FIVE

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Slowly but surely.

That's what Primrose told herself in getting Tom Riddle to be her friend. It's not an easy process but she'll believe that she would get there.

Tom Riddle wasn't a guy that a person can come up to and say, 'Hi let's be friends.'

He'll probably hex the fuck out of that person.

It can't be rushed. A boy like Tom Riddle was tough. His ego couldn't get enough feeding and trying to melt his heart was not as easy as putting ice outside of the fridge. If the weather's cold, the ice wouldn't melt anyway.

So, instead of trying too hard that it would be too obvious and annoy him, Primrose tried to get him on his good side, by making him come to her first.

Prim was manoeuvring him into thinking that she could be his friend.  

There's a 50-50 chance but based on what happened that night, it surely looked like Primrose had a chance.

It's a progress. She thought to herself.

It came to her attention that Tom Riddle didn't have a pet. That explained why he put a spell on a book instead of an animal.

She had also seen his quill, which was different than the rest of the class. His was rather unique with a green feather and a small golden snake tattered on the pole. Basically in class, Primrose and Tom's quills would shine the most.

She'll definitely do something about this information when the time comes.

Primrose rushed to Potions as she slept in. She arrived in front of the class, looking at everyone who had partnered up with partners from different house. Professor Slughorn saw her and before he could open his mouth, Primrose bowed slightly,

"I'm so sorry, Professor Slughorn."

Slughorn, looking at the panting girl, just smiled, "Come on in, Miss Quinton. For today's class, we're brewing an elixir to induce euphoria. Find someone from Slytherin as your partner—oh. It looks like your only option is Mr Riddle over there."

Primrose looked at Tom that was already looking at her. She then nodded, "Thank you, Professor."

She put her notebook and her quill on the table right after she sat down and greeted Tom, "Good morning, Riddle."

"Good morning, Quinton." He replied.

"Instruction's on page 500. You may start now." Slughorn said. The students got up from their seats to the cupboard, taking the ingredients needed for the potion making.

Primrose wrote down the ingredients in her book while waiting for the crowd to disperse from the cupboards before getting up when they're clear, "I'll get the ingredients."

When she's done, she came back to the table with the ingredients. "Do you want me to read? And you brew?"

"Sounds good." Tom said. He then moved his notebook and quill to the side. Primrose saw the chance, "It's a nice quill."

Tom glanced at her before looking at his quill, "Thank you." 

His eyes then automatically set on Primrose's quill and he frowned, "You have a nicer quill."

His tone almost sounded like he's displeased, thinking that maybe Primrose was saying it only to kiss ass. Probably because his quill, though different from the rest of the students, still considered as nothing compared to Primrose's.

She smiled, "Thank you. I just like yours better."

He was just looking at her before he turned his face away. Then, they started on adding the ingredients into the pot.

"It says stir four times counter-clockwise." Primrose said and Tom followed.

"Is it blue now?" She asked and he nodded. She smiled, "Okay. Let's wait until it simmers down and turn yellow."

After quite some time, they were done with their potion. Primrose frowned when she read the side effects, "Tweaking nose?"

Tom just glanced at her for a few seconds, not saying anything. Then he turned to face her again when she called out, "Riddle, do you think we should add some peppermint?"

"Why?" He frowned. Primrose pointed her index finger to a line in the book, "It says that one of the side effects is tweaking nose. Peppermint should prevent it right?"

Peppermints helped to relieve clogged sinus. Primrose believed that if they put peppermint in it, the symptom of tweaking nose could be countered.

"How do you know?"

Science, Riddle.

"Peppermints help to relieve clogged sinus. So I just thought that maybe it'll work?" She said.

"Are you sure it won't alter the elixir?" He eyed her skeptically. Primrose shook her head, "I don't think it would. It's just a sprig of peppermint. If there's any changes, it's just gonna be the smell."

Tom was still staring at her with that look. It took him quite some time before he finally shrugged, "Fine."

Primrose grinned, "I'll go get it."

She walked to the cupboards and took a little bit of peppermint before walking back to their table.

"Here goes nothing." She said and put the peppermint into the pot. Tom stirred it four times counter-clockwise and stopped.

"Everybody done?" Professor Slughorn echoed and the students replied back with a yes. He was evaluating the front row tables first so it's gonna take quite some time until he reached Tom and Primrose.

As Slughorn was approaching them, Tom leaned closer to Primrose's ear, whispering, "If the elixir is a disaster, I blame you."

Primrose sighed, "Same."

Slughorn sniffed the elixir and frowned, "Hm what is this smell?"

"Peppermint, sir." Primrose said.

"It's her idea." Tom said and Primrose rolled her eyes.

Snitch.

He nodded and shrugged, "Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration..."

