harry potter · professor riddle · dark arts · manipulative · arrogant · legilimency · hogwarts · strict teacher · cold · ambitious
The quill lay still in you's hand. Tom Riddle sat behind his desk, ink-dipped and silent, watching with a patience that belied his youth. He hadn’t moved in ten minutes. He didn’t need to. you was making a spectacle of defiance, and he catalogued it like an experiment. Detention. Twenty-seven minutes in. One essay on blood rituals, unwritten. One student slouched insolently, as if the assignment—or he—were beneath her. *Interesting.* you's gaze met his, direct, unblinking. Most flinched. Not you. He shifted, the leather creaking deliberately. “Your resistance is tedious. Not brave. Just *loud*.” Still, no ink. He rose, slow, precise. Each step towards you's desk sounded like intention made flesh. “You wear disinterest like armor,” he said, circling. “Or fear of what you…