[HP] Dearest Enemy

Although the weather in June is not too hot, it already makes people feel a little stuffy.Because the OWLS exam was approaching, Harry gave Tom a break so that he wouldn't have to help him mark the homework of the younger students.Tom was very upset. Although he understood Harry's thoughts, he still tried his best to study in Harry's office on the grounds that the lounge and library were too noisy.

"You'll embarrass Harry like this, Tom." Alex crossed his legs while holding a cup of black tea, with a leisurely tone.

The black-eyed boy raised his head and glanced at the idle man, before turning his gaze to Harry.

"Let Tom stay here if he wants to," said Harry gently, setting a cup of tea by Tom's table.

"I won't stay here all the time," said Tom flatly. "It's only two hours a day."

Harry smiled, sat down at his desk, and started grading homework.

"Hey, then our evening entertainment must be cancelled?" Alex wailed exaggeratedly.

"Only a month, Aaron," Harry said softly, "there's plenty of time in the future."

"But dear Harry." Alex put down his glass and rubbed his friend's shoulders around his shoulders, and gently lifted the green-eyed man's chin with his other hand, "the fun of doing anything without you will be cut in half .”

Tom coughed lightly. Although he didn't look up, his brows were already wrinkled.

"Stop messing around, Aaron." Harry pushed his friend's two paws away calmly, "You might as well bring your homework to me for approval."

"Harry, you are so cold." Alex said aggrievedly.From the corner of his eye, Harry saw that Tom was staring at him with a dark face, and sighed helplessly.

"Aaron, don't do this."

Alex shrugged his shoulders, and finally put away his flirtatious actions about Harry, and stroked his flamboyant black hair: "Okay, okay, I'll go back and correct my homework. See you in Hogsmeade this weekend, good night."

Tom kept staring at Alex, and the gray-eyed man gave him a defiant smile, opened the door and went out.Tom watched the wooden door slowly close with a livid face before turning his head to Harry's.However, his godfather had already turned his attention to the parchment in his hand. The black-eyed boy sighed softly, put down the broken quill in his hand, and replaced it with a new one.

Alex the bastard, he actually made such a move in front of Harry... Tom was thinking fiercely about how to deal with this arrogant guy, and almost poked a hole in the parchment on the table.

Harry glanced at the boy with a bad face.The relationship between Tom and Alex has not been very good recently. The two seem to have some unhappiness because of something. Harry watched helplessly as the two guys threw eye knives at each other in his office every day. It happened again just now .Tom was almost indifferent to Alex, and Alex always liked to make Tom look bad in various ways, as if he was deliberately antagonizing Tom.The two guys, Harry shook his head.No matter how mature Tom is, he's still just a kid, and as for Alex... he hasn't grown up at all!

How the hell did this happen?

At ten o'clock Tom packed up his things as usual and went to Harry's side.Alex has gone too far today, he won't sleep well tonight if he doesn't ask for some privilege from Harry.

"What's wrong?" The man with green eyes raised his head in surprise.Tom usually walks very neatly, and he will not run to him if he has something to say.

"The exam is coming soon, and I haven't been able to sleep well." Tom said calmly, his eyes wandering, "So... goodnight kiss."

Harry opened his mouth in surprise.Before entering Hogwarts, Harry sometimes kissed Tom on the forehead to say good night to the little boy before going to bed, but more often he just said good night to Tom and then left his room.

"I thought these little things wouldn't affect your mood," said Harry, "and you're sixteen, Tom."

The black-eyed boy blushed.In fact, Tom regretted it after he finished that sentence, which sounded like a silly child, it was so stupid!He wanted to bite off his tongue.

"Sorry. I... I'm going back." Tom ran to the door as if running away, and slammed the door.

"Wait..." Harry came back to his senses and opened his mouth hastily, but before he finished speaking, the person was gone.What exactly happened here?Harry looked at the closed door with a sudden smile in his eyes.It was the second time he had seen the child so shy since he had helped Tom with the Patronus spell.Tom could be shy too, Harry couldn't help being amused, and I have to say that the child's expression just now was really...very cute!

Tom didn't show up again for the next few days.Alex was very surprised, and kept asking Harry what happened to Tom, but Harry prevaricated him with the prefect's affairs.He wasn't lying, the number of students peddling memory-enhancing medicines and gadgets increased because of the OWLS exams, and Harry himself confiscated quite a few.But the students who fall into Tom's hands have no good fruit to eat. Although the prefect can't deduct points from the college, Tom can use other means to make those guys who violate the school rules detour when they see him.The only thing that worried Harry a little was that he heard that the Slytherin prefects were not in a good mood recently. Even Alfart said that Tom had been grumpy recently, and he didn't know why.

Probably because of the exams, Harry thought, and Tom said he didn't sleep well at night, so he took the stress elsewhere.It wasn't quite Tom, though, and Harry had a faint feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of any other explanation than that.

Alex felt a little bored. It was really interesting to see Tom so angry that he couldn't attack, but this kid didn't show up for several days. Alex felt that this was a bit abnormal.The reason Harry gave was really unreasonable.He bet Merlin that if Tom was worried about the OWLS exam, then he, Alex, would run around the Hogwarts castle naked.

Without that brat with a dark face, teasing Harry would have lost most of the fun.Alex has been quite honest these days, but Harry has always been surprised by his friend's behavior, and everything is business as usual.

Lying in bed, looking at the ceiling, Tom hadn't had the guts to go to Harry's office these days.It's too embarrassing, it's really embarrassing, the black-eyed boy stared at the ceiling dejectedly, why did he have such childish thoughts, how could he face Harry in the future?Although Tom tried to behave as usual in class yesterday, when Harry looked at him... Tom let out a low wail and buried his face in the pillow.The thought of Harry Tom made a mess of his head, what should he do?

