Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Tom Riddle had finally made a decision about Emma Johnson. He was going to pursue her, Mudblood or not. Emma was without a doubt the prettiest girl in the castle, and since he was the most handsome boy in the castle, it would stand to reason that he should.

He knew most girls in the castle would do anything to be with him, and most of the time they would indeed have to. He wasn't exactly an 'easy catch'! He had fooled around with a few of them, but really not that many. They had to be 'special' to be chosen for the honor, and even then they better do exactly as they were told. And of course they always did.

He never had had a girlfriend since none of the girls he had been with were worthy of that title. He did not think any girl ever would be, since as far as he was concerned they were really only good for one thing. And now he had decided that Emma Johnson would be the next girl to have the great honor of enjoying Tom Riddle's company. She should be ecstatic, he thought, especially since she was nothing but a lowly Mudblood.

Emma Johnson was a 7th year Ravenclaw. She was very pretty and she knew that only too well. She was far from shy; some might even say she was conceited, especially those who knew her well. But she was not interested in boys much. Well, she thought she would be, if the right one would come along, but all the boys she knew well enough weren't really good enough in her mind. So she remained single and a virgin for the time being, since she wasn't at all inclined to go out with someone who wasn't all that she expected him to be.

Emma was very smart, but unusual. Her grades were all over the place. Her average for most of her subjects was usually in the 80s, even though she had never actually received a grade between 40 and 95. Most of the time she would get high grades for her tests, but all too often she would do really, really bad, and score no more than 35% or even lower than that, pulling her average way down. The only exception was History of Magic, in which she always did well. Her average for Potions on the other hand was usually her lowest. However, Potions was by far her most favorite subject, and History of Magic her least.

The thing was with Emma, being a Muggle-born, she found magic to be exceptionally exciting and was prone to 'experimenting'. She would always try new and unconventional ways of doing things, spend a lot of time on that and, most of the time, fail miserably. Add to that the fact that she was often careless and forgot about seemingly trivial matters and her failures would be even more pronounced.

But she was always aware of the conventional and 'correct' way of doing things, and if her average was getting too low, she would go back to that and achieve perfect grades again, until her average was high enough to withstand some more experimentation. Because that was what she really craved, the unusual, the challenge, the out-of-the-ordinary solution! If something was known to be impossible, she would try it anyway, even if it would never get her anywhere, even if it was a total waste of time. Who cared! It was what she lived for, to attempt the impossible! It would get her blood boiling and her heart rate up, and she'd get excited beyond believe. And then there, would be another bad grade in the making.

Emma knew Tom Riddle, of course. Well, who didn't! He was hard to miss. Hogwarts' Head Boy was the most brilliant student ever, and very handsome to boot. The girls in her year (and even some in the lower years) would rave about him and fantasize. But he was also known to be very picky, and could be rude at times. Also, he seemed to avoid Muggle-borns, for friendship as well as for romantic purposes. He'd never spoken a word to Emma, and Emma had never spoken to him. She was one of the few girls who wasn't actually interested in getting close to Tom Riddle, and she certainly did not take part in her friends' childish idolization of him. As far as she was concerned, any boy who was not willing to try to get to know her better, was out of his mind and not worth thinking of. Besides, she had heard stories from some of the girls he had been with, and he didn't appear to be that nice to them. She didn't like that either. Any boy she would eventually be with, better treat her like a princess, or he wouldn't be with her for much longer!

One Thursday afternoon after the last class of the day, Tom saw his opportunity. Emma and her Ravenclaw friends walked through the hallways, and Emma was lagging behind as she was trying to put a piece of paper in her bag while walking along. He was right behind her and moved his wand just a little, after which Emma lost grip of her bag and let it drop to the floor, scattering books and papers all over the place.

Emma frantically tried to scoop up all her belongings and stuff them back in her bag. Tom walked up and helped her pick up her things. But then he picked up one of her tests, graded with a 28%. 'What the hell?' Tom thought to himself. Who gets a 28% for anything? Was this girl stupid or something? He was starting to change his mind about getting involved with her as he stared at the paper, for if there was anything he couldn't stand, it was stupidity.

"If you're done staring at my potions project, I would like it back," said Emma.

He gave her a grim smile as he held up the paper. "Potions not your best subject, I take it?"

He had expected her to blush, but she didn't. She merely shrugged. "No big deal," she said. "My average is high enough, I can handle it. It's not going to make me fail."

Her answer surprised him. If her average was high, then why would she get such a low grade? He looked at the paper again. "We had to do the same project," he said. "'Create a potion that will either reduce or enhance the sensitivity of the nerves to a specific outside occurrence of your choosing. Describe how to make it, then brew it, test it and report on its effects.' You couldn't think of anything other than a…a what? An Awareness Potion?"

She ripped the paper out of his hands. "Of course I could!" she said, offended. "But I didn't want to do another 'Intensified cold', 'color-brightening' or 'noise-reducing' potion. I thought I'd try something different!"

"Alright," he said. "But an Awareness Potion? There is no such thing!"

"Exactly," she said. "But I thought if you'd start with a general sensation-enhancing potion combining the ingredients of the various different kinds of potions of that type, and then add some of the ingredients of the 'Mind-Fogger' potion in reverse order… Well, I thought you could possibly create something that would make you aware of people around you even if you couldn't see them. In other words, an Awareness Potion!"

She was looking at the paper in her hand, and he went to stand next to her, looking over her shoulder at the paper. "I guess that did not work out then?" he said, laughing. His own project had been on creating a potion that would increase the sensation of pain. As usual, he had received the maximum grade plus extra credit for adding some additional ingredients that would increase its effectiveness.

"No, obviously it didn't!" she exclaimed, annoyed, moving to put the paper back in her bag. But before she could stow it away, his hand closed over her wrist.

