Perception A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Ten - Charms and Concern

Tom was sitting at the dining table in Slughorn's quarters along with some of his knights, who were part of the Slug Club, and was impatiently waiting for Slughorn to finally finish rambling on about one or the other supposedly extraordinary former student. He had arranged his features into a mask of polite interest, occasionally smiling at one of Slughorn's jokes and desperately hoping time would finally speed up. He thought about the book he had had to abandon earlier in order to go to the Slug Club meeting. Keeping up appearances really meant making sacrifices.

Tom snapped out of his thoughts when he realized Slughorn was looking at him. He forced himself to pay attention again. Slughorn was just saying, "So I thought it would be nice to have a little dance. Of course you can all bring a partner of your choice." He eyed Tom with a knowing smile. "Maybe you ask Miss Houlton, Tom. Wouldn't it be nice to spend some extra time with her?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Tom had to suppress the urge to curse him on the spot. Whom did the old matchmaker believe him to be? And besides, wasn't Slughorn aware that there was hardly anyone he was spending more time with? After all, they were sharing a common room. Tom noticed that Malfoy, Avery and Lestrange were grinning impishly, and he slightly turned towards them and shot them a threatening glare before he said with his most polite voice and a very fake smile, "Well, sir, if you think she would like to accompany me..."

Slughorn instantly nodded excitedly, "But, Tom, of course! Believe me, you are exactly what young women dream of."

Tom carefully arranged his features into a modest expression and successfully suppressed a smirk. "If you say so, sir..." He was quite certain that he was nowhere near that.

Slughorn beamed. Then he glanced at his pocket watch. "Oh boys, it's already ten thirty. You've got to get back to your dorms."

One by one the boys filed out, and, finally, Tom was the last to leave. When he closed the door behind him, his gaze fell on Malfoy who was still standing in the corridor, obviously waiting for him. Tom raised an eyebrow. "What are you waiting for, Malfoy?"

Malfoy fell into step beside him, and after a moment he said, "Well, about that dance, are you really going to ask Houlton?"

"I don't see why that's any of your business," Tom stated coldly. "Anything else?"

Malfoy shot him a nervous glance. "Uhm, the boys were wondering....whether...uhm, what..." Malfoy cleared his throat.

"Quite illuminating, Malfoy," Tom sneered. "And precisely what were they wondering?"

Malfoy cleared his throat again. "Uhm, are you courting her? The boys....they were wondering...wondering whether that might be of any influence on our...our plans..." Malfoy's voice trailed away.

Tom couldn't quite believe his ears, but he managed to keep his mask of detached indifference in place. He threw a condescending glance at Malfoy.

"Firstly, again I don't see why that's any of your business. And secondly, I'm definitely not, and even if I were, it surely would be of no influence on any of our plans." After a moment he added, "And you can tell them they should rather spend their time trying to improve their wandwork instead of wasting it gossiping."

Malfoy nodded hastily. "Of course, my lord, and just so you know, I told them they are foolish to think there'd be anything going on between Houlton and you, after all, she's not even a Slytherin..." Tom raised his eyebrows, and Malfoy's voice trailed away again.

Suddenly, Tom had the impression that Malfoy was quite glad that they had arrived at the corner where he had to turn into a different corridor. Malfoy quickly walked off towards the Slytherin common room and left Tom wondering why the blond boy's last statement had actually annoyed him.