An Otherworldly Experience (Tom Riddle Era)

Chapter Twenty Two

More muggleborns had started to get petrified. Slowly but surely. Both Lauren and Elizabeth didn't believe that it was Riddle. He spent almost every waking moment either trying to find the attacker or by her side. It wasn't until a girl had died that Riddle had found the real attacker.

And it was soon after then when Kelli was woken up.

Kelli looked at the familiar ceiling panels of the Hospital Wing. God, she felt stiff. She almost felt sad to see them. She knew that her parents who had finally got their life back would be shattered to find Kelli gone yet again. Olivia the officer would be looking for Kelli everywhere but she'd never find her.

She sighed and looked over at the rustle of movement beside her. Tom was asleep and had shifted. Kelli didn't want to be staring but, Jesus, did she miss his face. She felt an odd mixture of feelings. Ones of sadness, anger, and downright joy. She stretched slightly, sitting up and continued to watch him.

She had, unfortunately, already admit to herself that she loved him and she didn't even try to rid herself of him in the months that she had.

He was still peacefully asleep. It was obviously night, judging by the darkness. She turned toward him, moving her feet out of bed.

Kelli leaned forward, putting her hands on the armrests and pushed his chair over.

He hit the floor with a loud crash. He glared up at her, his curly hair tossed aside, his eyes dark, tired and angry and his lips pulled into an angry sneer.

"The fact you felt comfortable enough to sleep around me really shows that you don't know me at all," Kelli told him, a smile on her face. She was amused.

He got to his feet, lifting the seat as he did and sat back down. She watched him do it.

The matron came by, having apparently been woken by the thump of Tom falling in a chair. She saw that Kelli was amongst the living.

"Take this potion, it'll help you be less stiff," the matron told her.

Kelli swallowed the potion.

"You should be fine, but since it's late it might be best to stay in for the night."

"I'd like to sleep in my own bed, after a bath," Kelli told her. "If you don't mind."

"No, feel free to do that."

Kelli smiled and got out of bed. Awful thing, not having bath bombs again. She'd have to make some magical ones.

"Riddle, you should go off to bed too."

"Of course."

She waited a little further down the hall for him. Kelli grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction towards one of the exits of the castle and said, "You and I need to talk about this."

"Nobody will believe you if you say anything," he told her, stopping them.

"Yeah, I guessed you'd have cleared your name, you smug little toe. Bet you even convinced Elizabeth and Lauren," she added offhandedly. "Come on, please."

His eyes narrowed at her, but he followed her outside into the warmer late spring air. "You're not afraid of me."

She looked back at him and said, "Of course I'm afraid of you. There hasn't been a time when I haven't been since I met you. I'm pretty sure you sent the basilisk to kill me and you chose me first. But I'm more offended than anything else."

Tom stated at her back. She didn't even look really offended, either. It was as though she had a new lease on life, and to be frankly honest, she did. There were some dank memes that she had seen. Though those tide pod ones made her soul hurt. Not that he knew that.

"Offended? Are you sure that's the correct word to use?" he asked her.

She looked at him, stopping before they got outside. It was in the hallway before the courtyard where Hermione had punched Malfoy. Not that Kelli was going to punch Tom. Well, not at the moment. "I'm quite aware the meaning of the word. Yes, offended is the correct word. Because I am offended that you'd kill me - and what for? Because I knew too much?"

"Yes."

"I still do."

"Now you won't be believed. I did send the basilisk to kill you, Watson. I wanted you dead. And as per usual, you did something else," he told her, holding himself to stare her down even though Kelli looked him back in the eye. "I can't trust you with anything you know and yet I can't kill you. You always make sure someone sees us together. Those people never loyal to me. And when I get the chance to kill you, you're smart enough to not die."

"I'm taking that as a compliment to my intelligence," Kelli told him coolly. Why did she like him? He was not charming to her, and even being told by him that he wanted her dead didn't really change her feelings. She wanted to scream at him, hate him and she wanted to kiss him. "Did you want to kill me because I told you I didn't want to be your partner?" she asked him, looking down towards the lake. She didn't seem as angry as she had before.

"Yes," he answered her. "It was . . . an overreaction on my part, I admit."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're touched in the head?" she asked him. "Because I can assure you, you're crazy if that was just an overreaction to you."

Kelli then sighed and shook her head. She should be a lot more pissed off but really, she'd had a great couple months with her parents. But that wasn't his intention, the thought would never have crossed his mind. His actual intention was to murder her. It was her actual life and she was willing to dismiss it as no harm really done. She wasn't going to let herself do that though.

"I'm sure you would think that," he told her. "And yet here we are."

"Here we are," she repeated in a murmur. Then she smiled, she wasn't looking at him. "So the facts are that I can't talk because nobody would believe me and you can't kill me because you'd be the suspect."

"Right."

"I'm going to hope that your situation really doesn't suck nearly as bad as mine, and you're not going to tell me otherwise," she told him, stepping further inside the castle and away from him.

"Where are you going?"

"You're not exactly invited to join my bath," she told him.

She may have been barely able to see him in the poor lighting but he looked embarrassed. "I wasn't asking to be," he muttered.

A grin appeared on her face at his reaction and she bid him farewell because that's just what Kelli did every time she left him.