Extra Ordinary (Riddle Era)

Chapter 5

By the next morning, Tom, though rather tired and grumpy thanks to a nearly sleepless night, had a plan. Or the beginnings of one, anyway. He knew he would have to remain flexible because knowing so little about Steele meant that he couldn't predict her. Which meant, of course, that it would have been foolish to try, much less waste time basing plans on mere guesses about her character.

At its core his plan was simple and essentially the same as it had been before: he would get to know her. This time, however, he would do it more carefully. More strategically. He would find her friends and ask them about her. He would find out what she liked and didn't like and who she was and then he would tailor his plan to that information. He would get her to like him. More than that, he would get her to trust him. No matter what it took.

Step one was talking to Steele's friends. Of course, Tom didn't really know who that was, but he did know that she was a Hufflepuff in his year which meant she at the very least roomed with the other Hufflepuff girls. And he did know them.

For this particular endeavor, he had decided to begin with Anna Petrov, less because he thought it would be particularly useful and more because Petrov was naive and oblivious enough not to think twice about Tom asking after Steele. And also because he knew the most about Petrov as she had a habit of volunteering information about herself without much prompting at all.

The problem then was finding a time to talk to her when other, more curious ears weren't listening. And when it seemed at least a little bit natural. Petrov might be oblivious, but she wasn't a complete idiot. And besides, Tom didn't like relying on someone else's ignorance.

Thankfully, luck was on Tom's side that day and he found Petrov in the library as he was heading to meet Steele. Smiling to himself and deciding Steele - and more importantly, his plans where she was concerned - could handle it if he was a few minutes late, Tom turned to walk towards Petrov's table.

"Hey Anna," he greeted, smiling politely as approached. Petrov looked up, her face breaking into a grin.

"Tom," she replied warmly, setting her quill in her ink jar. "Fancy seeing you here. I wouldn't think you'd have much use for the library, brilliant as you are." She tipped her head at him, smiling in a way that rather negated the teasing tone of her compliment.

Tom chuckled as though it had never occurred to him that the words could be anything but jest. "There's always more to know," he told her, returning her smile and inclining his head. "But right now, I'm just headed to work on the charms project."

Petrov wrinkled her nose. "O'Connell really set us a tough one there, didn't he?" she mused, then, face clearing suddenly she added, "But I bet you'll do great. You're top of the class and Lucy's about as far from a slacker as you can get. It's the rest of us who are screwed."

Tom laughed lightly at that, rejoicing inwardly that Anna had brought Steele up. Things really did seem to be going his way today. "She does really seem to get into it," he agreed. "She skipped dinner for it last night."

Petrov nodded and sighed, some of her mirth dropping, replaced by a soft little crease in her brow. "Yeah," she muttered. "She did today too. Honestly, she does that a lot." Her worry lingered and Tom might have read into it if he didn't already know that Anna was the sort who worried about everyone. Which was probably why she was Hufflepuff, really. "It's not so bad, really," Anna admitted after a moment, "since we're right by the kitchens. Though," she added, her smile returning, accompanied by an amused sort of gleam in her eyes, "Sometimes we think the house elves might know her better than we do."

Tom chuckled again, grinning indulgently even as he filed the information away. House elves would be useful. More than useful, since he could order them to never tell anyone that he'd been asking about Steele. That would be a problem for later, however, and at the moment, he needed to keep his focus on Petrov.