Over the next week, every time Elizabeth and Tom went off to the room, they became less and less focused on their original goal. On a crisp Thursday night, they sat close together in two chairs facing each other, the two's knees nearly bumping. A fire radiated warmth to their cheeks.

"You can't honestly think that dragons are harmless," Tom retorted in disbelief.

Elizabeth sat on her knees, "They're like bees, they only attack out of self defense. If you don't do anything wrong to them, they won't attack you."

"Have you ever actually encountered one?" he raised an eyebrow. Elizabeth was beyond getting irritated when he questioned her. She just saw it as more opportunities to impress him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," she answered, "She did not hurt me because I didn't hurt her."

"You talk about them as if they're humans," he chuckled. "That's one of the traits I admire about you; you always try to see the best in everything."

Tom had complimented her before, but never straight up like he had just done. Elizabeth couldn't help a small smile from tingling at her lips. "One of the traits?" she questioned.

For the first time, he looked flustered, "Er- well, you know. You just have admirable things about you."

"Like what?"

"Well, you're intelligent, you care about those around you, and you never let anything get to you. Normally, any other person would have run from me by now, but not you. You aren't afraid of anything," he kept a calm facade, although Elizabeth could see in his eyes that he was nervous.

She looked down at her hands which were folded in her lap, the biggest grin on her lips, "That means a lot coming from you, Tom."

"Why do you say that?"

"Before I actually talked to you, you seemed like you didn't care about anything or anyone," Elizabeth started apprehensively.

Tom raised an eyebrow, "And what do I care about now?"

Her stomach lurched. "Well, I... I don't exactly-," she stopped talking as his hand moved over and made contact with hers.

"I know. I care about you, Maryn. I don't want anyone to hurt you, ever." Tom was looking into her eyes. "I don't want to hurt you either. Just know that."

"I wouldn't want anyone to hurt you either Tom, not like they could," Elizabeth told him with a small giggle. She could see the enjoyment in his eyes. He chuckled to himself. "What?" Elizabeth asked.

Tom smiled, "I normally loathe when my peers call me by that name. It was my coward father's name, and it was passed on to me by the woman who gave birth to me."

"And?"

"You've called me Tom since day one, and for some reason, I could listen to you say that name for hours on end," he gave her a gentle smile. "I was confused at first when you were sorted into Slytherin. There is a certain... prejudice against us. I'm sure you've seen examples." She had. When Sophia spit her juice out, when Henry hadn't trusted her with the secret of the ball, and when Joshua didn't trust her with Tom. "Although many refuse to accept the rumors, we are a particularly prideful bunch. I, among many other of my colleagues thought you would best do in Hufflepuff," he admitted with a chuckle.

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably. She didn't know where he was going with this. Of course anyone at Hogwarts was confused as to why she had been placed in Slytherin. They didn't really know her. She had done things that would shock even Tom Riddle.

"I want to know why you were placed in this house. You must have done something that has made you worthy of joining Salazar Slytherin's legacy. What was it? Did you hurt someone, or purposefully contribute to the demise of another?" he prodded so carefully into the hole of her life.

"You wanted to know about Horcruxes, the other day," Elizabeth said carefully. "I didn't tell you, well, because..."

"What, you don't have one, do you?" Tom joked with a small laugh. Only after her silence, and the haunting way her eyes froze upon his, did his laughter subside. "You can't be serious," he asked in disbelief.

She felt herself on the edge of tears. Her face felt hot and she began seeing double of everything around her.

Tom leaned forward, "You killed someone?" He said those words as if it was the same as eating their morning meal. Elizabeth nodded. "But who?"

Elizabeth told the story of her brother and how he had been brutally forced into his own death. She could see Tom felt no empathy, but continued on. "Then, that night, I stormed down to the man's office who had been the leader of the other professors. He couldn't have been much older than you, but he was the youngest and most cruel one of them all. He asked what I was doing and I told him I wanted to show him a spell I had learned. It was one that I created myself. It's too awful, even to teach you, but it killed him. Very slowly and painfully. I wanted him to feel everything that he had made the children feel. He screamed and begged for mercy, but I just put a silencing charm on the room and waited until he was dead. It felt like hours, watching him shaking and screaming. The sad thing is, I didn't feel bad about any of it. I didn't cry. Instead, I made a Horcrux."

Tom hadn't flinched throughout that entire speech, "Well, Maryn, you're much more than I thought you were."

"It's not something I'm proud of, you have to understand that," Elizabeth clarified as Tom gave her a menacing glance.

Tom reached out and held her hands in his, "We are going to do great things together." After a moment of silence, Elizabeth stood.

"I'm getting tired, I should go back to my dormitory," she told him. He looked deep in thought and merely brushed off that comment. She walked over to the door and with the absence of attention from Tom, she left. Elizabeth noticed it was dark outside. She didn't know whether it was night or day. Tom and her had spent so much time in the room that she couldn't keep track of the time. The torches were burning dimly as she walked down the eerie halls.

