# Announcement: I entered this story in Wattys 2018. Hence, I request you all to support the story as much as you can. It will mean a lot to me if you shared this story through social media sites and let me know, so I can thank you personally. I am not very active on social media at the moment, and your support is Oxygen.
Secondly, I am looking for an attractive new cover, so if you wish, please make some covers for me. I will share them in the upcoming chapters with shoutouts. My Gmail is castleprincess50. Please don't forget to mark it IMPORTANT and add your wattpad username (for shoutouts), so I won't miss any of you.
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Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings.
"Salazar! First day back and you are reading the book. Seriously Riddle?" Alphard Black muttered to the boy beside him. His tone was thick with distaste.
Without lifting his handsome face from the text, Tom raised his right eyebrow.
"And what should I be doing you suggest?"
Tom knew he made a mistake when he sat between Anthony and Alphard that night. On another side of the Avery, Evan was munching on some candy he had bought on the train. Opposite to those four maniacs, Benjamin Lestrange and Marcus Mulciber sat with their backs facing the Hufflepuff table. The only one missing from the group was Abraxas Malfoy, who apparently had some business to take care of.
"Look around. There are so many pretty faces."
Alphard smirked. He was an infamous philanderer of the school. The genes he inherited from his family never failed to lure female and sometimes even male population. However, he strictly preferred the former.
"Of course!" Tom snorted. His chocolate eyes focused back on the book in front of him.
"You know if not for that badger girl, I would have guessed you were a homosexual." Marcus contributed, but when his eyes landed on Rosier, who without stopping his munching had raised an eyebrow in a challenging way, added politely "Not that I have any problem with it."
Everyone knew not to offend female Rosier in front of her protective elder brother.
Putting aside his candy, Evan added, "speaking of Winters, I heard the rumours that you kissed her again on the night of Slughorn's dinner. Though I am not surprised after you put that show that night." Snorting he continued, "Droope told me. Her friends were heartbroken."
"Hornby, Parkinson and Flint? As in all of them?" Mulciber questioned.
Evan affirmed.
"Not only this, she even heard how Winters is not worthy of you. To be honest, I think they might scheme something against her."
Tom's ears perked up at the last sentence. He mentally scoffed at those girls. What a waste, he thought. Instead of fantasizing about him, the one who is out of their damn league, they should have done something productive. What is a point of being a Slytherin pureblood, if you have no ambition. Not that he could expect this much from those obsessed hormonal witches.
"Ooh, la la!" Black whistled amused. "Girls fighting over a boy. It is a dream for anyone."
"Yeah," Marcus nodded again. "but I think you should tell your girl to watch her back. The girls in the equation are Slytherins. And you know how our minds work."
Your girl.
Tom loved it when Mulciber acknowledged Alexa as his. It was like the latter knew that the girl was taken, claimed, and off-limits. It was something Tom wished to make clear for a long time.
A smirk made its way on those sinfully attractive lips.
"Believe me she is more than capable of looking after herself."
Tom replied with his eyes still stuck on the book. His mind was not processing what was in it. The proud smile had replaced the smirk from earlier, as he recalled the night she protected him in the jungle.
The night when she kept that bloodsucker away from him.
The same night she never remembered and he never forgot.
"Let him study." Spoke Benjamin Lestrange. Apart from Avery, he was the only considerate one in the group. "We can't forget Tom is responsible for most of the house points we win."
Lestrange considered Slytherin his home. This was why Tom always knew he would be a loyal future follower. Now that the Slytherin prefect knew his origins, he knew he was destined to be a leader - a ruler - of the society and was going to need many such disciples.
"Where are you looking, Anthony?" Black asked, "Salazar! Are you looking at Tom's girl?"
The sentence brought Tom out of his trance. He almost had forgotten that his best-friend was beside him. His eyes snapped at the boy himself. Indeed he was smiling in her direction and to Tom's horror, she was sweetly smiling back. Jealousy filled his senses when he realized that he was never the recipient of her smiles.
What the hell! What was going on between those two? Wasn't Anthony in love with Rebekah Grayback? But that look he shared with Tom's girl was so secretive.
Tom knew something was odd when he had seen a distant look on the boy that afternoon on the train. It was like he was hiding something from the former.
Tom found himself getting enraged. His nose flared as his breathing deepened. Somebody was going to get confronted. It didn't matter if this boy was his closest friend. What belonged to the Slytherin heir, stayed with him till its end.
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I hope you liked this chapter. This one was for those who love the interaction of Tom with his squad. The sixth-year has finally started. Yay!!
And yes, Anthony didn't say anything to Tom. At least not till this moment.
Please let me know what do you think.
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Thank you all!!!