Chapter 4 – The Beast Escapes

The smell of smoke filled Serena's nostrils and, hearing shouts from the girls next to her, she awoke with a start.

"Serena! Get up!" Eve shouted, jumping out of her bed.

"Put it out!" Heather cried, pulling on Hattie's arm. Hattie held her wand in her hand, pointed at the flames which greedily ate at Serena and Eve's trunks. Hattie stared at the flames, open mouthed and frozen with fear. Fragments of thoughts filled Serena's mind as she jumped out of her bed and screamed at the sight in front of her.

"What the FUCK is going on?" Eve cried, watching as their personal things were destroyed.

"Move!" Elizabeth said, pushing Hattie out of her way and pointing her own wand at the growing fire. She said the spell without hesitation, and immediately the fire was put out, leaving behind ash eaten books and holey clothes. Serena and Eve stared at their burnt possessions in shock.

"What the hell happened?" Serena asked once things had quieted down.

"Hattie was trying a new spell and ended up casting it somewhere else." Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, our trunks!" Serena said.

"I'm sorry!" Hattie cried honestly. Serena and Eve looked at her.

"It's ok," They said after a little while.

"What are we going to do about our stuff?" Eve asked.

"Well…I guess we'll just tell our head of house. She'll tell us what to do." Serena said, shrugging her shoulders.

Needless to say, a foul mood shadowed them the rest of the day. They went through all their classes with severely dampened moods and only being able to use half the required books. The rest of them had been burned. So, by the time Serena had to meet Tom in the library, she was still seriously pissed off, but luckily still had her transfiguration book.

"You're late." Tom said, not looking up as she threw herself into the chair next to him.

"I'm sorry?" She snapped. He sharply turned his head to glower at her. Catching his eyes, she immediately felt a strange sense of menace radiating off of him.

"I'm sorry," She said quietly. "I've just had a…bad day." His look changed to that of being irritated, but not angry anymore.

"What happened?" He asked her. She let out an exacerbated sigh.

"Stupid people! They are just so stupid sometimes!" She said passionately. Tom smirked.

"So…what did these stupid people do?"

"They accidentally created a fire in my trunk and nearly burned all of my things! I hardly have anything left," She said.

"Wow, that's a shame," He said sarcastically.

"Are you making fun of me?" She asked.

"No, I'm not. I just think it's funny that you're complaining about that, when a professor could easily recreate your things from the ashes." Tom said. Serena hesitated for a moment. She hadn't really thought of that.

"Let me guess, you didn't even think about that," He said, laughing slightly at her stupidity. She didn't say anything, being slightly embarrassed.

"Here," He said handing her a scroll and then continuing his work. She took it and unrolled it, glancing at its contents.

"Is this yours?" She asked him. He nodded. "So, you want me to read it?" She said after a few minutes. He stopped his work and looked at her.

"I want you to learn it." He said.

"All of it?" She asked in disbelief. There was at least 3 hours of reading involved, and that did not count the actual learning of it.

"Do you want to win the contest?" He asked her.

"Yes," she said.

"Then learn it. Most of it you should already know anyways," He told her.

"Do I need to know it all for next time?" She asked softly.

"You should. It's not hard." She sighed because that meant yes, and began sifting through it.

After an hour and a half she was a quarter way through it and decided to take a break.

"Ok, well, I'm going to finish this in my room," She said.

"You're quitting so early?" He asked her, not bothering to look up.

"I'm not quitting!" She said defensively. "I'm just going to read it in my room."

"Ok," He said, though it didn't sound like he believed her.

"So, same time?" She asked.

"Sure." She shook her head, grabbed her bag, and turned to leave the library.

"Oh Serena, one other thing," Tom said, making her turn around.

"Yes?"

"Don't tell your friends about the stuff you learn." He said.

"Why not?" She asked.

"You want to win, don't you? What's the help of an advantage if everyone knows it?" He said, turning back to his work. Serena thought about it for a moment, agreed, and made her way back to her room with the serious intent on getting her head of house to recover her burnt items.

After about an hour of explanation, Serena's head of house finally agreed to help them. And soon, all their possessions were back in the same repair they were before. Of course, they did receive some slightly shocked faces when some of their more…inappropriate clothing came back, but they only laughed. They were way too excited to have their things back to care what the professor thought of them. So, a late night, and the next day was exhausting, but they were still too happy to be upset. The next week passed by without much excitement and Serena was excited to excel in Tom's little tutorials. Before she knew it, it was the middle of October and the first part of the contest was due to begin.

They hurried to their transfiguration class and eagerly seated themselves. The air was filled with tension so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. After what seemed like 20 minutes, but what must have only been 5, Professor Dumbledore got up to give a little speech.

"So, as you all know, today begins our wonder contest. As soon as I pass these out, you may begin. Feel free to go where ever and use whatever resources you feel necessary. The only rules are no use of other partners answers will be allowed and if you are caught, which you will be, you will be immediately expelled from this contest." He said, magically handing out the scrolls, one per each partner. "You may begin," He finished.

Tom quickly opened the parchment, read through and started writing down answers. Serena sat and watched, as many pairs filtered out to go to the library.

