T H I R T Y
Back to School

Usually when a person wants to talk to someone, they do. Now, Tom for example wanted to talk to me. I don't know why I panicked so bad, but as soon as the feast was over—I was the first one out of my seat literally flying to the common room.

I hadn't even waited for Alexius before I was asleep in the dorm room—I had no plans of speaking with Tom last night. However, I suppose it was a good thing I went to bed early last night considering Lavender was currently jumping on my bed, screaming at me to get up.

"Both Alexius and you already missed breakfast, I am not letting you be late to class too." Lavender was tugging me out of bed, myself finally accepting that summer was officially over and I wouldn't be sleeping in anytime soon.

"Jesus Christ, fine." I sat up much to Lavender's approval, yawning I looked at her questionably. "How do you even know what Alexius is doing, he's in the boy's dormitory." I looked to her suspiciously, a small smile tugging at my lips.

Lavender's face flushed at she glared to me. No words were spoke as she moved her eyes to the right side of the floor by my bed. Raising a brow I looked over to my right side, scoffing at what I found.

Alexius slept soundlessly on a makeshift bed, just to the right of me. Lavender tapped her foot impatiently, looking to the Antichrist with a small scowl.

"I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I wake up and nearly step on his head." Lavender pulled her hair up in a tight ponytail while saying this. "How did he even get up here, the stairs are hexed for any males."

Shrugging, I knew the answer right away. "He teleported." I couldn't keep the smile off my face when I looked to Alexius, Lavender only shaking her head exhaling a deep breath. "Did any of the other girls notice him?" I eyed the two empty beds which normally held our roommates across from us.

"No," Lavender waved her wand at me proudly. "It took a very strong disillusionment charm on my part, especially considering he seems to have some sort of natural repel against spells." Lavender laughed shaking her head. "But I managed to do it."

I gave Lavender a thankful look, before standing out of my bed. Gazing upon Alexius who slept like a baby not disturbed by Lavender's yells, I dramatically sighed at his over excessive protectiveness.

Kicking him upside the head; not too gently might I add, he jumped awake looking around wildly. When he realized it was only me who kicked him, he gave me a look of mock betrayal. "Wow, I break the rules to sleep with my best friend, and she kicks me." He pouted, sarcasm already making its way around. "How hurtful."

Rolling my eyes, I gave him a look. "That sounds wrong on so many levels, Alexius." He grinned stupidly at that, giving me a mock suggestive look.

Playfully I winked at him, over exaggerating licking my lips—Lavender watching us mouth agape. Lavender's gaze suddenly traveled down my body, eyes widening upon what she saw. "You just wore a shirt to bed?" She exclaimed, seeing as I just wore one of Alexius's shirts with no pants.

Alexius saw this too, scowling looking to me accusingly. "That's my shirt."

Ignoring him, I gave Lavender a flippant smile. "I can't do nightgowns anymore." I shivered remembering how uncomfortable they were last school year. "Those things are so uncomfortable to sleep in, I refuse to go through that again." Lavender shook her head at my over exaggerant nature.

The brunette's eyes lit up as she remembered something, Lavender pulled two parchment pieces from her pocket. Smiling she handed them to us. "These are your schedules this year, Dumbledore asked me to give them to you at breakfast earlier." I rose a brow, reading the schedule over approvingly. I had the exact same classes as last year, the only difference being they were sixth year classes.

"I took the liberty of checking both your schedules already," Lavender flashed us a sheepish smile. "As it would turn out this year they changed it up, so all houses share classes with their own house—meaning we have the same schedule." My eyes lit up at that, happy to share all classes with Lavender, Alexius, and Walter. "However, we also need to share the class with another house," Lavender paused at our confused gazes. "For example, we share Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination with Slytherin house, Charms and Transfiguration with Ravenclaw, and Herbology, Astronomy, and History with Hufflepuff." I now understood what she meant, but was confused why we shared more subjects with Slytherin.

"Why in the world do we have more subjects with Slytherin?" Alexius was the first to question, wondering the same thing as I.

Lavender simply shrugged. "They're trying to break the feud between the houses." Her conclusion made sense, it was just a sucky thing.

However, this would help me get closer to Tom. The more classes we had together, the better.

"That'll never happen." Alexius scoffed, thinking about the feud that still runs between the houses even in the future.

Lavender shook her head, scowling at us. "That's not the point, hurry and get dressed so we have time to make a stop at the library."

I rose a brow at that "Why?" The question rolled off my tone, in a way that said I was against going to the library.

