She Saved Me | Tom Riddle

Memories & Change

Okay, I'm sorry there was a delay. I went back and forth with putting another section in. Ultimately, I decided to put it in the next chapter because it just didn't fit in this one. BUT, I still managed to update in under a month 🙌🏼

Listen: Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac

27| memories & change

The rest of October was taken up by studying and quidditch practice, which Tom surprisingly found himself becoming a part of. Mia would be sure to grab him every time there was a practice, regardless of the weather, and forced him to watch with her. Of course he only says forced lightly, he didn't particularly mind anymore. The only time he found it less than tolerable was when that Ravenclaw snob, Allison, tagged along. She always managed to annoy him to no end within minutes of inviting herself to sit with them. He had no trouble throwing back any snide comments to match up to hers directed towards him. No, he just found her entire existence to be obnoxious. Especially when she started up conversations with Mia about topics from that decade that he knew nothing about. Nothing frustrated him more than not knowing or understanding something. Even with silly little references to pop culture or basic terminology.

That day's practice was much the same as Allison started talking to Mia about clothes from the muggle world that were filtering into the wizarding world. All he caught was something about a choker and whatever a midriff top was. Tom rolled his eyes at their conversation and turned his attention to the players running drills. Ava and Liam were perched on their brooms talking, no doubt about what they want to do with the rest of the team for the remainder of practice. It seemed to be a rather intense discussion and neither were really paying attention to what the others were doing.

It came without surprise that someone got too carried away and one of the beaters hit the practice bludger too hard. Tom couldn't help the flinch he made when the bludger missed Ava's head by an inch. She had ducked just in time much to everyone's relief. At least that portion was entertaining to him as he watched Ava berate the players for being too reckless.

"Colby Gillan can be such an oaf," Mia suddenly said once things settled down.

Allison looked up from the magazine she was holding briefly and snorted. "Are you saying that because he is, or because nothing's happened between the two of you?" There was a smug undertone to her voice as she flipped to another page.

Mia scoffed, "what is it with you and Ava insisting I have a thing for him?"

"You do have a thing for him," Allison said bluntly.

"No I don't!" Mia crossed her arms in irritation. "I certainly do not have a silly crush on one of the most brutish boys in our year."

Allison let out a laugh, "oh you most certainly do."

"What about you? I don't see you doing anything about your crush." Mia angrily fixed her scarf after it started to come undone. "How is Emilie by the way?"

"Shut up," Allison said with a roll of her eyes.

Tom abruptly stood up in the midst of their continued debate to get away from them. He couldn't stand listening to such a ridiculous conversation any longer. He knew practice would only be for another ten minutes so he decided to just wait elsewhere. They would pass by him on their way to the castle anyways. With that in mind, Tom made his way to the big tree near the lake. He lowered himself to the ground with his back against the trunk. It was still chilly, especially near the water, but at least it was quiet there.

He was able to close his eyes and take a minute to himself. It was surprising how draining returning to school and facing everything could be. Classes weren't much of an issue to him, they never have been. But interacting with others was enough to drain his energy. On top of that, he was still dealing with his personal struggles that he's kept to himself. There was a certain level of vulnerability required to share his issues with someone else, something he wasn't quite willing to do. He hadn't lied to Ava, his sleeping did improve. But he knew she still worried about him, he just didn't know if he could tell her what was wrong. He didn't even understand it himself.