"Can I borrow it for a little while?" he asked.

She looked at him strangely, then shrugged again. "Well, er… I guess… I don't see why not." And she handed him the paper.

"Thanks," he said, giving her his most charming smile before walking off.

While walking back to the Slytherin common room, he kept staring at her paper. He read the whole thing before he got there, which was a bit of an achievement, since it was long. Much longer than his own project had been. The whole thing seemed ridiculous to him, as it apparently had done to Slughorn. It looked like he had given her some points for sheer effort and the length of the report. Slughorn's comments at the end of the report were, 'Disappointing, Miss Johnson. I know you could have done so much better!'

By the time he entered the common room, he had stowed the paper in his bag and walked over to his favorite armchair in front of the fire. The boy who had been sitting in it before he came in, had left before he had reached it. At least they knew who was in charge here, he thought happily.

Normally, he would take out a book and read, but for some reason he didn't this time. He sat down and let his mind wander. He thought about Emma Johnson. She sure was pretty, no doubt about that. But she had not had the expected reaction to him. He was used to girls blushing when he spoke to them, and for some reason, she hadn't! In fact, she had spoken to him as if he was an ordinary boy, nothing special. He did not like that. Women were supposed to look up to him. And then that stupid report that she had written! An Awareness Potion? Who had ever heard of that? Then she had thought, that just by switching ingredients of a few other 'sensation' potions around, she could create it? Oh yes, she had added the Mind-Fogger too…in reverse, of course, cause straight on it would make you even less aware…

He suddenly sat up straight in his chair. Less aware? Shoot! She had brewed that potion. What had the effects been again? He dug through his bag looking for the paper. She had taken the potion herself, and wrote that for the next hour or so she would hear people talk to her clearer than normal, which would have been the effect of the reverse noise-reducer. But then, due to the Mind-Fogger, she was unable to sense the people around her for a short while, even though they were there and she could clearly see them. But that only lasted a few seconds and then they appeared normal again. He frowned. She must have done something wrong in the reverse sequence, because that would not have been the expected effect! They should have appeared normal right from the start.

He found the paper and looked through the part where she added the reverse sequence for the Mind-Fogger. And he found it…two small ingredients had been left in their original position, which would explain the temporary fogging. Now if they were to be reversed too, as she originally intended…

He sighed. He was going nuts. She was nuts! Reversing those two ingredients would just undo the effect of the potion, nothing more, nothing less. It was still useless. He stuffed the paper back in his bag and decided to start work on his homework instead.

But that night as he was trying to sleep, the potion somehow moved back into his mind. What if reversing those two ingredients did make a difference? There was a possibility that something would change…even it was something small. Or…maybe if he added some ground unicorn teeth, which would enhance sight… Yes, yes, yes! That was definitely something that was missing! You would only need the tiniest amount, of course, but that just might do the trick! He would have to try that out, he thought to himself, as he finally fell asleep.

Emma in the mean time, had already practically forgotten about the incident, as she had her mind on something else. The next Potions project! The paper that Tom had taken, was a few months old, and she had made sure to get some good grades in between. But now…she felt really excited! The next assignment consisted of producing a potion that would change some physical aspects of the subject, and she had decided she would try and produce a Rejuvenation Potion. They were supposed to be legend only, so she knew the task would be practically impossible, but she was determined to attempt it nonetheless! She hadn't actually started yet, since she had to do all her other homework first, but she had been planning for it, and that alone had got her riled up and absolutely thrilled at the prospect.

The next day as she was walking with her friends towards her next class after lunch, someone called out to her.

"Hey, Johnson! Wait up a second!"

It was Tom Riddle. Everyone looked around at the boy who was walking at a fast pace towards Emma. Some of the other girls then looked at Emma, envious that he was talking to her, and not to them. As Emma slowed down to meet him, many of them glanced curiously back at them, but neither Tom nor Emma seemed to notice. Not that they would have cared, anyway.

"Meet me after classes today, at 3. I want to talk to you about something," said Tom.

Emma frowned. "What's it about?" she asked.

Tom looked puzzled. What's it about, she had asked? Why did that even matter? The girl should be thrilled that he even wanted to talk to her! For Merlin's sake, what was wrong with this witch?

"Your project," he said curtly.

"Oh," she said. "Well, I guess…alright then. Is it going to take long?"

Now he looked appalled. Is it going to take long? She was saying that as if she hoped he would be done with her quickly! He felt kind of…insulted. He had, of course, no idea that it wasn't him. She just couldn't wait to start on her new Potions project.

"I don't know. Maybe," he said, haughtily. "Depends on how things go."

She gave him a confused stare.

He wasn't going to wait for a reply, or give her anymore of an explanation. "I shall pick you up at your common room at 3 then," he stated, and left.

For a moment, she just stared at the spot he had just disappeared from. Puzzled, she wondered what this was all about. But then she just shook her head and remembered she had to get to her class in time, so she turned around and walked fast to catch up with her friends.

She caught up quicker than she thought she would, since her friends hadn't moved as fast as normal. They were too curious as to what Riddle wanted with her. When she explained that she was going to meet him later that afternoon, some of them looked like they would faint, and they made sure to impress upon her that she was really, really lucky.

"And why would that be?" said Emma with a frown.

"Oh I don't know," said one of them. "You're only going to spend some time alone with the most desirable and handsome boy in the castle!"

"Oh, big deal!" said Emma. "Who says he's not lucky that I agreed to meet him? Do you know how many boys would want to meet up with me?"

They stared at her with a look of disbelief on their faces. "Oh, come on now, Emma!" said her friend Jarinda. You can be blasé about some boys, but surely not about Tom Riddle! He really is special!"

Emma shrugged. "Well, we'll see about that," she said, noncommittally.