ʀɪᴅᴇ, tom riddle one-shots

the deal

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authors note: in this one-shot, tom and y/n are both professors at hogwarts. tom is the head of the house for slytherin and y/n is the head of the house for gryffindor.

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"Y/l/n, I'm surprised to see you here. I would have assumed you got fired after last year's well... incident." Tom remarked, plastering a fake smile on his face.

Y/n scoffed and said, "I'll let it be known that I had nothing to do with that." She crossed her arms and looked Tom in the eyes.

"Well is that so? If that's the case, then-" Tom had gotten cut off by McGonagall, who came rushing to the two professors.

"Why aren't you two in the Great Hall? The feast is about to start soon!" Shaking her head, she beckoned Y/n and Tom to follow her.

˜"*°•°*"˜

Y/n always loved the first feasts of the year. It reminded her of what it was like to be a student at Hogwarts. She loved seeing the glowing little faces of the 1st years after getting sorted into their houses. Unlike Y/n, Tom didn't care for the feast, it was like any other dinner to him. He had never really liked children and rarely found them tolerable. Tom never talked to students unless he was teaching or they had a question related to school.

"What are you so happy about?" Tom whispered to Y/n, seeing the large smile on her face.

"What is there not to be happy about? It's the first feast of the year. That means new students and a fresh start." Y/n shot back, confused why Tom was also so gloomy and morbid.

Tom rolled his eyes and went back to eating. Since he could read minds, Tom used Legilimency to see what Y/n was thinking about. Luckily he was so skilled that Y/n never took notice. Riddle had noticed that his fellow colleague thought of him as "gloomy and morbid". He was determined to change Y/n's perception of him throughout this school year.

"We should make a deal." Tom said, his eyes never leaving the hundreds of students in front of them.

"About what?" Y/n questioned, to her Tom didn't seem like the one to make deals for fun.

"If you manage to make me less 'gloomy and morbid' I will be nicer to the Gryffindors."

Y/n snorted. "You? Nice to Gryffindors? You wouldn't do that even if I begged on my knees."

Tom smirked and retorted, "Nothing like that will be necessary... unless you want." His mind clearly went somewhere else that Y/n's didn't.

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes and asked, "Are you going to take the deal or not? I don't mind being rude to your students one bit."

"Fine, I'll do it." The two shook hands, and Dumbledore who had overheard the entire conversation, smiled knowingly.

˜"*°•°*"˜

[Months have passed since the feast]

"Where are we?" Tom questioned, looking with disgust at all the students around him. Y/n smiled proudly that she had been able to get Tom to come to The Three Broomsticks. She has practically dragged him, but at least they got there.

"Have you never been to The Three Broomsticks?" Y/n looked shocked. She assumed that after all of his years as a student and professor at Hogwarts, he would've gone at least once.

"No, why would I go to such a filthy place. There's not even a proper waiter or bar." Tom looked like he was going to puke. He usually never went on any of the Hogsmede trips, and instead went to the library.

"Oh come on, this is part of the deal! Butterbeers can be life changing." Y/n pushed Tom into one side of a small booth, away from all the prying eyes, and sat down on the other side.

Tom rubbed his shoulder and glared at Y/n who was busy looking at the menu to notice his death stare. Y/n eventually got Tom to try butterbeer, and he agreed, it was life changing.

Tom and lightened up the slightest, but it was noticeable to Y/n. She was glad to see he was a good person, with questionable intentions. After the two chatted for a good bit of time, they walked back to the castle. It was a quiet walk, both of them lost in their thoughts. The only sound was the crunching of snow beneath their feet, the trees moving in the wind, and the distant chatter of others. Once they returned to the castle, Tom turned to Y/n and said, "Thank you for that. It was... not horrendous to say the least." Then he did something, Y/n never would've expected. He gave her a genuine smile. She was so shocked she could barely function. She mumbled her goodbyes and parted ways.

That night, Y/n couldn't stop thinking about his smile. It was so different from the other ones she has seen. Tom's real smile was warm and inviting, compared to his fake, plastic like smile. She couldn't help but grin at the fact she had made Tom smile, a real smile.

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authors note: thank you so much for reading this! i loved writing this! i might even eventually turn it into a story?? 

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