Author's Note: Hello there! This is Lara, updatig the lovely joint fic that is...this! Let me take a moment to say again that this was originally an RP, and I basically just cut and pasted things around so it flowed-ish. That means the POV does switch around a lot, especially in this chapter because we have a whopping four characters floating around now. I've glared at this for a while, and decided this was the best way to post it. Faces, old and new pop up in here, and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter, unfortunately does not belong to us. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Jo. However, Graham and Ella both are mine, and I'd like it to stay that way. Samantha belongs to Ravyn, and I know she gets cranky when people try to steal her characters...
Chapter Three: Conversations
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Graham Avery yawned, and stretched in his chair. Where was Tom? He knew the annoying overachiever had Transfiguration before Charms class, but he wasn't normally late. The Slytherin boy yawed, and pulled out his textbook, flipping through its pages in a bored manner. The midget teaching the class was squeaking about something having to do with feelings, and Graham was paying no attention whatsoever. It wasn't that he was a belligerent idiot teenager, he just knew it already.
"Now, turn to page forty-two, and there you will find the incantation and instructions for performing the Disillusionment Charm. Very handy, if you do it right," squeaked Flitwick. "Right," Graham muttered, and he flipped the book open, and began skimming the page. Piece of cake. Graham had no idea where his normal Charms partner was, but he needed someone to perform the charm on. He wanted to be able to see what he was doing.
///
"Sorry I'm late Professor," Tom said in a monotone as he swept into the classroom and toward his usual spot. Flitwick spluttered and squeaked and said something about it not being a problem. Didn't ask for an explanation and didn't take any points from Slytherin. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in the class all gave him a dirty look. If any of them had walked in late they would have lost points.
///
Graham turned to see who spoke, though he knew already who it was. "Merlin, Tom, did you get stuck in a trick step? What took you so long?" Graham had already finished reading the section Flitwick had told them to read, and was practicing the want movement that went with the charm. Fairly basic, circle and flick to point. The trick, he had found, was not to circle it too big, or too small. It affected the potency of the spell quite a bit.
///
"Dumbledore has no sense at all," Tom grumbled to his partner, Graham. He was one of Tom's better Slytherin followers. Especially since the guy had a mind of his own and could be trusted to keep the others in line when Tom was away. "I catch Cooper out of bounds, give her a detention, and Dumbledore send me to baby-sit!"
Tom didn't usually complain. But if he did it was usually about Dumbledore. So he made it about Dumbledore, trying not to focus on Eleanor. He would figure out that can of worms on his own. No need to drag anybody into it. Especially not Graham. He was too smart to trust with these sorts of things.
///
Graham whistled. "Eleanor Cooper? The tall redhead? I wouldn't mind being stuck with her for a few hours." He shook his head, his dirty blond hair falling into his eyes. He drug a hand through it to push it away. Girls were weakness of his. "She's quite the peach. I don't think anyone's ever been able to get her, though." He looked at the look on Tom's face, and laughed outright. He was lucky this class was so busy due to the spells being thrown about, otherwise he probably would have lost points. "Oh, come on, Tom. Yes, Dumbledore's daft. I'm sorry you have to babysit Cooper. Is that what you wanted me to say?"
///
The words churned up the snake in Tom's chest and he sent his second a dark look. At first the Dark Lord thought of Dumbledore's pathetic love and how it couldn't at all be stronger than the magic he knew. Then he thought of Eleanor and those red waves and loathed the idea of Graham being stuck with her.
A challenge, then? Tom liked the idea of a challenge. Maybe the detention wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. But if word went out that Tom was trying to go out with a Mudblood, even a hard to get, good looking one on a bet... His reputation could slide. Probably better not to risk it.
"I'm not sure," Tom muttered, pulling out his wand and practicing the movement as well. Then he glanced down at the spell they were supposed to be doing. "I mastered this one ages ago..." He frowned then went back to the more pressing topic. "She owes me a favor. Instead of docking points I gave her a detention that she wouldn't mind doing. I was hoping to be rid of her... Dumbledore has different ideas." Tom wondered how much more to tell Graham.
