Boys
The next morning, Tom was up earlier than usual, and rushed through his routine to make time to go to the library.
He found several books on Introductory Geometry, and checked them all out. Then he walked to his usual seat at the Slytherin table which was mostly empty at this hour. He cracked one of the books open after pouring himself tea. As he turned the pages, the sun continued moving in the sky and the hall began filling up with students coming down for breakfast.
“Tom Riddle, reading books at breakfast, what has the world come to?”
Tom didn't look up from his book, “Piss off Malfoy.”
Malfoy, as usual, took a seat to Tom's right and continued talking.
“Is that a muggle book?” The distaste in his voice was clear as the ceiling of the great hall.
Tom shut the book with a snap, placed it in his bag and pulled a plate of toast towards himself. “Yes, it's called math.”
“Is that the weird thing that's like arithmancy of the muggles?” Reg asked.
“How did you know about it?” Malfoy asked scathingly.
“I read broadly,” Reg defended defensively.
“How much have you read about math?” Tom asked.
“All there is in the library,” Reg said before taking a big bite of his toast.
Malfoy gaped.
“What?” Reg asked, “It's interesting, like arithmancy but with different problems. There aren't many books in the library. I wanted to read more, but I wasn't sure how I could get more.”
Tom took his book out, “Have you read this?
Reg looked it over, “Introductory Geometry? Yes, I have.”
“What do you think about it?”
“It's fun, playful, like playing games with numbers,” Reg said.
“Do you think there are ideas in it that can be applied to magic?” Tom asked.
Reg frowned, “I don't know, everything we have at the library is devilishly simple, but maybe if we studied it more deeply? Have you found a way to apply it to magic?”
Tom debated, before saying, “I met someone who was able to guess wand movements using geometry, something about conserved symmetries?”
“What? There's no way it is possible to guess wand movements, there are too many combinations, and unless you try them all and compare their effects with the incantation, there's no way to know beforehand what will or will not work.”
“That's what I thought,” Tom said, “but I saw them in action and they really did it.”
Reg's eyes gleamed. “Why don't we ask them? This is ground-breaking.”
Tom thought for a moment, “It will be hard to get in touch. Let's try and figure it out on our own, If we can't then we can work on contacting them.”
Malfoy groaned, “Ugh! Why do I have to be friends with such swots? Now we won't do anything fun, at least this whole week, if not more.”