delirium ; t. riddle

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 ;

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 ; hufflepuffs

September 2, 1938

Tom entered his first class of his first day at Hogwarts, which was Potions. He couldn't have been dreading it more.

When he walked into the classroom, he eyed every single one of the students already sitting down in their seats. There was two to a table, which meant he would have to sit down next to the same person in this class for the rest of the year.

Another downside? Most of the students in this class were Hufflepuffs. He only saw about three Gryffindors, maybe five Slytherins and Ravenclaws. But Hufflepuff? They were taking up half of the class.

When he found an empty table, he immediately sat down and avoided eye contact with every person in the room. He knew he was going to hate this class.

Right when the professor walked in, Tom looked at the clock plastered against the wall on the right side of the room, where he sat. It was nearly 7:40 A.M., which meant the professor was ten minutes late.

The professor trudged into the room with his books held underneath his arm as he was finicking with a pair of keys, the sound making Tom cringe. The professor was wearing all brown; a brown under-shirt, a brown blazer, and brown khakis.

"Excuse me for being late, I apologize," the old man said as he walked up to his desk, placing his pile of books on it and looking up at his students. "My name is Professor Slughorn. I will be your Potions teacher and instructor."

Slughorn? You've got to be kidding me, Tom thought. What a stupid name.

"Now, before we begin, I would like to go over with you the rules for this classroom. Inside your desks, you will see a book titled 'The Wizarding Rules.' Please take it out and we can read them together."

Tom reached into his desk and, there it was, the book of rules that Tom was definitely not going to follow. He rolled his eyes and placed it on his desk. He could tell the other students were equally as thrilled as he was.

"Alright, onto page one," Slughorn began. Before he could speak, the classroom door opened in the back. Everyone's heads turned, watching as a little redhead walked into the class with an armful of books.

Margaret Bell smiled shyly as she paced hurriedly. "I'm so sorry I'm late," she apologized and stopped in front of Slughorn's desk. "I was helping Professor Dippet hand out flowers to the new professors. I hope you don't mind."

Tom swore he threw up a little.

"Of course not, Ms. Bell," Slughorn smiled at her. "We were just beginning to go over the class rules. Please, find a seat anywhere you'd like."

Margaret turned around and eyed the tables in front of her, probably noticing that the only seat left was the one right next to Tom.

Tom swore under his breath and looked away as she began walking over to his table. She sat down next to him, putting her books in front of her and turning to look at him.

"Hello," she said kindly. "I'm Margaret Bell. And you are?"

Tom avoided eye contact with her and stared at the front of the classroom. He mumbled under his breath, "Dreading this class already."

He could feel her disappointment as she turned the other way, but soon turned back toward him. After a short moment of silence, he felt her eyes burn into the side of his face.

"Is your name Tom Riddle?" her sweet voice asked.

He frowned as he looked at his desk, seeing his notebook on display for her to read. Tom Riddle's Diary. He quickly snatched the book from the table and sat it on his lap, keeping her from looking at it any longer.

"I hope you're okay with who you're sitting next to," Slughorn announced to the entire class, "because that will be your permanent seat and partner for the rest of the school year."

Tom closed his eyes and slightly bit down on his tongue.

Great.

He knew she had a smile on her face judging by her voice. "Looks like we're partners for the rest of the year."

He scoffed. "Unfortunately."

Margaret only turned her face away from him, paying attention to Professor Slughorn for the rest of the class hour.

The class dragged on and Tom couldn't focus because of the meddling girl sitting next to him. Whenever he would begin to write notes based on what nonsense Slughorn was speaking of, the girl would tap her pencil on the desk continuously and in a rhythmic manner as she listened to the professor. Was she humming to a song?

Tom gave her an annoyed glare, and she looked at him with a small sympathetic smile and she stopped, whispering a soft, "Sorry."

That wasn't the only thing, either. As Tom scribbled away in his notebook, he could feel her eyes burning on him. He turned to look at her, seeing her eyeing his paper with a scrunched nose.

He gave her a stern look as if he were asking, "What in the bloody hell are you staring at?"

Margaret met his gaze and whispered, "You spelled Amortentia wrong," she stated. "It's spelt with an A in the beginning, not an E."

Tom looked down at his paper and noticed his misspelling, avoiding making eye contact with the girl again as he grumbled to himself, fixing his mistake as he placed his hand over the word so she wouldn't be able to see.

Margaret hummed in satisfaction and turned her attention elsewhere.

So, she was annoying and a know-it-all? How could this get any worse? Tom had no idea why so many people were so fond of her. She was absolutely irritating and revolting.

"I believe that is all for today's class. I look forward to seeing you all next time. Remember to look over your notes and prepare for next week's exam over the PolyJuice potion and others we have previously talked about during this class period. Have a great rest of your first day at Hogwarts!"

Tom sprung up from his seat and nearly jogged toward the door, giving the girl no time to interact with him any further. When he walked out of the classroom door, Alphard Black walked down the hallway and stopped when he saw Tom.

"Riddle," Alphard gave him a cocky smile and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Tom wanted to shove him off, but frankly he was too focused on the girl, who was now walking out of the classroom. Luckily, she didn't speak to him.

"Good first class, yeah?" Alphard walked with Tom with his arm still wrapped around his shoulders. Both of them eyed a group of Hufflepuffs that walked directly in front of them, laughing with each other. "Those Hufflepuffs are quite irritating, you know it?"

Tom huffed and shook his head. "Tell me about it."