Friday arrived much quicker than Delilah had anticipated.

  Two meetings with Dumbledore took place, but to no avail was there any progress on how to get home. Both were clueless as to how she even got to this time in the first place. Dumbledore has asked her to recount her steps the day she went to the Department of Mysteries time and time again.

  So far the only hunch he had was that whatever she'd been sent to retrieve could be a plausible cause. The problem was, Delilah wasn't exactly sure what the package was. It's was confidential and securely covered and was not to be opened until she returned to head quarters.

  Delilah made her way down to breakfast yawning every few seconds. For the past three days she's been having nightmares she can't remember. And to add on top of that, the dormitory was always empty when she woke up.

  Sitting down at the table, Olive was glaring at her and Lolita looked concerned. "What?" She yawned yet again as she filled her plate. "Are you alright?" Lolita asked. Delilah furrowed her brows and was about to reply when someone threw their arm over her shoulder. "Today's the day!" Elio said cheerfully and got met with a seething look from Olive. "What's your issue?" He asked the brunette and she nodded her head towards Delilah. "Ask your girlfriend, because of her I haven't been getting enough sleep."

  Elio turned towards Delilah, who had her cheeks flushed at being called Elio's girlfriend. "Don't look at me, I'm as much confused as you are."

  Lolita narrowed her eyes at Delilah. "You don't recall anything these last few nights?" Delilah shook her head and bit into some toast, feeling oddly warm with Elio practically pressed against her. "No? Should I?" Lolita raised an eyebrow at Olive but the girl was too busy fawning over the newest addition to their table.

  Tom had arrived for breakfast.

  "You've been screaming your bloody lungs out. I cast a silencing charm but it wears out by morning so Olive and I just leave you alone." Delilah blinked at this newfound information. She'd been screaming in her sleep? She knew something was off. Every time she woke up, she felt oddly drained like she hadn't slept at all and her throat had been feeling raw. Delilah just assumed she might've been getting sick.

  A hand waved itself in front of her eyes and she shook her head. "Alright, Miss Pontmercy?" Tom asked as Elio tried to get her to snap out of it. "What? Oh yes, yeah. And again please just call me Delilah." Tom tilted his head to the side as he observed her. She looked awful. Her skin was more sallow and circles seemed to be permanently hung under her eyes. "Are you well enough for watching tryouts?" Elio asked as he stole a piece of bacon off her plate. She glared at him but he simply smiled charmingly at her and she sighed. "Of course, I wouldn't think to miss it."

  "I can escort you to the field. I'll be catching up on some arithmancy homework, perhaps we could work on the essay together?" Tom offered. Delilah eyed him for a moment, he was weirdly helpful. And too nice. It was unnerving but his charm seemed to outweigh that notion. Tom was a different breed of nice. He wasn't like Luna, the good natured aura practically dripped off that girl. But Tom...it felt like he wanted something.

  She didn't know what exactly. Her mind immediately jumped to what most teenage boys want in return for helping a girl, but Delilah dismissed this. For the whole week that she's been here, as well as from what she heard, Tom never spared a glance at girl. And nearly half the school was willing to throw themselves at his feet. Perhaps he didn't have a motive? No, that was ridiculous. Everyone had a motive whether they were conscious of it or not.

  "Sure, that'd be lovely. Thank you." He smiled and nodded once before returning to his breakfast. Delilah's eyes shifted to the side and found Olive looking at her with the most peculiar expression. The girl blinked once before eating her own food quietly, she wasn't even bothering to latch onto Tom as she usually did. How odd, Delilah concluded.

  Despite herself, she felt a bit pity for Olive. She'd never mention this, no one wanted someone to pity them. Especially for unrequited love.

  It made her angry as she watched Tom dismiss Olive like she was a nuisance. True, Olive was a bit excessive when she tried to display her affections. But the least he could do was tell her he didn't return her feelings. Instead, he led her on.

