Chapter Text
When he has first seen the ad for the job on some web when he was looking for something that at least allowed him to pay both for rent and foot, he thought it was a scam.
Sure, he thought he had heard once or twice about the company, it surely had money, but there was no information about the job other than “a responsible, diligent person needed as soon as possible”. He had been with Hermione at the moment, and she didn’t waste a second to say her opinion and “how it probably was a scam” or “the company didn’t give good working conditions to its employees either way”. Harry still thought it was worth a shot, but knew better than telling her that.
So, he ended up writing an e-mail at around 1 am, which shouldn’t have been considered a good idea, but his very drunk brain thought it was the best thing he had come out with in his entire life.
He was surprised the message had been halfway coherent when he read it the next morning while taking a hangover pill with coffee, but what surprised him the most was the fact that he has been answered. He almost spilt all the boiling coffee over himself when he saw it on his inbox, and the worse is that he couldn’t even see what it was about, the subject was just “Regarding your petition for an interview.”
Yes, the email he sent wasn’t that bad, but it was very clear that it was written by a drunk man. Hell, one of the qualities he had written was that “he had pretty eyes”, just how bad they needed a secretary to answer a message like that?
His second mistake that day was opening the email without having Hermione by his side because surely she would have gotten him out of the mess immediately. Still, he decided to read all through it; somehow, he had gotten an opportunity for the interview. They clearly stated that he had to be there the next day by 9 am (an hour he hadn’t woken up at since he lost his last job almost a month ago).
And now here he is, sitting in the waiting room at the 8th and final plant of the tall building, almost scared of touching anything because even the bottle of water looked more expensive than his phone. He checked the hour for the fifth time in a minute, with all the nerves he had come here almost 20 minutes earlier, dressed in the best clothes he had (even if they probably were the cheapest compared with the things everyone else wore). Half an hour has passed since he arrived, and still, no one has called him, and the plain black door that led to the owner of the company hasn’t opened once.
He used his phone’s camera to try and see if he still looked acceptable. It has taken him a full hour to style his hair for it to look like it actually has been at least brushed. Now it was starting to fluff out again, and the points were going up. He decided it was enough checking for now if he didn’t want to lose the confidence he had left.
As the clock on the wall hit “9:45” exact, and he was getting up to get out of here feeling like the biggest idiot, the office door finally opened, and honestly, he wished it would have stayed closed.
Of course, the guy who made him wait almost an hour with only a day notice of an interview, was Tom Riddle, the guy who could perfectly fit into the archenemy category if he was in a book. He had known this guy since middle school, and for the first moment he saw him he instantly hated him, and the feeling was equally corresponded. Riddle was the kind of guy who would fool everyone with his looks and smile just to use them and throw them away once he was finished. And that wasn’t the worse part, everyone still thought he was the epitome of perfection and kept falling for him. Everyone, except Harry.
And of course, Mr Perfect couldn’t stand the thought of someone not falling for his crap, so when Harry stated that he didn’t want to be even his acquaintance, he started to play with him. First, he tried to talk to him and lure him to his circle, then he tried to bribe him, and finally, he gave up and he started, without fail, to do anything he could to annoy Harry in every way he could. For 2 years, he made sure his life was a living hell, but he always made sure they were insignificant things so if he tried to complain about it to a teacher, they would just say that he was overreacting.
Therefore, it was completely comprehensible that his reaction was to turn and walk as fast as possible while praying to whatever god there was that Tom wouldn’t notice him, but of course, he did. And fuck him and his long legs for reaching him so quickly.
“Harry! So nice to see you! I saw your e-mail yesterday and let me say, you are far much professional than I expected,” Tom greeted him while side hugging him by passing a hand through his shoulders, and if they weren’t surrounded by people, he might have spat at him. “So sorry about the wait, by the way. I was in the middle of some unexpected business...should we start the interview now?”
God, he hated him so much.
“Alright.” He grumbled as an answer.
Maybe it was the 4 hours of sleep, maybe the coffee was starting to drift away from his system, maybe it was the fact that he had waited so long in that stupid chair in front of so many people, but he agreed. For now, he had to behave, at least in front of the others just in case. He still pushed the arm away from him and took a step aside, preferring to keep his personal space.
He could see the tick in his jaw that he had had since he met him, and he internally cheered up about getting revenge, even if it was a small thing like that.