Scoffing, Lavender crossed her arms. "Because, I need to pick up an advanced Transfiguration textbook," She paused as if thinking whether or not to tell us. "I'm trying to become an animagus." She excitedly whispered, Alexius dramatically cheering.

"YES! I hope you're an alligator so I can wrestle you." He smiled, his true bayou personality coming out.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "Just get ready." She sighed, waving us off.

~

"Where were you last night, Alexius?" Walter questioned looking to the pig who gave flirty glances at every female who passed by us.

Turning his attention to Walter, Alexius smiled brightly. "I slept with, Rhiannon." Walter choked on his breath at that sentence, making me swat the idiotic Antichrist.

"No, no, no." I looked to Walter. "He snuck in and slept on the floor next to me, he has issues." Alexius glared at my comment, narrowing his eyes threateningly.

Walter only nodded pursing his lips. "I don't understand, how did you do it? The stairs turn into a slide when a male walks up. How in Merlin's name did you get up there?"

"I have my ways." Alexius mysteriously spoke, me snickering in reply.

Snorting, I turned to Walter. "Yeah, he's secretly a woman." Alexius flicked me retaliation of that comment.

"Says you, big hair." Alexius snarked, making me glare.

It was true, Lavender convinced me not to where it braided today. Finally giving in, I made the mistake of brushing it out dry—which caused it to frizz up majorly. Not only that, but Lavender said I didn't have enough time to shower, so now I walked through the corridors with hair bigger than my future.

"Shut up." I scowled, Lavender laughing in amusement at our banter.

The library was quiet when we walked in, Alexius looking around at the library with a smile. Looking to me, he mouthed the words 'Harry Potter'. I bit my lip as to not let out loud obnoxious laughter, Alexius was such a geek when it came to Harry Potter.

As soon as our quartet was in the library, Lavender wasted no time in walking down the advanced Transfiguration isle. Alexius and I stuck by the wall toward the front, and Walter followed after Lavender curious to see what book she was checking out.

Glancing around the quiet library, I noticed that not many students were here, two Ravenclaws, one Hufflepuff, and we were the only Gryffindors.

'No Slytherins?' I mean it made sense, 'who wanted to come to the library before classes even started?'

'Lavender and....' my eyes widened in realization. 'Tom Riddle.'

Alexius nudged my side suddenly, causing me to look at him with furrowed brows. Seeing as his eyesight was directed to something else, I followed his gaze my breath cutting short on who I saw.

It was time to pull myself together and face the fact that just on the other side of the library was Tom Riddle and his band of misfits. Much to my unpleasant surprise, Tom himself sat at a large table surrounded by his followers, but right next to him suspiciously close was a blonde Ravenclaw female.

Unable to help myself I listened in on their conversation, an unfortunate amount of jealousy pinching me. I didn't have a right to be jealous, it wasn't like Tom and I were even close to being romantically involved.

"Okay, so Evanesco makes things vanish." The Ravenclaw girl twirled a piece of her unnaturally blonde hair around a finger which nail was painted an ugly yellow.

I slapped myself for being so mean, but I couldn't help it. I officially was ready to smite this girl.

With a smile which looked charming, but in my eyes seemed fake—Tom nodded. "Yes, any other questions?" His tone was polite, and yet I could tell he wanted to do nothing more than to hex the girl.

The Ravenclaw girl wanting to keep Tom's attention, immediately hurled more questions Tom's way. By the expression on the female's face, I knew she knew all the answers to her own questions and just wanted to keep Tom's attention.

Luckily, because the girl was so keen on keeping his attention, he hadn't yet spotted me. Alexius making a small step in their general direction caught my eye.

"I should introduce myself." He smirked, me gripping his elbow dragging him to standing next to me once more.

Alexius stumbled back, a slightly shocked expression mounted on his face. "Absolutely not," I hissed, mind reeling in panic. "Tom will know I told you about him and will no doubt come after me." My paranoid excuse, made Alexius snort.

"Yes, because I'm going to go over there and say 'You're Tom Riddle, my sister has wet dreams about you every night'." I slapped my hand over his mouth, looking around to make sure no one heard.

He rolled his eyes, forcing my hand off his mouth. "I'm not going to say that." He scoffed, putting his weight on his right foot. "I was just going to introduce myself, it's this thing people call being polite-" I smacked his arm in response scowling.

"Well if you haven't noticed, I'm not necessarily polite, so do not go over there." I ordered in a bossy tone, the Antichrist scowling in response.

Before he could fireback his usual snark, both of our attention was caught to a blonde git who stood from the table. He smirked to his friends, Tom looking annoyed at Malfoy's infatuation with Lavender.

