For the Greater Good || Tom Riddle ||

Chapter Eleven: The Truth

Their eyes locked and an electrifying energy buzzed in the air. It built and built until she could hear the hum ringing like a bell in her ears, surrounding her in a bubble of disbelief. 

 It was so loud. Was that her heart? Was there a storm nearby that she didn't know about? 

What did he just say? 

Tom's stare burned into her like a brand. Her skin felt hot wherever his eyes landed, like he was the sun and she was a distant planet destined for the first time to feel the blessing of light.  

Was it really a blessing though? 

It gave her life, but it also made her uncomfortable. She wasn't used to this warmth. She was used to her rocky surface being untouched, cool. She was used to being alone. It was easier to be alone. 

A voice filled her head.

"I used Legilimency on you." 

All of a sudden, the energy descended from the heavens and struck Gwen straight in the chest, causing her heart to momentarily stop. She felt a cool fire travel from her shoulders to her fingertips and to her legs and toes. When the initial keen sting of betrayal was over, she closed her eyes. 

Her face slowly hardened and her once confused expression morphed into one of fury and hurt. The self-preservation inside her sparked the dormant volcano of defensiveness and rage that had been buried for so long. Her blue eyes flew open. She was livid. 

"How could you?" she spat viciously, springing to stand up and put as much distance as possible between the two of them. "How could you do that to me while I was unconscious!" 

"What choice had you left me?" Tom came back coldly. He saw no wrong in his actions. "I saved you from an Unbreakable Vow you clearly did not want to make. I would qualify that as probable cause for being deserving of answers."  

Gwen bristled with anger. She hated that he couldn't understand why she was upset. She loathed his inability to relate to her emotions. Her heart pounded with this frustration and it fueled her fury.

"If you wanted answers you should have waited for me to give them! Not meddled through my mind as the glorified creep you are!"  

"I am no creep." Tom sprung up from the ground with ease, walking with weightless footsteps towards her. 

She swiftly stepped back. Gwen's hand felt into her robes instinctively for her wand, a sudden movement which made Tom stop in his tracks. His eyes darkened as they locked on to her.  

"Are you going to hex me now,  Gawmdrey?" Tom's tone was low and disturbed. 

"I would very much like to!" 

"But you won't." 

"How are you so sure?" said Gwen icily. 

"Even if you were to hex me, you know I would easily cast Protego  and disarm you." 

"We've never dueled," Gwen challenged, "you don't know what I'm capable of." 

"And you don't know what I'm capable of," Tom said as a warning.  

Gwen shook her head and scoffed. "Really? I really don't know what you're capable of? I know you killed an innocent girl with the Basilisk and framed poor Rubeus Hagrid. You killed your father and your grandparents! You've split your soul... I don't know what you want me to think, Tom! That you're a good person for sifting through my mind while I was asleep?" she asked incredulously.