Different worlds

Since the minor confrontation in the library, Tom's been doing everything in his power to avoid Y/N...and he's failing, miserably.

In almost every class he shares with her he's been forced to work alongside her. They were assigned to be lab "buddies" during potions, practing spells in DADA, his broom kept creeping towards her when he wasn't moving in flying class. The harder he tried to ignore her, the more the world kept forcing her closer to him and he hated it.

However, he had gotten used to her presence and had grown to expect it. So imagine his surprise when he walks into the library during their shared lunch and can't find Y/N anywhere. He looked around a little more and paced through the library with his hands in his pockets, fiddling with the bracelet he still held on to. Yeah, he still carried around the bracelet despite getting a hold of it almost a month ago. He'll never admit it, but that was one of the reasons he tried so desperately to ignore her.

He wanted the upper hand, to have her run up to him begging to have it back, practically as his mercy. But, surprisingly to him, that never happened. Not once has he felt her looking in his direction during classes, nor has she tried to talk to him about anything other than the assignment they were forced to work on together. He was also confused as to why it was a snake rather than an eagle to represent the house she was apart of.

"She's in the front courtyard with a few classmates." Tom spun around and looked at the librarian, tilting his head a little. "Y/N, that's who you're looking for, right?"

So that's her name.....truthfully over the last few months he's been forced to acknowledge her presence, he never once tried to learn her name. However, he wasn't about to let the librarian think he was actually interested in knowing where she was. "I was told to help someone with an assignment in one of my earlier classes, but it seems they decided to not show up." This wasn't the worst lie he could've told. It wasn't uncommon for the teachers to ask Tom to help a struggling student from time to time, as it was very evident that he was a talented student.

He nodded his head a little towards the librarian and exited the library, hand still messing with the bracelet in his pocket. He closed his eyes and released a breath he wasn't aware was being held and starting walking in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room...or so he thought.

After a few minutes of aimlessly walking he stopped to realize he was walking in the opposite direction of the dungeon, instead he was walking towards the courtyard, towards the person he was trying to avoid, the very person we was watching enter the hall with a few of her friends talking and laughing, walking towards him. Why? He kept trying to come up with explanations. He was sick of carryout the bracelet and just wanted to return it. The librarian mentioning the courtyard messed with his head and had him unintentionally thinking of it. Maybe he didn't wanna go back to pacing around his dorm and fighting the urge to punch a wall in frustration. Or-

"Yoo-hoo, earth to Riddle?" Tom jolted his head back instinctively when seeing a hand wave in front of his face and look to see Y/N giving him a look of confusion and a maybe a little concerned.

"L/N." He glared down at her and turned around, trying to walk away from her but kept hearing footsteps catch up to him. "Why are you following me?"

She laughed a little and moved a few strands of hair out of her face, "I'm not following you, I'm walking to the potions classroom. Y'know- the class that we both have after lunch?"

He hummed slightly in acknowledgment and reached into one of his inner robe pockets to check the time. Class wasn't for another 20 minutes, surely Slughorn had another class right now. "Are you usually arriving to class this early?" He would sometimes notice her leave the library before lunch was over, but he had always assumed she was heading to the Great Hall or some other random place to socialize like he saw occur a few moments ago with her friends. It never crossed his mind that she was heading into class way earlier than she needed to.

"Well, yeah. I offer to help the teachers prepare for their next lesson. That way I can get an idea on what we're learning in class that day."

"I see..." They both go silent and Tom is desperate to find a way to either get out of this awkward conversation or change the topic entirely. Then he remembered the stupid bracelet. He fiddled around in his pocket before taking out the bracelet and holding it out to his right where Y/N is standing. "I believe this belongs to."

He watches her eyes light up a little while trying to hide her joy for seeing the bracelet again and pretend that she isn't too fazed by is being in front of her. She tried to reach for it only for Tom to stop moving and hold it above his head, he was just tall enough that she couldn't reach for it without raising higher up onto her toes or jumping, both option she'd refuse to do. She sighed and crossed her arms, "fine, how about a trade?"

This piqued Tom's interest trying to figure out what valuable thing she could possibly have to trade. He placed the bracelet inside one of his pockets and chuckled a little while speaking, "and what do you have that could possibly be of value to me?" After a few seconds of silence, Tom took it as a sign that he had won and was about to walk away when she had grabbed one of his hands and pulled it towards her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He had a spoke a little louder than he planned to, causing a few people nearby to look at them for a few seconds.

