A Sub-Market Grows {OPEN}

[Shilo Largo]

Shilo loved that short time before school started back up at Hogwarts when she was allowed to venture out on her own from the orphanage. She wandered through Diagon Alley aimlessly for hours, getting the things she needed for school and dropping them off at The Leaky Cauldron, where she always stayed when on these trips. She moved back into Diagon Alley and made a beeline for the small street, barely visible unless you know what you were looking for, that led to Knockturn Alley.

Walking down the streets, she finally found the store she was looking for and entered to the sound of a bell chiming in the back. Borgin and Burkes was one of the few places in Knockturn Alley where she bought items. Most of them were of no importance, just used to scare the other orphans or first years Gryffindors, but it was still fun to look around. She found few items this time around, apparently someone had had a shopping spree, and turned to leave.

She walked through the streets of Knockturn Alley, looking at all the little carts and stands that were all up the street. They were selling fingernails, fingers, herbs for the Dark Arts, and other things that were equally weird. Shilo was at home here. She was as weird and unusual as these people and they didn't even pay her any attention as she walked through the streets. She found a vendor selling knives and had to stop, enthralled automatically by the beauty of the silver blades. She closed her eyes and could almost feel the blade piercing into the skin of her body.

Sighing, she opened her eyes and found the vendor looking at her. She pulled the money she had taken from Gringott's out of her pocket and pointed to the sharpest blade on the rack. When asked what she would use it for, she merely commented that she would be cutting herbs with it. It was the answer she always gave when buying a new blade. She moved into an alley the connected Knockturn Alley with Diagon Alley and took the blade from her bag. She lifted her skirt a little and let the blade bite into her skin. She watched the bright crimson drops hit the ground underneath her, letting the adrenaline rush fill her body. No one was around, so she was safe enough to do it again. It was the perfect place with perfect quiet and no one to stop her.

[Tom Riddle]

Tom Riddle wrapped the heavy black cloak around his thin body and left the shabby room on top of the second hand shop that he rented. He had been living there for a few weeks, and would keep doing so until he could move into Hogwarts. It wasn't as if he couldn't afford a better place, but he wouldn't want all the wizards and witches in London to bother about that their children's new defence against dark arts teacher left and came back home at... inappropriate hours. They would think that the man teaching their children how to survive was some failure-at-life drunk, that Professor Dumbledore employed out of pity, or of that "everything can be solved"-idea of his.
He could feel analysing, though appreciating, eyes on him and pulled up the hood. Tom was not in the mood to hook up, and he didn't really have the time to get dragged into some conversation with someone recognizing him from school. He increased the speed and turned into Knockturn Alley, as he still had some shopping left to do. The people there wasn't the kind of people that would think "Wonder what fishy stuff he's got in his mind?" whenever they saw a man walking the more disreputable streets of Diagon Alley, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and the future defence against dark arts professor pulled the hood further down over his face.

Half an hour later Tom left Borgin & Burkes with a black velvet pouch. Normally, he couldn't have kept himself from fine-combing the whole area, as dark arts are, surprise surprise, one of his biggest passions. But he wouldn't want to risk being seen by someone who would have a problem with seeing him there. The last thing he wanted was someone contacting Professor Dumbledore, because the old goat already was being suspiciously cautious talking with him.

When he was close enough to the huge mass of people in the Diagon Alley, more exactly in the alley connecting the pleasant with the less pleasant, he pulled the obnoxiously hot hood from his head, exposing his handsome face. It had started to feel like a sauna. Tom opened the pouch and pulled out one of the ivory pieces, eyeing it carefully, still walking. Human bones, just because he wanted to test that one... experiment, he'd read about.

That was when he passed Shilo, and noticed her.
Tom Riddle immediately pierced his dark eyes into the girl, ready to read her mind to see what she'd seen, what she thought, what kind of connections she'd made, before he noticed that she wasn't looking at him. Just focusing on... Blood. Her own?
He eyed her, pretty and young, easily young enough to be his student, he figured. Tom knew that there were some sick people there, somewhat normal was a rarity in Knockturn Alley, but the girl with the knife didn't look much like the freaks in there. Then he caught himself staring. That kind of embarrassed himself, it wasn't like he cared anyway, and he shouldn't be surprised just because he couldn't understand how anyone would want to ruin themselves, as all he'd ever strived for was becoming something larger.