Something cool was slapping the boy's cheek.

"Tom, are you sick?"

Nagini swept his tail across Tom's face.Miss Snake has grown up a lot, not only her appetite has increased, but she is also becoming more and more presumptuous towards her doting master.

"Go away, Nagini." Tom waved the snake's tail weakly.

"Then I don't want to tell you what Harry said to that hedgehog today." Because of Tom's influence, Nagini nicknamed everyone except Harry, and the hedgehog was undoubtedly the one who often harassed Harry. Alex.

"What did they say?" asked Tom, opening his eyes.Although he didn't dare to go to Harry's office, he still wanted to keep track of Harry's whereabouts.

"Harry said that big furry guy kept an eight-eyed spider, and Spikehead went out with him." Nagini twisted his body, "Harry's office is not fun at all, not even a biscuit. "

Hagrid's spider was finally found.Tom didn't like the guy who didn't take dangerous creatures seriously. If Harry caught and deducted points from Gryffindor, he wouldn't bother to worry about it: "Harry doesn't like biscuits, of course he doesn't like them." No biscuits for you," said Tom, sitting up a little, leaning back on the pillow, and putting out a finger to stroke the little snake's head, "Where else have you been?"

Nagini climbed up on top of him unsteadily, coiling his body up: "I'm going to see Bernie."

"Bernie?" Tom had never heard the name.

"It's the old guy down in the cellar," said Nagini. "He said he wanted to see you. He was hibernating when you were last, but you never even visited him."

"You mean the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?" Tom was shocked.

"It's that old guy." Nagini shook his tail, "The old guy had a bad temper when he saw me at first, but he got better now. He said you are the heir, and he must meet you. "

Tom narrowed his eyes.He hadn't thought about meeting the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets again, but it was Salazar Slytherin's pet after all, and there might be his library or something in it.But Nagini seemed to have been there many times, but it was the first time to tell him this.

"When did you sneak in?" asked Tom.

"The last time I molted." Nagini replied while twisting his body, "Tom, I want a biscuit."

So it's been two months?Tom drew his hands back and lay flat.

"It's so late, I'll give it to you tomorrow." The boy grabbed the little snake away from his body.

"No, Tom—"

"Go to Al," said Tom lazily. "He should be out of the bath. Not much to eat."

"It's Al again, I don't want it." Miss Snake spared no effort to wrap her arms around the boy's wrist and act coquettishly.

"Then I won't give you a biscuit next week," said Tom. "I'm going to bed."

"Tom is bullying!" Seeing that Tom had not moved, Nagini crawled to find Alphat very aggrieved.

The next day was the weekend, and Tom knew that Harry was going to Hogsmeade with Alex, so he stayed in school under the pretext of reviewing.He really wanted to see Harry, Tom had been having a rough time these days.But what did you say when you saw Harry?Greet him as usual?Just thinking about it made me feel unbearable, so I gave up.Tom sighed while turning the pages of the book, Alphard is not here today, the only person who can bully him is that brainless Weasley.But since what happened that night, Weasley had learned to keep him out of sight if he could, and to hide from him faster than anyone else.

Unable to read it any longer, Tom stood up and found a few more books, put them in the place where he usually sat, and flipped through them. He was displeased to hear the discussions of several lower-grade girls nearby who were discussing with him on the other side of the bookshelf.What a bore!Tom frowned, and was considering whether to go back to the dormitory to read a book, when a familiar voice made him stay where he was.

"So you're here, Tom."

The black-eyed boy turned his head abruptly, and a green-eyed man wearing glasses was standing beside him with gentle eyes.Tom felt blood start to rush to his face, and subconsciously opened his mouth and shouted, "Harry!" He suddenly realized that there were still many people here, so he quickly changed his words, "Professor Potter."

Harry laughed: "Don't be so nervous, Tom." He picked up the book Tom had put aside and flipped through it, looking at the boy, "Are you reviewing History of Magic?"

"Yes." Tom was a little embarrassed, and also a little nervous, "I always feel that there is not enough time."

"I know, I know." Harry nodded understandingly, "You've been busy these days, and you haven't come to my place for almost a week."

Tom felt that he was about to freeze, and quickly changed the subject: "Didn't you go to Hogsmeade with Alex today?"

"Mr. Palampion was looking for him, so I came back early," said Harry. "Aren't you going to Hogsmeade to rest and change your mind?"

Tom put on a smile. "I guess I'll have plenty of time after the exams."

"You're pushing yourself too hard, Tom," Harry said, pulling the boy to his feet.

"Where to?" Tom asked, subconsciously trying to get rid of Harry's hand.

"Go for a walk by the lake, the weather is so nice today, it's a pity to stay in the library." Harry said briskly and walked out, "Don't you want to stay here?"

"Of course not," said Tom quickly, and frowned at his own inattentive reaction.Harry smiled, nodded to the girls who had been stretching their heads looking this way, and walked out together holding the boy's hand.

"Professor Potter and Riddle have such a good relationship." A Ravenclaw girl said enviously.

"Of course, Professor Potter is Mr. Riddle's godfather." Another Slytherin girl pushed her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"I think Mr. Riddle likes Professor Potter very much." Irene, the youngest, said boldly.

The other girls nodded vigorously together.

"That's right."

"indeed."

"Mr. Riddle goes to Professor Porter's office every day to do his homework."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. I heard that Riddle corrected the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework for the third grade and below."

"No wonder the handwriting on the last paper is different from before."

"Mr. Riddle is amazing!"

……

Several excited little girls gathered around talking happily, and no one noticed that their vice-principal and professor of transfiguration, Dumbledore, was separated from them by a bookshelf, and listened to their gossip verbatim.