A/N: The thing Tom and Pansy do to annoy Harry in this chapter is based on a suggestion from Hyperbole.

The next morning, at breakfast, Tom was busily writing a note.

"Who's the note for?" asked Pansy, feeling mildly curious.

"Harry," Tom replied. "Don't you remember what we discussed last night? You wrote it in the notebook."

She took a minute to think and then said, "Ah yes. I remember now."

"Good," he said distractedly as he sealed the envelope. Then he said softly, almost as if to himself, "Fergus."

"Fergus?" asked Pansy.

"My owl," Tom explained. Just then, a black owl came swooping over to where they were seated and settled itself on the table in front of Tom. "Hello Fergus," the Dark Lord murmured to the feathery creature as he tied the note to its leg. "Take this to Harry."

The owl hooted in a very official tone before flying across the room to the Gryffindor table and giving the note to Harry Potter.

Pansy laughed quietly at the absurdity of summoning the owl to deliver a note to someone in the same room, but decided not to say anything about it to Tom. She knew that he wouldn't see anything odd about it.

When Harry noticed the owl flying towards him, he wasn't particularly taken aback. He got letters from people now and then, and of course, he had no way of knowing that the owl had come from across the room. That is, he would have had a way of knowing if he had happened to turn around and look over there, but he didn't. Thanking the owl politely, he took the note and read it. It said:

Dear Harry,

Come to the Astronomy Tower tonight at eleven thirty-six.

-T. R.

Harry was astounded. Silently, he handed the note to Hermione, hoping that she could help him sort it out.

"Well, what about it?" she asked when she had finished reading it.

"Don't you find it strange?"

"I suppose…but it's not that out of the ordinary for someone to ask to meet you somewhere at night. Do you know whose initials those are?"

"I have no idea," Harry said, trying to make a list in his head of all the people he knew, wondering which one could possibly have sent the note.

Meanwhile, Tom was deviously sipping his orange juice, watching the confused expression on Harry's face. "What a moron," he said to Pansy. "You'd think he'd be able to figure out that those are my initials. We share a room for Christ's sake!"

"Yes, well, he never was the brightest coin in the fountain," Pansy replied. "What I want to know is," she said, moving on, "why do you need to meet him in the Astronomy Tower when you two share a room?"

"Oh I don't know…drama? Actually, it's more likely that I'm only doing it for the amusement of seeing such a confused look on his face. All the times we met when I was more Voldemort-y, he looked so determined. It gets bloody boring after awhile, seeing the same facial expression over and over."

"Yes, I know what you mean. Have you ever seen Millicent? She always has this stupid dense look on her face, like she never has any idea what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter what I say. It could be anything from, 'Your mother's a whore,' to, 'What do you think of this shade of eye shadow on me?'"

Tom chuckled, "And apparently it doesn't matter that she's sitting right next to you?"

"Not likely." Pansy waved her hand in front of Millicent's face and, getting no reaction from the large girl, said, "See?"

Tom laughed again, "Reminds me of Crabbe and Goyle."

Pansy giggled, "Maybe they're triplets separated at birth."

Tom smiled, sipping his orange juice, "I can't wait for tonight. It's going to be so hilarious."

"I know. You've got to let me watch."

"Of course, I'd hate to be the only one to witness it."

Just then mountainous Millicent said, "Hey! I'm sitting right here!"

"She speaks!" gasped Tom, as Pansy dissolved into a fit of laughter.

* * *

That night, at eleven thirty-six, Tom was waiting patiently in the Astronomy Tower for Harry Potter, while Pansy hid behind…a telescope. Soon, their waiting was put to an end by the arrival of the dark haired person with the glasses and the shirt and the green "orbs".

"Is anyone here?" Harry asked.

Tom emerged from the shadow's saying, "Hello, Harry. I'm so glad you came."

"You!" the Gryffindor gasped.

"Yes, you see, I have a confession to make: I'm completely in love with you," he ignored Harry's outraged expression. "You have no idea what it's been like for me, all these years, knowing that you've hated me even though I've loved you with all my heart, soul, and…body."

"Soul?" Harry scoffed. Then his mind traveled to the next two words in that sentence and he wanted to vomit with rage.

"Of course," said Tom. "How could you think that I don't have a soul?"

"You kill people all the time…"

"Not all the time."

"…You aren't nice to anyone…"

"I'd be nice to you, if you'd let me."

"You killed my parents!"

"You always bring that up!"

"It's very important to me!"

Tom rolled his eyes, "But if we could just look past our differences, we could be happy…together. Forever." He resisted the urge to laugh menacingly at the end of the sentence.

"Gah! I don't want to be with you forever!"

"But Harry—" Tom was cut short by the fact that Harry dashed from the room.

A moment later Pansy stepped out from behind the telescope and said, "That was absolutely the most fabulous thing I have ever, in all my life, seen!"

"I just can't wait for tomorrow morning. If all goes well, it could be the best part."

"Yes, and there's no reason for it not to go well, what with your brilliance at evil plans."

"I'm pretty sure I couldn't have done it without you."

Pansy was surprised, to say the least. She almost didn't hear the compliment, Tom said it so quickly and quietly, but she was definitely sure he had said it. "Do my ears deceive me?" she said, almost mockingly, unable to believe that the most vain, arrogant person she had ever met had just said that he couldn't have done something without her.

Tom glared at her and left the room.

* * *

The following day quickly arrived and the residents of Hogwarts soon found themselves at breakfast. Tom saw Harry for the first time since last night just outside the Great Hall when the magically adept lad came storming over to him. "Where were you last night," Tom asked.

"I slept in the regular boy's dorm. There's no reason for me to share a room with you, especially when you're acting so strangely."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Yes, do tell," implored Pansy, who happened to be standing next to Tom.

"Y-you know," said Harry, "your 'confession' last night."

"I still have no idea what you're going on about," Tom said, irritably pushing away a strand of hair that had fallen into his eye.

"Yes you do! You said that you loved me!"

"Oh dear, Harry, this is starting to sound like a run in with…what's her name…?"

"How should I know?" Harry said impatiently. "The point is, you said that you wanted to spend your life with me."

"Harry, I understand that you might have had a strange dream about me, almost everyone does, but to think that it was real? Quite frankly, that worries me. Also, next time you have a dream about me, try not to talk about it in front of my girlfriend. She so hates that." And with that, Tom swept into the Great Hall.

Pansy smirked at Harry and said, "Sorry, love," before turning and following Tom.