AN

Tom is a menace to write sometimes.

December 1941 to January 1942, 4th year

"Naenia, wait!"

There was no one else in the common room, otherwise he wouldn't have called out to her like that.

Naenia resolutely ignored Tom's call and walked straight ahead to the stairs leading to her dormitory. She only wanted to retrieve a book for Amelia and return to her friend.

He did not stop her.

When she emerged again a few minutes later, book in hand, the common room had filled up a bit and Nott was waiting for her.

"Still fighting?" he asked.

Naenia sighed. "I'm waiting for something."

Nott raised his eyebrows. "For what?"

"Who knows?" Naenia shrugged. "But I'm not quite ready to forgive him, yet."

She set off for the exit and wasn't surprised to see Nott falling in step beside her.

"What did you even argue about?"

"That," Naenia said quietly, "is none of your business."

They passed Tom who was talking to Black and Mulciber, with Avery and Lestrange standing awkwardly to the side. She didn't see Rosier around, nor could she find Malfoy and Carrow among the present Slytherins.

"No. You're right. It's not," Nott said. "But I can't help being curious. We all are."

Tom watched them, turning ever so slightly to keep them in his line of sight. He kept talking to the other boys, though, and made no attempts to call out to her. Naenia didn't know how to feel about that. So she ignored him.

"Why are you all so invested in our friendship?" she asked Nott dryly.

"Oh, look, he's pining," Nott said cheerfully. "And didn't we discuss this before?"

Naenia decided to completely disregard his first statement. "We did, but I still wonder."

Nott huffed. "And if I say we actually care about the two of you?" He grinned when he saw her face. "Alright, you got me there. It's really only that he was friendlier to us before you had your little disagreement."

"That is not my problem."

"No, it's not. But it's ours, so we obviously want the two of you to be friends again. All for our own benefit." He looked around. "Where are we going?"

"The library."

Nott laughed. "Ah, of course, where else."

"Here's a question for you," Naenia said. "Why are you trying to be friends –" the sentence tasted weird on her tongue, "– with Tom to begin with?"

"He's clever."

"So are you."

"Yeah, I know," Nott winked. "And so are you, my lady Lémure. But Riddle is special. For a mudblood anyway."

"He's not muggleborn."

"He isn't? Oh, well. Halfblood, then. My point still stands. He is one of the best students Hogwarts has ever seen. His talent goes beyond what they teach here. He's brilliant, charming, he has leadership qualities."

Whatever that last one was supposed to mean.

"We're all using him, in a way. We want to be part of his cleverness, to learn from him, to share in his future fame – and he will definitely become famous one day."

Naenia snorted. "Or infamous."

They had reached the library, but didn't enter just yet. They couldn't very well continue this conversation inside. The librarian would be furious.

Nott grinned. "Or infamous. Either way, we all want something from him."

"What do you want from him?"

"All of it and more." Nott gave her a once-over. "I also don't want to end up on the wrong side of his wand. The others are so utterly charmed they don't realize how dangerous he could be."

Naenia's eyes widened. It was true, what he said. She just hadn't expected that one of his flock would see it, too. (Although she suspected that Black had his reservations as well.)

Nott shrugged. "But mostly, I just want to benefit from his brilliancy."

"Should you really be telling me this?" Naenia asked in reference to his earlier statement.

"I trust you," Nott simply said.

Naenia couldn't help but stare at him. Nott merely smiled and held the doors open for her.

Amelia was still sitting at the table Naenia had left her at. When she noticed them approaching, the girl waved and smiled. Her smile faltered slightly upon realizing that Nott intended to join them, but she didn't drop it entirely.

Nott, to his credit, nodded politely and settled down wordlessly.

Naenia raised an eyebrow at him to which he only shrugged.

She sighed. To Amelia she said, in a low voice so the librarian wouldn't hear, "This is Nott, a friend of mine."

I guess, she didn't say.

Amelia beamed. "That's nice." She held out her hand to Nott who watched her with a closed-off expression. "I'm Amelia Blythe."

