Chapter 6

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

"You're bloody mad you are," Draco said after Harry had told him the news of his and Severus' breakup/argument.

"He was using Seamus in some weird stalkerish way and when I confronted him about it he used those reasons for doing it," Harry sighed tiredly.

The entire situation had been tiresome. Ever since he had told Severus that he was done the man was relentless in his apologies. Harry had grown annoyed by the constant calls and text messages and had blatantly ignored the man when he had stopped by. It had been less than a week and Harry was determined to make a point that he was being serious about this. If he caved and just let the man by with it he wouldn't stop.

Sure he was miserable as well, but this was all a part of making the bigger picture better. He had kept himself busy with incessantly cleaning his flat. There really wasn't anything left to clean at the this point, but here he was scrubbing the counter top while Draco sat there and regarded him with a mixture of disgust and awe. He couldn't help it, it was the only thing that kept his hands and mind busy, if he just sat around all day he would definitely cave and text Severus back.

"I'm just saying, my godfather is well annoying and he's even asked me about you," Draco said annoyed.

"Well you never have any problem telling someone to stop or fuck off any other time," Harry said looking up at him.

"You're being rather stoic about this entire thing," Draco said observantly. "Besides he's my godfather and I do sort of feel sorry for him."

"He's been a prick," Harry said scrubbing even harder.

"If you don't cut that out you're going to have to replace your countertops, because they'll be warn away."

"I need to keep busy," Harry sighed. "Between Rita and Severus I'll go mad."

"Speaking of Rita, Hermione has given us a task."

"Which is?"

"We need to break into her office. See if she's got anything in there that could be of use," he answered with a smirk.

"How are we meant to do that?" Harry asked. "I don't know how to pick a lock, do you?"

"That's what the internet is for," Draco said in annoyance. "Neville, has been watching videos on how to pick locks."

"Who is going to be watching Rita while the three of us break into her office?" Harry asked confused.

"Pansy and Blaise. I haven't told them why," Draco held up a hand to stop him. "I just asked them to watch her and update me on what she's up to."

"Right, so Neville can definitely get past the lock?" Harry asked.

"I have all the faith in the world in him," Draco smiled fondly. "Speaking of Neville I need to get back to him."

"Right, I'll see you later then," Harry said following Draco to the door.

After Draco had gone his attention was immediately drawn back to his phone and in an effort to ignore Severus he started pulling everything out of the closet in his sitting room. This was the third time that he had gone through this particular closet in the last few days, but it couldn't hurt. He had just managed to pull everything out into the floor when someone knocked at his didn't know who it could be and sighed at the mess he created before crossing the room to answer it.

He pulled the door open to find himself staring face to face with Tom Riddle. The first thing that came to him was to panic, but he managed to force it down and smile questioningly instead. The man held up a single white rose and gave him a dazzling smile in return.

"Hello," Tom smiled and Harry just managed to stare at him. "The polite thing would be to say hello back," the man prompted him.

"Um hi," Harry managed to breathe out.

"Can I come in?"

"Oh yeah, of course," Harry said stepping aside. "Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess."

"I don't mind," the man said casting a quick glance around. "This is for you."

"Oh, thanks," Harry said accepting the flower and offering a small smile.

"I wanted to bring dozens for you," he admitted after a moment. "But something told me that less is more when it comes to you."

"How did you find out where I live if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked abruptly.

"It's not hard. You made the reservation at the restaurant in your name. My assistant asked around and well here I am."

"I have a boyfriend...well sort of," Harry blurted out and wanted to kick himself.

"Oh, I don't mind. Does he live here?" The man asked curiously while inspecting the area that Harry had been studying.

"No," harry shook his head. "We're sort of still figuring things out to be honest."

"Ah, troubled waters then?"

"Something like that I don't know," Harry frowned. "We were engaged, twice, and now I'm not even sure if we're still together."

"Ah," the man said lightly.

