Tom Riddle and the Pure-Blood Prince

Deal in the Darkness

The next day was Christmas. When Eileen woke up she went to the Great Hall for a light breakfast. She was not upset about last night, she was more overjoyed by the fact that Riddle had kissed her. To her it seemed genuine, as she had not even asked him to. She thought his passion was beginning to ignite and she expected him to be sweeter towards her soon.

After breakfast, she went to the owlery and got a message from her family along with a small package, which contained a present. It was a magical model of the solar system, about a square foot in length. Eileen sent a note back wishing her family merry christmas and saying that she liked it.


She then went searching throughout the castle for Tom. She tried every likely area for about an hour. Until she finally gave up. Riddle had not realized last night, that he had left Magic Moste Evile in her possession. Eileen took it back to her dorm and spent all afternoon alone reading. She was developing an insatiable curiosity towards the dark arts and she was beginning to question everything she had learned in defense against the dark arts.

Riddle, meanwhile wanted to be on his own. He had not received any gifts for christmas, but he hardly cared. The one thing he wanted to open, simply was not prudent to at the time. But he did go back briefly, just to look at the entrance and reminded himself he could open it safely on Janurary first.

By six o'clock he went down to the great hall as he did every year to take part in the christmas day feast. When he arrived, Dumbledore greeted him in a low voice, "Hello Tom...I hope your christmas is going well."

Riddle just nodded and said it was, in a colorless, expressionless voice. But his demeanor changed entirely when he saw the large purple waist-coated belly of Horace Slughorn slide in through the teacher's entrance. In a few seconds, he spotted Tom and said, "Tom! You can eat with the teachers at the staff table. Here sit right next to me."

Riddle went forward, slowly and sat on the left of the teacher who favored him most. A few students, came in amongst them was Eileen Prince. Professor Merrythought the defense against the dark arts teacher was there and the charms teacher professor flitwick.

Eileen was wearing evergreen colored dress robes, with long puffy sleeves, with gold embroidery. She looked prettier than usual. She went to sit at the front of the great hall, with some of the other students who were too shy to ask the teachers if they could sit with them.

"Excuse me professor," Riddle suddenly said. He got up quickly and stepped over to Eileen and put his hand lightly over her back touching her hair, "I'd love it if I could share christmas dinner with you at the staff table." Eileen nodded and smiled, blushing a bit.

She followed Tom up to the staff table, and sat across where Tom was sitting. Next to Eileen a couple of other students took their seats as well. Dumbledore was in his usual seat in the middle, while Eileen, Tom and Slughorn were on the far left when facing the staff table.

The first course that appeared was oysters and soup with wizard crackers. The wizard crackers would pop unexpectedly on their own. Slughorn was the first in the group to take a bite of the cracker and out came a green and silver umbrella, which he laughed uproariously over. Riddle was bold enough to take one, and the cracker erupted into a bouquet of roses.

Tom raised his eye-brows and looked at her. Eileen looked like she expected to get the flowers. He smiled and said, "Flowers for you Eileen. Merry christmas," Eileen blushed again and took them, putting two of the smallest roses in her hair.

Slughorn smiled, his walrus mustache curling upwards and said, "Don't get too smitten with Tom, Ms. Prince. We know he likes to keep his distance, even with the best of people."

Eileen smiled warmly and looked down, embarassed. Was it that obvious to others that she liked him?, she wondered.

Then she glanced at Tom, still smiling. He was gazing straight at her, with a keen interest. She peered into his blue-grey eyes for a few seconds as she thought about her family celebrating at home at the moment. Her shoulders quivered suddenly. Eileen had just seen a fleeting shadow of darkness in his eye's, yet she couldn't know what he was thinking.

Riddle had just realized that he could possibly strike a deal with Eileen that encompassed more than just being a follower of his group....He decided he could press her for details and any information she would reveal about her family later...

"Homesick, Eileen?" Tom said with a hint of a tease in his voice.

She nodded and Slughorn shifted his attention to her, "Did you have fun at my party for the slug club?" From the tone, one could see that Slughorn felt some pity towards the girl. Talented as she was, she was not popular and Slughorn had not even noticed her as a potential "favorite" when she had been sorted into his house when Eileen was eleven.

"Yes... that was quite a clever idea for entertainment, professor."

"It's called a masque, Ms. Prince. I suppose you had not ever been to one before?"

"No, but of course I have been at quite a few formal gatherings in my family," her voice sounding low, without confidence, as she is a shy person.

Tom was listening carefully, and he sensed that he could start delving into her family-life, especially now that she had mentioned it. He feigned a polite interest, "What kind of formal gatherings were they?"

"Well... one we have annually is on the eve of the summer solstice. Our wizarding tradition based on superstitiion."

Just then the main course appeared. Plates of ham and turkey, and steaming vegetables and shepherd's pie, etc. Tom was dishing some of the food onto his plate as well, and Slughorn was too. After Tom had gotten his food, he decided to help Eileen fill her plate.

Slughorn who was interested in Eileen eyed her excitedly asking, "The Princes do make excellent contacts. Did you ever have a wizard inventor named Quintus Raddock over who manufactures and invents magical devices?"

