Refresh your memories with chapter 63. It will be useful. Trust me.

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*Thud*

A sixteen-year-old Slytherin named Tom Riddle shut his book forcefully. The greying pages of an old copy of "Diving into the Ancient Runes, deeper than before" convulsed beneath the sudden pressure. 

He paid no heed. 

"Stupid girl!" He cursed instead.

This was the third time he had slammed that book shut. In irritation. 

Two times he had already thrown it away. In frustration. 

If the book was not protected under the conservation charm, it wouldn't have sustained the lightning tyranny of an otherwise bibliophile. All thanks to his thoughts that drifted back to the same girl and the same kiss. The kiss of Acceptance that is. He had no idea why he was affected this much. Was it because, somewhere in the back of his head, he craved the same thing like her? The place to belong that is.

 Growing up as an orphan has its tolls. The most prominent of them is that; you know that you don't belong. That you have no place to call your home. Was that the reason that he enjoyed the kiss this much? A little too much? He had always put on a facade that he didn't need anyone. That there was no one that could match his expectation. From the start, he knew he deserved the best. And after knowing his roots, he knew that he wouldn't settle for anything less.

Then why? Why did she affect him so much? 

He knew she had potential. The power that he craved. The only thing he worshipped and desired since he was a kid. It was also the reason why he was drowned to her in the beginning. He shivered. The spell of her bewitching violet eyes was still intact. Exterior appearance never appealed the young Riddle. Had it been other way around, he had chosen someone else. Alexa wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world that he had seen, after all. However, undoubtedly, she was the most enchanting one. Hence, the ignorance of the effects of her eyes had frenzied his mind. 

A sigh parted those sinful lips. He leaned back in on the headboard of his bed. His deep chocolate eyes scrutinized the silver lantern that dangled from the ceiling. His orbs were dark. Even darker than usual. Subconsciously, his right palm went to the joint between his left shoulder and the neck. His slightly rough fingers came in contact with slightly rougher skin. His cheeks suddenly felt warmer than before. 

He had no idea of why he had used a temporary, mild conservation charm to stop her assault from healing. 

He had no idea of why he used muggle ways to prevent anyone else from witnessing what has conspired that night. 

He had no idea why he was so determined to act otherwise when all this scenario made him vulnerable, fragile, and unpredictable. 

Tom scowled. He never liked surprises. He liked to be prepared always.

His orbs sauntered around the room to land on the bed across from his. The sleeping form of a friend was occupying it. Maybe he should ask this to Anthony, he wondered. His eyes narrowed the next instant when he realized how it would make him look. 

Vulnerable. Fragile. And weak. 

Tom exhaled harshly. 

He didn't do anything weak.

He left his bed and went to Anthony's. He stood there. Shaking his head in disapproval, at the same time smiling with amusement, he saw that his pal had fallen asleep clutching a crystal ball to his chest. With his body curled around it, Tom thought that Anthony looked just like a baby. He picked the heavy ball and placed it delicately on the table beside the bed. 

A mischievous smile graced his lips when he turned to Anthony's direction. Perhaps, he had found a brilliant way to nullify all the embarrassing discussions of these unwanted feelings that he had for his girl. He knew Anthony had his share of feelings with the Greyback girl. Perhaps, his friend's feelings for that ungrateful feminist can shade lights on what Tom felt for his tempting hybrid.

His hand went inside his sleeve. The long, lean fingers of his right hand curled artistically around the holder of shiny phoenix-cored 13½" long wand. The spell he wanted to cast on his pal was the one he was trying to master for a long time now. And he had victimized some animals and other students in the school for practice. But, he never felt to use it on the boy he trusted the most. Anthony always told Tom what he wanted to know. That's why he never felt the need to invade his privacy. Besides, he always thought that Anthony might be spending a lot of his time fantasizing about Rebekah and he didn't want to experience some romance story. And look where it brought them today. Tom wanted to use his pal's those exact thoughts to figure what was conspiring inside his boggled mind. 

Tom shuddered. 

The irony of the situation slapped his conscience. 

He knew Anthony would never betray his trust. He knew Anthony to be a pure child and pure people don't have dark secrets.  One of the factors he considered before directing his wand and casting the inevitable spell,

"Legilimens!"

The bright light blinded his sight. Tom blinked for, what felt like, a hundred times before he could actually see his surroundings. He looked around himself. Rather he looked around the surroundings of Anthony in his memory. 

His nose scrunched in distaste as the distinctive stink of birds' dropping suddenly entered his nostrils. It didn't take him long to realize that he was in the west tower. The tower that held an Owlery of the castle. 

"Whatever you say Loverboy. Anyway, I have to run. Alexa, I will see you another time." 

He heard a very unladylike snort. It didn't take him long to see Evanka Rosider, the rebellious kid-sister of his associate stormed out of the chamber and left. 

What was Anthony doing with the female Rosier? He wondered.

Wait, Alexa? Tom narrowed his eyes. 