"Sorry, I shouldn't just blurt things out like that. Why did I even tell you that?" Harry said quickly.

"You're very noble, and very beautiful," Tom said after a moment. "Forgive me if I'm being brash, but allow me to be so brazen as to ask you to lunch tomorrow?"

He knew he should turn the man down, but he also had what Hermione had told him sitting at the back of his mind. This could be an opportunity that they might not get again, he reasoned with himself. This was an opportunity to get an in, and try to find out what Skeeter might be up to. He didn't want to do this to Severus though, it wasn't fair. He would go to lunch tomorrow, it was neutral ground, he'd find out what he could and then let the man down gently. He'd tell the man that he and Severus had made up or something. They would just have to find another way to figure things out.

After he had agreed to the lunch date, and the man had left, he briefly debated telling the other's of Tom's proposal. He decided against it and decided that he would only tell them after the entire thing was over with. That way they wouldn't be able to change his mind about not seeing the man again.

This was definitely proving to distract him from Severus. Especially after his phone lit up with a text from Tom saying that he would pick Harry up at noon the following day. That made Harry wonder how the man had managed to obtain his number. Although, it was probably a piece of piss for someone like Tom who had an entire network of skilled individuals working for them.

The next morning Harry was in a right tizzy. He must have changed his clothes four times before finally settling on what to wear. He didn't know why he was so worried about how he looked, and part of him boiled it down to his former escorting career and the need to look right for every occasion. And this occasion just so happened to be a window into everything they were working towards, or at least he hoped so.

Exactly at noon, there was a knock on his door and he readied himself before pulling it open. Tom stood there with a charming smile and offered him another rose. He thanked him and put it in the small vase with the one from the day before.

After a few moments of awkward lingering the man said they should go, and muttered something about a surprise. Harry could feel his stomach doing flip flops and part of him felt extremely guilty over Severus. He kept reminding himself that this wasn't a real date, and it was a means to an end, but his conscious did not lay off at all.

Tom was going on about something, but Harry was too busy talking himself down to pay much attention and did his best to nod and agree in the appropriate places.

"Harry?" Tom asked looking slightly concerned by his distance. "I asked if everything was okay."

"Oh, yeah...well I don't know I sort of feel guilty going out with you I guess," Harry shrugged noncommittally.

"Your honesty is quite refreshing. How about we do this as friends then?" Tom offered and Harry nodded with a small smile. "Good then it's settled!"

Harry felt slightly better after that, but it there was still a tiny nagging voice that would pop up and he would have to push aside. He wasn't going to do anything with the man but talk and have lunch. This wasn't anything to worry about, or at least he hoped not. He didn't know Tom Riddle that well and just knew of his reputation. He tried to stop himself from zoning out and focused on the man who could potentially very dangerous. He couldn't let his guard down today.

They arrived outside of a small restaurant that looked quite posh, and Tom quickly hurried around the car and opened his door for him. Harry nodded at him appreciatively and looked at the restaurant with interest. It looked like the place was closed and he didn't know if Tom had expect this or not.

"It looks like this place is closed," Harry said after a moment. "Maybe we should go somewhere else?"

"It is closed, but only because I had it closed so we could have lunch in peace," Tom grinned slyly. "Come on then let's go in."

Harry followed in a slight stupor. How had the man managed this? Well probably because he had quite an influence and loads of money but nevertheless. Harry didn't understand why he would want to shutdown an entire restaurant just to have lunch with him.

"I'm sorry if this is a bit much," the man confessed after a moment and Harry shrugged.

"It's okay," he mused after a moment and looked around at the place.

"I actually own, well partially own this place," Tom said knowingly and it suddenly made more sense to him. "I thought we could make lunch together."

"That'd be great," Harry nodded and knew that it might be the perfect opportunity to talk to the man.

