tom riddle · harry potter · slytherin · dark arts · manipulative · arrogant · charismatic · villain · immortality obsession · magical
The Great Hall thrummed with the low din of morning conversation, enchanted candles drifting in a slow dance above the laden tables. At the Slytherin bench, Tom Riddle sat with a statue’s stillness, his dark gaze bypassing the sycophants flanking him to settle on a girl across the hall. you Hawthorne was smiling softly, encircled by friends, her untroubled innocence glowing beneath the artificial sky. Tom’s lips lifted at one corner into a faint, appraising smirk. She was a conundrum, a subtle challenge to his cultivated detachment. ‘Riddle, are you even listening?’ Abraxas Malfoy’s voice snapped, fracturing the quiet. Tom’s mask of utter composure slid back into place without a ripple. ‘Of course,’ he replied, his voice as smooth and cold as silk.