Holiday From Real

I came into potions class barely before class started; I didn't want to spend extra time with Tom. If I have any extra time with him I'm sure that I'll allow his silky voice and his angelic face to persuade me into anything, and since I'm here to… I guess to save him, I think it'd be best if he doesn't persuade me. I quietly situated myself to Tom's left and occasionally glanced at him; sometimes we glanced at each other at the same time, and those times were rather awkward. I quietly took notes on what Slughorn told us and did my best to give him all my attention, but I sometimes stared in awe at Tom's perfect handwriting. When Slughorn was done, Tom magically cleaned his quill and then put away his ink; I did the same. Without looking at me, Tom said, "Gather the ingredients."

I silently sighed and got up, but I was apparently too slow since half the class is in front of me. Jane and Bueno were arguing over one raven claw, even though there's about twenty million more to choose from. I crossed my arms against my chest and lightly tapped my right foot against the floor. After two more minutes of waiting, I looked over at Doug and nodded at him. He immediately got up and joined me in line. "So…" he whispered, "What's the plan?"

I whispered back, "I'm going to walk up there and just take that damn claw."

Doug laughed, but no one paid any attention to it. Doug and I quietly walked up to Jane and Bueno; Doug started to talk to them, distracting them just enough to pull the claw out of their hands. I quickly ran to Tom while Jane shouted at me to give her back the claw. I shouted over my shoulder, "Get over it, there are plenty of other claws. Get one and go back to your table. You're takin' up everyone's time." Jane was obviously peeved, but she didn't say anything. She grabbed a different claw and walked back to Lauren while Bueno did the same thing and walked back to his desk with Doug. I put the claw down next to Tom and said, "I'm going to go get the other ingredients."

He looked into my eyes with no expression, "Okay."

"Don't let anyone take this claw, I don't care if Slughorn wants it, it's for our potion."

Tom smirked, "Okay."

I went back to the front of the line and grabbed the necessary amount of the ingredients for our polyjuice potion. I carefully set the ingredients down on Tom's and my table, and then I stood at his left. He quickly looked me over from the corner of his eyes, "I've never seen you in a skirt."

I smiled politely; I didn't want to waste a pair of pants if I'm feeling perfectly fine with a skirt. I put on a long sleeve, white shirt, tucked it into my shirt, slipped into my cheetah high heels – we're supposed to wear some form of heels, but I protest the Hogwarts heels and wore a pair of my own – put on my Gryffindor tie, and put on my Gryffindor robe, but put it on the back of my seat, as if it were a jacket. I'm not a fan of the robes, to tell you the truth, I'm not a fan of any robe; I just don't like the things. "I prefer pants."

"I know that."

I really could not help myself, "What else do you know about me, Tommy?"

"Don't call me Tommy."

My lips slowly curled into a crooked smirk, "'Ight, Tom. What else do you know 'bout me? Besides my whole family history, of course."

Tom chuckled under his breath, "I know you don't have an interest in Abraxas. I know you like to wear tight jeans, I know you like to do weird things with your hair—"

"Everyone knows that about me."

"Except Abraxas."

I laughed and took my turn stirring, "Tell me something you know about me that only I know."

"How could I tell you it if only you know?"

I looked up at him with sarcastic amusement, "Hardy har har. Tell me something that isn't well known."

Tom sighed and replied with a very soft, but still powerful voice, "I know you bite your bottom lip when you're thinking."

I looked up to find him mere inches away from me. I stared up into his dark green eyes and quietly gulped. "Anyone could figure that out," I whispered, "what's the one thing I like more than anything else in the world?"

Tom half smiled, half smirked, "I don't know," he sighed confidently, "but I can find out."

I laughed and looked back down at the potion. I carefully dropped in the raven claw and slowly stirred the potion, "I can find out all sorts of things about you, too, Mr. Riddle."

Tom crushed some weird walnut like things over the potion so all the juice can be in the potion. Quietly, he told me, "All sorts of things?"

"Yes," I smiled slightly crookedly, "not some sorts, not a few sorts, all sorts of things."

Tom laughed and threw away the shells of the walnut like things. "Do tell what you know at me."

I looked up at his gorgeous profile and his neatly combed dark brown, almost black hair. I whispered, "I know that you're not as kind as you pretend to be."

Tom chuckled under his breath, "Is that so?"

In a quieter voice than I used before, I said, "I know you only found me worth talking to because Abraxas had an interest in me. I know you continue to talk to me because I'm from a powerful pureblood family."

Tom tilted his head back, laughed, and then tilted his head to the left, "I talk to you because you're an equal."

