Mine || Tom Riddle

Chapter Thirteen

You went much longer than he thought you would without speaking to him, without even interacting with him. He was elated, that he had final been able to show you that he was not one to be trifled with, that he would be everything he had said and more. That small part of him however, the part the saw you as not just pretty and powerful to collect, but as something vivid and detailed, colored, something that stood out, that part of him missed you.

It did not take any special gifts to see that you and him were the same. Plenty of people saw it, those who were able to look past the façade, past the curtain that everyone had up around themselves. He was an orphan, no matter how high his marks were, how many people followed him, he would always boil down to be nothing more than a boy who did not have a single coin to his name. He was aware of this, and those who cared to see it, Slytherins, were aware of it as well, which was why he would still never really be accepted by them all. Why the Blacks feigned loyalty just to try and make a mockery of him.

You on the other hand came from a respected family, but even so did not fit into the pureblood lifestyle that he so longed to be a member of. Of course now he knew why you never had clicked with that life, you were a swan trying to fit in with geese. He was (and begrudgingly so seeing Dumbledore's odd affection towards them) a phoenix, rising from the ashes of his past life with the power some never achieve. A swan and a phoenix, while an unlikely pairing a useful one.

Swans are as agile as they are beautiful, but behind the beauty and grace they are destructive. He could really care less about Phoenixes besides the good metaphor and the main thing they were known for, the newest thing to catch his eye. Immortality.

This newest goal of his is what kept him occupied for the rest of the school year, since he didn't have you to win over. He already had one foot in the door when it came to you, there was no way you could stay away forever (although he would never say it to your face, for you would do it out of pettiness and spite). So he kept his focus on immortality. Not like there was actually anything to focus on. The Hogwarts library was void of any books on the topic, which infuriated him. What was the point of a school that did not encourage every aspect of learning, even the darker parts.

It was not from lack of effort that he had no results thus far. He spent all his free time in the library, forgoing quidditch practices and meetings with his knights. Usually he would look down upon such lack of responsibility, but in the long run this mattered the most. The closest thing he found was a book on Sir Nicholas Flemmel. An alchemist and a fool, in his opinion. A man of such magical prowess and experience to have lived hundreds of years and still rely on the same object? It was a crime.

As much as he frowned upon the ancient man's methods, he had considered stealing the stone for quite a while. The only thing that turned him away from that prospect was, of all people, Albus Dumbledore. It seemed as though the professor and alchemist were acquaintances.

Now he sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express with the rest of his Knights, using small spells under the cove of shadows, trying to hold on to his magic for as long as possible. That was until you opened the compartment door.

You surveyed the room, and within an instant his eyes were locked with yours. "Out." The command was off his tongue at the same time it left yours, with matching commanding tones. It did not matter that glances were not spared to his traveling companions, they scurried out of the compartment. A small flare of agitation sparked within him, now that he was unsure whose orders the boys had been following.

You sat across from him, in the seat Avery had once occupied. You were much more interesting to look at than Avery, blood splattered across your throat would paint such a prettier picture, a thought he quickly pushed from his mind. "You've decided to speak with me. I knew you would."