Sparrow: Tom Riddle x Reader

You sat in the courtyard leant up against a tree, the sounds of people laughing and talking surrounded you as you continued to read your book on transfiguration. It was a fairly sunny day so you decided to go outside for once to study.

You were minding your own business when something hard hit your head, changing your focus from the book and onto a medium sized ball that had landed in front of you.

"Oh, sorry about that! My friends a really bad shot." You looked up to see a boy, who looked to be a similar age to you, running up to you panting slightly, rubbing the back of his neck as he picked up the ball from the ground.

"That's fine."You replied, rubbing your head again. Why were you always hurting your head?

"What are you reading?" You looked at him confused and he pointed to the book in your hands. You weren't used to people just randomly striking up a conversation, you were not entirely sure how to act.

"Oh, It's just a book on transfiguration."

"Oh. Do you like transfiguration? I do too." You just simply nodded and he sat down next to you.

"You don't talk much do you?" You looked at him with narrowed eyebrows and then just looked away back at the page you were reading previously.

"I'm Jack, Jack Barlow." He stuck out his hand for you to shake, you looked at it skeptically, but then shook it.

"Y/N. Y/N L/N." You smiled slightly at the boy sitting next to you. The only time someone would talk to you was if they were your partner in class or they needed something like directions.

"Hey, I got to go back to my friends. But I'll see you around." He got up and ran to a small group of people in red robes, you looked up and saw all his friends surrounding him making funny noises and looking between the two of you. You ignored it and went back to your book.

~~~~~~~~~~

After lessons had finally ended you made your way back to your dorm room and sat down on your bed away from the other girls. For some reason since you got there they had all seemed to dislike you. Everytime you would enter the room they would stop the conversations they were having and exchange questionable looks. You didn't care though, they weren't the kind of people you wanted to be around anyway, so stuck up and prissy.

Feeling uncomfortable with the atmosphere you decided to go downstairs to the common room and finish some potions homework Slughorn had set.

You entered the room and it was entirely empty except the slightly wavy haired boy sitting on the couch in front of the fire, writing in a small black book. Seeing it was already occupied you turned around and began to walk to the stairs.

"I don't bite you know."

You turned around and looked at the boy, still staring down at his book.

"I wouldn't be surprised." you retorted putting your hands in your pockets.

"Ouch." He moved along on the coach signaling you were able to sit down, and you slowly made your way over.

"Well can you blame me, you don't exactly seem to like people." He let a brief amused breath out and finally turned to look at you.

"I could say the same for you." You looked away towards the fire.

"Well the distaste for people seems to be a mutual feeling, they don't exactly like me either." The fire flickered a bright orange, contrasting the green and blue hues of the room.

"Didn't seem that way in the courtyard." With that you looked at him confused, he continued to write in his book you always see him carrying around.

"How do you know about that?"

"I'm not blind, I can see the people around me."

"..Right." You took out the paper from your pocket along with a quill and ink and began the homework you were desperate to finish. A few moments had past, it wasn't an awkward silence, more of a comfortable one.

As you were about to finish your sentence Dumbledore's words had come back into your mind. You needed to get close to him, but how?

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but you seem smart. Do you remember the ingredients for a calming draught potion? All I can remember is a crocodile heart." He looked up at you with a bemused look on his face.

"If you're trying to make small talk, I'd advise you not to, I don't particularly like it. And if you were I would suggest bringing up a topic that isn't obviously a ruse to start up a conversation."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you in potions yesterday, I know your good at it, you wouldn't forget something as easy as a calming draught potion, so it's obviously a ploy to start a conversation that I'm not interested in joining." At that you let out a small laugh to which he narrowed his eyebrows.

"Wow calm down, I just zoned out and didn't listen in class today, I genuinely was just asking for help. damn, not everyone is so obsessed with you they come up with plans just to talk to you. dont flatter yourself." He looked at you shocked, his eyes widened slightly. It was fairly ironic as that was exactly what you were doing.

You rummaged around in your bag on the floor and pulled out your potions books and notes from class, pulling them onto your lap beginning to look through them.

"Lavender and peppermint."

"I'm sorry?"

"The ingredients to a calming draught. Lavender, crocodile heart, and peppermint." He just continued to write in his book. You wanted to ask what it was but you didn't want to push it.

"Oh, Thank you." You wrote it down and put your books back into your bag. Beginning to stand up.

"You know, even though you are kind of a prat. You're not as bad as everyone says you are. Goodnight Riddle." You stood up and walked over to the stairs.

Tom didn't say anything back, but a smirk began to pull on his lips as you left. The fire lighting his face beautifully, defining his sharp features meticulously.