Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Thirteen

The next few days blew by in a flurry. Avalon had other work to catch up on, so she didn't see Riddle for a while, choosing to instead finish her other assignments to avoid falling behind in her other classes. She ate lunch with Xavier once, but their time together was cut short due to the fact that he had to leave and go to a detention that he'd earned for falling asleep in his Divinations class. How the boy managed to pass his classes was beyond her.

Avalon and Zelda sat beside one another, counting down the minutes before their Herbology class ended. Anytime Avalon came to this class, she remembered how Xavier had brought her to this greenhouse on the first night they had truly spent time with each other. The mandrakes in the corner made her laugh a bit to herself whenever she thought about how some of them were nothing more than vessels for him to hide his alcohol in plain sight. She had to give him credit where credit was due-- the boy was creative.

Throughout class, Avalon had been glancing over at Clara Bell who was proudly sitting in front of the Professor, a soft smile permanently painted onto her rosy lips as she listened to every last word of the lecture with an air of enthusiasm that nobody else in the class could come close to.

Avalon caught the girl's eyes once, and Clara offered her a soft smile that Avalon quickly returned before turning to Zelda and whispering, "What do you know about Clara Bell?"

Zelda's eyes floated towards the strawberry blond before she replied, "Sweetest soul you'll ever meet. I don't think she could hurt a fly if her life depended on it. Why?"

"Just curious," she replied absentmindedly. Class ended moments later and she turned to her roommate and said, "Mind if I catch up with you later? I just gotta take care of something really quickly."

Zelda nodded and picked up her belongings. "I'll see you later. Still up for having lunch?"

"Yeah, of course," Avalon replied before waving to her friend and watching as Zelda left the class with another cluster of Ravenclaws. She waited until the room was nearly empty before approaching the group of Hufflepuffs lingering behind. Her eyes locked with Clara's and she watched as the girl told her friends that she would meet up with them later and waved goodbye to them, staying behind to be left with Avalon.

"Hello," Clara said, her smile evident even in the soft tone of her words. Her voice was light and dreamy-- filled with a pleasant kindness that was undeniably present as she took a step forward and held her books to her chest. Her eyes held no signs of disdain, fear, or even judgement, which was a rarity towards Avalon nowadays.

"Hey," Avalon replied, mirroring her smile. "I'm Avalon. I thought it might be nice to finally meet you for real."

"Clara," she said. "It's a pleasure. I've heard so many lovely things about you from Orion."

"Likewise." Avalon began walking to the exit of the greenhouse, Clara following her in suit. She held the door open for the soft-spoken girl, and they both left the class together, walking along the grounds as they made their way towards the main corridors of the castle. "I'm sorry for interrupting the two of you the other night," she laughed, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"It's alright. Orion told me what you said after. Thank you for talking to him-- I know that all of this can be quite overwhelming for him at times and he really doesn't have anyone to talk to about it," she said, a hint of sorrow in her eyes. "I'm just glad he has you to confide in."

"I'm sorry that you aren't able to have a traditional relationship," Avalon said. "It's a pity so many people are so horribly close-minded. They're all wrong, you know."

"I don't much mind what they think. I'm used to it, I don't let it bother me anymore. If only I could take some of the weight off of his shoulders though." She spoke of him with the same love in her voice that he had when he spoke of her. She was gentle, almost more so than Orion, and they matched each other in the way one expects people made with two fragments of the same soul would act. "Orion told me that you and Xavier have hit it off," Clara said, her eyes widening when Avalon laughed. "I'm sorry if that was supposed to be a secret-- he's absolutely dreadful at keeping his mouth shut."