Finders Keepers (A Tom Riddle Fanfiction)

September 2, 1943

Monday - Beginnings

The first day of classes started like they did every year; long and tedious. Every teacher going on about their expectation for the students that year. Honestly, they always stayed relatively the same from 5th year and above. It was always along the line of 'do you best all year in preparation for your owls or your newts. All the teachers so far had barely touched on any material, so I found it hard to focus through most of my classes. I took a look at my schedule to see I had potions with Slughorn next. Thankfully, his was my last class of the day as I had the end of the day free, so I could relax in the library or my dorm afterward.

I was thinking of checking out the library, as all the talk on the train about my grandmother got me thinking of our family history. Perhaps they had some books on it.

My thoughts were interrupted as I came upon the loud chatter outside of Slughorn's classroom, a group of rowdy boys conversing outside. I saw a flash a platinum blonde hair and knew immediately who was involved. Abraxas' loud laughter rang through the halls, no doubt at something vulgar uttered from one of the many 6th year boys. Unfortunately, there were not very many Slytherin girls in my year, only 7 or so of us, and only two ended up being in this class as it was mostly Slytherins and a few Ravenclaws. Even more unfortunate, Seraphina was not one of them. If fact, we barely shared any classes together.

Instead, my house was filled with rowdy boys who all had superiority complexes, albeit some more than others, I thought glancing at Tom. He stood near the doorway, a look of annoyance on his face at the actions of his housemates. I looked between Abraxas and him, deciding what to do as he let out another obnoxious laugh. With that, I decided and made my way over to Tom. He briefly looked down at me, still disinterested in his surrounding. He gave a polite nod of greeting before returning to his book. I noticed the familiar green cover I'd seen yesterday and saw he was about 3/4 done with it, just about where I was.

"How do you like that?" I suddenly asked as he looked very engrossed with it.

He looked up slowly from the pages, catching my eye with not a trace of emotion on his face. I regretted asking when he snapped the book close and began to place it in his bag.

I was about to turn away, regretting asking when he finally responded. "It's fine." Was his only response. It wasn't very informative so I pushed on, hoping not to annoy him.

"What part are you at?" I asked quietly, peering over at him a he looked at me with a blank slate.

"I'm on page 200" he responded uninterested.

I hummed in response, knowing I was only a few chapters ahead of him. "I quite like it. I think it might be my favorite book"

He scoffed in response. "Of course it is" was all he said, as he began to enter the classroom along with everyone else as Slughorn had arrived.

I frowned at his retort, not getting the chance to respond as we filed in, him already sitting down at a desk near the front of the room.

I took a seat at the desk next to him, not really wanting to sit with him, but I'd still rather be at the front of the classroom. Thankfully Abraxas made his way into the classroom before it started, taking a seat next to me.

"Hey Lili" He greeted with a huff, obviously not excited for this class. I responded with a halfhearted wave. He never was great at potions, barely meeting marks for Newt levels. Thankfully for him, potions were one of my best subjects, so class time went rather smoothly when we were partners. Most of the time, that is. One time I'd left him alone for five minutes when I went to discuss something with Slughorn. Safe to say I came back to our potion exploding all over my robes. Since then I'd never left him for more than 30 seconds.