Avery slapped Abraxas's shoulder as he walked to where Lavender was skimming through what I could only assume to be a book on Animagus. Lightly, the blonde headed teenager tapped Lavender's shoulder making her jump and spin around.

As soon as her gaze caught Abraxas, she narrowed her eyes. "What?" She deadpanned, all of Tom's table watching the exchange, Avery and Mulciber snickering to each other.

The Ravenclaw female stopped talking, watching Abraxas along with Tom. Carefully, putting the book back on the shelf she placed her hands on her hips, blue eyes glaring razors into Abraxas.

Abraxas looked back Avery who mockingly cheering him on, before sheepishly looking to Lavender. "Remember, you're the male—take control of the situation!" Avery's voice shouted across to Abraxas, causing the librarian to shush him.

That sentence seemed to spark something within Abraxas, as he suddenly oozed confidence—sticking his chin in the air. "You will go on a date to Hogsmeade with me, and you are not allowed to say no." The Slytherin looked down his nose at her, causing for Lavender's mouth to open like a fish.

I looked to the blonde in disbelief, Walter doing the same. From my side I noticed Alexius perk, tilting his head. Lavender's face soon contorted to a harsh glare.

Clenching her jaw, she looked up at him. "Excuse me?" Her voice rang out, spite filling every syllable.

"I said," Abraxas started once more, his true Slytherin persona making a show—as he gazed down at her like he was her king. "You will come to Hogsmeade with me, and stop embarrassing me when I do something nice—or you will regret it." The threat was completely empty, I knew Abraxas would never even dream of harming Lavender.

However, Lavender didn't realized that as a sudden flash a fear went into her gaze. I pursed my lips when I realized she was truly feeling cornered right now, and would say yes to no doubt get out of this situation. I also knew that if she said yes, she would regret and be crying later on.

Much to my disapproval, perfect prefect Tom only watched in dark amusement. He was not planning on stopping this. Just as I was about to step in and save my friend from this horrible situation, Alexius was already two steps ahead of me.

Freezing in my spot, I watched my best friend take unperturbed steps to the Slytherin and Gryffindor. As soon as Alexius reached Abraxas, he placed a rough hand on his shoulder forcing the blond wizard to turn around.

Malfoy turned in surprise; however, when he saw who it was his eyes reflected disgust. With a dramatic noise of revulsion, Abraxas shoved Alexius's hand off his shoulder—Alexius backing away a few steps with a taunting smile.

The Antichrist suddenly tilted his head, eyes falling to Abraxas's green tie. "Darling, your tie is crooked." Alexius stated in slightly provoking tone, Malfoy sneering at him in reply. "Nevermind, it's just your face—my mistake." Alexius's jab toward the Slytherin caused for Abraxas to have his wand pointed at him in a matter of seconds.

"Find this amusing as well, blood traitor." Abraxas's sneer was threatening, me raising my eyebrows in surprise.

He hadn't ever called me that before. Tom sat up straighter in his chair, eyeing the pair with disdain. However, much to my shock he didn't step in. I was confused, anytime Abraxas or I ever butted heads—Tom never let it go on, he always stopped it. My throat went dry when I truly realized the only time I had ever really seen him get in the middle of fight was when it involved me.

Tom luckily still hadn't noticed me, and coolly watched the duo—his fingers rubbing against the Gaunt ring. I was snapped out of admiring Tom by Alexius throwing his head back in loud laughter.

Mockingly holding his hands up in surrender, Alexius looked to Abraxas. "Please Mr. Malfoy, won't you have mercy on me." Alexius pretended to cry in fright, before his face twisted into a smirk. "You know, you shouldn't force girls into going on dates with you, it's creepy." The brunette's arms were now crossed over his chest, as Alexius gazed at Abraxas as if he were the biggest idiot in the world.

Abraxas pointed his wand harder, looking as if he were ready to hex my brother. "How dare you-" He was cut off by Alexius's sarcasm.

"Put your wand down, your highness." Alexius rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

Lavender took Abraxas's distraction, to get away momentarily flashing Alexius a grateful look. Lavender scampered out of the library, my nostrils flaring when I realized the emotional turmoil Abraxas no doubt put on Lavender.

Abraxas also noticed her disappearance, growling in frustration. "Furnunculas!" I was taken by slight surprise when Abraxas actually cast a curse and not a spell.

I wasn't good with memorizing spells, but I knew well enough what the blonde boy just cast was most definitely a curse.

However, I wasn't surprised when Alexius easily managed to deflect the spell by simply flicking his wrist. The entire band of Slytherin's looked positively shocked, Tom keeping his cool—only watching avidly.

"How did you-?" Abraxas stammered, wand still held in front of him.

