A Chance Meeting

[will_to_power37]

Who: Tom and Snape
Open? Technically.....
When: After Tom moves in with Fenrir, before school
Where: Diagon Alley
What: Tom runs into Snape after applying for a job at Borgin and Burkes an alley away.

Comments

[sly_stop_death]

Severus was always overjoyed when his father took business trips, even if it happened for a day or merely a few hours. He was able to manage his spells with his mother, and more importantly, she helped him decide what things to brew in the short time they had just the two of them. Today, however, he was being allowed out to Diagon Alley for some ingredients. It helped that he could apparate of his own volition, and packed a small satchel with wizarding space for the trip before heading off.

Popping around the corner from anyone's direct path, Severus scoffed at how he should find a better way to travel. At least it was better than floo travel, which made you filthy. He already had a bad reputation for hygiene, so that wouldn't help. Turning the corner and adjusting the satchel, he noticed Tom passing the broom shop. Really? He didn't think the older boy was interested in that sort of thing and narrowed his eyes curiously. Perhaps he was people watching. Perhaps

[will_to_power37]

Tom turned just in time to see a familiar dark figure pass him by. What luck! Someone he actually didn't consider a total waste to society...even if he was half-blood.

"Severus!" he called out in a jovial, overly friendly tone. "A bright spot for sore eyes! Not every day I see you out and about." His dark thoughts only added to his happy demeanor. He had only just been seeing himself as the object of the broom-happy boys' affections and aspirations, teaching them the true way to live as wizards, eliminating any talk of mating with Muggles, being worshipped as a saviour of the magical race....he was all a flush with preconceived glory!

[sly_stop_death]

Damn. Not that he didn't care for Tom in the least as a wizard, but the boy liked to pry and kept Severus on his toes, and Severus had hoped for a quiet shopping trip. They shared one or two commonalities, but really that was where the similarities ended. Severus still wasn't sure if they were more than casual acquaintances if only because he couldn't figure Tom out. Ah well, spotted already meant a conversation, however brief.

"Tom," he turned, expression somewhere between a grimace of being caught and a forced look of politeness. "No, not every day, just today." The boy's eyes looked all around to take in his surroundings, as was his wont. That was all he needed--Potter or Black rounding up behind him while he was trying to close his mind to Tom. Tom, however, was -- dare he think -- glowing. Severus backed up a little so his back was to a wall and shielded for the moment. "What...brings you here?"

[will_to_power37]

Tom noticed the nervousness of course, but seeing as his ego was flying sky high, he could only feel a surge of glee at his presence causing such a reaction. One day it would be more the norm....he hoped.
"Well, I've quite had it with that filthy Muggle orphanage." he spat, though somehow it didn't seem to take any of the happiness out of his mood. "I've started living on my own with a friend in Hogsmeade. I came here to apply for a job, which I've done and which will, I suspect, end up being a success, and now I'm simply walking about, looking for something to catch my special interest. Then, of course, I ran into you. Good fortune! I am simply all aflutter at being emancipated. And with my schooling being shortened this year..." he sighed again in a way that any passerby could have mistaken for one of a man in love. "...I feel as if the possibilities have become endless." His eyes grew dark and crafty at this last word, the weight of his meaning etching his face with a devilish sneer that was there for a second and then replaced by