antebellum [t. riddle]

iii.

october 1944

as promised, at exactly 8:45 sunday morning, riddle met her by the door of the common room. he flashed his enchanting smile at her (the same one he showed to headmaster dippet) as he held the common room door open for her. several pairs of eyes stared after them. very gentlemanly, but manufactured. 

"i believe we got off on the wrong foot yesterday," riddle said only a few steps outside their door. it was almost too perfect, as though he had rehearsed this speech many times over. "i apologize if i offended you, and i hope you do not take that as a reflection of my character." she did not know which part he was apologizing for, but she knew he didn't mean it. he fucked up and an uglier piece of him slipped through the cracks; he was trying to make her forget she ever saw it. 

she considered his words for a moment. "no offense taken."

she stared analytically at the boy, digging deep into her memory to find all of the knowledge she had on reading body language, but he was completely shut off. he was very good at concealing the rage he had accidentally shown her last night, and it seemed as though he was trying to pretend it never happened. fair enough. 

something about riddle was far different from the other students she had observed at hogwarts. she could not reliably read him, but the body language of the students who saw and interacted with them said enough about his personality, or at least his place at the school. people seemed to be enamored with him, terrified of him, or both, whereas sicaria was only curious. she felt like an outsider looking in, trying to find a trigger, or anything that would make him show his true personality. he was a puzzle that she needed to figure out.

no you don't. you do not need to figure him out.

this fixation was not good. she had a job to do.

"brilliant." he looked her in the eye as he said it, and she once again felt the telltale sensation of legilimency once again knocking on the back door of her memories. he was a powerful legilimens, and she sensed that he could definitely try harder than he was. he had underestimated her.

"tell me, mr. riddle," she started, knowing this was likely a bad idea. "is legilimency part of the curriculum here?"

he gazed at her, not stopping in his stride. a mix between anger and intrigue flashed across his eyes before he responded to her. "no, but you'll find that many students go out of their way for supplementary magical ability." it was a thinly concealed threat; she was impressed by how quickly he'd formulated that riposte. 

good answer. it reminded her of dumbledore.

she found herself almost wanting to laugh, and she probably would have if she wasn't so irritated by the notion of him trying to invade her privacy. instead, she chose not to respond as she followed him throughout the halls toward horace slughorns' office. riddle did not speak to her again until he bid her a short "good day, ms. edwards." 

there were many students in the halls, most lounging around walls and talking amongst themselves and with portraits. oddly enough, when sicaria and tom passed students, many would have similar reactions. some would stare at riddle, others would stare at sicaria. some glanced at tom and then quickly averted their gazes, and others made suggestive winks toward sicaria. it was gross, but it reminded her of home.

the pair reached his office door, and sicaria took a few moments to line up her thoughts in order. she reached into her filing cabinet in her mind and pulled out the envelopes she might need for this meeting. 

be charming, be intelligent, be courteous, feign ambition. 

she knew vaguely of slughorn's need to form connections, and if she could somehow work her way into his circle, she could exploit that.