  Delilah remembered yesterday in Transfigurations how she'd wanted to punch his stupid, beautifully handsome face. It was clear he didn't want to do what Dumbledore assigned.

  That was something else she noticed, there was a sort of tension between Tom and Dumbledore. She'd have to ask him about that soon.

  But Tom turned on his charming smile, softened his eyes, and lightly dragged his fingers down Olive's arm as he asked her to 'do this one thing' for him and how he'd greatly appreciate it. Delilah watched in fascination as Olive stumbled over her words and nodded, her eyes glazed over as she was drawn towards Tom. And then just after class he completely ignored the poor girl's existence.

  Before she could stop herself, Delilah smiled at Olive. In turn, the girl eyed her suspiciously. "Olive, would you like to join us?"

  Tom looked up at Delilah in surprise but he quickly rested his features.

  "I'm not in arithmancy." Olive said, her tone indicating she thought Delilah was stupid.

  Delilah blinked at the girl and felt like smacking her. She thought she'd say yes right away. "Well, I have been struggling in charms and you seem well versed on the course. I was wondering if you could help me?" That was a lie, Delilah was brilliant at charms. Tom knew this as well, he'd seen her marks and she was second in their class. Just below himself. Now Tom was looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

  "Why not just have Tom help you?" Olive said, suspension still gleaming in her eye.

  "For the love of bloody fuck... fine. I just wanted to have girl time but since we barely know each other I thought it'd be too forward to simply ask." The group around her seemed taken aback by her sudden outburst. She blushed at her swearing, forgetting it wasn't exactly proper for a lady to use such language in the forties.

  Tom however, found it difficult to keep his lips from twitching upwards. He's caught her on more than one occasion cursing and it was rather amusing.

  The first time was when he saw in her the library that first morning. The second was when they were in the common room and she hit her hip against a table. Some creative words tumbled from her lips in a hiss. The third was when he'd accidentally bumped into her when turning a corner.

  Tom mused as he remembered her shocked face and, if he recalled correctly, she screamed "bloody fucking Merlin, Jesus fucking Christ you scared the living shit out of me." Luckily they were alone or else she'd most likely have a detention. And throughout other classes he could hear her mumble a few "fucks" and "damns". She swore more than Pyrrhus and that was saying something.

  "Oh." Olive said and it pulled Tom from his thoughts. "Well, if it's alright with you Tom." She turned to him and he looked at her for only a moment before looking at Delilah. What was she up to? It was obvious Olive didn't like her, so why invite her? He was annoyed, he'd wanted a chance alone with Delilah to somehow coerce anything out of her.

  He had a clever way of catching someone in a lie, specifically, he had a clever way of catching a girl in a lie. A little flirting could only go so far and something was different about Delilah, so he had to tread carefully on how to approach the situation.

  Still, she was a female, and through experience nearly all of them were the same. But with Olive now attending with them this afternoon, it'd be halted. And he couldn't have that.

  "Of course, I'd be glad if you joined us." He smiled warmly at Olive and he felt disgust prick up his back as he watched her quite literally swoon.

  The afternoon approached far quicker than Delilah was ready for. Her hands were full with books and parchment as she stumbled her way up to the stands of the Quidditch field.

  Out of breath as she reached the stop, Delilah squinted around for two brunettes. Turning left she spotted Tom's dark curls falling over his forehand as he read a book. The wind was blowing softly and it ruffled the locks in a way that wasn't fair.

  Shaking her head, Delilah made her way over to him. When she was about ten feet away she cleared her throat.

  He looked up in mild surprise and smiled warmly once his eyes landed on her. Delilah looked at him for just a second longer than necessary before clearing her throat. "May I sit?" His lips tugged up to the side in a smirk that would make the devil jealous. Merlin, he was too perfect. "Of course, I don't think any of the seats are taken." He gestured to the practically empty stands and Delilah blushed.

  Once she got settled, she asked, "Do you know where Olive is? I thought she'd be here by now."

