Chapter 3- Friends Are Enemies in Disguise

Silence. Tom had no idea how to react. His best friend had just told him that she was Muggleborn. That was impossible. Muggleborns were different. They were stupid. Tom could easily make out the difference between Muggleborns and purebloods. There were startling differences between the two races. Yet, how could he not have been able to tell that Cecilia was Muggleborn? He stared at her as if he had never seen her before, trying to find the characteristics all Muggleborns have, but not being to find any on Cecilia.

"You're lying," Tom said quietly. That was the only logical explanation.

Cecilia shook her head, "I'm serious, Tom."

"Cecilia," Tom said tightly, "I don't appreciate these jokes. You know how seriously I take these kinds of things."

"I told you I was serious!" Cecilia said exasperatedly.

"You can't be," Tom forcefully said, leaning towards her. "I know what Muggleborns are. You can't possibly be one of them. They're dirty fakers who should be the ones serving us purebloods. They should-"

"I'M ONE OF THEM. JUST ACCEPT IT," Cecilia shouted, standing up. Some of the Hufflepuffs sitting near them began to stare, wide-eyed, until Tom gave them all deadly glares.

"Would you sit down?" Tom whispered urgently, grabbing Cecilia's arm and pulling her back down into her seat. In the back of his mind, he thought that he should be disgusted that he was touching a Muggleborn, but he shook away the thought quickly. "Does anybody else know about this?" Tom asked her quietly.

"No, because nobody else seems to care like you do, but if somebody asked, I would proudly say that I was Muggleborn."

"Don't," Tom began, his voice sounding deadly, "say anything to anyone. You can't let anybody know of this."

"Well why not?" Cecilia asked, frowning.

"I just don't think it'd do you any good to tell anyone," Tom said, avoiding her eyes.

"Or are you just embarrassed? If you're embarrassed by me, Tom, you can go. You don't have to stay here with me. I'll be fine on my own. I do have other friends, you know."

"Just give time to think about this," Tom said, ignoring her jab about "other friends". He stood up and began to gather his things. "I'll talk to you tomorrow at lunch. For dinner tonight, just sit with somebody else, like Laurence." His nose wrinkled in disgust when he said "Laurence".

"Don't tell me what to do," Cecilia said, matching Tom's deadly tone perfectly. She quickly gathered her things and swept out of the Great Hall. Tom groaned. He could feel a gigantic headache approaching.

He went through the rest of his day trying to avoid thinking about Cecilia , but knowing that it was inevitable. When dinner came, he sat with Zion and the other Slytherins, noticing that Cecilia was, in fact, sitting with Laurence. She seemed to be having a good time, too. At least, a better time than Tom was having.

He had no patience for the immature jokes the Slytherins shared with each other, and he had even less patience for their seemingly "intelligent" conversations about Muggles. They actually believed Muggles kept rubber ducks as pets and used car keys to trim nose hairs. Tom could only sigh and shake his head; he had lost faith in the intelligence of the Slytherin house a long time ago.

When the time came to go to bed, Tom stayed in the Slytherin common room, knowing that there was no way he could sleep with thoughts of Cecilia still fresh in his mind. He wasn't the only one who stayed in the common room; Zion also decided to hang back.

"Hey Tom," Zion called, a couple of minutes after Tom had begun dissecting his feelings for Cecilia.

"What?" he asked, turning his head towards Zion, who was sitting on top of the wizard chess table.

"You and Cecilia seem to be spending a lot of time together," Zion remarked.

Tom didn't answer, but turned back to facing the fireplace.

"Well?" Zion asked, and it seemed as if he was trying to get at something.

"Well what?" Tom asked, annoyed at the interruptions.

"Are you two, you know, together?"

Tom rolled his eyes. "Of course not," he said, "You of all people should know that Gryffindors and Slytherins don't belong together."

"Yes, I know, but it does seem like you two spend a lot of time together."

Tom stood up and moved closer to Zion. "Is it really any of your business who I spend time with? Maybe I want to have an intellectual conversation once in a while. Since none of the other Slytherins seem to know how to, I have to go find other company."

