Chapter One: Bad Girls
A/N: Welcome! I was enabled to write this fic by my absolutely chaotic discord—much love to y'all. I know there's not much of Tom in this chapter, but I wanted to establish Jolie's character before I introduced more of him. I promise next chapter there will be a lot more of him!
Another note. Though this is a Tom/OC, I wouldn't call it a romantic relationship. It's been established that Tom doesn't know how to love, and I don't plan on changing that. His relationship with Jolie is complex, dark and pretty much an obsession. So that being said, there will be dark themes in this fic. I will put warnings in each chapter.
Jolie Selwyn swept her blonde braid back as she gathered her belongings and determinedly tugged her trunk on board the Hogwarts Express. The wheels caught on the edge and despite all of her heaving, she couldn't get it on board. Blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes in frustration, she tightened her grip on the handle and tried again.
"Useless." Jolie's older brother Beau, Hogwarts's darling Head Boy and insufferable Hufflepuff, grabbed her trunk and hauled it up onto the train with minimal effort. He beamed at his younger sister and ruffled her perfectly-manicured braid. "There you go. You can just say that I'm the best."
Beau was two years older than Jolie and in their parents' eyes, he was perfect. First he had been a Prefect, now Head Boy. His OWL results boasted about his academic capability, meaning he was qualified for any job he wanted after Hogwarts - even if their impeccable family history meant he had connections. He was also captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, a sport that Jolie had little interest in.
By contrast, Jolie kept mostly to her tight-knit friendship circle. Beau often said people complained she was cold as ice and came across as a bitch, but Jolie didn't particularly care for those opinions.
"Jolie!" The familiar voices of her best friends, Elaine Greengrass and Cornelia Dane, caught her attention. The pair practically tumbled down the corridor, all linked arms and giggles. They were always giggling when they were around Beau, and they'd both admitted to Jolie they thought her big brother was attractive. As if he could be any more annoying.
Elaine Greengrass was a half-blood with curly brown hair and big brown eyes. She was the most shy of the trio, but she was a mean Beater when it came to being on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
Cornelia Dane was a Muggle-born with ginger hair and freckles, boisterous and outgoing. She had a booming laugh that the others could recognise resonating through the halls of Hogwarts. She was one of those people who, when needing to pick her battles, picked all of them. She was fiercely defensive, and protective of her best friends.
"Ladies." Beau pretended to straighten his tie, making Elaine blush and Cornelia press a hand over her mouth to stifle another giggle.
"You two are hopeless." Jolie rolled her eyes, used to her brother's antics and entirely bored of them. "Come on, we should find a carriage."
She set off down the corridor with Elaine and Cornelia in tow. Eventually, Elaine would leave them to go on Prefect patrol. It had been a disappointment to Jolie's parents that she had not followed in her brother's footsteps and earned the badge. She couldn't say she minded. It meant less responsibility, and Elaine was far better suited for such a role.
Jolie almost cannoned into someone. She opened her mouth to comment, before realising her great misfortune.
"If it isn't the lesser Selwyn and the gang." Lorelai Nott sneered at them. The Slytherin girl was one of the people at Hogwarts that Jolie detested most—Lorelai was beautiful, with long black hair and dark brown eyes, but she was also cruel and vindictive. She was the only girl who consistently spent time with a group of Slytherins dubbed the 'Riddle gang'.
Tom Riddle was the bane of Jolie's existence. Perhaps one of few in their year group to rival her intelligence, he was cool and indifferent to everyone except those in his immediate orbit. Jolie had never paid him much attention.
"Shove off, Nott." Cornelia sneered in her direction. She was often the brunt of Lorelai's wrath due to her Muggle-born heritage, but she had always stood her ground against the Slytherin bullies.
"Or what, Mudblood?" Lorelai responded, arching an eyebrow. "Your false bravado doesn't scare me, we both know you don't have the spine to back up your words."
