Chapter 1
Tom was taking his usual stroll through the Hogwarts hallways. Since he rarely found many people, his work was typically not serious. When he did, it was usually with some students, either making out or doing something completely ridiculous.
He had once seen a younger year bring in a spider, a giant one at that, inside the castle in an attempt to keep it as a pet. He recalls the name being something like... Hagrid or whatever. That student was himself half-gaint. Either way, Tom had wanted to just let him go and use this information accordingly in the future. That did not go so well because the stupid half-giant had walked in on the headmaster. Merlin knew what he was doing there, but they reached an agreement that Tom didn't bother to listen and then had continued his stroll.
That was quite the only interesting thing he had to do as a prefect. Surprisingly most students were behaving and those who weren't were just stupid Griffindors and he figured they could be dealt with by the Griffindor prefect. He knew very little about other prefects though, and he did not care.
Perhaps today will be different.
Tom stood still as he noticed small footsteps... that is strange. He did not see anyone. Were they wearing a disillusionment charm? Well whatever they were doing, they were not doing it very well. Perhaps it would have been much better to use a silencing spell on their shoes. They might have almost slipped Tom's notice. Almost.
He moved slowly toward the corner of a hallway and remained low. The footsteps, although quite, could be heard rapidly approaching him. He would catch them just as they were about to turn.
...
Right.. about... now.
Oh.
Harry had no idea how he ended up in this situation.
Perhaps, with his luck, he knew how.
He had only wanted to take a walk by the lake tonight.
He had not wanted to end up on a prefect
Especially not the hot Slytherin prefect.
Harry simply wanted a hole to swallow him whole. It was the most embarrassing situation he had ever encountered. Furthermore, his invisibility cloak had partially detached from his face and was now hanging below his shoulders. His glasses had also fallen off at some point.
But he could still clearly see his face because they were that close.
If they proceed any further, they could possibly kiss. Stop thinking Harry!
The other boy was looking at him with just a small glint of curiosity and something else that Harry couldn't put a finger on. His breaths were fanning Harry's face through his slightly parted lips. Harry could feel... his heartbeat as well. He was absolutely sure that the other could feel his heartbeat as well, his rapidly increasing heartbeat.
Upon further observation, Harry saw just how beautifully charming the other was. He had only seen Riddle whenever they had the same classes together and usually at a far of distance, but now that he saw it was very clear why all the girls were behind him even if he wasn't particularly nice. Harry then finally looked into his eyes and...
Personally he had never seen red eyes before nor did he know they were genetically real, but they were captivating. Mesmerising and.. ethreal.
He was abruptly brought back to reality by a clearing of the throat, and he staggered off the other boy. Gosh how long had had he just laid on top of him?
On top of that, he had unintentionally sat on his now found but broken glasses.
Harry sighed and got up. He was caught; he might as well lose a few points now. He desperately hoped for no detention. Oh Merlin help him. He didn't want any detentions. And since he's from slytherin he might allot him to Snape. Wouldn't that just be brillant?
He finally look up to the now quite blurry image of the prefect infront of him and just saw the other staring at him. It looked extremely similar to a preditor finding its prey.
"Erm.." he said, trying to get the other boy to stop staring at him and start a conversation. Although, he hoped the conversation wouldn't last too long. He looked down and then up again and he felt something off. Whether it was the sly smile on Riddle's face. It made Harry freak out on the inside. That definitely meant no good. Why did he not think to bring the Muruderes map with him today? Overconfindence. That was it.
He startled when Riddle finally started to speak.
"5 points from Griffindor, now off you go before I change my mind" Tom said in a slow calm manner. And the second Harry's brain processed the information, he was off. He instantly bent down to pick the cloak, which was puddled around his feet, and had almost started running but in a second a hand was on his wrist, stopping him from moving further. Ugh, he knew it was too good to be true.
"You forgot these..." he turned around and almost instantly he felt his -fixed?- glasses slipping back on his face. At once everything around him came to focus. And so did the boy infront of him. Harry immediately felt uneasy at that stupid handsome face and extremely deep red eyes staring at him. He felt his face turn hot. Thankfully it was a bit dark in the corridor and he hoped that Riddle didn't see that.
He freed his hand from the other and after barely muttering an 'thanks', he ran. He hoped to never ever run into the other ever again.
But deep inside he knew that was impossible.
The two had mostly forgotten about each other, mostly for a few weeks. But it was quite difficult when they had two same classes together.
Herbology and Potions.
Harry sighed as he made his way through the cold dungeons and into the potions classroom while being in between his two bickering friends. First thing in the morning..and they're already fighting- seriously?
With a yawn, Harry took his usual place for his practicals. As he arranged his things, he looked up and once more made direct eye contact with Riddle.
Harry had now lost track of how many times they had unintentionally made eye contact. Harry was certain that Riddle was staring at him all the time. And he was slyly glancing when he wasn't.
The worst thing is that every time he looks at him, the damned bastard grins at him!
Though Harry tries his hardest to glare back at him, every time he looks at the other boy, he becomes weak at the knees. God help him. Why did he look so hot?
Harry averted his gaze when Riddle winked at him. Winking?! Seriously?
Harry yawned once more—for God knows how many times—but just then Snape appeared, clearly noticing that he was yawning, and decided to deduct points from Griffindor. That jerk.
Harry let out a sigh and began to pay attention to the directions.
Snape observed that two people were missing, one from each house. Longbottom and Nott. Well then..
"Riddle and Potter, it looks like your regular potion-sharing companions are not in today. Thus, as of right now, I would like the two of you to work together to prepare the potions quietly and efficiently. Clear?"
