OF SERPENT AND ANGEL ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎➝ tom riddle ¹ | ✓ |

TWENTY-TWO

A quiet dripping of water from somewhere further in the Chamber resounded and timed tenfold as if echoed up the walls. The sound was only joined by a shaky breathing and a quiet whimpering from where Eliza sat on the cold stone floor at the centre.

Soon the eerie silence was broken by the sound of footsteps that rebounded around the space and Eliza immediately stiffened as she let her neck slack so that her head bent down. She inhaled weakly, her teeth chattering as she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that somehow if she wished hard enough, he would just disappear.

But alas her willpower wasn't strong enough and the footsteps soon stopped in front of her. Her breath hitched in her throat.

Tom crouched down before her broken frame. "Here," he said, enchanting a goblet and filling it with water before holding it toward her.

Eliza lifted her head just the slightest to look at the translucent liquid but made no effort to move.

"It's water," he said, moving it half an inch closer to her expectantly and Eliza extended a trembling hand to take it.

She lifted it to her faded lips slowly and took a sip, the cold drink tasting absolutely heavenly as it slid down her dry throat.

"It brings me no pleasure that I have to do this. But you understand, Eliza, that I do have to," said Tom, his face masked in expertly faked remorse as she slowly let her eyes flicker up to his. "You keep breaking my rules; I have no choice, you must be punished so that you will learn. All the pain you're feeling is your own fault. You understand that, don't you, Eliza?"

Slowly she nodded her head and then he quirked an eyebrow with just the smallest movement and she mumbled out a breathy, "Yes."

"Who's fault is it?" asked Tom, his fingers gripping her chin gently so that he could study her expression.

"Mine," Eliza replied quietly. "It's my fault."

"Yes," he nodded, the corners of his lips tugging upwards just a little. "I told you that you had reached your last warning yet you still feel the need to disobey me. I must say that I'm rather surprised at your strength. I thought that you'd break much faster. But no worry, it's only more fun this way."

She blinked and two tears rolled down her pale cheeks, sparkling as they fell from her chin and landed on her dark robes.

"I told you," said Tom, his tone changing from feigned worry to one of quiet malice, "no friends, yet ... you keep talking, keep discussing such interesting trivialities of your life, keep interacting more than necessary."

He let go of her chin and stood up. Eliza sat as still as a statue, frozen with terror. He moved out of her line of vision, and her heart beat increased as the threat of an unprepared-for attack was immediate, though she didn't venture to move her head.

Tom's footsteps echoed as he moved away from her and returned again, walking in circles around her.

"Atha is still very close to you," he spoke with a tone of slight disregard. "Now we can't have that, can we? I want you to cut ties with her. But because she's your best friend and because I'm very generous, I'll give you to the end of term. If by the time we've finished our N.E.W.T.s you're still friends, she'll pay the price for it..." A crooked grin grew to his lips as Eliza whimpered quietly again. "You wouldn't want what happened to Will to happen to anyone else, now would you?"

A quiet sob left past her lips and her head fell down again. Eliza wouldn't allow Atha to be hurt too. But she didn't understand, she couldn't understand. Why did it have to be her? Why her of all the other people on Earth? Why?

"I never did tell you much about poor William," said Tom as the malicious grin only grew. "I've just remembered, he asked me to tell you something. You asked me once what I did to him. Well, I'll spare you the details but I made certain you would learn your lesson and that there was no link to me. At first, I planned on simply killing him, but no, that would have been too predictable, too easy. When somebody dies, people cry they mourn and they forget. I needed something more long-term. But then how would I keep him from talking? After all, dead men tell no tales."

He paused for dramatic effect, the momentary silence making Eliza's skin crawl.

"And then it all came to me. I had done it before, much before I learnt anything of magic or Wizards or Hogwarts, on one of those awful trips with the orphanage. They were called Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson. Neither ever uttered a coherent sentence again.

"So it was only a matter of doing the same with lover boy William. Only now that I have a proper command of magic, it was a lot easier. I brought him here, you know. And do you what he did? He threatened me. He, a Mudblood Hufflepuff dared threaten me, the Heir of Slytherin. It would have been offensive had it not been incredibly amusing. Well, once he understood that there was no way he would defeat me, he asked me why, much like you did.

"And I told him my elaborate plans of how I will make nothing but an empty shell of what you used to be down to the very last detail." Tom paused, taking a moment to laugh his cold and high-pitched laugh. "Oh, how he begged. He wouldn't stop repeating how he'd do anything - anything at all - if I just spared you. As if he could ever provide me with anything I could possibly need."

Then he crouched down in front of her again, brushing the blonde locks of hair behind her ear and Eliza shuddered. His fingers were just as cold as his insides Eliza let her eyes fall to the floor.

"Do you want to know the last sane words of William Fullmore?" asked Tom, smirking as the exhaled sharply, her green eyes moving back up to his. "I suppose not ... but I'll tell you anyway. He said -" Tom let out a short laugh again before resetting his expression of seriousness. "He said, 'tell her that I love her'. What a wonderful lad he was."

This time Eliza was unable to stifle her sobs and they left her mouth as she let her head fall into her hands, her grief surpassing her fear.

"Does that hurt your feelings?" he mocked. "Does it make your heart ache for poor Mudblood William? Was he the love of your life? Poor little Eliza."

Eliza mustered up the remnants of energy within her to glare at the boy who was laughing, laughing at her. Laughing that horrible cold laugh that crept into her and made her terrified of blinking, scared of the very air that surrounded her.

what a dick