"Leave it, Cornelia," Elaine hissed, catching their friend by the arm and steering her toward an empty compartment. Jolie ignored Lorelai's mocking laughter following them. She noticed the way her friend flinched when Lorelai used that insult. Mudblood.
Fortunately, Cornelia's temper dwindled as quickly as it flared up. By the time Elaine closed the compartment door behind them, she had already sprawled across one of the seats. Jolie and Elaine shared the other, with Jolie fishing around in her bag for a book.
"How was your holiday, Jolie?" Cornelia asked.
"Oh, you know." Jolie rolled her eyes, thumbing through the book to find what page she'd been up to. "Mama had us travel to Paris. Again."
"Yes, that must be so difficult." Cornelia's voice was laden with immense sarcasm.
Jolie's parents were both obscenely wealthy. Her father, Andrew Selwyn, prided himself on being a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families. He had attended Hogwarts and been in Slytherin. Her mother, Therese, was of French nobility and had gone to Beauxbatons during her schooling. Therese's father was some earl or count—Jolie could never remember which.
It made her a little self-conscious, particularly as she knew her best friends weren't so privileged. She was proud of her heritage, but took care to downplay it around Elaine and Cornelia. Elaine's family had been blasted from the family tree after her father had married a Muggle-born. Cornelia was the oldest of six children, and her parents were workaholics.
"What about your summers?" Jolie asked, trying to take the attention off her. Not that she didn't like it—despite Cornelia's blunt personality, Jolie was probably the most extroverted of the group. She had inter-house friendships, mostly courtesy of her relation to Beau. Everyone knew the sister of Hufflepuff's golden king.
What was most irritating about Beau was that he was perfectly nice. It made it that much harder for Jolie to resent her older brother, knowing that he had a kind heart. It was their parents and their unrealistic expectations that were the real enemy, not imaginary competition with Beau. Her brother had never expected Jolie to live up to him.
Elaine had visited her family in Scotland during the holidays, while Cornelia hadn't gone anywhere. It made Jolie seem like a brat for complaining about her trip to Paris, but the reality was she was sick of going and spending time with her snobby relatives. Most of her French family looked down on her attending Hogwarts, insisting that she should have attended Beauxbatons like her mother.
As Elaine left for her patrol, Jolie tucked into her book, relishing the free time that she could spend reading. This year was intense, as Beau had assured that with her OWLs upcoming, she wouldn't be doing much socialising or reading. As the scenery rushed past the Hogwarts Express, Jolie eagerly indulged in her reading.
"Thank Merlin." Elaine joined Jolie and Cornelia with a dramatic sigh as they headed into the Great Hall. "I worried that patrol was never going to end, you'll never guess who I was paired with."
Cornelia gasped. "No! It wasn't that bitch Lorelai?"
"Worse." Elaine grimaced. "Tom Riddle."
Jolie pulled a face, and Cornelia made a noise of disgust. They must be among the few who didn't worship the ground that Riddle walked on—the teachers all loved him, as did most of the student population. He was handsome, but also came across as arrogant. Jolie had never had much time for snobby Slytherins.
The trio seated themselves at the Ravenclaw table, watching as the rest of the students flocked into the hall. Jolie had always marvelled at how the ceiling reflected the sky outside. She and her friends always sat at the same spot at the Ravenclaw table, where Cornelia had etched all of their initials during a rebellious period in their third year.
"Nice rack, Selwyn!" It was Lachlan Avery, one of Riddle's lackeys and a particularly repulsive boy.
"Thank you," Jolie replied coolly, brushing her braid over her shoulder, "I grew it myself."
Over her years at Hogwarts, she had quickly found that the most irritating response for Riddle's gang was to ignore their attempts to insult or demean entirely. Indeed, at her dry reply, Avery's eyes narrowed and he sneered as he made his way over to the Slytherin table.
"I mean, he isn't wrong." Cornelia nudged her playfully. Despite her tall and willowy frame, it had become apparent that Jolie was fairly blessed in the chest department, something she had inherited from her buxom mother.
"That doesn't mean he should comment, Cornelia," Elaine said mildly.