I was shocked. Tom Riddle, the young Lord Voldemort, just referred to me as an equal. He must be trying to charm me or persuade me or something. I decided to test my limits and pretend to joke around, "What?" I lightly laughed and looked up into his eyes, "You the decedent of Salazar Slytherin?"

Tom tensed but quickly relaxed and laughed. He gave me a cocky look before saying, "Why? Are you already looking to procreate?"

I laughed, causing Doug to look over at us. I'm not quite sure what's up with Doug, to tell you the truth. I know he's being a good friend and doing his best to make sure that Voldemort in the making isn't going to hurt me, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say he's jealous. Doug and I are very close friends, we're so close we have sex, but we're not romantic lovers. We just can't seem to feel that way, there's not spark for us. And yet, we still get jealous; I'll be honest, it bothers me a bit when other girls talk to him, and I can see that it bothers him when other boys talk to me. I suppose we're both guilty of not wanting to be romantically involved with each other, but not wanting the other to be romantically involved with anyone else.

Tom looked over at Doug and then down at me, "Are you two going steady?"

I laughed, "No, we're pretty close friends though."

Tom raised his right brow inquisitively, "He keeps looking over here."

"He doesn't trust you."

Tom laughed, "I'm flattered."

I sat down in my chair since we have to wait half an hour now before we can add anything else. Tom sat down, too, and shamelessly stared at me, but it was a curious stare, as if he were hoping all my secrets would slide out of my pores. I started to play with my curly hair; without looking at Tom, I said, "Lets play a game."

"A game?"

"A game."

Tom leaned against the back of his chair, stretched his legs out, and crossed his arms comfortably on his stomach. "Like what?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know. A question game, sort of like Truth or Dare, but without the dare."

Tom chuckled under his breath, "Okay. You go first so I can have an example."

I laughed and looked up at him; his facial expression was soft, almost happy. "What's your favorite thing to do when you're alone?"

He thought for thirty seconds, "Relax." He was quiet for a few seconds, "I like to just relax and be able to think without interruption."

I smiled at him to give him comfort and encouragement; I didn't want him to think that I think he's weird.

He smiled, it was a small smile, but it was still a smile. "And you? What's your favorite thing to do when you're alone?"

Without skipping a beat, I answered, "Masturbate."

Tom's eyes grew, he stiffened from shock, and then he laughed. He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and laughed for a good minute. A lot of people looked over at us, but no one said anything. Once Tom stopped laughing, he turned his head to look at me and said, "Really?"

I shrugged and continued to play with my hair. I blushed ever so lightly and replied, "What can I say? I don't like to wait for others, once I'm done, I wanna be done, and I wanna be able to sleep. I hate having to go through the," I used air quotes, "that was fun, or the was that okay? And especially not the, was it good for you? Did I last long enough? Did you actually orgasm?"

Tom laughed again. I'm glad he's amused and not looking at me like I'm a slut.

I fought back a laugh, "What's something you dread doing?"

He stopped laughing, but his wide smile was stuck on his face. "I dread going to the orphanage. I hate the kids there. What about you?"

I sighed and relaxed into my chair, "I hate camping."

"What's wrong with camping?"

I gave him a confused look, "Have you ever been camping?"

"Several times."

I did a motorboat sound with my lips before saying, "I just don't see the point, or the fun in saving up money to pretend to be poor. I'm already poor, why would I want to live my worst nightmare? Sleepin' outside, where it's cold and there's a lotta bugs and shit I don' wanna deal with."

Tom fought back a laugh, "Close the tent if bugs bother you."

"EUGH."

"Eugh?"

I glared at him for a few seconds, "It's an exaggerated noise of frustration."

Tom rolled his eyes, "I know."

I sighed, "I don't like having to take a three mile walk in the pitch black to find a bathroom when I wake up in the middle of the night, I don't like not being able to take a shower, and I hate spiders. You don't even know, Tom, I hate spiders SO MUCH. I can deal with snakes, Tom, I don't mind snakes. Spiders on the other hand, AGH. I HATE spiders."

Tom smiled and softly laughed, "Okay, okay. I see you hate camping."

"Good," I breathed out through my mouth, "Why does Abraxas like me so much?"

Tom shrugged, "He's never met a girl like you, and you're from one of the purest families. I think he thinks you're playing hard to get."

"Oh God," I sighed, "I hope you're not encouraging that idea."

Tom smirked, "I don't like to crush his hope—"

"Oh bullshit." I laughed and playfully shoved Tom, "You just like trouble and pain. I can tell; I'm no fool."

Tom looked hurt, but I could tell he was faking it.

I rolled my eyes, "Your turn. Question please."

"What's your favorite thing to do when you're with your friends?"

