This is my first fic, so please, judge freely. Reviews would be appreciated.
Riddle Me This The First NightAs he walked onto the train many stares were cast upon him. He was different, like many of the unknown first years, but there was a difference between them and him, he was older. All of the first years were eleven or twelve; he looked to be about seventeen. As he ambled along the train corridor searching for an empty compartment he could hear many hushed whispers.
"Who's that?"
"I dunno..."
"What's his name do you reckon?"
Entering an empty compartment, he threw his bag onto the opposite chair and flopped down onto the vacant seat. To Michael Riddle, any solitude he got was rare and well appreciated. He hadn't had a good night sleep in days, only short catnaps. Reaching across to the other seat he opened his bag and removed a large black cloak from inside, sitting back down in the empty seat, he spread the cloak over himself and set off to sleep. Michael had been told beforehand that the train ride was going to be a long one.
But he couldn't sleep at all; people kept looking in on him, giving him puzzled looks and speaking in hushed voices as they walked past. It was really quite annoying and it was starting to agitate him. So giving up on his original plan of slumber he decided to read a book instead. Folding his cloak and setting it at the foot of the seat, he reached across the compartment again and brought out a book from his bag, Standard Book of Spells Grade 6.
After about 5 minutes of reading, Mike started to daze off. Sleep deprivation was finally weighing in on him. Hiking through the mountains non-stop for 72 hours straight hiding from him...
The pages were fading, the letters were swirling, joining and splitting, rejoining and focusing, and they were forming pictures. It was a hillside, no a house, no now it's a church, now it's an iceberg...drifting into oblivion.
"Excuse me?" said a voice from far away, "Are you okay?"
Snap. He was awake, turning to look he saw that a girl was standing in the doorway looking expectant.
"Sorry...um...did you say something?" He said before a yawning fit overcame him.
Her face softened and she said, "I was just wondering if I could sit in here, everywhere else is full?"
"Sure." Reaching over onto the other seat, he grabbed his bag and tossed it onto the floor next to his own chair.
As she sat down he studied her; she was quite pretty. She had wavy, or semi-curly; which he didn't know, brown hair, and deep brown eyes. He figured she already had changed into her uniform, when he spotted a school logo on her cloak. He eyed her bag and saw that it was rather worn down, the only thing about her that seemed so. There were several bulging creases along the outsides; they looked as if many books had been stuffed into it. There was a small scar right along the upper length of her right jaw, it looked as if she had been hit by something jagged. He also saw through her hair that her ears were pierced but she wasn't wearing earrings. She wasn't fat but she wasn't a toothpick either, she was perfectly in the middle. While he was looking at her he didn't even notice that she was looking back at him.
Averting his eyes he picked up his book and turned into a sitting position, laying his feet flat against the floor. Reaching down he opened his bag and stuffed the book inside. Tilting his head up to look he saw that she had pulled out a book of her own. Now he was wondering...what was her name?
"Excuse me? I don't mean to interrupt but I was wondering what your name was?" He said drawing her attention. He broke into a smile, his first in a very, very long time.
"Hermione...Hermione Granger." She said smiling back; it was a warm smile, "what's your name?"
"Michael Riddle." He said nodding towards the book she was reading, "what are you reading?"
"Advanced Translation of Ancient Runes. What were you reading?"
"Standard Book of Spells Grade 6." He replied."So you're in sixth year?"
"Yeah. How about you?" Michael said obviously intrigued.
"Same." She said turning to her book.
Michael wanted to know more, he hadn't really been told all that much, "So, I'm guessing you take Ancient Runes?" He inquired.
"Yeah, how about you, are you taking Ancient Runes?" She asked turning her attention to him.
"No, I don't need to, I've already finished that course." Hermione was surprised at what he said.
"Really? When did you finish?"
"Almost a year ago, I have had some time to work on it." He said smiling, "You mind if I take a look?" He asked reaching for the book, she handed it to him.
Scanning the pages he saw an error, he placed his finger on it. Getting up he walked across the compartment and sat next to her.
