New Environment

Luna woke to a great bustling where the students had woken for breakfast the next day. Thankfully, none of them had decided to take a pit stop at the arm chair and sit on it for they would've found a very large, invisible object preventing them from it. Luna sat very still, wary that some of the students might hear her rustling cloak. She waited for the last group of students to pass out of the portrait hole and then followed suit.

Seeing the great chatter around her, Luna felt a little more at ease as if she was back at the Hogwarts she knew. Although none of these students looked familiar to her and none of them could see her, students were students: they gossiped about the same things. She was beginning to get the same spring back into her step. Her eye caught on the oil paintings on the walls along the corridor and they seemed to have been moved around. It was odd, because Luna didn't recognize any of them and of course she'd know since she's wandered around the corridors many a times in her free time.

Luna's eyes were still captured on the paintings as she descended the last set of staircase to the Great Hall before she bumped so abruptly into someone that she let out a small yelp. Luna turned to look at who it was and thought 'oh no'.

"S-sorry," she muttered softly with her head hanging down. It seemed as if walking into Tom Riddle was a common thing she did now. She was too afraid to meet him again face to face, fearing the cold, stern look he would give her.

"It would do well for you to pay attention to where you're walking. If it had been someone else you had walked into, there would've been much confusion as to who pushed the poor child," Riddle scolded in a low voice so as to not draw any attention. "What are you doing down here?"

Luna finally looked up at him with her protuberant eyes. "Breakfast," she said simply. However, as she thought more about it, she realized she wasn't even hungry. It felt like she had just eaten breakfast a few minutes ago. That's odd, she thought. She had followed the other students out of the common room because it was the routine she had followed since first year. It was out of habit to wake up and come down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It never occurred to her that she was quite full.

Riddle clenched his fists. "Are you trying to play a simpleton or are you really daft?"

Luna tried to hide the effect of the words on her, but failed. She was used to being called all sorts of names. However, she had never been called outright stupid, because of course she wasn't! She was a Ravenclaw after all. Ravenclaws were clever and bright. Luna was clever and bright in the way that she chose to be. Tom's words struck a chord in her.

Riddle noticed her reaction immediately. Usually, this would have caused him satisfaction to know that he made someone feel inferior to him. That's why he felt odd when the usual surge of superiority didn't wash over him this time. He pushed this thought aside and asked, "Haven't you thought about where you're going to sit at the Ravenclaw table without bumping into someone? Wouldn't someone see food disappear in front of them as you ate? Have you thought about that?"

Luna shook her head once without looking up. She was worried that if he looked at her again, her emotions would break and overflow her eyes. Luna was not prepared to cry in front of Tom Riddle.

Riddle heaved a sigh and dusted off the front of his robes although nothing had landed on it. "Go up to the third floor and wait for me in the third classroom on the left hand side."

Curious, Luna lifted her head slightly, while still avoiding to meet Riddle's eyes, and asked, "Why?"

Riddle bit down on his lip hard. He didn't want to lose his temper. He rarely did so, especially outside the Great Hall where everyone would hear. He took a deep breath to steady his voice and calmly said, "Just do as I say and go now." He willed the girl to look up into his eyes and not surprisingly, she did. Seeing his gaze, at once she ran back up the stairs from whence she came and disappeared around the corner. Riddle's glare always got what he wanted.

He walked into the Great Hall, not noticing the different reactions he was eliciting from the boys and girls, and took his usual seat at the Slytherin table. "Nott," he nodded curtly to a boy with jet black hair gelled back upon a gaunt face. "Abraxis," again to another boy with dark brown curly hair and a thick neck.

"Riddle," they replied in unison. Their previous slouched frame immediately erected.

Nott and Abraxis were a couple of Riddle's followers as he would like to call them. Earlier in his fourth year, Riddle had started a little club in where they shared their likeness towards the Dark Arts. Riddle, who knew the most about the Dark Arts and who had started the club, naturally was the leader. His followers were a lucky few that he had deemed slightly less pathetic and slightly more useful than the rest of the school's population. They met every Saturday night in a deserted classroom in the dungeons to practice their dark magic and to make plans for their years after Hogwarts. All Riddle knew was that he wanted to become the most powerful wizard in the world, have every wizard and witch to fear him, and he would stop at nothing to achieve this. Evidently, he was on course as almost the entire student body already feared him.

