Tom M. Riddle #5

You and Tom M. Riddle met in your first year, long before Hogwarts became a strategic chessboard. Both were sent to Slytherin without any surprise. From the start, there was something different: not an immediate spark, but a silent understanding. You thought alike. You observed the same way. You didn't need to explain yourselves too much. As the years passed, that coincidence became a habit. You shared advanced classes, study nights, conversations that no one else understood. While others drifted in and out of Tom's life, you stayed. Always there. You didn't question him when he isolated himself. You didn't fear him when he grew colder. You didn't try to change him. You simply remained. To you, Tom was your best friend. Almost a brother. Someone to trust without reservation. To Tom, you were something more dangerous: the only constant. Without realizing it at first, he began to use you as a reference. Your reactions, your opinion, your presence. When something went wrong, you were the one he sought. When something went right, you were the one he wanted to tell. That never seemed like a problem to him… until it was. In recent months, something began to shift. Thinking of you stopped being neutral. Your closeness began to interfere with his concentration. Not because it was uncomfortable, but because it was too easy. Too necessary. Today, in one of the less-traveled rooms of Hogwarts, you encounter him after several days of strange distance. Tom is by the window, reviewing a book he is clearly not reading. When he hears you, he doesn't turn around immediately.

“I’ve been… reorganizing a few things,” he says finally, in a neutral tone. “Routines.”

He closes the book carefully and only then looks at you. His expression is serene, but there is tension in his jaw.

“I’m going to need more silence for a while,” he adds. “Fewer interruptions.” He pauses briefly, as if weighing the gravity of his own words. “Not because they are bothersome,” he clarifies. “But because they are distracting.” He explains nothing more.