"𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥. 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦."
~𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘪𝘢 𝘔.
-

Hilary retrieved his cloak from Isadora, voicing his word of thanks to those that clustered around him like flies; the room buzzing from the excitement of the duel.

This duel was certainly a sight to behold, especially because of the people and unexpected outcome. Normally an average duel consisting of Abraxas and another unfortunate, eager child wouldn't be arousing this much elation, it was truly a rare sight to see Malfoy be defeated. Or any one of Riddle's gang that regularly duelled.

He had just lost, to a newcomer, nevertheless.

Hilary peered over at a very pissed Abraxas, who regained the ability to speak and was noisily complaining to his friends hotheadedly. He flashed a smile that screamed 'I'm superior you peasant' in that same innocent manner earlier, making the blond want to hex the boy off the face of the earth.

"Very good Hilary! Excellent demonstration of the silencing spell, a great advantage if your opponent doesn't know how to perform spells mentally. Now, who's next?"

Hands flew up, the volume of exhilarated chatter steadily increasing; as if someone was using a remote controller and holding the volume button. The class would be easily heard over a ship horn without breaking a sweat.

-

Tom peered at Hilary with curious, sharp eyes from the edge of the chattering crowd, blocking out the whining Malfoy completely. The boy wasn't even boasting that he won, as though he predicted this outcome hours before.

The Asian seemed to have nothing special about him, he didn't look particularly experienced at first either, yet there was this aura that radiated off him like heat waves, invisible but inevitably there.

An aura of virtuosity.

Maybe it was those piercing eyes that were gazing into his soul right now, bewitching with an ominous chill that made him feel like he finally had a potent rival, sending a chill slithering up his spine.

Tom calmly broke the gaze that Hilary was returning by raising an uninterested eyebrow, turning to silence Malfoy with a death glare that matched a lion's.

That was no ordinary silencing spell, he thought, furrowing his brows.

Malfoy's lips were physically sealed, the silencing spell only allowed for the affected sorcerer to lose the ability to verbalise anything.

That was something different, possibly a spell created on his own, or something Durmstrang taught to their students. Though there was no absolute proof that it was a spell at all, Tom could only assume - he would have to eventually coax it out of the boy at some point.

Most students' oblivious and gullible nature made it surprisingly easy to gather what he wanted or needed, no matter what it was.

Wizards were simply puppets, created and raised that way. Waiting for instructions or a master to come by and pull at, manipulate their strings. There was no denying it, it's in their nature - like a Niffler and its attraction to gold, its instinct to collect it.

Hilary was bound to be no exception.

Although what Tom got was only a small glimpse of Hilary's potential uniqueness, he was sure it was something.

It was either going to be used for, or against him - and it was his job to make sure it wasn't going to be a threat.

To him at least.

-

"Class dismissed!" Slughorn shooed his students out of the room lightheartedly, the room immediately dropping into silence as the rowdiest teens filed out. The Professor almost looked relieved at the exit of the loudest, shoulders visibly sagging in repose.

Hilary and the three girls were just a step away from the door when he paused, the others halting mid-step to inquire why the boy had stopped using his legs.  "You guys head off to the next class, I need to get my satchel."

The girls responded with a scattered agreement, waving Hilary goodbye before heading off, chattering about Willow and how she fell out of her bed earlier that morning when Giselle had thrown a pillow at the sleeping beauty.

With everyone gone Hilary was the only wizard occupying the classroom, even Slughorn had scurried out to get to his morning tea just moments ago, a look of eagerness spread across his face.

Must be excited about the morning break, they do provide the sweetest round fruits that could easily fit in the palm of a baby.

According to his female companions, there were blood-red apple-like fruits that tasted much like pomegranate, soft deep blue spheres that melted in your mouth, and other peculiar berries that had been harvested for the school. Hilary himself was yet to have any himself, and he wasn't going to have any soon if he couldn't find his possessions.

"Where did I leave my bag..." He asked himself as he searched the vast chilly room. It wasn't beneath his desk anymore, it must have been swept away by the crowd of rowdy students.

Still, he continued searching, dancing around the classroom and searching for his satchel. A needle in a haystack. Maybe it was here? No, what about there?

After a few minutes of searching he let out a short exasperated breath, defeated. The morning break must already be a third of the way through. It felt like Hilary's chances of locating what he lost were getting slimmer as the seconds slowly ticked by.

The teen rested his hand on the wooden work surface, drumming his fingers on the table Tom was at nervously. He can't lose his satchel, it had all of his equipment needed for class in it, including the only two ebony ink pots he owned.

