Chapter 61:
Tom pulled out a wand to awake Hermione, but Harry shook his head, catching hold of his arm to prevent the movement. Harry instead transfigured one of the desks into a bed, and levitated his best friend onto it. Tom raised his eyebrows in question.
"I don't want her to come with," he explained quietly. "It'll only put her in danger."
"Yes, she's a liability," Tom agreed, causing Harry to narrow his eyes.
"I didn't mean it like that," he snapped. "And she's not. She's brilliant."
Tom waved a dismissive hand.
"I'm brilliant," the Slytherin Heir replied, without either an ounce of modesty or boast. "She's just smart and good at remembering academics. Different thing."
"She's more than that," Harry argued, as they headed out of the abandoned classroom. "You'd know this if you actually took the opportunity to get to know her, and Ron."
"And it would please you if I did?" Tom questioned disinterestedly.
"Yeah, it would," he said, but Tom didn't seem to find that worth responding too. They walked in silence, when the thought suddenly hit him. A wicked smile spread across his lips, which Tom caught, giving him a curious look. "I think I've just had an idea…"
Harry stormed ahead, onto the grounds, clutching his wand tightly in his hands.
"Harry!" Tom sprinted after him, looking panicked. Voldemort and Dumbledore both looked up as the two of them arrived on the scene.
He could see, vaguely, in the background, that a large majority of the population of the school had their faces pressed up against the windows of the school, watching everything going on. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if one of them whipped out an old pair of omnioculars.
"Harry, m'boy," Dumbledore began, sounding worried. Harry ignored it, coming to a halt right in front of Voldemort, even as Tom caught hold of his arm, trying to pull him back.
"Don't do this…" the younger Slytherin heir said, almost pleadingly, Harry shook him off furiously.
Voldemort's lip curled.
"Ah, there seems to have been a lovers spat, Albus," Voldemort remarked mildly, cruelly. "I do hope it wasn't my doing?"
Harry clenched his fists, glaring.
"Did he tell you?" he demanded.
"Harry…" Tom tried again, only to fall silent as Harry rounded on him, snarling a venomous "shut up," before turning back to Voldemort once more. The snake faced man was impassive.
"Yes," Voldemort said, a strange gleam in his eyes. "I-you'll understand how this changes things, Harry." Harry started for a moment, his heart pounding, confusion brewing in the corners of his psyche, before he glared further.
"It changes nothing," he hissed. "Because I will stop at nothing to see you dead and back in hell with the devil that spawned you." He shot Tom a foul look. "And you can go home and stay the f*** away from me, you backstabbing bastard."
"I had to tell him-" Tom started, but Harry merely sneered.
"Oh, you had to tell him, did you? And here was me thinking that no one told the great Tom Riddle to do anything he didn't want to. You're so full of crap." Harry felt his eyes growing hot with tears. "I thought I could trust you. My mistake."
Tom's temper seemed to snap.
"And I thought I knew you better than this," the teenage Dark Lord's voice had grown cold, icy. "My mistake. But then…whatever else should I expect from the famous Boy-Who-Lived…"
"Screw you," Harry snapped, swiping at his eyes.
"You're pathetic," Tom fired back, before turning to Voldemort, the lines of his face hard and unyielding. "Are you going to say I told you so now?"
Dumbledore was watching the proceedings very carefully. He felt Voldemort's scarlet eyes rest on him, feel the disgust and loathing despite the gentleness of the Dark Lord's tone.
"If you ever want to talk about this…development, you know we're to find me. For old time's sake."
Harry merely stared back, keeping his features expressionless with difficulty, his blood pounding through his veins at light speed.
"I hope the two of you choke, and are very happy together," he replied finally, before turning and walking back to the castle, ignoring Tom's shout. "Because I'm through with this."
Once there, he was immediately bombarded by Ron, and the Slytherins.
"You alright, mate? Where's Hermione? She was looking for you - did Riddle do something?" his best friend asked in quick succession, but Harry didn't get the chance to reply before Abraxas and Zevi had promptly hauled in to the side, away from the red head.
"What do you think you're doing?" Abraxas demanded, is perfect composure unravelling fast. "Have you and Tom broken up?" Again, with the couple insinuations…Harry sighed.
"You've argued before," Zevi said desperately. "You're not seriously just going to drop everything now, are you? Evans, he's-"
"-I swear to god if you've hurt him," Lestrange barged his way through towards them, pointing his wand threateningly in Harry's face. "I will make you pay, you stupid-"
"Back off," Tom said lazily, walking towards them. "It's alright." The Slytherins all froze, but obeyed without question.
"Tom-" Lestrange began.
"I hope you two are very happy together?" Tom quoted, eyebrows arched. Harry smirked.
"I particularly liked that line…and 'the famous Boy-who-lived'? Really?" Tom smirked back at his response.
"I thought it was a nice, resentful little touch. Either way, he bought it."
"Bought it?" Alphard questioned, sounding completely confused. "You two aren't actually arguing, then?"
Harry couldn't help but notice how relieved all the Slytherins -barring Lestrange who had a face like he'd swallowed a lemon - looked.
"No," Harry shook his head. "Buying time."
The Slytherins still appeared lost.
"Did You-Know-Who try and turn you against each other?" Ron asked, shrewdly. All the Slytherins, including Lestrange this time, gaped at the Gryffindor in as obvious way as Slytherin's ever gape.
"How did you-?" Abraxas was studying the red head in a new light. Ron appeared slightly uncomfortable. Harry tilted his head, also curious, when his best friend grimaced at him.
"Bloody hell, give me some credit Harry, I may not be a snake but I have been your best mate for five years. I know how you react to things."
Harry felt a grin tug relentlessly at the corners of his mouth, a great swell of affection growing in his chest for his two favourite Gryffindors, before he shot Tom a smug, challenging 'see, my friends are awesome' expression, which the other sneered at.
"Yeah," Harry confirmed. "He did. Git."
Ron laughed, sounding surprised at the fact he was laughing. The next second Hermione stumbled in.
"Oh- have you seen-Harry! Thank goodness you're alright!" she exclaimed, glaring at Tom, before taking a moment to assess the situation, her brow furrowing.
"What did I miss?"
A/N: I actually despise this chapter. Though I don't normally particularly feel proud of my writing, this is a new level. This whole scene sounded so much funnier and better in my head =( Sorry guys. Next chapter will hopefully be better.
On the sunny side…THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE AWESOME REVIEWS! I felt so happy, with a renewed sense of 'yay Fate's Favourite is worth it.' So thank you. And oh my god, I'm almost on 1000 reviews. I never thought anything I wrote would be so popular. This is amazing. I really hope you guys continue to enjoy and like the story, even with this chapter. Thank you also for your story suggestions, I was surprised to see how many of them I'd actually read before. I've done more reading on this site than I thought I had…
Anyway, thank you again! YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! Adios.