///
Graham shook his head. He'd never heard his friend his out of sorts before. His train of thought was jumping around like a Chocolate Frog. "Wow, mate, you're losing me. You're not sure if that's what you wanted me to say, got that." He flipped his book closed, and turned on Tom, waving his wand and performing the charm lazily. As Tom faded from view, he continued. "And yeah, this charm's pretty easy, obviously. And you gave her a favor? A Gryffindor? I understand the draw of her, but...Wow." That was something new. Tom rarely wasted his attention on the pea-brained idiots of that particular House. The piece of work Minerva aside. She was too smart for her own good. "This spell is way too easy." As he preformed the counter-spell to raise the Disillusionment, Tom said something that Graham really wasn't expecting.
///
"The Dark Lord is interested in her," Tom said in barely audible whisper. Many of his followers knew Tom by Voldemort, and called him that when it was just them. But Graham alone knew what that meant. "I'm not sure why yet."
///
Graham choked. "What? Is said Dark Lord mental? What does he want with her? How can you not know?" He replied in a whisper. "One of Dumbledore's House? Slughorn's pets? I certainly hope you know what you're doing, Tom. She's a Mudblood, on top of it all." He looked at his friend with a bit of concern, hoping that Tom wouldn't open a can of worms for this girl. It was obvious to Graham this was the beginning of another one of the Dark Lord's fascinations.
///
Tom hissed but didn't retort. After all, he had no real answer. He couldn't be sure of anything at the moment. He supposed the best way to figure it out would be to go on the sill Detention tomorrow night and have done with it. Maybe once Tom had his answer he could forget about Eleanor.
"You do remember we're part of Slughorn's collectable students too?" Tom snapped, unable to really dispute any of the other facts Graham had pointed out to him. Even for Graham Tom put up an air of wishing to destroy all Muggles and Muggle-born. It didn't bother him to do so. At least, it hadn't. But after Transfiguration... Well, Eleanor had been amongst the first to master the spell. And it was a difficult spell. Plus, Slughorn did only pick out the most talented and the brightest. If Eleanor was part of that group and her friend Minerva wasn't... She had to be special.
///
"True," Graham looked at the expression on Tom's face, and noted he was obviously not pleased with him. Ah well. Graham made everyone mad, and Tom was no exception. His personality didn't exactly make him a people-pleaser. "But my other points still stand. Why Cooper?" He watched a smile spread across the other boy's face, and knew Tom had just had an epiphany.
///
Ah, so that was why the Dark Lord was interested. Tom smiled. "Cooper's best friend isn't part of the Slug Club. A master at Transfigurations and Slughorn doesn't feel the need to collect her like the rest of us. Yet he did pick out Cooper even though she failed at potions. Why is that?" Ah, it felt good to be on the right track. A track that didn't make him insane... Er...
///
Graham blinked. "Touché. That is a good question. Cooper isn't horrible, but she's definitely not as good as McGonagall." Graham shrugged. "But it's not my problem." Which was true. Graham followed Tom because he had the power, and the people skills to do something big, but he considered himself an equal rather than a servant. A partner. After all, he was the one who made sure the cowards that they recruited stayed loyal.
///
Tom nodded his head absentmindedly at Graham's comments. It felt good to have a reason for the Dark Lord's interest in Eleanor. At least one that would explain his curiosity and would leave everybody off his back. Perhaps the detention would not be so bad.
He would apologize to Eleanor. More than likely he had frightened the girl with his shouting. It wasn't her fault. And Tom wanted her to be at ease around him. That way he could find out more about her.
///
Graham's attention was pulled to the front of the room as Flitwick dismissed class. "S'about time," he said lazily. He grabbed his things and slung his tattered book bag over his shoulder. "Lunch, then?" He looked at Tom.
