I gazed at her as she ate her breakfast. She was so graceful, so delicate with her movements. But she would never love me. She was the perfect Gryffindor. Loyal, brave, beautiful. And I was the perfect Slytherin. Ambitious, cunning….evil. But I still loved her.
I pushed my porridge away with distaste. I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the Great Hall. I saw my friend Jeremy get up and run after me.
"Tom, Tom! Where you're going? You didn't eat anything!" he shouted
God, could he be stupid at times. I felt like turning around and saying 'Of course I didn't eat my breakfast! The girl of my dreams will never love me! How do you think that makes me feel????' But of course I couldn't. How could I possibly tell my friends of my love for a Gryffindor?
"I'm not hungry. I'm just going to go to class." I muttered.
"OK, great, I'll come with you. I wasn't feeling that hungry anyway." he said, running to keep up with my fast pace.
I grabbed my timetable out of my bag and looked at what I had. Great. Double Potions with Gryffindor. Could my life get any worse?
I stormed down to the dungeons and chucked my bag onto a table at the back. I sat down and checked through the homework just for something to do. Jeremy sat down next to me and started ranting on about some hot girl in Ravenclaw. I merely blocked him out, mumbling the occasional 'hmph'.
10 minutes later people started arriving for class. Alan, Stephan and Matt, my other friends trudged in.
"Hey Tom! What happened at breakfast?" Alan asked.
"I wasn't hungry." I replied.
"Really? Tom Riddle not hungry? That's a first. You normally eat like a horse." Stephan laughed.
"Yeah, well I wasn't hungry." I grumbled, my eyes fixed on the door, for she was yet to arrive.
Suddenly, there she was. My angel. In my opinion, the most beautiful thing in the world. She walked in, red faced with her boyfriend in tow. They'd probably just had a snogging session in a broom cupboard. My heart wrenched at that thought. She wasn't tall. She wasn't a supermodel. But in my mind she was. She was the shortest in our class. Her wavy brown hair was frizzy and unkempt, but she didn't care. Her name was Courtney Dandy and she was beautiful. Her smile lit up the room and her laugh was contagious.
"Tom? Tom? Hey? You home? What's up? You dozed off for a second there!" Matt said.
"Yeah, suppose I did." I replied lamely.
"OK class, pay attention! Seeing as the behaviour in this class hasn't been up to scratch, I will now be picking your partners." Professor Appidoch said. There was a collective groan as the Gryffindors at the front of the room, glared at the Slytherins seated up the back. Like it was all our fault. Well, maybe it was. But there was another reason why we couldn't be together. The traditional rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
"Now seeing as Headmaster Dippet encourages unity between the houses, I'll be pairing you up with someone from OUTSIDE your own house." There was another collective groan at this statement. "Now, the list is up here on the table so come and have a look at who I've partnered you up with!"
Everyone walked up to the table and there were more groans. I nervously waited my turn to see who I was with. When I finally got a glance at the paper I saw all my dreams come true as I glanced at that one piece of paper. Tom Riddle with Courtney Dandy. Finally, a chance to talk to her! I'd only managed a few short conversations with her ever since I fell in love with her. Most of these were at prefect meetings.
I headed to the table we were working at. She was already there; her arms folded glaring intensely at me with her green eyes.
"So, I'm partnered with you. Well, I've already gathered the ingredients for the Laughing Potion, so what about you chop the rosemary, and I'll get the cauldron ready." She commanded, instantly taking charge. I didn't mind, just to be near her was intoxicating. I nodded dumbly and started chopping the rosemary.
"So, do you like Potions?" she asked me after nearly five minutes of silence.
"Yes. I find it interesting." I said.
"Good." Courtney replied.
After another two minutes of silence I decided to break the silence this time.
"Do you?" I questioned.
"What?" she said, looking dumbfounded.
"Do you like Potions?" I said, gazing intently at her.
"Well, um, not really." She replied with a hint of a smile playing about her lips.
"OK. What subjects do you like?"
"Charms mostly. And astronomy, I think the night sky is fascinating. Don't you? I mean there is basically another world up there that hasn't been explored. It's wonderful!" she said. Her eyes lit up as she spoke. She looked so beautiful standing there looking right at me. I knew I would cherish that moment for the rest of my life.
"Yeah, astronomy is pretty good." I swallowed nervously before I asked my next question. "Do you like the Dark Arts?"
It was something I instantly regretted saying. A shadow crossed her eyes before she replied. "No, no I don't. I don't find the act of hurting people fascinating." She glared at me and then went back to the potion.
I kicked myself for being so forward with her. For just a moment there, we were getting along. We won't separated by our house, social circles, nothing. We just were able to talk. We didn't say a thing to each other for the rest of the lesson, unless it concerned the potion. We handed in the potion at the end of the lesson and got full marks for it. But I didn't care. I had had an opportunity with the girl of my dream and I'd ruined it.