What was Anthony doing with Alexa?

What was Evanka doing with his Alexa?

What were they doing with his girl? 

He trusted Anthony, but he couldn't say the same about the Ravenclaw Rosier. She was, after all, interested in her own sex. His fists clenched on his sides.

Tom took a step inside the room to find Anthony and Alexa facing each other and the latter was about to leave. That's right my witch. Leave. He contemplated.

"Alexa wait. We need to talk."

Tom looked back in Avery's direction. His mind was curious about many things.

"We don't, Anthony," Alexa replied. Firmly. Her voice had nothing of its usual softness. It was clear as day that Anthony was getting a cold-shoulder by his girl. And one part of him, though, felt proud seeing her so decisive, others wondered what had his pal done to deserve this kind of treatment.

Tom tried to contemplate which time was this. Looking outside the window he saw the beautiful autumn foliage of that still covered the trees on the bank of the lake. The considerably cold breeze that titillated his skin confirmed his suspicions. It was the end of November. It was like a moment of recognition when he recalled that it was the time when he had manipulated the things between his girl and his best friend. It was the time when his girl was avoiding his best-friend like some disease. 

Tom felt slightly guilty at that time. And at one point he really wanted to clear the air between the two people he actually, and unknowingly, valued. 

His trance broke when Anthony continued,

"Yes, we do. Don't deny it."

Alexa glared sharply at the boy.

"I requested one thing. One thing only and you couldn't do it for me?" Alexa gritted her teeth. "I thought our friendship meant that much to you at least."

"It does," Anthony affirmed.

Tom gazed curiously at the both of them. What was happening was far more intriguing. He forgot why he was peeping inside his friend's memories in the first place.

"Liar!" Alexa exclaimed. She shook her had. Disappointment marred her features. "If you had, you wouldn't have gone peeping in the matters that don't concern you."

"Secrets are supposed to be hidden, Anthony. Don't go looking for them, because I don't want to lose another soul." Anthony spoke harshly surprising both Tom and Alexa. "You speak like this and believe me to not be intrigued? What was I supposed to do? Let it go when my curiosity was eating me from within?" 

Both Anthony and Alexa looked away from each other. They were both breathing harshly. Unevenly. They knew they couldn't solely blame one another anymore. They both were equally guilty of what had conspired.

Alexa was the first one to join their impending conversation.

"Does he know yet? Did you tell Tom or anyone else?" She had a clue that Anthony had found out more than just her father's name. She knew he had somehow found her mother's ancestors. She knew it was wrong to use the sentence she had used the other night for stopping Anthony from digging around her, but she wasn't some writer to formulate the better words at that time. She had spoken what was on her mind without a filter, for she had already lost her mother, her father, and her aunt. And she didn't want to lose another one. Neither Anthony nor Tom. Despite how much that git annoyed her.

Anthony shook his head. "It is killing me to keep it from him. I never had kept secrets from Tom you know?"

Tom stood shocked at the revelations. He couldn't believe that his friend had hidden something from him.

"I know." Alexa nodded her head. "And I am sorry that you have to feel this way. I wish I could take this away from you."

She couldn't look at him in the eye anymore. So she looked away. An eerie silence graced the two, or rather, three of them.

"You can actually." After some time Anthony whispered, causing Alexa to look back at him. Fully. "You can obliviate me."

Alexa shook her head. "I am not that efficient yet. I am still refining my skills of obliviating."

Anthony looked at her pleadingly. "Please do it. I don't know what to do anymore."

Alexa nodded her head in defeat. And shame. She took out her wand and directed it at Anthony. "I am not sure if I will be able to remove the whole memory. I am warning you I am not an expert yet. Perhaps-"

The rest of the conversation was blurred. Tom knew what this was. When a wizard performs obliviate with no expertise, sometimes he leaves the part of the memory in the subconscious mind. He tried his best to figure the disfigured memory but to no avail. 

He then concentrated his mind on the memory Alexa selected for modification. The similar thing that he had done when he had seen Alexa modifying Odelia Flint's memories the other night. The intrusion in an already vulnerable mind.

It was like handling a memory inside a memory. A layer of one memory inside another. Just like the inception of mind. However, Tom could still see it as if it was broad daylight. Hence it shocked him to the core. It shocked him to learn that Gellert Grindelwald was Alexa's maternal grandfather and Anthony hid this thing from him.

It felt like a huge weight placed on his shoulder. It felt like a thousand knives pierced through his skin. It felt like he was thrown in the middle of a war with no wand or weapon. All the reasons aside, it still hurt him. It hurt him to know that his friend, his best friend, the soul he trusted beyond the beliefs, had hidden this important thing from him. Tom knew that day what he hated more than being weak. It was a betrayal.

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Chapter 46: Anthony finds out Alexa's ancestry.

Will Tom forgive Anthony? Will he forgive Alexa?

Ten points to your Hogwarts house if you get why the gif is added above.

The text in underline is the conversation that took place in memory.

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Thank you all!!!