I smirked wildly, "Here," I sat up straight and balled up a small piece of parchment we didn't need, "I'll show you." Tom looked at me curiously while I leaned back and threw the piece of parchment; it hit Doug in the back of the head. He slowly turned and glared at me,

"What?"

I started to air guitar and half sang, half shouted, "Give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll! Give me the beat boys!"

Doug laughed while making Bueno participate. Bueno did his best to do the drums against his tabletop while Doug did his best to say the sounds of the notes the guitar would make for this song. Jane looked over at us with wide, excited eyes and sang along with me, "AND I'M FEELIN THE STRAIN, OH AIN'T IT A SHAME!" I started to rock out with my air guitar, "WON'T YOU TAKE ME AWAY?"

Tom looked slightly confused, but he was mostly amused.

I stood up and rocked my way over to Jane, "BEGINNIN' TO THINK THAT I'M WASTIN' TIME! I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE THINGS THAT I DO. THE WORLD OUTSIDE LOOKS SO UNKIND, AND I'M COUTIN' ON YOU, YOU CAN CARRY ME THROUGH!"

Jane and I rocked our way over to Doug and Bueno; the kids in the room looked at us with large, curious eyes, while Slughorn looked rather entertained.

"GIVE US THE BEAT BOYS AND FREE OUR SOULS, WE WANNA GET LOST IN YO' ROCK AND ROLL AND DRIFT AWAY!"

Tom laughed and watched while Jane and I over exaggerated our movements and strumming on our non-existent guitars. Bueno slapped the tabletop as hard as he could without damaging their potion, and Doug danced around while doing his best to say the notes. I walked back over to Tom as we neared the end of the song. I sat back down, closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and pretended to be playing the guitar, making sounds as close to the actual sound as I could.

Tom half smiled, half smirked, "I'm assuming your favorite thing to do is to play music, then?"

I smiled and subconsciously hugged myself and replied, "Yes." Tom sighed and looked at our potion while I asked him, "What's the real reason you talk to me?"

He shrugged lightly, "You interest me."

"How?"

He smirked, "That's two questions."

I sighed, "Fine, ask me something."

After a long moment of silence, his smirk grew and he asked, "Why do you respond?"

"What?"

"I talk to you because you interest me, why do you respond?"

I smirked crookedly at him, "Because you interest me."

"How?"

"That's two questions." He chuckled once under his breath while quickly raising and lowering his brows once. "How do I interest you, Tom?"

He was silent for almost two minutes, "You're very different from everyone here, even from your friends."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's two questions."

"The questioner is allowed clarification."

"Since when?"

"Since now."

Tom rolled his eyes and laughed, "You're odd; you dress like a feminine man, you talk like a woman, but with a mans vulgarity—"

"Thank you?"

Tom laughed, "You're still very feminine, but you wear pants and weird shirts and you curse like a sailor."

I stayed silent.

"I guess Malfoy said it best."

I glared at him.

He cockily smirked, "You're just exotic."

I rolled my eyes, "I'll take all of that as a compliment."

"Good."

"Ha."

Tom swallowed the spit in his mouth before asking, "How do I interest you?"

I sighed, "You're cute and you're smart."

Tom laughed, "That's it?"

"No."

"What else?"

I smirked and looked up at him, "Don't worry about it."

He snapped back, "I'm not worrying."

"Good—"

"I'm just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Tom smirked and stood up, "Satisfaction brought him back."

I stood up and started to stir the potion while he added the remaining ingredients. Mixing wise, the potion is done, but we have to monitor the brewing of it for the rest of the month. The groups who have created a successful potion get to use theirs in class, so that should be fun, being in Tom's body for an hour. I may just refrain from peeing so that I can see what's up, or what's down. Wink, wink.

We were quiet for a few minutes, almost awkwardly quiet; Tom broke our silence by asking, "Are you offended by me referring to your style as a feminine man?"

"No," I smiled crookedly at him, "When I hear feminine man, I think of a gay man, and when I think of a gay man, I think of fantastic fashion sense. If anything, I'm flattered."

Tom laughed.

"But," I gulped and he stopped laughing, "I don't like men, so I'm slightly bothered."

Tom looked at me with almost an angry form of inquisitiveness, "Are you a lesbian?"

"NO!" I quickly quieted down, "No. I'm straight, I just don't trust men, that's all."

"Oh," Tom's face went back to being the relaxed empty it usually is.

I smirked, "But you can tell Abraxas I'm a lesbian."

Tom chuckled, "Lying is wrong."

I rolled my eyes and laughed, "Because that's stopped you before, I'm sure."

Tom smirked almost deviously, "Oh it has."