"Quit yapping, you'll draw unwanted attention." She placed something in his palm and closed his hand so he couldn't see what it was and the two stood there for a few seconds, not quite sure what to say. After maybe ten seconds of them staring into eachohters' eyes in a attempt the read the other's mind, Y/N let go of Tom's hand and smiled, finally breaking eye contact when she turned away from him. "I'll see you in potions."

She was gone before he was properly given the opportunity to say anything. He opened his hand to see a small, empty glass tube and a note: 'restricted section, 10:30'. He turned the note over to see a little more writing on it: 'P.S. press the vial to the bracelets 'fangs'.'

***

Tom snunk his way through the library with a disillusionment charm, which he had learned from a 6th year, and arrived at the restricted a few minutes early. He couldn't see or hear anyone inside and noticed the lock wasn't opened, assuming Y/N hadn't arrived yet and felt accomplished. With a simple use of 'aberto', Tom undid the lock and snuck in as quietly as he could.

However, when closed the door and took a few steps, he saw she was already there, sitting with her legs crossed on the table, book in hand. Her illuminated wand rested on her thigh and appeared to already be a few pages in. She finally looked up and noticed Tom had arrived, "wow, you actually came. Thought you'd blow me off and never let me see that bracelet again." She set the book aside and pushed herself off the table to walk over towards Tom. "Even a little early at that, were you hoping to beat me here"?

Tom was confused on several parts. How did he not see her when he first arrived? Since she arrived before him, why did the lock appear completely untouched? Plus, seeing as they're in the restricted section of the library, after curfew, why wasn't she trying to speak with a quieter voice in any sort of way? Furthermore, now that he decided to look around, he noticed a chair that was placed in the middle of the restriction section which he definitely didn't see before entering.

She seemed to have read his mind and leaned a little closer to him to speak a little quiter into his ear. "I modified a few concealment and barrier charms." She straightened up and went back to sitting on the table, continuing what she was reading. "Everything looks normal from the outside, but no one outside the barrier can see or hear what's occurring on the inside."

Tom took the vial out of his pocket, now filled with a clear liquid of some kind, and placed it next to her on the table "And what exactly is the extent of this barrier?" She pointed at the chair standing while picking up the the vials with her other hand and placing them on her lap, not taking her eyes off the book, "from the entrance to that chair in a dome shape". He wasn't able to see what she was reading and the words didn't mean a huge amount to him without knowing the context.

After a minutes of sitting in silence, she closed the book and set it aside. "You're a parselmouth...correct?" She picked up the vial and examined the contents inside it carefully.

"A what now?" Tom vaguely remembers hearing Dumbledore mention the same word when they met at the orphanage, but in that moment he was still trying to grasp the entire concept and reason why he felt so different from the other kids to remember what it meant.

"A parselmouth," she placed the vial inside her robe after looking at for a little longer. "You know, people with the ability to speak to snakes." She stands up from the table the was sitting on and waves her still illuminated wand around, gesturing for Tom to follow her. "For someone almost all the staff keep calling 'magically gifted' you know shockingly little of the wizarding world."

"Not like magic is commonly used at Wool's..." He mumbled quietly to himself, ashamed to actually admit why he knew so little. It felt humiliating to him how he was clearly skilled when it came to magic but was burdened with never unlocking his wizarding potential until he was about to attend Hogwarts.

He watched Y/N walk a little deeper into the restricted section. Although this wasn't his first time in here, he had managed to sneak in after a month or so into the school year, it irritated him how easily she walked through it. How many times had she snuck in here unnoticed? Even when he had last snuck in he had to deal with a stupid ghost or two that was just waiting to snitch on wandering students. Furthermore, he was annoying with the spells she was using as well. She could cast charms that weren't yet taught and it seemed clear they weren't easy to use charms either. How long has she been studying magic and how powerful was her family if it meant she could accomplish seemingly difficult tasks with the littlest of effort?

"Huh, strange..." She stopped and looked down at the floor beneath her "I was almost sent there...but they deemed it insulting to send a pureblood to a muggle orphanage and felt that wizarding ones were unfit to look after me, taking it upon themselves to raise me."

"They?" He wasn't sure why he asked, he didn't actually care. If she had lived in Wool's Orphanage alongside him she would've just been another annoying person for him to have to put up with. Not like he ever dealt with the younger kids nicely anyways, he highly doubted he would've treated her any differently.

"The caretakers where I grew up. I guess it was kinda like an orphanage, full of people unwanted by the world that are forced to be looked after 24/7." She continued walking again, if that was what it could be called. She was dragging her feet across the floor, as if trying to feel for anything and stopped once her feet dragged against something that didn't sound like a carpet. "Found it." He watched her kneel down and pick up...nothing. She turned to look at him once again holding out nothing in front of her. "This, for the bracelet."

