8

Harriet sent a glare at Thompson when she heard the bully call Peter "Puny Parker." Thompson noticed the look she gave him and quickly excused himself. He was still feeling the horror of the first day of school.

She then continued the conversation she was having with Hermione and Ron at the lunch table. Looking over to Hermione, Harriet told her, "I just think Mr. Riddle's a bit... creepy."

Hermione glanced at Harriet as if she'd grown another limb, "creepy? I think he's so fine."

"You only think that because he answers all of your questions in and out of class, Hermione," Ron said. Was that jealousy Harriet heard?

"That, and he has the most dreamy eyes," Hermione responded, sighing happily. Ron pretended to barf, shaking his head at what he thought was the idiocy of teenage girls. Hermione wasn't even bothered by Ron as she continued, "I mean, who wouldn't like a handsome, smart teacher? — Except Harry of course, she's head over heels for Peter."

"I-I'm not!" She prefusedly denied. She stood up from her seat abruptly, gathering her school bag and staring down at Hermione with an unpleasant expression.

"It's time for class, I'd better go."

Harriet was halfway down the hallway when her literature teacher called out her name, "Ms. Potter!"

The young witch stopped in her steps and turned to face Mr. Riddle. "Can I help you with something?"

Mr. Riddle put on a charming smile and handed her a piece of paper. "I was wondering if you would like to join a club which I've been overlooking as a supervisor for a year now."

Harriet took the paper and scanned its contents. "Classical Language club?"

"It's a club that teaches Greek and Latin. We also have field trips to museums, and speakers come visit to give speeches. I thought you'd be interested, you said so in your icebreaker."

"I, um… I'm pretty busy as it is, Mr. Riddle."

"The reason I'm asking is because the school demands all tenth grade students to take up at least one club activity after school, and you still haven't applied for one."

"Oh… Well, then…" Harriet sighed. "I guess I'll think about it."

Tom Riddle Jr. wanted one thing: to change his MM-gene back to M1-gene.

He had read and followed every work of Lily Evans. Every study she'd ever done on the gene pertaining to magic, Tom read word for word. Due to studying genes, Tom knew he needed a M1-gene that would change his MM-gene back into M1, and he knew where to obtain it.

The first day Harriet stepped into his classroom, her magical energy was radiating, and what was more was that it was pure. Disgustingly so. He could just feel her energy in his bones, literally and figuratively.

Tom planned to use Harriet to experiment on her, extract the gene that made her so special, and implant it inside of him. That would be his partner's responsibility, as he was only a high school teacher for now.

He had been everything from being a politician to a janitor due to one of his powers that the dead M1-gene left him with as a parting gift in his childhood. He was always in disguise, all to secure a new M1-gene that would give power to his old one. When he'd gotten word of a student who had the M1-gene in Midtown high thanks to his previous job as a civil servant, Tom eagerly set out to become a literature teacher in that high school.

After the second day of class, Tom had tried using one of his powers on her. The one power he used on her that day was the ability to control the mind of the victim and make them behave and do what he wanted. But it hadn't worked.

How peculiar. She must be much more powerful than he'd believed, which was fine, but Tom was running out of patience after the tenth try.

He'd just have to do this the old fashion way.

It was in the middle of October that all first and second period teachers announced that the school was given the opportunity for a field trip to a public science exhibit. So that was where the students were headed on Friday morning.

"What happened to Ned?" Harriet asked Peter when Ned didn't show in front of the school bus.

"Sick. He said to take pictures of everything for him," Peter explained.

"I hope he gets better," Hermione supplied, "I read on the exhibit website that it'll contain science experiments from psychology all the way to bio-mechanical engineering. All the cool inventions will be there! I'm so excited!"

"Yeah, that's awesome! I heard there's also going to be discoveries there, especially in the insect section of the exhibit," Peter replied, going on to tell Hermione and Harriet what he was most interested in seeing.

As the students went to aboard the bus, Hermione nudged her childhood friend on the shoulder, "Sit with Peter."

"What? I thought I was going to sit with you."

"That was until we learned that Ned won't be coming. This is too good of a chance to miss, Harry."

Harriet scoffed, "I don't know what you're implying, but it's not what you're thinking, Hermione."

"You like him, Harry, I can tell."

"No, I don't." Harriet was telling the truth. "I don't see him that way." At least she thought so.

"Don't worry, I don't mind sitting with a stranger or I could drag Ron from his own class and make him sit with me! Actually, I'll go to his bus since he's already boarded. Good luck!" Hermione pushed Harriet in front, making her bump into Peter's back.

Peter turned and smiled when he saw that it was Harriet who pushed him. "Sorry," Harriet said to him. Realizing how close they were, she backed away and said, "Hermione, she, um, pushed me."

"No worries." Peter's voice was breathy, and he could swear his hands were getting sweaty from having been so close to Harriet.

When Harriet sat beside him on the bus, Peter was thankful that his weak body could handle the little cold that Ned gave him. But even if he did get severely sick, Peter would be damned if he didn't visit the science exhibit. Science was his passion, beautiful girl next to him or not.

"So, uh, not to be rude or anything, but why are you sitting next to me?"

"Wow, aren't you a charmer, Peter," Harriet joked, her accent was apparent when she called his name. She laughed when she heard Peter try to stammer out a response. "Hermione went to sit with Ron in the other class." Harriet was wondering how that was working out for the two.

"Yoooo! Weasley's got himself a girlfriend!"

"Shut up, Malfoy- I mean, Thompson."

Hermes: How's it going over there?

Harriet: Very awkward…

Hermes: Talk to him!

Harriet: why'd you leave me?!

Hermes: Face it, you want to be with Peter.

Harriet: I never said that!

Hermes: Just admit it.

~ Even Ron knows you're in love.