Nott eventually took her hand and kissed it lightly, making Amelia blush, but didn't say a word to her.

Naenia could only shake her head at that. She handed Amelia the book she had promised and then returned to her own research still strewn across the table.

She didn't come far, however, as some younger student soon approached their table to deliver a thin scroll to Naenia.

Nott leaned close to her, to look at the parchment. "What is it?"

"Privacy, Nott," Naenia reprimanded him, but opened the scroll with him sill looking over her shoulder, anyway.

It was a note from Professor Dumbledore, asking her to join him for tea that afternoon.

Nott raised an eyebrow. "Why is Dumbledore inviting you to tea?"

Amelia looked up. "Professor Dumbledore invited you to tea?"

Naenia had to stop herself from pinching her nose. "I don't know, alright?"

She looked back at the parchment, trying to find a hint in the elegant writing, but there was nothing.

"But surely you have your suspicions?" Nott asked. "Our Transfiguration teacher is not someone who invites people over just because."

"I think I just might," Naenia said and looked up to find them both watching her expectantly. "And I am not going to tell you."

She resolutely ignored them after that, returning to the task at hand and putting the impending meeting to the back of her head.

At precisely three o'clock in the afternoon Naenia knocked on Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Miss Lémure," he said pleasantly. "I am glad to see that you made it."

Naenia merely inclined her head and he let her enter.

His office was nothing special, not this one anyway – because Naenia knew he had a second one that he frequented more often. There were a few bookshelves, a heavy table with one chair behind and two in front of it, a soft carpet underneath.

A tea tray was already waiting on the table.

"Milk? Honey?" Professor Dumbledore asked as he poured them both a cup. "Maybe a biscuit?"

"No, thank you."

"How do you find your time at Hogwarts so far, my dear?"

"Good," Naenia said shortly. "Excuse me, Professor. I don't want to seem rude, but may I ask that you come straight to the point? I still need to go to the library to do some important research."

"Ah, yes, of course," he said with a smile that didn't reach his usually twinkling eyes. "Pardon an old man for being concerned for his students."

Naenia did not scowl. She did not. He was clearly trying to make her feel guilty.

The Professor folded his hands on the table and put on a worried expression. "There have been certain rumours circulating the school that have only recently reached my ears. They are concerning young Mister Riddle and I am afraid they are not good rumours."

Naenia remained silent, watching his body language carefully. He had already made up his mind that the rumours were true, whatever they were.

"I know the two of you have not been on good terms lately, but I have to ask – Is Mister Riddle doing something he shouldn't do?"

She almost snorted at that. Naenia didn't need to be on good terms with him to know the answer to that. Tom was most certainly doing something he wasn't supposed to – he usually was.

"I am not sure what you are implying, sir," she said instead.

"Ah, yes, my apologies. Some of the rumours I mentioned – they are rather concerning, you see? They say young Mister Riddle is performing Legilimency on other students. Surely you are familiar with –?"

Naenia nodded. "I am. But I cannot say that I agree with those rumours."

"Are you sure?" Professor Dumbledore asked, his brows furrowed with false worry.

She felt a familiar pressure in her mind. The old trick, then.

Naenia looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Yes, sir. I am sure that Tom Riddle is not performing Legilimency on other students."

The old man gave her a grave look, but nodded. Her answer had not satisfied him in the least, but he could not deny it's sincerity. Not like this.

Naenia left his office satisfied. She had lied straight to his face and he hadn't suspected a thing, even though he clearly didn't believe her answer in itself to be true. He probably thought Tom was doing it secretly, behind her back. Or that she didn't know because of their argument.

Ꝋ

Christmas was starting to become something special. This year, for the first time, Naenia received a real Christmas present (she didn't count Tom's necklace) and had to buy a present in return. It was way more difficult than she had anticipated, finding something she thought would make Amelia genuinely happy.

(She had also received an invitation to Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party at the beginning of the holidays, but declined him once again. She wondered when he would finally give up.)

On her first Christmas at Hogwarts, Tom had approached her for the first time. On her second, he had apologized for stealing her wand. On her fourth Christmas, Tom came to apologize, again.

