Chapter 2
Lucius Malfoy was not a dumb blonde contrary to popular belief, thankyou very much. If anything, Lucius thought the dumb one was Tom. Sure the bloke was intelligent. But did he lack the intelligence to read social cues? Yes.
Lucius and the rest of his Slytherin mates knew Tom was not a sly bastard, contrary to Tom’s belief. Lucius could bet on his life that every single person knew about Tom’s evil plans to take over the world. And they just let him do so, probably because everyone knew he wouldn’t reach his goal. There were running bets that Harry Potter would woo Tom out of his evil plans. He was the chosen one, after-all.
Dumbledore’s Army (name proposed by Hermione) was a betting pool lead by the Weasley twins. Some were sure that this joke organisation could single handedly save the wizarding world from the next big dark wizard. One could say this was the largest betting pool in the history of Hogwarts even having some of the professors as its members.
The main bet of DA was on how long it will take for Harry Potter to woo Tom Riddle. Minor bets also included but not exclusive to:
- Tom will fall so hard, he reaches hell
- Tom will lose his shit
- Tom will abandon his desire to be the dark lord
- Tom was not smooth while flirting
- Tom was a loser in his love for Harry
DA was originally formed because of a smitten fool named Harry Potter. The Gryffindor students were tired of hearing him gush about the perfect Tom Riddle and how he barely notices Harry. That’s how they decided to evacuate the places Tom used to visit (like the library on Sunday mornings. Seriously, they were putting themselves in danger by keeping assignments to the last minute). Hence, DA was thrilled to know that Harry finally decided to talk to Tom. The Gryffindors got up early to help Harry get ready in the morning. He had to be there when Tom reaches the library. Heck, even Hermione decided to not go to the library that morning.
They came to know that their efforts were in vain when Harry started to sleep even before Tom arrived. The last thing the DA saw was Tom running out of the library, his face red, possibly angry at Harry. But some, like the Weasley twins and Lucius Malfoy believed Tom was simply flustered. Anyhow, they will come to know about it soon and that’s how another bet came into place.
Tom didn’t know how he survived the time between his early morning adventure in the library and lunch. He locked himself up in his dorm reading books on how to talk to your crush and fantasising about Harry. At noon, he along with Lucius entered the Great Hall to have lunch. Tom must be lying if he said he didn’t hear whispers erupt when he entered the room. Must be the perks of being a future Dark Lord, he guessed.
It was only today that he noticed, he had a clear view of Potter from where he sat. There was no other single person in his way. It almost seemed like people avoided sitting in that path. Who was Tom kidding? They were definitely avoiding those seats not to come face to face and be intimidated by Tom’s aura. Harry was just blissfully unaware of Tom’s aura like the oblivious king he was.
Tom never thought that staring at Harry was such an entertaining task. He was suddenly brought back from his dream land when Lucius suddenly cleared his throat and stated, “You look at Harry as if he is everything you want.”
“What do you mean I look at Harry like he is everything I want? I call bullshit! That’s slander!” Tom protested. If anything, Tom didn’t want to bring Lucius into this as he knew about the Malfoy family’s take on half-bloods and Gryffindors. He himself would have been on their hit list if he wasn’t the heir of Slytherin himself.
“Your reaction doesn’t seem to convey that. You seem like you would love to kiss that bloke.” Argued the blonde.
“Would I like to kiss him? Maybe. Yes. But it could be purely platonic. Here I’ll demonstrate.” Kissing Malfoy on the cheek to prove a point was definitely not on Tom’s to-do list for the day but here we are. Tom was almost sure he heard the Great Hall collectively gasp. But he was overwhelmed by his desire to kill himself for the act he did than to care about some gasps. Seriously, what was Tom thinking. He definitely didn’t like kissing Lucius on the cheek, even platonically. Oh but Harry, he was special.
“Did you seriously just kiss me to prove a point? Dude just admit that you like him. Ugh” Lucius replied. Okay maybe Tom was wrong. Lucius was only “halfblood and mudblood”-phobic. He was definitely not homophobic.
“Okay, okay, I like him!” Tom finally admitted. He was so sure he saw Lucius giving a thumbs up to the Weasley twins. Was his eyes deceiving him so early in the morning? Probably. He definitely didn’t have time to fret about those silly things. He had urgent goals in his agenda.
Tom’s To-Do list:
- Be able to talk infront of Harry
- Maybe ask him out?
- Kiss him (definitely)
- Rot in The Hogwarts Library
- Make use of the Malfoy Manor Library
- Make horcruxes
- Take over the world (hopefully with Harry by his side)