His Saving Grace

Chapter 15 - Strong Tension & The Plan

I spent the rest of the week doing my assignments and giving Blair some much needed attention. Sister wands, how could that be? It was the one thing I was determined never to mention nor think about. Thankfully, it was now the beginning of the new week.

As usual, I was walking with Abraxas towards Divination and he said, "You know... not even a knife could cut the strong tension between Riddle and you in DADA last week."

I abruptly stopped walking, slapped his arm and asked him what he was getting at. He replied by saying that he believed our hatred for each other was merely love in disguise. Of course, I told him someone as despicable as Riddle could not feel love.

I am confused and disturbed in concerns to Abraxas' thoughts about Riddle and I's relations. Was Abraxas Malfoy mentally stable? How could he possibly make that type of assumption? Is he not paying attention to life outside of the class books? He must be blind, I might buy him glasses for his birthday.

Abraxas rolled his eyes and continued walking to class.

When we arrived, we parted ways and met with our partners. I smiled at the sixth-year, gave her a small hello and she smiled back. She was extremely shy, yet extremely kind; she was growing on me. She still cannot properly read tea leaves, but that is besides the point.

Professor Trewlaney treated us warmly and started the class. Then, she said that there would be a change in partners for, at least, half the year. I mentally groaned, but then I got excited at the possibility of switching the young Hufflepuff girl with Abraxas. Together we would have a blast in this class and I could get him to appreciate Divination more. Sadly, luck was, again, not on my side.

Trewlaney wanted to assign the partners herself because she wanted to have a partner whose zodiac signs was compatible with ours to see if that would cause an improvement in scores. To me, this was absolute rubbish! What does a zodiac sign have to do with work ethic? That is a question I know not even Trewlaney could answer, but I would not fight her. She always meant well and she was simply an outside of the box thinker, which was rare to find these days.

She called my name and said, "Athena my dear, you will be working with Tom until further notice. You are very much compatible!".

As soon as the words left her mouth, I could hear Abraxas snickering in the back of the room so I sent him a dirty look and told him to shut it. I grabbed my things and sat next to Riddle.

I did not even give him a glance, but he leaned in and said, "I thought Trewlaney had lost the plot, but she cannot be that insane if even she knows you cannot resist me."

I nearly punched him, but I decided to have a degree of self control. "Sod off you git!", I replied with gritted teeth.

He laughed and started doing the work that was assigned to us.

After a few minutes, I was done with the simple task, but I noticed Riddle had a long way to go.

"Guess even Slytherin Head Boy can't be good at everything, huh?", I mockingly exclaimed.

If looks could kill, the way he looked at me would have sent him to Azkaban on murder charges. He expressed his distaste for the 'foolishness' that was Divination class and thought the course should cease to exist. Of course, I could not understand why so many people thought like him since I loved this class greatly.

I rolled my eyes and came up with a genius plan on the spot, but it required me playing nice. Sometimes even I was shocked at the thoughts, plans and problem-solving I could come up with in a matter of seconds, it was truly one of my best qualities.

I faced Riddle and kindly said, "You are doing it all wrong. I am going to make you a proposition, alright? Since you have already been helpful, I can now return the favor by tutoring you as well."

He stopped writing on the parchment and shook his head in amusement. I do not know what was so amusing to him about me suppressing my pride, but it was all part of my plan to find out more about the boy and knock the crown of his head.

He looked at me and said, "Alastair, are you listening to yourself? I am Tom Riddle, I do not need your pathetic help for this even more pathetic class!"

I knew he would react this way, but I was not going to retract my offer. "Right... cause you are doing extremely well on your own and getting help from the Professor's favorite student is completely unnecessary nor would it do you any good."

I wait a few seconds and hear him scorn, then he angrily says, "Fine, we will help each other out for now, but do not forget that I am still taking the top spot. Whatever it may cost, understood?"

I hummed in reply and smiled to myself knowing my plan was in motion, I rolled my eyes at him and went back to staring at the ceiling waiting for the class to come to an end. I knew that if I played my cards right, Tom Riddle would reveal his many secrets to me and I would end his reign at Hogwarts.