"No sir, I never heard of him," Eileen said in a low voice.

Slughorn looked a little bit disappointed but then went on hopefully, "What about.... your mother she is the treasurer for the ministry?"

"Yes but-"

"And your father Ms. Prince is the chief healer at St. Mungos."

"Yes. He is really good at what he does."

Riddle's lips were smiling slightly as he glanced at Eileen because he knew her family must be rolling in money.

Slughorn and Eileen continued talking about her family. She went into describing, Stonewall Estate, the place where they lived nearby the town of Big Hangleton.

Riddle only interjected briefly at times. He was aware that Slughorn could press her for exactly what he wanted to find out about her family, and nobody at the dinner party could start accusing Riddle of wanting to become attached and intimate with her.

Once dessert came Eileen was enjoying her Yorkshire Plum pudding and hot chocolate. Slughorn had gotten her out of her shell, and she felt better about herself from their conversation.

" I'm not sure of where to direct my ambitions Professor Slughorn. But as you were saying, I agree Tom is the most talented. He will achieve greatness! He told me he would be the most powerful and the"

Tom kicked her under the table, and shot a glare at her. Slughorn did not see his look of anger, but he did see Eileen grimace. Eileen had not meant to be so dumb to start rambling about his secrets. She had got lost in her admiration for him and she was not aware of it yet, but she was feeling a desire to speak about her ever-growing feelings for him.

He turned his head towards Riddle and said, "The most powerful what? What is Ms. Prince referring to?"

It was an awkward moment, but Riddle approached it with coolness, "The most powerful minister for magic, sir....Your advice about being in politics, caused me to consider it." Of course this was a lie, he despised government as he had explained to Eileen last night, he viewed it as a threat.

Slughorn raised both his eyebrows and sighed with relief, he was thinking of the time Riddle had asked him about horcruxes, and hoped maybe he had abandoned that interest. "Glad to hear it Tom," he cleared his throat, and pushed his chair back, a hand resting on his large stomach. "Very glad your setting your sights on normal endeavors."

Riddle had frowned because of the word "normal" and looked away from his teacher, as he knew why he had said that, and that incident was the last thing he wanted to think about with Dumbledore in the room. Slughorn perceptively picked up on Riddle's displeasure at normalcy and said, "of course you'll do things differently, I'm sure."

Riddle had a pensive look on his face, his jaw inclined up. He was still feeling angry. Slughorn said good night to them and that he had enjoyed himself, but he did not sound sincere. Eileeen glanced at Riddle confused, her forehead lined from worry.

"Let's get out on the grounds. We need to talk," he said this in a whisper, but a forceful voice.

"Alright, but why not talk here?," she said with a hint of alarm in her voice.

Riddle's eye-lashes flew up, his eyes seemed to be lit with a fire. Her mis-understanding of his ways was angering him even more than her disclosure about him to the potions master.

Feeling a bit nervous, Eileen quickly rose and stepped off the platform of the staff table.

"We have to be alone," Riddle answered her question and forced himself to not show his anger any further as there were still people in the Great Hall, who may be looking at them.

Riddle guided her down the aisle of benches between the hufflepuff and slytherin tables. They walked at a fast pace and soon were in the main entrance hall. They crossed it silently and Riddle closed his hand over her arm.

They headed straight for the double doors that led outiside. "But wait after nine it is against the-"

"School-rules! My rules will be more important for you soon Eileen....besides nobody really cares about leaving the castle tonight."

She didn't say anything, but she did agree. She was beginning to hope that Riddle would kiss her again. That they were out for a nice romantic stroll and to chat about innocent topics. Although, she knew he was angry at her, she did not understand what he wanted with her.

When they got outside, it was very chilly and a light snow-shower was occuring. Riddle was not cold, he was wearing more than usual for the feast, as he could not afford fancy dress-robes. He had donned his black travelling cloak to go with his winter-robes for school, in order to look more stately. Eileen was beginning to shiver from the crisp night air, and she realized she had left the flowers on the table.
They went down the steps of the front of the school, Tom leading the way. He veered off to the left towards the black lake.

They were now walking down a steep hill, Eileen hurried to catch up and walk besides Riddle. When they were half-way down it, Eileen grabbed his shoulder, to steady herself as she had almost fell down.

Tom Riddle felt a surge of annoyance as he unconsciously viewed it as a violation of his territory. But instead of showing that, he decided subconsciously to take control, and put his arm over Eileen's shoulders as they continued going down the hill. Eileen viewed it as a sign that he wanted to protect her, and she felt happy that maybe he wasn't that angry with her.

When they got down the hill, they were no longer on such rough terrain to distact them, so they could talk more freely.

Tom decided to play it up as he had seen in her mind that Eileen was hoping for some romance. He would give her that false feeling, if only to get the thing he wanted with her. He kept his arm around her shoulders as they walked the perimeter of the lake, slowly.

Eileen was relieved. Maybe Tom wanted to forget what had occurred in the Great Hall?

"Tom...," she said tensely. He did not answer. "I'm sorry about what I said. It won't happen-"

She should not have brought it up. It reignited his anger. "It best not or I will make you pay. How thick are you, to start telling a teacher about my plans?"