  Tom sighed through his nose and shook his head, his eyes downcast as he closed the book he was reading. He put it away too quickly before Delilah could catch the title. "I'm afraid she came down with a stomach virus. She should be fine by dinner though, Madam Fontaine is quite a talented Healer." He has his arms behind him as he leaned back leisurely, his head turned towards her, tilted to the side.

  Delilah swallowed as indiscreetly as she could as she fumbled for her arithmancy book. "That's a shame, er...shall we get started then?"

  Her hand shook as she flipped to the right page. What the hell was wrong with her? She's never gotten tripped up by a boy before. At least not this much.

  "Yes. I've already written a thesis on the chapter. You're welcome to take a look at it if you feel you're stuck."

  Delilah glanced at the parchment he had and glared at the elegant cursive. She could barely read her own handwriting most of the time. "I assume you've already read the chapter?" He asked as he watched her eyes skim over his thesis. The dark blue of her eyes flitted quickly across the page and her eyebrows rose.

  He felt his lips tug up in a sort of smug smirk and she glared at him. "It's really not fair that you're brilliant." And attractive. But Delilah would keep that to herself.

  He plucked the paper lightly from her fingers and handed her one of his quills. Delilah was about to protest and say she had her own but her mouth hung open. It was a beautiful quill. The feather was soft and not stiff to touch, it appeared to be a rich black but if the light hit the quill the right way you'd see a emerald green sheen. Before she could stop herself, she laughed.

  Tom raised an eyebrow at her, not understanding what could suddenly be so amusing. "Sorry," her hand covered her mouth in an attempt to stop herself and she settled for smiling. She felt like an idiot. "It's just my handwriting looks like chicken scratch and I'd feel like I would break the quill if I wrote with it."

  Tom held the quill by the tip with two fingers and she lightly dragged her own finger down the side of the soft feather, pulling away just before their skin touched.

  "Where'd you get it? I've never seen one like this before."

  Dark eyes were glued to her face, he was looking at her with a peculiar glimmer in his eye. "It was a gift." He said simply. He'd gotten it from Abraxas' father the previous Christmas, but Tom didn't see why he'd need to mention it. Delilah was about to open her mouth when someone called out to them.

  Turning around, Elio was on his broom and hovered in front of the stands. "Delilah, you made it." He smiled widely at her as she made her way over to him.

  Tom felt annoyance prick up his sides but pushed it down as he too made his way over. Delilah leaned on the banister and looked down, her stomach dropping at how high they were.

  "Weathers perfect, this should be an easy tryout. It's still ridiculous Abraxas is making everyone retry." Elio made a point to glare at the platinum blond who was down on the ground of the field.

  "You'll do great, although I haven't seen you play yet. Don't fall off and break your face or something, that'd be a shame." Delilah bit her lip as she cringed at her rant.

  "Would it?" Elio mused with his own charming smirk. In the depths of her mind though she couldn't help but compare it to Tom's. Delilah rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly. "You know what I mean, don't let your ego explode."

  As she pushed him, he pretended to almost fall off his broom and Delilah screamed, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and yanking him towards her.

  Her heart was beating frantically but Elio's laughter met her ears and she glared at him. "Don't do that!" Delilah's voice was a pitch higher than usual and he merely smiled at her. Elio tugged on the hand that was still gripping his shirt and placed a light kiss on her knuckles. "Wish me luck," with a wink he was off.

  Delilah was sure her face was redder than a rose and she was suddenly aware Tom was beside her. His face was blank as he watched Elio fly down to Abraxas.

  "So," she cleared her throat and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. He inclined his head down to her and she leaned back a bit, only just noticing how much taller he was than her. She was just up to his shoulder.

  "We should get to work on that essay." Tom nodded and gestured for her to lead the way but she shook her head. "I'm wearing a skirt, eyes front, sir." His eyebrows furrowed down at Delilah and something stirred in his chest, it was a foreign feeling. "My eyes are always front." Nonetheless he walked first and Delilah mused to herself as she followed him.

Mine aren't.