"Who are you?"
Someone was standing over her bed, blocking the light filtering through the windows. Astraya rubbed the sleep from her eyes and turned to squint at the girl who stood militantly over her, beefy hands resting on her hips. She had a square jaw and bulging eyes, which, added to her large build, made for a menacing figure. Not the sight you'd want to see first thing in the morning.
Pushing herself to an upright position, she gave the girl a pleasant smile. "I'm Astraya Sader. I'm a new student."
"Come on, Theo," a cheerful new voice said, and another girl appeared, bright-eyed with a bob of brown hair around her head. "Don't give her a fright on her first morning." She turned to Astraya with a grin. "I'm Cora Greengrass. I'm the prefect here." She nodded her head at Theo. "This little ray of sunshine is Theodora Bulstrode, but we just call her Theo."
Theo gave a grunt. Astraya watched her walk away, assessing. She was physically threatening, if nothing else, which made Astraya grateful she could fight her off with magic if it ever came to that, though Theo did look like she'd reach out and snap her wand like a twig before she had a chance to do much damage.
Cora, however, was cheerful and charming, and Astraya felt her muscles loosen as she continued to introduce her dorm-mates.
"This is Ophelia Rowle," Cora said, gesturing to a spectacled girl who was already dressed in her uniform, her long blonde hair split into two thin plaits. She looked up from the book she was holding to give Astraya a shy smile before she resumed reading. "And that sleeping beauty over there is Ava Selwyn." She pointed to the bed closest to the door. All that was visible of the girl sleeping under the bundle of quilts was a mess of black hair.
Theo marched up to the bed, ripped back the blankets and, in a voice that could have belonged to a foghorn, yelled, "Wake up, you lazy worm!"
A sleepy groan came from the girl, and she rolled over to glare at Theo through bleary eyes. "For Merlin's sake, Theo! Hearing you shout this early in the morning gives me a migraine." She burrowed her head under her pillow to block the morning sunshine.
Theo ripped the pillow from her hands and brought it down on Ava's head so hard a few feathers escaped. Ava cursed and sat upright, sleep forgotten. "I'm awake, alright? Stop—" the pillow hit her square in the face "— hitting me!"
"Charming, aren't they?" Cora said, while Astraya watched the scene with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment. Ava had reached for her wand and was now threatening to curse Theo, at which point Cora decided it was an appropriate time to intervene. "Alright, that's enough. Last time Ava pulled out her wand, she nearly got her neck broken and her wand snapped in half, and Theo had detention for a month."
She looked back at Astraya. "These two have been fighting like this since first-year. I thought they would grow out of it, but they just got crazier as they got older."
Astraya gathered her neatly folded clothes, shaking her head in bewildered amusement. These girls weren't what she had expected at all. None of them seemed particularly threatening, apart from maybe Theo, who was easily dealt with so long as she made sure not to get into a physical brawl with her and kept her wand out of snapping distance.
She felt her smile fade as she changed into her robes, a more calculating gleam appearing in her eyes as she thought of Riddle.
She didn't think he would take her warning seriously and leave her alone. He hadn't seemed like the sort to be afraid of anyone, but rather the sort who knew he commanded respect and fear from those around him. Given the way Slughorn and Dippet had spoken of him, he was popular amongst the staff. If he was as well-liked amongst the students, she'd have to be careful not to antagonise him publicly. That might cause more trouble than it was worth. He had the upper hand here: Hogwarts was his territory, and she was the trespasser. At least until she found her own feet.
She was going to have to play this carefully.
Tom looked at his reflection in the mirror and adjusted his tie, knotting it expertly.
"So, this new student," came a harsh voice from behind him. "What's her blood status?"
Satisfied everything was in place, Tom turned away from the mirror to look at the broad-shouldered boy who had spoken. Cassius Lestrange was dark-haired and dark-eyed, with a thuggish appearance that matched his personality. Tom valued him as the most vicious of the group, his cruelty having no known limits.
"Pure-blood, probably," he said. "She's a Sader."
"Sader?" Lestrange echoed in his usual growl. "I didn't think they'd ever return to Britain."
"I don't think they did," said Emery Rosier. He was the most intelligent and cunning of the group. His family was as ancient and pure-blooded as the Lestranges, and widely influential in wizarding Britain, which gave him an air of aloofness and superiority. "They could have just sent their daughter abroad to attend Hogwarts since the Saders have always been educated here. Though it's strange they would decide to send her now."
"How come she didn't arrive on the train?" Caleb Mulciber, a sallow-faced boy, said. "Hogwarts doesn't accept students unless they use the Express."
"Yes," Tom said thoughtfully. "I wondered about that."
Travelling by the train was compulsory to all wizarding children who wanted to attend Hogwarts. Astraya had been exempted from that rule. Not only that, but Tom also recalled that Slughorn had looked as if he'd been dragged from bed. Evidently, her arrival hadn't been expected at all.
