Another chapter woo! :-D Hope you like it! Review? I love all your reviews! Thank You for your lovely reviews on that last chapter! I love you all! 3
Oooo I am also working on a trailer ;) but it has all whipped D: so i have to start again :/ but when it is eventually done I will post the link ;)
Any mistakes I haven't noticed let me know like last chapter and I will correct them asap :)
Thanks Alot Guys! :D
Love,
~Sammi~

Cutting the tension.

"Tom will you just listen!" Harry exasperatedly shouted to his 'friend' from the opposite side of the dorms, for what felt like at least the twentieth time since leaving the great hall last night.
Tom merely continued to pack his bag intently, shoving books into his bag with a lot more force than was actually necessary. Harry sighed.

"I didn't mean what I said in that way!" Harry tried to explain himself. Tom sighed lightly to himself, it was the first sound that had come from him since he had stormed off. Harry raised his eye brow expectantly.

"I'm sure you didn't." was Tom's only reply as he shouldered his bag, huffed slightly and left the dorms without a single back glance at Harry. Harry resigned to falling onto the edge of his bed with his head in hands. He growled to himself quietly. How was he going to get Tom to forgive him and stop him being so God dam stubborn. He shoved his own books in his bag and carried it out of the dorms and into the now empty common room. Tom had left already? He hadn't even waited! Great… As Harry swung the potrait hole shut he saw Tom waiting at the end of the corridor, with his back to him. Harry smirked slightly and made to walk quicker, as Harry drew almost level with him, Tom started off again without so much as looking at Harry. Harry was going to say something else but thought better of it, it may be better for Tom to talk to him in his own time. Tom had waited for him had that not been a good sign? He sighed again, rubbing his eyes and followed a rigid Tom into the great hall.

Tom, Harry had noticed liked his routine. He choose the exact seats he had sat in the night before and Harry took his seat next to him. Tom still hadn't looked at him, and he hadn't looked at him until they had eaten breakfast and their time tables had been given out. He turned to Harry with gritted teeth.

"What is your first lesson?" Harry taken aback by the sudden question, answered him.

"Oh err," Looking down at his new time table Harry replied,

"Potions, you?" He smiled hoping to warm the air, it didn't work. Tom looked at him coldly and nodded.

"The same."

"Oh well that's good we have potions together," Harry smiled.

"Joy." Tom muttered, moving the few left over beans around his empty plate with his fork. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Okay students, get started on the new year, have a good first day." Professor Dippet rang out through the hall. He wasn't as enthusiastic as Dumbledore had been in Harry's time, he was quiet a dull man if the truth be told from what Harry could tell. Tom immediately stood while grabbing his bag looking happy to avoid any more awkward silence, even though it was his fault Harry thought darkly, if he would just accept the apology!

The queue to the potions classroom was unusually silent apart from the odd whisper of students, lucky enough to know someone else in the class. Harry merely took to scraping his foot along the floor hoping Tom would break the silence, he seemed to be hoping in vain however as Tom looked stonily ahead of him. Harry was brought out of his thoughts as he felt someone tap him on the back lightly.

"Hi," It was Elixa, she smiled shyly at him. Harry saw Tom's head merely flinch at the new arrival.

"Hey Elixa," Harry smiled genuinely, he was happy to have someone to talk to.

"How are you? Where is Eboney, isn't she in this class?" Harry questioned in light conversation.

"I'm great thanks and yeah she is, she just had to ask Professor Lowerwinkle about the mix up in her Herbology class, she should be here soon. How are you?" She could tell that Tom was listening, he had slightly inclined his head.

"Oh right," Harry smiled.

"Yeah I'm okay thanks…" He smiled a little forced, flicking his eyes over to Tom and sighing, as an inclination to Elixa why he wasn't completely 'dandy'. Elixa looked confused, before she flicked her eyes to Tom and back again, she looked as if she was going to say something until she was interrupted.

"Urgh there is only me whose time table can be messed up," A recently arrived and hassled looking Eboney sighed in frustration, before looking up to notice Harry.

"Oh hi Harry," She smiled. "Where is face ach?" She questioned, knowingly glancing at 'face ach's' back all the while smirking in an amused manour. Harry laughed at how blunt she was, but the smile vanished when he saw Tom turn completely on his heel.

"I'm right here as I am sure you had already noticed Wenlock, however I will ignore your immature comment." Tom replied smoothly.

"So I see you have chosen to join the conversation, i was right about you joining Slytherin with that lack of humour and social skills." Tom glared at her, as the potions classroom door swung open and a much younger Slughorn than Harry knew; with a mop of blonde straw hair instead of balding grey and a little less plump, stood smiling widely, rocking on his heels just like Harry had saw him do so many times.

"Come in, come in!" He beamed enthusiastically. The thirty or so students bustled in silently, Harry smirked how that would change in time. Everyone seemed to talk seats awkwardly, Slughorn chuckled.

"Come now don't be shy, everyone sit down you will get to know each other quickly enough!" He smiled. Everyone hurried into a seat. Tom slammed his bag down on the nearest table and sat emotionless, Harry sighed and took the seat next to him. Eboney and Elixa also joined their table making the 'four to a work station' rule.

