Turned - Tom Riddle

Chapter Thirty Two

Over the next two weeks, Elizabeth watched over Joshua's behavior more carefully than she usually did. She noticed he was in fact more aggressive than she'd seen before. It worried her, but she didn't let it ruin her days with him.

As they took their Potions exam on that early Thursday morning, she thought about his behavior. Elizabeth sat across from Joshua at the table. She felt his foot against her lower leg and she pulled back, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. He smirked over at her and returned his eyes to his test. She felt his foot again and only looked to see if Slughorn was watching. Of course, he was slouched over his desk, grading essays from weeks prior.

Tom had finished his exam half an hour ago. He was looking over at Elizabeth, watching Joshua's foot playfully glide up her leg. He didn't know how truly angry he was until he felt the quill snap in his grip. Slughorn hadn't noticed, so he tossed it off to the side of the table. He wanted to kill that boy so badly.

"My Lord, are you alright?" Malfoy whispered across the table.

"Just dandy," he replied through gritted teeth.

Elizabeth attempted to stifle a giggle, but it came out and resulted in Joshua chuckling as well. They were so happy. "Corrington, Maryn, please control yourselves," Slughorn commanded from across the room.

Tom looked back over at his paper, knowing all of his responses were correct. He watched as Elizabeth wrote in her answers, most likely the right ones. He wanted to be Joshua, but he also wanted to kill him.

Elizabeth jerked her foot away with a silent laugh, standing up so she could hand in her parchment. Tom stood abruptly after her and followed her up to the Slughorn's desk. As she turned around to go back to her table, she bumped into his chest. In the most split of a second, he ran his fingers over her forearm, hoping that she would remember that she loved his touch more than Corrington's. She shivered and walked back to her desk, the skin on her arm tingling. Joshua had his back to her.

Elizabeth sat down at her table and watched as Tom discussed something with Slughorn. They chuckled and made conversation. Elizabeth almost laughed at how incredibly different Tom was being. She sat with her head resting upon her hand, thinking about the weekend. She wanted to pretend to be sick, but she'd already done that the weekend prior. Elizabeth just wanted to stay in her dormitory forever.

"Alright, if you have handed in your parchment, you are free to go. Remember, for next class, bring the viles I gave you!" Slughorn called out.

Elizabeth waved to Joshua, who she saw had barely made it half way through the exam. She grabbed her bag and walked out of the classroom, a few students following her out. A Gryffindor boy and girl whom Elizabeth didn't know walked ahead of her. Just as she had expected, Tom came beside her.

"Easy exam?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Yes, although I was a bit... distracted," he told her, remembering Joshua's foot on her leg. He wanted to blow the boy's limbs right clean off.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, "Distracted? What could possibly distract you?"

"You," he told her in a casual tone.

"Don't make me laugh," she played it off, not wanting to get into any real deep and meaningful conversation.

Tom chuckled and looked over at her, "I couldn't keep my eyes off of you."

"Oh, stop," she laughed and nudged him with her elbow. Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps running to catch up to her.

She looked behind her and saw Joshua, who slowed down to walk at her pace. Elizabeth figured he rushed to finish the exam. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him, "Hello, my love."