Tom walked slowly down the corridor. He knew he was late but really couldn't care less. After all he could make up some excuse. He was the favourite student of all the teachers with an actual brain in his handsome head. He stopped abruptly and listened. He could hear footsteps behind him, but he made no motion to move. He slowly made to move not caring if it was a teacher or a student. He smirked. A student out of lessons? Well this will be fun, He thought wryly. When he saw who the person was, Tom nearly hit him self for thinking that it was a teacher.

"Hello, Malfoy; what are you doing out of lessons?" He asked. His voice was cold and shrill.

"Ah, Tom I could ask you the same thing," Christoph Malfoy replied in a confident voice, but Tom Riddle could see right through him. He could see right through everyone, and Malfoy was scared. He put on another one of his smirks and saw how Malfoy flinched. It was barely visible, but it was there. Malfoy had respect for Tom. Everyone did. He was their Prince, clever, charming, and witty, everything you could ever want in a person, being followed around and giving orders. He knew they respected him as their leader.

Tom had no desire to be explaining him self to Malfoy. "Look, Malfoy it's none of your business but I know that you are going to answer me," he said enjoying every second of it. He loved making people's lives miserable; he wanted them to feel pain that was far more painful than physical discomfort.

"W-w-well," Malfoy stuttered and Tom smirked. He was enjoying making Malfoy squirm.

"You know Malfoy, as the Head Boy I could take points away for bunking, how about that?" Tom asked, knowing only too well that Malfoy's reputation wouldn't be at its best. His smirk never left his lips as he saw Christoph's eyes cloud.

"Ah, but that would be uncalled for, taking points from your own house," Malfoy replied with a really confident voice compared to how he looked. He looked like a lost puppy, scared wandering if he was going to be beaten up. Tom let out a cold laugh that could even have the teachers shaking.

"Oh, but Malfoy you know I wouldn't," Tom said in a very mocking voice "But now it would be very appreciated if you would stop polluting my air and get lost to your class before I decide to punish you," he said in a menacing voice. Tom stared down at the corridor as Malfoy ran as fast as he could in the wrong direction, as for a fact Tom knew that they all had Potions next.

Tom ran a hand through his raven-black hair and smiled, as he made his way down for Slughorn's Potions class. When he reached the door, Tom didn't even take a breath before it, watching everyone turn around to see who the intruder was.

"Ah, Mr. Riddle. How nice of you to join us" Slughorn's deep voice greeted him as he entered the classroom. He felt everyone's eyes on him while he went to find his seat. Tom looked at his watch before replying.

"I caught a student out of classes" Tom said in his most charming voice, while displaying a fake smile. When he looked at his watch he saw that he was barely ten minutes late.

"Right. Now that Mr. Riddle has decided to grace us with his presence, I will start the lesson." Tom watched as Slughorn smiled mischievously and wondered what he was going to do. "Now, if you look at the board, you will see your pairs for this project." Slughorn stated as he watched and heard everyone's disapproving grumbles as to why they were not allowed to choose their pairs. Tom smirked harder while reading some of the pairs. But then he quickly turned around when he heard a shriek at the other end of the classroom.

He knew the girl that had shrieked as Minerva McGonagall. He despised her. She was the complete opposite of him in every possible way. He quickly scanned the board to see who her unlucky partner was, but when his eyes settled on his own name he was in complete shock. He was infuriated. He had to work with her, the stubborn Gryffindor. "Sir, why do I have to work with her?" Tom asked almost too sweetly. He did not like this at all, but he wouldn't show his anger to the whole class. He had mastered it.

"Because, Tom, you are paired with her. No arguments." Slughorn answered in his deep voice, which made Tom cringe. He gave Slughorn a death glare before getting up from his seat. He took his time to get there, not looking forward to McGonagall's comments. She looked like a lioness ready to strike.

"You know I'm not happy about this either," Tom hissed in her ear, trying to make his point clear.

"Shut up, Riddle," was the answer that Tom got. He turned back to the front giving his Potions master a glare that could kill.

The rest of the lesson was a complete pain. Each of them was shooting insults at each other when ever possible, and neither was getting much done. As Slughorn was dragging his fat feet on the dirty floor, he stopped right in front of Tom and Minerva. "You two don't seem to have done much," he stated disapprovingly. "Well that's just more work for you to do out of lesson," he finished off heartedly and stalked off to the front of the Potions classroom. Tom let out a barely audible growl of disagreement and bent down to watch over his potion again. He was in a very bad mood by the end of the lesson and was the first out of the classroom.

Slughorn was staring at Tom's retreating back, with no idea of what he had done.

~*~

Tom was half-heartedly walking through the dusty corridors of Hogwarts patrolling. He was extremely angry at Slughorn for making him work with her, the person he hated the most. Now, walking around with his wand tightly clenched in his hand, if he heard a noise, he was thinking how hard for him this term Potions would actually be. Bickering all the time, he would lose marks. He didn't want that. He wanted to keep up with his reputation.

For the second time that day, Tom heard footsteps approaching. He raised his wand and stepped into the shadows; he heard the steps become faster. He looked at the approaching figure and his eyes nearly widened in shock.

"The goody-two-shoes is out of bed after curfew," he said, coming out of the shadows and lowering his wand. "Tut, tut, tut." He smirked at how scared Minerva actually looked. "What are you doing out of bed this late at night?" He asked in a menacing whisper.