Tom looked down at her hand to see it wasn't there. She was clearly holding her arm in front of him but her hand was missing. He reached to where he assumed her hand would be and felt a sort of cloth there.

Unfortunately he didn't have much time to do anything else before she had grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her "bracelet first, then you can get the cloak." Despire her quick words, she still did a good job keeping up a sweet and calm tone.

He scoffed "and why exactly would I need a measly cloak." He still reached into his robe anyways with his free hand to grab the bracelet He knew an invisibility cloak would be useful in the future, but like hell he would let her-even for a second- think she has the upper hand over him.

"Seriously Riddle? You think you're half-assed disillusionment charm will keep up in the future? It's painfully obvious you don't have experience with that spell or most spells for thar matter. You said it yourself, magic is unfamiliar to you because of where you grew up." She tightened he grip on his wrist, drawing him closer, her calm demeanor and voice quickly fading into on of annoyance and disdain. "So, rather than relying on advanced spells that you clearly don't know all the well, take advantage of the invisibility cloak and sneak around the library to your heart's content. Now give. me. my. bracelet."

At this point Tom wanted nothing more and to free himself from her grasp and strangle her until the light quickly dimmed from her eyes. She had absolutely no right to critique his magic ability or continue to talk as if she was any more talented than he was. However, it'd be far too risky to try anything and not expect to get caught. He had no person who could take the fall for her death nor a set plan on where'd he'd even dispose of her body while trying to look blame said fall guy.

He held the bracelet out infront of her so she was easily able to slide it on her wrist. He watched as the bracelet fell down her arm, appearing way you big on her. Her grip on his wrist loosen and he felt the cloak fall across his back and watched his body disappear as she wrapped it over his shoulders. She gently pulled at the cloak to ensure there was no external damage and to make sure Tom could be well hidden.

"I'm usually here Mondays and Wednesdays if you wish to know what days to not sneak I here and stay away from me." She pulled the hood over Tom's head, being careful to not squish his hair in the process and walked past him. She held up her arm and mumbled to herself, all he could hear was 'close' in what he now knew was parseltongue and watched as the bracelet seemed to move of its own to tighten itself around her wrist and forearm so it couldn't fall off. He then noticed her wand was still illuminating light, which he originally assumed was because she wanted better light to read with, but now isn't so certain that's the case. Tom watched as she put on the hood of her very much visible robe and saw her wand stop illuminating. It struck him that she had been holding up the barrier spell this entire time and couldn't think to imagine how draining it mughtve been, but he also didn't really care what little energy she mightve had let. "But, I will say. It was fairly nice being near the great Tom Riddle, while also not watching people fawn for you."

He tilted his head a little, although she couldn't see it. Sure he had a lot of people who admired him and followed him around, primarily those in the Slytherin House, but he wouldn't describe it was fawning for him. He also though back to all the times he's watched her from afar in between classes; she was never alone either. There was always at least one person who was standing close enough that she would give a breif expression of discomfort. "I feel I could say the same you, L/N."

She grimaced a little at hearing her last name, Merlin did she hate that name. "Just Y/N is fine. We're the same age, there's no need for formalities. Plus the people who surround me are, for the most part, friends. You, however, have followers." She saw a hand reach towards her and grab her chin, turning her head to what she assumed was Tom's face.

"Would you not consider yourself a follower? You seem to follow me almost everywhere I go."

Y/N smiled and seemingly vanished from Tom's grasp, reappearing slightly to the right of where she was previously. "I should be asking you that. The librarian said you practically ran out today once learning I was in the courtyard. I know you weren't there to help someone study either. Professor Dumbledore would never ask you to tutor someone in Transfigurations and I know you'd die before helping anyone with Herbology."

She moved her wand around and mumbled a spell Tom couldn't quite make out and she vanished, but it wasn't a disillusionment charm she was used- he could tell that much. He didn't have the patience to try and figure out what she did and exited the restricted library, making sure it was locked behind him. Frankly, he was at a loss for words on how direct she was when confronting him and how she somehow knew the minor detail on his class preferences-

His eyes widened and he stopped in the middle of the library when it hit him. Obviously she would know Professor Dumbledore wouldn't ask him to help a student, after all they shared the class and he clearly favored her over him. But, herbology however, was a class he shared with Hufflepuff students, not Ravenclaw. So how the hell did she, a ravenclaw, know that class was the bane of his existence and would rather suffer through a mandrake without earplugs rather than help a student in that class. The realization made his chuckle to himself and smirk...turns out he wasn't alone when it came to the constant attempts to be in the other's presence.