2 Dangerous encounter

The next morning Aileen woke up by hearing knocks on the door. "Aileen get up! It's late!" Elisa yelled. Aileen moaned and got out of bed to let Elisa in. "Hey, good morning!" Elisa said enthusiastically. Elisa felt very excited for the classes they were going to follow later that day and the meeting with professor Burbage, who would probably ask them lots of interesting questions. She really looked forward to this day. Aileen on the other hand felt sick in her stomach. All she could think about was that lovely, authoritative voice and who it would belong to. The voice had scared her a bit and she wondered if Elisa had the same feeling. "Are you okay?" "Yeah… I'm fine… Good morning" Aileen said. "Just a little tired I guess, I didn't sleep very well" "You really need to get dressed, you're going to be late! Breakfast is ready at the great hall." Elisa said. "You can go already, I'll be right there okay?" "Sure, see you later Aileen." Aileen knew she would never make it to breakfast. She hadn't find the time to properly unpack yesterday and she still needed to get ready, and she wasn't so hungry anyway.

Elisa went upstairs to the great hall to have some breakfast. She wished she didn't have to go all by herself but her friend Aileen wasn't ready yet and waiting in front of her door would have been useless since her friend wasn't the quickest to get ready. Elisa was already starving when she entered the great hall and smelled all of the food. They must have great cooks here at Hogwarts, she thought when she walked over to the Ravenclaw table. Elisa was happy to see Kim Chang waving at her and pointing at two seats next to her. Elisa sat down and took some pancakes. "Where is Aileen?" Kim asked her worried. "She had a bad night sleep, I don't think she's going to have breakfast." While eating Elisa was facing the Slytherin table and she noticed a tall, slender blond guy staring at her, that was until Elisa looked into his gray eyes. Elisa leaned in closer to Kim. "Who is the blond guy?" She whispered so only Kim would hear her. Kim raised her head into the direction of the Slytherin table and turned back quickly. "Draco Malfoy, he's one of Riddle's friends, it's best to stay away from him." Elisa was confused. "Riddle? Who is he?" Kim leaned in even closer after looking around a few times anxiously. "Tom Riddle, he's the Slytherin head boy, teachers might think he's a wonder boy but he's evil." Kim said on a very mystic tone. She continued: "He's handsome and he might appear charming when teachers are around but it's just an act. One time my friend Sara who is a muggleborn sat next to him during potions and he jinxed her just because she touched his hand while reaching for the same ingredient. Off course he didn't do this during class but afterwards when no one was around. She had to promise not to tell anyone or he would find her and kill her." Kim's eyes were wide open and filled with horror. Elisa had the idea that muggleborn Sara might just be Kim herself. When Elisa looked at the Slytherin table again to look for this evil Tom Riddle she noticed Draco once again staring at her. Again he looked in a different direction when their eyes met but this time she saw a blush appear on his pale cheeks. After breakfast Elisa got up together with Kim and both of them walked out of the great hall. She started to become worried as well. Aileen still didn't show up. Elisa decided to go back to Aileen's room to make sure she wasn't ill or had fallen back to sleep.

In the meantime Aileen was ready to go. She had taken a nice hot shower and made sure she looked good. She grabbed her books for that day, put them in her bag and left her room. "I'm ready" she thought, trying to give herself as much courage as she could. When she turned the corner to get to the stairs she bumped into someone who was holding many books and they all fell to the ground. Her necklace was pulled from her neck by one of the books, but Aileen failed to notice that. "I'm so sorry!" Aileen said "I'm so clumsy, here, let me help you!" She grabbed one of the persons books and then she heard that lovely, scary voice from which she didn't know who it belonged too. She now was about to find out. "I can take them myself!" Tom Riddle angrily raised his voice "I don't need your help, you clumsy filthy muggle!" The word muggle was pronounced with so much disgust that Aileen felt like she was dirty for a moment. Then he looked up at her: he had these beautiful blue eyes who were so intense that she could lose herself in them. He had jet black hair and a beautifully sculpted face. He was just the most handsome man she had ever seen. For a moment he looked at her and then he seemed to find his voice again. He stood up in his full length. God he was so tall! "Walk away muggle!" he said. His voice sounded threatening. Aileen was scared but was determined not to let him see that. "Okay whatever" she said and she walked away, unknowingly leaving her necklace behind. When she got up the stairs she stood still for a moment, going over what just happened; One of the books looked like a diary and it had his name on it: Tom Marvolo Riddle. How could someone who was so beautiful be so bad and evil? She thought by herself.