"Right, well now that we are all settled I don't see why we don't try our very first potion! It's a simple little concoction that will allow the drinker to speak a different language for a little while, until of course the effects wear off!" The professor giggled to himself.

"Does anyone know the name of this particular brew?" Tom's hand flew up straight away, it was the only hand, Harry knew the answer but he really could not be bothered getting on Tom's nerves even more.

"Yes!" Slughorn exclaimed excitedly looking at Tom. "You are by the way?" He smiled politely.

"Tom Riddle, Sir. The potion is called, 'orationis erit' Latin for 'will of speech'"

"Yes! Very good my boy! I'm impressed," Slughorn winked. "10 points to Slytherin for a good impression!" He beamed. Tom smiled brightly an almost smirk hidden beneath, Eboney was surveying Tom with curious eyes, while Elixa merely looked at him in shock.

"Wow, you really know your stuff…" She whispered across the table.

"I read." Tom simply stated opening his book to the corresponding page as they had just been instructed, Elixa just smiled awkwardly.

"Should me and Eboney work together then and you and Tom?" She asked Harry brightly, Tom looked at her blankly while Harry nodded awkwardly.

"I will go and get the ingredients" Harry smiled, hoping to avoid the tension that he could cut with the small ingredients knives. After returning with Eboney along with the ingredients and equipment they would need, Tom lost not time in getting started, wordlessly starting to cut the wood worms evenly into 2mm pieces, being very precise with his cutting, Harry merely surveyed him.

"What should I do?" Harry asked curtly, Tom was starting to irritate him.

"Nothing."

"Look Tom," Harry whispered sharply so the two girls on the opposite side of the table would not hear, as they talked animatedly as they chopped and measured ingredients.

"I have apologised what more do you expect me to do? It came out wrong.," Tom didn't bother to look up from his cutting before he placed the neatly cut wood worms into the cauldron in front of them, before looking at Harry briefly, a unreadable expression in place.

"You seem to be very content, now that you're in with the superior 'crowd' being a half-blood who has parents and all, why are you conversing with a lowely orpahn such as myself?" Tom replied, his voice so sharp it felt as if it could cut through Harry's very soul.

"What do you mean?" Harry hissed irritated.

"Well it wont be long till you are like Malfoy," Tom hissed back.

"Excuse me! That prat? What do you take me for? Just because I know I am a half blood," Harry began before Tom rudely cut him off adding,

"And not a filthy unwanted orphan," Tom snapped, slipping with his knife slightly, his eyes narrowing in frustration before continuing, a small cut to his left thumb.

"You know I don't think like that! It wouldn't affect how who I am, whatever by blood status and background, and who knows by now I could be an orphan." Tom seemed not to know what to say to this, as he simply scoffed and returned to adding snail juice to the potion, that had turned the exact shade of green it should have done by this stage in the process, Eboney and Elixa's had also turned the acid green, after much bickering and corrections.

"We will see." Tom stated, after a while of concentrating on how many times he was stiring the contents of the cauldron, before watching it turn the desired colour of putter, he nodded in satisfaction as he took to sitting on his stool writing down some notes on their homework, Slughorn had made to appear on the board earlier.

"Yes we will, now until the day I am 'proven to be a Malfoy reincarnated' can we please play 'innocent until proven guilty'?" Harry responded, hoping Tom would recognise the peace offering.

"I suppose that sounds reasonable." Tom replied, while finishing his notes with a flourish and neatly replacing the now note ridden parchment into his highly organised satchel, Harry followed suit, but instead roughly stuffed the notes into his crumpled up bag, he saw Tom role his eyes, a slight smirk in place.

"Now class! Settle down! Its time to see how you have all done!" Slughorn moved his way around the tables giving nods to some students, simple smiles to others, the odd muttetr of 'Well done' or a slight frown and a quiet 'Well don't lose heart, plenty of time!' He finely got around to Harry's own table before taking a look in Eboney and Elixa's cauldron.

"Very good for a first attempt girls!" He beamed at them, Eboney smirked slightly. Slughorn then politely leaned his head over Harry and Tom's cauldron.

"My, my boys! What a wonderful potion! Perfect I would say!" He grinned, giving Tom an extra wink of further approval.

"Right class! Use one of the phials each that of you have on your desks and bottle some of your potions, don't forger your names!" Slughorn lightly smiled.

"Then come and place them on my desk, when you have you are then dismissed, oh and Don't forget your homework for next class!" Slughorn smiled widely, wagering a finger and laughing heartily. The majority of the class laughed lightly in mock amusement to be polite, before placing their bottled and named potions on his desk and leaving in quiet chatter. When Harry, Tom, Elixa and Eboney had left the classroom together, they located their time tables in their crammed bags and surveyed them.

"Well that wasn't that bad," Eboney smiled.

Harry and Elixa smiled in agreement, Elixa relpying brightly "I think it went quiet well!" Tom merely nodded his head, Eboney rolled her eyes.

"So what do you three have?" She grinned. "I have Herbology… Joy…" She smirked.

"Me too," Elixa grumbled.

"Oh no... I have History of Magic," Harry groaned. Why.

"The same as you," Tom replied inclining his head to Harry, a little more lightly than he had in their previous conversation, Harry was glad he couldn't have coped with another lesson of him being insufferable.

Harry thought he might have to watch what he said concerning the subject of family and blood status around Riddle from now on.