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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----------------------> WHILE SHE DID NOT HAVE PREFECT PATROLS THAT DAY, Artemis Potter felt that Astronomy provided more than enough of an opportunity for Tom Riddle and herself to explore every level of awkwardness that one could humanely achieve. She was correct.
Both she and Tom were early to the class that day, and of course Gen and Roman abandoned her the moment they saw him sitting pristinely in the front of his class and reading their Astronomy textbook like the perfect student he was.
After mentally cursing her friends in two different languages, she sat down beside Tom Riddle, not bothering to look at him as she took out that day's newspaper and continued solving the crossword puzzle from where she had left it off earlier that day.
Artemis could vaguely hear their Professor entering the classroom and asking them to compare the distance between the stars and planets along with their change in colour compared to the readings they had taken the previous week. However, she had been too absorbed in finishing the last few questions in her -actually, Roman's- newspaper, that it was only when Tom Riddle pulled the paper out from under her quill did she finally look up, shooting him an angry look.
"Don't you know that you're never supposed to interrupt someone solving puzzles? They could have some very crosswords if you do," Artemis' tone evolved from angry to joking, as she grinned proudly at her pun. "I haven't solved the daily riddle yet though, would you like to help me with that Mr Riddle?"
Unfortunately, Tom was unamused and raised a pointed perfect eyebrow. "Funny."
"I'm aware."
Tom shook his head mournfully. "You're useless."
"Hey! I'm not entirely useless," Artemis said offendedly. "I can be used as a bad example."
"A horrible example, really."
"See? You accepted it yourself!"
Tom rolled his eyes at her antics, and gestured to the telescope near them, causing Artemis to stand up and move towards it.
"You write, I see? Same as last time?" She asked, but Tom shook his head.
"No, I want to see it this time."
"But you have the prettier handwriting!"
"-And practising will help you develop the prettier handwriting you desperately need," Tom said dryly, prompting Artemis to very maturely blow him a raspberry. "So move."
"Why?"
"You're blocking the view." He said matter-of-factly.
Artemis huffed, flipping her hair dramatically. "I am the view." She stated but nevertheless stepped to the side.
Artemis took hold of a copy of their report from last week and a fresh sheet of parchment from their table as she dutifully noted down all the measurements and observations Tom called out, not bothering to cross check the facts for herself, knowing for sure that the Slytherin wouldn't risk his marks.
