Chapter 2- No Way to Expect the Unexpected

A/N: Review after reading!

They didn't talk for weeks. When they passed each other in the halls, they both turned their heads in the opposite direction. When they entered the Great Hall at the same time, they pretended the other wasn't there. It went on like that for weeks, until one day, in Potions class.

Tom was lazily stirring his extremely simplistic potion when he heard his name called. He looked up to see Professor Slughorn beaming down at him.

"Tom, I'd like you to work on something more advanced than what you're brewing now. You have too much talent to be working on something so basic. Come to my desk," Professor Slughorn said, beckoning him to the front of the room.

Tom sighed and stood up, thinking that whatever potion Slughorn was going to give him was still going to be too simplistic for him. He reached Slughorn's desk, only to find Cecilia already standing there.

Tom's body went rigid and he stared at her, frowning. She weakly smiled back at him as Slughorn looked between the two, trying to figure out what the tension was all about.

"Tom, I figured the potion I'll be having you make will be too difficult to complete alone, so I asked Cecilia to come and help. You both are the smartest wizard and witch in this group. I hope this won't be a problem, Tom?" Slughorn asked, raising his eyebrows.

Tom looked at Cecilia once more before turning to Professor Slughorn and giving him a tight smile. "Not at all, Professor."

"Very well, then. The instructions for the potion are on the table. I'll be back to check on you in a half hour." Slughorn smiled at Tom and Cecilia once more before walking away.

Tom and Cecilia stood awkwardly together, not knowing what to say. Finally, Cecilia broke the silence, looking down at the instructions for the potion.

"Well," she said hesitantly, "I'll go get the dragon scales. Why don't you start cutting up some spider legs?" She walked off towards the supply cupboard, not waiting for Tom to respond.

He stood, staring after her, for a moment. Come on Tom, he thought, she's just a person. You shouldn't feel this awkward around her. Plus, she's a Gryffindor. You're better than her. Just make the potion and move on. He tried to convince himself that this was the best thing to do, but inside he was longing for closure with Cecilia. Without her, he had no one to talk to. Nobody to express his thoughts to. But as much as he wished to talk to Cecilia again, there was no possible way he could apologize. His Slytherin pride was too great to do such a thing.

"What have you been doing this whole time?"

Tom was suddenly forced back into reality and found Cecilia standing in front of him, her arms loaded with supplies.

"I was just…um," Tom groped for an excuse.

"Never mind," said Cecilia, shaking her head. "Let's just get this over with." She placed the supplies on the table, grabbed some spider legs, and put them in front of Tom. "Start cutting," she instructed.

He began to cut as she started tearing apart dragon scales. An awkward silence hung in the air. Tom finished cutting up the spider legs, and began to throw them into the cauldron. Cecilia poured some sort of fluid Tom didn't recognize into the cauldron and proceeded to tell Tom that they had to wait ten minutes before they could continue the potion.

Tom nodded curtly and leaned against the table. He began to fiddle with his hands, not knowing what else to do. He could feel Cecilia staring at him.

"Tom?" he heard her say after a few minutes of total silence, and he looked up to see her eyes brimming with tears.

Tom coughed and felt his cheeks redden. He didn't know how to deal with a crying girl. "Um, is the potion ready?" he asked, avoiding her gaze.

"We have to stop this," she said, taking a deep breath. "I miss talking with you, Tom. And I know you feel the same way. I also know that you're strange Slytherin pride prevents you from apologizing first. So just listen to me. I'm sorry. For everything."

Tom stared at Cecilia, gauging her sincerity. Finally, he mumbled, "It wasn't really your fault."

"Part of it was, though. I shouldn't have pressed the subject of your jealousy of Laurence. It was obvious you were uncomfortable. If it makes you feel any better, though, Laurence and I are just friends."

Tom didn't say anything. He picked up the ladle that was sitting in the potion, and began stirring slowly. Another round of silence began.

"Just say something, Tom!" Cecilia nearly shouted after a moment. Some of the kids sitting in the classroom began to stare at her, and she bowed her head in embarrassment. Moving closer to Tom, she whispered so that only he could hear, "The silence is becoming unbearable."

"You know what?" Tom said, abruptly dropping the ladle back into the potion and stepping towards Cecilia. She took a step back, startled by his abruptness. "Let's just forget this ever happened. It's no use talking about the past. So it's best-"

Tom saw Professor Slughorn approaching the table and stopped talking. "Ah, Tom, the potion looks wonderful! I see Cecilia is certainly proving to be a big help! Perhaps I should have you two work together more often." Cecilia smiled weakly as Tom stared at his feet, no sign of emotion in his face. "Well," Slughorn said, raising his voice so the rest of the class could hear, "That's all the time we have for today! Tomorrow we'll continue making our Tickling Potions! For tonight, I'd like you all to write a 5,000 word essay on the necessity of these potions during the Witch Hunts of the 1500s."

As everyone began to leave the room, Tom quickly whispered to Cecilia "I'll see you at lunch." before heading out the door towards Transfiguration.

The morning seemed to go on forever, at least, that's how Tom felt. He was quite happy that he was going to be eating lunch with Cecilia again, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Throughout Transfiguration he had images of Cecilia storming out of the Great Hall at something he said, or worse, not even come to eat with him at all. He could just picture her walking into the Great Hall, hand in hand with Laurence, not even looking for Tom, but instead heading straight to the Ravenclaw table. Oh, how embarrassed and infuriated he would be if that were to happen.

Tom got himself so worked up, that when it came time to head to lunch, he had decided that he wouldn't sit down at the Hufflepuff table afterall, but instead head straight to the Slytherin's. Tom Riddle was not going to be the newest embarrassment of Hogwarts. It turned out, though, that Cecilia got to the Great Hall first, and was already sitting at the Hufflepuff table. She was anxiously looking towards the entrance doors, and when she saw Tom, she beckoned him over. Tom sighed in relievement, happy that he didn't have to sit with those pathetic excuses for Slytherins.

"Well, this is certainly nice," Cecilia gushed as Tom sat down across from her. "It's nice to talk to you again, Tom."

"It's nice to talk to you, too," Tom admitted, piling food onto his plate.

Suddenly, it seemed as if Cecilia remembered something, because she became very uncomfortable. "Tom?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" he asked, frowning at Cecilia's nervous expression.

"Do you remember the last time we ate lunch together? You were talking about Muggles?"

Tom snorted. "Oh, I recall. Such useless creatures. And to think that some wizards find out to mate with them. Even worse, to think that there are actually Muggleborns here at this very school!" Just thinking about Muggles brought a sick feeling to Tom's stomach. It felt so nice to express his disgust to someone other than a Slytherin. He could go on for hours about how useless Muggles were. As he talked about this to Cecilia, his voice became louder and louder. But then, Cecilia said something that made him lose his voice altogether.

"I'm Muggleborn."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2! I would be more happy than a newly freed house elf IF YOU WOULD REVIEW! I love reviews. A lot. Almost as much as I love Harry Potter. So...review, review, review, review! =D