Preventing A Prophecy | Tom Riddle

Chapter XVIII: A date? Honestly?

4/12/2016

Rights to some of the characters and plot line go to J. K. Rowling and L. J. Smith. However, some of the characters and most of the plot are mine.

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Katherina's PoV:

"I don't want to." Cathy shook her head, the typical Dracula stubbornness leaking through.

It had been two days since Tom performed the spell on Cathy, and she had yet to face her fellow students since being restored to how she was before. We currently stood outside the doors to the great hall, me trying to convince her to go in.

"Look you have avoided this all weekend, Dippet has an announcement to make so you have to attend dinner today, what better day to reveal yourself to the school? They'll be distracted." I squeezed her into my side.

"I'm scared Ri, they're going to laugh and point." Her eyes filled with anxiety and unshed tears.

"Then we laugh and point back." I raised a brow. "Delaying will make it worse. We're already late, so come on." I grabbed her hand tightly in mine, trying to convey as much courage as I could into her. But she wasn't the courageous type, more the polite kind that people liked to walk over, hence why she was placed into Hufflepuff.

"Okay, I have you so it doesn't matter." She nodded once, squeezing my hand as hard as she could.

I didn't wait for her to lose her nerve again, simply pushing the door open and charging through. The hall was full by now, Dippet getting ready to make his announcement, and so everyone had turned to laugh at the late comers. However, any reactions they had, died the moment they saw Cathy.

There wasn't a sound to be heard and Cathy did not let it bother her, keeping her head high and focused on our destination. We reached our table in seconds, both sitting down patiently and continuing to ignore the stares. Even our friends stared, unable to believe how successful Tom had been, a couple of them even immediately threw him appreciative smiles.

There was only one person who did not stare. Alphard Black noticed the change in Cathy and sent her a dashing smile and a wink, before turning back to Dippet. Cathy blushed, as she always did, but his reaction to her was nothing unusual as he always gave her a cheesy smile and a wink when he saw her. This was something that didn't go unnoticed by Cathy either.

I definitely like this boy, he seems unbothered by her change and I would bet he cares for her the same now as he did before. I just hope Cathy realises this and doesn't think that, when the boy finally reveals his interest, he's just doing it because she now has hair.

"Students, may I have your attention please?" Slowly, one by one, heads started to turn back to Dippet once they had their fill of Cathy. "As I am sure you are all aware, we have only one month remaining until the end of the academic year." A few cheers rang around the hall at his words. "Yes I know, another year out of the way. Anyway, after all the pain and stress you students have had to go through this year, it has been decided that on the day before the last, we will be hosting a ball for attendance of every student!"

This time the cheer was loud enough to burst eardrums and nearly every student had an excited smile on their face.

"For that reason," he continued once the cheering had quieted. "There will be an unscheduled trip to Hogsmeade on the last weekend, where every student, no matter what year or whether they have acceptance letters off their parents or guardians, can attend." And the cheering multiplied 100000X. People banged their hands on the tables, smacked their feet on the floor and screamed as loud as they could.