What was it with them and Christmas?

Naenia didn't believe in 'the spirit of Christmas', but it was becoming rather weird. Their friendship had started on Christmas, their first fight had ended on Christmas and now they seemed to, once again, reconcile on Christmas?

Or maybe they wouldn't. One could hope. (Not that Naenia didn't want to be on good terms with Tom again, but something about it being Christmas bothered her immensely.)

This time, unlike the weeks before, Naenia was willing to listen to him.

"I'm sorry," were the first words out of his mouth and, "Please hear me out."

He had waited for her in the common room, which was a first. They were on their own, because out of the handful of Slytherins remaining no one got up this early in the morning.

Naenia had been tempted to return home for the holidays, as she had known none of her other friends would stay. But the quiet had also been nice so far. It had given her time to think.

Naenia knew she had been angry because of the things Tom had said, the accusations, the allegation about defeating Death. The last one had infuriated her the most. But she had come to accept that Tom wouldn't have been able to understand that, because – no matter how often she tried to explain – they were, in the end, coming from two very different worlds. It was fine that he didn't understand, she had to accept that and not take it to heart so much the next time he let the words slip.

But Naenia had also been angry because of what Tom had implied. He was afraid of death and that was okay. But she feared what he might do because of that. Many wizards and witches had tried to achieve immortality over the centuries. And they had committed many atrocities to reach their goal, defying Death left and right. It went against everything Naenia believed in. She didn't want Tom to go down the same path.

"For what it's worth," Naenia said. "I am sorry as well."

Tom's expression didn't change. "You are?"

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Naenia said in lieu of answering. She started moving towards a pair of armchairs. "You asked me to hear you out."

Tom sat beside her and just looked at her for a moment, his face still giving nothing away.

"I overreacted," he said eventually. "I was… unsettled by what had transpired and took it out on you."

Scared. He had been scared.

"Do you understand why I was so upset?" Naenia asked slowly.

"I think I do," Tom said. "I chose my words poorly and unintentionally offended you and your family."

It was a nice answer. It was the right answer. It was also very vague and nondescript and could have been applied to any situation they might have found themselves in.

Naenia looked at him with piercing eyes and waited.

And, finally, his stoic mask crumbled, just a bit. It gave way to frustration, not remorse.

"I won't pretend to fully understand your concept of death, just like you never pretended to fully comprehend my fear of death. But I do understand that my words hurt you and for that I apologize."

It was not what she had wanted. But Naenia didn't even know what she had wanted, so she couldn't expect Tom to do or say exactly that. Or could she?

"I'll deal with it," he said. "Don't worry. It won't happen again."

What, she wanted to ask, won't happen again?

"I do worry, though" she said.

Tom arched an eyebrow. "About what?"

"The things you might do."

He didn't answer. Instead, he leaned over the armrests separating them, into her side and smiled. And Naenia let him.

What had it been she had been waiting for again?

"So," Tom said in an unusually jovial tone. "Did you consider what I said about joining the Duelling Club while we weren't talking?"

Ꝋ

"You have finally sorted it out," was the first thing Nott said at breakfast, the morning after he and the others had returned from the holidays.

"Whatever gave it away?" Naenia asked, decidedly not rolling her eyes.

Nott pointedly looked first at the bowl full of porridge she had barely touched, then at Tom sitting closer than necessary right next to her.

Naenia gave him an impassive look. "Are you happy now?"

"That remains to be seen." Nott grinned and took another bite of his toast. "Maybe we'll all get jealous of you, because Riddle is going to spend less time with us now."

Out of the corner of her eye, Naenia watched Tom furrow his brows slightly.

"Oh, please," Avery said. "As if we were that pathetic. And besides, Lémure's got her own little friend now, doesn't she?"

Naenia merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"So she won't take up all of his time."

"What do you want with a Hufflepuff anyway?" Rosier interjected.

Naenia didn't answer. Partly because it was none of their business, because they were being terribly rude and because she really didn't want to dignify that attitude with a proper answer. Partly because she had no idea what to say in response.

