Invictus [Tom Riddle / Tomione]

Friction

Tom stood in a room full of people, immersed in a sea of faces and colorful dresses. There were round tables set up throughout the ballroom, but the banquet was over, the speeches had been made, and the dancing and elbow rubbing had begun. He watched the social dervishes as they eddied around him, feeling much like the eye of a hurricane. He wondered who he might suck into his vortex of destruction.

He flicked his eyes to Hermione. They stood about twenty feet away, and their company could not have been more polar opposite. She wore an emerald green silk gown that criss-crossed across her delicate back. Her hair was smooth and pulled up in a circle of twisted braids on her head. His eyes traced the delicate gold chain bearing a phoenix and serpent charm, contrasted against the smooth column of her throat. Tom wanted to leave marks on it.

Cora Greengrass simpered at his side. She'd long had a crush on Tom, and he recalled that he'd made out with her in a spare potions closet in fourth year. She was a shrewd and pretty witch. He'd first considered her in place of Walburga, although she was smarter than Walburga, and she'd had a good deal more self respect.

Self respect or no, she still wasn't immune to Tom's charm.

Cora had always regretted that Tom had chosen Walburga, and he suspected that she'd been patiently biding her time, awaiting the day when Walburga would marry Orion.

He slipped an arm around Cora's waist and he felt her shift closer.

He seethed inside as he watched Hermione and Gaspard together, despite the fact that there was a healthy distance between them, and Gaspard seemed to be treating her with an appropriate amount of detachment. Still, the two of them were the talk of the banquet.

"Did you see Dumbledore with Dufresne? I haven't seen him with a witch in years! Do you suppose they're newly attached?"

"But they do make a handsome pair, don't they?"

"If the two of them were to link up, they'd be a force to be reckoned with, for sure."

It was all anyone could talk about. It nearly outshined the inauguration itself, despite the ball being held at the Tuft Estate.

Tom couldn't decipher the auror's motives. Perhaps his escorting Hermione was a publicity stunt? He suspected Dufresne was in favor of a new wizarding prison, since Tom himself had effectively freed one of Dufresne's own prisoners from Azkaban. Tom smirked to himself, pleased with himself on that front.

"Well," muttered Hepzibah Smith, an older, pureblooded witch who stood within earshot of Tom. "They would be a power couple, and no mistake. Could you imagine if one of them ran for minister someday? I imagine Britain would never be safer from dark wizards. I even bet the two of them together could put this dark wizard gang away for good! And in a new magical prison too!"

Tom rolled his eyes. No one seemed to care about the fact that the auror was eighteen years Hermione's senior. They were all too distracted by the wizard's tragic sob story.

Yes, yes, very sad , Tom thought without an ounce of compassion. He ground his teeth as he glanced at the auror. The wizard was now talking quietly with Hermione. Dufresne didn't touch her, but he smiled at her warmly, his eyes lingering on her face as she spoke. Tom could read the interest in his gaze.

Perhaps, it's not a publicity stunt after all , Tom thought acidly.

It severely vexed Tom that he couldn't seem to get other wizards to leave Hermione alone.

He hadn't been too concerned with Alphard Black.

But Dufresne irked him to no end. Perhaps because, unlike Black, the auror was self-made. He had an impressive list of accomplishments, and like Tom himself, he was a half-blood from a rather unsavory familial background and he knew that Hermione would appreciate that kind of audacious ambition.