Persuasive

four

I am so deeply in love with everything about you.

-

I trudged my feet inside of Snape's class, looking around for a place to sit.
Draco ran towards his new 'friends' Crabbe and Goyle while I stood there awkwardly.

I noticed my first class had a bunch of Gryffindors in it, and it was a mix of Gryffindors and Slytherins.
I roamed my eyes around the room, until I saw Hermione waving at me with a huge smile on her face.
"Come sit with us!" she cheered across the classroom.

I smiled back at her and walked over to where she was sitting.
Besides her was Ron, Harry, and this chubby boy with brown hair, hazel eyes and a bubbly smile.

"Hello." I beamed at them, hoping they would return a smile back.
Harry rolled his eyes at me and Ron looked annoyed that I was sitting with them.

"Hello! What's your name?" the chubby boy asked me.

"I'm Avalon. And you?"

"Neville Longbottom. But you can just call me Neville, of course. Well you knew that already.." his voice trailed off.

"Nice to meet you Neville." I grinned.

I glanced over to where Tom Riddle was, alone sitting in a desk.
I waved to him and signaled him to come over to where we were sitting, but he refused.

"I'll be back guys." I mumbled as I stood up and walked over to Tom.

"Come sit with us." I exclaimed as I grabbed his hand.
He yanked his hand away from me with full force and looked at me like I was insane.
"No thanks."

"Come on, please. They're not so bad." I begged.

His eyes roamed over to where Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Neville were sitting and he looked back over to me.
"They're Gryffindors. I don't like Gryffindors."

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him.
"Why not?"

"They're cowards. Besides, I'm not sitting by Harry Potter. My father tried to kill him, I don't befriend father's enemies." he hissed.

"You don't have to be friends with Harry. Atleast talk to a few people while you're here." I asserted.

He shot an annoyed look towards me and scoffed.
"Fine."

We stood up, walked back over to Hermione and everyone else, and sat down by them.

"Hello. Who are you?" Neville exclaimed as his eyes lingered on Tom.
Tom ignored him and looked away.

"This is Tom Riddle. He doesn't like to talk much." I announced as I looked at Neville.

Harry and Ron quickly shot a nasty look towards Tom, and started to whisper.

"Do you have something you'd like to say?" I questioned as I stared at Harry.
Both him and Ron were starting to get very annoying.

Harry stared back into my eyes, and his eyes slowly moved over to Tom.
"His father tried killing me. Why is he sitting with us?" Harry muttered to Hermione.

"You know, not everyone is like their father." I snarled to Harry. "Just because his father tried killing you doesn't mean he will. Just like my brother being rude doesn't mean I'm rude. We are two entirely different individuals."

Harry blinked rapidly at the words thrown at him. Ron started to get more red than usual and looked away from us.

"So how about we all start fresh. I'm Avalon Malfoy, this is Tom Riddle, and you are?" I said as I held out my hand for Harry to shake.

Hermione started to giggle as she shot a huge smile towards me.
"I think me and you will be great friends." she commented.

Harry stuck out his hand and shook mine very carefully.
"Harry Potter. And this is Ron Weasley."

"Pleasure." Ron said as he shook my hand and shot a warm smile towards me.

Everyone started to quiet down as Professor Snape entered the class.
"Good morning, students. I am your potions class professor, Snape. And you will all address me as so." he declared.

"Hello Professor Snape." everyone called out at the same time.

The more he started to talk, the more annoyed I started to be from his voice. His voice started to blur as I zoned out of class and looked at the clock ticking.
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

"Class dismissed!" Snape declared as he walked over to his desk and sat down, waiting for the everyone to leave.

"That was quick." I blurted.

"I know, I was barely even paying attention to what Snape was saying, I don't even think today was important." Harry commented.

"Every day is important Harry. You guys should really focus next time." Hermione asserted as we all walked out of his class.

We were all walking through the halls, laughing about how annoying Snape was and how boring the first class was, until I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Avy."

I turned around and saw that it was Draco, and he looked furious.

"What is it?" I whined as everybody stopped.

"What are you all looking at? Keep walking." Draco hissed at them.
Everyone continued walking except for Tom, he stayed right besides me.

"I guess you can stay." Draco muttered to Tom.

"What Draco? I don't wanna be late to my next class." I groused.

"What are you doing with Harry and his friends? You should be with me. Not those filthy Gryffindors-"

"Oh shut it Draco. At least they're my actual friends. Not my servants like Crabbe and Goyle to you." I interrupted sharply as I glared into his eyes.

"It's better to have no friends at all than be friends with them." he roared.

Tom was standing still, not saying a word. Just observing Draco and I's fights, like he seems to always do.

"I can be friends with whoever I want. Just because you guys don't like each other doesn't mean I have to dislike them as well. They're actually quite nice-"

"Save it Avy. I don't want to see you hanging out with Pottah and his friends anymore. Let's go Tom." Draco hissed in my face as his spit landed on my cheek.

I wiped my cheek and pushed Draco.
He took Tom and they started walking towards our next class.