Flagitious Essence

“I don’t know, every time he gets close enough I panic...I don’t know why –maybe because of the mission or...” Lileth rambled on in a hushed tone next to Harry as Slughorn bounded around the room with young energy.

After Lileth managed to get her timetable, she and Harry both set off for their first lesson, potions. They succeeded to get in early before most of the class had arrived, so naturally opted for seats at the back of the room. Here they could clearly see the rest of the students dawdle in and notice a clear segregation of Gryffindors and Slytherins. The reds sat on the right end of the stony dungeon near the door, whilst the greens assembled deeper within the room closer to Slughorn’s desk. Lileth and Harry seemed to be the only two contrasting colours sat next to each other, which earned them uneasy glances from the rows in front.

“He doesn’t know about the mission, I know its weird talking to someone we’ve been staring at in a memory for the past few months. But he can’t know, it’s impossible so stop worrying and act normal.” Harry earnestly replied trying to persuade her Riddle was not on their case.

Lileth nervously tapped her fingers lightly on the wooden desk they shared; on it was her potions textbook she conveniently found in her trunk, thanks to Dumbledore. Harry still had no trunk, so he had to share with her for now. Lileth’s mind was elsewhere; too deep to pay attention to Harry’s words or Slughorn’s banter which consisted of greeting specific students.

Something about Tom Riddle made her sick. Not in a revolting sense, but nauseous, like a creeping dread. His face was so nostalgic; it felt like she was being sucked into one of her dreams every time they came close. It only occurred when he looked straight at her; the image brought a sense of déjà vu. When he showed her to the common room, Riddle never looked straight at her until the end. But in the Hall this morning, Lileth almost felt the need to pinch herself awake. Her mind would go blank in...fear? No, not fear but something else. Like an insidious dread...as if something bad, something wrong was going to creep up and slowly devour her.

“Ah, Tom my boy! Simply splendid to see you again!”

Her attention turned towards the front of the class where Slughorn greeted his favourite pupil like an old friend reunited once more. At the door stood Riddle followed by three other Slytherin boys.

“Thank-you sir. Apologies for my lateness, I was handing out student timetables.” He spoke with formality addressing the teacher with respect. Slughorn simply beamed while the boys made their way to the vacant seats near the back of the room. Lileth sighed with relief as the seats were at least a row in front of her.

Riddle sat next to the white haired boy who had a Malfoy look about him, while the other two boys sat behind to their right. Below the desk she could discreetly see Harry’s hand tense around his wand, loosen, and then grip once more in unease. The class was now full; everyone became quiet waiting for the professor to begin. Lileth’s eyes kept glancing between the back of Riddle’s head and Harry’s tightening grip.

“Welcome back, ever so glad to see you all well and ready for a fascinating year of potions! Yes, this year we will take a look at the most mesmerizing brews and concoctions you will come across during your time at Hogwarts!” He waved his arms open revealing the be-comings of rounded belly covered under his woollen vest robes.

Lileth was glad Slughorn failed to notice two new students in the room; he was probably informed but didn’t make bravado out of it. Right now the last thing she wanted to do was stand up in font of the whole class and go through an awkward introduction. Her eyes travelled to Riddle’s head once more. He simply sat there, observing the teacher, almost slouching in a casual manner. Indifferent to the others around him who had already begun whispering behind Slughorn’s back as he rambled on about the curriculum.

The class was told to turn to page four as the teacher began reading through the contents, she was relived when finding out the 1943 topics were not much different to her modern day potions. That meant she didn’t have to concentrate in at least one subject this year. The class erupted into a buzz of murmurs as the pupils complained or exclaimed at the list. Suddenly, the door slammed open ceasing the class into silence. Lileth could only guess who stood.

“Sorry I’m late Professor.” A monotonous voice filled the eerie stillness.

Everyone had turned away from their books to gape at the girl who had entered. Slughorn, cut mid-sentence from his theatrics also abruptly paused turning towards the newcomer.

“Oh er...Miss Lestrange. Right, well sit yourself down.” He fumbled impatiently turning back towards the class. However, no one took their eyes of the girl or bothered to return to their books. Whispering and muttering followed from some students, while others remained staring.

Sabrina Lestrange obviously noticed this; a sour look was plastered on her features as she kept her head down, moving towards the final remaining seat. Unfortunately, it was next to Malfoy, who was one of the few not bothering to conceal his thoughts (“Too busy dreaming about Riddle, poor girl forgot she had potions”) which earned sniggering from many boys around him. Even the Gryffindors had perked up to watch her make her way through the room, the news must have spread to the other houses.

Lileth couldn’t help but feel it was a re-enactment of the morning, when Sabrina had slammed the dormitory doors in a foul mood. A part of her felt upset at how she was now the laughing stock of the school, and another felt pity. Sabrina was blessed with good looks but due to one slip up, other boys wouldn’t want to be near her. They scorned her and smirked every now and then whispering along with other girls sharing a private joke. Even Harry frowned at the scene, noticing how the room suddenly filled with gossip. As Sabrina sat down next to Malfoy, he edged away closer to Riddle grinning, blatantly whispering something in the other boy’s ear. It took all of her will not to run out of the room crying; even her own brother sat behind them looked down at his hands not wanting to be involved.