Alexius only rose a confident brow. "Wandless magic." His answer was simple and quick; however, Alexius and I both know that was no wizard magic he just used.

Abraxas shook his head in disbelief. "Bu-But, you-your sister-" His stutter was cut short by Alexius.

I nearly wanted to scream when Abraxas implied I sucked at magic. I guess it was true, but it still stung.

With a smile, Alexius placed his hands behind his back poshly. "You'll find that my sister and I are very different." I wanted to set Alexius on fire when he looked to Tom while saying that sentence, something Tom didn't miss. "You could say she closes herself off from her magic as much as physically possible." This motherfucker was making up false mysteries for Tom to get hooked on, Alexius was literally trying to get us caught.

Alexius ripped himself from Tom's gaze, focusing back to the ferret whose wand was pointed at him. "However, I don't need my superior magical ability to take you down."

I knew Alexius had studied wizarding magic a lot, he enjoyed learning more about this community. My fascination had personally been with the Pagan Gods, I never really cared much for the wizarding community opting to steer clear of it most of the time. I used to believe that sure wizards and witches had quite the interesting history, but most of them were no more than some crackpot fools, not to mention the psychopath Voldemort who attempted to take over the world.

Now, look where I was just under a year later—soulbound to the very same Voldemort. My thoughts got cut short, by Alexius scoffing when Abraxas didn't put down his wand. "Blondie that means, put down you wand." Abraxas scowled, not moving an inch.

"Or what?"

With a barked laugh, Alexius shook his head. "Or..." He trailed off smirking. "I will rip your throat out." Malfoy looked ready to faint at Alexius's vulgar threat. "With my teeth." The Antichrist added, Abraxas not hesitating in putting his wand down a scared looked upon his face.

I could vaguely hear Tom scoff in the background. Turning my head, my heart leaped to my throat when I saw Tom standing, his tall form getting ready to walk over to the two. Alexius saw this as well, a bright smile flitting onto his features.

Waving a hand, the boy called out. "Hey Tom! You know my sister; Rhiannon, right." Deciding that I didn't want Alexius embarrassing me I quickly began making my way over.

Abraxas was the first to see me, jumping when I approached him quickly. "Ah! It's a lion!" He yelped, me clenching my fist and Alexius doubling over in laughter.

Rolling my eyes, I gripped the fronts of Abraxas's robes harshly. Abraxas gulped looking to me wide eyed, Alexius's mouth falling agape, and Tom's nostrils flaring in unmasked anger—this no doubt looked sexual in some aspects. However, the sexual appeal was ruined when I shoved Abraxas to the ground, him crying out dramatically.

Alexius laughed even harder at my actions, pointing a finger to Abraxas's crumpled form. "You just let a girl shove you-" His words were cut short when I suddenly gripped his head, and knocked it into the bookshelf next to him.

Alexius yelled in pain, grabbing his nose and scrunching his face in pain. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" He yelled at me, groaning while running a hand over his face.

Glaring at him, I pointed to the doors. "You know what that was for, now go." We both knew it was because he just gave Tom a clue. "GO!" I roared, him yelling as I literally chased him out of the library, not looking back to see the other's reactions, sensing Walter right behind us.

As soon as we were in the corridor outside the library, I shoved Alexius against the wall. Walter watched wide eyed, looking to me in disbelief. I'm sure it looked odd that I was able to force Alexius who was almost a head taller than I to the wall.

"Bitch." I scowled, Alexius only looking to me in amusement. "You just screwed us over." Alexius only rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." He waved me off. "I simply said to Tom that you close yourself off from your magic, that doesn't mean anything."

My eyes flashed, as I gripped his robes tighter. "Yes, it does!" I screeched. "Now he's going to think I'm just scared to actually try in class!" I yelled, frustrated.

It was true. Chances are Tom would think rather than I being lazy, I was scared. I also had a feeling if Tom thought that way, he would pursue me in an attempt to actually try with magic, something that would be difficult seeing as I had to rely on the trick of illusion to make it seem as though I truly had witch powers.

With a sigh, I heard footsteps leaving the library. Knowing it was the Slytherin herd, I immediately stepped away from Alexius—not wanting the group to find us like this.

"Cunt." I said, moving down the corridor as the bell rang signalling first period to start.

"Whore." Alexius mused right back, me hiding the smile threatening to fall across my lips.

~

"Wait for me, asshole!" Classes were officially over for the day, and of course Alexius was the first one to be sprinting to the Great Hall.

Surprisingly enough, Lavender was fine. Actually, she was more angry and swore the next time she saw Abraxas she was to hex him into oblivion. Both her and Walter managed to get ahead of us and were already at the Great Hall.