Tom Riddle had grabbed all of his books. She had held his diary and he cleaned it like it was the most filthy thing he had ever seen. Then he saw something shiny on the floor. When he looked closer, he saw it was a necklace. "Probably left by that muggle" he thought. He grabbed it and put it in his pocket, this was something he might be able to hurt her with. It looked like a family piece, it would probably mean a lot to her. He noticed that he froze for a moment when he had seen her. He had seen only her back yesterday. He couldn't help but notice that she was… beautiful. He hated himself for thinking that, he would never make the same mistake his mother made. "Muggles at Hogwarts it's disgusting" he thought by himself. He went to go to his class. His first subject was History of Magic. As always he was very confident, he had always been the best of his class and admired by everyone. He knew lots of girls had an interest in him, but he found them weak. "Love is weak" he thought. He entered the classroom and sat down at the last free table.

Aileen saw Elisa running towards her, she looked worried. "Aileen! Where have you been? I was worried!" "I'm sorry I know I'm even later than usual, but I ran into this guy from Slytherin, I think his name was Tom Riddle, at least that's what was written on his diary." "Tom Riddle?" Elisa replied. "That's odd I just talked about him with Kim. She said he was… evil." "Yeah that I've already found out" Aileen said "He scared the hell out of me. He's very intimidating." "Kim said it's best to stay away from him" Elisa said. "I will" Aileen said, not knowing she would be in touch with him again, very soon. "His friend Draco was looking at me in the great hall." Elisa said "I think it's best to stay away from him too Elisa, if he's Tom Riddle's friend." Aileen said "I just said he was looking that's all and… he's handsome" "Elisa please, watch out with those people, maybe Draco is as evil as Tom!" Aileen said. Elisa thought that might be true but still she was convinced she saw something good in his eyes. And then the way he blushed… She got herself out of her daydream and she and Aileen went to their first class, History of Magic. "I hope we're not too late" Elisa said. They opened the door and saw that everyone was already seated. All desks were taken, but only Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle sat alone. Aileen sighed, this would be very, very bad. Elisa went to sit down next to the blonde boy who apparently was Draco Malfoy. Aileen couldn't blame her, everywhere was better than next to the evil Tom Riddle and as Elisa had mentioned, Draco Malfoy was good looking. Aileen had no choice but to sit next to Tom. And so she did. Tom leaned away from her and didn't even look at her. The hour went by terribly slowly and Aileen had trouble keeping her attention to class. She felt scared of Tom, but she also felt something else, something she couldn't explain. Maybe it was hate?

When Elisa sat down next to Draco she noticed her heart started to beat faster. Sitting so close to him she noticed he had the most beautiful gray eyes. She didn't even notice Aileen having to sit next to the notorious Tom Riddle and trying to make eye contact with her. Elisa wanted to get to know Draco Malfoy and so she went for it. "Hi, my name is Elisa. What's yours?" She asked, even though she already knew, she didn't want to sound like a stalker. Draco turned his head around, looking confused. "Please don't talk to me." He said in a harsh tone. Elisa was surprised. His voice was so sharp and mean. "Sorry, just trying to make friends." Elisa replied sarcastically. Draco looked quite taken aback by her but he shook his head and gave a sneering look. "I don't get along with people like you, trust me, so no need to try ." With those words the teacher came in and silence took over. When class began Elisa couldn't concentrate on the class material and she was secretly hoping Aileen would take enough notes of today's lesson. Draco had been so mean to her, maybe he was just as evil as Tom Riddle. But still why would he stare at her that way if he had no intention of becoming friends?

When class was over Draco suddenly spoke again. "If I can give you a word of advice, stay away from us and no harm will be done." He sounded friendly although the message was clear and almost threatening. He winked after he said those words and quickly got up and left together with Tom Riddle who also wanted to get away from them as if they were some sort of a disease. After History of Magic Elisa went to Divination and Aileen went to Ancient Runes. Secretly Elisa was hoping Draco would be there too but when she entered the classroom he wasn't there. Maybe it was for the best Elisa thought to herself. She sat down next to Kim Chang who apparently also took this class. Mrs. Trelawney entered the room. She was the oddest person Elisa had ever seen. Her glasses were too big for her face so she kind of looked like a bug-like person. She was wearing the oddest clothes and a lot of necklaces and pearls around her neck. The next thing Elisa noticed was that their classroom was very smoky and had a smell of incense. Professor Trelawney looked very curious at Elisa and walked over to her. "You muggle girl." She said in a very mystic voice. "Try not to be too fond of snakes my dear."

