Decisiveness and Speculation

Warning: genderbent character (Harry)

On the one hand, Rhea thought she should feel bad about murdering her fellow student, but on the other hand it was Tom Riddle.

Said future-megalomaniac had in fact already killed Myrtle and done his dodgy immortality ritual on his 'woe-is-me' diary, so she honestly couldn't bring herself to actually care that much. It might have made her heartless, but the bastard would go onto murder countless people for no real reason, her parents included, so she just shrugged her shoulders and turned around, making her way back up to the infamous bathroom.

After all, who was going to think perfect Prefect Tom Riddle had been eaten by a basilisk?

Dumbledore was watching her, she could tell.

The time-travelling Potter supposed it was rather strange, a mysterious Potter nobody had heard of turning up at Hogwarts, then a well-known student going missing just one month later. And yeah, she actually was responsible, but the bastard needed to calm down! At least she got off her arse and did something about the creep. Hell, she even managed to get an anonymous letter to Hagrid to move his 'cute' spider into the forest before he could get expelled! It really wasn't that hard to get things done.

But back to Dumbledore. The Transfiguration teacher kept eyeing her with suspicion wherever she went, but Rhea had long since learned the trick to appearing oblivious to annoying looks; it used to drive Aunt Petunia hilariously crazy. Rhea Potter was a serious and introverted Ravenclaw who always had her head buried in a book, how could she possibly be involved in this fiasco?

Oh, how she loved having respected people vouch for her.

She definitely hadn't expected to land in a heap in the front room of Potter Manor in nineteen forty-three in her teenaged body – still can't figure that one out, but oh well – but her great-grandfather Henry was actually rather accommodating all things considered. He thought her situation was hilarious, even with the Dark Lord stuff she told him.

Through the power of lies, Rhea was now the daughter of a widowed Fleamont Potter – what the actual fuck? – and had transferred to Hogwarts to begin socialising with her magical peers.

Of course, the reality was that she'd shipped herself off to school for the sake of removing a rather irritating murderer from this plane of existence before he became an insane murderer and therefore more of a problem in the future. (Surprisingly, her plans were enthusiastically supported by Fleamont and Henry, so she had to wonder why everyone thought the House of Potter was so pure and innocent. It was such bullshit.)

"I know you had something to do with it."

Rhea didn't even twitch at the voice and simply paused her reading, sliding her bookmark between the pages and lifting her head to see who thought they knew the truth.

And swore internally at the sight of Abraxas Malfoy.

Abraxas was admittedly attractive, much like Lucius and Draco of the future, but Abraxas had a touch more masculinity to his looks and demeanour. He didn't look as physically weak or uptight as his descendants; Rhea had born witness to the Malfoy scion participating in fast-paced duels before, paying no attention to the accumulated sweat and grime and whatever else that collected on his person.

Not only was Abraxas Malfoy more powerful than his future family – physically and magically – he was smarter, never loudly posturing and bragging about his family unless it was concerning objective facts that couldn't be refuted. He was quietly confident, his silver eyes brimming with self-assurance as he stalked the castle halls, looking perfectly put-together but willing to throw himself into the fray if needed.

Rhea hated that he was attractive and smart, it was a deadly combination.

"Mister Malfoy," she spoke with a nod. "I'm sure I have no knowledge as to what it is you are referring. Is there something I should be made aware of?"

The boy – more of a man, really – raised a thin brow in an unimpressed manner. "Miss Potter, the two of us are aware that we're isolated at this very moment, nobody around to hear this conversation." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, gazing at her with assessing eyes. "I simply wished to thank you for removing the problem."

Oh? This is interesting. Rhea was intrigued, and rather amused, if she was being honest with herself. (So she was a bit twisted, sue her.)

"I'm afraid you'll have to a bit more specific, Mister Malfoy."

Thin lips twitched into a smirk. "Is that so? Well, let me be frank with you, Miss Potter. Thank you for swiftly and surely removing one Tom Riddle from the picture, he was beginning to become a nuisance."

She cocked her head to the side, giving up on the oblivious act entirely. "I thought the two of you were friends?"

Abraxas huffed, mouth twisting in a grimace. "A political ally, nothing more, nothing less. Well, he was going to be until he decided extremism was the way forward. He failed to understand that politics would have effected real change considering the families he was courting, then he threw all caution to the wind and decided murder was the way forward. Idiot," the blonde scoffed.

"I see. It seems many will be pleased by this outcome." Who knew the other Slytherins wanted him gone, too? He must have really screwed them over for them to keep following him.

"Indeed." Abraxas turned grey orbs onto her once more, studying her Killing Curse eyes as if he could pluck the answers he wanted from her mind. Which he couldn't, because Henry enjoyed giving her charmed jewellery that would fuck with the nefarious plans of others, for apparently no other reasons than he was a sadistic bastard. (Rhea was finally understanding just how Henry Potter had pissed off someone so much that the Potters were excluded from the Sacred Twenty-Eight: he was a genius at it.)

"Miss Potter, would you be willing to divulge just how you accomplished such a feat in such a short span of time?"

Rhea supposed she should be more concerned that she was indirectly admitting murder to someone like Abraxas Malfoy, but she was honestly the most entertained she'd been in years. This was a fun conversation, even if the topic was more macabre than most would deem acceptable.

She grinned wickedly, appreciating the interest from the man in front of her and said, "Mister Malfoy, are you really asking a young woman for her personal secrets without getting to know her first? Shame on you."

Her teasing voice elicited a decidedly gorgeous smirk on the blonde before he replied. "I suppose that was rather forward of me, wasn't it? Please forgive me, Miss Potter." He stood up and walked around the low table until he was dead in front of her, so close that Rhea had to bend her neck back rather uncomfortably just to see him clearly.

"Miss Potter, would you do me the honours of accompanying me to Hogsmeade on our next weekend excursion? I promise I'll even find appropriate chaperones."

On the one hand, Rhea knew she should probably be more than cautious accepting the proposal with Malfoy, but on the other hand when had she ever thought things through all the way?

She smirked up at him. "I would love to."

Silver eyes glinted with mischief she wouldn't have thought possible on a member of this particular family, the owner looking just a tad smug as he lifted her hand to brush his lips across the back of her knuckles.

This life was going to be fun.

A/N: Hey guys!

Sorry again for the long wait, I keep doing this *gets down on hand and knees and begs for forgiveness* I'm sorry! I should probably say that any idea of an update schedule has been well and truly trashed for this fic, it's just so all over the place that my muse tends to fly off for no apparent reason. Also, life likes to screw me over, as I have no time off work until Christmas Day - yay for me! -_-

Also, this was a prompt from misschief_managed AGES ago on AO3, so you have them to thank for this rare pair. Another thing, does this count as dark Harry? Or perhaps grey, seeing as morals are only being bent on the case of a genuine murderer and future Dark Lord? Who knows lol

By the way, I've posted TWO chapters today, so check out the next one if you want.

Until next time!