Chapter Twenty-One: Train Wrecks and Truces.

Cordelia had to admit their mode of transportation was a little underwhelming.

After reading about Beauxbaton's carriages and Dumstrang's majestic ship the Slytherins had expected something more exciting than the same old Hogwarts Express they saw every year. Yet here they were, waiting on the platform as the house-elves assembled their luggage in the train.

After her encounter with Tom, Cordelia had spent an hour in the abandoned classroom, her mind replaying the incident like a broken record. In the end, it was Druella who found the young witch shivering on a desk with her mind in a frenzy.

It had taken the greater part of the weekend for her to stop thinking about Tom, however, the task was direly difficult due to his sudden change in behaviour.

Rather than pestering her as he did for the greater part of the previous month, Tom had taken to conversing only when necessary. While the change of pace was appreciated, his politeness made it seem like Cordelia was the devil who refused to end their rivalry, and this wasn't appreciated by Slughorn and many of the other Slytherins.

It had gotten so far that Cordelia swore she heard one of the younger snakes mutter Tomelia as the duo passed by as if the first years had been fantasizing of having the two sixth years be together.

Tom Riddle seemed to be having the time of his life as their peers tried to encourage her to be with him, but all Cordelia could think of was the possibility of her parents arranging a betrothal contract if they so much as heard of the rumours. It was terrifying to think the very person she had begun to accept and perhaps consider misunderstood was the person she now feared.

That was right, Cordelia feared Tom Riddle.

She wasn't scared of his plots and future plans, no the blue-eyed brunette was scared of how she fit into those plans, and whether she wanted to be involved to begin with.

Why was it that everyone around her seemed persistent in getting rid of her freedom? Her parents wanted to marry Cordelia off to the first fertile pureblood male they were satisfied with, regardless of his age, personality, or relation to their family. Tom was persistent on being that pureblood boy, while also subtly trying to convince her to be involved in his plans.

Half of her friends wanted her to win the Tournament at any cost regardless of the consequence, and the other half were annoyingly keen on having Cordelia be with Tom. Moreover, even her professors happened to subtly talk about her and Riddle possibly being a thing.

Orion seemed to be the only person aware of what Cordelia wanted, but he was too benevolent to tell anyone about it, much less act against their parents.

No one seemed to care about what Cordelia wanted with life, and she was sick of it.

The brunette witch wanted to travel to each country to learn their magical habits and develop dark curses and spells pertaining to those countries.

She wanted to be the first successful witch to make her own grimoire of dark magic. Cordelia wanted to educate her fellow purebloods on her spells and in turn influence the government to use them, yet no one seemed to care about her prowess.

Her peers and loved ones didn't notice the journal filled with scribbles of various spells, most of them being successfully developed while the others required a little tweaking.

No one cared about how successful or majestic her magical and academic prowess was, no all they cared about was finding a man for her to wed and eventually birth children of said man.

The ironic part was that her male friends couldn't begin to understand Cordelia's predicament for they were brought up the same way as her. Only Druella, Phyllis and Aurora could comprehend what she was going through, yet half of them didn't care enough to empathize with her.

Phyllis had been dreaming of marrying the perfect pureblood prince ever since she attended Hogwarts, and Aurora got lost in Ignatius's gaze each time they met eyes.

Druella was the only one who could remotely understand her, but the gold-eyed witch seemed too focused on Rodolphus's words to focus on her cousin's predicament.

Cordelia had never felt more chaotically vexed than she did at that very moment. It didn't help matters that Slughorn seemed to be in charge of pairing people in the carriages, and he had a particular pattern he liked to follow.

"Try not to hex him to death."

Orion's words made her giggle as Lia turned towards her younger brother. It seemed he had come to the same conclusion as her but decided to take things lightly rather than providing her with a bit of solace. Cordelia didn't mind, in fact, she liked how Orion lightened the mood.

"No promises."

The Hogwarts Express hadn't been what she thought it would be, that was for sure.

Cordelia presumed they would be travelling by the train's usual path and arrive in France via the train station, but for once the brunette witch had been terribly wrong.

Rather than following its destined route, the train had abandoned its track just as they reached Hogsmeade, choosing to drive straight off a cliff.

Its occupants had screamed for dear life as the train fell through the air, all except Dumbledore, Dippet and Slughorn, who merely chuckled and waited for the students to catch on. The Slytherins had been the first to realize what was going on due to their compartments being at the back, and each of them had gaped in shock as the train proceeded upwards.

Somehow the three professors had jinxed the train the make tracks of its own, allowing the Hogwarts Express to glide through the air and proceed towards the fluffy white clouds. The sight was one Cordelia would never forget; her gaze set on the train tracks decaying and disappearing as the train passed over them.

Abarax was the first to recover from his shock, the usually put-together blonde guffawing in awe as he excitedly informed the rest of the students that they were, in fact, flying.

It was ironic how even though most of the snakes wanted to run to the back of the train and marvel at the enchantments in place, they simply sat still and pretended like they had been on a flying train before. The other purebloods seemed to copy their example as they retreated to their compartments, leaving the three mud-bloods out in the hallway as the revelled at the vanishing tracks and fluffy clouds.

While most of them had gotten back to their compartments, the pureblood children continued to stare at the scenery through their windows, acting nonchalant only to the public eye.

However, one particular pureblood boy chose to stare at something other than the clouds, his chocolate gaze set on Cordelia's form rather than the clouds beside them.

"I could provide you with a picture to stare at if you wish to analyze me so much."

This made Tom laugh as he finally leaned back in his seat, raising his eyebrows as Cordelia finally met his gaze.

"You're ignoring me."

"Am I?"

She was met with an eye roll as Tom finally looked away, gazing at the serpent curled around his hand. Cordelia took a moment to look at Nagini's curled up form before turning back to Tom. This time she chose to turn down the sarcasm as the brunette witch spoke, weirdly offering a truce of sorts.

"Rather than fighting against each other, we should be teaming up against the other schools."

"Says the one who chose to start this."

While his statement was true, Cordelia chose to ignore the observation and dwell on other thoughts, focusing on the Tournament rather than their past.

It was true that Cordelia was the one who started their petty academic rivalry in the third year, but she never intended to extend it outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, growing up did that to some people. Thus she chose to sigh and abandon her resolve, reaching forth with an extended palm.

"Truce?"

Tom seemed genuinely surprised at the offer, however, he didn't hesitate to mirror her actions, holding out the palm vacant of any serpentine presence.

"You're a peculiar witch, Cordelia Black."

His observation made Lia laugh as she leaned back in her seat, satisfied with Riddle's compliance.

"As are you, Tom Riddle."