///
"Keep the Death Eaters in line this weekend for me, Graham," Tom said as class ended. Flitwick was giving them another essay to do, another measly one roll of parchment. Tom hoped that his homework for his other classes required a little more out of him. This was getting ridiculous. "There's something interesting going out in the Forest. Let them know that I'm trying to figure out what it is and that they should have some theories for me when I come back."
Tom got to his feet and left Graham to his own devises, walking back down the stairs and following the crowd of students going to the Great Hall. But instead of heading straight to lunch he waited by the front doors for Eleanor. He leaned against one of the hourglasses, eyes watching as student milled in from Herbology and comic, hoping to catch Eleanor's eye...
///
He rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure," he replied. "Piece of cake." He walked out of the classroom with Tom, and began down the stairs. They had three stories between them and the Great Hall, and he was hungry. The proceeded down to the Entrance Hall and Graham had his thoughts totally set on food, when Tom stopped. "Oi, mate, what are you..." He followed Tom's gaze, and his eyes rolled as he smiled. The Gryffindors were coming across the grounds from Care of Magical Creatures, and Cooper was among them, trotting after McGonagall, looking worried. "Er, right, well, I s'pose I'll see you later then." He turned and left Tom to his own devices, thinking about sandwiches and Samantha...
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Minerva had left Ella to her fate with Riddle and Dumbledore. She had wondered whether Ella had fibbed about the detention. Apparently she hadn't. Though Minerva didn't think it was a good idea for Ella to be out in the forest right now. Dumbledore was right, there was danger around. Minerva had been thinking about dropping Care of Magical Creatures because it took place out on the grounds.
But Ella would never stop taking Care of Magical Creatures and Minerva wouldn't leave her best friend. If Dumbledore hadn't already volunteered Riddle, Minerva probably would have gone with Ella on her detention.
Speaking of Ella, she was going to be late to class...
///
Ella tripped her way down to the forest edge, hoping desperately she wasn't going to miss anything. She was still worrying about Tom, and his current state of mind. She really wanted to know what had gotten him so riled, but she knew he would either tell her, or he wouldn't. She hoped, by lunch, he had calmed enough to tell her...whatever it was he had kept her back for. Like, perhaps, when her detention was to take place? It might be a good thing to know.
As she reached the class, she tripped on a bit of root, and nearly fell on her face. "Sorry, I'm late, Professor Kettleburn," she gasped, "Professor Dumbledore kept me late." So, not quite true, but what was she going to do? Say, 'Sorry Professor, but the boy that gave me detention as a favor asked me to stay as he fought with professor Dumbledore?' Probably wouldn't go over so well.
Professor Kettleburn looked at Eleanor, and smiled. "Not to worry, my dear. Understandable." He turned to address the class, gesturing to the covered cages spread out behind him. "Jobberknolls. Not wildly dangerous or exciting, but fascinating creatures. Birds." he said. "Three to a cage. Observe, and take notes of everything from appearance to behavior. Off you go."
Kettleburn was not the most eloquent teacher at Hogwarts, needless to say. Ella hopped up to Minny, and dragged her to a cage. "Sorry for, uh, shooing you off. It was quite pointless, really." She lifted the cover on the cage in front of her, and smiled at the beautiful creature in front of her. "Aren't they gorgeous?" she whispered. "They make no sound until the moment they die, and then it spouts out every sound it's ever heard." She thought there was something about it that was truly lovely. She felt like that sometimes. That, the only time she'd ever be able to tell everyone about all she really thought or felt was when she died.
///
"Don't worry about it," Minerva said as Ella apologized. She took one look at the bird and sighed. This would be useful for one thing. Once today's class was done Minerva would be able to transfigure it or something into it. It was starting to become the only thing she cared about. If Dumbledore weren't the Transfiguration teacher Minerva would be planning the take the job in a few years.
"Yes, fascinating," Minerva sniffed, writing down the structure of the bird, the patterns of the wings, the shape of its beak... "So what was it like partnering with Riddle? If I had known you would have been stuck with him I would have partnered with you... but it looked like things went alright."
