Of Monsters, Of Men

Chapter 14

"S-sorry," she stammered, jerking her hand away.

Tom smiled charmingly at her, catching her hand with his own. Harry could hear him at the other side of the room as he said, "Why, there's no need for that."

Then he deftly lifted the quill and used his free hand to unfurl Giles' clenched grip, placing the quill gently in the center of her palm. Giles curled her stubby fingers around the quill, looking amazed and dazed like her wildest dreams had come true.

"Thank you," she said shyly.

"It's my pleasure," Tom said in his infuriatingly smooth and rich proper English, not at all the harsher Cockney Harry was used to at the orphanage. Giles practically swooned, leaning forward a little bit as she smiled dreamily.

Harry wanted to gag.

"Peters, you alright?" said the other Ravenclaw, catching his eye.

"Yes," he said, blinking twice and motioning for her to continue. She did, but not before frowning at him. He ignored the sight of Avery's slightly upturned lips, his "public smirk", so to speak.

Harry inwardly sulked harder.

Sneaking furtive glances at them, Giles acted like she knew Tom personally. She was doing the sorts of things Tom hated: touching his parchment, running her fingers along the side of his desk, leaning in and brushing her hair past her ears.

And Tom was letting her. Never him, but Giles, who he'd known for so little time and—

Harry looked away, unable to handle the clenching in his gut. He knew that Tom was putting on a show, but still. He couldn't get those charming half-smiles and lazy lidded smirks out of his head.

After class was dismissed, Harry watched with slow, simmering anger as Tom smiled broadly at Giles, his teeth straight and pearly white. Giles nodded enthusiastically, gazing at Tom with widened eyes and slightly parted lips.

"Let's go to DADA," he muttered to Tom, pulling him aside.

"Wait for Marya," Tom said simply. When Giles sped up and flanked Tom, he said, "We've all got Defense together, I just realized."

Harry resisted the urge to scowl.

In Defense, Harry and Tom found their usual seats, but as the seats weren't assigned, Giles didn't walk to the other side of the room like Harry had hoped and instead chose the seat next to Tom. He ground his teeth together.

Professor Merrythought peered sharply at the class. "Today, we will begin a new unit on dark creatures, starting with kappas."

She briskly proceeded to the lesson, and the words floated in through one ear and right out the other. Guess I'm asking Tom for his notes later. Harry yawned.

He tuned back in when he heard his name called. "—Harry Peters, Marya Giles."

"What's happening?" he asked Tom. But Tom had already turned away, picking up his bag and notes.

"Hi!" chirped Marya Giles. To his dismay, she slipped into Tom's seat and dropped her bag onto the floor. Thunk. His eyes twitched.

"What are we doing?"

She frowned. "We're partners for this project. Weren't you listening?"

He stared moodily at her cherry-red painted nails that tugged at strands of her hair. "No," he said flatly.

She sniffed the air in disdain. "Well, we're supposed to create a presentation about hinkypunks."

"How long do we have?"