"Jolie!" A familiar and irritating voice made all three girls exchange a look. Myrtle Warren, a fellow Ravenclaw peer, had a habit of trying to insert herself into their friendship group at every given opportunity. Although hardly the talk of the school, Jolie's trio was popular enough that they had friends in most houses—and, it seemed, popular enough for Myrtle to desperately want to befriend them. The girl was, frankly, annoying.
"Yes, hello, Myrtle," Jolie sighed, wondering how she would politely but firmly dismiss the other girl this time.
"Go away, Myrtle." Cornelia had absolutely no tact, earning an elbow to the ribs from Elaine. Fortunately, Myrtle either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her, focusing her attention on Jolie.
"I love your hair. You have to teach me how to braid it like that sometime."
"The Sorting's about to begin, Myrtle," Elaine said gently, "We can talk later."
No chance of that, Jolie thought with wry amusement. Ignoring Myrtle, she leaned forward and prepared to be subjected to whatever nonsense the Sorting Hat had come up with this year. Something slid across the table, and Jolie opened the note to find it was written in Beau's familiar scrawl.
Hufflepuff Back To School Bash. 8pm sharp, down by the Black Lake.
In true Hufflepuff fashion, Beau picked absolutely no favourites when it came to his back-to-school party. Despite his squeaky clean reputation, Jolie knew her brother was a heavy drinker, and known to indulge in drugs on occasion. Over the far side of the gathering, Riddle and his gang were smoking cigars. Beau and his group were, of course, the centre of attention.
"Very nice." Beau's sleaziest friend, Don Salvador, raked his eyes appreciatively over Jolie's figure. She had chosen one of the few nice dresses she'd brought to Hogwarts, one that flattered her hourglass figure. Don had been flirting with Jolie since she'd been in third year, which she found quite creepy, and for which Beau had reprimanded him several times.
"Lay off." Beau slung an arm around Don's shoulders. His overly friendly demeanour led Jolie to believe he'd already consumed a good deal of either alcohol or opium.
"You're such a creep, Don." Jolie planted a hand on her hip, arching her eyebrows. Despite the fact that a handful of Beau's friends had flirted with her on occasion, she'd never so much as kissed a boy. Both Elaine and Cornelia had far more experience than her in that arena, which she didn't judge them for.
Don blew her a kiss, laughing, and Jolie headed over to where Elaine and Cornelia were sitting by the reeds at the edge of the lake, sharing a bottle of firewhiskey. Elaine's curls were swept back from her face, her dress cinching in around her tiny waist. Cornelia beamed upon seeing Jolie, getting up and throwing her arms around her friend.
"You look stunning!" Cornelia tugged Jolie down beside them. "Elaine and I have been discussing who to set you up with."
"Cornelia!" Elaine gasped, coughing as she took a sip of firewhiskey.
"It's true." Cornelia shrugged her shoulders, nonchalant.
"I don't need to be set up with anyone." Jolie grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey, taking a sip and glancing over her shoulder as a raucous crowd of Gryffindors passed by, whooping loudly. She'd often found Gryffindors to be as insufferable as Slytherins.
"Not long term," Cornelia agreed, "But you know, you could just snog someone."
"I'll snog someone if I'm interested in them." Jolie was firm on that. Elaine and Cornelia would often recommend people they thought she might be interested in, but Jolie was far more intrigued by her books.
Jolie took another swig of firewhiskey, her eyes travelling over the glittering expanse of the Black Lake and the Scottish highlands beyond. The grounds really were beautiful. Jolie had often painted when she had been younger, though Therese deemed it a hobby that was beneath her. Sometimes, though, she still itched to pick up a paintbrush.
"What the fuck," Cornelia was suddenly fixated on something behind Jolie, her eyes wide and full of shock. When Jolie wheeled around, she was disappointed but not surprised to see Beau had his arms around a girl's waist and was passionately making out with her. It was only when she looked closer that her stomach lurched. The girl was Lorelai Nott.
"Your brother really would snog anything," Elaine said, her brow furrowing.
