Chapter 5:

"So, where is he then? Come on Nicole, I know you fancy him!" A tall rather ditzy looking blond stood next to her.

"I do not! Well maybe, but he didn't really ask, like formally or anything, I honestly don't know what he thinks of me," they both stood there smiling. She played the part so well he thought. A normal thirteen year old, if it had not been for his prior knowledge of her he would have believed the lie.

All of a sudden a boy no older than fifteen snuck up behind her. "Travis!" she cried then laughed as she turned to face him.

"Hey Helen, Nicole, how are things," Tom smirked; he was an unkempt boy, the same one who almost got expelled by Henry the previous year. Nicole couldn't possibly think much of him.

Helen smiled. "See? I told you Nicole, you are absolutely perfect for each other!" Travis gave her a funny look but she ignored it. "Didn't you ask her out on a date Travis?"

"Well subtly should be your line of business shouldn't it? I guess, I dunno, I just wanted to hang out," he smiled.

"Alright now, everybody who's going to go better be quiet. All third year students need to hand in your permission slips," boomed Professor Dumbledore. Just his voice sent Tom on the edge; He couldn't say how many close calls he had experienced playing sick to get out of Transfiguration.

But he could hardly concern himself with his abnormal phobia at the moment. He was finally going to be able to see a real wizarding village, unlike Diagon Ally, that was small and cramped.

The trip was a rather extraordinary. He looked around for a long time but decided to settle in one location. Most of the children were caught at the Three Broomsticks trying to switch their mild butterbeer with fire whiskey. He enjoyed himself watching them try, and fail.

Then he heard a laugh, very similar to the one he heard earlier. "Hey, your Tom right?" the girl that was talking to Nicole earlier asked right.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he said in a rather pessimistic tone but still she persisted. She sat down next to him.

"Well, you know Nicky right?" she paused, "Nicky? Nicole Sullivan?" he nodded and she continued. "Well, I told her I'd meet her by the tavern with Travis Baker, you may not know him, but anyway, I was wondering if you would go with me… I promised her it'd be like a double date."

The thought sickened him; he did not find her attractive, rather very annoying. Then again he had a strange desire to investigate Travis, and he was not one to be rude to a classmate, seeing, that is that Professor Dumbledore had just walked in.

He said it slowly and hesitantly but he said it none the less. "Yes, I'll go with you," he smiled unenthusiastically and got up from the table.

"Wow, that was really nerve wrecking, Ohh, I know your name's Tom, but in case you don't know mine, it's Helen," she held out her hand and he shook it as if it were the devil's hand himself, he hoped he wouldn't regret this.

"C'mon Tommy!" a shrill giggle escaped the blonde. Tommy? Did she just call him Tommy? That's it; he was going to kill her.

"My name is Tom," he replied with a nasty growl. He quickly realized the irony in calling himself 'Tom' when in fact he wished his name was almost anything but. Though Tom was certainly better then 'Tommy'. She shrugged with indifference, put on a false smile and continued toward the tavern.

She clasped his hand, dragging him to a dimly lit tavern filled with pinks, reds, and purples. He hated pink so very, very much. He saw many other student couples sitting together at small, intimate tables, being disgustingly affectionate. The whole scene made him want to vomit.

Some way or another however he managed to keep his composure. He sat himself next to Travis, as Helen did with Nicole once they had reached their table. "Hello you two," Helen was the first to speak, as if that were something new. "I told you that you looked marvelous with one another, don't they Tom?" She asked, turning over to face them.

"Wonderful," his usually deceitful and cunning guise of a caring individual was let down, every syllable he'd spoken oozed insincerity. Nicole gave him a curious glance, she seemed dissatisfied but he wasn't about to let into his thoughts that he was the reason why.

Helen merely gave another careless smile, ordering tea from the waitress who had happened upon their table. Nicole and Travis both sat content with their drinks that they must have ordered previously. "Anything for you young sir?" The woman asked in a sickly sweet voice that sent a shiver down his spine.

"No." He responded in a dismissive tone. He wasn't thirsty; he hadn't even any money, aside from the stash he had collected in his trunk which he stole fair and square. Be damned if he was going to waste it on some tea. The waitress gave a resentful 'hmph', before leaving to fetch Helen's tea.

There was something different with Nicole and Travis. They weren't nauseatingly loving with one another like the others. They were just sitting there, like she and Tom did on so many occasions. Had she found a replacement for him? The mere thought of this enraged him. No, she was loyal, she trusted him, confiding with him her deepest secrets, she wouldn't just up and abandon him. But even this thought couldn't push away the envious feelings he felt towards Travis.

