She Saved Me | Tom Riddle

First Match

Wow guys, things have been crazy busy with moving. But here y'all go. This chapter is something I've been looking forward to writing for SO long. It's one of my favorites! Now buckle in children, you're going on a fun ride.

Listen: Eros by Nicholas Britell

28| first match

Tom found Ava sitting by the tree at the lake once he tracked her down. He wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to go to her, but he did anyways. He was suppose to be ignoring her after what she did. Yet he couldn't help himself, and there he was running after her.

Tom took a moment before approaching Ava. She was looking out across the water with her knees pulled up to her chest. One of her hands was at her side on the ground pulling at the grass aimlessly. When he sat next to her, she briefly looked at him and sighed. He didn't say anything to her, waiting for her to say something first if she felt like speaking at all. He didn't have to wait for too long before she decided to address his presence.

Ava looked at Tom out of the corner of her eye then moved her focus back to the rippling water. "I thought you were mad at me."

"I was," Tom said without hesitation. "Until I witnessed you being harassed by that boy." He watched her hand continue to pull at the grass. "Are you alright?"

Ava shrugged one shoulder. "I suppose so."

Tom looked to the side of her face, her eyes locked into something he couldn't see and her hair gracefully fluttering from the breeze. "What was that about?" He waited for her to look at him that time. "Clearly there is something else going on with him besides you not putting him on the team."

"I'm sure it was very clear," Ava said breezily. "But yes, there's much more to it than that." Her gaze drifted from his eyes down to robes before moving to her lap. "You see, Rowan and I, sort of had a thing during fifth year."

"A thing?"

Ava shrugged again trying to think of another way to describe it. "A fling, or it felt like we might be an item."

Tom's brow raised in surprise, "oh." He stayed silent for a few second, coming to understand why the boy acted strange now. "That would explain his behavior."

"Yes, well he has no one to blame but himself." Ava shook her head in disgust, "he can be charming when he wants to be. All the girls fall for his sweet words, just like I did."

"Something happened to change your mind though."

Ava huffed, "he didn't actually care for me. It was always about my family and my looks." She looked at Tom with a bitter smile. "He didn't ever have much respect for me. I found that out when he got upset at me for defending a muggleborn Hufflepuff from his friends."

Tom almost let his expression slip. He didn't want to remind her that he was once that way as well. "What else happened?"

"Last year, he told me very bluntly that I was only the picture perfect girl, he didn't care for anything else." She looked back to her lap and brought her hands there. "I refused to fall in line with the rest of Slytherin when the Carrows were teaching. I couldn't stand using curses on other students for their sick lessons." She started to pick at her nails at the memory. "He couldn't stand that I rejected him multiple times at that point, and he didn't hesitate to point out how I didn't belong in Slytherin. How I never have, in front of everyone."