"Do you want me to help? Because I kind of feel like I'm not doing…" She started, but he ignored her. She sat there, 'twiddling her thumbs' for about twenty minutes.

"Here, you take over I have to look something up," He said, handing her the scroll. She took it and her eyes popped in surprise. They were already a quarter way done. She scrolled down to the next empty question and began filling them out as quickly as she could. She stopped at the third question to think about the answer when she noticed Tom looking through a pile of books on the floor.

"Where did you get all those books?" She asked.

"The library."

"Did you really need all of them?" She asked, almost laughing.

"Did you really want other people to find them and read them? It would give them the answers." He said, as he found what he wanted, took the scroll from Serena and answered the question he had looked for.

"Isn't that cheating?" She asked him surprised. Tom Riddle was not one to break the rules.

"No," He said.

"It's sabotage!" She said.

"So?" He looked up. "Do you want to win or not?" He asked her. She smiled playfully.

"I underestimated you," She giggled. She hadn't realized this was going to get dirty. They technically weren't cheating, but they prevented others from getting the answers as well. They continued working, Serena taking over whenever Tom had a question, etc.

By the time the bell rang, what was left of the class piled out, leaving Serena with Tom.

"Well, I'm off to dinner, but you can continue this in the library." Professor Dumbledore said, walking to the door. He waited for them to pack up and leave, before he shut the door to the classroom.

"Are you going to dinner?" She asked him.

"Why, you are?" He asked.

"Well, I'm kind of hungry," She said.

"We should finish this." He said. "You can eat later." Serena sighed. There were mixed benefits about being partnered with an overachiever. They got answers right, but they worked a lot more too.

"Fine. Are we headed to the library then?" Tom nodded and they made their way there. They settled themselves in the back of the library, which was quite empty due to the fact that every normal person was eating right now.

Serena sat down next to Tom and began looking up answers. They were three quarters of the way through in the next hour and continued until they had finished it all.

"Are you sure all of the answers are correct?" She asked, sitting herself on top of the table as he packed up. He cursed as he dropped his books on the floor and bent to pick them up. She gently spread her legs in the chair and sat in a very seducing manner. She was very quiet though, and wanted to see how long it took for Tom to notice her.

Not that long.

"I'm sure." He said with a slight sense of malice. He looked up and opened his mouth in surprise as he caught sight of her.

"So, you'll turn it in to Professor Dumbledore then?" She asked.

"You're not supposed to be sitting on the tables," Tom said, smirking. Serena smiled playfully.

"What are you going to do about it?" She asked, flirtatiously batting her eyelashes. Tom walked over to her. As he came to stand in front of her, she sat straight up and made sure he was between her legs. He grabbed her wrist tightly in his hand and forcefully pulled her towards him, kissing her passionately. Startled though she was, she kissed back eagerly and they were only lip-locked for a few minutes, before 'coming up for air'. Tom didn't back away, but dragged Serena off the table and threw her against a library shelf, knocking a few books off of them in the process. She let out a gasp as she hit the bookshelf. Before she could process anything else, he was on top of her again, kissing passionately. One hand caressed her face while the other crept up her shirt and took advantage of her luscious figure. Serena's hands ran up and down his chest, and she tried to position herself better against the bookshelf. His mouth moved down to her neck and she shivered as she felt his hot breath against her smooth skin. His lips nibbled at her skin and she giggled in pleasure. Seemingly oblivious to the sound of footsteps behind them, Tom continued taking his 'plunder'.

"Excuse me, but this behavior is not allowed in the library." The librarian said, interrupting them. Tom looked up, and Serena looked away, blushing a deep crimson. His eyes gleamed with a sudden malevolence and gave her a look like a dangerous, starved animal being deprived of his long awaited meal. He did nothing to remove his hand from Serena's shirt. The librarian spat them a nasty look, turned, and strutted away in a huff. Serena looked back once the librarian had gone and looked at Tom in surprise. She had never known him to act rudely to am authority figure. He didn't seemed perturbed by it though, and bent his head back to kiss her again. She giggled and pushed his wandering hand away.

"Tom, we should go. I don't want to get in trouble!" He bit his lip and clenched his teeth. Obviously he didn't care about getting in trouble. Strange, she thought, but giggled again.

"Oh, I'll make it up to you. I promise," She said, brushing her hand against the leg of his pants, winking flirtatiously. He backed away, his disappointment showing. Serena walked over to the table and bent down to pick up her bag. Throwing her hair out of her face, she found Tom's arms around her hips, his lips gently caressing her neck.

"Tom, stop it," She giggled, trying to push him away. He wasn't dismayed and continued, his lips pushing the sleeve of her shirt off her shoulder. She arched her back as he let his hands explore her body. Footsteps again behind them. And then.

"SERENA!"

"OH MERLIN!"

Serena broke away from Tom immediately to face Heather and Eve staring opened mouthed in shock at her. Serena looked away, blushing as Tom, stepped back and looked down. Serena quickly made her way to her girlfriends, and with a quick backward glance, she made her way to their dormitories.

"What the hell happened?" They asked as soon as they were out of earshot. Serena laughed and then sighed. Her explanation would definitely take up to whole trip there.