Zion hopped off the chess table and moved closer to Tom, until they were directly in front of each other. "Are you implying that I'm stupid?" Zion asked quietly, glaring at Tom.

Tom laughed and rolled his eyes, moving away from Zion. "Of course not," he began, "It's just that there are others out there that are more intelligent."

"So what you're saying is that Cecilia is more intelligent than me? Am I to understand that you believe that a Gryffindor is more smarter than a Slytherin?"

Tom just shook his head and sat back down in his seat by the fire. "I don't want to have this conversation, Zion."

"You know what I heard?" Zion asked, his voice becoming malicious.

"What?" Tom asked, even though he really didn't care.

"Cecilia is a Mudblood."

Tom froze for a second, his eyes wide, before he regained his composure. "And where'd you hear that from?" he asked, making sure he sounded like he didn't care.

"Oh, no one imparticular. But isn't it just obvious? Just by looking at her you can tell. I'm surprised you haven't seen it before, Tom."

Tom rolled his eyes, as anger began to build up inside of him. "You know me well enough to know that I can spot a Mudblood from a mile away, Zion. Wouldn't you think I would be able to tell if Cecilia was a Mudblood?"

"Maybe you have known, Tom," Zion said darkly, "But if that's true, then why would you be eating meals with her?"

Tom didn't answer, but instead just stared into the fire.

Zion came up behind him and put his hands on the back of Tom's chair. "If the rest of the Slytherin house was to find out that you were best friends with a Mudblood, they'd turn your life into a living hell, Tom," he said threateningly.

Tom continued to stare into the fire, no emotions crossing his face.

"Maybe I'd be the one to tell them…that is, if I was given a reason to."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" Tom asked, his face twisted in disgust.

"Perhaps," Zion said, nonchalant. "I think it'd be smart of you to eat meals with us "stupid" Slytherins from now on Tom. I'd also think it would be smart of you to never talk to that filthy Mudblood again. Unless of course, you don't mind the whole Slytherin house knowing what you're doing," Zion's voice lowered to a whisper.

Tom stood up quickly, anger seeping from him. "And what is it that I'm doing exactly, Zion?"

"You're hanging around the Mudblood!"

"How many times will I have to tell you that she's not a Mudblood before it gets through your thick skull?"

"I'd watch it, Tom."

"Screw you," Tom muttered, rolling his eyes. He walked past Zion, and without another word, walked up to his dorm room.

Lying in his bed, Tom was even more unsettled than he was before. How dare Zion try to blackmail him. How did he even know that Cecilia was a Mudblood? Unless Cecilia lied to him, and actually had told somebody besides himself. If that was the case, then there was no need to even consider remaining friends eith her; the fact that she lied to him was enough to end their friendship altogether. Cecilia wasn't a person who normally lied, though. In fact, she was perfect, except for the fact that she's a Mudblood. And, the longer Tom thought about it, the more reasons he found to stay her friend. Who cares what the rest of the Slytherin house would say? Damn them all. When he would rise to power in the future (which he knew he would), he'd kill them all mercilessly.

Tom slept soundly that night, confident that he made the right choice.

He was so eager to continue his friendship with Cecilia, that he couldn't wait until that afternoon to talk to her. Instead, he marched up to her at the Ravenclawduring breakfast, politely asking for a moment alone with her, to which she agreed. She smiled apologetically at her friends, including Laurence, which Tom definitely noted. He also noted the fact that all the people Cecilia was sitting with seemed very disturbed and on edge, especially Laurence. Cecilia got up, and with a

They went over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down. Cecilia looked terribly uncomfortable as Tom began to speak, "Cecilia, I thought it over long and hard last night and-"

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out.

A/N:
Like where I'm going with this? MENTION IT WHEN YOU REVIEW. Hate where I'm going with this? MENTION IT IN YOUR REVIEW. Pregnant Cecilia can definitely be changed to Unpregnant Cecilia if a lot of people have problems. But I can't know unless you REVIEW! I'll even enjoy reviews that just talk about Voldemort's nose. Basically, REVIEW. Oh, and hope you enjoyed this chapter =)