This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful readers who live in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Nicaragua. You people are awesome.

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It was only the first night back at the school, and Alexa was already behaving as an owl. While everyone else was sleeping peacefully, she was busy looking at the ceiling, absentminded. She still couldn't believe that her sixth year had started. To her, it felt like the day before when she met Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, Prof. Albus Dumbledore, for the very first time. She remembered her happiness when she realized that she was having a chance to study in one of the finest schools in the magical community. She remembered how happy her aunt was when she dropped her off to the train for her first year. She still remembered how she had tried to mask the sadness she felt when she saw children hugging their parents and waving good-byes. Though she had her aunt, she did miss her parents terribly.

Alexa remembered her first train ride. She was not early enough to acquire a compartment exclusively for herself and ended up sharing it with Six boys, all of whom were her seniors. From how interactive they were, she could tell they were housemates. They first tried talking to her, but her anxious stuttering and pathetic responses shooed them away.

Being an asocial person, Alexa had already read about Hogwarts and its fundamentals in the vacation before school. She knew that there were houses. And to be honest, she was not sure if any one of them would consider her worthy. She was never brave and social enough to be a Gryffindor. She preferred reading over playing but was not intelligent and studious enough for Ravenclaw. She wanted to protect herself and those around but lacked the ambitiousness and cunningness of Slytherin. Last but not least, Hufflepuff favoured hard-working and loyal people. Loyal? Of course, but was she hard-working? She had doubts. However, because of dearest Helga Hufflepuff, she was not on the train returning the very same night.

She was a part wolf, but being a metamorphmagus had better control over her senses. In fact, she shifted only when she had emotionally unstable full moons. The potions that Professor Dumbledore recommended her were good enough to control her hormones. She had other symptoms, but her metamorphmagus side was good enough to hide them. However, this side was hard to go unnoticed. The wig and glasses provided her privacy even if she never wanted to rely on them fully. For the first four years, her shagginess, timid, and cautious personality made people around her overlook her. And if she wanted to be honest, it was pure bliss. In her fifth year, she even managed to control her hairs from changing their colours. She was so happy that she was getting better at controlling them without worrying about her wig. But then her happy bubble shattered when that one particular snake invaded her paradise.

A shiver ran down her spine. She clutched her blanket tightly as his handsome face flashed in her mind. How could she not notice the most beautiful boy in the castle? She wasn't blind. She was a girl after all. An unnoticed teenage girl. During her early years in school, she used to gaze at him from distance. In admiration of course. And it was not just because of his attentively carved sharp features. It was because of the knowledge he had. His self-confidence was something that she had envied from the very beginning. All these years she never saw him making a fool out of himself, something she did quite often. But hey, that was expected from a possible descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Yeah possible, because she had no proof if he really was. She liked how he built up himself. Riddle was not a name that belonged to a magical society. She had seen his struggle when his housemates treated him differently. Only Anthony was the person who had befriended him in his first year and stuck up for him when others gave him a cold shoulder. Maybe that was the reason why that git valued their friendship. Avery was one of the most loyal people anyone could come across, ever.

Last year, however, was different.

It was, because, he noticed her, in the library when he wanted that copy of the divination book.

He talked to her.

He taught her. During his tutoring sessions, she noticed how dedicated he was. The depth of his knowledge was mesmerizing. Alexa was a person who found knowledgeable people attractive.

He chased her when she was running away from the class and trapped her, for the first time in the closet and then many times against him. She blushed as she recalled how he had caged her in the closet when he had stolen her wand. It was so frustrating that she couldn't see his face clearly until he used magic.

He forced her into doing things she wasn't exactly interested in. Like that dinner in Great Hall in exchange for her wand that he had stolen.

He manipulated her.

She turned on her left side. Her eyes focused on the wooden chair across her bed. It was the only thing that she could see in weak light that was flickering in the copper lamp beside the chair. Her blood rushed to her cheeks furiously as she remembered one such night waking up to find the boy himself sitting there and watching her intently. His stare was so prominent that she could feel him penetrating through her soul. The silent gaze that he had dropped at her uncovered legs made her so uncomfortable that she started wearing full pyjama in the bed. She was so flustered that night that she had let him kiss her. The kiss in which that sly snake manipulated her to know her real name. She was not proud of that kiss. Unlike his other features, she found that his lips weren't perfect. They were chapped. However, that also worked in his favour, because the friction between them had made her lose her control. She lost the stupid first kiss without having a damn idea of reciprocating. She had to slap him to save whatever dignity she had left within herself.

In the next kiss, he possessed her.

Though the first kiss was not that good from her part, it was actually better than the second one. Well, not experience-wise. It was just because the first one was a secret while the second has started the rumours. She had no idea why he kissed her again. She understood the motive behind the former but the latter had none. One minute she was talking with some boy from Gryffindor and the very next minute he was kissing the life out of her. Tingles ran through her body when she recalled how close he had clutched her body as if he was afraid that she would disappear. As if he wanted to possess her. His hairs reminded her of citrus. Truthfully, she was surprised people hadn't caught her earlier, Tom was a star student, but thanks to her subtleness, it took them some time to figure out she was the girl whom he had kissed.

Then he dominated her.

The actual rumours started with the third kiss. Damn him! He had to kiss her in front of Logan. Damn her! She kissed him back. To top it off she moaned into his mouth. The kiss was good. Much better than both the first two. She was sure that Logan wasn't the one who leaked the news. It had to be some painting. By the time they shared this kiss, to her horror, her body started responding to him. It was like she wasn't the one who was in charge of her body when it came to that devil. Logan didn't let her forget the moaning and groaning he heard that day.

And finally, he claimed her.

The kiss he gave her before the end of the last year was the best. It was as good as it was unexpected. She placed her hand on the joint of her neck and left shoulder subconsciously. Her fingers stroking it. This was where he marked her. His words rang in her dazed mind,

"This mark is not permanent sweetheart, so don't give me a chance to make it permanent You are mine and whatever is mine stays with me till the end"

The sweat covered her palms. Her body suddenly jolted in awareness. The blanket suddenly felt constricting. She was his, he said. He would mark her permanently, he said. Was he joking? But that kiss was good, marvellous, enchanting. It had Alexa hypnotized. It was proof of why he was a perfectionist, the ideal boy in their school. Thanks to her abilities, she had hidden his temporary mark, but was it wrong to say that she actually enjoyed having it on her body? It felt good to actually belong together with someone. Never in her life she was treated, given attention like this boy was giving her. No one gave her a second glance if she didn't consider her family and Prof. Dumbledore. But this boy was a different case. And no matter how much she tried she didn't think he was going to maintain some distance this year either. A sigh escaped her lips as she realized how much she enjoyed those lips. Was this how the kissing was supposed to be felt or was she acting hormonal? She had no idea. The anticipation of having his lips on hers, his body close, was unexplainable and unavoidable. It is like the night he kissed her for the first time, he sealed their fates permanently.

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I hope I did justice to your expectations. I am sorry for the mistakes. This chapter is highly unedited.

# Fact: Did you notice that the end of this chapter is the actual line from chapter 20 where he kissed her for the first time?

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