Then his eyes widened, "Miss Quinton, of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking! I really don't know where you get these brain waves. Well done, Primrose."

Slughorn turned to Tom, "You too, Tom. Well done both of you."

He then went to the last group.

Primrose looked up at Tom. And him noticing that Primrose was looking at him, looked at her back. She smiled triumphantly while raising her eyebrows playfully.

She then chuckled before turning away to sniff the elixir. She gagged, "Still smells like death."

___

Primrose was in the gardens to collect some flowers for Potions later next week, as instructed by Professor Slughorn. She was minding her own business until she heard a commotion at the other side of the field.

Three boys were bullying a girl. Pushing her and calling her names. Looking at their faces and heights, they must've been in Year 1.

One person caught her attention too, which was Tom Riddle.

He was just standing beside a tree, quite hidden actually. He's watching the girl getting bullied. Primrose scoffed.

So much for a prefect.

Her blood boiled when Tom Riddle was actually smiling in satisfaction. Primrose knew that he didn't notice her until she approached the bullies.

And Primrose pretended that she did not see him there.

"Filthy mudblood!" The boy spat.

"Now that's something that you don't hear in a civilised conversation." Primrose's expression and voice were calm when she put her right hand on the boy's left shoulder. She assumed that he's the leader. 

The boy turned around and Primrose put her hand away. He had to look up since Primrose was much taller than him and the rest.

They're kids, after all.

"Who are you?" The boy asked with an attitude.

"A senior." She answered shortly before turning her head to the girl with a smile, "Let's go."

The girl followed her but stopped when Primrose stopped in her tracks too.

"Ah, you must be a mudblood too." He said and his friends laughed. Primrose turned around while approaching them slowly once again.

A smile still plastered on her face, "If I were you, I would watch my mouth."

He snickered, "Well you're not me. So watch mine... mudblood."

Primrose smiled, "Your words. Not mine."

"Which one? Mudblood?" He smirked. Primrose chuckled darkly, "Adorable."

She then ruffled his hair, making him flinch and  angry. Very angry.

"Get your filthy hands off me you filthy mudblood!" He took out his wand, pointing it to Primrose.

"You like that word too much, don't you?" She asked then quickly grabbed his wand, turning it to him by putting it on his throat.

His friends went scared too as the leader's face turned scared.

"You'll never be like me. You stoop lower than me and you'll never reach my level." Primrose's said, her expression was dark. She retreated and threw the wand far away.

Her face turned cheerful again as she turned her head to the girl, "Come."

Primrose was sure enough that Tom saw it. She bet that he's curious about her bloodline now. Was she really a mudblood? Was she not?

One way to find out.

The girl followed Primrose to the woods.

"Thank you for helping me. My name is Candy." Candy said and Primrose smiled, "My name is Primrose. You can call me Prim."

"Where are we going, Prim?"

"Care to help me find some flowers?"

Candy grinned, "Okay!"

After quite some time, Candy spoke up, "Is it true...?"

Primrose glanced at her while plucking the flowers, "What is?"

"That you're muggle-born?"

Primrose laughed, "No. I am not."

"Then why did you help me?"

"Did you not need help?" Primrose raised her eyebrows. Candy shook her head, looking scared, "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm really grateful that you helped. It's just... everybody else hates me because i'm muggle-born."

"And why do think muggle-borns do not deserve kindness?"

Candy stuttered, "I-I... i don't think so."

Primrose nodded, "Because the truth is, everyone deserves kindness. There are only two types of people in this world—good people and bad people. Bad people will do things to hurt you and good people will not."

"Then there are lots of bad people here." Candy said and Primrose sighed with a nod, "They are... not accepting. I guess it's in the human's nature that they are scared of changes. And difference. Anything that made them different from another, would be seen as a threat."

Candy nodded, "Maybe you're right..." She paused before she reached into her pocket, "When I was looking for daisies, I found this."

She handed Primrose a flower.

An evening primrose.

"Saw it and thought of you." Candy said. Primrose took it with a big smile, "Thank you."

The ruffling sound made Primrose and Candy quickly turned their heads to see where it came from.

There was nothing but the moving branches made Primrose smirked. She was right.

Tom Riddle actually followed them.

I hope he heard everything.

___

Defence against the Dark Arts.

"Now, Riddikulus is a charm that is used in defence against a Boggart. It causes the creature to assume a form that is humorous to the caster, thereby counteracting the Boggart's ability to terrorise. Boggarts are defeated by laughter, so forcing them to assume an amusing form is the first step to defeating them." The teacher said then continued,

"You must first acknowledge what you fear the most and the Boggart will take the form. Then, you visualise it into something amusing. Now repeat after me. Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!"

The teacher nodded in satisfaction, "Very good. Dahlia, start!"

