Black Magic

Millie was lying upside down on her bed when Louisiana strolled past her in a sweeping flourish of black robes that lifted up faint swirls of dust from the floor. Millie bit her lip, waiting for what she knew would come,staring out of the window at the red sunset that seeped like fresh blood across the horizon behind the black skeleton trees whose branches extended into the sky like skinless fingers. Louisiana threw the book she was carrying down onto her bed and, unbuttoning her coat, pursed her lips and said,
"So. Where were you at dinner?" Millie regarded her from her upside-down position, thought about how odd she looked with her face flipped like that.
"Here," Millie said, truthfully, "I wasn't hungry." Louisiana's mouth wrinkled.
"You still should've come. You knew about the Quidditch final today. You should've seen Will's face."
"Was he upset?"
"Well, what do you think?" Louisiana raised her eyebrows, reclining herself.
"Louie..." Millie rolled onto her back, pink, heart racing with a mixture of fear and embarrassment. "I need to talk to him."
"What about?"
"About..." Millie pulled herself up. "Us, I don't know. Us."
"So there's an 'us', now, is there? Make your bloody mind up, Millie, I can't keep up with you and all your-"
"Will you stop being such a condescending cow?" Millie snapped, flying up. "What do you know about it? Hey? I don't see you with a boyfriend. I don't see you with anything close. Stop getting involved in my relationships because you don't have any of your own."
"How dare you say that!" Louisiana retorted, jumping to her feet. "If you had an ounce of sense you'd be more like me and realise you've got a guy girls would kill to have and you mess him around like-- like--"
"Oh, yeah? What girls? Like who? You?" Louisiana's eyes flickered a violent shade of cobalt blue, the veritable centre of a bunsen flame, and she looked down, suddenly quiet.
"I don't know what you mean by that," she said, after a moment, and walked to the window. Still fuming Millie reached for her cardigan and said, "Next time, keep your bloody nose out." Louisiana was silent as she left but as she flew down the steps towards the Gryffindor common room Millie was sure she caught the sound of choked sobs and loud angry breaths in between the echoes of her footsteps but choose to ignore them, instead making her way through the corridors of the castle which were becoming increasingly quiet as the evening wore on.

Mind empty, heart thudding, skin burning and damp from the heat of her temper and her hectic pace she burst into the classroom which she'd so hastily seeked out, looking up to instantly find a pair of cool brown ones which were watching her curiously. Tom was perched on the end of the desk, wand in his hand, and something was scratching around beneath his feet. Millie glanced quickly at her reflection in the glass front of a neighbouring cabinet to find her hair which had been so neatly pinned and waved had come loose, and her hand went to it, self concious. Tom smiled and somehow she knew he could read her thoughts exactly and it made her deeply uncomfortable.
"So you decided to come along."
"Yes."
"Mmm. I thought you might."
Millie avoided his eyes and sat quietly on the end of a neighbouring desk. After a moment she became aware of his gaze on her, hot and stinging and most of all terribly knowing, invasive.
He said, "I've upset you already. Well, that was fast."
"No, no," she said, shaking her head vigourously. "It's not you."
"The boy you were with yesterday. Will."
Millie looked at him and said nothing.
"Your friend, maybe." Millie shrugged. A shrill noise something like a squeal came from underneath Tom's desk and he said, "I'll let it drop."
"Thank you." Tom pushed a hand through his hair, and Millie noticed that the other was grasping his wand. She started, "What're you--"
He hushed her with a lifted hand and then, his lips moving almost imperceptibly, whispered, "Avada kedavra."

Millie leapt up from the desk, hand sliding beneath her robe, touching her wand as she exclaimed,
"What are you doing?" Tom looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Just practicing."
"Practicing what?" Millie could feel her heart thudding in her ears, knew instinctive something was different here.
"Curses."
"Curses?" Millie's voiced had raised and she forced herself to drop to a whisper. "What do you mean?"
"Take a look." He beckoned her and although she shook her head she still moved smoothly, obediently towards him, only slightly hesitant, like she couldn't stop herself. She reached his side and leaning down saw him pushed the unmoving body of a mouse towards her with his shoe. A hand flew to her mouth.
"I can't believe you just..." Tom smiled, watched her with wide innocent mahogany eyes. "Teachers let you do this?"
"They don't exactly stop me." He reclined a little on his arms, tilting his head to one side. "They've been letting me have this classroom for years for a little bit of training on the side. How else do you think I'd get such good grades?" Millie wasn't sure what to say and so said nothing, but soon found she didn't need to speak for him to know. "You're surprised," he said.
"No," she said, after a moment of hesitation.
"Liar."
Her head lifted sharply at his accusation. "What were you doing to it?" She said, softly.
With a slight twitch of his wand he made the cadavre fly upwards and made it rotate slowly in the air. In the fading evening light it looked eerily beautiful, the pale downy fur, perfect whiskers, identical pink paws.
"Does it make any difference if I tell you what I was doing to it?"
"I...I'd like to know."
Tom flicked his wand and made the body spontaneously combust, and a few pieces of ash drifted peacefully towards the floor. "Let's just say I'm getting the hand of the Cruciatus curse."
"Are you being serious?" Millie's voice was rising again, shrill with fear. He'd hear it and he'd know it, and she didn't want him to think she was a coward.
"Would I lie to you?" He said, beaming, turning his head to one side as he pushed himself around on the desk to face her, and she took a step back so there was space between them.
"Does...Does Dumbledore know?"
"Possibly. Probably. I don't know." And then, thoughtfully. "No. I don't think he does." He picked at his clean black robe with his wand. "Camilla, it's not easy being top of the class in everything, you know. It takes something...Extra. Something extra-curricular."
"But this is wrong."
"This is useful."
"This is illegal." She took another step away and then said. "I can't believe you show this to me. I can't believe you'd get me involved in your...Your..."
"You know, I can see why your friends are upset with you." He slid off the desk and approached her with small, slight steps. "You do like ruining people's fun, don't you?"
"It's not that." She looked him in the eye. "It's not that at all."

He smiled almost imperceptibly, a smile which widened as he reached forwards and with his wand lifted a piece of her hair which had come loose away from her face and with a slight movement a soft word sent it curling back into place. Millie lifted her hand to her hair, absorbed in his face which was a perfect balance of boyish prettiness and darker masculinity, watched his pink lips as he said,
"I showed you this tonight because I want you to know who I am. Who I am really. How I spend my time, some of the time." He swiped his tongue across his lips.
"But you hardly know me. Why show me? What if I tell?"
"You won't," he said, "Because you know, firstly, that if you told someone they'd be unlikely to believe in the face of my position within in the school and, secondly, because you're far too curious anyway in what I was doing to try to put a stop to it."
"That's not true," Millie said, suddenly finding the strength to move away. "I think it's disgusting. I would tell someone."
Tom laughed as she made for the door. "I'm Tom Riddle, Camilla," he said behind her. "I'm head boy." She glanced at him, struck down by his stunning visage in the late light. He looked at the spot where the mouse had been. "You could tell someone, but where would this evidence be? I'm top of the school. I don't do things like that, do I?"
Millie swallowed heavily and then, pulling the door open, she said,
"I'm going, now."
He smiled warmly. "And I'll see you soon."