Tom found himself gripped with curiosity. Astraya was hiding something. Something interesting. And what Tom hated most was when people hid things from him. He liked to know everything about anyone he met: their strengths, their weaknesses, their fears, their desires. It gave him a feeling of power and superiority, knowing exactly what to say and do to get what he wanted out of people he needed, which was why he'd started his Legilimency training.
He surveyed the five boys gathered in the dormitory. Wyatt Nott and Lathan Avery, the most sycophantic and submissive of the group, had stayed quiet, as they tended to do during these little conferences, though they always obeyed Tom's orders to the letter and without question.
"Whatever the reason was for her to be given special treatment, I intend to find it." He made his way to the door and turned to look at them, meeting their eyes. "I expect you all to do your best to befriend her and find out anything she may be willing to share. Is that understood?"
"Yes, my Lord," came the collective murmur.
As he made his way from the Slytherin common room to the Great Hall, where breakfast was served, several admiring glances were aimed at him. He felt satisfaction unfurl inside him. His glowing reputation was something he'd cultivated from the first moment he'd set foot in the castle. Though it was tedious to uphold, it had served him well when he and his followers had committed misdeeds at Hogwarts. No-one would think Tom Riddle capable of anything but perfection and kindness.
A multitude of sounds filled the Great Hall: the scratch of forks and knives against plates, the splash of milk and tea against cups and the cheerful chatter people snuck in between bites. Tom made his way to the Slytherin table against the wall, the others following him, where he spotted Astraya sitting next to Greengrass, the other fifth-year prefect, and a mousey girl that Tom recognised as Rowle.
He aimed for the empty bench opposite her. When she noticed him, she gave him a brilliant smile and said, "Hello, Riddle."
There was a brief silence at their end of the table.
"You know Riddle?" Greengrass asked, eyebrows raised in surprised bafflement.
"Oh." Astraya turned to her, her smile turning slightly shy. "I met him last night. We sat in the common room and talked for a while. He told me all about Hogwarts and even offered to show me around the castle. Right, Riddle?"
Tom had frozen in shock and was glaring at her, but upon noticing the gazes on them, he wiped his scowl off his face and curved his lips into a smile as friendly as hers. "Of course," he said smoothly, sitting down. "I'd be delighted."
Now he felt his followers looking at him curiously, as well as everyone within earshot. While Tom was the perfect gentleman, he never went out of his way to help another student. He was kind, but aloof. His fingers twitched, longing to curse that grin right off her face.
"Great," she said, laughing at him inwardly. He was smiling, but his eyes had narrowed at her. She'd been right when she thought he wouldn't leave her alone. His dark eyes were appraising her move and calculating his next one.
Evidently deciding to proceed with the charade, he turned to the group of boys who had arranged themselves around him and started introducing them. "This is Wyatt Nott," he said, pointing to a lanky, thin-faced boy, "Cassius Lestrange"—he indicated a heavily built boy on his direct right with an aquiline nose and a thick mass of black hair, who gave her a thin smile that didn't reach his eyes— "Lathan Avery, Caleb Mulciber, and Emery Rosier," he finished, gesturing to a boy on his left, who nodded in acknowledgement.
Rosier. Astraya smiled at him, as she had done with the others, but her heart had lurched in her chest at the sound of the name. She studied the boy, noting his neatly combed blonde hair and sharp brown eyes. Thankfully, she couldn't catch any familiarity in his aristocratic features.
"It's great to meet you all. I—"
Her words were cut off by as she heard something detonate at the other end of the Slytherin table. She looked to see the people sitting there scampering away, coughing into their hands from the plumes of smoke that rose from the centre of the explosion. The acrid smell of burnt wood drifted over the Great Hall.
She could see Slughorn hurrying down from the staff table in a waddling gait to look at the damage. Dumbledore, too, was making his way down, not to the Slytherin table, but the Gryffindor table at the other end of the Hall, where an especially rowdy group of boys were laughing and pointing at the scene.
"What was that?" she asked in a bemused voice, eyes fixed on the smoke rising towards the enchanted sky ceiling. Her nose wrinkled from the smell.
Cora's expression was scrunched in disgust as she answered, her eyes similarly trained on the chaos unfolding at the Slytherin table. "It's the Gryffindors. They're always performing all sorts of stupid pranks. Mostly on us Slytherins."
Indeed, Dumbledore seemed to be sternly chiding the laughing Gryffindor boys. After he had presumably given them their first set of detentions of the year and started heading back to the staff table, one of them called out loudly, "It was worth it!"
"Those little—!" Lestrange seethed in a deep, guttural voice, glaring at the Gryffindors with something approaching hatred.
Cora had told her that, of all the four houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin had an ancient grudge against each other that was never resolved and only seemed to worsen over time. Looking at the boys howling in delight and the scowls on everyone's faces, Astraya saw the truth of that statement.
"They shouldn't have done that," Ophelia whispered, glancing nervously around the table. "Black's going to get them back for that."
Astraya glanced sideways at her. "Who?"
"Walburga Black," Cora explained. She pointed to a girl further down the table, whose glower outmatched that of the others in its intensity. "She's in sixth year, and she's part troll."
