melody [tom r.] - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Melody sent Tom a letter the next morning, informing him of her encounter with Dumbledore. His reply was an invitation to his office later that night.
She didn't know why he was acting so recklessly, especially that Dumbledore was now aware of their affair. Surely risking getting caught again was not a wise decision.
But Tom wasn't known for being ruthless. Even though she hadn't been with him for a long time, the female Malfoy knew that the aspiring Dark Lord treaded carefully, studying his steps and fabricating countless backup plans in case anything went downhill.
When Melody reached his office, Tom was already waiting in the doorway. He grabbed her wrist and tugged her in a familiar direction, not a word uttered between them.
She had a faint clue of where he was leading her, but Melody didn't resist him, fully knowing that her strength was nothing compared to his. She couldn't stand a chance.
It was just like Hades abducting his Persephone to the underworld.
They arrived at the Chamber after a few minutes, Tom stepping forward to the Heart of the Chamber, his back turned to her. He seemed to be in deep thought, and she didn't dare interrupt him.
"Melody."
He finally faced her, a small smile lingering on his lips. It wasn't his usual sadistic smirk, it was a real smile tugging on his cheeks.
He reached closer to her, pressing his lips to her forehead, connecting them with a string of their complexities, the enigma that they both were. One.
Melody sighed when he kissed her right cheek, his hands holding onto her arms tightly. Two.
Left cheek. Three. It was getting harder to breathe as he smothered her with kisses.
Nose. Four. The sensation caused a shiver to run down her lower back, a feeling completely foreign, unearthly.
Tom grabbed her chin with his thumb and forefinger, placing a kiss on it as well. Five.
Finally, his lips were locked with hers, his hands feeling her hips, waist, back. Six.
Six kisses. Six pomegranate seeds.
Tom pulled back abruptly, taking a few steps away from her. "Did you really think a man like me would fall in love with you out of the blue?"
Her eyes widened at his sudden change of tone. She was left speechless.
"I never did. I never loved you, Melody, it was all in your head."
"N-no. .no. What do you mean?" She stuttered, taking a step back. Tears were brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill, to show him her weakness. She was weak when it came to Tom Riddle.
"You're insane, Melody. You really are." He wasn't trying to get any closer to her, even when she whimpered and covered her mouth with a trembling hand.
"I'm not insane!"
Tom completely ignored her troubled protests. "I mean, manipulating normal people is fun, but manipulating another psychopath is much more thrilling."
"I'm not a psychopath, and you know that very well, Tom. The only common aspect between you and I is being conceived under the effects of a love potion!"
"Oh Melody, but I have so much more depth to me than that," his voice was a soft murmur, like the walls could hear their conversation and whisper it to the castle, and their meeting would no longer be a secret.
"You let your condition completely consume you, when you could've taken advantage of it," Tom was pacing around her. "Do you imagine how many people you could've manipulated for your own good? But no, your intent was to stay bitter and cold, like some sort of revenge on the world."
Tom went silent after that, so she decided to speak. "It's all a game to you, w-wasn't it? A game of manipulation, and you enjoyed pulling the strings."
She was breathing quickly and it wasn't because of fear. She was hurt. The emotional pain she'd never felt before became physical, like a hand had struck through her ribcage and clenched her heart tightly – Tom's hand.
"Yes, exactly. Yet I'm not going to deny that you made me feel something, Melody." The look on his beautiful face was soft and she was almost certain it was feigned. He finally got closer to her. "But it wasn't enough to. . miraculously change me."
His bloodied hand stroked her cheek lovingly like it hadn't just ripped her heart out. Did this really have to happen? She'd tried dismissing her feelings for so long but there was no point in denial now, she'd fallen in love with him. And maybe that's what she thought, maybe it wasn't love but the mere thought of feeling something towards him was thrilling.
No, she wasn't in love. They both were incapable, no matter what they thought. Melody worshipped Tom Riddle. She was unhealthily obsessed with him, looking for validation by his feet, which never could be love.
She was a pawn to him, a catalyst to his magnificent plan. An asset he was sexually attracted to, and nothing more.
