SERPENT HEART° TOM RIDDLE

001. IN OMNIA PARATUS

"Well, where is it?" He asked. His patience was wearing thin with Druella. He preferred having her brother, Jasper Rosier, around but Jasper was currently recovering in the infirmary and unable to make it to their secret meeting.

Druella's lips pressed into a grim line. "Rhea Hel has it."

Tom's brow raised. What was goody two shoes Rhea Hel doing with a book about dark magic? Sensing the curiosity on Tom's expression, Druella felt the need to elaborate.

"Rhea's mother, Caliope Hel, wrote the book before she died. It was never published because it was deemed too dark and unpredictable to replicate copies so she left it to Rhea. Rhea never uses it or opens it but she keeps it locked away in a trunk. She won't even let me see it." Druella said. A smirk formed on Tom's lips. They always doubted him, but they'd learn that he shouldn't be underestimated.

"Rhea Hel . . ." Tom hummed her name underneath his breath, spinning a plan in his head like a spider spinning its web. And soon enough Rhea would fall right into his trap.

      Rhea Hel hummed a melodic tune to herself as she studied her notes from the Transfigurations lesson that Professor Dumbledore had taught them that morning. The Hogwarts library was quiet and she was content to be alone in her little corner of the room. Strands of her honey colored hair fell around her face as she doodled in the corners of the parchment and continued to hum to herself. Her father, Cauius Hel, used to always tell her that she had her mother's talent for music. Whenever he would throw lavish parties at Hel Manor, he would have her stand before everyone and sing for his guests while Pluto played the piano. She relished in the attention and their guests would shower her with compliments and tell her she had the voice of an angel.

A shadow hovered over her. The tune drifted from Rhea's lips and she lifted her head up, surprised to see Tom Riddle standing over her with a charming smile on his handsome face. Tom Riddle never showed much of an interest in her. Once, Orpheus Mulciber asked her out and Tom lingered behind him while she politely rejected him and told him a lie that she wasn't allowed to date. His friends had snickered at Rhea and she heard them speaking when they walked off about how he should've known better than to ask Rhea Hel out. Tom hadn't even looked at her once. He had kept his dark eyes trained out the window as though he would rather have been anywhere else.

"Is this seat taken?" Tom asked. His brown hair fell on his face as it always did. Rhea's friend, Seraphina Yaxley, was one of a long list of girls that fawned over Tom Riddle's looks and his charm. They thought him to be the best thing to happen to Hogwarts since Headmaster Dippet allowed for them to raise their hemlines.

"No." Rhea said. She smiled her sweet smile at him and she noticed the way that his shoulders tensed when she did. A flicker of annoyance or reluctance appeared on his face but it was gone as soon as it had come. Rhea turned her head back down to her parchment, picking her quill back up and writing about the Inanimatus Conjurus spell.

She glanced up and saw Tom looking at her with a look that some would've called 'appraisal'. He was taking in every single one of her features, studying her like she was a textbook. He glanced at the way her nose turned up at the end, how her hair was styled in a casually elegant way. His gaze drifted to the sapphire necklace that sat on her neck, the blue gem gleaming in the light.

She looked back down at her book when she felt something press against her mind. She didn't look up or react to the feeling and pushed a memory to the forefront of her mind; a good, happy one.