Some parts in this chapter have been loaned for an undetermined amount of time from Gittiekittie's A silver and green lion, because copying it with permission isn't stealing :)

"There! Look!"

"Behind the blond one!"

"Is that the Slytherin mudblood?"

"Look at his clothes! He's definitely not a pureblood!"

Whispers followed Tom from the moment he left his common room the next day. They were in shrill contrast with the silence that awaited him with his classmates. The other Slytherins didn't talk much to him at all. He had been sitting alone at the table in the Great Hall until Hope Knight decided to join him and start some light conversation. She was joined by her twin for a short moment, who introduced himself and told Tom to ignore the 'Supremacist prats' before turning back towards Malfoy and the Black twins. It was obvious they didn't like him much, and they were close friends with the Knights.

That was the reason why he was walking a bit behind his classmates at the moment, looking around himself a bit bored. He didn't really need to focus on how they were going because he had a photographic memory. He understood that it would be hard for most other kids around though since it was a very large and magical castle. The ghosts, he had noticed, were no help at all and it was always a nasty shock when they swept through you. And then of course, there was Peeves. The Poltergeist was always somewhere in the castle scaring first years or teasing the older students, he would pull rugs from under your feet, or sneak up behind you and grab your nose, screaming "GOT YOUR CRONK!"

But Tom didn't really care for all that. He stayed out of the way of the ghosts, remembered all the little tricks and traps of the castle and Peeves hadn't bothered him at all yet. He did care a great deal about the lessons themselves though, especially when he realized there was more behind it than waving your wand and speaking in Latin.

Every Tuesday evening they had Astronomy where they had to study the night sky and study the names of all different stars. The Black twins had laughed about that and drawn up a family tree during first class on their star charts. Turned out that most all of their relatives were named after stars and constellations.

Three times a week they had History of Magic with an old, greying wizard called Professor Binns. They learned about the Goblin Wars and the Migration of the Giant Colonies. It only got better since they had that class together with Ravenclaw, so he got to sit with Gwen and catch up while they wrote their notes.

But the worst class had to be Herbology, taught by Professor Beery, who was overly cheerful and plump. It was probably the one class Tom hadn't immediately taken to and actually struggled to keep up. Plants had never really been his strong suit and it seemed that everything he touched in the green house died.

Charms was fun too and again together with Ravenclaw. The teacher, Professor Shaquin, was a stern witch with her dark hair in a tight bun on the back of her head and glasses perched on top of her hooked nose. She made sure they all knew she wouldn't let them get away with messing around before starting the lesson.

Professor Dumbledore, head of Gryffindor, had been entirely different again. For starters, he was some ten minutes late in his own class with the excuse that the teacher's bathroom had vanished just when he needed it desperately and he had to search half the castle before he found its new location. Several of the students, mostly Gryffindors who they shared the class with, laughed at the story. Only then did Dumbledore start the class with a short explanation of what Transfiguration was.

"Transfiguration is one of the most complex an dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," he told them.
"Anyone messing around in my class and will not come back. You have been warned."

He gave the Black twins and Malfoy a cool look before he turned his desk into a pig and back again. To Tom's disappointment they weren't going to start with turning furniture into animals. After making a lot of complicated notes they were given a match and tried to turn it into a needle. At the end of class he had only managed to change the colour of his match and make it a bit more pointy. The only other who had succeeded that much was Hope Knight, and Dumbledore had complimented the both of them for their good work before sending them off to their next class.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was given by an elderly woman who had a short temper and a no-nonsense attitude called Professor Merrythought. Tom thought the name to be a bit ironic because he didn't think she thought about anything 'merry' when teaching them at all.

After classes, Tom decided to go to the library and start on his homework already. He knew the other Slytherins where going to socialize in the common room but after three days of being ignored by his class mates he decided to do something useful with his time.

With his arms full of books Tom walked through the library, looking for a table to sit. He wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings and let a surprised groan escape his lips when he bumped into someone, making the books flying out all directions, ending shattered on the ground.

"Excuse me," he muttered, bending down to pick up the books.

"Lost in thought there, Tom?" Gwen asked him amused.
"I guess I was too, otherwise we wouldn't have bumped. Are you here to study? You can join my cousin and I."

Tom looked over to the occupied table, finding Octavian Weasley sitting there surrounded by large stacks of books. The boy smiled shyly and waved at him as Tom nodded in greeting. He turned back towards Gwen, who was looking at him expectantly.

"If you don't mind, then gladly," Tom told her politely.

"Good. We were just getting started on our Charms essay," his friend told him.

After they had worked for charms together the three of them had gotten to talk. Octavian was very shy, since he was the youngest of a big family. None of his relatives thought he was anything special, because whatever he did, at least one of his siblings had done it before him and usually better too. They had been really interested in Tom's story about the orphanage, and both were horrified and angry that the matron never did anything against the bullying. Before they knew it, curfew had been close and they had to run to be in their common room in time.

With the new friends he had, Tom had sat down at the breakfast table that morning, smiling for the first time. Maybe, just maybe, things would be different after all.

"Someone is in a good mood." Hope greeted him, sitting down next to him.

"It's a nice day," Tom responded pleasantly.

"That, it is," the platinum blonde agreed.