"R-riddle," she stuttered, wide-eyed while retreating as he came closer in long strides.

"So McGonagall aren't you going to answer my question?" He asked as she hit the wall and. She had more space to move back in.

She turned her head to the side; he was so close to her by now. "I-I-I…" she started but couldn't finish her sentence. There was something she felt while being pressed against the wall, something that was not hate.

Tom smirked and took a step back. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention tomorrow, McGonagall," he said while running a hand through his raven hair, not losing his smirk. After a second at looking at Minerva's heavily breathing shape, he walked off, with the same thought that Minerva had experienced just minutes ago. He felt something different. And it was not hatred, even though he didn't understand it yet. He tried to convince himself that it was hatred in his eyes when he looked at her, but he knew it wasn't. He knew.

~*~

The next few days were very awkward. They tried to act civilized with each other, but it didn't really work. They tried to hide their true feelings by bickering and trying to convince them selves with lies.

Right now they were both working on their project in the library. It was very quiet; scarcely a few people were there. If they didn't get a move on they would never finish that potion. Tom was acting a bit frustrated. This potion was the hardest he had ever worked on, and it didn't really help that Minerva was snapping at him every two seconds.

"Riddle, you're doing that wrong" Minerva said in an exasperated voice. This was about the fifth time she had said that, Tom was very frustrated by now. He couldn't control himself anymore.

"Look, will you just shut up?" he literally screamed, and Minerva looked taken aback. She knew that Tom wasn't the most patient human being, but she had never expected him lash out in such a way.

"Sorry," she mumbled and bent down to her work, fear in her eyes of what he might do.

"Look, help me with this, will you?" Tom asked after another ten minutes of trying to figure out the potion, thinking that Slughorn was mental for giving the pupils such a hard task. Minerva stood up and went over to the potion to see what was wrong with it. She saw a dark red potion as opposed to the pale pink one that it was supposed to be. She scrunched up her eyebrows in concentration reading over and over the instructions, but she had no idea what was wrong.

Tom was looking at her while she was right next to him bending over the still dark red potion. For the first time in his life he admired how she looked. Even though he didn't want to think her beautiful, in his eyes she was.

Tom didn't know what made him do it. When she turned to him, confusion in her eyes about the potion, he could feel her breath against his skin. Then he closed the gap with his lips on hers. He could feel her tensing up, but she didn't break the kiss for a few seconds. Then, wide-eyed, she backed away slowly at first, but then she turned around and ran. And the last thing Tom saw was her back just before she turned the corner.

Tom was screaming at him self in his brain. What have you done? The only thing he knew that kissing her felt right. Even if he didn't want to believe it.

~*~

Minerva ran. She didn't know where, but she ran. After a few minutes she stopped at the black lake with tears in her eyes. She had no clue why she was crying. It was only a kiss, after all. She hated him and that would never change. She hated him and she didn't want him to ever be anywhere near her again.

Minerva raised her hand slowly to her warm lips and recalled the moment he put his lips on hers. She was genuinely shocked that he would do that in the first place. After all, he was supposed to hate her too. She sat down next to the tree by the lake, thinking of what she felt when his lips touched hers, and she couldn't, even if she wanted to, deny, the chills that went through her whole rigid body. It was a shock but, even if it was hard to admit, it felt right.

~*~

In the next few weeks Tom felt that she was avoiding him. He couldn't blame her. It was somewhat of a shock to him too; he didn't understand his feelings. He didn't know love; he had never loved anyone before in his life. But now, recalling the moment that he kissed her he wandered if he was in love. It felt so good, but yet so real. He pondered over that bit for a few minutes before his eyes caught hers for the first time in weeks. He forgot that he was supposed to hate her, he forgot that she was the cause of the bad mark he had got in Potions. He just wanted to drown in her brown eyes. Suddenly, he had the sensation of wanting to kiss her again.

He watched as she made her way determinedly to him and his stomach was in knots. He didn't realize that he was holding his breath while she came so gracefully and stood there in front of him, staring into his eyes for answers that he clearly didn't have.

"Tom-" she started. She knew exactly what she was going to say but just looking into each others eyes, there was nothing that needed to be said. After a few moments of just standing there, two lonely words escaped his lips.

"I'm sorry."

She knew that he meant them, but she wasn't sure for what reason he was apologizing. Was it because he kissed her or was it because he was so mean to her all his life? She didn't know, nor did she care. She couldn't stand any longer, watching his retreating back. She ran after him calling his name but he didn't turn back.

When she caught up with him, she was shocked to see a silent tear glinting in his eye. Silently she brushed a lone tear running down his pale cheek with her smooth finger. He closed his eyes and breathed out three words that scared the life out of her hearing them being said from his lips. But yet she felt the same.

"Tom-" she started again, all her emotions swelling up to her head. She didn't finish this sentence either, when she put her lips next to his for the second time. They both knew that everyone saw. Neither of them cared, when they parted a few minutes later both breathless Minerva was finally going to finish her sentence.

"Tom, I love you too" She said in barely a whisper, but that meant the world to him. He kissed her again. His next words were a whisper too.

Tom knew that he would keep her for as long as possible. He knew she changed him inside, from the mean, spiteful person, to one with an actual heart.

He was saved, by the most unlikely person.

Ok, so this was my first attempt at writing a fan fic ever, so don't be too harsh. I'm not really a fan of Tom/Minerva, but it was for a class on mugglenet fanficion. But review, and tell me what you think.

Jurate xx