Riddle ate his breakfast swiftly without speaking a single word to the others. Once he had finished, he laid out a few napkins and wrapped in it a couple of cornish pasties and a blueberry muffin. He levitated it behind him and left the Great Hall, telling the boys he would see them in History of Magic next.
He hesitated mid-step on the staircase. Why was he bringing food for this girl he knew nothing about, for a girl he wanted nothing but to get rid of? He turned around to head back to the Great Hall to dispose of the food but stopped again. She has got to eat sometime hasn't she? This mystery wasn't solved yet and there was no way he was going to let her out of his sight until he does. If it means feeding her too, then so be it. Riddle reversed and took another step up before he halted yet again. Why was he being so nice to her? This had never happened before and shouldn't ever. If she's hungry, she should go find food herself. He swiveled around and found a couple of second year Hufflepuffs whispering and giggling at him at the bottom of the stairs. At the sight of his penetrating eyes, the girls immediately stopped talking. A single "What?" sent the girls flying out of the hall.

Riddle was really infuriated now. No one ever made fun of him and they weren't about to start now because of this bumbling idiot. Who was she to make him indecisive for once? He had never acted this way before and was shocked for once by his own actions towards this girl. Why was she so different from the rest of them? Riddle fumed and his eyes clouded into a deep moss green that the whole school had come to know very well. Absolutely no one was getting in his way to become the greatest wizard there ever was. Not Dumbledore, and certainly not Luna Lovegood. He stormed up the final sets of staircases and left the cornish pasties and muffin levitating on the first floor.

Luna sat in the classroom nervously waiting for Riddle. She didn't dare move from the room, afraid that she would suffer his penetrating glare again. Given the time she had, she went over yesterday in her head to try and figure out where her day had gone very wrong. She remembered waking up to Matilda's shriek, going down for breakfast, talking to Ginny, and then going to Professor Dumbledore's office. That was the last clear memory she had of the day. Did she even get to the office? What happened in the office?

"What are you thinking about?" Riddle was standing right in front of her desk with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Luna noticed that he was in a much fouler mood than he was before breakfast. His urgent demand to know the answer was apparent in every sort of way from his stare to the way his feet were placed. She debated in her head whether or not she should tell him everything. Immediately she noticed he picked up on her hesitation. Before she could open her mouth, Riddle's face was mere inches in front of hers.

His eyebrows were low upon his dark green eyes, which had now thinned to slits. Luna could feel the anger and frustration emitting from his eyes. They seemed to have frozen her to her seat and she couldn't move. "If I were you, I'd choose my words carefully." His eyes moved down to something around her neck and then back up to her face. "Deceiving me is the last thing you would want to do." He took one last lingering look, making sure his words rang clear in her head, then stepped back to allow her to speak.

Luna felt the pressure upon her body lift. She could move again. She had never thought it possible that someone could make her immobile with just one look. "I was thinking about yesterday. I want to find out why only you can see me."

"What do you remember?" The anger in his voice had lightened slightly, though not entirely. Luna slowly lifted her eyes to meet his. Genuine curiosity had replaced the angry flames in his eyes. She took note of his tall, lanky figure. He wasn't skinny, but he wasn't built like a fighter either. His broad shoulders led down to a strong set of hands that were relaxed but poised. His raven black hair was cropped close to the nape of his neck and sat neatly on top of his head. He had a high, pointed nose and a strong jaw. His thin lips were stern, never showing more emotion than disdain, but his most poignant feature were his eyes. Those dark green emeralds were piercing and relentless. He need not tell you who he was. One knew they were far inferior compared to Tom Riddle simply by looking into his eyes. His eyebrows were raised now, remarking on how slow her reply was.

"I'm really starting to wonder if all the lights are on upstairs." He flicked his eyes up to indicate her head.

Luna reddened. She was starting to get slightly irritated with his constant comments on her capabilities. Her hands twitched, itching for her wand.

Riddle noticed. His only reaction was a slight curve in the right corner of his mouth.

Luna was surprised with herself. Her usual response to such remarks were to ignore, not to reach for her wand and duel. The expression he gave her wasn't encouraging either.

"Try your best," he simply said. His mouth maintained the smirk he had on. Tom didn't bother taking out his wand. He stood there, waiting for her to make her move.