy who looked oddly large on his broomstick. Atha stood on the ground below them, Quaffle in hand, Dalton Hill, the Keeper, on one end and Ike Ames, Dalton's reserve on the other.

"First one to score a goal wins the spot," the Captain called from underneath them before blowing her whistle and tossing the ball into the air. The boy immediately lunged for the Quaffle, catching it under his arm as he surged for the goal hoops protected by Ike. But the girl was quick and she kicked his shoulder so that he dropped the ball again and she caught it, flying toward the other end of the pitch before he even had time to register what had happened.

She aimed for the left hoop and Dalton quickly flew to protect it as she threw the Quaffle, but then she kicked it with her left foot so that the direction changed and it flew right through the right hoop.

The rest of the Slytherin team waiting below exploded into cheers as the third-year smirked smugly, the four players in the air landing and Eliza stood up to climb down from the stands.

"McCarthy, welcome to the Slytherin Quidditch team," said Atha with a grin as she tossed a silver and green jersey at the girl who grinned widely.

"What? But that isn't fair!" exclaimed the sixth-year boy who Eliza now recognised as Antonin Dolohov, a member of Tom's gang. "She fouled!"

"Yes, McCarthy it is a rule that you cannot come into physical contact like that with another player, and if this were a real match, he'd have gotten a free-throw. But I like your determination to win," Atha said to the girl before turning back to Antonin. "If you want fair, skedaddle right on over to the Hufflepuff team. Life isn't fair."

The boy cast her a venomous glare before he picked up his broom and marched off the pitch. The other five players of the Slytherin Quidditch team all congratulated Loraine, welcoming her on board until Atha cleared her throat and they all silenced.

"Well, we've got ourselves a team, and I will murder each and every one of you if we lose to Gryffindor in November, so make sure we don't," she said. "First practice is Tuesday after supper, I'll see you then."

They all turned and left toward the changing rooms, Loraine McNamara following with a grin still wide on her face but Atha called after her.

"McNamara!" she said and the girl turned around. "Be a minute late and I'll kick you right back off the team."

"Don't worry, Cap," said Loraine with a smirk. "I won't let that happen."

Eliza smiled in amusement as she helped Atha pick up the box with the different Quidditch balls in it to carry it back to the castle. "Don't you think you're a little harsh with them?" she asked, one of her eyebrows arching just slightly.

"No," the girl responded plainly. "This is Quidditch, it's important. If they want someone to sweet, they can join the Frog Choir."

"That's not very nice to the Frog Choir."

Atha raised an eyebrow as they entered the girls changing rooms and she changed back into her uniform. "All they do is stand in a line while their frogs croak."

"I'm sure there's a talent in that," the blonde shrugged as she waited on one of the wooden benches. "Have you ever thought it odd that Tom never tried out for Quidditch? I mean, he's best at everything else and he's ambitious. So why wouldn't he want to play?"

"He probably just can't fly," Atha said, emerging from the changing rooms now in her Hogwarts robes, her Quidditch uniform shoved into a bag. "Didn't he grow up in a Muggle orphanage? -"

"Shut up!" Eliza snapped suddenly and Atha's brown eyes widened in shock. The girl did not often speak in such rude language, and never did she interrupt other people. But now she sounded scared out of her skin as she cast a worried look at their surrounding.

Atha's brow furrowed. "What?"

"If he hears you speak about that, he'll come after you," she said quietly. "Don't you remember what he said in first year?"

"Eliza, we're in the girl's locker room," she said with a laugh. "How could Tom Riddle possibly hear us?"

"I don't know," the girl mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed. "I just ... he makes me really uncomfortable."

It was a feeling that Eliza Galway could not shake. Even the mention of his name already caused her skin to crawl like there were hundreds of angry spiders living inside her. So she shoved Tom Riddle into the basement of her mind, bolting the door so that he was left in the dark alone. But Tom Riddle was a creature of the dark and she had made him at home and now he would poison the very room until the walls were dripping with something dark and sticky like tar. And then he would crawl up the stairs disembodied, and he would let the darkness spread in her head until nothing else remained.

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