"You see right here," He pointed to the spot. "That isn't right. Verracorset really translates to mines and not pines. So if you read the whole thing, it says 'Beware the challenge in the forest flaked with mines.' They wouldn't tell you that it's flaked with pines if they already said it's a forest."
"Yeah, but it makes sense either way, in theory anyways."
"Yes, that's true but the people that wrote these books weren't looking for deeper meanings, they just wanted to publish, so they used whatever made sense, even if it didn't have depth."
There conversation went on for most of the train ride, spreading from topics like travel, to business, to just anything. But the people looking in on them never ceased, they kept coming up to the window.
"Do you like people looking in on you?" Hermione asked taking out her wand.
"No, not really. Why do you ask?"
"Negroteria!" Hermione said pointing her wand at the window just as someone came up. The window blackened so that no one could see through it. "Oh, no reason."
Michael just smiled; he had a clever girl on his hands.
Nearing the end of the ride someone came crashing into the compartment, they looked fuming mad and his face was as red as his hair. Michael jumped upon his entrance, and guessing, seeing the book sprawled out on the floor, he thought Hermione had too. Then the boy started screaming, ranting rather.
"Hermione where have you been! Harry and me were worried, we thought you'd gone off and got hexed and stuffed in a closet or something! We've been looking for you everywhere! Jeez, I mean you didn't even say anything to us!" He yelled across the compartment.
"Well Ron, why didn't you just look in here?" She replied.
"Well because the windows were black, and me and Harry just figured people were making out in here." Ron said growing red in the face, this time from embarrassment.
"Actually no. I said to look in here, but you said no." A voice said from behind him.
Someone else had walked inside behind Ron; he had glasses and jet-black hair, judging from his response he figured that it was the aforementioned Harry.
"Were you guys really looking for me, Harry?" Hermione asked, concern flashing across her face.
"Yeah, Ginny wanted to talk to you. So did Ron and me, we have so much to catch up on." Harry replied, looking at her.
"Yeah, c'mon Hermione, before Ginny turns into my mom and grows a worry wart the size of Jupiter." Ron said laughing, imagining Ginny like Mrs. Weasley was just funny.
"I will not do any such thing Ronald. Hermione, I need to talk to you." Ginny said glaring at her brother.
Michael looked her over; she was really pretty. She had flaming red hair that reached down to her lower back in delicate curls and she was slim; perfect curve too. She had freckles splattered across her cheeks, but they suited her, as if she was made for them. And she had gorgeous eyes, they could read you well, like they had been read before and she stole the person's power.
"You're already turning into her Ginerva." Ron snapped back at his sister.
But Michael interrupted their little feud, speaking very lightly; he was never really a loud person, "Go on Hermione."
"Really?" She turned to face him, happy that he had broken up Ron and Ginny, "Are you sure? I mean I could stay if you want." She wasn't exactly sure if he'd be okay, he didn't really know what to do afterwards.
"Yeah. I'll be fine." He turned to look at Ginny, "I'm Mike by the way." He extended out his hand for her to shake.
Ginny blushed furiously before shaking his hand, "I'm Ginny."
"Yeah, it's fine Hermione. I have to change anyway, unless you want to stay and watch." He replied smiling at her, he didn't mean to be a smart ass; he just wanted her to go, before her friends started to hate him.
"I'll see you later then." She said, getting up and grabbing her things.
"Course you will, we go to the same school." He replied smiling watching her go.
She turned and smiled at him, giving him a short wave before she left.
Michael reached down into his bag, after shutting the compartment door, and took out his school robes and some black slacks. He was already wearing a black button up dress shirt that covered a black tank top, and some dark worn jeans, leading down to his dark gray and white skater shoes. He also had on a gray snow hat. Reaching up he took off his hat and removed his black dress shirt. Picking up his school, white dress shirt he put it on, then took off his jeans and exchanged them for black slacks. He preferred his jeans better; they felt like they were there, slacks felt like nothing. He didn't bother to put on the sweater or the black robes he just tossed them to where Hermione had been sitting.
