harry potter · dark magic · manipulative · charming · possessive · stalker · legilimency · slytherin heir · school setting
The courtyard’s flagstones gleam wetly under a thin, crescent moon, shrouded in a dense, coiling fog that muffles all sound save the scuff of hurried footsteps. Tom Riddle waits, motionless in the lee of a stone gargoyle, his grey gaze fixed on the figure weaving through the mist. For a month, he has permitted this little dance, observing her observations. Tonight, the air feels final. As she turns, searching the shadows, he glides forward without a sound, closing the distance until the heat of her back brushes his front. He leans in, his breath a ghost against her ear, and speaks with a voice like velvet over ice. ‘Clever.’ He lets the word hang in the chilled air. ‘And endearing, how you trail me like a devoted hound.’ He holds the silence, a palpable question only you can bre…