Rose & The Riddle || Tom Riddle Story

Chapter Seventeen - Broken

The conversation with Tom left Rose uneasy. It was odd behavior for him to confront her like that. He was such a mystery and continued to confuse her more and more as the days passed.

Maybe she was the insane one. After all, she was the one who fell for a murderer. But we can't help who we fall in love with, can we? Many people fall in love with people without knowing who they truly are, so Rose could at least say she knew exactly who Tom was.

The more she found herself trying to rationalize her reasoning for loving someone such as Tom Riddle, the more she began convincing herself that she was crazy. Any normal person would run for the hills after discovering Riddle's ulterior motives, however she was willingly helping him and sticking by his side through it all. He could tell her to do anything, and she would just to please him... it made her want to pull all of her hair out.

Every once in awhile Rose would convince herself that everything would be okay. Tom would see the error of his ways and he would join her in the light. But shortly after thinking that, the devil on her shoulder would remind her that there's no saving him. He's already broken.

Her thoughts lingered to his broken soul. She wondered once again if there was a way to restore one's broken soul. She wished Tom hadn't taken Secrets of the Darkest Arts from her. Maybe if she had kept it, she would have been able to help Tom more.

She thought about her prophecy and there was only one part of it that stuck out in her head.

"The world will not be rid of evil until the Deathly Hallows are destroyed."

She had more questions than she had answers to. She had even asked her parents if they had ever heard of the Deathly Hallows, but no such luck. She was feeling utterly defeated in every aspect of her life...

Rose sat alone in her dormitory once again while everyone else was in the Great Hall for dinner. Rose managed to steal a roll with butter from the kitchen before heading to the common room. She did not have much of an appetite lately, and it was starting to become noticeable. Her eyes were sunken and her hair was no longer full and shimmery, but dull and lifeless. She had dropped so much weight that her clothes were now ill fitting and loose. She realized this wasn't a healthy habit, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Everything was exhausting and she only wanted to sleep.

She lay on her bed staring at the ceiling with Tom Riddle's diary clutched to her chest. She held it above her head and traced his name with her fingers that was embroidered on the back. She was still curious about the Horcrux.

She flipped over onto her stomach and grabbed a quill and some ink from her bedside table and opened the diary.

"Hello again"

She watched as the words faded and the ink sunk into the pages and waited.

"Good evening"

Rose scrunched up her face in confusion. She hoped that Tom would have been more chatty this evening.

"Still haven't figured out who I am?"

She did not have to wait long for a response.

"I have ideas..."

"Do tell"

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"I'm simply curious"

"As always, Miss Davies."

Rose's breath hitched in her chest. He knew... it knew. She could not comprehend the difference between the Tom Riddle stuck inside of this diary and the one sitting down in the Great Hall enjoying dinner, and she certainly did not understand the disconnect. Yes, she understood this piece of his soul was severed from him entirely, but she still felt like Tom would know what she was doing.