Risks You Have To Take

There was a crash as the door flew open. Standing there, with his robes hastily thrown over his body was none other than Tom Riddle. He looked dishevelled to say the least, and if the bags under his eyes had anything to say, he did not have the best night previously. Slughorn looked up from his desk, his brows creasing as he took in Riddles form.

"My boy," he said, crossing the room in his infuriatingly slow waddle, "what happened to you?" Tom stared at the Professor, then swept off to the back of the room to take one of the empty seats. He could hear the snickering from the other boys in his dorm, and imagined their gruesome deaths in his mind. The only person still looking at him - who wasn't ready to laugh, or one of his followers - was a girl from Gryffindor, who he had seen around the Quidditch field more often then he'd like to claim. She had a sad smile on her face, and softly quirked an eyebrow. He couldn't look away from her, something about her continuously drawing his attention. Abruptly, she turned back to the front, continuing copying down the information from the board and Riddle felt an alarming wave of sadness. He shook it away and tried to focus, but wrote nothing down as the class drew on and the time ran out.

All of the other students began to pack their bags, but Tom's eyes were drawn to the Gryffindor girl. She was working slowly, and a blush formed on her cheeks as she looked over to find him staring. He was about to approach her when he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning around to find Slughorn at his side.

"Tom, you seemed distracted all lesson," the potion's Master said, his voice low so as to not draw too much attention, "and after your distracting entrance, I do think that something needs to happen. We need to talk, at least." Tom looked back at the door, through which the girl had just walked through.

"Yes, sir," he answered, "but would it be okay if this important cat happened at another time, because I fear I will be late for Herbology." Slughorn nodded, rambling about how he wouldn't want to do that to another professor. Tom ran from the room, his heart beating fast as he searched the corridors. There she was. Tom approached, but he was too slow, she was walking into Transfiguration. Without thinking, Tom's fingers expertly undid his tie, shoving it in his pocket, ruffled his hair and walked into the room after her. He was overjoyed to see that not only was she sitting at the back, but she was sitting alone. Tom jumped into action and weaved through students to find his place beside her. She jumped as she looked across at him, her eyes widening.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. Her eyes ran up and down his face, stopping briefly on the small cut on his cheek. She looked nervously to the front of the room, where Professor Dumbledore had started his lesson.

"I wanted to see you, and I didn't want you to disappear into the crowd," Tom tried to be a smooth as he could as he spoke. But his words seemed to be having no effect.

"We're having dinner next, you could have found me then?"

"I didn't want to wait that long." She was looking at him like he was crazy. But instead of ratting him out, she just went quiet. Tom quickly looked down at the book in front of him as Dumbledore looked his way.

"Minerva," he said, "do you know the answer?" His twinkling eyes looked across to Tom, and his cheeks rose into a smile, but he said nothing. Minerva gave her answer, which of course was right and Dumbledore moved on. Tom looked up, letting out a breath.

"Do you think he saw me?" For the first time in a long time, Tom Riddle was smiling without any terrible reason. Minerva shook her head, looking back at Dumbledore.

"You're crazy," she laughed, and Tom laughed too.

"I know."

A/N: Words - 703

Dodgems - Riddle Era