Catharsis [Tom Riddle]

Chapter Thirty-Two

He had to get back to the Slytherin dormitories.

His heart was racing as he bolted through the empty hallways, trying to reach the dungeons as quickly as he could.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

He was going to kill Avery.

He made it to the entrance of the Slytherin common room quicker than he thought humanly possible, hurriedly stating the password and impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for the entrance to appear. As soon as it did, he strode in, his eyes immediately landing on the only two people in the room, Nott and Avery, sitting together on the couch chatting and laughing.

The two looked over at him and smiled, but a look of confusion overtook them as he stormed over and grabbed the bewildered blond by the collar of his shirt, pulling him up and throwing him up against the wall, pointing his wand at his neck.

"What the hell?" Nott exclaimed as he got up and began to approach the two of them.

"Leave, Nott," Tom snarled.

Axel began to protest, "No, I-"

"I said leave!"

He knew better than to argue with Riddle. So, with one last worried look towards his roommate, Axel reluctantly grabbed his things and ran off to their room.

"What is your deal?" Avery asked, thrashing against Tom's hold.

Tom was able to ignore his question. He knew the effects of the small bit of Veritaserum had worn off. "Did you put anything in the coffee?"

"Cream and sugar!" Avery blurted out, his bewildered eyes filled with puzzlement.

Tom rolled his eyes, pushing the wand deeper into the boy's neck. "Aside from that."

"No, I swear," the blond insisted. Tom knew that Avery was telling the truth-- the boy wasn't a good enough liar to pull this off. And, the more Tom thought about it, Orion was too close to Hendrix to spike her drink.

"You said you saw Rosier in the kitchen?"

"I spoke with him briefly but left him to go get sweets from the elves."

"Did you take the drinks with you when you spoke to the elves?"

"What-"

"Did you take the drinks?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I left them on the table." Tom let go of Avery's collar and put his wand down, but the anger in his eyes burned even brighter than before as he began making his way to Rosier and Lestrange's room. "Hey!" Avery called out, momentarily halting Tom's movement. "What's going on? Is Avalon alright?"

"She's fine," Tom said, leaving the blond without another word. When he reached the dorm he desired, he threw open the door and revealed the two boys sitting on their desk chairs, their conversation coming to an end when they saw him enter. Without a moment of hesitation, he disarmed the both of them, catching their flying wands in his left hand before pointing his own at Rosier.

"You have ten seconds to explain yourself," Tom snarled.

"She's hiding something," Xavier interjected.

"I wasn't speaking to you," Tom spat, glaring at Lestrange while keeping his wand aimed at his roommate.

"Listen to what he has to say," Rosier pleaded.