They entered the office and he went straight for one of the small sofas, thankful for something soft to sit on after three-quarters of an hour sitting on plain plastic.
He looked back at Tom, not caring now about seeming rude, and almost smiled when he saw that even if he still had what he called his “marketing smile”, there was a tic in his jaw muscle and his eyes were almost squinted.
“I’m going to tell you straight up, I didn’t know you were the boss here, and I don’t intend to work for someone like...you.” Harry started, stretching his legs and letting one over the other.
“Oh, but you sounded so excited in your message.” And there it was again, the stupid smile he had when he thought he had gained control of the situation. “It’s ok, Harry. I think we could make such a good team.” He walked to him, and for a moment he thought he was going to get all standing over thee type, which he had always done thanks to being born being a fucking lamp post, but instead took a seat on his chair behind his desk.
“You are as delusional as always” He rolled his eyes crossing his arms. “And I was drunk when I wrote that.” He continued looking at the window, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.
“Well, either way, I decided to investigate a bit about your working history-”
”But I didn’t send you any resume?” He interrupted him, looking back with a frown.
“Oh, darling, we don’t need one of those to know everything we need about someone,” He gave him a wide grin, picking up a paper and reading from it. Harry only groaned at the pet name, one thing Tom started to do just to get on his nerves since high school. “You worked at a gas station for two months, at a grocery store for one month, a restaurant for a week! I’m sure that’s a record.” He refrained from grunting again at the comment. It was not his fault that the restaurant was full of posh spoiled prats that didn’t respect the workers. “And lastly, at a drug store for three months. You’ve been in disemployment for more than a month.” He finished, and Harry remained silent, which sadly Tom took as an invite to keep talking.
“I have to say, even if your range is quite big, you are very underqualified for this job.” When he looked back at him, he was smiling in false sweetness at him.
“Don’t hire me then. Nice talk.” He was about to get up when Tom raised his hand to stop him, still grinning.
“Who said anything about not hiring you?” He stared at the man, concluding that he had definitely gone crazy over the two years he hadn’t seen him.
“What the hell do you mean? You just said I was underqualified!” He got up, frowning at the man who, of course, was as happy as a kid in a candy store that he was starting to lose his nerves.
“I will hire you.” He simply stated. “You start this very afternoon, there’s a lot of things to do. If you have any doubts, ask either the receptionist or any of my managers.”
”No, no no, wait, just- why?” He said, and honestly, this had to be either a joke, or he hadn’t actually woken up and was going through a nightmare.
“Because it would be fun.” Oh, of course. How could he not have thought about that? He was in front of an egocentric, immature prat in the end.
“You can’t just hire someone as important as a secretary just "because it would be fun"!” He remarked, using his hand to point out the connotation. “How the hell I’m supposed to organize and contact anyone without any experience at this! I could ruin your company!”
“Oh, but I do. It’s my company, after all.” He got up too, going around the desk to stand in front of him. “And you won’t ruin anything, because I’ll be watching you...” He bent down to be at the same height as Harry. “Closely.”
In case he had any doubts about him being a creepy crazy man, now they were gone. Frowning, he took a step back and crossed his arms, looking at him warily.
“And even then, what makes you think I want to work for you?” Tom kept smiling, and he swore if he didn’t stop, he would punch his stupid face.
“50 grand.”He looked at him, waiting to elaborate. “I will pay you 50 grand per month if you accept.”
“What the-” He looked at him in disbelief, his eyes opening wide and looking at any sign of him starting to laugh because surely he was messing up with him. “Are you fucking kidding me!”
”Is that a yes?” He asked, face serious and standing up straight once more.
”No! What the hell is wrong with you? That’s an insane salary!” He exclaimed, wanting to seriously get away from here.
“So? I can perfectly afford it.” Tom said in complete seriousness.
“Ugh! you are-” He walked around the room, getting a hand through his hair, probably leaving it more of a mess than it already was. “You are seriously infuriating. You know bribing me won’t work! It isn’t about money! How come you are the boss of the company when you have the mental age of a fucking 10-year-old?”
“Then join my company, and you can make sure I don’t spend my money on incompetent idiots.” He smiled wide again, extending his hand for a handshake.
“I hate you. So much.” He grumbled, looking at the hand and grabbing it, giving a short sharp shake before releasing it. “And just so you know, I only do it because I really need the money.”
And just like that, his official first day started.