He was such a magnificent man, such an exquisite mess and he'd allured her like a beautiful snake would, swathing around her and slowly dripping venom until she was drunk on it. But eventually, the venom might kill her.
Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't.
What happened to smoking cigarettes in the Astronomy Tower at 2 am, to playing Chopin in her piano room, to moving against each other rhythmically as she stared up at the enchanted ceiling? What happened to talking about their favourite greek gods and dancing to Mozart in his office? Was it all some sick dream, something merely in her imagination? The things Tom had said, the way he'd touched her. . it couldn't all be a lie?
She whimpered once again, pathetically leaning into his touch like she was desperate for it.
"What happened yesterday?" That must have been the reason of his sudden change. Melody was desperately trying to find an answer, to justify his actions. She didn't want to believe his words.
"I told Dumbledore that Dippet was so exhausted he fainted as soon as he entered. He obviously didn't believe me, because he'd seen you leave my office earlier."
She wept harder, tears leaving her eyes heavily.
"Melody, Melody, Melody. ." he whispered, his voice sounding so distant to her, like her brain was willingly trying to drown him out, burry him deep down in the Black Lake with the rest of the monsters that hid there. "Don't cry, kitten. This was all bound to happen."
He wrapped an arm around her softly, and she eventually resisted, pulling away from him. "Don't touch me!"
She felt like screaming. In fact, she was able to do it until her lungs turned inside out. Melody was starting to feel alive again when she got closer to Tom. All sorts of wild flowers had been blooming in her lungs, coming to life until he stepped on them, crushing the petals beneath his feet and suffocating her in the process.
She watched him as he pulled out a gleaming object from his pocket, the silver metal shining against his emerald eyes.
There was no turning back now.
"You know, Melody, I never do anything without having a plan," he murmured, eyes studying the object in his hand. He held it vertically, running his finger along the edges.
"Ignatius Malfoy has always been. . a nemesis of mine," he started, pacing around her. "He always looked down upon me, you see. He thought I should be obliged to him for eternity, since he got me this position that I'm currently in."
Amusement glimmered in his eyes; he seemed to be enjoying his little show too much. "And my plan? It was to take down every old noble pureblood, those who were immune to my persuasion. I learned that their kids were much easier to manipulate. And your father was my biggest hindrance."
Once again, her parents were the reason to her downfall. Melody couldn't find the words to speak.
"So what better way to get to him than his only daughter? He'll die because of shame, you know, when he finds out that his own daughter pursued her professor, tried to seduce him, whore around with him like she did with most boys at her school."
His degrading words tore through her heart. "You..you–"
"Shhh, don't fret, my dear Melody. There's something you could do to help."
He handed her the dagger, "It's cursed," he explained softly, and his tone was reassuring. "Don't worry, once you dig it in, the poison will kill you." Tom smiled warmly at her, a smile that sent fearful chills creeping down her back.
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
"I'll take you to your dormitory," Tom continued, "and everyone will think that Melody Malfoy killed herself because of shame."
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
Melody nodded, taking the knife reluctantly. Her left hand shook violently as she placed the edged blade on her pallid skin, the tip already creating a dent.
She kept looking into his eyes while she stabbed the knife into her forearm, cutting a sharp line and then watching as the blood spurted out. Agonising waves of pain seeped through her body, and she screamed out in despair. She screamed in pain, in heartbreak and in melancholy, until her throat felt torn and parched.
Tom stood above her, watching steadily as blood oozed out of the wound and dribbled down her elbow, small droplets of ichor tainting the Chamber's ground.
She could feel the venom coursing through her veins, like tiny spiders crawling beneath her skin and ripping the tissues apart. It consumed her entirely, just like his love once did.
What was there to live for anymore?
Melody didn't notice she'd been crying, tears running down her face until she could taste the salt in her mouth. The pain had become too much, and she found herself lying on the floor with her silvery hair spread around her like a halo. She truly looked like an angel then, her sepia eyes staring back into his poisonous green ones; suddenly emotionless and empty.
He reached and closed her eyes, her skin wet beneath his fingers. "Sleep well, my dear Melody."