The Dark Lord, The Witch and The Time-Portal

V - Tom Riddle, the Slytherin Prefect

"Little darling

It's been a long cold lonely winter

Little darling

It feels like years since it's been here" ♪

Tom Marvolo Riddle had finished his last duty of the evening as the new Prefect in Slytherin, just showing the first year boys their dormitories after he had explained a few things about the castle, the classes and their new House.

On his way returning to the Common Room his mind quickly was driven towards the new transfer student who from now on would be not only his classmate, but was also placed in the same House as his.

Perhaps by a whim of fate, as soon as he arrived at the Common Room he heard the loud and heated voices of the two Prefect girls who were talking about the subject of his thoughts, arguing about who would have to wait outside the Headmaster's office for the new girl to guide her through the dungeons and explain the basics about the castle. It was a simple task but none of the girls wanted to be seem anywhere near Holly Portier. Their House valued appearances and it was absurd for them a Slytherin girl with messy looks and lack of manners at the table, no pure-blood lady of respect would allow herself to be in company of such misfit!

At any other House in Hogwarts such inglorious task like this would obviously fall into the hands of the youngest Prefect, however Slytherin is a very political House and the family of the fifth year girl had more prestige and influence than the other, so they were facing a dilemma, where each one was trying to persuade the other and the clock was ticking.

It wasn't everyday such a good opportunity was offered to Tom on a silver platter like that so of course he seized it, saving the day as a knight in shiny armor.

Tom was no hero though, and was pretty aware the two prefect girls despised him as much as this new transfer student, but now they would own him a favor. Killing two birds with one stone, it was a perfect chance to know more about this new transfer student. He could sniff in the air that a curtain of mysteries surrounded this new witch and that made him very intrigued about her. He couldn't pinpoint exactly why, but there was something in his gut screaming Holly Portier had something special about her since the first moment he settled eyes on her at the Great Hall. Besides, Tom was pretty sure she wouldn't be sorted in Slytherin if she wasn't worthy of it and he was dying of curiosity to know the traits she possessed.

'Well, she made a poor impression of herself at her first day, so cunning definitely isn't her stronger suit.' He thought in amusement.

At dinner he heard a few comments about Holly at the Slytherin table, how disarranged she was and how she devoured the food like a famine animal. The fact she didn't even seem to bother at all made them even more infuriated. Of course it didn't escape their attention the quality of her clothes, it didn't make any sense a person with money showing that type of behavior. Another topic was the fact none of them ever heard the name 'Portier' at any wizard family so they reached the conclusion the girl was for sure a mudblood. Well, none of them heard the name 'Riddle' either and he was pretty sure his father was a wizard, because there was no way someone as powerful and skillful as Tom could be a mudblood.

While waiting the end of her reunion with the Headmaster Dippet, Tom Riddle was considering taking a longer path to show her the castle so they could have more time to talk alone. His mind also fluttered about how gorgeous Holly Portier could be if dressed in an elegant and more lady-like outfit when he heard the Gargoyle statue moving. He straightened himself and put the best smile on his face, knowing some girls found him attractive —he tried to use his looks at his advantage whenever found necessary.