///
Ella shook her head, and began writing her observations. Minny just didn't understand how amazing it was. Eleanor had always loved animals, but cows, goats, and dogs were nothing compared to what was in front of her now. She remembered how happy she had been when she saw Care of Magical Creatures on the class options. It had taken her no time to decide on it and Ancient Runes. The latter mainly because that was what Minny signed up for.
"Er..." Eleanor swallowed. "Yeah, it was fine. I don't mind him at all. He's very talented, and he makes a good partner." She began sketching the Jobberknoll on another bit of parchment. She wasn't the best artist, but she thought it would make an interesting subject. "A bit on the quiet side, though." The Jobberknoll hopped around the bottom of the cage before opening its small wings and flying up to one of the sticks hung on the bars of the cage.
The Jobberknoll was a tiny thing, and a very vivid blue. She looked around at the rest of the class, and could see that everyone was at a bird already. "We lucked out," she said. "We've got this one to ourselves. Hello, love," she looked at the small thing, and couldn't help but smile. It looked up at her silently, like it was as fascinated with her as she was with it. She wrote that down. Its small yellow eyes seemed to take in all of its surroundings with a curious dignity.
"He's supposed to be coming with me on my detention in the Forest, according to Dumbledore. Tom didn't seem pleased, though." That may have possibly been the largest understatement of the century.
///
"Tom?" Minerva looked at Ella flabbergasted. "Since when were you on first name basis with Riddle?"
All thoughts of notes were forgotten. Instead Minerva was staring at Ella wide eyed, mouth wide open. She managed to pull herself together to close her mouth but couldn't stop looking at Ella. Were the two of them supposed to also be interested in Riddle? Minerva has always been on the impression that the two of them were above such girlhood acts. That they knew they could do better than Riddle.
///
Drat. "Uh...I don't know. It's shorter than saying Riddle all the time, isn't it? And it is his name, Minny." There. Question dodged, Ella hoped. Although, she wasn't quite sure what about it was such a big deal. Was she still trying to hide an extra ten minutes of speech that happened in a Tower, or something else?
///
This matter of the detention would be dealt with first. "Do you know why Riddle wasn't pleased?" Minerva said frowning. "He's always been so fascinated with Hogwarts. Back when we were prefects he was constantly trying to go new ways... I hated partnering with him," Minerva added, sniffing, with her nose slightly in the air. Truth be told she actually enjoyed the exploring of Hogwarts. But she also wanted to do her job right. "But I would have assumed a good reason to go into the Forest... Riddle would have jumped on it..."
///
Eleanor looked at Minerva's frown, and rolled her eyes. "I have no idea why he wasn't thrilled with the idea of roaming about a dangerous forest in the middle of the night when we have a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay due tomorrow, Minny. Do you?" She began adding the speckles to her Jobberknoll sketch carefully, making sure they were all in the right places. "And as for his exploratory tendencies, I think even he knows there's a time and a place. The Forbidden Forest, while Unicorns are being injured, probably isn't it. And If I was a Slytherin Head Boy, chasing after a Gryffindor rule-breaker in that forest would not be something I'd be thrilled about."
However, she'd willingly chase him through the...
Woah. Her dream flashed through her mind, and she felt a blush creep slowly into her cheeks. It had been on the forest's edge, in the middle of the night. Interesting coincidence. Then again, the great hairy groundskeeper had not made an appearance, nor did Tom show any desire at all to kiss her. So coincidence. And...
And wishful thinking.
Again, drat.
///
"Unicorns are being injured!" Minerva spluttered a bit too loudly. Some of the students looked up but Minerva gave them a sharp look and they quickly went back to work. When she spoke again, Minerva lowered her voice. "Have you thought that maybe Riddle is trying to get rid of you? I mean, why else would he send a Muggle-born witch - no offense, Ella - into the forest when it's at its most dangerous and be angry when Dumbledore told him to go with?"