Sitting back down he reached into his bag and took out his portable CD player and headphones, putting the headphones on pushed play. He sat through the rest of the ride in a semi-conscious state, like right before you fall asleep but haven't yet. Occasionally he would go through the words of the songs in his head, he was listening to Blink 182, one of his favorite bands.
After about twenty minutes he could feel the train slow and come to a halt, looking outside he saw that they had reached a train station. He also noticed that it was raining...hard. It was coming down in large drops very fast, and lightening was flashing off in the distance. He could hear the occasional rumble of thunder, but he definitely couldn't see the sky; deep purple and black clouds blocked it out.
Getting up he threw on his cloak and shoved his sweater into his bag. Mike, then put his hat back on and pulled the cloak tight around him while throwing his bag over his shoulder. Upon stepping out of the train he was immediately pelted with thick sheets of water. Glancing around he saw that the older kids were heading towards horse-less carriages, while the youngest looking of them all were headed towards a monster of a man. He was at least ten feet tall and twice as wide, but unlike his appearance his beady black eyes had a warm look, he wasn't harmful. He saw that the large man was ushering his following students to a row of boats floating upon a lake. They must've been sailing to the school.
Walking he found an empty carriage, and pulled himself inside, relaxing against its cushy seats; the ones on the train were stiff and uncomfortable. He had just rested his head against the back of the seat when the door was swung open and a voice spoke to him.
"Mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full." The voice said.
Seeing as he was alone Mike said yes. Climbing inside was a lanky boy with white-blonde hair and blue-gray eyes, he was wearing all black, but his cloak was different from Hermione's. In the blonde haired boy's cloak was a symbol with a snake in the middle, Hermione's had had a lion. The blonde haired boy had sat next to him, while two other people joined them, sitting on the seat across from them. If you could call them people, they were massive, they looked like the ten foot tall man, but in their eyes was dumbfound hatred, not compassion. They were also very ugly and unkempt.
"Hello. I'm Draco Malfoy." The blonde said extending his hand for Mike to take.
Mike shook his hand and said, "Hello. I'm Michael Riddle. Who are you?" He gestured towards the other two.
"Oh that's Crabbe," Draco nodded towards the one on the left, "and that's Goyle." He finished nodding towards the one on the right. The boys just grunted and nodded their heads. "So, where're you from? I don't think I've ever seen you before."
"Oh you haven't. I'm new." Just then the carriages took off. "I just came from Ireland, recently."
Draco then remembered something his father had told him before he left for the train station.
"Now Draco. Listen to me very carefully, there will be a new boy at your school. I wish for you to be nice and make friends with him. It is very...essential that you do so. Do you understand?" Lucius had said, staring the boy down.
"Yes father. Make friends with the new boy." Draco nodded in understanding to his father.
"But don't get to close. It could effect your future judgment if you do so." Lucius sneered before leaving Draco standing there alone..
"Oh. Do you know what house you'll be in?" Draco asked, he was rather curious to find out.
"House?" Mike looked at him confused, he had no idea what he was talking about.
"Yes house. Oh you don't know about houses do you? Well, at Hogwarts there are four houses, it is the section of the castle where you are designated to sleep and spend your free time if you wish. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor."
Mike noticed that he had said the last name with malice but didn't say anything, he was fascinated by the speech.
"The best house of them all is Slytherin, which I am proud to say that I am part of, so are Crabbe and Goyle here. We were sorted in our first year when we first arrived to Hogwarts, now we are in sixth year." Draco stated.
"How were you sorted?" Mike asked intrigued.
"We were sorted by something called the Sorting Hat. It's an enchanted hat used to place students in their most matching houses based on the traits described by the founders. They had died about a thousand years ago and the hat was left to sort students after they were gone. Each house has special attributes to which you will be judged and sorted correctly. That's about it, everything else you'll get just by being there." Draco said smirking. "I think we're here. C'mon, follow me. I'll show you where to go."