As he followed Tom into the kitchen he sort of wished that he had at least told Hermione. She would have at least had some advice on how to talk to the man. He was used to talking to strangers and winging it essentially, but something about this felt different. This was more real, this was a part of a something that didn't end in a few hours with whoever he was out with stuff a thousand pounds into his pocket and the two of them going their separate ways.

"So what do you do then?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well I own part of this place and loads of other things I like to think of myself as a dabbler. I have my hands in loads of different pots," he answered vaguely. "And what about you?"

"I'm studying to sit my exams," Harry answered honestly and the man looked surprised.

"How old are you then?" Tom asked a little worried.

"Nineteen," he smiled. "I just sort of said fuck it the first time and didn't show up."

"Ahhh," the man smiled and turned to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. "What do you want to do then?"

"Go to university," Harry shrugged. "I don't know what for yet, I'm just sort of taking it one step at a time."

"A good plan."

Harry wasn't of much use in the kitchen, and idly sat and watched Tom make his own pasta by hand. He was pretty impressed, he had never seen it done before and would have probably just bought whatever he had needed to cook with.

"What're you making then?" Harry asked curiously.

"I'm making ravioli with a mushroom and smoked mozzarella filling."

"Impressive," Harry grinned.

Lunch wasn't very helpful when it came to getting anything useful out of Tom. He asked Harry about where he grew up and Harry told him of living with his aunt and uncle and how he had gotten away the moment he had come of age. Tom told him that he didn't have parents either and was raised in an orphanage, but ran away when he was 16 and had gotten a job and made a name for himself. He was incredibly vague about his line of work, but Harry already knew what the man did and what he was capable of.

It was strange to see someone who he had read and heard all of these horrible things about act positively normal. He wouldn't be able to pick him out of a lineup if given the opportunity. Harry began to assume that Tom Riddle kept his two worlds very separate. He might be a notorious villain when he was getting work done, but when he was away from it all he was just Tom who owned a restaurant and liked football a lot. The man had probably never dirtied his hands in his entire life, and he sort of felt like Tom would be able to talk anyone into doing anything for him. Meeting the man definitely cleared things up as far as the man never having been charged before.

After lunch Tom asked him if he would like to walk the short distance to his flat and Harry hesitantly agreed. Nothing useful came out of the man then either, and Harry wasn't sure how to probe for more. It was much too soon to be too forward and arouse suspicion. The most he got out of the man was an animated chat about big of a Liverpool FC supporter he was and Harry had confessed that he used to be a big fan of football and had played a bit, but lately hadn't kept up with anything.

"I'll take you to a game sometime," Tom smiled down at him.

"That'd be lovely," Harry tried to sound appreciative.

"I'd like to see you again," the man confessed as they stopped outside of Harry's flat.

"Erm," Harry started but the man held up a hand to stop him instead.

"Don't decide yet. Just think about it and if you'd like to go out again text or call me," Tom smiled and the car that had picked them up pulled up in front of Harry's flat.

"Alright," Harry nodded.

"Today was a real pleasure. Hopefully, I will see you soon," Tom said placing a kiss on his cheek. "Goodbye, Harry."

"Goodbye," Harry said rubbing the spot that he had been kissed.

He waited for the man to pull away before he went inside. Before, he could make it to his door he had his phone out and was dialing Draco's number. He needed to tell someone and the first person he wanted to tell was Draco.

Tom wasn't a bad bloke, well he was, but as far as the date had gone he had been a perfect gentleman. It was a nice date Harry decided, but it wasn't Severus. Nothing would measure up to meeting the man on New Years and the immediate pull he had felt towards him. He felt guilty again and fought the urge to call Severus, they both needed space and he didn't want to break in a moment of desperation and then push the man away again a few days later.

He was really confused, and he didn't think he'd see Tom again. The man was dangerous and so was what they were doing. He didn't want Tom to find out that he was using him, or for Severus to find out and make the wrong assumption. He might have sort of broken up with the man, but he didn't want to hurt him in this way. He worried that Severus might not ever forgive him if he found out about Tom and their date.

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing!