Different worlds

"You should've seen the look on his face when he had realized that his entire demonstration wa..." Tom tuned out the words of Lestrange while looking out at the courtyard. From any perspective, it would appear that he was looking at his classmate and taking interest in what he was saying, but that wasn't the case at all. His attention was focused just past Lestrange's shoulder to the Ravenclaw student sitting under a tree, all by herself.

It was unusual for him to see Y/N alone, especially during lunch. On Mondays and Thursdays she would be in the front courtyard as that was the closest to her next classes. On Tuesdays she'd be in the courtyard closest to the greenhouse for Herbology. On Wednesdays and Fridays she'd eat lunch in the Grear Hall and would spend her weekends in the library with him. If she wasn't in that set location, it was because she would have a test coming up for a class and would be studying in the library.

Did he share any of those classes with her to know why she ate in a certain location? No, not at all. All classes they shared were either the class before lunch, or the second class after lunch. Some of the days they didn't even share the same lunch. But that wasn't concerning to him. No, what was weird is that, no matter the day, Y/N would always have at least 3 friends having lunch with her. But today? She was all by herself, textbook and notes in hand.

"Not to mention she's so incredibly...and you're not listening to me, are you?"

"Mhm..." Tom, still not processing his friend stopped talking hadn't yet moved his gaze from the other 3rd year. That was until she began to turn her head in his direction, which caused him to finally look at his companion, who was giving him a questionable look. "What?"

"You've been giving me the same five responses this entire time, I've been talking for almost five minutes, do you even know what I was talking about?"

"No, I stopped listening when you chose to tell me about your elective class that I really couldn't care less about." He rolled his eyes and noticed an owl fly right by his head, moving straight towards Y/N. He tried to see if he could read her expression from the letter but was caught off guard from the sound of whistling.

The whistling, of course, came from Lestrange who was now also looking at Y/N, "Now I see what had gotten you so mesmorized."

Tom glared at him from the corner of his eye and gave a mild look of disgust, "I know damn well you aren't insinuating that I was looking at-"

"No, of course not." Lestrange stood up and brushed himself off, adjusting small parts of his uniform to look perfect "but, since you're clearly not gonna take advantage of her alone, I will" He winked at his friend and walked on over to Y/N, leaving Tom alone.

He wasn't sure why, but that infuriated him beyond belief. He wasn't sure if he was mad that his so called 'friend' left him to flirt with a classmate. He wasn't sure if he was mad that the classmate was specifically Y/N. He didn't know what he was feeling, but he loathed it with every fibre of his being.

***

Finally, Friday came around and it was time for Potions, a class Slytherin shared with Ravenclaw. Normally he'd be thrilled to be in the class, but not today. Since Lestrange took it upon himself to 'charm' Y/N, the two have been seemingly glued together almost all week. He walks her to class, even if his is across the school, kisses her hand whenever he says goodbye, offers to carry around her things, and Tom has witnessed all of it. Tom thought he despised seeing her talk and laugh with her friends that he didn't know, but oh boy did he hate it even more now that he knew the person.

Because he could never get the stupid image of her laughing and smiling with his 'dear friend' out of his damn head, Tom has been avoiding Y/N whenever he could. He stopped watching from afar during their shared, and not shared, lunches, no longer took the long way to some of his classes just to pass her in the hall, avoided being in the library the days he knew she'd be there, both during and after school hours. He even went as far as to sit away from her during the few classes they did share together, Potions and Transfigurations.

Avoiding her in their shared classes was the most difficult. The two were, without a doubt, the highest achieving students in their year but they definitely bounced off eachother in those two classes. Transfigurations was one of Tom's weaker classes, but one of Y/N's strongest while potions was the opposite for them. While Tom was able to do perfectly fine in Transfigurations without her help, he had noticed he got frustrated a lot easier and grew more likely to make mistakes. He refused her help whenever she asked, being too prideful, and confused, to accept he might've been struggling.

But, for now, his objective was to survive his final class of the day and leave. He walked into the classroom to see, as per usual, Y/N was going around to each table and making sure the cauldrons were clean and prepared for class. Less usual, though, was Lestrange was standing beside her. He wasn't helping to set up, he was just following her around and talking. Y/N had spotted Tom entering the classroom and smiled at him, but he completely ignored her and went over to his table on the other side of the classroom.

Tom appeared to be staring at his cauldron, but was watching Y/N from the corner of his eye. It looked as if she was trying to walk over to him, but by then students had started to flood the room, prompting her to sit down where she was...next to Lestrange.

***

Tom carefully closed the entrance to the Slytherin commonroom and walked though the dungeon. He adjusted the hood of the invisibility cloak Y/N had given him back in their 1st year. The school was void of students, only occasional noises coming from the hanging portraits or supernatural life that chose to have friendly conversation. He didn't really have a plan on where to go, as usually this was the day Y/N would join him in the library.

However, as he was walking he heard a hissing sound coming from one of the halls. Curious, he began to walk towards the noise. The hissing grew louder and, although he couldn't make out words, he could hear sounds of frustration and annoyance. Suddenly he saw the door to the greenhouse courtyard open and quickly ran to slip through before the door close on him.

Once he was outside, the sound of that damn snake was more echoey but he could tell that it was frantic to get somewhere. He looked down to see what he assumes was the snake moving straight towards the greenhouse, but suddenly stopping in the middle of the grass.

Tom could finally manage to make out the hissing sounds, '𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔤𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔫𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔰𝔢, 𝔦𝔤𝔫𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔲𝔰𝔢' was all it repeated over and over. He stepped a little closer to get a closer look at the snake: an adder. It was a venomous snake he had seen them a few times near the orphanage, but they tended to avoid being near people, so why was it here at Hogwarts?

While taking a step he had accidently stepped on what he assumed was a twig, which snapped and alerted the snake. The snake turned around and Tom felt a sharp sting in his leg. He cursed under his breath and heard the snake, which he was convinced was no longer a normal snake, do the exact same. He had felt the snake move past him and the ladt thing he remembered was the feeling of someone's hand smacking the nerve in his neck before blacking out.

***

When Tom came to, he felt something something cold, touch his arm. He tried to move back in retaliation but quickly noticed his arms and legs were restrained with....vines? He kept squirming until he finally felt something stab into his arm, making his tense up completely.

He felt the vines release him and he immediately turned to attack the person, but there was no one there. He looked around to see he was inside the greenhouse, his invisibility cloak and wand appearing to be on the table beside him. Then he started to hear hissing again. Completely annoyed and fed up, he retorted "𝔰𝔥𝔲𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔲𝔠𝔨 𝔲𝔭 𝔟𝔢𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔰𝔠𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔰 𝔢𝔫𝔡 𝔲𝔭 𝔰𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔥𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔭𝔞𝔶𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔭𝔬𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔯."

The hissing was soon replaced with a muffled voice that was way too familiar for his liking, "I'm sorry, was that a threat, Riddle?"

Tom froze and saw a light illuminate the plants behind him. He slowly turned to see, low and behold, Y/N holding a lantern as she bit down on a cloth. He watched the cloth absorb...something before taking it out her mouth and placing it town on the table, spitting slightly onto the ground at her feet.

"I'll ask again, was that a threat?" She placed the lantern down beside her and crossed her arms

"What the fuck are you doing here and where's that damn snake?" Tom took a few steps towards Y/N. She was by far the last person he wanted to see, she was the whole reason he refused ro visit the library in the first place.

"I could be asking you the same question, you're usually at the library on Thursdays and I figured you needed alone time to get through whatever fucking tantrum this is."

"I was avoiding you and you're in the library almost everyday. Now where is that damn snake?"

"I'm sorry, why the hell are yoy avoiding me? Have I done something to upset Mr. Perfect? Honestly, it is a struggle to actually understand-"

"Y/N" Tom forcefully grabbed onto her arms and glared down at her, tightening his grip on her with everybody he spoke "WHERE.IS.THE.SNAKE-"

"I AM THE SNAKE!!" Y/N lashed out and vanished before his eyes like she normally does. But this time, he felt something coil around his arm and looked to see...an adder. The snake vanished and Y/N appeared just outside his grasp, crossing her arms to rub her hand on the places Tom and held onto her.

Tom stared at his hands and proceeded to get even more furious. "So you're the one that fucking bit me?! Were you also the one who knocked me out and tied he up in the fucking greenhouse?! And what the fuck did you do so my damn arm?! And-"

He was completely cut up by hearing her say 'silencio' which definitely did not help him calm day any more. "Okay, yes I bit you, and I'm sorry but I heard something snap behind me and I panicked. It's not like I could see who you were under the fucking cloak! And, yes, I knocked you out and, no, I'm not in the slightest bit sorry about that. You are so unbelievably stubborn and would refuse to cooperate with me until you'd be given answers that I don't wanna give you. Three, use for damn brain for two seconds. You were bit by a fucking adder, what do you think I injected into your damn arm?!"

She ran her hands through her hair and took a few seconds to calm down. "Before I undo the silencing charm, I need to know for certain you won't start yelling and screaming again." In the two full years they've been at Hogwarts, neither of them have lost their temper as much as they did now, at least not at eachother. Sure, they'd get annoyed and raise their voice, but they wouldn't have a conversation be just fighting.

Tom rolled his eyes but nodded his head anyways and felt the charm move off of him. He also took a few seconds to calm his nerves before speaking. "How long have you been an animagus, exactly?"

Y/N smiled and place her bracelet next to the cloth she had set down earlier. "I think I was eight or nine when I completed the steps. I had convinced one of my caretakers to teach me, took almost two years of begging."