Draco got out of the carriage first with Mike right behind him, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle. Stepping out they made their way through the rain and the bustling students who were rushing to get inside. Reaching the castle Mike was amazed at its magnificence; it was so large, and decorated. The walls were covered in paintings and tapestries and murals of all sorts. Standing beside Draco he entered a large hall with four long table extending down it, and floating near the ceiling were thousands of lit candles. The ceiling itself looked like the sky outside; Mike figured it to be enchanted.
Draco walked to the table on the farthest end of the hall and sat down, gesturing for Michael to do the same. Sitting he looked around and saw that many people were giving him curious looks. He just ignored them and looked around, taking in all of its features. Soon after a very strict looking woman came into the hall followed closely by very nervous looking ten and eleven year olds; Mike, personally didn't feel nervous at all, and he was also here for the first time. She walked over to the side of the large table at the front of the hall and pulled out a three-legged chair and a very worn looking hat.
Draco leaned in and whispered to Mike, "That's the Sorting Hat."
The woman started talking to all of the students, "You will now be sorted into your houses. As soon as I call your name came up to the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head, as soon as your house is called out go sit at the proper table. Avis, Daniel..." But Mike didn't get to hear the end, Draco started talking to him again.
"The woman up there is Professor McGonagall. She teaches Transfiguration and is head of Gryffindor house, and she's a real bitch." Draco said glaring at McGonagall maliciously, he obviously didn't like her. Mike felt like he was missing something though.
When everyone was all sorted a long-bearded man stood up, he had been sitting in the exact center of the table, which Mike assumed was the staff table after looking at everyone closely. He started speaking and Mike listened intently, assuming that it was important...it was.
"Hello students and welcome back to another great school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He greeted the hall joyously. "I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of this fine school and would like to welcome you all. And now begins The Start of Term Feast." Dumbledore then clapped his hands and food suddenly appeared on the table. Anything you could think of was there.
Mike, along with everyone else, ate until he thought he would burst. It was refreshing to taste real food. Him and Draco talked all throughout the meal, about anything they could think of. Draco genuinely liked Michael; which was a rare thing, usually he just acted like that because they were a powerful family or something of that sort. When finished, all the food disappeared, leaving the plates clean and the table clear. Then standing at the front of the hall again was Dumbledore.
"Now that we are all fed, I would like to point out to all students that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds. This warning and restriction is given to ensure your safety. Also I'd like to say that Ever-Beating Dodge Balls have been added to the list of things not allowed in the school. The entire list can be viewed in out caretaker Mr. Filch's office. Now please get some rest, for classes start tomorrow." Dumbledore finished as the students in the hall started to get up. "Oh wait I almost forgot. Please everyone sit back down. There is still another order of business to take care of."
Everyone, following Dumbledore's orders, sat down confused.
"Well now I almost forgot about you." Dumbledore said looking at Mike with his twinkling blue eyes, behind half-moon spectacles. "We still have one more sorting to handle before everyone goes off to bed. Michael would you come up here please."
Mike stood up, and walked slowly towards the front of the hall, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He kept his eyes straight avoiding the stares of the kids in the hall. Coming up to the front he saw the woman take out the stool and place the hat atop it.
"Go on Michael put the hat on." Dumbledore said nodding towards Mike.
Mike did as he was told and placed the hat on. But when he expected to hear nothing, he could hear a voice in his head.
"Blimey, you're a bit old, aren't you?" The voice said, but no one in the hall laughed; he deducted that they couldn't hear what the hat was saying.
'I've just turned seventeen.' Mike thought to the hat.
"Well now. I don't think I've ever sorted one as old as you before, but the rules say I must sort all new students no matter their age. So let's see...yes, I see cunning...intelligence, you're very knowledgeable, you know that?" The hat asked him, but didn't give him time to respond, "Wit, quite a bit of that...but, oh you're shy...there's quite a bit of talent in here...and courage. Um...well, I'd have to say Gryffindor!" The hat had yelled his house across the hall, and the table farthest to the right started clapping.
