Weakness (Tom Riddle: Enemies to Lovers)

Chapter 5

Finally the end of the day arrived, but not for me. I headed off to the potions room. When I got there, Tom Riddle was already awaiting instruction.

"Ah Christine, there you are.", Slughorn said when he noticed me. He then went on to explain what we had to do, clean and organize the room since there were many hands on projects that day. "Well I'll leave you to it, I have some other business to attend to." Slughorn said.

"I guess we better get started", I said to Riddle while beginning to wash empty vials.

He came over and joined me in the washing, which was a surprise to me, since I figured he wanted to work far from me. In just a moment he had performed a spell to clean all the items from the pile. "Hey, thanks", I said kindly.

"I didn't do that for you, we both need to clean up.", Tom replied.

"Do you ever get tired of constantly pushing yourself away from others?" I asked. "Surely you don't treat everyone this terribly."

"No desperate student in this school is worth my courtesy. If you treat others too well they will think of you as gullible, weak.", he said annoyed. "As a Slytherin with a family such as yours it would seem you'd value that."

"My family name doesn't define who I am, I'm not power hungry. I prefer to make real friends, something you don't seem to care much about. Considering how you think of your classmates, I don't think you'll find a connection with anyone.", I replied to him calmly.

By now we had moved on to putting various books back on the shelves. "I don't need to rely on others, it will only bring me down. I have greater plans for what my future holds.", Tom said.

Before I could respond I turned around hearing someone walk into the room. Of course while having a somewhat civil conversation with Tom, Shreya had to interrupt.             

She gave both of us a sly smile and said, "Tom I've been looking for you, I'm here to return this quil you left in class."

"I didn't leave it there, someone took it from me. I'm not stupid.", Tom replied to her, and grabbed the quil from her hands. "I'm not surprised it was you." he mumbled so she couldn't hear.

"What a shame you're stuck with her, you could have spent the afternoon with me." Shreya said.

"How unfortunate," he said flatly, clearly unamused.

"Ok well, see you around then." she replied, winking at Tom and leaving the room.

" I don't know how you can stand her, you seem to be cold to everyone. How has she not been scared away?", I asked while brushing some dust off a shelf.

"Sometimes it is useful to have people that will do your bidding.", he answered, "and with someone like her I can be as cold as I want, yet she'll still do anything for me."

Did he tell this to everyone to make him seem more careless towards others, or did he genuinely want to chat with me? As harsh as the things he talked about were, it seemed like he wasn't completely bothered by my questions. I didn't want to get carried away though, he could use me like Shreya.