Chapter Nine: Boy Problems
Tom Riddle stared at Harry Potter from across the Gryffindor common room as the lightning-scarred Triwizard Champion wrote lines for one of his classes, blissfully unaware that he shared his body with another soul.
The last two Tom Riddles are both here in the same room, hiding in plain sight.
It was a strange thing to contemplate. Tom wasn't sure how to feel about his fifty-four year old counterpart, the final duplicate of the original Tom Riddle who lay dormant before him.
He got to live the life that was supposed to be mine, and he squandered it. The original Tom had achieved nothing but a cheap substitute for immortality. I have no sympathy for him.
Tom felt a soft jab on his arm.
"Staring much?" Hermione said, gesturing at Harry. She was sitting next to Tom on the couch, as they studied their class textbooks.
"Was I?" he said innocently.
"It's alright. You used to fancy him, you know. Before the accident."
"I did?"
"Quite a bit, actually. But you're in luck, because I happen to know he still needs a date for the Yule Ball on Saturday. If you'd like, I could drop a hint that you'd say yes if he were to ask you."
"Oh..."
Tom didn't know what to say. He had neglected to give the Yule Ball a moment's thought, given everything else that had been going on. He certainly had no desire to dance.
But what would Ginny do? That was the real question, wasn't it?
"Hello, Ginny."
Tom turned with a start to find Neville Longbottom standing beside him, nervously wringing his hands. He had snuck up on her. "Hello, Neville."
Neville had been one of the first people to express his sympathies to Ginny for losing her memory. He had sat next to her at Breakfast that morning. "I have trouble remembering things sometimes too," Neville had said. "That's why my Nan gave me this remembrall. I'd give it to you, but then I suppose it would only remind you about the stuff I'm supposed to remember."
Tom had been polite back to Neville because it seemed in character for Ginny, but the kindness he had shown seemed to have encouraged the boy to pay him closer attention.
"I was wondering if you would like to go to the Ball with me?" Neville said with a wavering voice. "If you haven't already been asked, that is."
Hermione gave Ginny a look of encouragement.
"I can understand if you're not up to it, after everything you've been through recently," Neville added.
Tom did not relish the thought of being locked hand in hand with this boy for hours on a dance floor. He had always abhorred physical contact, and intimate relationships of any kind. But in his days at Hogwarts in the 1940s, Tom had still forced himself to participate in the dances, often going arm in arm with the prettiest girl for the sake of social capital.
'What would Tom do?' had been the refrain he had often used in those days. After all, he had been performing the role of an ideal, well-mannered Hogwarts student under his own name long before he had switched bodies to Ginny Weasley.
Tom supposed there might be something to be gained by participating in the Yule Ball, but perhaps going with Harry Potter or another one of the Triwizard champions would have been a better way to increase his standing.
And yet Hermione was looking at him with such encouragement.
What would Ginny do?
"I'd love to go to the Yule Ball with you," Tom blurted out, suddenly hating himself for uttering the words.
Neville looked thrilled. "Great! I'll see you then!"
"Yeah."
Neville excused himself and ran up to the boys' dormitory, skipping steps along the way.
Dumbledore had better appreciate the lengths I'm going to.
Hermione was smiling. "That's so sweet, Ginny. I'm so happy you get to go! Now we can all go together—you and Neville, me and Viktor, and Harry and Ron. If those two Casanovas can ever find a date that is…"
They glanced across the room at Ron who was looking at them morosely as he clutched his remembrall.
"Alright, Ron?" Hermione asked.
Ron walked over, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He was doing his best to avoid looking at Hermione. "Hullo Ginny, uh, I thought I'd check in. See how you're doing. You know how Mum worries and all. Need help with homework or anything?"
"I'm fine," said Tom. "My knowledge of magic is starting to come back to me, actually. I have a date to the Yule Ball now too. How are you doing?"
Ron's face flushed red with embarrassment. "Right. Well, good night then. Night, Hermione."
"Night," she replied simply, and Ron hurried away up the boys' staircase.
Hermione looked at Tom, and they both broke into laughter.
