Riddle // a Tom Riddle Story

Chapter 7: Punishment

Chapter VII

"I'm so selfish... all I cared about was myself... not for one second was I sad because someone passed away.. I was sad because my life would be changed because of it. I didn't even think about how her death changed the lives of her loved ones and most importantly her own..."

The grandpa clock in her room rang eight times.

"I only started caring when I realized it was my fault she left this world.... it's my bloody fault.." tears shot back into her eyes "I have to do something...I have to tell someone."

Her body finally left the bed although her soul remained in place. She pulled her feet down the stairs, to the common room and immediately stirred towards the door.

"Hey Melody, I have to go to the library, will you go with me?" A girl asked as she saw Melody enter the common room. But she completely ignored her and continued walking.

"Where are you going?" Louis asked as he noticed her obscure behavior. "You're not supposed to go out alone.. especially not at night." Meredith added. But Melody didn't hear them.

Her destination got closer in a good pace. No realization of being alone and in potential danger crossed her mind. In fact, her mind was already at her destination, carefully figuring out what was about to be said.

Before she knew it, her knuckles softly knocked on a big wooden door. "Yes? Who is it?" His voice echoed through her head, causing her mind and soul to jump back into her body and develop a sense of nervousness.

"Melody...Melody Bandini." She said rather quietly. "Come on in miss Bandini." He replied.

The door opened and revealed a smiling man in beard, Dumbledore, sitting at his table, looking up at her over his glasses.

His office was a reasonable size, not to big, not to small. It was decorated with many obscure looking apertures and books that looked very important and interesting.

"What gives me the honor to see you tonight, miss Bandini?" He asked with curiosity.

Melody swallowed deeply and started talking "T-There is something very important I need to tell you, sir. I...uhh...it has something to do with last week's occurrence, sir."

"What is it?" He asked in his usually calm tone. Hesitantly, she opened her mouth to talk. The words sitting on her tongue but her lungs holding back the air needed to say them out loud.

*Knock knock knock*

Dumbledore turned his attention to the–now opening–door.

"You won't believe it, Albus." Headmaster Dippet's face peaked through the open crack of the door.

"I will determine myself whether or not I will believe it, Armando."

"It's over, Albus." Shot out of Dippet's mouth.

"The responsible was found?" Dumbledore's eyes glowed up while Melody remained in place, not moving a muscle.

"Come on in, son" he said over his shoulder. In one motion, two more people entered and filled the room, one of them taking up twice as much space as the other.

"Riddle?" Dumbledore said. A hint of surprise in his voice.

Hearing these words, Melody snapped her head to look at them. Her breath quickening and eyes locking with Riddle's.

"Was he behind all this? No way." She thought.

"Mister Riddle found out that one of Hagrid's creatures caused all of this."

Riddle smirked as he tightened his tie. Dumbledore, however, didn't look too fond of him, neither did Melody.

"Oh so he's the hero. Who would've thought." She rolled her eyes.

Looking over at Hagrid, Melody felt like something wasn't right. He would never harm even a single fly. Yes, he might like dangerous creatures a little too much, but would that really be a reason to throw him out of Hogwarts?

After a few moments, they left the room and took the happy mood with them, at least in Melody's mind. Dumbledore brought his attention back to her. "Now, there was something you wished to tell me, miss Bandini?"

She swallowed deeply. "Yes, sir. I just wanted to say... that... that I've noticed miss Warren being bullied a couple of times, so I thought it could be part of her unfortunate fate."

"Crap." Her fists tightened.

"Very well, thank you for your help." He smiled, which made Melody feel even worse.

***

"You've been acting strange yesterday, Mel."

Looking up from the book she had been reading for weeks, she noticed a concerned Meredith looking back at her.

"Everyone has their moments." She replied, her eyes dropping back down to the black and white paper.

"Do you wanna go to breakfast together?" The ginger shook off the tension by changing the subject.

Melody licked her index finger to flip a page in her book. She read while replying in disinterest "Not really."

Meredith raised an eyebrow as she grabbed Melody's wrist and pulled her off her bed, causing the big book to drop to the floor.

"Bloody-hell, Meredith, was that necessary?" Her voice raised.

"Very"

Continuously holding on to her wrist, she dragged her all the way to the great hall, in which they began eating breakfast.

Soon, the sounds dimmed and attention was thrown to the headmaster.

"My dearest students, I'm proud to tell you that you must fear no more..."

Melody turned her attention back to her breakfast, making her the only one eating at the moment. Each bite she took of her cereal, the student's faces brightened.

"... I hereby award Mister Riddle the Award for Services to the School."

The whole hall broke out in cheers. As Melody's eyes swayed back up, she saw Dippet proudly putting his hand on Riddles shoulder. He looked as proud as he would've been of his own son.

"Something isn't right."