A tall dangly young man with light brown hair in fifth year approached the table. "Hey Tom," the boy looked around at the table. "What are you doing with this filth?" He asked, turning towards Nicole and Travis. "You're seated with two Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw? Have you gone positively mad?" laughter escaped him.

"Just because he's a Slytherin doesn't mean he's a worthless sack of 'pure blood' like you." Travis had spoken up, while Tom had just devised a plan to get out of his awkward position.

"Better then a worthless sack of 'half-blood' now isn't it?"

Helen seemed deeply offended but Tom didn't really care what she felt, save for pain. He envisioned her in lots and lots of pain. "Helen, calm down. I should get going to buy you gifts for your birthday anyway. Now would be as good a time as ever to leave, don't you agree?" Nicole was rather persuasive at times, then again, who couldn't persuade that gullible idiotic girl?

"Shove it you lousy Gryff." The boy glared at her with severe dislike. "Come on now Tom, I think you've done your fair share of charity work for the day."

"Take that back you greasy haired rat!" Travis stood up from his seat, taking out his wand.

"I prefer snake if you don't mind." He glanced back at Tom.

"Good old Jonathan Avery. We should leave," he headed towards the door, Jonathan following like a well trained dog behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nicole and Travis using the other exit and poor, pathetic Helen sat awaiting her tea.

"You saved me you know; I thought that girl would never stop talking." He sighed as he exited through the doors into the still light hours of the day.

"What exactly were you doing there anyway?" Jonathan asked, his brow raised. "Doesn't exactly seem like you. I mean Helen's a fair beauty and all, but she's tainted. Travis, man I can't stand him, got him back in Potions the other day though," he let out a chuckle. "And the other girl, whatever her name is, she's just not even worth my time."

Tom took offense to this. It was not as though he expected Jonathan to like Nicole, but to attribute more value to someone like Helen? It seemed preposterous. "I suppose," he sounded bored, though still relieved.

"Well then, if that's all you'll be needing from me, I'm going to go have a smoke. Hate not having to sneak around anymore though. How I miss being fifteen." Tom nodded, giving the boy permission to leave him. Whatever was he going to do? Nothing. He was going to sulk and make superficial conversation to whomever past him and go home. If he ever had a home, it was Hogwarts.

"Tom, what's wrong?" Nicole entered the kitchens with a look of concern. "What are you even doing down here?" It was a fair question. He'd never seen been down there before without her. He looked over at her with an emotionless expression; he held a small bottle of half empty peppermint schnapps in his right hand. "Tom, is that Headmaster Dippet's stash?" She asked in a rather accusative tone.

He nodded, "Nasty as hell though, don't think I'll ever turn out to be much of a drunkard."

"Why are you drinking?" She sat down beside him; he looked out into space as though he wasn't even aware of her presence.

"I don't quite know actually. House elf thought I looked down, offered me some. Guess I was curious." He finally turned towards her. "What does it matter anyway?" He put the bottle on to the ground and quickly a house elf appeared to pick it up.

"A house elf gave you peppermint schnapps?" She thought for a moment, and then sighed. Well, how much use could the help be? They weren't even paid for their services. He nodded again. "What's it like?" She asked with intense curiosity.

"Eh, it's not too great. I feel like I just swallowed a brick and I'm about to vomit. Then of course there's the disorientation, my eyes don't match my body and I feel exactly the same." As Tom explained to Nicole, she requested a piece of bread from yet another faceless elf that quickly obliged. Tom stared at her, "You didn't think I'd want a piece?"

She laughed. "This is for you," she handed him the slice of potato bread and he took it reluctantly.

"Why are you giving me bread?"

"It will absorb some of the alcohol; make your stomach rest easier."

"How do you know that?"

"My uncle used to drink a lot, he told me about it. Though I never actually saw him eat bread with his whiskey…" She pondered this for a moment as Tom consumed the bread.

Tom was most certain the bread wasn't helping. Something was coming up. He got to his feet, staggering over to one of the sinks and regurgitated both the bread and the peppermint schnapps in a nearby sink. Uggh, it tasted just as nasty going up as it did coming down. "I guess he was wrong." She seemed rather disappointed her bread idea had failed, but none the less, after the mess he made, he looked to be feeling better.

"Ares youse alright Mister Riddle?" a mess of elves came to clean the sink and Tom came forth to face Nicole.

"Let's get you back to your dorm shall we?" Her voice was sweet and genuine, and in that moment he couldn't stand it.

"I don't need to be mothered Nicole." He glared at her fiercely, exiting the kitchens with a severely perturbed look on his face.

The end of the school year had come at last. They began filling the train with boatloads of students, Tom was the last to step foot on the train, hating to leave Hogwarts behind. He would not sit with Nicole that day, for they would meet with one another soon enough at the orphanage, as due to last summer's incident she had nowhere else to go. The train ride was undeniably dull.