Minerva was angry now. If she weren't Head Girl she would have gladly cursed Riddle and been done with it. The sorry boy needed to be sent straight to the Hospital Wing. St. Mungo's if Minerva could have her way. The nerve of him sending anybody into the forest when there was something out there that could injure a unicorn.
///
Ella looked at her friend in mild disgust. "Honestly, Minny, don't blow this out of proportions. Ogg probably requested that I go with him for my detention," Outright lie, "Because I know how to handle myself around dangerous creatures." True. "And Tom probably agreed." Possibly the truth, but Ella knew Tom had arranged the detention. "And perhaps he angry because he has homework. Or plans with someone. Or maybe he really doesn't want to be around me." She hoped that was a lie. "There is any number of reasons why he wouldn't want to go." Minny was shaking, she was so angry. Her usual look of outrage was on her face, and Ella was beginning to worry about her health, when she spoke again.
///
"I'm going to have a talk with Professor Dumbledore," snarled Minerva, shaking all over. "I'm going to tell him to send me in Riddle's place. That fool..."
///
"No!" Eleanor said a little too loudly. She coughed, and looked down to her Jobberknoll sketch. His beak was too small. She began filling it out, and spoke a bit quieter. "No, Minny, it's perfectly fine, I promise. Just...don't go to Dumbledore. Please? He has his reasons, I'm sure, and I don't want to rock the boat, okay?"
She drew the feet onto her sketch, and looked from it to the bird. It wasn't bad. She blew on the ink for a second, and then tucked it into her textbook. She pulled out the description and wrote down everything she had logged away as she was drawing the Jobberknoll, including its slight tendency to pose for her. It was absolutely adorable. As she finished, she looked around, trying not to look at Minny. "It looks like most everyone's finished," she observed, somewhat lamely.
///
Minerva lips became a thin white line. Her mother always warned her that if she kept making that face her lips would stay that way. It was not one of Minerva's nicer looks but it had become a habit of hers. She couldn't stop it now.
"If you're sure..." Minerva said slowly, finishing up some of her notes. She allowed the conversation to end on that note as class slowly came to a close. They were assigned homework, but it was a simple compare and contrast essay. Hardly worth the roll of parchment that Professor Kettleburn told them to write.
///
"Positive," Ella said firmly. "It's not that big of a deal, really." She finished shoving things into her book bag, which was a bit of a mess, and followed Minny as she made her way back to the castle. Eleanor was still a little worried about how Minny was going to treat Tom if she came across him anytime soon, but she just hoped she would have time to cool her off before they saw him again.
///
"Just be careful, Ella," Minerva said as they packed up their things and made their way back to the castle. "You can't trust Riddle. As much as he might appear to be a nice guy...
She trailed off as they entered the castle because the object of her speech was waiting by the front doors. His eyes flashed as he spotted Eleanor but he didn't move. Minerva sighed.
///
Minerva trailed off, and as Ella caught up to her long-strided friend, she looked up. Her eyes widened a bit, and she smiled widely as she saw Tom lounging against one of the hourglasses next to the front door. His eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for someone in specific, and as she met his eyes, it seemed obvious the someone was her. It was oddly fascinating. Ella knew Minny wasn't going to be happy, but she certainly was. She heard Minny say something, and turned to her friend.
"I'll save you a seat..."She heard Minerva say.
"Yes, thanks," she said absentmindedly. As Minny walked off, Eleanor approached Tom. As she reached him, she stopped and stood a bit awkwardly. "Hi," she said, smiling slightly. She didn't know what exactly was going on, but she knew Tom had wanted to talk to her before Transfiguration had ended. He was so upset after the class, and it was her fault. She looked at his face, and met his eyes, a very difficult thing to do. They were so dark..."Look, I'm sorry about the detention. I know..." she took a breath, "I know you have better things to be doing, and if it wasn't for me, you'd be doing them, and..." She brushed a bit of hair out of her face. "I'm sorry."
///
It was actually amusing. Eleanor was taking all the blame, wrapping it up into a nice easy package that Tom would rather be doing something out, and apologized. Very well executed. Completely idiotic. But Tom smiled none the less.
