Chapter four:

Party and Potions

Elizabeth sat in Potions class, listening attentively to Professor Slughorn as she had always done. She knew that after class she was going to have to work at getting any information of ways to get on Slughorn's good side, in order for Tom to succeed at whatever he was trying to achieve. "Today, we will be making the Pepperup Potion. It is known to treat colds and coughs, also elevating body temperature. But it does have one nasty side effect. It causes steam to dribble from one's ears for several hours afterward." Slughorn explained, "The perfect potion will get one of my special yet favorite potion i made myself...The Draught of Peace potion. It provides a personal comfort, calms anxiety and soothes agitation. Perfect for exams, am i right?" he let out a light chuckle.

Elizabeth began making her potion whilst everyone else was doing the same, cooking up the Pepperup Potion. She knew the rewarding potion given would become useful in terms of future events involving Tom Riddle. Being half vampire alone had its anxiety. Elizabeth began crushing the Bicorn horn in the mortar with the pestle, making it into fine powder. As she began adding in two pinches of the powder to the cauldron, she glanced up to the table across from hers to see others do the same thing. Adding the mandrake to the potion, Elizabeth then went to make notes as the potion went to boil for nearly a half hour. She was one of the smartest students in her year which was a reason she easily gotten along with most professors.

Adding the English thyme, salamander blood, fire seeds and lots of stirring, Elizabeth had finished with her potion being one of the first students to be done. Slughorn inspected every potion as each student finished and went to reveal the winner of the day with the best Pepperup potion. "As i may have seen, everyone has done such a fantastic job! But one student had stood out the most and that would have to be Miss Winters." Slughorn announced. Elizabeth was surprised, thinking being distracted by her thoughts of what Tom was doing during the Summer would have been enough to mess her potion up. Slughorn went to retrieve the Draught of Peace potion filled in a vial and walked over to Elizabeth. "Here you are, Elizabeth." he cheerfully said, handing her the vial.

After the class ended with being given some homework and students going to lunch break, Elizabeth packed up her potions book into her book bag before looking over towards the doorway. Elizabeth sighed before pepping herself up, placing then potion she won in a vial into her pocket and setting her bag onto the table. She noticed Slughorn was picking up the ingredients the students had left out and decided to walk up to the potions professor.

"Professor?" she asked in a soft, innocent tone. Slughorn turned his attention to the blond Ravenclaw as he closed a container that held bicorn horns. "Yes, Miss Winters?" he asked curiously. This was the moment she had to play the part. "I was wondering, what is your favorite flavor when it comes to stuffed fudge?" Elizabeth paused in question before adding, "I make it every Christmas and although Christmas has already passed, perhaps i can plan to make some next break and give you some since you're my favorite professor." she offered, She knew this was definitely going to work.

Slughorn was taken back by the compliment of being her favorite professor and smiled. "Thank you, Elizabeth. Though stuffed fudge is remarkably good, i actually prefer pineapple, if you make pineapple fudge i'd be willing to be the first to try." he chuckled, adding "But what i did find a liking to is candied pineapple. My grandmother had always had them lying around as a child." he explained. 'Excellent.' Elizabeth smiled at the thought, nodding in agreement. "Those are good as well, sir. Have you ever tried the candied cherries? Those are very delectable." she replied. Slughorn went to his desk and took a seat. " Oh yes, very nice indeed." he pointed out before quickly adding, "Miss Winters, best be on your way before lunch is over. I assume you're hungry." Elizabeth nodded and grabbed her bag before exiting the classroom towards the Great Hall. She now had the information that she needed.

Meanwhile, Tom had went to his parents' hometown of Little Hangleton in order to learn more about his heritage after getting the information from the orphanage. When he got there, he made his way towards the Gaunt shack where he met Morfin Gaunt, his uncle, with a knife at hand, thinking he was the senior Tom Riddle. Tom pulled out his wand in order of defense and spoke in parseltongue in which that had convinced Morfin that wasn't the muggle Riddle. He learned from his uncle Morfin Gaunt that his father was a Muggle, then went to stupefy his uncle and take his wand and ring. He then proceeded to the Riddle house where his muggle father resided. Once in the house he murdered his muggle father and grandparents with the killing curse, using his uncle's wand. "Avada kedavra!" the sixteen year old Tom cursed, having the green spell shoot from his wand. He went on later to alter his uncle Morfin's mind into thinking he was the murderer in order to frame in him the murder of the Riddles. His uncle Morfin Gaunt was easy to pin due to his background of being in Azkaban for torturing muggles in the past, the Ministry knew that in which it was easy to convict him. Tom had also found out that day he was in fact related to Hogwarts co-founder Salazar Slytherin. That was what sparked Tom's interest in pureblood supremacy and even much deeper into the dark arts.

