the devil's redemption [tom r.]

31|| Bittersweet Embrace.

Trouble is your middle name

But in the end you're not too bad

Can someone tell me if it's wrong to be so mad about you

~Mad about you by Hooverphonic

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ROSALIND DIDN'T MEET TOM in the girls' lavatory that Friday night. She stayed in the Astronomy Tower until the sobbing drained her energy so much, that she felt the need to rest in her dormitory.

But despite her evident exhaustion, Rosalind couldn't sleep that night.

And it was pretty much the same for the rest of January. Rosalind barely ate, rarely slept and seldom communicated with people.

She never spoke a word to Willow, and managed to stay out of the dormitory while the latter was in there. And being as clueless as always, the redhead was very concerned.

Even the professors were starting to worry about her. Rosalind's hand wasn't in the air every time they asked a question, which was clearly not her usual habit. Despite her spending most of her time studying in the library to avoid social interactions, her grades were going down like a fat kid on a seesaw.

And upon the realisation of her true sentiments towards Tom Riddle, Rosalind distanced herself the most from him. She managed Potions class with switching partners with a fellow Ravenclaw she knew nothing about. The French blonde also attended all of the Knights' meetings, although arriving the last and leaving the first, without uttering a single word whatsoever.

Rosalind didn't dare meet the intense blues of Tom Riddle as she passed by him in the hallways. Those eyes had grown so much on her, that it was hard avoiding them when she had to run into him pretty much most of her time.

She couldn't bare the jolt in her stomach every time she saw the dark-haired boy stroll into class, or pass through the corridors. It was simply an excruciating pain.

And what was most painful was the fact that Tom completely ignored her. Sometimes his eyes would follow her as he strolled through the hallways of Hogwarts, but that was all she got. Although her wishes were to stay away from him, she secretly wanted his attention. She wanted him to chase after her.

But he didn't.

The only reasonable explanation to his actions was that he simply didn't care. As much as she hated to admit it, Tom didn't acknowledge her in his weekly meetings, neither did he interrogate her about her classes or her wellbeing.

She wanted to mean something more to him, but she didn't. Everything was just a stupid lie, and she was as valuable as a pawn in his chess game. The intimate kiss they shared was nothing to him, and that's what she believed.

***

". . And for the first time this year, we will be practising Tessomancy. Would anyone have an idea what that is?" The Divination professor, Susie Sooth, inspected the class under round spectacles.

Although Divination was a class abhorred by many, and quite known as the most ridiculously nonsensical class, Rosalind enjoyed it - she was a Seer after all.

She often saw images in her crystal ball, even sometimes heard whispers, but she always pretended that all she saw was fog, just like the rest of the students.

It was Tom Riddle's hand that shot first in the air -as usual- in the mixed room of blue and green. "It's reading tea leaves to determine one's future, or any particular information about them, Professor."