It's been a few days since Harry's seen Tom, and he felt like he was about to die of boredom. Merlin, everyone was so boring, how had he not noticed before?
If someone had told Harry last year that he'd be bored to death if he didn't see Tom for about a week's time, Harry would laugh in their face. But, here he was, sulking with Hermione.
"I'm so bored," Harry whined, his head flopped on the ground as he laid upside down on the common room's couch, Hermione sitting upright next to him, her nose in a book. "I wasn't made for boring! I was made for boom!"
"Boom?" Hermione questioned, amusedly.
"Boom!"
Somewhere in the common room, Seamus made a loud noise of agreement.
She snorted, slamming her book shut to look down near her feet where her friend's face lied. "Is that because you haven't been being harassed for the last week?"
Harry nodded as much as he could. "Where the fuck is Tom? All I've been doing is sleeping, eating, and breathing."
"And annoying me," Hermione deadpanned. "Since when did you start calling Riddle 'Tom'?"
Harry blanched. Shit.
"Guess it just slipped out," Harry quickly said, trying to cover up his mistake. "I'm not paying attention to things anymore because I'm bored. Let's do something, 'Mione."
In response, Hermione smiled. "You're in luck, then. I finished this book so I need to go up and exchange it for another in the library. Wanna come?"
Immediately, Harry agreed, standing up and feeling lightheaded due to the sudden change in position.
"Hey, Ron, me and 'Mione are going to the library!" Harry shouted to the other side of the common room, where Ron and Dean were playing wizard's chess.
Ron just gave the duo a thumbs up before screaming as one of his bishops got slashed.
With that, Harry and Hermione left the Gryffindor common room, Harry basically bouncing and skipping.
Finally, he was doing something. Maybe he'd see Tom in the hall. Or in an empty classroom. Or the library. And they could get into a fight, an argument, anything—
Harry shook his head. Why was he so adamant on getting Tom's attention? He had Hermione right now. Who cared about an unrequited crush?
Harry. Harry cared about his unrequited crush. Fuck.
He needed a distraction.
"What would happen if we were hit by an asteroid?" Harry asked.
Hermione looked at him like he was crazy. "Depending on the size, we could all be killed. Are you okay?"
Harry snorted. "No. But it'd be exciting, wouldn't it?"
"You need a hobby."
"I do have a hobby! But my hobby is currently no where to be found!"
"... if I hear you complain one more time about not being harassed, I'm leaving you here."
Harry gasped. "You would never. You love me too much."
"Test me."
By that time, they had reached the library, and so they had to quiet down when they walked in. Harry followed Hermione to the shelf her book had come from, watching as a sheet of paper magically filled out information to say that the book had been returned.
He followed Hermione as she went to get another book, and he saw a familiar fave sitting at a table alone.
"YES!" Harry shrieked, as he saw Tom. Finally.
He heard a shh, and looked over to see Madam Pince glaring at him from her desk. He mouthed a sorry before excitedly turning to Hermione.
"I think this is the best idea you've ever had," Harry whispered to her.
Confused, Hermione followed Harry's gaze to find Tom at the end of it. "Merlin, you're obsessed."
"I'm not obsessed!" Harry defended, following Hermione to another row of books. "I'm—"
"Bored?" Hermione interrupted. "I've heard."
When they stopped as Hermione chose a book that looked interesting and read the summary, Harry hid behind her and used her hair as a curtain, creating a tiny hole for him to spy on Tom with.
"Oh, yeah," Hermione sighed. "Not obsessed at all."
Harry just ignored her, choosing instead to look around for Tom. When Harry found him, he was shocked by what he saw.
He knew it was Tom. There was no denying that it was the Slytherin. But overall, he looked completely different than he had the last time Harry saw him.
His cheekbones were now raised to an inhuman amount, looking sharper than any knife Harry had ever seen. His dark brown eyes were seemingly darker, more scathing, and he had dark eyelashes to frame them. His lips, Harry couldn't help but notice, looked like the colour of raspberries, and Harry just wanted to kiss them. Not to mention his hair, which looked silkier than it had, that seemed to be meticulous.
There was only one problem.
Tom was staring straight at him.
"Shit!" Harry said, letting go of Hermione's hair.
A nearby student told him to shut up.
Why did Tom look so different? He had never seen a person glow up in that short amount of time, especially when that person didn't need to look any better to begin with. Now his looks were near criminal.
Knowing his cover had been blown, Harry stepped out from behind Hermione, expecting a nice argument. But, instead, he was greeted with an empty table.
"Oh, what an ass!" Harry exclaimed, tugging on Hermione's arm. It had a double meaning. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon—"
"Remember that homicide's a crime," Hermione muttered to herself, putting the book down and following Harry to the newly vacated table.
There was one book on the table, obviously the one Tom had been reading that he had left closed on the table. The title was just 'Creature Inheritances'.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Harry asked.
What the fuck was a creature inheritance? Was that a thing? Was it a... sex thing? Harry was so confused.
Hermione just stared at the book. "That... that actually makes a lot of sense."
"That's great. So... would you be able to explain it to me?"
Hermione casted an exhausted look at Harry before taking the huge book in her arms, taking her wand out to cast her information on the scroll to tell Pince she had the book. Then, her and Harry left the library.
"A creature inheritance is something a rare amount of witches and wizards obtain when they turn sixteen," Hermione said as soon as the huge doors of the library closed behind them. "Seriously, Harry, read a book."
Harry pouted. "But it would be so much easier to ask you about it, 'Mione! So what's this inheritance thing?"
Hermione sighed, but she seemed pleased that she could spread information. "They're a transformation many strong witches and wizards go through when they're the correct age. It's an outlet for their magic, in a way. Usually people who go through creature inheritances feel pain around the time they were born on their birthday, and when the pain stops they have features of a creature, with a mate."
"A mate?" Harry asked.
"Witches and wizards with magical inheritances have mates, their chosen significant other that's perfect for them in every way. There have been multiple studies on how mates are chosen, but there's never been any concrete data. But creatures and their mates are 71% happier than a regular couple."
"Huh," Harry said, staring at the book. "Why would Riddle read that?"
"Well, that would mean Riddle had a creature inheritance, doesn't it?" Hermione said. "It all makes sense. The fact that he was so irritable on his birthday, the fact that we haven't seen him in the past week..."
Hermione trailed off, but Harry got the idea.
"What creature is he, then?" Harry asked.
Hermione shot him a look. "Oh, yeah, out of the many different creatures I know exactly the one Riddle got."
"Har, har."
Even thought he was joking, Harry was still confused. If that was the case, why did Harry feel pain when Tom was going through his inheritance?
—
As soon as Tom left the library, he was able to breathe.
Dear Merlin, he had come so close to transforming into his creature form.
Could anyone blame him? That beautiful smell, that luscious, delicious...
Tom shook his head. He couldn't think like that. It came from Potter.
He had been reading up about demons when he had been distracted by a waft of the most beautiful smell he had ever experienced, as strange as it sounded. So, he looked up, and his eyes made contact with beautiful emerald green eyes peering at him through Granger's bushy hair.
Of course, in his momentary freak out, Tom left the library swiftly. He wasn't even sure that he had closed the book.
On his walk back to his private room, Tom tried to reason with himself. Sure, he had just smelled his mate, his creature had tried to force itself through and his heart couldn't stop beating fast.
But there was no way Potter was his mate.
Right?