Mike got up just as everyone else did, all walking out of the hall. As he entered the corridors he studied their features. They were quite amazing, but no one, besides the first years, seemed as perplexed as him. He followed some of the people he saw at his new house table, to the obvious destination of his house. Walking along he noticed that the first years were being directed as to were they needed to go; they didn't know where they were going either, not surprising though. As he reached a set of stairs everything was going fine, until he fell into one. All of the older students started laughing at him; they thought he was like a clumsy kid who forgot about the stair, as if he had always been at Hogwarts.
Peering down he saw that his foot had been pulled into a stair, well he couldn't say his foot because now he it was halfway up his shin. Reaching out he took a strong hold onto the stairs and yanked himself out of the trick step. That was an interesting experience, not one he wished to repeat.
Straightening out his shirt, Mike continued up the stairs until he noticed who was leading the first years; it was Hermione. He sped up a little and crept up beside her.
"I'm glad you know where you're going." He said.
Hermione jumped when she heard his voice and turned her head to look at him.
"Well I think I should, after being here for five years." Hermione replied smiling. "Don't worry though, I'll show you where to go. As for you first years, after this you're on your own." She called behind her.
"Why do you have to show them where to go? Why can't someone else do it?" Mike asked. He was expecting some new information to flood his ears. But somehow he knew that she had to do this, like it was her responsibility.
"Because I'm a prefect." But Mike looked at her puzzled, so she went on, " A prefect is an older student assigned to special duties in the school," Hermione continued, "they have to patrol the corridors, make sure students aren't breaking the rules, and...show the first years where the common room is on their first day. They are also told to do special things during bad times in the school. Like if a troll breaks in and all the students have to sleep in the Great Hall, the prefects have to watch over them while the teachers search the school."
"Oh. So a prefect is like a permanent hall monitor." Mike said in understanding.
"Yeah." Hermione then turned to him in surprise. "How do you know about hall monitors?" She thought only muggles knew about hall monitors, because she had to explain about them to Ron over the summer.
"Because I had one before. His name was Jerry Pikes, and he was a really nasty kid. Always asking you where you're going, and if you have a pass. He'd get right up in your face when he asked too, and he always had to smelliest breath. He still asks if you had a pass, even if you waved it right in his face. I did that once and he went to grab it, and when I moved he slammed his hand into the wall. Poor kid. He slammed it pretty hard." Mike said, "Why are you surprised I know about hall monitors?"
"Well, I thought only muggles knew about hall monitors." Hermione replied.
"Muggles?" Mike asked confused yet again.
"Muggles are non-magic folk. They are people who can't cast magic and are from muggle families. Squibs are people who can't cast magic and are from wizarding families. Muggle-borns are from muggle families and can cast magic. And purebloods are people from wizarding families that can cast magic. Everyone who is capable of magic is called a witch or wizard. Anything else is what I just explained." Hermione concluded.
"Oh. So which are you?"
"I'm a muggle-born. My parents are muggles."
"So then how'd you end up here? You seem like you would fit in perfectly in the muggle world. No one would suspect you of being a witch."
"I don't know really. That's a good question." Hermione said smiling. "Well here we are."
"Where? All I see is a picture."
"That's the point. The common room is hidden. Let's see...Noggers." Hermione said.
"That's right there dear." The Fat Lady replied. She was the woman in the portrait.
"Everyone the password is Noggers." Hermione announced to everyone standing around before going inside.
The common room wasn't at all what Mike had expected; he thought it would be a room with a bunch of tables and chairs, and maybe a bookshelf. It was a large room with a fireplace, cushy chairs and couches, and tables all over. It also had paintings and tapestries hanging on the walls; all in all it was very welcoming.
"You are allowed to spend your free time in the Gryffindor Common Room if you like. You are now all free to go to bed." Hermione finished; Mike had missed the first part.
Mike walked up to Hermione and said, "So where am I sleeping?"
"You didn't pay attention to anything I said did you?"
"I wanted to look around the room first." Mike smiled his 'charming yet innocent' smile at her.
