Mind Games | Tom Riddle | DISCONTINUED

One: The Task

It was a warm September afternoon in 1943.

The Hogwarts Express was making its yearly journey from Kings Cross Station to Hogsmeade. The scarlet steam engine glided through the English countryside, carrying roughly three-hundred Hogwarts students.

The students sat in comfortable compartments with their friend groups, talking and laughing. The students would do anything from studying to sleeping to playing games, to eating. Anything to pass time on the long train ride.

One particular compartment contained a group of Slytherin girls: Natalie Pershe, Poppy O'Hara, Caroline Quincy, Isabella Black, and Azalea Verdine.

"So Isa," Caroline began, "How was your summer?"

Caroline Quincy was a tall, thin girl with creamy brown skin and ebony hair. She was very compassionate towards her group of friends, but not many others.

Isabella Black tossed her red curls over her shoulder and said, "Incredibly boring. My trip to Bulgaria was canceled."

Isabella had a more athletic build with fair skin, jade eyes, full lips, and a catty attitude. She was very spiteful, and she wasn't afraid to insult anyone.

"I wouldn't want to go to Bulgaria anyways. It's too cold," Natalie remarked.

Like the rest of her sisters, Natalie Pershe had pale everything. Her hair was white blond, her eyes were grey, and her skin was pale. She was also thin. Many assumed that she was a Malfoy. The Pershes were just as powerful as the Malfoys, and they occasionally intermarried.

"But the Durmstrang boys are hot," Poppy added with a smirk.

Poppy was the flirtatious one of the group. While all of them could successfully seduce someone, Poppy made seduction a hobby. And with her wavy brown hair, deep chocolate eyes, luscious lips, and curvy figure, seduction was child's play.

"You think anything with a penis is hot," Isabella teased.

The girls laughed at Isa's comment, and at Poppy's flushed cheeks.

The girl who had yet to input into the conversation was none other than Azalea Verdine. She was the most intriguing of the group. She was charming, but she was very mysterious. Of course, only students who were intelligent could see through her charm.

Azalea Verdine was arguably the most attractive. She had silky, black hair; vibrant, blue eyes; and a smooth complexion. She wasn't as voluptuous and curvaceous as Poppy, but she did have a ropey figure. She was charismatic, but there was something about her that frightened many students.

Azalea was reading a book and twirling her wand between the fingers of her left hand, which was her dominant hand. Occasionally, she'd glance up to observe her friends. Well, followers. At the same time, she was plotting. That year, she was a prefect. And that meant that she'd be spending more time than ever with her greatest rival.

"She's got that look in her eye again," Poppy remarked.

Chuckling, Natalie said, "There are so many looks. Be more specific."

"That look she gets when she's plotting," Poppy expounded, "Our dear Azalea is currently plotting against one Slytherin prefect."

"Observant as always," Azalea muttered, turning the page of her book.

"I personally think you two have a lot of sexual tension," Isabella remarked.

Azalea looked up from her book with a cool stare and said, "Careful."

"It's true. You two would make a great power couple," Caroline observed.

Looking back at her book, Azalea said, "We've said five words to each other, and they were all 'congratulations'. Besides, I'd hate to be cliche and love my enemy."