"Who's there?" a voice called out, making Elizabeth jump. It was male and sounded vaguely familiar. She saw a small space behind a corner and silently ducked into it. "Show yourself," it beckoned again. "I will not turn you in but please come out."

She had no idea who it was. It wasn't Pevlos, nor Asher, or Joshua. What other boys did she know at that school? "Who are you?" Elizabeth interrogated to the dark air.

"Elizabeth, it's just me. It's Klaus," he said with a warm chuckle. Elizabeth let out a heavy air of breath and came out from her hiding place. Klaus was standing in the hall with his wand out, the small light circling around him.

"How'd you know it was me?"

He laughed, "You're the only girl at this school with an American accent."

"Oh, of course," Elizabeth laughed at the obvious. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Just walking off a bad dream. What about you? You don't look like you've had any sleep in weeks," he pointed out.

Elizabeth couldn't think of a lie quick enough. "Oh, I was just looking for Matilda. She sleep walks, sometimes." She could hear the lie in her voice.

Klaus raised one of his thick eyebrows, "Is that so?" Elizabeth knew that he was aware she was lying.

"No," she sighed. "This is terribly embarrassing, but I forgot the password to the Slytherin Common Room and I have been wandering the halls since sunset." The lie came out smoother and she felt proud of herself.

"Why didn't you say so," Klaus gave a friendly smile. "I'm sure Bonnie could fix you up a bed in her dormitory until morning."

"I don't believe that will be necessary," Tom barked from behind Klaus, causing him to flinch.

Klaus rolled his eyes, "Nobody asked you, Riddle."

"I was out for an evening stroll and am now just heading back to my dormitory. I am perfectly capable of escorting Miss Maryn back there safely."

"Elizabeth, what do you want to do?" Klaus questioned and they both looked at her. Tom's eyes were gazing at her with the same look as when he'd held her hands only moments before.

She blinked a few times, "I don't want to disrupt Bonnie's slumber, I'll just go with Riddle."

"Are you sure?" Klaus scoffed. Elizabeth nodded. He turned away to start walking again, then quickly stormed back and leaned in closely to Tom. "You're a scheming git and I don't trust you at all, Riddle."

Tom said nothing, but looked down at Klaus as if he were a jest and Tom was a king. Elizabeth stood there, desperately wishing that Klaus wouldn't tell Joshua about this run in. He looked back to Elizabeth with the saddest eyes, then turned back around and walked away quickly, the light from his wand fading with him. Tom and Elizabeth were left in the dark. He illuminated his wand.

"You chose me, even though it could potentially interfere with your other friendships," Tom whispered. "Why?"

"Because I feel things for you that you and I both know you can't reciprocate," she confessed, looking down. Tom looked down at her, knowing the feeling but not having it. He knew he wanted her to be happy, but he also knew he couldn't be the one to do it. Hesitantly, Tom reached out and brought her face up towards his with a finger under her chin. He knew if he had feelings, he'd want to kiss her. Instead, she raised herself up on her toes and placed her lips on his. She half expected him to pull away and hex her. The other half of her expectations was for him to do exactly what he did.

Tom placed his hand on the back of her head and brought her closer. He didn't know what he was doing, not at all. The only thing he knew was that it showed her how much he cared about her. Elizabeth didn't want to, but she pulled away, remembering Joshua. They hadn't technically kissed yet or even declared a relationship. So she couldn't be betraying him, right?

A smirk grew on his lips, "And all this time, I thought you despised me." He ran his hand through his hair and Elizabeth presented a small smile.

"You won't tell anyone about this, will you?"

"Not if you don't want me to," Tom shrugged, a cheeky grin causing Elizabeth's smile to grow. He looked truly happy in that moment.

They walked back to the Common Room in silence, just like old times. Elizabeth attempted to bring up their earlier conversation involving dragons, but he shut it down quickly. However, once they got back to the dormitory, something was different. They stood at the point where the stairs went their separate ways. Tom leaned down and left a small kiss on her right cheek.

"Goodnight, Elizabeth."

She stood, astounded as he walked up the stairs. Tom had done two things that she never imagined he would. He kissed her and called her by her first name. Completely unlike him. She felt herself blushing an incredible shade of red, walking down the stairs and into her room. Elizabeth laid down on her bed and smiled into the darkness.

Once Tom was up the stairs, his smile faded. No, he didn't love her or even have any feelings for her. However, that's what he needed her to believe. If he was going to convince her to take over the wizarding world alongside him, it would take more than talking. Yes, even he admitted that toying with such an emotional girls' feelings was potentially catastrophic in the long run, but he didn't care. Power was all that was on his mind. Well, power and Elizabeth.