"Just follow all the other guys and keep walking 'til you reach the door that's second from the top."
"Thanks Hermione."
"No problem. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
Hermione walked upstairs to the girls' dorms.
"Night."
Mike walked upstairs to look at his room and grab his stuff. When he had thoroughly checked out his dorm, he went downstairs with his bag in hands. He checked watch and saw that it was eleven o' clock. He didn't really feel like sleeping now, so he picked out a couch in the corner to sit on and took out a book from his bag. He also took out his CD player and a CD to listen to, Limp Bizkit. Putting the headphones on he leaned into the soft couch and opened his book. He was so immersed in the music and the book that he didn't even notice that someone had come down.
Snap.
They had snapped the headphones against his ears. Mike jumped so high he was afraid that he had hit the ceiling.
"What're listening to?" A voice said.
It was Hermione.
"Um...Limp Bizkit." Mike replied breathing a little fast, she had scared him pretty bad.
"Oh. How does your CD player work here? I thought there was too much magic in the air for it to work." Hermione asked she was amazed that it worked.
"Oh. Dumbledore enchanted it for me, so that I could use it at school. He also made it so the batteries never died with a charm of his." Mike said looking at his CD player.
"That's cool. What are you reading?" Hermione asked peering at his book, it didn't look like a schoolbook.
"Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It's pretty good, I started it a couple of days ago." Mike said showing her the book; the cover had a picture of a boy covered in leaves and face paint on it. "What're you doing up anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep so I was going to come down here and relax for a little while." Hermione said rubbing her eyes.
"Are you tired? You seem it."
"A little, why?"
"I know a good way to get you to sleep." Mike said grinning at her.
"Oh yeah, what?" Hermione said, smiling.
"Come here and I'll show you." Mike replied as he went to sit on the floor in front of the couch.
"Okay..." Hermione replied a little nervous.
"Sit in front of me." Mike sat patting the floor in front of his spread legs.
"What're going to do?" Hermione said sitting down.
"Just relax." Mike replied.
He reached his hands up and placed them on her shoulders, just at the base of her neck. He pressed his thumbs into her back and squeezed with his fingers pulling up slightly. He could feel her muscles relax. After about ten minutes of that he moved his hands to her shoulders so that they were just on the outside of her arms. Mike then pushed her shoulder lightly towards her body and rotated her shoulders in a circular motion. After that he moved his hands just under arms against her body and squeezed in a slow rhythmic motion, pressing his thumbs just outside of her shoulder blades. Then he moved his hands to her sides and moved his thumbs in circles around the outsides of her spine. Finally, he laid his hands on her waist, squeezing with his fingers, and pressing his thumbs into the small impressions in her back. She had really strong, slim back muscles, but she was really tense...was.
"Wow. Where'd you learn to do that?" Hermione said when his hands were on her waist.
"Practice. A chiropractor showed me how to do it awhile ago." Mike said smiling when he saw her close her eyes. "I'm guessing you like it."
"Mm-hmm." Was all Hermione could say.
"See, I told you I could make you tired." Mike said grinning, alternating between rubbing and pressing his knuckles on the inside of her shoulder blades.
"Yeah, this works." Hermione said leaning back resting against him, with his hands still massaging her back.
They sat in silence for a while, until Mike saw that she had fallen asleep. Chuckling to himself, he slipped his hand under her knees and picked her up. With her head resting against his chest he carried her upstairs, the door was already creaked open slightly. She must've left it like that to make her sneak-in easier. He nudged it open with is foot, walked over to the bed and laid her down lightly on the only vacant bed, assuming it was hers. He looked her over; she was so cute in her spaghetti-strap tank top and pajama pants. He pulled the blanket off the end of the bed and laid it over her, pulling it up to her chin. He didn't bother with the comforter; he had just used a folded blanket off the end of the bed. He smiled to himself before creeping slowly across the room and out the open door, shutting it behind him. Then he proceeded to his dorm and fell asleep after putting his bag away, CD player and book sealed inside of it. He had gone down to the common room to get it after he tucked Hermione in.