"The Serpent's Teeth"
(A Tom Riddle love story)

12th January 1945
Sunday

"Good morning," I smile at Tom satisfied and stretch extensively.

"Morning," he replies and pushes me off him to get up.

Pouting I watch him making his way to the bathroom.

Sighing, I lie and pull the covers over my head.

Why did I have to come across such a complicated guy?

"What do you say," I hear him call from the bathroom. "Are you getting out of bed today?"

"What do you say," I repeat his words.

"Are you coming back to bed?"

"If you get up after that."

He replies and leans against the door frame looking at me.

"Deal," I grin and lift the covers up invitingly.

He walks over to the bed and lies down next to me.

I immediately cuddle against his warm body and breathe in his soothing and captivating smell.

What an incredible luck I have that he wants me as his girlfriend.

No word except protected can describe my feeling better.

I know that no one can do anything to me as long as I'm with him.

Only he can be my downfall.

He can't protect me from himself and nor from myself, but I know that he will protect me from the rest of the world.

I don't know if he will ever acknowledge me as his girlfriend in front of others, but that's not important to me.

I don't care as long as I can be with him and we can enjoy my remaining time here together.

The remaining time that I still officially have.

How would he react if he knew that I'll disappear from his life,  after the end of the school year?

He will never see me again.

And if he does, then we will be standing on different sides and will have to fight against each other?

I wonder if he will try to kill me?

I wouldn't stand a chance against him.

I know that there is no wixard in the world with more sense of magic.

He could achieve so much good with his talent.

But he throws our world and himself in to ruin.

In years of despair, fear, paranoia.

So many will die.

On both sides.

Will he ever think back to on his victims?

And if so, what will he feel?

Triumph?

Pride?

Contempt?

Or just indifference?

When he'll see all the children who have lost their parents because of him, what will he do?

He has made so many children in to orphans.

I wonder if he has developed a hatred towards Muggles because of the orphanage where he grew up.

Is this his way of cooping with his childhood trauma?

With all the bad things on the basis of his hating father, who did not care about him, his pure-blood mother, who died during his birth?

The weakness and helplessness the other orphans showed him from the beginning...

He tutored orhers to survive.

Violence is like a second nature to him.

He was never taught morals.

Eat or be eaten.

That was his way of life

And what about the sisters in rhe orphanage?

What have they done to help the little boy?

They punished him, said that he is sick.

I still wonder how Tom could have been if he had been brought up with love.

If he had had a normal childhood.

Hogwarts is his first home.

The first place where he felt welcome and accepted.

A place where there are many others of his kind.

"What are you thinking, Hazel?"

"Hogwarts and you," I admit truthfully.

"In that order?"

I have to smile and get closer to him.

"In the that order" I reply teasing and kiss his chin as I did not come to his lips zoom.

Then he grabs me by the hips and turns me on my stomach, so I that I lie on top of him.

"You can do better," he says then kisses me.

A little later we get up and I go to the bathroom to get ready for lunch.

After that we go to the library to do homework and to learn a little.

"Can we go?" Tom asks me when I'm finished dressing in the bathroom.

He stands at the door and looks disinterested at me.

"Sure," I smile at him and accept his offered hand.

He pushes me out the door and leads me through the corridors of the castle.

All the way he holds my hand in his.

There aren't any other students in the hallways.

All of them are already eating.

We are not even late.

Lunch has officially begun ten minutes ago.

In the entrance hall arrived  the voices of the other students reach our ears.

Inwardly, I am preparing that he will let go of my hand and disappear into the hall, and I'll only get my Tom back next weekend.

While at school he is always so distant.

At least in relation to how he is on the weekend.

He acts like he has a split personality.

On the one hand there's Tom the Head Boy and Slytherin and on the other side, there's Tom who takes me in his arms and comes into bed with me when I ask him to do so.

However, I have known from the beginning that a relationship with him is anything but easy is.

I took it in stride and don't regret it until now.

He wakes unprecedented feelings in me.

Feelings that I can not put into words.

A fire, a warm breeze, a refreshing source.

Tom is still holding my hand as we pass through the doors together.

It's is silent.

Very quiet around us.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes are upon us.

Nervously, I lower my gaze and squint to Tom.

It seems to be the unaffected.

His face is expressionless as ever, his posture refined, his eyes dominant.

The Head Boy leads me to the Gryffindor table, says goodbye with a squeeze of his hand,  and goes to his friends at the Slytherin table.

As soon as I am alone the whispers start.

Everyone talks to everyone at the table, just my girlfriends grin at me.

I quickly walk to them and sit in protection between them.

Here the inquiring glances of my classmates are tolerable.

"So, it's now official" Casey notes smiling and exchanges conspiratorial glances with Jacklyn.

"Looks like it," I say with a shrug and pretend to be bored, because it makes me uncomfortable to talk in public about my love life.

The others seem to understand the signal and turn back to their food.

Only Tracey gives me to understand with their eyes that the issue is not yet through.

As always, Tom has managed to torment me through all the homework in an afternoon and dismiss me in time that I can still get a bit of dinner.

Now I'm walking with Tracey towards the cozy common room and answer her questions about Tom as good as I can.

Even if most of my answers don't satisfy her.

But how can I tell her about Tom's motives for action this afternoon, when I don't know them myself?

And I'm certainly not asking him about it.

I accept, or simply enjoy in silence that now everybody knows that we belong together.

The portrait of the Fat Lady swings open and as soon as I walk through the opening, silence falls into the room.

Displeased I enter the common room followed closely by Tracey who pushes me  toward the dormitory, but before I get to the stairs, Jean jumps out of her chair and comes up to me.

"Well, look at who we have here," she scoffs and faces my way.

"Let me through, Jean," I reply with a firm voice.

"What have you done to him that he's walking around qnd holding hands with you? And don't even try to tell me that he really likes you! There are beautiful pure blood witches wherever you look!   And it can't be your character either!"

"How do you know what his type is?" Tracey laughs amused.

However, I don't think that it's funny.

I should have expected that his admirers would make my life miserable.

Above all, Jean.

I still remember the incident in Hogsmeade too well.

"You have been throwing yourself at him from the beginning! You have no right to do that! We have known him much longer, "she hisses at me.

"We?" I repeat.

"We Hogwarts girls! You are not one of us! Go back to where you came from and leave Tom alone! "

"She goes to Hogwarts just like you and me! And if Riddle likes her, then that's his right!" Tracey hisses at her.

"She has bewitched him! You must have bewitched him!" Jean scolds at Tracey and turns back to me. Furious, she pokes her fingers into my shoulder.

"What did you mixe in to his food? A love potion? Or is it a spell?"

"You don't really believe that," I try to finally defend myself.

"Its not like the likes of you could get someone like Tom otherwise," she says looking at me dismissively.

"Maybe he just doesn't like superficial blondes?"

I ask quietly.

She looks at me indignantly.

Everyone seems to hold their breath.

"YOU dare!" She screeches at me.

"Yes, and I would like to go to sleep now. Good night," with these words I push my way past her and slowly walk up the stairs.

Tracey's muffled steps sound behind me and two other couple of feet seem to have joined our way up.

The door finally closes with a tud behind us.

A barrier to all evil.

Relieved, I let myself down on my bed and wipe my face.

She accused me in all seriousness of manipulating Tom with magic!

I wish I could talk to him now, and flee to the safety of his arms.

But that will not do.

This is my fight.

Not his.

He would probably fix it in his own way for me if I asked him to.

Somehow I have the feeling that he would do anything for me.

At least almost everything.