Not to mention that the satchel itself was quite significant, he can't go about grasping all his possessions in his arms. He'd look like a fool.

"I was looking for you!"

A deafening crackle sounded as the desk beneath Hilary's fingertips splintered into two, crumbling into a wooden heap on the pewter stone floor.

He suddenly felt a tsunami of panic crash into him as he gaped at the table like a fish in utter disbelief. 

I did not just do that here.

It wasn't all his fault, the voice had frightened him, he hadn't meant to vandalise school property in front of the person.

The person.

Person.

Hilary's heavy cotton cloak swirled as he rapidly spun on his heel, facing the petite red-haired female at the doorway.

She was quite scrawny, with small beige freckles eating away her otherwise pale snowy skin, similar to Hilary's. Soft hazel eyes that almost seemed to scream un-innocent, half curtained by her neck length wavy hair.

A Slytherin.

Her attire consisted of the same deep green cloak and tie all Slytherins wore.

"Are you alright? What happened to the desk?"

"Oh, this?" He turned around and watched the two halves of the table reach out for each other and bind under his power, sucking in a breath and controlling his demeanour before facing the girl again.

"It was already broken, I guess I just finished it off when your voice frightened me."

"I see. Well, I think this is your bag, you left it so I was going to return it." The black satchel swung to and fro helplessly, the girl holding up it by its thick sturdy strap.

"Ah yes, it is. Thank you..."

"Giselle Montgomery, a fellow Slytherin. I believe I'm in the dorm beside yours." She passed Hilary his bag once he had reached her, the boy sighing in relief.

"I'm Hilary Raine, now I apologise for cutting this conversation short - but I do believe we have a break to get to." Giselle a sweet grin spread across her face as she nodded, longingly closing her eyes as she rubbed her stomach hungrily.

"Yeah, I could probably eat a whole pumpkin right now. See you in class!" They exchanged waves before she skipped off, Hilary holding his half shaky breath as he watched her disappear through the door and cold stone walls.

He fell back onto the desk with a relieved exhale, throwing his head back and throwing profanities at himself in pure frustration.

"- stupid idiot, how did you let yourself do that. Geez, do I have no self-control anymore. Goddammit..." Hilary let out an exasperated sigh, gently clutching the soft fabric of his robe, right above his racing heart.

The teen attempted to slow the rate the vital muscle was pumping at - which was beating so hard that one may have thought that he had run a marathon - as he exited the classroom, satchel draped across his right shoulder.

He continued to diss himself as he closed the two hefty classroom doors, the impact of wood on wood creating a resounding clack.

"Why am I such an idio-"

"You'll have to watch your profanity, Raine, you could dock yourself house points."

Fuck.

This just gets better and better. An encounter with the one and only Tom Riddle, how cliché author.

"What did you hear?"

The prefect briefly gazed at Hilary before looking down at his fingers, lightly pushing himself off the pewter wall on the exterior of the classroom as he counted off what he knew.

"Broken table. An in-accurate excuse as to why there was a broken table. Ah yes, and swearing - plenty of it."

"Why was my excuse inaccurate?"

Hilary cursed Tom for his good looks and perfect villain vibes, in his opinion - the prefect could easily be cast for some sort of famous movie series that consisted of a person like him.

What this meant was that two separate reasons fuelled his heart so it could continue its marathon.

Nerves, and his incapability to think straight.

Literally.

"The desk you decided to ever so kindly break was the one I sat at earlier, and from what I could see," he stepped forwards menacingly, the other consciously retreating until the heel of his leather shoe came into contact with the closed classroom doors.

"It was far from damaged before you came along."

"Yeah, I broke the table," Hilary said with short-lived confidence, already planning a thousand and one ways to commit homicide.

"But I fixed it, so there's no need to get your panties in a twist."

"The table's fine, I'm more curious about how you broke it."

What did I do in my previous life to deserve this?

His personal bubble was long gone, Tom close enough to easily kick Hilary's shin - his hard gaze burning through him like hot iron.

"I mean, it's simple magic-"
"Lies."
"Looks like someone had trust issues."

The words that spewed from Hilary's mouth were small needles that drove themselves into his chest, making him feel the pain of having to bear a secret that itched to be released.
Hilary took a wide sidestep, distancing himself from the prefect - the predator-prey atmosphere nearly instantly lifting and dispersing into thin air.

"You will not leave me unanswered."

Tom half hissed, not moving from his position, turning his head a fraction to the left so that Hilary was still within his peripheral vision.

"Are you sure about that?"

He began walking in time with the distant tower bells that shook the air with every chime, the gap between the two teens becoming wider.

"Because I think that I just did.