All the Time in the World

Chapter Thirty One

"He offered to let you use his broom for the Quidditch tryouts?" asked Ron, frowning. "That doesn't sound like him."

Harry shrugged. "Believe me, no one was more surprised than I."

"Perhaps he wants Slytherin to do well," said Hermione. "And the present team is not doing great."

"They are trash," said Ron dismissively. The three of them were in a corner of the common room which was thankfully empty. "But how could he know Harry would be any better? It's not as if he'd watched Harry play."

"If the present team is trash as you say, then he probably feels anyone could be better," said Hermione reasonably.

Ron shook his head, but said nothing. He had a gut feeling something was wrong. What Hermione said was logical, if it was about anyone but Riddle. Somehow, Ron got the impression that getting house points for Slytherin was not on the top of Riddle's agenda.

"I never thought a day would come when I'll be playing for Slytherin," said Harry with a shake of his head. "And you could try out for the keeper position too, you know."

Ron shook his head. "I refuse to play for Slytherin, no matter what."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "We don't like it either, Ron. But we need to blend in."

Ron shrugged. "They don't know I play. So, it doesn't matter, does it? I am blending in. And the way you are winning points for Slytherin, they'll surely win the House Cup this year."

"We are supposed to be happy with that," reminded Hermione.

Ron sighed. He knew what he was supposed to do, but that did not mean he was happy about it. He hated Slytherin, really hated it. Hated everyone in the house, and now because of his stupidity, he was here, in Slytherin, having to pretend he was enjoying himself, whereas all he could feel was this fear that was suffocating him every second of the day. Fear for himself, for his friends, for their safety. And it intensified every time Tom Riddle talked to them or even looked at them.

"That's it!" said he suddenly. How could they have been so stupid as not to realize it? They were going about it completely wrong. No wonder they were not making any headway.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Look," said Ron. "We came here to try and befriend Riddle, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"The thing is, we are always too nervous around him. We are frightened of him. We are not being our natural selves. How can we make friends with him if we are not ourselves around him?"

Hermione looked impressed. "I never thought you were capable of such depths, Ron." She said. "And you're right. I mean, we have to be careful, but not to the extent that we can't relax at all."

"I don't know if I can relax around him," muttered Harry. "I mean, I know he's not yet Voldemort and hasn't hurt anyone yet. And he does not at all look anything like the monster he became, but-" he sighed as he lowered his head and put his hands on it. "He reminds me of the Riddle I met from the diary. I... I seem to be back in the Chamber of Secrets every time I see him."

"Harry," Hermione laid a comforting hand on his arm. "We can understand that. But we have to try. Otherwise, we might as well go home. There's no point in staying here, risking our lives. We are behaving suspiciously. And Riddle is not unintelligent."

Ron suppressed a snigger. Riddle was the most intelligent person he'd ever seen, and that was saying something considering he had been in the same class as Hermione from his first year at Hogwarts.