Chapter 3

Tom was going crazy. Every day he woke up and went to sleep thinking about Olivia Elliot. He hated it when he wasn't in control. He had this obsessive need to know other people's secrets. Like the time when Alfred Don and Rachel Vein were acting all enamored with each other. It all looked like a normal situation but Rachel's constant neck scratching every time she was with Alfred told him that something was wrong. He endeavored to investigate it until he found out that Alfred was actually blackmailing Rachel to go out with him. He had discovered that the girl was putting a potion every day in her best friend's drink that caused her skin to break. She was apparently jealous of her looks and wanted to spoil them by drugging her. She was forced to go out with him to keep his mouth shut. However, it seemed that Rachel had developed an allergy of her own against Alfred, making her scratch her neck every time they were together. After his curiosity was satisfied he had moved on from the affair without a thought of coming to the rescue of Rachel's poor friend. He only stored the information in the back of his mind just in case it might have come in handy. Eventually, Rachel grew tired of it and confessed her crime in front of the whole school during an evening meal in the great hall. The scandal was rehashed by students for months.

It is that same curiosity that had made him follow Olivia around for about a week. Distracting him from his on plans of searching for his family's identity. After their little conversation at the library, Tom had waited a little while before heading to the reception. With an affable smile, he had asked the old librarian the name of the book she had taken, pretesting that it was the one they were supposed to read for class and he had forgotten the name of it. Mrs. Figgins answered that she had only taken 'Hogwarts: The Ultimate Guide' and had added that it was nice of her to take an interest in her guest home.

After that he had thought he had made a mistake, why would she hide the fact that she was reading that? It was only natural when coming to Hogwarts to want to read the book, he himself had read it among the first books in his first year. Then a thought came to him when he realized that it couldn't be the book she was reading when they talked. They were too different in volume and color. The book she was reading was black while 'Hogwarts: The Ultimate Guide' had a purple cover with the banners of the houses at the front and back. It was also significantly smaller than the huge book he saw her holding. His suspicion of her reached it's peaked when he saw her meeting Dumbledore in his office alone twice that week.

As he sat in Potion class going through all of his observation again, he was painfully aware of her being seated behind him. At the arrival of the Ilvermorny students, they had been sorted by the sorting hat along with the first years'. This was done so that they could have the most authentic experience during their Hogwarts stay. The hat had equally divided them into the four houses. Olivia had been sorted in Ravenclaw with four of her comrades. And Ravenclaw shared the class with Slytherin which always offered a great level of competition. Tom avoided looking back as much as possible while Lestrange talked about something he didn't care enough about to listen to.

"Come on take place fast", Slughorn commanded. "This year is a very important year, as you know very well, you will all be taking your O.W.L. exams. Even our friends from Ilvermorny, which am sure will do very well. Their school program is very rigorous and in-depth much like our own. So in this spirit, I am going to form groups of two and those groups will be working on all the assignments together for the rest of the year. A great potion master is one that can also collaborate with others to make an even more efficient work."

Slughorn watched his class with a smile, waiting to see how his words were affecting them. At the lack of reaction, he started enumerating names in pairs. Many of the students seemed not happy with his pairing. Tom didn't care and waited patiently for his name to be called out. Whoever it was will have to step aside and let him do the work. He wouldn't allow the incompetence of anyone to affect his perfect grades. Most of the students of his year were intimidated by him enough that he would get his wishes easily.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle", Slughorn said, "with Olivia Adler Elliot."

Tom almost fell off his seat. Now, that was going to be a little bit more complicated.

"Now please sit with your partners," Ordered Slughorn. "We will start with the group today itself. There is no time to lose."

Tom stayed seated waiting for her to come to him. Lestrange getting the hint stood up and went to join his partner. It took her a little more time to comply but the heavy fall of her books was finally heard as she took place beside him.

"Hello," he said trying to appear friendly.

He was only met with cold, indifferent eyes. He noticed her chair was pulled away to the very extremity of the table.

"I hope you don't mind if we sit here," he continued, "it gives me a better view of the board."

She shrugged and opened her book.

"So now who can tell me what a draught of peace is?" The potion master asked. "Yes, Miss Black?"

"It is a potion that provides personal comfort," the Slytherin girl answered. "It calms anxiety and soothes agitation."

"Very good Miss Black," complimented Slughorn. "Five points to Slytherin. It's a very sensitive potion that doesn't forgive even the slightest error, the order of the ingredients is very important. So now I suggest that you follow to the letter the instructions on page 58 of your books. You have an hour to complete it."

The class was suddenly filled with movements and noises of pages being turned hastily.

They both dived into their books.

It went awkwardly. Olivia seemed to work hard to avoid any physical contact with him and keep her distance. They worked mostly in silence but didn't have any problem coordinating perfectly. Each one had a portion of the preparation to take care of and they managed to mix the ingredients in their order without confusion. They shared tools and passed them to each other without a word. It was almost as if they knew what the other was thinking before they could say it. Which even their potion master, didn't fail to notice.

"I knew I was right to put you two together," he said satisfied. "Perfect potion and even better teamwork."

Olivia turned to Riddle and gave him an uncomfortable look. He offered a smile that did not receive a response. She just turned back to look forward while Slughorn continued assessing the other groups. Despite her flustered cheeks from the cauldron's smoke, Tom couldn't help but notice that she suddenly looked pale.