Dahlia swallowed her saliva hard, preparing her wand as the Boggart took form of an enormous tarantula. She gasped, "Riddikulus!"

Then the spider turned small, a cute one. But still made Dahlia shivered, "Meh. It's better than tarantula at least."

"Good. Next!"

Dahlia pushed Primrose forward and she could see from the corner of her eyes, Tom Riddle was watching her.

Curious, aren't we?

The Boggart took a form of a snake. It's a normal sized snake, but still. Primrose hated snakes. She despised them. She cringed, "Ugh, Riddikulus!"

Then the snake turned.

Turned dead.

The students gasped and the teacher went quiet. Primrose scratched the back of her head, "Too dark?"

Dahlia nodded, "Too dark."

"Too dark. Sorry." Primrose grinned sheepishly.

It had been fun until the class had to end earlier than expected because a student can't control her fear until she fainted. For safety and not wanting anybody else to faint, the lesson stopped there.

Which was annoying to Primrose because she didn't get to see Riddle's fear.

Could've been the perfect weapon to use against him.

____

It was a game of Quidditch where Ravenclaw met Hufflepuff.

Stretton lost his balance for a while when the Hufflepuff's beater got him. Then Hufflepuff scored. Stretton sighed while touching his left shoulder.

Primrose noticed, "You okay there, Stretton?" Stretton nodded while lifting his hand up, making an 'ok' sign.

Primrose grinned at the gesture.

Someone has been learning.

It was an easy win for Ravenclaw since Primrose caught the Golden Snitch in just 20 minutes after the game started.

Throughout the game, she realised that Tom Riddle wasn't in the audience, including during other matches of different houses too. She tried to find Riddle when Slytherin was battling Gryffindor, but he still didn't come to the match.

Ravenclaw got through the semi-finals, in which they'll meet Slytherin. Primrose had observed the way they played and they were indeed, rough as hell. She had to find a way to get Tom Riddle to watch the match.

It was during Potions that Primrose got the idea of dragging Riddle to the match. She only knew that Tom Riddle was part of Slug Club—that she only heard its existence a few moments ago. She asked Dahlia to go first with the rest as she wanted to talk to the teacher for a while. When everyone had left the class, she walked up to Slughorn with a smile.

"Professor, sorry to have taken a little bit of your time. I'm wondering if there's anything that I could improve on? Maybe I did something wrong... somewhere? I wish to improve."

Slughorn looked surprised but he smiled still, "Miss Quinton, you have done everything excellently."

She smiled gratefully, "I'm glad, then. I really wish to ace this subject. I'm aiming to be really good at it. Probably a teacher like you! I found that it's extremely beneficial to help people with it. Especially for medicinal purposes!"

Slughorn's eyes glimmered with pride honour. He seemed to be moved by her words, "That's very noble of you. Well, so far you are doing an outstanding job! Remember the peppermint? Intelligent indeed, no wonder you were sorted into Ravenclaw."

"And ambitious too. I can see why the hat had a hard time to sort you out. Now, I am quite upset that you're not a Slytherin. Could've shown you off to people." He continued with a laugh.

"I believe that it's too much, Professor. I'm just an average student." Primrose smiled, humble. Slughorn protested, "Nonsense! You are as brilliant as Tom in this class."

Heh.

"Thank you so much, Professor. It means a lot, coming from you."

"You deserved it, Miss Quinton." He smiled kindly.

Primrose frowned mentally when he mentioned nothing about Slug Club. Not trying to be obvious, she tried her luck by leaving, "I'll be taking my leave. Have a great day ahead, sir."

"You too, Miss Quinton."

Primrose walked away slowly, her expression solemn.

At least I tried.

"Miss Quinton." He called right before she exited. Primrose's eyes lit up but she controlled her expression when she finally faced him, "Yes?"

"Would you like to join the Slug Club?"

Fuck yeah!

Primrose approached him with a smile, "Please, enlighten me about it."

After a few moment of Slughorn enlightening Primrose about the club, she happily said yes, saying that she's very grateful.

Very. Grateful.

Before she left, she pretended that she forgot to tell something, "Professor Slughorn, I think most people are aware that I play Quidditch. It would be nice if the members of the club could come to see our match. Maybe it could prove my worth as a part of the club. Or just... supporting me. Just a suggestion."

He nodded, his expression showed that he's considering it, "That's actually a brilliant idea, Miss Quinton! I will let them know."

Primrose grinned brightly, "Thank you so much! It's on Friday, Ravenclaw against Slytherin! Thought it might interest you more because it's your house!"

"You have certainly got my interest! I'll see you on Friday." He said with a laughter.

Primrose exited the class, feeling giddy and triumphant.

I am brilliant.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thank you for reading!
Typos & Errors = Sorry :(

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