Chapter Six: The Inevitable

If she had to spend one more minute listening to Tom Riddle ramble off about Hogwarts, Cordelia would Avada herself.

It had been around twenty minutes since the duo had begrudgingly followed one another towards the Head's Cabin, only sharing forced pleasantries when necessary.

The cabin itself wasn't much, just three times larger than the usual cabins with a round conference table holding a specified seat for each member of the student body. Its designs were mundane, each of the four walls painted in every house's seal and colours respectively, the animal representative made to move around in its pentagon.

Sometimes, if you looked close enough, you could spot the lion rearing back on its hind legs ready to pounce onto the snake drawn across from it, the latter coiling back and hissing in return. People presumed that was why the animals were encased in their pentagons, to avoid inter-house conflict. After all, the students themselves provided enough of that.

"Once again I shall inform you to take your duties seriously. The job of a Prefect isn't one you would like to mess up, and anyone who chooses to do so will answer to myself and headmaster Dippet. Am I clear?"

The occupants of the cabin nodded to Head Boy Riddle's annoyingly cliche speech, all except Cordelia who chose to instead role her eyes from her position beside him. Usually, Cordelia would have been more than happy to play with the new prefects and annoy them until they were ready to either hex her or storm out of the cabin, but Tom seemed to know her a little too well and had taken the lead as soon as everyone arrived.

Cordelia had barely gotten a word in throughout the entirety of the meeting, but as she watched Riddle casually lean back in his seat and levitate rolls of parchment to every member of the student body, the Slytherin Queen realized this might have been the best outcome.

She hated to admit it, but Cordelia hadn't bothered to take her Head Girl duties seriously; too preoccupied mulling over Dumbledore and Melania. By the time she realized her mistake, it was far too late to prepare a speech for the prefects, much less rolls of parchment tailored to every member.

Tom Riddle, however, had been more than prepared for both of them. After all, he was doing this for the second time; a fact that irked Cordelia beyond measure.

He droned on and on about their schedules, the updated rule book, and restricted pranking supplies, finally finishing the meeting with a mocking smile towards Cordelia.

"Is there anything I forgot to cover?"

There wasn't. Of course, there wasn't, but Cordelia was too petty to admit it. Thus, she turned towards the prefects before them with a cynically sweet smile.

"Hogwarts has been experiencing far too many inter-house pranks. As the student body, it is your duty to ensure your dorm's password isn't passed on to other houses. And unlike last year-" she took a moment to direct her gaze towards Fleamont Potter before continuing

"-make sure the first years don't write down the passwords and proceed to lose them."

The Gryffindor prefect flushed an awful shade of red as he leaned back in his seat and nodded curtly, prompting the other prefects to do the same.

"If that is all, the student body meeting has concluded. You can all head back to your compartments."

Everyone could sense the edge in Tom's voice as he wandlessly unlocked the Head's Cabin. Perhaps that was why Tracy Travers chose to follow Orion out rather than waiting for her beloved.

Cordelia couldn't help but snicker as she left her seat and gathered her belongings, keen on avoiding a confrontation and leaving the from before Riddle.

"Basilisk."

Her feet faltered as the brunette turned her head to the side with a frown.

"What?"

Tom Riddle took his time walking around the conference table, only stopping his stroll once his frame was a mere step away from Cordelia's.

"The password for the head's dorms. It would do you well to remember it."

She wasn't certain, but for a moment Cordelia swore she could see a peculiar hallway occupied with a large statue of Slytherin. The vision passed as soon as it came, leaving the brunette in a state of confusion as she watched Tom leave before her.

Something wasn't right.

Cordelia didn't know how, but she somehow knew that something was amiss.

It was like a wizard knowing his veins held magic, or an animal knowing it was being hunted. For a moment, a brief moment, Cordelia simply knew Tom Riddle was up to something. Like a child watching their sibling tip over a fancy vase, knowing they were about to be framed for the act.

She knew something was wrong, but alas, the moment passed far too quickly for Cordelia to do anything but return to her compartment with a confused frown.

Things were different.

In a way, Cordelia supposed she always knew things would eventually change. She couldn't have it all. Cordelia knew that.

She couldn't win the Tournament and make her family love her. She couldn't become Slytherin's Queen and maintain a mundane life at Hogwarts. Cordelia couldn't surpass her friends and crush their dreams while expecting their friendship to continue being as it was.

Cordelia couldn't have it all, and while she never wanted to have everything, the brunette couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she was allowed to choose.

