All Is Fair ~ Tom Riddle AU

Chapter 43

"It's not going to work this time," Tom said matter-of-factly, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

Artemis' eyes fluttered innocently. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Yes, you do! The last time you hugged me wearing that expression I had blue paint covering the back of my shirt!"

"-It was indigo, actually-"

"-So I'm not going to hug you until you wash your hands properly and remove the charcoal that stains it," Tom continued, ignoring her input, bringing her to pout.

"Okay, fine."

"I'll wait for you downstairs," Tom said, turning to leave when Artemis called out his name, running towards him.

"I forgot to do something."

"What?"

In reply, she cupped his cheeks with her hands, pulling him into a soft, lingering kiss before mumbling against his lips, "There. No harm came to your precious shirt but now, you have charcoal stained cheeks."

Artemis smiled, pecking him on the lips once again before turning on her heel and proceeding to go to the washroom, leaving Tom alone beside his drawing of a butterfly in a trash bag, with a loving, lopsided smile and the colour black smudged on his cheekbones.

------> 0o0 <------

"You're awful," Tom stated when Artemis had finally cleaned her hands, prompting her to raise an eyebrow.

"This statement coming from the most awful person on the planet."

"I'm not a mirror, Artemis."

"And I'm not a reflection, Tom." Artemis countered as they walked down the stairs and towards the kitchens. "All I'm saying is, you have no right to call me awful. Remember all the times you made fun of my handwriting?"

"You mean when I was being honest?"

"When you were lying under the facade of being honest," Artemis corrected. "Point is, you're worse than I am."

Tom snorted. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"You help me sleep at night," Artemis smiled, successfully making him blush.

"I didn't mean it like that." He mumbled, prompting her to sigh.

"I know, but I wish you had." Artemis grinned before announcing. "Especially since I'm going to be wild tonight!"

Tom choked on his own spit. "I'm sorry, wild?"

"Yes," Artemis affirmed, determination knitted onto her features. "Instead of drinking coffee at seven in the evening as I usually do, I'll drink it at nine in the night!" she declared.

"I thought you meant wild the other way," Tom muttered under his breath and before Artemis could comment, he cleared his throat, continuing to speak. "You shouldn't be drinking coffee at such times at all. It's not healthy," he stated matter-of-factly.

Artemis huffed. "Screw being healthy. I want to be awake!"

One would think that being someone who adored to 'hibernate', as his or insisted on terming it, that Artemis would actually go to bed earlier. Unfortunately, that was never the case.

Tom sighed tiredly. "Artemis, you really need to sleep earlier."

"I don't need to go to bed, I'm not tired until like three in the morning. I'll be fine."

Tom tried another tactic, flashing her a lovely smile that reached the twinkle in his eyes. "But darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl in my arms so I can feel whole again tonight."

Artemis paused. "Are you- Did you just try to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns?"

"Is it working?"

"Yes," Artemis smiled, everything else forgotten as she turned to face him. "Let's go."

"But it's still afternoon."

"I want to sleep early!" She said, continuing to drag him up across the living room and back towards the stairs when she passed her brother on the way as he sat in one of the couches.

"But I don't want to sleep early!" Tom protested, trying and failing to wiggle out of her death grip.

"I don't care. We are going to sleep and we are going to sleep now and cuddle each other just like every couple in romantic books do!"

A snort escaped Tom's mouth. "Since when do you read romantic books?"

"Since when do you care what I read?" She retorted instead, not wanting to answer his question.

"Bickering, again?" Fleamont asked them, his voice successfully capturing their attention, prompting Artemis to finally let go of Tom's wrist.

"Of course," Artemis said, offended that he would think otherwise.

"I like arguing with her," Tom admitted, "She's one of the only people who can quickly counter my remarks."

"I like arguing with him too," Artemis grinned. "After all, somebody has to call Tom out and keep him in line."

Tom turned to face her, lifting an eyebrow. "'Keep me in line'? I take offence to that. If anything, it should be the other way around."

"On the contrary, I'm brilliant," Artemis stated matter-of-factly. "After all, you can't spell the word 'awesome' without 'me'."

"Neither can you spell the word 'troublesome'," Tom reminded pointedly and before Artemis could cleverly retort, her brother interrupted them again.

"How the hell are you two friends?" Fleamont stared at them in disbelief. "Let alone dating."

Tom shook his head, facing Fleamont once again. "We are not, I assure you."

"But we do need to keep our friends close and our enemies closer," Artemis added.

Tom nodded. "It's a strategic plan, really."

"Yes, you need to keep them intimately close, because they can be quite tricky," Artemis continued, "So seduce your enemies."

"Also, marry your enemies and poison the wedding cake," Tom said. "It's quite effective if history has taught us anything."

Artemis shot him a look. "I'm not marrying you if you're going to bring our champagne flavoured seven tier wedding cake into this."

"I agree," Tom said solemnly. "I went too far, I apologise."

"Please forget I asked," Fleamont muttered, standing up from the sofa he was sitting on and walking out the room, making Tom and Artemis share a laugh when a thought enlightened her.

"Oh!" She said, turning to face him. "We go back to school tomorrow, don't we? I still haven't written my career choice to Professor Flitwick!"

"What are you waiting for?" Tom asked, grabbing a piece of stray parchment that was near a small table beside them before moving to find her a quill and some ink. "You've decided, haven't you?" He said, causing her eyes to shine with amusement.

"Yes," Artemis replied, "yes I have."

So on the 31st of August 1943 -a day before term reopened- Artemis Potter finally wrote a letter to Professor Flitwick regarding her choice of career.

Respected Professor,

After much thought and consideration, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I have finally decided on a career. It's ambitious, and for this goal, I'm fuelled purely by desire rather than a bet- it's quite a change as you can imagine, but I like to think that I'm making it work.

So, professor, ten years from now, I see myself as-