Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters!

Chapter 8

Later that Night

Tom was surrounded by his favourite people—Avery, Lestrange, and Mulciber, at the dinner table that night, but he barely ate anything. He was too nervous. He was staring at his watch, and at approximately six o'clock, Emma slid into the seat next to him.

"Hey." She said breathlessly, sending him a small smile. Dumbledore wasn't one to have an early supper, so he was part of the majority of the school that hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey." He said, watching her with a slight smile on his face. She took some food, shovelling roast beef and mashed potatoes onto her plate. She looked over at him and blushed, brushing her hand slightly over his under the table. His skin tingled, and he knew he was beginning to get these things that girls called "butterflies" in his stomach, because it felt as though little tiny bugs were fluttering inside of his body and wouldn't sit still.

"Are you going to eat anything?" She asked, bringing that hand back up to move a lock of hair out of her face. He shook his head.

"I'm not hungry."

Emma frowned. "Thomas, you should eat something." She said quietly, "Or you'll pass out early on me tonight, and we have rounds."

"Fine." He picked up his fork and took scoop of mashed potatoes off of her plate. Emma rolled her eyes as she went back to eating in silence.

Out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw Dumbledore sweep into the hall. She looked at her watch. Six ten. Emma slowly moved farther away from Tom so their shoulders weren't so obviously brushing. She fixed her smile on Avery, who was across from her.

"Robert, how have you been lately, darling? I feel as though we haven't spoken in ages."

Tom, who knew that her affectionate words were only for "Dumbledore acting" as they liked to call it, couldn't help but think that Avery looked much too excited.

The black haired boy smiled at Emma. "I'm even more incredible now, my dear." He said, a corny ring to his tone. Mulciber, who was sitting next to Avery, gagged.

"How's your lovely fiancé, Mary?" Emma asked with a smirk on his face. Avery, who was unfortunate enough to have extremely traditional parents, was already engaged to his future wife, who was predetermined. Mary Kindsworth was only in her fourth year.

"Irrelevant, Em." Avery replied, grinning at her. Most girls would take offense to his lack of respect towards his "woman," but he knew that Emma was different. She'd embrace it.

"I agree." She stood up and walked around the table, making sure to pass Albus Dumbledore, and sat down next to him, making sure to sidle up very close.

Tom raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. It was all acting. Emma shot him an apologetic look, and then inwardly frowned. She was "acting," but she'd always thought Robert was good looking. Not as good as Tom, of course, but she couldn't have him in her mind. Avery could be a distraction from the dark and mysterious young man sitting across from her.

"Emma!" The loud, obnoxious voice called from the end of the table. She knew that voice anywhere, of course, since he was her actually current boyfriend. Abraxas raised an eyebrow as he studied the proximity between his two friends, but then decided that as long as Emma wasn't next to Tom, he was happy. The platinum blond haired boy wedged his way between Emma and Robert, taking his girlfriend's hand in his. "I've been looking for you everywhere." He said exasperatedly.

Emma smiled innocently at him. "I've just been in the library." She said, "Working on one of my many essays. You must have better things to do than look for me all day though, Malfoy," she paused, "What with all the NEWT assignments you've been complaining about."

A chuckle could be heard from the other side of the table, but Emma didn't acknowledge it—Dumbledore was walking their way.

"Good evening, Miss Ashwood." She could feel his presence right behind her, and she turned around, putting a carefully constructed, dangerous smile on her face.

"Hello, Professor." She cocked her head to the side, "Anything I can do for you tonight?"

"Actually, I was hoping you'd take a walk with me." Dumbledore said quietly. Emma could feel a couple sets of eyes on her, but one pair in particular, burning into her skull. She didn't dare cast a glance at him.

"I have a meeting with Professor Slughorn at seven, and I don't really want to be late."

"This won't take long, Miss Ashwood," Dumbledore replied gravely. She shrugged, and let go of Abraxas' hand, following Dumbledore out of the Great Hall.

"What is it you would like to speak to me about?" Emma asked innocently, biting her lip a little bit for a nervous effect.

"How is your fifth year going?"

"A bit hard, sir." Emma answered honestly, "I think that all the teachers intend on killing us with assignments."

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sure you'll do just fine, Miss Ashwood. You're quite the bright young witch—but even so, I'm sure that some of your classmates can help you out."

Emma almost laughed. "Sir, I'm sure that we can be in agreement that the Slytherin bunch aren't exactly the brightest."

"Mr. Riddle is probably one of the brightest wizards in the school. I'm sure if you asked Tom to help you, he'd gladly be of assistance."

"I guess I could." Emma said, trying to look thoughtful, "I've never really spoken to Tom outside of our Prefect rounds, before."

"Really?"Dumbledore looked genuinely confused, "I was under the impression that the two of you... seemingly having so much in common, would become quite close."

"What do Tom and I have in common?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Your talent and brightness, for one. You're both highly popular amongst all the students—no matter what house they're in. You share friends and a house, and you're both masters at the craft of deceptiveness." He finished off with a menacing look, but Emma, who knew he was absolutely right, did not let the surprise show on her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir." She said slowly, "But," She looked at her watch, "I have to meet up with Professor Slughorn, and I would like a chance to finish my supper."

"Alright." Dumbledore said softly, "And, Miss Ashwood, it might interest you to know that Olive Hornby has already made a full recovery."

Shit. Emma couldn't let the surprise slip off of her face this time—she knew that her eyes had widened and her eyebrows rose significantly, and the look of triumph on Albus Dumbledore's face was enough for her to know that he'd seen it. She gave him one last cool smile—in attempt to save her composure—and strutted back into the Great Hall.