That was when the cord of his pouch snapped, and the bones shattered out over the ground.

[Shilo Largo]

Shilo was deep in thought, watching the blood flow down her leg. She could hear everyone in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, but no one was coming near her. She moved the blade to her forearm and cut another slash of the knife. She leaned her head back against the wall, letting the endorphins flow from her head to her feet. She looked back down at the blood, watching it pool on the ground below her. She had a few handkerchiefs in her pocket so that she could wrap herself up, but she was enjoying the sight of the crimson blood too much.

Soon she was in her own little world, the world of pleasure and pain. It was the perfect combination for her. Sighing, she was preparing her mind for the walk back to the Leaky Cauldron when she heard the sound of something soft falling not too far from her. Startled, she dropped the blade and looked up with surprise on her face. A fairly good looking guy was staring at her. He was older than her, but that meant nothing to her. He must have been there for a while and she hadn't heard him. He had somehow dropped a back of bones, not dissimilar to the ones she had in her trunk at the Leaky Cauldron.

She quickly grabbed a black handkerchief out of her bag and wrapped one around her thigh. She pulled another one out and wrapped it around her forearm. She was blushing bright red, and it made her a little dizzy with her blood loss already, but it wasn't unpleasant. "I, um ... hi. I, um, was just, um. Shit." She ran her fingers through her dark curls, letting them bounce around her head. Her dark eyes went dead as she found that center inside her that allowed the anger to come out. "I don't have to explain myself to you. What I do it my own business." She could always just ask him what he was doing in Knockturn Alley with a bag of human bones anyway. She had them because of her practice of the Dark Arts, but he didn't need to know that either.

She leaned over and retrieved the knife from the ground, wiping the blade off with a piece of cloth she found on the ground. She sheathed it and put it in her bag, staring at the guy before sighing. She had been a little harsh on him, but it was her first defense when caught doing something that she knew would be looked down upon. So she was a cutter. Big deal. It was her prerogative. She could do anything that she wanted to. She was an adult by wizarding standards. It was her choice what she did in life.

She thought on it for half a second and decided that it was best to be a little nice to this guy, considering he might know her as a Hogwarts students and turn her in to one of her professors. She leaned over and picked up the man's bag and a few of the bones, holding them out to him. "Here. Sorry about the outburst." It was a half-ass version of an apology, but it was an apology. She wasn't smiling, as she hardly ever did, but she was trying to be nice. She was just hoping that it worked enough that he wouldn't tell anyone about her little obsession. She was a pretty good actress, so if all else failed, she could cry and beg. She really didn't want it to come to that though.

[Tom Riddle]

Toms somewhat concerned expression was exchanged for a smirk once he realized he'd hit a spot, and that was about when it looked like there was more blood in her face than on the ground. He grabbed his bones, giving her an appreciating nod.

"You go to Hogwarts, right?" He asked her, but it was more of a statement though, as he had peeked a little on her swift superficial thoughts. He tucked the velvet pouch into one of his pockets underneath the cloak, ordering himself not to open it outside again. "You forget about ever seeing me here, and I won't let anyone know about... That" he said, glancing at the blood on the ground. Tom Riddle had far more important and interesting issues to deal with instead of spreading out rumours about one of his students, and it wasn't like he'd bother contacting some rehabilitation centre for her sake either, so he figured that it wouldn't be a hard promise to keep.

He let his eyes run over her. Cutting is a terrible habit, Tom knew that, and he couldn't see what would bring her to do that. There was other stuff a person could do to get on a rush, and apart from the whole hanging out in Knockturn alley-deal, she didn't seem to have a sick mind enough to do that. If it wasn't for the blood, he wouldn't have been able to think of her in a place like that. She looked like one of those perfectly normal teen kids he'd observed during his years of studying at Hogwarts.