"You," he said, pointing a finger at Eleanor's forehead. "Are jumping to conclusions…"
He let that one sink in, his amused smile still plastered on his face. Very few people were actually paying attention in the crowd of students making their way to lunch. Tom didn't care anyways whether anybody saw him. For all they knew he was making fun of Eleanor. Which he was but it was all good natured.
///
Tom's finger was only a few inches from Ella's forehead, and she looked at him, confused. Was she jumping to conclusions? She supposed she had, but it seemed like the only answer was he didn't want to go with her, and she totally understood why, after all, he hadn't done anything to deserve a detention. She stood and looked at him, and his very amused smile. It was sweet paired with his hovering finger and teasing words. His smile was also looking more natural, and it made some of Ella's nerves dissipate. "Am I?"
///
Once his words seemed to have made it into Eleanor's head, he continued. "Dumbledore has always felt as if he could rule my life," Tom explained. A lie, really. Well, a half truth. The statement was true but was not entirely the reason he had been angry. But it would be good enough for Eleanor. "Ever since he told me I was a wizard. So I didn't appreciate him telling me I had to go with you."
///
She blushed slightly. "Oh. Well, that makes sense, I guess. Sorry." She smiled a bit sheepishly. "I guess I do tend to jump to the most obvious conclusion. I just..." she trailed off. It was an odd thought, Dumbledore being so involved in someone's life, and it made Eleanor wonder what Tom's parents were like. If he even had any. She realized she didn't know a thing about the boy's family, only that he never went home for Christmas. Then again, even she had stayed over Christmas a few times, much to the dismay of her mother, who was convinced Christmas wasn't right unless everyone and their aunt Fanny was present. Poor Mum, she thought, Christmas next year will be hard on her, without Jaimy...
///
"I probably would have gone anyway." An interesting thing to add, Tom thought. But probably true enough if he had managed to continue to think about Eleanor after setting up the detention. Though now that Tom thought about it once Minerva found out about the detention she probably would have volunteered to go with. And might have cursed Tom if she had a chance.
"And you can tell Minerva I am a gentleman," Tom said finally, leaving that line open to interpretation. Graham's words about Eleanor being a catch rang in his head and his eyes did a once over. Sure, he could see it. Too bad she was Muggle-born. Though Tom knew from his research that it was entirely possible for a supposed Muggle-born to have wizard blood and not know it. He might have to do some research on the Cooper family tree…
///
She pulled away from that train of thought, and looked back at Tom. "You would have come anyway? But why? Minny did say you liked the Forest, but..." Her brows furrowed. "It's quite dangerous right now, isn't it?" It hardly bothered her for the simple reason that she trusted Ogg, and her own ability with animals to get her out of most pickles. But Tom? He had no need or reason to put himself in unnecessary danger, but he was planning on it anyway? Why in the wide world would he do that?
As he commented on Minny, Ella laughed. "You caught her face, then? She disapproves heartily of anyone going in the Forest right now, least of all you and me. I can pass on your message, but I hardly think it will ease any of her stress." Poor Minny. Ella was never able to stay in Minerva's box of what was safe and in the realm of Hogwarts rules. The fact that Ella always managed to weasel the Prefect's bathroom password out of her was about all that Minny could stand. And now she had been out of bed at night, in an out-of-bounds area, with none other than Tom Riddle, who was the Head Boy, and was serving detention with the same boy, in the middle of the night in the Forbidden Forest was probably more than she could stand/
///
Eleanor was inquiring after why he would have gone into the forest anyways but he ignored the questions. Instead Tom Riddle put on his air of mystery, a glint in his eye that told Eleanor to try and figure it out. He was still standing there amused as the students started to empty out of the Entrance Hall. The noise of the hungry students was slightly muted from the Great Hall.
