The Pretender | Tom Riddle

9| midnight escapades

9| midnight escapades

"Do any of you know a Harry?" The question hung in the air above everyone. The meeting was supposed to be of something else completely yet Tom didn't seem to mind sidetracking. In truth, all afternoon that was all that occupied Tom's mind. it hadn't been intentional but he was curious and felt the need to just know. Curiosity killed the cat, was always a statement that followed him around.

Every person in the room looked to each other curiously. There hadn't been a Harry in their year for a long time and even looking at the year's around them they couldn't recognize a single one. Abraxas was the first to choose to speak up. He was never the type to truly bite his tongue no matter who he was speaking to. He couldn't help at this time, he was a noisy child after all. "Not that come to mind," he answered, "But may I ask a question?"

It was evident Tom was annoyed with the bunch. He rarely spoke to anyone outside of his inner circle, but here we have a group of teenage boys who don't know how to keep their mouth's shut were also drawing a blank. "What?" His tone was sharp yet none reacted. It was normal behavior for Tom to get irritated easily. Benjamin nudged Abraxas, in hopes that the guy would just stay quiet instead of bother an already annoyed Riddle.

"Why are we having a meeting tonight?" Abraxas asked, "We usually hold them on Wednesday's."

"Does it matter?"

"Well I just thought you'd be passing time with Seren tonight."

"And why would that be?" He tilted his head to the side, it was a tempting question. He wanted to hear what they'd say, what confidence grew inside them to question him.

Abraxas sat straighter. He always had a way of pushing buttons, it was something that always ran in the Malfoy family. They had a certain way of continuing their banter until it was too much and the other quit. Tom only gave him a stern look, waiting patiently for what he'd have to say. Why he felt important enough to mention Seren right now. Abraxas only shrugged his shoulders, "Just, on Tuesday's it seems you usually spend your night time with her usually. It seems Seren still isn't feeling better, she's been sluggish the past few days   It seems she's been very absent minded lately and I just hope there's nothing going on. Christmas is around the corner and if she isn't fully recovered she'll definitely hear an earful from her parents."

Ton kept his stare headed forward. The chairs of students ahead of him all had their eyes casted down to their laps. It was very idiotic of Seren to let herself be seen in such a way that resembled weakness and vulnerability. He dismissed the thought, "Are you all ready for the Slug Club dinner on Friday?"

"Yes," Liam was the first to respond quite eagerly, "I had almost forgotten it was this Friday, feels as thought we haven't had one for a while."

"Right," Tom looked to everyone with a forced smile, "Now where should we get started?"

It had become a habit for Seren. Staying up so late until her eyes couldn't stand another single second to stay open and they were forced to shut. She knew Tom's schedule like the back of her hand. Though his Tuesday nights were usually filled with her in his bed or outside in the middle of the night reading, yet she wasn't with him tonight. So she had no other option than to assume he'd continue his normal routine today. For instance, once the clock strikes nine, all students must be in their dorms or common room and no wandering the halls. For the first hour it'd be a different set of students who'd patrol the halls. Around eleven pm is when Tom would go, they only had to be out an hour but he always stayed out later than that. She wanted to know where he was going, who he was with.

In reality that was part of the reason why she dragged herself out of bed so late. Ever since her dreams started, it felt like she was paranoid about everything. Every little observation she made was saved in a separate part in her brain. After her talk with Dumbeldore she couldn't bring herself to even trust close friends. So could you really blame her for paranoia to suddenly rise inside of her at the mere thought than one of her closest friends sneaks out for majority of the night and doesn't say where he's going. It was much colder in the halls than usual. The winter air was beginning to set in much heavier than last year and she could only feel chills run up her spine.