"Deal?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow. She shouldn't oppose, what could she win on telling on him, except from a little golden star by Dumbledore. He wouldn't tell her anyway, she'd figure his cautiousness out when the term started, but he counted on a promise from her before that.

[Shilo Largo]

Shilo tilted her head to the side, suspicion radiating from her dark eyes. Could she trust a man that she had just met on the streets? She didn't really have a choice. "Yes, I go to Hogwarts, though not for much longer." She ran her fingers through her curly hair again quickly before sighing softly. "I guess I have no choice but to make a deal with you."

She knew that he had to be judging her for her little bad habit, but at the moment, she didn't care. She had had to find something to survive her childhood, and it had been an accident the first time. Now it was only a habit. If she even heard rumors that people knew about her little habit and heard it from some dark haired guy, she would make sure that he was outted for being in Knockturn Alley. It was as simple as that. Though there was something about him that made her think he wouldn't tell anyone.

She squared her shoulders, pulling herself up to the full height of her five foot one. She straightened her clothes, getting presentable in her mind, and looked at him carefully. "We haven't really met under the best of circumstances. Let's start over. I'm Shilo." No last name meant that he couldn't track her down at Hogwarts. Unless he was a professor there that she hadn't met, there was more than likely little chance in him figuring out who she was.

[Tom Riddle]

Tom wasn't in the mood for hanging out with some random kid, but he decided that it would be better to keep the relationship with his future pupil good. "I'm Tom" He said, relaxing his facial muscles.
Besides, she didn't seem that random anyway. The girl did interest him, although he wouldn't admit it. She seemed strong. Weak mind, possible yes, since she gave in for that kind of temptations, but not just any girl would even dare to enter Knockturn Alley alone, not even the majority of the Slytherins. The more Tom thought about it, the better the idea of making her like him sounded.

"Can I buy you a drink, Shilo?" He offered with his clear, pleasant voice, "Or would you prefer some more privacy?". Tom doubted that she'd pick the later option, as ever how much she might have enjoyed what she was doing when he interrupted her, people sitting in puddles of their own blood -any blood at all for that matter- generally wanted something strong. And a seventeen year old Slytherin girl wasn't going to be the first one to resist his charm.

[Shilo Largo]

Shilo seemed to think about it for a few moments. She wouldn't be able to cut herself again for a few days, even though she didn't cut herself but once a month anyway. She ran her fingers through her curls again and sighed, nodding slightly. "A drink sounds heavenly, Tom." The same sounded familiar to her, like something she should know from Hogwarts, but she couldn't place it at the moment. She was still a little dizzy from the bloodloss, but it would fade in a few moments.

She moved away from the wall and had to catch herself quickly on it again. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and then turned back to the young man. It was at that moment that she remembered where she had heard the name. The rumor mill around the wizards in the town her orphanage was in said that the new DADA professor's name was Tom Riddle. The description that they had given for the new professor matched this young man's description to the letter, which didn't help her state of mind any. "Tom ... I'm so stupid." She hit her head with her palm softly. "Now I get why you don't want anyone to know you were here."

She sighed and managed to walk up the alley a few steps without getting dizzy. She began to pace in a small line before turning back to him. "Even knowing who you are, the deal is still valid, right? You won't tell anyone about me, and I won't tell anyone about you, right?" Somehow she knew that it was going to be okay, but she wanted to be sure. Sighing, she shook her head and gestured for him to lead the way. "Now I really need a drink. Where to?"

[Tom Riddle]

"Right" Tom confirmed. He had preferred having her unknowing for a little while longer. Not that it really made any difference, but he hadn't really gotten used to the whole being a professor part, so he didn't want her to think of him as one yet. Nonetheless did he want her to think of him as a friend when the term started. He hadn't applied for the job to give back to society or anything like that, the idea behind it all was making contacts. His mind wandered to a certain Horace Slughorn, and got quite disgusted. No it wasn't the same, Tom had a reason, a goal. Not just lust for fame.
Kids were easy to brainwash. He wasn't going to look for junior-death eaters, but it would be a success if they grew up into strong wizards and witches with his beliefs. Future death eaters, so to say.
And he was completely sure that he was by far more intelligent and attractive than Horace.

