Poison Ivy | T. Riddle ✔

[03] The New Apprentice

It was yet another normal day at Borgin and Burkes for Perseus. After aligning the newly retrieved books brought to the shop by his father—a prize found from his expedition—he was perched up on his usual reading spot with another thick book in his hand.

Reading had been a routine habit for him since a very young age. As quite a frail and sickly boy, he hadn't had the chance to attend school and was home-schooled from the beginning.

He hardly had anything to do in his spare time except observe the clients who came to his father's shop. Thus, he resorted to slowly reading every book present in the shop's collection. Most of those books would never even be accepted in the Restricted Section of Hogwarts Library, but Borgin and Burkes was quite the place for such treasured yet dangerous literature.

Despite his poor health, he was a brilliant student; mastering spells and incantations immediately and with a certain ease. Caractacus was somewhat proud of this trait of his son but refused to show it.

Currently, at the age of twenty-one, he was not only a remarkable wizard but stored some of the deepest and darkest knowledge in the vaults of his brain. However, the latter was a fact his father was unaware of. Caractacus Burke, who had never paid any attention more than necessary to his only son, was oblivious that Perseus knew things so deadly that could easily make him a key element in any lethal pursuit of the Dark Arts.

But despite everything he knew and had read, Perseus was bred with strong morals. He possessed the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, so he could be trusted not to misuse his vast information.

Perseus's reading time was interrupted when the door to the shop opened and in entered a tall handsome man, almost close to his age, with dark brown locks and striking grey eyes. He had never seen him at the shop before and knew he couldn't be any of the frequent clients or visitors of Knockturn Alley that he had grown so accustomed to seeing by then.

His eyes locked with the visitor and even though there was nothing odd about his appearance, he still felt a certain uneasiness at his intense stare. An inexplicable discomfort settled in his heart.

If the young man hadn't been so handsome, Perseus would have thought he was some form of a Dementor.

"I had been expecting to see Mister Burke," he spoke in a smooth careless drawl—a voice that suited him perfectly; cold and somewhat intimidating.

"He will be here soon," Perseus replied, quickly shoving the book under the desk as if he thought it would be better to keep the book a secret.

The subtle movement didn't escape his notice. A slight smile tugged up on his angular features and he spoke in a relatively softer tone, "My name is Tom Riddle. I had applied for the job of an apprentice at this shop."

He extended his hand and Perseus shook it somewhat reluctantly, "Perseus Burke. Take a seat please."

Tom Riddle could easily be the strangest and most mysterious gentleman he ever met in his life. That was indeed quite remarkable since he had spent all his years wandering about in the twists and turns of Knockturn Alley—the one place known to be swarming with weird and eccentric people of all ages at all times.

They were both sitting face to face and mildly observing each other. A short while of awkward silence passed between them after which Riddle spoke, "So, have we met before? You appear to be probably around my age, we must have been in the same year at school."

Perseus shook his head, "I'm afraid we haven't met before. I didn't attend any wizarding school."

A short flicker of surprise crossed his grey eyes, "You did not? I thought you might have gone to Hogwarts, too."

"I was home-schooled," he replied vaguely.

Hearing the word Hogwarts however had sparked some curiosity in him. He had heard a lot about the prestigious wizarding school in Scotland; one of the very best, as put by Hepzibah Smith. She was herself a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, a fact she liked to rub in people's faces each time her ancestry was brought up.

"Ah, I almost forgot. What would you like to have? Tea or coffee?" He asked when he glimpsed the house elf Gabby in a corner with a tray of drinks, reminding him he hadn't inquired the visitor about his preference.

"A cup of tea would do great, actually," Riddle replied leaning back in his chair, silently taking in the peculiarity of the shop. To him, it seemed like the perfect place to broaden his knowledge about the Dark Arts; a subject he had always been immensely interested in.

Perseus asked the elf to bring two cups of tea then turned back to face the visitor, "So, what made you consider choosing this place for apprenticeship? I'm sure graduates from Hogwarts are given several interesting career opportunities and resorting to such a boring profession seems a little weird."

A low rumbling laugh escaped him, "Well, this is one question I think I'll be asked a lot. But I believe in starting from scratch and slowly working one's way up to greatness."

From all Perseus had observed in that short meeting, he could deduce that Tom Riddle was a man of a silent but sinister demeanor. The way his eyes shrewdly moved around, taking in and memorizing everything that came to notice, suggested he had a curious nature and a habit of being fully aware of his surroundings. 

But the small yet meaningful smile on his face subtly showcased the sinister side in him, as if there was much more under the surface than what met the eye.

"Perseus, your tea is getting cold."

His voice shook him out of his thought and he was a little taken aback at the informality with which Riddle used his name. "Oh. Alright, thanks."

He took a small sip from the cup when he heard him again, "I hope you didn't mind me addressing you as such. I was wondering that since we will be meeting each other much more often from now on, I might as well take the first step in making an acquaintance out of you."

"Of course, I don't mind."

In reality, it did make him a little uncomfortable. But he chose not to voice it out just yet. On the other hand, Riddle had another question to slightly put him off guard, "So I see, you like reading books?"

It took him a short while to answer, considering his words before speaking, "I do, sometimes."

"Good. That's one thing we have in common," he placed the cup back on the tray, his tone putting a slight emphasis on the word one.

"I think Father has come back," Perseus stood up immediately, "I'll bring him here in just a minute."

Riddle gave a brief nod and watched as he quickly exited. His eyes flickered towards the compartment under Perseus's desk where he had stashed away the book he was reading earlier. He was not aware of what the book was about just yet, but he planned on finding it real soon.

In his dictionary, the word soon meant in an instant. When Tom Riddle's mind would get set on something, he would not rest until the task was accomplished.

Right then, his mind was set on figuring out Perseus Burke. Even though he seemed quite normal and uninteresting to others, Riddle had noticed a certain bright streak in him. 

A certain aura that told him to be on his guard but was also intriguing enough to pull him closer.

***