"Cora!" Ophelia chided, while Astraya smothered a laugh at Cora's casual, matter-of-fact tone.
"What? She certainly acts like it. And so do the rest of the Blacks."
"There's more than one Black here?"
Cora's tone was grim. "There are at least four Blacks at Hogwarts. Lucretia Black, who's also in sixth year, and Orion and Alphard are both in third year. Thank Merlin none of them are in our year. Theo's quite enough for us."
"They're not all bad," Ophelia protested. "Alphard's a bit of a troublemaker, but he's nice."
"Yes, poor thing. His cousins must tease him dreadfully."
Astraya laughed outright at that. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Riddle watching her intently, probably dissecting her every move. At her gaze, he gave her a friendly smile and said, "You seem to be settling in well."
"Everyone's been very kind to me, just like you, Riddle."
His eye twitched a little, and she noticed some of the boys sitting next to him, clearly his followers, dart looks at him. They obviously weren't used to generous displays from their leader.
Smiling, she helped herself to more bacon. The wood smoke smell had receded, probably due to the efforts of Slughorn and another teacher who had joined in clearing up the mess, and people had resumed eating.
"So, Sader," Rosier cut in as she took a bite. She turned her attention to him, trying to hide the way her blood had turned icy in her veins. This was the one person she'd rather avoid. "Has all your family returned to Britain, or is it just you? My father used to be very good friends with yours, and I'm sure he'd love to catch up."
She'd thought long and hard last night about how she was going to answer these sorts of questions. And this one didn't even need a complete lie. She swallowed the bacon and said, "It's just me actually." She let a sorrowful expression come to her face. "My father has… he's passed away." She glanced down, as if to hide her tears. "I'd rather not talk about it. It happened recently and I—" She made her voice hitch and took a deep breath.
"I apologise," Rosier said quietly. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Tom narrowed his eyes at the emotional display. He didn't believe one bit of it, though it was surprisingly convincing. He hadn't considered it, but she was just as skilled at playing a part as he was.
But she couldn't hide everything. As she drew Avery and Mulciber into a conversation about the lessons and teachers at Hogwarts, her eyes darted to Rosier for a fraction of a second, just long enough for Tom to notice. He recalled the way her eyes had flashed with some emotion when he'd introduced him, and when he'd spoken to her, her smile had gone stiff.
Tom wondered if Rosier knew Astraya outside of school, or if he knew something about her that made her nervous. As interesting as that thought was, Tom discarded it. Rosier was a faithful follower; if he'd known anything, he'd have told Tom, not only out of loyalty, but out of fear of what would happen to him if he didn't.
It gave him another question about the girl. And a weakness he could perhaps exploit.
Slughorn was moving down the Slytherin table now, passing out timetables and offering greetings to his favourite students along the way. When he reached their part of the table, he enthusiastically greeted Tom and his friends then turned to Astraya. "And Astraya, my dear, how are you settling in?"
"Very well, sir," she said easily, taking her timetable with a smile.
"I'm glad to hear it."
Tom frowned. He recognised the glint in Slughorn's eyes. It appeared every time he'd found a wizard or witch with potential, someone he could benefit and benefit from in return. Which meant that this girl was either well-connected or talented enough to intrigue Slughorn.
As Tom contemplated this, Lestrange, who had been looking at his timetable, groaned from next to him.
"History of Magic, first thing in the morning," he growled "What idiot made this timetable?"
Tom looked down at his own copy and found that they did indeed have History of Magic first period. It wasn't the most cheerful or exciting subject to study first thing in the day, for sure. Several groans were echoed around the table.
"Is it really that boring?" Astraya asked.
"It's worse, trust me," the Greengrass girl grumbled.
"The teacher, Binns, seemed to have made it his goal to kill as many students with boredom as possible," Rosier said.
"I like his lessons," Rowle protested.
"That's because you're as boring as him, Rowle," Lestrange snapped at her.
"Lestrange," Tom warned. Lestrange subsided a bit, though he remained disgruntled. Although Tom considered him a valuable asset, he had a foul temper that sometimes required putting him in place.
The rest of breakfast passed without any incidents. Astraya went back to talking with her friends, and Tom ate his breakfast in silence, thinking about his next move.
When they started leaving the Great Hall, Astraya matched her pace to his.
"I see you've decided to ignore my warning," she said quietly.
He gave her a mocking glance. "I hope you didn't think I would be afraid of you."
"I didn't think you would be. And I'm not afraid of you, either."
"Shame." He tilted his head, sneering. "I'm much nicer to people who are."
She let out a low laugh. "I don't think you're nice to anyone, Tom. But if you want to play this game, then by all means. I wish you the best of luck."
She said the words with a mocking tone, eyes shining with challenge. With a friendly smile, she left him and caught up with her friends, who had been watching the quiet exchange with interest and surprise, much like Tom's friends.
He didn't pay them any mind, though. He felt a mounting excitement as he watched Astraya walk further down the corridor.
Game on.