Harry Potter : Chapter 77: Incoming Avalance III

"You're so disgustingly mercenary Rubeus... I'm appalled." Minerva didn't mind being on the other end of my utilitarianism.

Not after I had openly proven that I'd risk my life to keep Tom, and by extension her if their roles were reversed, alive.

...

Still, it didn't mean that she felt comfortable in letting another being drawn into my web.

"We became friends because of the time, effort, and peril shared among us." my eyes met the green ones of the witch across the room.

"But everything began when I dragged Riddle to you in the Library, after you had dismissed me because I was just another first-year student, or do I remember it wrong?"

"You remember correctly... but it doesn't mean that you can simply decide to bring other people here." her lips thinned into a single line, expressing her disapproval while she fought to hold back her Scottish burr.

"And I didn't."

"But you intended to." Riddle rose from his seat, unable to fully hold back the nervous energy that I had injected into him by merely proposing to let another enter what he undoubtedly felt was his private territory.

I didn't truly care as long as his sociopathy afflicted people I didn't care about, but I wasn't going to let his megalomaniac personality prevent me from enjoying the benefits born of adding Filius to the exclusive group composed by us three:

"Once he proved himself a worthy investment of time... yes." my reply came in a calm, measured tone while I forced myself to remain seated.

"Not unlike Minerva did when you asked me to learn enough Transfiguration theory to keep up with her, back when I was eleven, no?"

"Discarding that... Tom has the right of it: you weren't going to give us any saying in the process." the witch in question stepped towards me wth an angry expression on her face: "That is the unacceptable part, I think: we gave ust as much as you for this place, Rubeus."

I had hoped that she'd be open to adding some new talent to our group, but I was hardly unprepared. For now, I had managed to open the witch to the option of adding other people, while her outrage was merely turned towards the way in which I had gone behind their backs to accomplish it.

I held no illusions about Tom: unless the advantage was clear to see and immediate, he'd never accept another into the Rùnda. It was fortunate then, that to maintain his polite fiction of reasonable human being, he'd have to accept a majority of two if I managed to swing Minerva's opinion around: "What would you do then?"

Knowing that I was getting as something, the witch in question frowned: "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes, barely refraining from shrugging: "I won't apologize: in my opinion, Filius has what it takes, and my little test, or challenge, will both prove it, push him until he's able to prove it, and entice him with the promise of more possibilities.

He's a Ravenclaw, shunned for his appearance: with loneliness and endless toil on one side, and companionship and challenging help on the other, I think he'll choose the Rùnda, which will remain something unique we added to Hogwarts after we're gone, growing from generation to generation once we figure out some tweaks to the enchantments."

"You want us to provide challenges of our own." Tom's distaste for the idea appeared and was gone faster than I could blink, and when his eyes darted towards the suddenly thoughtful Griffindor witch, I saw that he immediately understood that I had been aiming to convince her from the beginning.

Still, I wasn't going to let him take control of the conversation, not this time: "If it is what it takes to make him worthy in your eyes... yes.

This room was meant to be for us in the beginning, true, but now that our time in Hogwarts begins to run short, it can become much more, and it can be used to put in contact those we'll find interesting with our future selves.

But it begins with accepting other people, and while Filius hardly had the time to present himself as a genius just yet, my challenge will take care of that."

"You gave him your notes on something that hovers between Charms and Mind Arts." Minerva cut in, her keen mind burning through the path I had prepared for her thoughts to follow: "You think I should provide him with something to prove an unnatural skill in Transfiguration?"

"No." I shook my head, "It's not about the skill in the subjects taught at Hogwarts, it's about finding out if he has the potential that the Rùnda can make bloom into something more."

Then my eyes turned towards the older Slytherin wizard that I knew was going to take advantage of the smallest overlooked detail in our informal agreement.

"An actual challenge, not an excuse for you to say no, Riddle."

Seeing that he was losing the cut-and-dry 'No' position that would have seen anyone forever banned from the Rùnda once we three were gone, Riddle shifted the direction in which he could express his disapproval and refusal of the proposal.

"The kind of challenges we were to propose, if we go ahead with this surprise Rubeus sprang on us, would depend on what we'd seek in people we'd share our hard-won prizes with."

Then his eyes met mine before he smirked, letting me know that he had both perfectly understood what had happened, and that he was about to strike back: "In the spirit of fairness, given that you already gave your test looking for an academic quality, it'll be up to Minerva and myself to independently test him on something else."

With the impossibly smooth grace only he was apparently capable of, Riddle walked by Minerva's side and hooked his arm with hers, beginning to walk towards the exit of the Rùnda while the witch guessed where the fellow Prefect was getting at.

"We'll talk about our respective challenges and let you know if your candidate passes them."

I gritted my teeth while I nodded in understanding. I had been so happy of being able to get Minerva on board, even if she hadn't truly realized it, only for my trepidation to turn to worry now that Riddle had decided that admitting Filius in the group was a challenge for him to sabotage.

It was par of the course when dealing with him, but that didn't stop me from wanting to punch him in his too-perfect face.

...

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