When Aileen went to Ancient Runes, Tom was there again, but this time she could sit at the other side of the class next to a girl with red hair. During the lesson she noticed Tom turning his head towards her and giving her a look. All she could read of it was anger, maybe even madness. She didn't understand how she could have such an effect on him. The other Slytherins also hated muggles but they were not that obsessive about it. Another thought also came to her mind: why did he had such an effect on her? Ever since she heard his voice the first time she felt drawn to him, even though she did hate him. When class was over the teacher started asking her questions about muggle things. She answered them accurately and saw Tom leaving the classroom. She kept talking to the teacher until she was sure Tom would be gone. Then she left the classroom. Suddenly she heard the impassive voice again: "Aren't you missing something, muggle?" "I have a name, you know" Aileen answered. "You're a fool to think I care about your name, answer my question." It sounded like an order. Aileen could tell he wasn't used to be said no to. "What question?" "Aren't you missing something?" he repeated louder and word for word. "What would I be…" Aileen started but she didn't get the chance to finish that sentence because Tom suddenly held her necklace up in the air. It had the shape of a heart with white diamonds in it. It was a family piece and very dear to her, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed that it was gone. "Could you please give that back to me?" Aileen asked. "I don't think so" Tom said. "Things that belong to a muggle should be destroyed, just as you should be." Aileen was shocked, she had never been more scared than she was now, was he seriously threatening her? Aileen forced herself to get over her fear and she got closer to Tom, close enough to be able to grab the necklace. As she reached out her hand, Tom grabbed her arm, hold it above her head and pushed her against the wall. "Auw" Aileen screamed. "Stop it Riddle you're hurting me!" she yelled. He looked so angry. It seemed like he had lost all control. "How dare you speak my name!" Tom yelled, and he grabbed his wand and pointed it to her face. Aileen feared him now more than anything she had ever feared. She was convinced he would kill her if he had the chance. Aileen decided to say nothing anymore and she didn't look down, she kept her eyes straight into his. They were staring at each other for a few minutes and Aileen felt his hand on her arm, it was like electricity was sputtering between her arm and his hand. He was so close to her, her whole body shivered from the fear and the heat there undoubtedly was between them. Suddenly Aileen felt Tom's grip was weakening. He had let her go, but he didn't let go of their gaze. She slided to the side and ran away as quickly as possible. He didn't follow her.

Tom Riddle was furious! He had lost his self-control with her. If anyone had seen them… He couldn't think about that. And he also couldn't think about what he felt when he had looked in her eyes and was so close to her. Was he going crazy? Was he losing it? He probably had to kill her at some point. She had too big an effect on him and she was a muggle. He wondered why? He didn't allow himself to feel these weird feelings he didn't understand, but why did they all come out when he was with her too long? He decided he must really hate her, that was the obvious explanation for what he felt.

When Aileen arrived at her dormitory, she immediately knocked on Elisa's door. No one answered, so Aileen knocked again. Finally Elisa opened the door. "Oh hi there, come in!" she said. Aileen noticed that Elisa blushed even more than usually. "I need to tell you something" they both said at the same time. "You first" Aileen said. "Okay, you probably noticed that I sat next to Draco Malfoy during History of Magic?" "Yes, I did" Aileen replied. And Elisa told Aileen everything Malfoy said. "It's so weird, I know he's bad but still I can't take my eyes off him and when I went to divination, I hoped he was there." "Elisa don't get involved with him, you have to fight that feeling!" "I am, but it feels like it's getting stronger" Elisa said "And something kind of weird happened during divination too" She said "Professor Trelawny told me not to be too fond of… snakes" "That's obvious" Aileen said "Slytherin! Stay away from Malfoy!" "Okay so what's your story" Elisa said, glad that she could change the subject. Aileen told Elisa about her encounter with Tom Riddle in the hallways. "He actually hurt you? Like literally pushed you against the wall?" Elisa knew that Tom Riddle was evil, but she didn't think he would actually hurt someone, she thought he would stick to words. "Yes, he did" Aileen said "But I sensed something weird about him Elisa. It's just… suddenly he let me go and he… he kept staring, he kept his eyes pointed at mine. He looked confused for a moment." "Aileen you have to tell headmaster Dippet! He used violence against you" "No!" Aileen was determined "I won't give him the satisfaction of me being the weaker one." That's so typically Aileen, Elisa thought. "I don't think that's smart" she said. "Besides, he has your necklace! How could you ever get it back?" "I'll figure something out" Aileen said. Actually, she already had an idea, but it didn't seem wise to tell Elisa about it. She would freak out…