It was starting to become a staring contest between her and Rosier and Avery (which wasn't as hard as one would think it would be with two opponents) when Black came to her rescue.

"The girl is pretty nice," he said and shrugged when the others focused on him. "Don't know what your problem is. Why do you care anyway? You're not even friends with Naenia."

Nott startled at that. "When did you guys get to first names?"

We didn't, Naenia wanted to say, but she remained silent. This was way too interesting to watch.

A mischievous grin overtook Black's features. "Jealous, Nott?"

The other boy looked affronted at that. "I'm merely being courteous."

Naenia absentmindedly took a spoonful of her porridge and tried not to gape at them. This was getting somewhat out of hand but also really, really amusing.

"Courteous?" Black laughed. "Where did that come from?"

"Did you ask for her consent?"

"Do I need to?"

"Alright," Avery said raising his hands defensively. "I get it, you're fighting for her favour. No need to drag us into it."

Black raised his eyebrows. "You're free to ignore us."

"Riddle," Avery said in exasperation. "Please do something about this."

Throughout the whole exchange Tom had not uttered a single word. Now he gave Avery an unimpressed look. "I do not see how any of this is my business."

Avery's face flushed. "Y-you're right. Of course. S-sorry."

Black was the first to break, Naenia and Nott followed soon after. Their laughter didn't carry through the hall, because Slytherins didn't do that, but it still attracted a few looks nonetheless. Rosier and Lestrange chuckled. Mulciber smirked. The younger boys, Malfoy and Carrow, seemed like they weren't quite sure what to do with themselves. And Avery only flushed deeper.

From the Hufflepuff table, Amelia looked up from a what appeared to be deep conversation with another housemate and blinked at them. Then she opened her mouth and tilted her head in a silent question.

Naenia shrugged helplessly, still trying to get her own laughter under control.

Once they had all calmed down, Tom spoke up again, "Avery, you should apologize."

Avery looked confused at that. "For what?"

Tom gave him a pointed look.

Naenia watched the exchange with fascination. She was quite sure she knew what it was about, but still wondered why Tom pressed the matter. She herself didn't particularly care about Avery and what he said.

All the other boys were watching them as well. It was because they were waiting for Avery to do as Tom had told him, Naenia realized suddenly. They were expecting him to obey.

And sure enough, he did.

"I apologize," Avery said stiffly, bowing his head to her. "Please forgive my rude behaviour." Then he glanced at Tom and added, "It will not happen again."

Tom nodded.

Before Naenia could open her mouth to say something, Mulciber addressed her.

"By the way," he said. "Riddle mentioned you were interested in the Duelling Club?"

Naenia frowned. "I am not."

Mulciber glanced between her and Tom. "You sure? Hm, might have misunderstood him, then."

"Isn't the Duelling Club exclusive for boys?" Naenia asked.

"Dunno," Mulciber said. "It's not like there have ever been any girls that wanted to join, not that I can think of. Too improper for them, or something like that."

"Uncivilised," Rosier said.

"There is no official rule against it," Nott said. "But like Mulciber said, it is very unusual for a girl to join to begin with." He grinned at Naenia. "Only, if you're half as good as Riddle has described you to be, I would advise you to try it out. Teach the boys a lesson."

Tom had talked about her? He had told them she was good at Duelling? How had that happened? Where did he even get that idea – Naenia had never shown any signs that she was any good at it. She was second best in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but that hardly counted for anything.

She didn't even like fighting.

"I don't think I'm suited for duelling."

"What," Nott said, "you don't like it when you're facing a test subject that's still alive and kicking?"

"No, I think I prefer them already dead," Naenia answered with a straight face.

To her surprise, Nott wasn't the only one to laugh at that.

Tom, Naenia, my darlings. That's not how it works, you two. You should be there for each other and support each other, not promise to deal with your problems on your own.
They're obviously still rubbish at the whole friendship thing.
And Naenia displays that brilliantly once again when Black has to defend her friend Amelia in her stead.
I wonder whether she'll get there eventually... (Tom is a lost cause.)