Hope had sat with Tom every now and again when she noticed he didn't join the others and had made it her task to cheer him up after a rather daft day. Today was the first day she met the boy in a cheery mood.

"Let's hope it stays like that. We're having Potions with the Lions first thing," Hope told him.

That really helped put a damper on Tom's mood. The Gryffindor students liked to tease him about his status as 'outcast'. They asked things like if he was even too Dark for his own house and laughed, calling him "poor and evil, the worst combination."

Potions, Tom decided was the weirdest class of all. Not because of the contents, it reminded him a lot of chemistry in muggle schools, but with cauldrons and magical fires, but their teacher, his own head of Slytherin, Professor Slughorn. The man had light brown, almost ginger hair and a large moustache that reminded Tom of a whale. Actually, a lot about the fat man did. He was all smiles and was chatting up Malfoy instead of starting the class. He only looked up when Lyall Lupin cleared his throat annoyed.

"Oh!" Slughorn exclaimed, beady eyes growing comically wide as if he only just noticed there were other students in the room.

The man started to smile brightly and walked over to where Lupin was seated next to Young and behind Michaels. The boy smiled back a bit uncertain, worried that he'd done something wrong by demanding the teacher's attention.

"Young Mr. Lupin, I presume? How is your father, still working at the ministry?" Slughorn asked eagerly.

"Y-yes, sir. He just got a big promotion last month too," the brunette replied nervously.

"Good, good. Tell him congratulations and that we should meet up sometimes," the professor smiled.

Lupin nodded jerkily and gave a sigh of relief as Slughorn moved back to the front of the class. His eyes were twinkling in a way Tom had only seen happening with Professor Dumbledore and just like with the Transfigurations teacher, it made chills go down his spine. Several students jumped in their chairs as Slughorn clapped his hands together.

"Pop quiz!" he announced cheerfully.
"Let's see how many of you opened their books this summer."

Most all of the Gryffindor students groaned unhappily, as did some of the Slytherins. He noticed Alphard Black and Seth Knight shuffling down in their seats while their twin sisters high fived, grinning widely.

"Now, who knows what ingredients you need to brew an Forgetfulness Potion?" he asked.

Tom held up his hand, as two rows before him, Artemis and Hope did the same. They were the only three in the whole class who did, and Professor Slughorn seemed to glow with pride as he pointed at Hope to answer the question.

"Lethe River Water, Mistletoe berries and Valerian springs, sir," the girl said.

"Very good miss Knight!" Slughorn complimented.
"Five points to Slytherin for not forgetting."

The man laughed at his own terrible joke, with a few of the more nervous students joining in weakly as to not hurt their teacher's feelings. Tom just rolled his eyes.

"Next question, then," the Professor spoke as he was finished.
"What are the effects of the Wiggelweld Potion."

Again, Tom, Hope and Artemis were the only ones to raise their arms, and this time, Professor Slughorn let the Black girl answer.

"It awakens a person from magically induced sleep, like from the Draught of the Living Death," the dark haired girl answered proudly.

"And?" Slughorn asked teasingly, making the girl frown.

"Cures minor damage, professor," Alphard Black replied quickly, smirking at his sister.

"Indeed it does, another 5 points to Slytherin!" the man exclaimed happily.
"Last one: What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

For the third time, Tom raised his arm as Artemis and Hope did the same. Most of the other students were now just watching them instead of even bothering. It made Tom scowl. Why wouldn't they even try if there was a reward to win with a right answer?

"Mr. Riddle! Why don't you give it a shot?" Slughorn asked him grinning.

"Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant, sir," he replied easily.
"Also known as Aconite and is the main potion ingredient to the newly developed potion to alleviate the worst symptoms of Lycanthropy, but can't cure it."

"Another 5 points for answering correctly, and 5 more for knowing about the recent development of Wolfsbane Potion. Good job Mr. Riddle."

After that, the lesson finally started with Slughorn explaining to them all how to make a proper Cure for Boils before pairing them all up and setting them to work. Tom ended up together with Seth Knight, who smiled at him a bit before grabbing his potions book and reading through the instructions. Tom had memorized most of the entire book and just set to work without the need of opening his own.

"Why don't you have your book open, Mr. Riddle?" Slughorn asked sternly.

The man was standing right behind Tom and the boy wondered how a man that big could be that silent. Tom shrugged and continued crushing the snake fangs into a fine powder, ignoring the fact that the whole class was staring at him.

"I remember it," he replied calmly.

"Just like that? What if you forget something?" Slughorn asked.

"That's never happened to me before," Tom answered honestly.
"I have a photographic memory, Professor. I never forget anything."

"How curious!" the man laughed.
"In that case, continue on, my boy! I'm eager to see the result."

Tom smiled at him and nodded his head. Professor Slughorn grinned back before turning to Seth and telling him to keep going as well. After that, he walked to the next pair, which were Abraxas and Alphard. He complimented them as well, but warned them not to add too much horned slugs to the concoction.

"You really remember everything?" Seth asked curiously.

"Mostly, yes," Tom replied nodding.
"But everyone has it in them. Any information that stays in your head for a few minutes, stays there for the rest of your life. You just need to know how to find it."

"And how do you find it?" the blonde wanted to know.
"I always forget everything. What's your trick?"

"I have mind-files," the dark haired boy replied smiling innocently before turning back to his work.