From afar, you huffed at the sight of Riddle sit at the section where two ceiling height bookshelves shadowed him from the rest of the students. He sat alone by the window at a table for two. And even though it let through some glimmering sunlight, the library still looked dimly lit as if it was drowning in dusk.
From a nearby shelf you picked out a book called 'The Founders Of Hogwarts', tucked it between your arm and headed towards Riddle with the two goblets in your hands, one with the potion and one just a simple drink.
Tom looked peaceful, a ray of sunshine twinkled behind him, iluminating the sheet of paper he was reading. But once the tip of your shadow covered the light on his page, Tom looked up and your eyes met.
You sat down in front of him, placing the pair of goblets on the desk and your book in the middle as you sighed "I believe we got on the wrong foot. I am here to apologize."
"For?" - he bluntly asked
"Just the tension. I can't seem but to assume you dislike me."
Tom looked down to the book. He placed his elbow on the table, his head on his palm and puffed bitterly "Leave me be."
You didn't really reply, you leaned in on the chair and with the two goblets still between the book, you whisked it open, sighing as you grabbed your head and read the letters.
Riddle glowered "I meant the table."
Without looking into his eyes you replied "I need to study somewhere."
"Are you always this infuriating?"
"Sometimes."
Riddle glared at you flabbergasted. Anyone else would have listened to him by now.
After remaining silent for a bit, the goblets reached Tom's curiosity "Are you planning on drinking in the library?"
Your eyes finally jumped from the book upwards between the drinks as you glimpsed at him "Yeah."
"That is restricted."
"Yeah." - you glanced back down at the paper
A slight smirk appeared on Riddle's face. He knew all about forbidden things and consequences. He leaned forwards and scoffed "Should I not tell"
You locked eyes with him again, spotting the mischevous glint in his gaze as if he was up to no good "Well I certainly hope you don't" - you told him "After all, they will confiscate the drink and I-- well I--" - you leaned forwards, lifting your palm at the corner of your lip as if you were whispering "Put something in it"
Tom's eyebrows twitched in interest "Oh?"
"Well my friend Mary has quidditch try-outs and she was really worried about it" - you lied "So I just put something in it to help her" - you winked "She doesn't know."
"And you trust me with this information?" - Riddle calmly asked
"Sure." - you leaned back with a grin on your face "After all we wouldn't want rumors that a Slytherin prefect has been snooping around the forbidden section of the library" - you recalled Lily's words
Tom's face appeared stiff for a second but then he smiled as if he was going to laugh. There was a hint of approbation in his gaze as he intimidatingly grinned "You do not want to play this game against me."
"Shall we toast to it?" - you lifted the goblet which you knew contained the potion. Pretending, you quickly frowned "Sorry, for a second, I forgot it's meant for someone else"
"So what's in it"
"Felix felicis" - you whispered again
"You'll get expelled if you're caught" - Riddle bluntly stated
"So will you." - you smirked
Riddle smirked back as if fascinated, his attention was far from his book, as if he even forgot about it. His eyes slightly widened "Where did you possibly get a hold of something as valuable"
"Does it matter? Because I don't think it does." - you shrugged "It has nothing to do with you anyway."
His tone dropped lower "That type of potion would be terribly wasted on quidditch"
"Do you have a better idea?"
Tom sat still, he knew what thoughts were swirling in his head "Why don't you give it to me?"
Bingo
"Excuse me?" - you asked
"I could do awful lot with that. Which might benefit you too. Then we will not mention a word to anyone, securing both of our secrecy."
Ah, this guy was trying to outplay you, manipulate you, sell this to you as if it will be something of benefit to you. Little did he know, you were lying.
"But my friend---"
"It will be wasted on her." - he kept smirking in confidence
You pretended to think about it for a few seconds before agreeing "Alright." - you stretched out the goblet with the potion in it and handed it to him.
And he drank it all.
He placed the empty goblet back on the table and licked his bottom lip
"Well?" - you asked "How does it feel?"
"Neutral."
"Maybe something will kick in later." - you replied, thinking:
SHIT. He'd be able to tell that there is no actual elixir of luck in there at some point.
You quickly drank from the other goblet without the potion and as you finished it you yelped, pretending "Oh... I think I erm- might have mixed up the drinks..."
Riddle's eyes darted "You're kidding."
You shook your head apologetically
Tom frowned "You've done this on purpose, didn't you? To mock me."
"What? Of course not"
Riddle huffed, appearing disgusted. He felt ridiculed and he hated it.
Since he drank the potion and he was finally vulnerable, all you needed to do now was to get close to him. Which meant you had to make up a challenge.
"Hey, isn't that librarian muggle born?" - you glimpsed at the further away old lady sorting out novels
But this was a lie, you didn't know whether she was muggle-born.
"And?" - Tom's voice was cold
"And" - you repeated "Isn't your whole club about cleansing bloodlines?"
"If you haven't noticed, she is in the open"
"Well why don't we mess around then?" - you took out a small vial from your pocket "This is anti-poison" - you lied, it was just something that tasted like it "We both get the most venomous snakes we can from the basket over there" - you pointed at the container filled with snakes next to the librarian "And free them on our keeper just next."
"What is the benefit of that for me" - he asked unamused
"If you do it faster, I'll be obligated to do what you say for the whole month. Any command. Vice versa if I win. Do we have a deal?"
You knew he would win as he knew parseltongue. But he didn't know that you knew about this secret. You set yourself up for failure because you needed to get close to him.
"And I am supposed to assume it is real now" - he glimpsed at the vial
"It's just the anti-snake venom potion. Why would I lie about that?"
He remained quiet for a bit, unsure if he wanted to trust you. And either way, he was confident he wouldn't lose. He gathered his thoughts and uttered "Alright."
As he knew he could do so much if he was in command of you.
You sipped from the small vial first and he sniffed it before sipping second.
When the competition began, without letting anyone else see, before you could even cast a charm on the most venomous snake you could spot in the basket, you heard a shriek coming from the librarian. She was screaming her lungs out as she sprinted away from a DAMN TAIPAN. Why have they not transferred these creatures yet?
You saw the snake manage to corner her and you couldn't help in time as with a blink of an eye, the snake surged at the old lady's leg and her wrinkled flesh absorbed the lethal venom.
The work of Tom's parseltongue no doubt. But who shall the school blame? Even though it was clearly the smug looking Tom nearby, Hogwarts would deem it as an accident without witnesses.
And no-one saw this, but most heard it. When people streamed into the library, you and Tom acted as distraught as possible in order to cover up this dirty deed.
A deed you did not want to happen.
But he had officially won and you voluntarily sold your soul. For a solid price of course.