"I got carried away. I didn't know I w"

"Exactly...You didn't know," he stated tersely, no symapthy coming from him at all. "Do you know," he stated with contempt. "What else I am...disappointed in, Eileen"?

"No....er the rules?"

"You still don't get it, do you?," he said.

"What?," she spluttered, becoming very uneasy.

"The way things are done. First, you never start telling someone my plans for rising to power. Second, everything is to be discreet. Accomplished in private. Finally, I told you my powers are absolute, that means my word is above school-rules with you!" He said this all very quickly and in a ugly tone of voice.

"Please Tom, have a bit of understanding. I'm new to this!," she pleaded. Eileen felt like she was going to cry. She was very afraid what would happen next, as she could sense his impending wrath and what he could do to her.

"Oh, I understand completely..." he said to her in an imperious tone. "That is the end of this discussion. Next time I will not be so kind Eileen. Take that as a warning."

She frowned, and gulped, looking up at him. She was starting to understand what she had gotten herself into and she felt a little panicky. But she was relieved that she thought Tom had a bit of understanding of the fact that she was new. She still had so much to learn. Or so she thought he felt understanding....

He really was not letting her off the hook, because he felt compassion for her. It appeared to her, that he was being merciful. But that really was not the case. He had only done so, because he wanted to be able to make a deal with her. He saw no reason to wait patiently, as he saw the circumstances of tonight, as the best time to tell her. He would make his move tonight...starting now.

"Was that all you wanted to talk about out here?," Eileen asked, without thinking how rude it sounded. Her hands were growing numb with cold as was her arms, where the wind was cutting through, causing her hair to blow in the wind.

"No!," Tom said brusquely, as well as a tone of selfishness to it. Then he quickly composed himself, back to his usual control, "When you talked about your family this evening, Eileen I realized how much...influence you have. With your father chief healer and your mother treasurer you have a lot of money and power. So I thought I'd ask if you could do me some favors. A smart witch like you could get me all the right benefits in no time." He said this all with just the right level of politeness, and calculating pursuasion. None of it was over done.

"Well..." Eileen stalled. "Of course I'll have to, as I'm going to be initiated. What favors exactly?"

Tom could see that, she was going to be very easy to bargain with so he said boldly, "I want to know about how you can use your family's....resources to benefit me."


Eileen's eye-brows rose in surprise as she looked at him, illuminated in the moonlight. She could see him standing beside her, with a thin layer of snow on his cloak. Yet it was the expression on his face that scared her. He had a hungry expression, almost unnatural.

"Er...let me think" She was still surprised about how forthright Tom had been with her. If it had been any other person, she would have told them off for asking for something like that. But this was Tom Riddle, an extremely powerful wizard and Eileen didn't dare challenge him. Tom waited, as they continued walking, now approaching the edge of the forbidden forrest.

After a moment she said, "Yes the Princes are influential. I could give you inside information on the ministry of magic. Contacts from anywhere within the government."

Tom nodded and then said, "You will have to do more than that. Maybe sell old family heirlooms for money to give to me. You'll go to any lengths....Do you know your family's safe number at Gringott's and can you access it?"

"Yes, I believe I am allowed to withdraw from it," she said. "But that would be almost stealing," she added with a note of complaint as an afterthought. "Can't I instead, find a way through my parent's and the employers at the ministry? I could make sure you're awarded the post of junior assistant to the minister after Hogwarts."

"After Hogwarts, I will never be in government! I have no interest whatsoever to!" he snapped. He was reminded once again of her still not understanding his superiority and specialness. "This isn't stealing Eileen. This is business," he spoke confidently, but still with derision. He was trying to keep her from questioning it.

Eileen still looked apprehensive. She was feeling fearful, as this would involve a lot of risk. If caught, she may even be in trouble with the law. "Whats in it for me, Tom?," she said sourly, as she shivered in the cold air.

"Don't worry about getting caught. I can show you how to go about it," he said reading her thoughts. "And then," he said, with his superficial glibness, I'll give you something you'll never forget. Your reward will feel like you've been reinvented."

Eileen almost gasped in shock, but held it back. She was now feeling a lump in her throat, yet she was too ashamed to show she was upset. Did Tom not like her just the way she is? She thought.

"Reinvent me?," she said sounding bewildered.

"I know your greatest wish is to look beautiful, as you think you would be accepted. I could give that to you as a reward, but only if you get me what I've asked for," he stated this all simply.

"But how?"

"Some of the followers will brew everlasting elixirs to change her appearance," he said more to himself.

A strong gust of wind suddenly swept through the grounds. "I'm freezing...Tom can't I wear your cloak?"

He did not answer. She started to cry a bit, from nerves. Tom sensed that she was still having doubts over what he had ordered her to do.

He decided to use any means to comfort her. So he swiftly wrapped her half-way under his cloak, which helped shield her against the worst of the winds. He looked her in the eyes, with a fierce intensity, "Just get me the money right after term starts."

"I will," she said, now smiling a little. Happy because she thought he still felt affection for her.

They went back towards the school, taking a closer route through one of the court-yards.