Summer was coming to an end when students would return to the school. Elizabeth had gotten the information she needed and relaxed the whole time besides doing her extra credit summer school homework in which she stuck inside her Ravenclaw common room until dinner time. She didn't see Tom but figured he had turned in early. Elizabeth couldn't help but think of the event that occurred back in May, only days after her sixteenth birthday where a girl by the name of Myrtle Warren had died. it was a sad event but Elizabeth didn't know much about it besides the chaos of it from the staff and what Tom had informed her of - that Rubeus Hagrid had done it and used his monster of a pet he kept. What she didn't know was the fact that Tom had opened the Chamber of Secrets after months of searching for it, being a fan of Salazar Slytherin and let in the basilisk.

The following morning was the start of the new school year, both in year six. She got ready and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast before her classes which were a year advanced now. Knowing when she entered the Great Hall, she knew most likely Tom will be demanding information gathered and when entering through the doors, heading towards her house table, she felt a swift pull of her empty hand from another, to stop and turn around. Turning around, she was face to face with Tom. "Oh, hi Tom." she greeted, slightly startled as she eyed him and smiled. "How was, your summer?" she asked hesitantly. Tom stood there in a serious manner, only an inch away from her face. "So. What did you find out?" he asked, keeping his tone flat. Elizabeth's heart was racing slightly but was hoping that Tom wouldn't hear it. "He likes pineapple. Candied pineapple to be exact." she replied.

Tom was whether pleased at hearing she had gotten the information that he needed. "Exactly, what i needed." he replied in a soft tone of voice, flashing a light crooked smile upon his lips, moving his hand from hers to place it upon her lower back, before he pressed his lips against hers and kissed her softly for a mere moment before pulling back and walking back to retrieve his book bag and heading out of the Great Hall. Elizabeth was left wanting more and it was obvious that Tom had her wrapped around his finger. She went to eat a quick breakfast before proceeding to her first class of the day which was Care of Magical Creatures - the only course she didn't have Tom in as it was a choice class between that, Astronomy, Devination or History of Magic. After her class, she would check back into the Ravenclaw common room to find nearly every Ravenclaw studying there, having no privacy or quiet to study for herself as pages of the books they read were constantly flipping.

Sighing, Elizabeth stepped back out of the Ravenclaw tower and began walking down the hall of the seventh floor, passing it once to go to the first floor on the moving staircases towards the library. Yet again, the library tables were nearly full of studying students so Elizabeth exited the first floor and back up to the seventh floor, walking by a second time, seeing if there was perhaps an empty corridor she could sit and study with lumos for lighting. 'Go elsewhere" and "This is occupied' were the words given to Elizabeth in the corridor of male students snogging their girlfriends, causing Elizabeth to walk passed the hall of the seventh floor again, really needing a place to have peace and quiet to study. Stopping in the hallway, she brushed her fingers through her blond hair in frustration, turning her back facing the wall and looking at the window across from her before hearing a noise from behind her to see the wall form a door. Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows before deciding to open the door and step inside, only to see a huge empty room with a comfy sofa, lamp and nightstand. Elizabeth was confused for a moment and wasn't sure what this was before taking a seat on the sofa.

After sitting there for an hour or two studying, Elizabeth decided to call the room 'place where everything is hidden'. It was definitely useful for her whenever she needed it, to be alone or hide away. Leaving the room and noting the floor its on, she walked down the hall to the Ravenclaw tower to turn in for the night.