"Yes, sir," was Riddle's response that he heard right away. He had faith in the prefect. Just like the Muggleborn girl from Griffindor, he was too smart for his year. The issue was not with Riddle.
He sighed. Potter, the brat, was always being so difficult.
"Potter! Have I made myself clear?" He added a pause between each word to allow the words to sink into the brat's brain.
"Yes sir." The response had finally arrived.
At least one of the two was good with potions. He will not be having a blown cauldron today.
Tom was ecstatic. When he ran into the other, which meant having the other on top of him for what felt like hours, a few weeks ago, he could not understand why he let him go without even a detention. Only a few points were cut from his house.
Since then, he is found himself staring at the other. After a few days, he gave up fighting it and simply observed the other slowly. What a cute little thing he was. Always hanging out with his griffindor friends who were obviously interested in each other and as a result always ended up ignoring the other boy in their trio.
Nevermind. Tom would handle that.
However, because they only had two classes together, he was unable to look closer. Harry appeared to be paired with the Longbottom boy at all times. And by now he was tired of it all.
Thus, it is possible that he did something to two of his classmates, but they seemed to be alright. He was sure.
Regardless, his strategy appeared to be effective, and he had the boy standing beside him, fidgeting with his fingers as he studied the potion manual instructions.
"Come over and get the ingredients, each member of a single group. The other person set up the potioning apparatus. Quick!" Tom listened to what the professor said. And began to work.
Harry went to the storage room with a piece of parchment containing the ingredients after realizing that the other had chosen to set everything up.
After finishing up quickly, Tom searched the area but was still unable to locate Harry. The majority had already made their way back.
Well then. Tom would go after him.
Merlin save him. He could not work with Riddle. Potions on top of that.
The other was literally perfect in everything. He would see how bad Harry was today and mock him, or worse, tell a staff member how he caught him and tell them to detain him. Harry had a bad feeling it could be Snape.
He could not reach the bloody leech! Almost everyone was back in class. He needed to get it faster. Why was it so high up? How did the first years get so high?
Harry suddenly sensed someone reaching out for the leeches who was clearly much taller than him.
When Harry turned around again, Riddle was in front of him. Of course.
Additionally, he observed the other person's bloody height.
With a sly smile on his face, the other boy took the ingredients from above Harry with grace.
As if to tease him.
Riddle quickly pinned Harry down as he glared back and attempted to run away from him. Gulping, Harry tried to look away from him, but it was difficult because he was obstructing all of his forward vision.
"You're magic Potter. Forgotten already?" Riddle spoke while swishing his free hand around the bottle wandlessly.
Show off.
"We will fall behind, get out of the way." When Harry did manage to say something, he was impressed that it did not shake too much. He pushed Riddle off.
Well, given how simple it was for him to do so, Riddle allowed himself to be pushed aside. Well, Harry just wanted out and did not give a damn.
Without even a sidelong glance from Snape, they returned to the classroom and set to work. Well, Riddle did. Harry... He's trying.
Harry heard Riddle sighing. "Potter. You chop the ingredients, and I will pour them in, stir, and pour it into the bottle. Is that fine?"
"Yes." Yes that was fine. Harry could do that, surely. Right?
No, he couldn't. He heard Riddle sigh once more, and when he felt Riddle approaching from behind, he nearly cut himself. Again.
"You do it this way. Got it?" He spoke while carefully putting his arms around Harry's, caressing him as he went. Harry gulped and nodded.
Then the slick bastard got off and went about his business as though he had not just made Harry genuinely dizzy and weak in the knees.
"Pass me the Shrivelfig Fruit." Harry heard him say. Wait why do we need that?
Harry must have said that aloud because he heard Riddle attempting to hold back his laughter.
"What?" he exclaimed.
"Do you even know what Potter is that we are making?"
....no he didn't.
"Yes, of course I do,"
"What is it then?" Harry swallowed. He was too preoccupied thinking about Riddle and his dumb smile to realize what they were doing.
"Erm, Wolfsbane?" At the sound of Riddle laughing quite frankly, Harry looked up, about to scream until his breath left him.
Riddle looked beautiful.
"We're making Thunderbrew potion Potter" Harry heard him say, just barely.
He looked away before Riddle noticed too much "Whatever"
Following that, they carried on working peacefully for a while.
That was merely the quiet before the storm.
"Pardon me, Sir. May I take Riddle for a moment?" Snape granted the request made by Professor Flitwick.
At 11:05, Potter, give it one more stir and pour in the leech juice. Got it?" Without waiting for approval, he took off.
Alright, Harry heard it; he could handle this. It was 11.04 now, just a minute more.
Okay now.
Hold on, how many stirs? Oh Merlin, he forgot. The instructions, the instructions, how many were there? Well, that does not really help. What was he meant to do?
Maybe he will stir a few times just to be sure, and then add the leech.
He added the leeches after stirring twice and noticed Riddle was returning just in time. Good now he won't have to do anything else.
But why did he appear to be in such a panic?...
Harry, however, quickly learned the truth.
The sound of Potter and Riddle's cauldron blowing off caused the entire classroom to collapse into silence. A minute Riddle was away from it and Potter already managed to blow it off? Heavens help him.
Snape could hear his friends frantic and Riddle knelt where Potter appeared to be.
Snape sighed. "Riddle, please take Potter to the hospital wing. He appears to be semi-conscious, though thankfully not to the point of harm."
"Yes, sir," he heard Riddle reply. Then he vanished the ruined cauldron and started yelling at everyone to stop staring and get back to work.