Hide and Seek ● Tom Riddle

🇬🇧 ♦ 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟑 ♦

Melanie was sitting by her desk and reading a book, waiting for her mother to come back from work. It was a mid-July and the evenings were long and warm.

Mrs Benningfield had found herself new job. She was now working in the kindergarten and Melanie was kind of glad because of that. She didn't have to be seeing Tom at all.

But it was the summer and she couldn't help wondering what was he doing. She didn't understand why she was still thinking about him. Perhaps she was stupid.

She sighed and stood up to go to the kitchen to prepare herself a tea, when she heard a doorbell ring. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the clock in the living room. Her mother was supposed to be still at work at that time.

She fixed the glasses on her her nose and went to open the door, though. It could be one of the neighbors, asking for some sugar or flour.

Her eyes widened at the sight of Tom Riddle standing in front of her.

As handsome as ever, pale and slim, with hollow cheeks, puppy eyes and wavy black hair falling on his forehead. She almost gasped.

"What... What are you doing here?!", she hissed.

"I want to talk to you", he stated, "Please", he added in a pleading tone.

"Why would I even agree to that?"

"Because you still like me?", he sounded like a lost boy and her heart squeezed in her chest, "If you don't then just close the door"

"I do like you", she admitted, "I've never stopped liking you, Tom. But I'm a filthy muggle, aren't I?", her voice broke a little.

"That's what I want to talk about...", he confessed and looked down.

"I...", she sighed, "Alright. Let's go to the park. It's too sunny to sit inside", she proposed and he nodded his head.

They sat on the bench near the pond and Tom bit his lip, unsure how to start a conversation. Melanie looked annoyed and hurt at the same time.

"You broke my heart, Riddle", she dared to say, "I get it that you don't want to be a friend of mine anymore, but... You should have told me something"

"I wanted to distance myself"

"Why? What for?"

"You see, the Wizarding World...", he started and lowered his voice, "Look at me, please", he changed the subject and she turned her head to face him, "Much better. I like looking at you"

"Yeah, sure"

"I do", he nodded his head and raised his hand to put a strand of her hair behind her ear, "You're beautiful, Mel. But you probably know that already, right?"

"If you're asking me if I have a boyfriend, then the answer is no", she answered coldly although her voice cracked at the end.

"Why not? Are they still laughing at you?", he furrowed his brows.

"Not really. But I don't like anyone from my class", she shrugged her arms, "I like a boy who happens to be a strange wizard, you see", she tried to be strong but she lost it and started to cry.

"Melanie...", Tom's heart squeezed in his chest as he hugged her gently, "I came to you because I am torn. I don't know what to do. You see, I like you, too. Really. But I shouldn't"

"Why? Is it illegal for the wizards to love muggles?", she sniffed and looked deep into his eyes.

"No, not illegal. It's quite common, actually. Look at my mother, she married a muggle. But some wizards, like my friends, they treat people like that differently. They care about the blood-purity. In their world I'm a half-blood, which is alright, but I still have to prove to be good enough every day. People like my mother are being called the blood-traitors. And there are also wizards that were born in the muggle families, you know? And they're being called mudbloods and we hate them. I mean, not all of us, but my friends and I. So...", he explained and she furrowed her eyebrows like she couldn't understand, "And... I found out that my mother's side of the family is a very old, noble wizarding family. I have... A heritage... Some kind of a tradition that I have to follow... And... I just can't be with a muggle girl. No matter how much I want to", he finished and looked away as few tears escaped his eyes.

"But it's stupid, Tom. We can't choose our parents. What we can choose, though, is to be a good person", she whispered and caressed his wet cheek with her hand, "Perhaps you should find yourself new friends. Some nice ones"

"You don't understand", he snorted.

"Oh, I do", she assured him, "You're an odd half-blood there. A kid straight out of the muggle community that turned out to be a wizard. What's more, your ancestors had been some kind of powerful and noble people and you want to prove to everybody that you're worthy of their heritage. But it's hard when your father is a muggle. And your childhood friend is a muggle as well", she smiled sadly and Tom looked at her.

She's never seen his eyes so sad and loving at the same time. He fixed the glasses on her nose gently and smiled softly.

"You're much more than a childhood friend", he confessed and leaned in to kiss her.

She gladly kissed him back and tangled her hands in his wavy hair. Tom tasted like mint and spice and Melanie couldn't get enough of him.

"I... I thought that you had found yourself some witch girlfriend there", she admitted after she finally let him go.

"I was too busy studying and thinking of you", he admitted.

"I don't understand why you're complicating everything so much, Tom", she sighed and looked up at the sky. It was dark already, "Just tell your snobbish friends that you don't agree with them. That your girlfriend is a muggle. If that's a common thing in the Wizarding World, then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that... I've already gone too far", he whispered and looked down.

"What do you mean by that?", she asked concerned.

"I've been... Experimenting with forbidden things. Dark Arts", he admitted, too shy to look her in the eyes, "I've already embarked on the path of no return"

"Nonsense", she shook her head and held his hand, "You're young. I bet that a lot of young wizards were experimenting with dark things when they were teenagers. And the fact that you came here, to talk to me, means that you're not fully on the dark side", she tried to cheer him up.

"The only right thing for me to do now would be to remove your memories or to kill you", he finally looked up and she moved uncomfortably seeing how dark his eyes became.

"No, Tom. The only right thing for you to do now would be to stay with me", she embraced him and he took a deep breath in before hugging her back.

"Would you really want to be with somebody like me, though? A strange boy from the orphanage who can talk to snakes?", he asked.

"I can't imagine myself with no other", she smiled and squeezed him tightly.

Tom felt another few tears escaping his dark eyes. He loved her. Wanted to be with her. To graduate from Hogwarts and marry her. To have a job in the Ministry of Magic. To start a family with Melanie Benningfield. A family that he had never had. To have a bunch of lovely half-bloods running around their living room.

But he also loved the power. And he wanted to be respected the way Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Avery and Lestrange were respecting him. To be feared. To be great. To be the greatest sorcerer of all time.

But real love is the strongest form of power and it is able to change everyone. Even a monster.

And Tom Riddle wasn't a monster. He was just a hurt boy with a troubled past.

So it wasn't really that difficult to fix him.

All it took was a little bit of love.