With nobody watching Tom gave a shrug and pushed away from the hourglass. He only had to take one step closer to Eleanor for them to be pretty much toe to toe. This time, though, Tom wasn't disconcerted because he was the one that had crossed the distance between them. Tom was a tall student and he looked down at Eleanor, a smirk on his face.
He wasn't quite certain what the point of it was, but he'd figure it out eventually. The Dark Lord liked to keep people on their toes and knew that Tom was attractive. He used that to his advantage. Again he thought of Graham's words, about how nobody had been able to get together with Eleanor. Yes, a challenge indeed. An attractive one, now that Tom took the time to look.
"Minerva disapproves of quite a few things," Tom said in a low voice. "Are you going to let her disapproval run your life?"
That said he stepped backwards and to the side so that there was a better distance between the two.
///
When Tom stepped towards her, she felt every nerve in her body turn into a live wire. They were inches apart, and his dark eyes were boring into her own. Breathing? Who needs it? She didn't. Or if she did, she wasn't breathing anyway. There was a slight smirk on his face as e looked down at her. Eleanor's brain was making funny spluttering noises, but thankfully, the pathway from brain to mouth had shut off completely. She saw his eyes study her face, and it very vaguely registered that he seemed to like what he saw.
"I...uh," was all she got out. He stepped back, and suddenly, she was free. "No. No, I won't let it, and I never have," she finally said after she could breathe again. This was going to have to be fixed. How was she supposed to concentrate on her detention if she couldn't think about anything but Tom's perfectly pale skin? Definitely a problem. She'd only just met him, and she was turning into an idiotic teenage girl. No. She shook her head, and it helped slightly. She looked at him, her eyebrows raised. "Did you enjoy that?" She wasn't about to tell him how much she had enjoyed it.
///
He just about answered her. But what, the dark lord asked, what would he say? Yes I enjoy making you squirm. Yes you are quite attractive and if you weren't so entwined in my life I'd use you then leave you. Yes some part of me finds being close to you strangely appealing.
There were too many ears around for Tom to be able to do any of those safely, let alone Eleanor's. He would keep his thoughts to himself. There were still some things he needed to figure out.
Tom watched the girl as she tried to shake the cobwebs out of her head, and finally, she spoke. "By the way, when is this controversial detention? I need to know how long I'll have to complete all the essays I have due Monday."
"Detention is tomorrow at eight," Tom informed her. "If you need help I'll be in the library all day tomorrow. I'm sure Samantha will be happy to bother me… You'd be doing me a favor."
The Dark Lord had decided he didn't need Eleanor's favor anymore. He had other plans for her. Might as well let her off the hook so she didn't feel obligated to him. Still, it was an interesting change of events for Tom.
///
Eleanor snorted. "You mean that simpering girl that tried to get you to help you earlier? It wouldn't be a favor, it would be a rescue mission. Tell me, how many times has she jumped you? Just an approximation?"
///
Tom burst out laughing at this statement. A rescue mission indeed!
"Oh, she's only tried very recently," Tom told Eleanor. "Her most recent boyfriend – a daft Ravenclaw Beater – just dumped her. I'm not sure how much of it is revenge on said Ravenclaw and how much of it is wild emotion finally pushing her to try and get what she thinks she wants."
///
To give her hands something to do, Eleanor tugged her hair free of its large clip and shook it out. It was very tangled, of course, and was slightly wavy, simply because she had put it up wet the day before. She fiddled with it, trying to get it to un-knot as she continued. "Well, eight tomorrow, then. I guess I'll...see you then." She turned and began walking toward the Great Hall. "If I don't decide to rescue you tomorrow afternoon, that is."
///
Tom grinned as Eleanor said a few more parting words before leaving. Once she was out of sight Tom took a deep breath and sat down right where he was standing. He had a few fits of laughter, got angry at himself, moped, laughed again, growled under her breath, and finally pulled himself together. When Tom got to his feet there was a smile on his face but it was one of his more controlled, cold smiles.
Tomorrow would be fun. Maybe he'd go do his essays now so he wouldn't be distracted by them tomorrow.