If she could choose between sustaining friendships or surpassing competitors, between becoming stronger and making others feel better; between being the Slytherin Queen or carrying on as a mere pawn. If Cordelia could truly choose, would she still let things end up the way they did?

Sure, she had won the Triwizard Tournament and brought pride to the Black-McMillan family, but in doing so Cordelia had lost something she held very dear.

Cordelia had lost her friends.

Things were different. Everyone knew they were.

She could see it in the way Aurora and Ignatius chose to mutter between themselves instead of talking to the rest of their friend group. She could hear it in the way Phyllis chose to whisper her routine gossip in Druella's ears rather than boldly proclaiming it for everyone to hear. She could feel it in the way Rodolphus shifted uncomfortably at every mention of the tournament, even if it was sparsely used.

The only people who seemed unaffected by the shift in their group's dynamics were Theodore, Druella and Orion. However, the latter chose to shift between the friends he had in his year and the ones he had made via Cordelia, which somehow worsened the tension in the compartment.

Perhaps that was why her brother hadn't returned even once over the past hour.

Her friends were subtle, Cordelia would give them that. To an outsider, it would seem like Ignatius and Aurora were simply doing why lovers do while Phyllis chose to lower her voice in consideration of the other conversations in the compartment.

If anyone were to pass by, they wouldn't think twice about Theodore and Rodolphus playing exploding snap or about Cordelia and Druella conversing without words, as sisters often would.

Anyone else would have been fooled into thinking the game wasn't being played to make up for the silence in the compartment, after all, the lack of loud conversations was disturbing only to the friends who had gotten used to the noise over the past six years.

"Is it my fault?"

Cordelia knew that it was, but that didn't stop her from whispering the question into Druella's hair as Phyllis gossiped into her other ear.

"Depends on what you're referring to."

At first, she wasn't sure if she appreciated her cousin's truthfulness or despised it, but as Cordelia ran her gaze across the room and met Theodore's concerned brown pools, the witch couldn't help but pick the latter.

"I'm going to change into my robes."

The Hogwarts Express was barely halfway through its journey and it was far too early to change into their uniforms, everyone knew that. Normally, the girls would ask her to sit back down with promises of the four of them leaving for the lavatories after ten minutes; a lie that Cordelia always bought even if she knew it was untrue, but today was different.

Other than a couple of confused, borderline pitiful looks, no one bothered to stop her as Cordelia fetched the bag holding her uniform and swiftly exited the compartment.

For a moment she remained in the corridor and attempted to gather her psyche, only shuffling her feet towards the lavatories once the first tear fell.

By the time she made her way to the small room at the back of the train, Cordelia's cheeks were covered with tear tracks, with a few of them going as far as to spill past her chin and onto her polished shoes. In her haste to hide from society and let it all out until she was feeling better, Cordelia didn't notice the female lavatory was currently occupied until it was too late.

"Sorry I should have-"

the blonde Ravenclaw before her trailed off as she took in Cordelia's form.

Cordelia wasn't sure whether the best course of action was the hex the girl, wipe her memory, or push past her frame and hope that the stereotype Ravenclaws didn't gossip was true. Thankfully, the stranger before her chose for the sobbing Slytherin.

"A-are you okay?"

It was clear that the witch was overwhelmed with different emotions. Cordelia couldn't blame her, after all, it wasn't every day you saw a pureblood Slytherin weeping in public. She felt bad for her, the brunette really did, but that didn't stop the Slytherin Queen from opting for her default response to other houses; sarcasm.

"Of course, I'm just perfect."

She snorted. The Ravenclaw witch before Cordelia let out a god-awful sound akin to a pig as she gave the Slytherin another once over. After a moment of observing her state, the stranger finally stuck out her hand with a soft smile.

"Augusta. Augusta Fawley, and you are?"

She knew who she was. Cordelia was certain she did, but that didn't stop the brunette from smiling awkwardly as she accepted Augusta's hand.

"Cordelia Black."

Augusta nodded as she moved towards the side, making room for Cordelia to enter the now vacant lavatory.

"Well, Cordelia, my friend and I happened to buy far too many sweets from the Trolley. Would you like to join us after you're done?"

Cordelia should have said no.

With everything else going on she couldn't bear to add inter-house conflict to her pile of problems, but there was just something about Augusta. The blonde girl was the kind of person who would make a room light up when she walked in, and that was someone Cordelia craved to be around.

As her gaze trailed across the bubbly Ravenclaw's face and settled on her warm brown eyes, Cordelia couldn't stop herself from nodding before she closed the lavatory door with a sigh.