Just as I passed the final the corridor before the Great Hall, a hand shot out and suddenly pulled me into the shadows against the wall. I scowled seeing as Alexius didn't even notice my disappearance, waltzing straight into the Great Hall without me.

My form was spun around and I came face to face with Tom. Blinking in surprise, I cleared my throat throwing him a sheepish smile.

"So, we meet again?" The question rolled off my tongue, while I bounced on the balls of my feet.

The tall male gave me a hard look, blue eyes boring into my own harshly. "Why didn't I know about your brother?" The questioned was abrupt and slightly rushed, as if Tom had somewhere to be.

I casually shrugged my shoulders, licking my lips. "You never asked?" Tom's eyebrows furrowed as he presumably thought back to every question he had asked me.

His eyes flickered when he realized I was in fact correct with my statement. "Do you truly not believe that your brother qualifies as an important thing for you to tell people?" The Slytherin prince hissed with a scowl, me desperate to come up with an answer that fit.

"Well," I started, purposely making my tone sassful. "I personally don't go around yelling in people's faces, 'HEY I HAVE A BROTHER'!" I screamed out in a mocking tone.

Tom only gripped my arm tighter, breathing out calmly. "What did he mean when he said you close yourself off from your magic?" I mentally cussed, it was stupid of me to hold onto false hope that he perhaps overlooked Alexius's statement.

"My brother is a lot of things, courageous, ambitious, powerful, but above all he is an idiot." I looked Tom in the eyes while slowly speaking this. "You may think myself as an idiot, but I will tell you now that Alexius is nothing more than a huge block headed fool."

Tom only chuckled shaking his head. "Rhiannon, he was able to deflect Abraxas's spell both wordlessly and wandless. Up until now, I was the only student at Hogwarts capable of such magic." Tom's voice took a dangerous turn, making me sigh in frustration. "Your brother is obviously a valuable asset, I'm sure we'll get along just fine—I'm also sure that he may be a bit more open with his life than you." I was clenching my jaw so hard, I thought it may break. "So, I warn you now that if you are shutting yourself off from your magic tell me, because it would be a real disappointment if I found out from someone else." Tom gave me a look, as if he were trying to will the truth out of me.

I gave him a blank look, before cracking a grin. "Don't worry, Tom. You won't find out anything you don't already know." My taunt seemed to get under his skin, as his nostrils flared.

With a wink, I backed away—he made to grab me once more until I shook my head. "I may be a talentless delinquent, but I can see that you are needed elsewhere." Tom looked around, his eyes narrowing.

"You know this how?" His tone came out as a lull, a certain skepticism flashing through his eye.

"Just like I know about the Chamber of Secrets, the fact that you made another Horcrux," I eyed the ring on his finger, Tom's eyes flaring wildly. "Just like I know that you went to Little Hangleton just a few weeks ago and murdered your grandmother, your grandfather, and your own father." He had me pinned to the wall so fast, with his wand threateningly jammed in my throat, I couldn't even blink.

He sneered in my face, eyes flashing red. "I know that you used their deaths to make another horcrux of your own uncle's ring, I know you framed him. Think I'm an idiot all you want Tom, but I can assure you my intellect is still perfectly intact." My lips drew into a line when I saw a flash of fear go through his gaze.

Tom tried to hide it, but I knew he was scared. He wasn't scared of me, but the fact that I knew everything that would get him sent to Azkaban for the rest of his days.

"I'm not here to scold you for doing what you did, that's not my place. I won't tell anyone either, but this just goes to show that despite what you think you might know about me, it's only the tip of the surface. I am telling you right now, my brother will not say anything I haven't already told you, so before you bring him into your little cult—think about that. Alexius is not a follower like all the others, bringing him into your ranks may just be the end of you." I hoped that was enough to scare Tom away from bringing Alexius into his group.

Everything I just told him was a flat bluff. A lie. I knew that with enough pushing from Tom, Alexius would break. Not from torture, but for the simple reason that Alexius would believe he was helping me get 'laid'. I honestly had no doubts that Alexius would tell Tom everything in hopes that he would be the best-man at our wedding if we were to ever get married.

That was why I was trying to keep the two separated at all cost.

Tom only glared looking at me. Gently, I pushed Tom away, him dropping his wand.

"I swear I won't tell anyone about this, but if you want information your best bet is me. Now, go to wherever you need to be." The two of us held eye contact for a minute more, before Tom briskly walked away without saying a word.

I watched him go, a cool expression plastered on my face. If I truly wanted his undying trust, this was how.