~ Ask him out!

~ Also, you owe me, Thompson's so loud, I can't even focus on my book!

Harriet: :(

Peter fidgeted with his sweaty hands and toyed with his phone, cursing Ned for not coming. There was a downside to that as much as there was an upside. An advantage of not having his friend around was that he was alone with Harriet. A disadvantage of not having his friend around was that he was alone with Harriet!

Peter: You did me a disservice today, my friend.

Neddard: :0

Peter: by not coming you really screwed me over.

Neddard: ?

Peter: Now I have to sit by Harriet flippin' Potter! And we have NOTHING to talk about!

Neddard: ;)

Five minutes felt like an hour on the bus ride. Both Peter and Harriet tried to come up with a conversation starter to make the awkwardness disappear.

"… So, uh, I like your dog." Peter took a minute to realize what he'd just said, mentally, and almost physically, face-palming. Way to go, genius. Despite having a ridiculously high IQ, I'm so stupid. 'I like your dog?' Seriously! Is that the only thing I can come up with. Stupid Peter Parker. Nice going.

Peter heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Harriet smile amusedly. "Dog?"

"I followed you. Uh, I mean, I followed you on Instagram." And now she probably thinks you're a stalker. "You, uh, had a picture of a black dog…?"

"Oh! I stopped using Instagram for a long time now."

Oh, so that's why she didn't follow me back! Great now it sounds even MORE stalkerish. You are really great at this aren't you! Peter sighed again in relief, and also in exasperation. He'd thought that she didn't follow him back because, well, she was cool and, well, he was not.

Harriet turned back to her phone. Peter scratched behind his ear and went back to his own phone, a little sad now that Harriet had her attention elsewhere. But his mellow sadness melted when Harriet told him, "there, now I'm following you back."

Peter glanced at Harriet and then back to his phone and checked his Instagram. Indeed, Harriet was following him. Was it pathetic that he only had twenty followers? But he was still happy that Harriet deemed him worthy to sign in to her Instagram and follow him back.

"You mean this dog, right?" Harriet inquired as she showed him her phone.

"Yeah."

"He's not my dog, but he visits my family every once in a while. I just captured him at his most photogenic time. Hey, wanna take a picture?"

"What?"

"A picture, or, uh, a selfie?" Harriet chuckled as she brought her phone out in front of her and Peter, leaning closer to him. Her heart started beating faster than normal which was unusual. She nervously smiled for the camera and pressed the shutter button.

Harriet felt Peter leaning in to peer over her shoulder to look at the photo, seeming to be completely fine with the closeness, which he wasn't at all.

" I look so stupid in that…" He murmured to himself.

Posted November, 20XX

[Image]

hunitsharrypotter Off to the science exhibition with PterPker #friends

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Herminnie awe, I see a ship starting to sail

justronisfine two words: friend zoned

Nedderino ^

itsokayitslove ^^

Thebananathatwrites^^^

itsMalfoy still look like a pothead, Potter

hunitsharrypotter shut up Malfoy

itsMalfoy my father will hear about this!

justronisfine lol

itsMalfoy lol

hunitsharrypotter lol

The exhibit was huge. Peter made it his duty to capture every moment of this place as possible for his best friend. He also captured Harriet on camera a few more times than he was proud of.

They were about to enter the section where all the insects were kept. Harriet got a look at the description board and stopped. "Ron, you should stay away from this part of the exhibit," Harriet told her friend.

Ron scrunched up his nose at the sign hanging in the doorway saying 'Arachnology - Study of Spiders'. In a weak voice, he said, "Yeah… I'm gonna go sit down on a bench."

From further in the insect section, someone shouted, "If someone finds a huge ass spider on the ground, send it to Doctor Spielburg!" Ron paled at that, and voiced something incoherent. "Come on, Ron, I'll go get you some water," Hermione said, only after sending a wink at Harriet.

Harriet shook her head in good nature as she caught up to Peter. "Hey, Pete!"

Peter smiled, "Hey."

Harriet wanted to test his genius, as he had proven his high IQ wasn't just for show. So she pointed to a spider, "So, um, what's that one called?"

Peter knew what Harriet was doing. She often tested intellect on certain subjects before and he didn't disappoint. "Funnel-web spiders," he answered easily.

"And that one?"

"I think that's a… Brazilian Wandering spider."

"Wow, you know your spiders. … And this one?"

"Uh…" Peter frowned. "I don't know… Maybe it's a new subspecies." Peter only knew his spiders from the books that his dad had owned.

A arachnologist came by. "That isn't just a regular spider. I like to call him Arachnid No. 42. It was a subject to demonstrate the safety of the nuclear laboratory waste materials. It was a success as you can tell by its survival. Would you like to hold him? Go ahead if you'd like. Completely safe. Hey! You there, don't touch that one, it bites!"

The scientist went away as Peter reached into the glass cage and let the spider onto his hand, feeling brave. Peter turned to see if Harriet was watching, but she wasn't. Instead, she was raising an eyebrow at Flash Thompson making a joke out of all of this and pretending to eat one of the spiders.

"Ow," Peter hissed in pain and let go of the spider. The spider had bit him and the bite was evident by the color and mark on his hand.

"Peter, you alright?" Harriet asked, looking back.

"Yeah, it's just a bite."

"Let's see."

Peter hid his hand. He didn't want Harriet to see him weak. "I'm fine. I don't even feel it." It was true, he didn't feel it, maybe his hand had gone numb.

Harriet's eyes turned into a slight glare. She took out a bandaid and an ointment. "I don't know if these are any help, but here."

The band-aid had a Mickey Mouse on the back, it had been gifted to her from Hermione ever since she learned that Harriet got into all sorts of trouble and she was an accident magnet.

a/n: