In Horace Slughorn's defence, he couldn't have known that all this would happen. All he had wanted to do was play match-maker between his two favourite students, Tom Riddle and Artemis Potter.
...
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-----------------> ARTEMIS POTTER COULD SEE TOM RIDDLE and Walburga Black lounging casually on what must have been a transfigured sofa as she rounded the corner that led to the entrance of the Slytherin Common Room (that they had been given the location and password off during the prefect meeting) beside Reginald Davis.
She stopped her steps in front of Walburga Black. Artemis had been at the odds with Walburga for as long as she could remember simply because Walburga did not like her mud blood and half-blood friends and Artemis did not like the girl's mentality and close-mindedness (which was considered to be one of the worse flaws of a person according to any Ravenclaw). But she was pretty sure the day when their taunts and jabs became serious was that fateful afternoon during second year when she had stumbled upon Gen with wounds on her body and tears dripping down her face as Walburga and a few of her friends laughed loud and mockingly nearby.
That was also the day Artemis Potter received her very first -but sadly, not last- detention for bodily injuring another student. She was sure that she was supposed to feel remorse for landing Walburga in the hospital for four days, but as soon as she pictured Gen's state in her mind, all the sorrow she would have felt had mysteriously vanished to the same place Walburga Black's humanity had disappeared to.
"Riddle." She greeted, earning a nod and polite smile from him, before turning to face Walburga with a honeyed smile plastered on her face. "Walburga... I see that you are resting your cloven hooves."
Walburga Black scoffed. "Calling me the devil? How original, Potter."
"Actually I was calling you a goat, you goat." Artemis said coldly, finishing it off with a wink, sending Tom Riddle into coughs in order to disguise his laugh and making Reginald Davis snort loudly before immediately putting a hand over his mouth. Walburga Black gasped before narrowing her eyes and glaring at Artemis, prompting the latter to throw yet another wink at the former.
"I think we'd best be off now," the ever perfect Tom Riddle said quickly, acting up to his unofficial title of 'mediator'. He stood up and offered his arm to her, the embodiment of being a gentleman. "Shall we, Miss Potter?"
Walburga Black turned green eyed with jealousy. Artemis briefly wondered if Riddle knew how big of a crush the Slytherin girl prefect had on him.
Nevertheless, Artemis made sure to throw a big smile in Riddle's direction before accepting his hand. "Lets," she said, stepping closer to him and making sure to glance back to see how fuming Walburga Black looked so she could tell all about it to Rome and Gen later. Walburga Black didn't disappoint.
As her and Tom Riddle walked along the corridors and kept a look-out for any rule-breakers, she offhandedly prayed to the deities that Reginald Davis's sanity would still be in-tact after his patrol with Walburga Black.
------> 0o0 <------
If their very first patrol could be summed up in one word, it would be awkward.
