Lord Imp (A Harry Potter fanfic)

Chapter ten: A Whole year

Professor Riddle backed out.

I don't know what his deal was, but he proceeded to spend the whole year adamantly refusing to look at me or speak to me.

He marked my work fairly enough, but he was clearly half out of his mind.

Halfway through the year and I spotted tiny little hearts drawn on the bottom of my returned essay. I was far too disturbed to question him about it, so I promptly tossed the essay into my closet in the trunk and forgot about it.

On another note. My followers are all coming along wonderfully. With Lily at my side assisting with all the more troublesome aspects of leading, my reign only grew more successful.

More people wanted to join in my Saturday duelling lessons, and I did not discriminate just yet. I let Peter Pettigrew into the lessons too and frequently used him as a Guinea pig on how certain spells should go for my personal satisfaction.

Soon everyone was capable of sparring with the hand to hand combat I invented, and I got into the fray and had a tournament for top dog between everyone. A martial arts tournament and a magical tournament.

Winners received a week by my side, learning from me personally and getting the chance to become a closer friend to me. James also tossed in 50 galleons for the winner.

Generals were exempt from participation, due to the fact that they were already so much more powerful than the others. They were always at my side, and could ask me questions about anything anytime they wanted.

I of course, joined in the tournaments so I could test myself over and over again against opponents who fought for something to gain. If I won first, then I gave the prize to second since it really wasn't all that fair.

Severus and Sirius ruled Slytherin together, James took over Gryffindor with Remus as his aid, Lily took over Ravenclaw with her own two hands, and I had all of Hufflepuff waiting on me hand a foot. Amelia Bones was trained up as liaison between me and the common riffraff. She took to it like a horse to water and enjoyed bossing people around at my behest. With this I had six generals and nearly the whole school under my thumb.

Tom Riddle did nothing to stop this. It was incredibly suspicious. If I didn't know any better I'd say Tom Riddle had actually changed.

The thought itself had me erupting in helpless giggles.

Tom Riddle changing, for the better? It was an impossible outcome. Or was it? He never became the professor in canon and yet here he is teaching all of hogwarts Defense against the dark arts as if he were born for this role.

Despite looking all snakelike and freaky. Lanky black hair, sickly pale skin, bright red eyes, spindly fingers and thin in all the wrong places. All sharp edges with a hiss hanging off every sentence. Though even all that didn't take away the fact that his face was fine as hell.

And if I were honest with myself, he was a very good teacher. He did not discriminate, nor favour anyone in particular. Sometimes he'd get lost on a tangent about something and blush with embarrassment before cooling his features and moving on like some cute ditsy little girl. Which was becoming a lot more frequent as he grew lost in thought while the class focused on work he assigned.

It was endearing to me, and I nearly craved those moments where he acted so out of character. Like he didn't know himself. Nor know what it was exactly he wanted to achieve with his position as professor.

It was after the final exams when there was a sudden, remarkable change in the man that made everyone turn their heads in his direction. His pale skin had a tinge more color, his sharp features smoothed over to give him a gentler disposition, and his thinning hair grew thicker and longer. The now dark brown curls were luscious, and flowed like silk with every step.