The next night, Tom Riddle had a dinner party that he was invited to by slughorn for the Slug club which Tom had been prepping for that moment before arriving. Tom had gotten candied pineapple from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade a few days before in order to sway information about a certain dark magic spell from Slughorn. As those in the club finished up dinner, Tom had given Slughorn the surprising sweets from across the table. "What's this, Tom?" Slughorn asked astonished. Tom sighed before parting his lips to explain. "i think you'll like it." he stated. Slughorn opened the gift to see the candy and took a piece. "Sir, is it true that Professor Merrythought is retiring?" Tom asked curiously with a sly smile. Slughorn stopped to laugh softly. "Tom, i couldn't tell you if i knew, could i?" he replied. "By the way, thanks for the pineapple, it is my favorite. But...how did you know?" Slughorn asked curiously as if he had his mind read. Tom searched for the perfect response, his mouth forming a sly smug. "Intuition." he replied. Tom knew it was from Elizabeth and was pleasantly surprised that she was right about the pineapple. Now knowing her loyalty is showing, he knew he made an excellent choice on recruiting her.

After everyone went back to their common rooms after Slughorn shooed them off from the dinner party due to how late it got, Tom stayed behind about twenty minutes before going back into the office in order to gain answers from Slughorn about a specific piece of magic. Appearing in Slughorn's office, Tom tapped the Slytherin snake hourglass in order to get the professor's attention, causing Slughorn to turn around. "You look sharp, Tom. Don't be caught out of bed after hours." the potions professor stated. Tom tilted his head slightly, refusing to answer the statement given. A moment later, Slughorn parted his lips to reply once more. "Is there something on your mind, Tom?" he asked in concern. Tom kept his arms folded behind his back just like he came in, stepping slowly over towards the fireplace. "Yes sir. See, i couldn't think of anyone else to go to...the other professors, well, they're not like you. They might misunderstand." Tom explained, pausing for a moment. "Go on." Slughorn encouraged. "I was in the library the other night, in the restricted section and i read something odd about a piece of rare magic. It's called, as I understand it... Horcrux." he pointed out.

"I beg your pardon?" Slughorn asked, shocked in what he has just heard. Tom then spoke once more, his face remaining expressionless. "Horcrux. I came across the term while reading and I didn't fully understand it." he explained. Slughorn was completely lost for words and astonished, not wanting to have his Slytherin student in trouble. "I'm not sure what you were reading, Tom, but this is very dark stuff. Very dark indeed." Slughorn warned. Tom kept up the innocent act as he responded. "Which is why i came to you." Tom replied. Slughorn stared at Tom for a second, hoping to not regret explaining the nature of a horcrux to a student. "A Horcrux is an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul." he finally uttered the words. "But I don't understand how that works, Sir." Tom mentioned, encouraging his potions professor to explain further. "One splits ones soul and hides part of it in an object. By doing so, you are protected, should you be attacked and your body destroyed." he added.

"Protected?" Tom asked, a word that caught his attention in which he had needed to succeed at his goal. "That part of your soul that is hidden lives on. In other words, you cannot die." Slughorn further explained. Tom turned his back towards Slughorn as he faced the fireplace, fiddling with his ring. "And how does one split his soul, sir?" Tom asked curiously. "I think you already know the answer to that, Tom." Slughorn pointed out. "Murder." Tom replied swiftly. Slughorn looked very concerned before taking a gulp. "Yes. Killing rips the soul apart. It's a violation against nature." he firmly stated. Tom remained focused on the fire inside of the fireplace as he twisted his ring around. No one that he knew of had known about his killing of his muggle father and muggle grandparents the night he had gotten his Gaunt ring. Tom was only merely curious about more information and opinions of horcruxes although he already had an idea what they were. "Can you only split the soul once? For instance, seven..." Tom asked, already making plans in his head to live forever. "Seven? Merlin's beard, Tom! Isn't it bad enough to consider killing one person? To rip the soul into seven pieces..." Slughorn gasped before attempting to reassure himself. "This is all hypothetical, isn't it, Tom? All academic?" he added. Tom smiled gently before replying in confidence, "Of course, sir. It'll be our little secret." a sentence he has told Elizabeth as well.

"Well, onto another subject Tom. I'm throwing a formal dinner party once more for the Slug club and everyone will be encouraged to bring dates." Slughorn informed, adding "Now, time to get sleep." Tom then left the room after Slughorn stated they both should get some sleep, knowing he had gotten the information that he needed about horcruxes. Now to endure another party, Tom at least knew he had a date, which it did not matter anyway.