I smiled goofily; Tom laughed while I said, "I have a hard time believing that the," I added fake sympathy to my voice, "oh so brilliant, responsible prefect, and just overall great guy you are," I took the fake sympathy out, "has never cheated or lied or done something else bad."

His voice was kind, but his eyes gave away his anger. "And why is that?"

I drew in a deep breath and stared down into the cauldron, "It's not that honor students don't cheat, it's just that we're much more clever about it." I looked back up at him, "You wouldn't be the only who had a taste of greatness and didn't want to give it up."

He stayed silent.

"Not that I'm encouraging you to do bad things," I laughed nervously, "I'm just saying that once you have a taste of something that's great, you want to keep it, right? Like a piece of cake, if it's fantastic you want more. So you take more, but what happens? You get sick. You get a few consecutive great grades, and then there comes a test where you're totally lost, and then you cheat, which is stupid. The person next to you probably doesn't actually know any more than you do; the only difference between you two is that they're trying, and you've given up on yourself."

Tom stayed silent while staring down at me, but I could tell he was thinking over what I was saying. After a few minutes of awkward, tense silence, he whispered, "Why don't you do bad things?" He smirked at the inflection is his voice when he said 'bad things'.

"Because," I sighed and looked into his dark green eyes, "I have something to live for."

"What?"

"What to what?"

Barely above a whisper, he said, "What do you have to live for?"

I gulped but kept looking into his eyes. With a quiet, rather raspy voice, I replied, "The happiness I deserve, the love I'll find some day, the time when my life will be fun, will be satisfying."

"You're living for a someday?"

I smiled and quietly laughed. I decided to be ballsy and gently placed my left hand on his right cheek. I gently gave him a rub of encouragement while whispering, "We're all living for a someday, Tom. The only people who aren't are the people who have reached their someday."

We stood like that for a while, just curious, thinking, and quietly breathing. I slowly started to withdraw my hand, but he put his right hand over my left, forcing me to stay there. I was starting to get scared, not that he was being scary, but it was making me nervous and I didn't know what else to do, "What do you have to live for?"

He sighed, "I don't know yet."

I smiled, it was a weak smile, but it still was full of encouragement and kindness. "There's nothing wrong with that."

His facial expression and his eyes softened. People were staring at us, especially Doug, Jane, Lauren, Bueno, and some blonde haired, Slytherin girl that I don't know. He didn't seem to care, though. He stared down at my face, examining my expression, taking in all the hope, all the encouragement, all the truth I had to offer him. I knew someone would interrupt us, but I didn't realize it'd be in song. Jane started to tap the top of her desk and loudly sang, "My heart stops when you look at me, just one touch, now baby I believe!"

I blushed and Tom stopped adding pressure to my hand, but didn't take it off.

Lauren started to tap the table, too, and sang with Jane, "You and I will be young forever! You make me feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream, the way you turn me on—"

"That's enough!" I laughed and quickly took my hand off of his face. We were both blushing, but his was so light you could miss it, mine, on the other hand, was like a neon sign. Tom quickly put all our things away while I cleaned off the desk. Lauren and Jane smirked, nodded at each other, and goofily danced over to behind me, "Let you put your hands on me! In my skin tight jeans! Be your teenage dream tonight!"

I ignored them, picked up the cauldron, and walked up to the area we're supposed to store our potions. I put the spell on it to continue its brewing while Jane and Lauren sang, "I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece!" I decided the only way to get them to stop was to join them, so I turned around and sang, "I'm complete!" They laughed and followed me back to my desk. Before they could, I turned around and sang with over exaggerated movements and acting, "You make me feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream! The way you turn me on! I can't sleep; lets run away and don't ever look back!"

Jane and Lauren laughed and went back to their desk to attend to their potion while Bueno and Doug whispered back and forth, and Slughorn winked at Tom as if to say, "Good job, young man." I laughed at Slughorn's wink and looked up at Tom, "What a bunch of cockblocks."

Tom laughed and then asked, "What in the world is that?"

I laughed and blushed again, "Are you serious?"

"…Yeah."

"Uhm…" I nervously scratched the back of my neck with my right hand while putting my left hand on my hip. I then said, "If someone's a cockblock, they are blocking the cock."

"Whaa—Oh." Tom smiled awkwardly, "Okay."

I laughed to ease the tension, "So… buncha cockblocks, ehy?"

Tom quietly laughed, "I suppose so."

Tom and I didn't talk for the rest of the period, but we were both thinking about what just happened. We constantly caught one another staring, but it was gradually not becoming awkward. I left as soon as class was over; I don't want to spend extra time with him, not here, not now, not yet.