Slughorn’s voice boomed as students turned towards him once more after the awkward disturbance. Lileth couldn’t help but steal a glance at Riddle wondering how he was reacting to situation. Surprisingly, he was calm, as if Sabrina had not walked in at all. His attention was always with Slughorn, even if the class became distracted. Lileth expected him to mock or smirk along with his friends, but he didn’t. Every now and then his eyes would fall to his desk in thought, and then rise as Slughorn chatted on.

Lileth hoped this gossip wouldn’t carry into every lesson she had with the Lestrange girl. A voice inside told her to stick up for her but how could she when they hardly knew each other? The last thing she wanted was to attract attention to herself. Even if it was a petty excuse, she wasn’t from this time anyway and had nothing to do with the situation. Her emotions needed to be in check, she couldn’t become attached to anything during the mission...speaking of which.

“Harry, I can’t talk to Riddle.” She whispered, voicing her fears.

He turned slightly, eyes still locked with Slughorn’s figure.

“What do you mean ‘I can’t talk to Riddle’? You have to or we’re stuck here.” He stated annoyance evident in his tone as he frowned at the teacher.

“I don’t know! I just can’t –how anyway?... Argh, this is more frustrating than I thought!” She banged a fist on the desk which caused heads to turn, finally noticing the unfamiliar face. The two boys who walked in with Riddle sat in front held quizzing looks as the opposite houses sat together. Slughorn, interrupted once more, stopped pacing and came to halt directly in the middle of the room. He paused to look at Lileth and Harry with a wondrous look as if they had apparated into his lesson while he wasn’t aware.

“Oh! New students, yes, I almost forgot! Introduce yourselves please!” He beamed, excited about the whole ‘show-and-tell’ process. Now the entire class’s attention turned towards them, Lileth could practically hear Harry’s uneasy gulp. Great, just the thing I was dreading! She thought, uncomfortable with all the eyes on her. Even Riddle turned half-way, observing from the corner of his eyes. However, he didn’t look remotely interested unlike the others who remained expectant, waiting. For some reason this ticked Lileth off, if he thought he was better than everybody else so be it, she wasn’t going to shy away now.

Plastering a smile on her features she stood facing towards the others. She wasn’t pissed off because she wanted his attention or for him to stare at her like the rest of the class. She was annoyed because the one person involved in the mission seemed to be the only one who didn’t care. Maybe this’ll give him something to think about.

“Hi, I’m Lileth Smith, 16, going on 17. New student sorted into Slytherin, my favourite subjects Charms. And oh, I like snakes” Confidence oozed off her but some of the more detectable students could tell she was being sarcastic with her words, almost irritated. The last part was obviously a lie; Lileth thought she might just throw it in, subliminally mocking the future Dark Lord.

Some continued to stare while a few offered shy smiles thinking she was a little weird but friendly. What she didn’t appreciate was the white haired Malfoy lips forming into a sly grin as he shamelessly stared at her up and down during the little speech. Choosing to ignore this, she sneaked a glance at Riddle who actually acknowledged her now, for a moment a slight knowing grin escaped him, but then again, the lighting of the room wasn’t fully reliable.

Harry looked nervously at the others noticing the eyes were on him now. Ruffling his scruffy trademark black hair he stood up wondering what to say.

“My names Harry Potter and er...I’m also new...?” He looked awkwardly around until seating himself back down quickly mentally cursing Lileth for setting such high standards to follow. The girl grinned sideways at him; light pink was growing on his cheeks now as the class continued to stare. Despite being the Boy who Lived, Harry was still her best awkward, shy, scrawny friend.

“Ah Marvellous! We have gained two more students; you better make them feel at home! Also, another Slytherin to my collectio- house! Why, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin sat together –take a leaf out of their book you lot! Sitting so far apart...Well class, what a morning but no more disruptions! Let us continue onwards.” He clasped his hands together, reading on from where he left off on the contents page.

Lileth deduced they wouldn’t be doing any real work in the first lesson back anyway, so there was no point concentrating. The rest of the class had now turned back to the front, Harry let out a sigh slumping his shoulders.

“What was that all about?” He questioned giving you a tired stare.

“What was what about?” There were lots of things he could be referring to.

“I like snakes? I thought you said you couldn’t even talk to Riddle but you can come up with that” He smiled boyishly at your sudden change of confidence.

“Hmmm true...I thought about. No need to be shy with people who probably aren’t going to remember you. More we get to know others the more we dig deeper into Riddle’s plans, no use sitting on the sidelines on a mission like this.” Lileth grinned wickedly at the boy wondering if he could hear her thoughts.

“So you mean we can basically be who we want since it’s only temporary” He caught on fast, contemplating the idea, the new freedom.

“Exactly, it could even be fun, loosen up a little –blow the roof off! It’s not every day we go back to 1943.”