"Plus," Tom added with a charming smile, "You're not telling anyone that I bought you a drink either. Not even those pretty Slytherin girlfriends of yours that would be oh so jealous" He said, his smile turning into a smirk. Yes, he was by far more attractive than any professor at Hogwarts.

Knockturn Alley was the obvious choice, seeing a bar there was one of the few places where no one would even look twice at an almost thirty year old professor buying a young, bleeding, girl a drink. And for that matter, he doubted that any of the people in a bar there would bother enough about Hogwarts to know anything about the teachers there.
He was just making assumptions, but something told him that Shilo wouldn't mind breathing the same air as various ugly people and murderers. If she did, she was already in the wrong company.

So he lead the way, walking back to the dark side, heading for a decaying pub two lots away from Borgin & Burkes. "You don't mind, do you?"

[Shilo Largo]

If Shilo laughed, now would be one of the times that she laughed. It was too funny to think of her with girlfriends. She had so few friends as it was. Snape was about the only friend she had, and he was more of an acquaintance than a real friend. She allowed a small sliver of a smile to cross her lips as she shook her head. "It's a good thing that I don't have any girlfriends to tell about you, or you would be in a great deal of trouble. Good looking professor like you is going to have ALL the girls going after you. Guess it's a good thing I found you first, huh?"

Shilo was not a flirtatious person, but she found herself easily returning his comments with her own. It was a little weird and definitely a little scary, but at the same time, there was something about him that made her want to follow him. She had only ever wanted to follow others who specialized in the Dark Arts, like Lucius Malfoy. Now that he was gone, maybe she had found someone just like him to lead her into a better life. Either way, she knew that she would be friends with this new professor.

When he began to head back into Knockturn Alley, she followed, glad that he was heading in an area she was comfortable with. She did let out a small laugh when he asked her if she minded that they were headed toward the KA pubs. "Are you kidding? You just found me in an alley with blood on me, a Dark Arts blade in my hand, and are asking me if I mind going into a Knockturn Alley pub? I've been to most of these pubs." She leaned into him a little, more in case she fell that to flirt, but at the same time, she let all the power she had to use her looks to convince someone of something on him. It was the first time she had done it in an urge to get someone to like her, but it was too fun to resist.

[Tom Riddle]

Tom, analyzing every breath the girl took, quickly thought his next move through. It wouldn't harm him to let her think that they were getting close, it could pay off. And she, as a Slytherin, probably wasn't out for more than some defence against dark arts advantages. Plus, her flirting flattered him. "Good then" he smirked and opened the door for her.

The pub wasn't the fanciest, but that of course was never expected either. There were quite a lot of people there, but the place lacked all the drunk laughter, singing and cheering as places like The Leaky Cauldrun offered. Mumbling, whispering and upset gruffs was more like it. People could easily hear eachother, but the beauty was that no one gave a damn. The air in the pub was thick, Tom guessed that it had be at least ten years since one of the dirty windows were open, although the strong smell of alcohol indicated on at least seventy.

[Shilo Largo]

Shilo walked into the pub that Tom picked, nodding slightly. She had spent a great deal of time in her before and didn't mind the locale at all. She liked the attitude of not caring that came from the patrons of the bar. It was so much like the orphanage that she felt at home in a place like this.

She walked to a booth and slipped into the seat, moving her dress up slightly to check on the blade mark on her leg. She was a fast healer so the blood had stopped. She did the same with her arm before turning back to Tom. "What's your poison, then?" She preferred her drinks strong, but didn't think that he would quite understand a 17 year old who drank almost as much as a man twice her size. She chalked that one up to the orphanage too.

As she thought about this, she looked at the clock on the wall, sighing. She hadn't sent an Owl to the Lady of the Orphanage. She pulled a paper out of her pocket and wrote a quick note saying that she was in Diagon Alley. "There. Now I can send this to that bitch that runs to orphanage so she won't send others after me." She looked back up and him and shrugged. "Anyway, what now?"