"Is everything alright, Emma?" Abraxas asked immediately. She turned to face him and smirked, nodding her head.

"Fine." She said sharply, "But Tom and I have a meeting with Slughorn in a few minutes. We'd better head off." Dumbledore hadn't returned to the Great Hall, so she figured that they could get away with leaving together.

"I thought you said that meeting wasn't until seven?" Malfoy asked, a slight growl to his voice. Emma opened her mouth to answer, but Tom beat her to it.

"Emma and I have a couple of questions to ask Horace about our essays. We just need some time to prepare them so we don't end up looking completely stupid in front of him. I didn't really think it was your business, Malfoy."

"Be nice, Tom." Emma scolded dangerously. He turned to glare at her, and saw nothing but tension in the younger girl's face. She was stressing, and bad. He shut up, and ignored whatever smart retort Malfoy had mumbled under his breath.

Emma began to walk out of the Great Hall, and Tom followed her out, practically having to run to keep up with her pace. "Where's the fire?" He asked, finally catching up. She was looking around from side to side, acting paranoid.

She ignored him until they got back to the Common Room, and Tom grabbed her shoulders, staring her right in the eyes. "Emma. What happened?"

"He knows, Tom. The stupid old man knows."

"He knows what?" Tom asked, trying to remain as calm on the inside as he was projecting.

"He knows that we're friends. He knows that Olive is my fault."

"What did he say to you?"

They went through the conversation, and finally, Tom sat down next to Emma on the couch. "It sounds as though he knows and suspects a lot. He has absolutely no evidence to prove it though. Don't worry, Emma." He said, putting his hand on her arm again in a comforting gesture. To Emma, it was both comforting and unsettling. It was very un-Tom-like to be "comforting."

She looked at her watch quickly. Six fifty five. She stood up abruptly, and said, 'We'd better go see Sluggy-boy before we're late and he ditches us."

Tom raised an eyebrow, not acknowledging her nickname. "Yes, we'd better head over to his office."

The walk over to Slughorn's office was very short, as it was just down the corridor from the Slytherin Common Room. Emma knocked three short times, and when she heard a faint "Come in!" she turned the knob and walked in through the door, Tom following so closely behind her that she could almost feel his breath on the back of her neck.

"Emma, dear. What is it that you needed to talk so desperately to me about?" Slughorn asked once he saw her walk into the main part of the room.

"Tom and I, have been working on a bit of investigative research." Emma said slowly, sitting across from the professor at his desk, "We're missing some key facts though, and were wondering if you might be able to help us."

"Certainly, dear. Anything." Slughorn said greasily, looking uneasily at Tom, who had conjured another chair and taken a seat.

Emma smiled sweetly at him. "We're doing a project—mostly family based, seeing as Thomas is the last remaining relative of Salazar Slytherin." The two of them decided that divulging this much information to Slughorn wouldn't hurt them one bit; even if the stupid man was smart enough to put two and two together, he'd never tell. He was too intimidated by Tom.

"The last remaining relative? Surely that can't be?"

Tom smiled, "I have yet to call on my uncle to check if he's alive still or not." It was meant to be a light hearted joke, but both Tom and Emma were quite aware that he would be the last remaining descendant of Slytherin come the summer.

"Ah, well then what is it you wish to know, dear boy?"

Tom smiled, and Emma was also smiling serenely. To Slughorn, it was very disturbing. "We were wondering where Slytherin's original quarters in the castle was? I know that he was moved down to the dungeons very shortly after the first couple years the school was opened, but I'm just very unsure about the whereabouts of his first home."

"Well, Tom," Slughorn snuck a look at Emma, who bit her lip, "There is much speculation that he was on one of the lower floors, but certainly not in the dungeon. I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. If you two want to do some more investigation—I'd check classrooms and areas that are attached to bathrooms. I know that Slytherin had his own private lavatory, and it was most likely changed to a common bathroom after he moved out—so they wouldn't have to change the plumbing."

"Thank you, sir. Emma and I will have to go do some "investigative work" as you suggested." Tom stood up, indicating that their business was finished.

"Anytime, Tom." Slughorn smiled, and looked back at Emma, "Are you...ahem..." He looked back at Tom again, "Sure that there's nothing else I can do for you?"

Emma held back a laugh, and looked over at Tom for help. "Sir, Em and I need to go do Prefect rounds now." He said, walking over to Emma and grabbing her hand, beginning to tug her out of the room, "Thanks again!"

"Wow what a creeper." Emma said the second they were out of ear shot of his office, "Ever creepy teacher."

"I didn't think he was that bad, Em." Tom rolled his eyes, "As in, I've seen Slughorn be more inappropriate around you."

"That's true. But he's also inappropriate around Mulciber, trying to get with his older sister."

"Really?" Tom seemed to shudder, "That's disturbing."

"Yeah, kind of." Emma smiled, "So what are we doing now?"

"We'll do some of our essay in the Common Room, go do rounds, and go look for Slytherin's lair."

A/N: I kind of enjoyed writing this chapter, filled with all the teenage drama and banter. Have to add that in at some point, so I hope you enjoyed reading it! Thank you to all the lovely reviewers, they always make my day, and every one who subscribed to alerts. "Seduction" is my most popular story on this site (out of like three), and it's the one that I put the most effort into so thank you! Just an added note, the next chapter follows after this one directly, but after that there will be a time skip probably...

Thanks for reading!