Star Crossed

Chapter Twenty Eight- Private tuition

Spring was truly upon us now and everyone wanted to make the most of the pleasant weather, well apart from Wiglaf who was in the words of Lazarus 'beginning to to become part of the furniture' in the library as his OWL examinations loomed just a month away. Tom had also seemed to be spending an increased amount of time in there (if at all possible), although he seemed overly relaxed. It was true that Tom was the most naturally gifted person I had ever met and that was a very difficult to say when your other best friend was Wiglaf. Tom was different, nothing seemed to be of an effort to him, it was clear that Tom had been in complete control of himself and his abilities from a very young age. 

Lazarus had come up with a plan to draw the two of the them outside on one particularly warm April afternoon,
"So are we all agreed?" He smiled, "Tom, where are you going?" Lazarus called irritated, as Tom walked off towards the upper balcony of the room. 
Tom leaned over the banister smirking, 
"I am walking away," he said simply, "you where boring me to death and my survival instincts kicked in," 
Lazarus rolled his eyes at him, I hid a smile. Lazarus turned his attention now to Wiglaf who had his head buried in a book. 

"Hmm," he replied, not looking up from his book. 
"For Merlin's sake," Lazarus groaned, he flicked his wand and made the book slam shut. Wiglaf remained still, looking down at his now closed book as if nothing had happened. 
"Lazarus why must you be like this," He muttered, 
"Because he doesn't know how to be tolerable." Tom smirked, leaning over the banister overhead. 
"I'm intolerable! You two are impossible. I have made the decision and its final, we will  be meeting at the side of the waterfalls at half three tomorrow afternoon." 
Wiglaf and Tom exchanged looks, "Well there you have it Tom, Lazarus has made a final decision." Wiglaf drawled, I watched amused. 
"We can practically enhance our dueling and spell casting together! You are still studying think of it that way," Lazarus said earnestly, trying to convince them. 
"Well well, you didn't mention that you are willing to be a training dummy for us, this changes things," Tom smirked, 
"You wish Riddle," Lazarus smirked, 
It had started to get late and Wiglaf and Lazarus had already left, leaving me alone with Tom. 

"What say you Grisha about dueling tomorrow?" he grinned at me as he stayed slouched upon one of the chairs, fingering his wand. 
"Murder wasn't on my agenda for tomorrow but I can rearrange," I smirked, transferring my weight to one leg and tilted my head to the side as I considered him.
Tom smiled at me, "You think you can duel me?"
"You talk a good game but I'll be watching how you play," I replied pursing my lips and widening my eyes. 
"You have a death wish Grisha," he replied, resting his chin upon his hand.

"If I wanted to die Riddle I would just jump off of your ego," I smiled picking up my satchel and throwing it over my shoulder before leaving, leaving Tom sat staring at me a smirk on his face. 

"Look who turned up," Lazarus called, throwing his hands into the air. Tom had appeared out of the trees into the clearing.
Tom gave a sideways smirk and performed an elegant bow. 
Wiglaf stood learning on one of the tree's, looking irritated as he wafted midges away from his face. 
"I don't know how we are expected to get anything done here," He muttered under his breath, 
"Well aren't you a little ray of pitch black this afternoon," Tom smirked as he drew his wand out his pants pocket, none of us were wearing our robes in the warm spring sunshine. 

"Who's first?" Tom smirked, lightly flicking his wand between us all,
"No one," Wiglaf said firmly before any of us could reply, "We wont be dueling on school grounds Riddle, we will be practicing the spells without targets." 
"Wiglaf, Wiglaf now where is the fun in that?" Tom smirked, turning his wand onto me, I looked down at the tip of it only inches from my chest,
"Do you trust me?" he smirked, 
"No," I replied, returning his smirk, and raising my eyes from his wand to meet his. 
"You're wiser than I thought," He replied still smirking down at me.