Jonathan and Abraxas were going on about some Slytherin girl; Antoinin and Damien were playing cards. Tom was left alone thinking to himself, throwing out a snide comment or two when the need arose. At last he had exited platform 9 and ¾, and there stood Nicole looking rather excited.

"You really shouldn't be so anxious to enter the hellhole they call an orphanage," he remarked, seeing Mrs. Cole in the distance, trying to wave the two of them down. "Shall we?" The two of them made their way to greet the woman.

"Hello again Tom," She sighed, truth be told she didn't want him at the orphanage anymore then he did. "And this must be Miss Nicole Sullivan. I'm truly sorry for the loss of your father." She feigned a look of sympathy before turning her back and heading towards the car.

There was silence in the car; Mrs. Cole smoked a rather potent cigarette, gave a few coughs now and again, but other then that it was pure silence. At long last they reached the orphanage. "Exactly the same as I left it," Tom replied getting out of the car.

"Actually we've done some refurnishing, and the local library has donated more books to our collections. You like books now don't you?" By now he had made a mental list of everyone he planned on killing, and she had just made her way to the top. Well, almost. He'd rather his father be his first.

He rolled his eyes. She knew absolutely nothing about him, and he hated her pretending she did. "Well, Tom your room hasn't changed. I'll show Nicole hers." She paused for a moment, as Nicole got her trunk out of the car. "You'll be bunking with Madeline and Pamela. They're nice enough; you'll get along famously with one another."

Nicole nodded excitedly, waving goodbye to Tom, to visit her newest roommates. He couldn't quite understand her enthusiasm. She returned to his room about an hour or so later. Bobby, his roommate was downstairs doing something or other.

"They have some good books downstairs you know," she stated casually while entering the room, she clutched one book in her hand entitled The Jungle Book on the binding.

"Found that one to your liking have you?" he inquired, putting on a face of mild interest.

Nicole nodded. "A collective work by Rudyard Kipling," she recited promptly.

"Why do you even both with this rubbish," he sighed, taking the book in his hands and flipping through the pages, turning to a short story entitled Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

"I happen to like this 'rubbish', Tom." She responded rather testily.

Tom gave her an intense stare before returning to the context of the book. "Nag and Nagaina, eh? Rather creative names for a couple of snakes." He stated after about fifteen minutes of silence, and made it clear he had nothing more to say about the story.

She gave him a self pitying look. "Is that all?" He said nothing, giving her a blank stare. She sighed, seating herself beside him. "Are you angry with me?" She asked seriously trying to break through his void stare.

"No," he answered simply, though something was bothering him and he was unsure of the cause.

"I'm sorry about Travis," she said suddenly.

"Who?" He questioned acting as if the name hadn't rung any bells.

Nicole only smiled. "I didn't really like him you know."

Tom looked at her with the same deadened eyes, though what lied beneath was a great wave of relief, an emotion he didn't feel like sharing to the girl sitting across from him. "You thought I cared about your relationship with Travis?" He asked as though the mere idea of it was preposterous.

Nicole looked taken aback. "You put on quite an act of jealousy at the tavern then." She spoke more softly, the words escaped her quickly and she had a look about her that made it apparent she had no regrets about what she had just spoken of.

"I was not jealous," he insisted, looking her in the eye unblinkingly, his body tensed as he tried to keep his mind clear of thought.

"I was."

"What do you mean you were?" Tom asked, utterly baffled.

"When you were with Helen, I was jealous," she repeated calmly.

Tom had to conceal a grin, she was jealous, of Helen? Of all people to be jealous of and she chose the brainless blonde who had earned her way on to his list of people to kill? It figured as much, he never truly understood her.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't really like her either," he gave a slight laugh. "More liked really loathed her; she had the audacity to call me 'Tommy'." He shook his head as if the memory was a painful one.

Nicole gave out a laugh. "Who do you really like?" she queried after a moment.

Tom was unsure how to answer her question. He liked his followers fair enough, they did what he said, and were a great source of amusement. Then again he'd always thought of them as disposable possessions. But he had a feeling he knew exactly what she wanted to hear. That he really liked her. Well of course he didn't, did he? "I'm not sure." What Tom had said was entirely true, he was very uncertain of his feelings in regards to Nicole.

"I better be off to bed now, it's getting late," sounded a disappointed Nicole. She took the book in her hands before standing and exited through the door without a word of protest from Tom. He thought he felt a tinge of guilt when she disappeared into the hallway, but discarded it. He'd never felt guilt of any kind before, and he most definitely was not going to indulge in it now.