Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters!

Chapter Ten: Continuation.

She stared at him with a look that mixed awe and anger. "You found it? Seriously?"

"Yes." Tom grinned, but his triumphant look slid off his face a bit as he saw her smile turn into a frown. He knew what Emma would say next.

"You went looking without me?"

"It's imperative that we complete this mission." He hissed, "I'm sorry I went without you, but you need to understand that it will take more time than this to figure out how to control the monster."

"Can we go down there?" Emma disregarded his entire statement.

He stared at her. "What?"

"Can. We. Go. Down. There?"

"Emma... that is so incredibly dangerous. I haven't even been yet; I can't, in good conscience, take you down there with me!"

"You do have to, Tom. Because we're in this together."

That's what Tom didn't like. Although Emma constantly reminded him that he was her best friend and that the deviance they created was together and that they were a team... he didn't like that! It was nice to have her. She was great company, she was smart and funny and pretty, and she was the best of the best for helping him to learn Dark Spells, but they couldn't be a team.

Tom Riddle worked with no one.

"I know what you're going to say." Emma interrupted his thoughts, "We aren't a team. You don't work with people. But in this case, who started this... you know—hate thing back in First Year? Me. You wouldn't have learned about your heritage at such a young age if I hadn't asked you why you were in Slytherin, and you wouldn't have learned about the old Pureblood prejudice that our beloved Salazar believed in if it weren't for me. At least, not at the age of eleven. Who knows? You might just be figuring it out now, or maybe even later on in life! Tom, I'm not asking you to involve me in everything in your life. I sure as hell am not interested in some of your finer plans. But this? This, I am interested in, and I refuse to let you leave me out of it."

He glared at her. She had a point but he was the heir of Slytherin. This was his battle. Emma took a step closer to Tom, and he didn't back down. He wouldn't show her his weakness.

Out of the corner of her eyes, the blonde girl looked around the room to make sure there was nobody watching. She was lucky. Abraxas had slipped out the door a few minutes earlier, and everyone else was paying attention to their homework or their friends. She took a step closer to Tom, so that they were only separated by a few inches. He didn't back off. She smirked.

"Nervous?" She breathed, taking another step towards him, so that they were separated merely by inches. He looked into her eyes, and his breath hitched.

"No."

She moved her head in closer to his face, so their noses were almost touching. "Nervous?" She asked again, her breath lightly hitting his face. He tried not to breathe in, not because her breath smelled bad or anything, but because he knew if he did, he'd probably kiss her. He had to hold his breath so that he wouldn't do something stupid. Or... that's how he rationalized it in his head.

Instead of vocally saying it, he shook his head "no."

She moved closer, so her body pressed his up against the wall. He breathed in again, trying not to focus on her body, warmly pressed right up against his. He tried to resist the urge to wrap his arms around her body and pull her lips up to his. He had to resist giving in.

"Are you nervous." She looked up into his eyes—their lips were barely touching, and it wasn't a question anymore... kind of. She could see the conflict in his eyes, and instead of responding, he reacted in a way she wasn't expecting.

When Emma decided to test Tom, she knew he'd either back down or give in...or get mad at her and tell her to stop fooling around.

She didn't expect him to wrap his arms around her and pull her closer, if that was even possible, and pull her up so they were eye level. Actually, she didn't think that he even had that kind of strength. He tilted his head and brought his lips to meet her own.

Emma could feel Tom's heart—and she was afraid it would beat right out of his chest. It was as though he was so sure of his decision to kiss her, and then there was hesitance... and she felt it too. She was kissing her best friend. She took a few more seconds to savour their once in a lifetime kiss, and before she could pull away, Tom seemed to get more comfortable. He brought her in even closer, as if gripping onto her for dear life, and parted his mouth.

Tom couldn't believe it. He was kissing Emma. Her tongue was in his mouth. It was such a foreign concept, but he liked being able to have her so close to him. He kissed her even harder, pouring all of his emotions into it. The feeling of her lips moving against his drove him insane.

And too soon, she broke away from him, taking a deep breath. "Wow."

"Wow." He agreed, honestly at a loss for words.

"Wow, Tom Riddle has nothing to say." Emma noticed as well, "That's a first."

"Oh shut up." Tom growled, and he pulled her into another kiss.

Eventually, Emma pulled away again, and Tom grinned at her. "I still won't take you down with me." He winked, and walked back up to his dormitory, leaving Emma stunned.

Weeks passed, and soon Christmas was upon Hogwarts. In the weeks following their little incident in the Common Room, neither Tom nor Emma had put much thought into the Chamber of Secrets, knowing that they'd have to wait until after Christmas anyways, and Emma never brought the subject of her coming along up again.

At the same time, they hadn't kissed again since that fateful night, although they became much closer physically. He'd hold her hand under the table, or she'd touch his face and hair more often than before. Other than that, their friendship was nothing more than normal.

"Are you staying at school again this year?" Emma asked a week before the break started. They were sitting in the Room of Requirement, waiting to start their Prefect duties.

"Yeah." Tom said quietly, "I guess so."

"My mum wrote to me last week and asked if you wanted to come along for the holidays this year."

Tom looked at her, reading her facial expression carefully. He wondered if she'd want him there.

"And?"

"It's your sixteenth birthday, which is kind of special. To me, at least. And you shouldn't really be alone on Christmas and..."

She left off when Tom put a finger over her lips.

"I'll come home with you." He said slowly, standing up. "But let's go do our rounds now."

A/N: This is short but vital. Sorry it's so short! The next one should be longer, I just didn't want to open a whole new can of worms by continuing. I hope this wasn't anticlimatic or anything ;) Stay in tune for the next chapter sometime this week, and most importantly: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK. I don't beg for it, but I appreciate it for sure!