"I'm done for the night." Jolie didn't want to stick around to see Beau shoving his tongue down the throat of a girl who had bullied her, Elaine and Cornelia for almost their whole time at Hogwarts. She didn't usually get picky about Beau's choices, but Lorelai was a stone cold bitch no matter how pretty she was.
Handing the bottle of firewhiskey to Elaine, Jolie pushed herself to her feet and marched back toward the castle. Lorelai drew back from Beau, and flashed Jolie a triumphant smile, something vindictive glittering in her dark eyes. Though the urge to hex her was strong, Jolie pushed past it and sought the cool refuge of the castle corridors.
Professor Pryce, Head of Ravenclaw, was an avid fan of group projects in Charms. This thoroughly irritated Jolie and her friends, because being in pairs always meant that one of them got left out. This year, as the Professor handed out the curriculum with a tedious lecture about their upcoming OWLs, she also announced that she would be allocating their partners for their first group project.
"No bloody way," Cornelia muttered under her breath. With their Charms class being composed of Ravenclaws and Slytherins, it would likely mean each of them was paired with a Slytherin classmate. She and Elaine were also nursing hangovers, and Jolie hadn't heard them come into the dormitory until the early hours of the morning, whispering between them.
Jolie crossed her fingers for a good match. The last thing she wanted was someone who was going to make a mess of their project. Merlin forbid she got Avery or one of the other idiots in Riddle's gang.
"Miss Selwyn, you will be paired with Mr Riddle?"
"Excuse me?" Jolie blurted out, certain there had to be some sort of mistake. Elaine and Cornelia both wore sympathetic expressions, and that was saying something since Elaine had been paired with Lorelai. Across the room, Tom's lip curled derisively. Apparently his feelings about the match were the same as hers.
"I said, you'll be paired with Mr Riddle."
"Fantastic," Jolie murmured under her breath. She couldn't focus on the curriculum, or the rest of the class. Normally diligent in her note-taking, Jolie could only think about how horrid it was that she was going to be stuck with Tom for part of the term. Of all the Slytherins, why him?
She thought of Lorelai's vicious smile at the party the night before. Perhaps she didn't have the worst pairing. She would probably have been tempted to hex the arrogant bitch if she'd been stuck with her instead. Her mood already sour, things came to a head when Lorelai confronted her outside of class.
"What's the matter, Selwyn?" she demanded, her dark eyes alight with malice. "Think I'm beneath your brother, do you? I mean, not that I would mind being beneath him, if you know what I mean…"
"I wouldn't consider yourself too special," Jolie retorted icily, "Beau would fuck a hag if it showed an interest. Anything with a pulse."
Jolie typically kept her spiteful thoughts to herself, but Lorelai had pushed her too far today. Elaine pressed a hand over her mouth, though Cornelia was smirking. Usually, she was the one who had the fiery retorts to offer.
"You little bitch." Lorelai snarled, her cheeks flaring with colour. Behind her, the Slytherin boys were whispering among themselves, clearly wondering how Lorelai was going to retaliate to the verbal blow.
"Any other cutting commentary?" Jolie raised her eyebrows as Lorelai fell quiet, seething silently. "No? I didn't think so."
She marched off before Lorelai could say anything else, Elaine and Cornelia quickly catching up to her. Though she knew that the Slytherin girl would likely enact some sort of revenge, her heart was thundering in her chest at the knowledge that she'd spoken up against the meanest girl in their year.
"That was amazing, Jolie!" Elaine sounded thrilled. "You really put her in her place."
Beau had often told Jolie she needed to watch it, that her unshakeable trio came across as cliquey and snobbish, that some people only tolerated her because she was Beau's little sister. In truth, Jolie didn't care. As long as she had Elaine and Cornelia's approval, that was all she cared about. Right now, she had their absolute adoration.
It was more than that. It was how it had felt to put Lorelai in her place, to stand her ground against a girl who had spent years demeaning them, typically Cornelia. It felt good to have the last word. It felt good to be bad.