Tom nodded and walked closer to Y/N see what she was looking at. "Do I want to know whatever the hell that is?" He pointed at the cloth, clearly disgusted and became even more disgusted hearing Y/N laugh about it.

"It's venom. Whenever I bite something, some of the venom will linger when I turn back to a human. So I make sure all venom absorbs into a cloth before closing my mouth to ensure I'm not ingesting snake venom." She looked a the bracelet for a second longer before randomly saying "𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔞𝔠𝔨".

Tom jumped ever so slightly at the snake bracelet pouncing on the cloth, absorbing all the venom from the cloth. "You're telling me that clear liquid I handed you back in first year was adder venom?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty much." She placed the bracelet back on her wrist and had it coil around her arm before looking back up and Tom, "Now mind telling me why you've been avoiding me like a plague?"

Tom scowled remembering the reasons he chose to ignore her. They were petty reasons and he couldn't even explain why he chose to do any of it. He shrugged and spoke without processing what he was actually saying, "you seemed pretty content flirting the week away with your snake of a boyfriend."

"Snake of a boy-" it had set it that he was referring to Lestrange who had been spending the entire week flirting with her nonstop, "are you...jealous of your own minion?"

"I beg your pardon?" Tom glared at Y/N who was now at eye lever after she decided to sit on the herbology table.

"You heard me, you're jealous, very jealous."

"And why would I be jealous, exactly?" He crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side a little

Y/N scoots over so she's sitting right in front of Tom and raises an eyebrow. "So you're saying you'd be perfectly fine knowing Lestrange had asked me out after you stormed out of Potions class, today?"

Tom tensed up completely and dug his nails into his arms. He tried his best to speak calmly, but the irritation was there clear as day, "it's not my business what he chooses to do during his freetime..." He thought to himself more, could he be jealous? If he was he couldn't begin to think why. "But humor me, what'd you say to him?"

Y/N smiled and looked the man standing before her dead in the eyes, "Calm down, I told him I was flattered but wasn't interested."

He wasn't sure why, but hearing that she told him no was both calming and even more stressful. But, he had felt all his muscles relax and let out a deep sigh that he couldn't understand why it was there. "ᵒʰ ᵗʰᵃⁿᵏ ᵐᵉʳˡⁱⁿ."

"What was that?" Y/N leaned a little closer to Tom, a little shocked she actually got a response out of his

Tom, on the other hand, was screaming at himself for saying a thought he didn't even know he had out loud. He looked back up to see Y/N and felt something in him snap, "...fuck it." Without registering it, his had moved up to her cheek, the other to her waist, and pulled her closer. By the time he realized what was happened, he had already felt her lips on his.

Y/N pushed herself off the table, a hand resting on the nape of Tom's neck to pull him closer to her.

Neither of them knew how long they were there, but it also didn't matter. Tom pulled away first and tried to sort out what just happened. He had spent over an entire week ignoring this woman, the same woman whose schedule he's been memorizing since they met as first years. The same woman who refuses to obey his everyword, the one who challenges him to try harder to get her to do just that. The same woman whose rejected student, after student, after student is the very same one he's holding in his arms.

Y/N smiled and slowly began to lean in again, "ᵗᵒˡᵈ ʸᵃ ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵉʳᵉ ʲᵉᵃˡᵒᵘˢ."

"Shut up." And their lips had touched again. It all clicked in his head, he was jealous. Jealous of every guy who could walk up to her and ask her out. Jealous of every person who hugged her or stuck to her. Jealous of every person who made her genuinely smile and laugh. But it didn't matter, cause in the end, he's been the only person she's never rejected. In his eyes, and the eyes of many other, he won.

They pulled away again and Y/N smiled, reaching into her pocket to pull out a clean cloth and handing it to him. "Sorry, your hairs now a little messy."

Tom rolled his eyes and reached past Y/N to grab his wand. With a simple wave of it he returned back to his normal appearance, where no one would be the wiser. The two and stood there and looked at eachother for a few more seconds, several thoughts and emotions flooding through the heads.

Soon Y/N and vanished and appeared beside Tom. He was about to speak when she gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled, almost reading his mind, "don't worry, ᵗʰⁱˢ ʷⁱˡˡ ᵐᵉ ᵒᵘʳ ˡⁱᵗᵗˡᵉ ˢᵉᶜʳᵉᵗ." She vanished again and Tom looked down to see her slither through the greenhouse door

Tom stood there for a few seconds and gently touched his hand to his lips, his mind glued to her smile. He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath, "fuck..."

***

Similarly, Y/N was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room, mind replaying the events that took place just moment ago then remembered the words she told herself: don't get too close. Her mind seemingly paused on the image of him smiling at her and she buried her face in her hands, "damn it..."