Chapter 4

The place of which we know of not!

----

Harry continued to back up until he hit a wall, Tom being only a foot away.

"Well?" Tom said, closing the small gap so that they were only two inches away from each other. Tom watched Hare with amusement as the other boy tried to come up with an answer. "What is it that I'm looking for?"

"Er- your parents?" Harold said as his face showed that he was just remembering something.

"Parents?" Tom said, bending his head forward to close the gap between them even more, his arms leaning against the wall, trapping Hare. Hare was in visible distress, obviously not liking the few inch gap between them.

"Yeah- erm – a Professor told me you were an orphan and that you were looking for your parents- your father actually." Harold glanced around the spartan room, most likely trying to find a way out of this sticky situation he put himself into. Tom smirked, Dumbledore's new assistant was so easy, there was no way the rumors were true. An auror or an ex-spy would never been this open.

"How rude of them to speak of me behind my back." Tom paused to notice Hare staring at the ceiling next to his head. He moved his head so that Harold was looking into his eyes, but the boy quickly fixed his stare onto Tom's lips."Now Mr Hare, why won't you let me find my father?"

Hare closed his eyes, and took a deep shaky breath. "Er- It's getting quite late- you ought to get to bed before curfew." Harold tried to squirm out of the Tom's trap, surprising Tom with the sudden burst of confidence.

Tom tried to keep Harold up against the wall, "It's still dinner, plus I'm a prefect, I still have to make my rounds." Though it became difficult and Hare soon was by the gray leather couch, a whole ten feet away from him.

"Well you shouldn't be in a staff member's personal quarters, it's inappropriate." Harold tried another excuse, looking everywhere else but Riddle.

"How would that be, it's not as if we are in some sort of an affair."

Hare turned a bit green. "Your friends will miss you." Tom noted Hare's clenched fists, his chest was rising and falling faster.

"They can wait..." Tom tried to get near Hare again, but the other kept stepping away. "You never answered my question."

"What question?" Hare tried to force out in a calm, nonchalant tone, but his true feelings were still relayed. Hare seemed to be losing his self control. "I don't remember you asking a question."

"Why you wouldn't want me to ever meet my father."

"I- I just-" Harold paused, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "I just don't want you to be disappointed in what you find. Not having to ever actually known him, you come up with this image of the perfect father in your head. Then when you actually see what he was like, it's like you've been hit with a rock in the face. It hurts. A lot."

Tom stood there for a moment, silent. Just staring at the other teen, processing what he had just said. "Well it's a bit late for that advice." Tom watched Harold a bit before continuing. "I've already met him, he wasn't what I... expected. Though, I won't be seeing him again... not so soon at least."

Harry's eyes had reopened and had gone impossibly wide. It irked Tom, it was almost like he knew what he was thinking, even without actually diving into his mind. Perhaps there was some truth behind all those silly rumors. Some.

"Well, I'd best be going." Tom passed closely by Hare, brushing his hand against the other boy's "Goodnight, sir." Tom barely heard Harold's hoarse 'G'night' as he walked out the portrait hole.

--------

"Eeeeek" Harry jumped at the shrill scream. He spun around, breathing rather harshly, to see a house elf staring bug eyed at him. "Master Hare has already arrived! Master Hare has arrived before Sashe and Mixa could finish cleaning Master Hare's quarters! Why is Master Hare here?!"

"I- I'm tired, sorry." Harry said, " Is my bedroom done? You could do the rest while I'm asleep."

The elf continued to look horrified at him. "Master's bedroom is done, Mixa is in there right now placing doxyballs in the drawers. Master will have to wait."

"Please... just call me Harry."

The elf gasped. "But-"

"Don't protest and don't ask why, just do it. Call me Harry." Harry let out a sigh. "Is there any chance you could get me a dreamless sleep potion, a calming potion and a mild healing potion?"

"Mixa can do that for you!" Another house elf popped out of no where. "Mixa would be happy to get that for the young master."

"Harry." Harry said eying the overly happy elf. "Call me Harry. I don't want any fancy names, I'm not special, I'm normal, an equal."

"Oh- but Harold Hare is special, you've traveled here from far away to save us from the Dark Lord!" Mixa grinned.

Harry twitched. "What?"

"Yes! Master Hare has traveled from the unknown and came here to change our dark future!" Sashe said, nodding enthusiastically. "If Harold Hare wishes for something, we shall happily grant it!"

"Yes! Yes!" Mixa, still grinning, hopped up and down.

Harry stared at the two elves, "What do you mean from the 'unknown'"

"The place of which we know of not!" Sashe said. "Sashe and Mixa will fetch Master Harry a healing, sleeping and calming potion now!"

Both elves disappeared with a snap of their fingers leaving Harry alone and extremely worried.

---------

Upon Tom's arrival at the Slytherin Common Room, he was bombarded with questions, most from the female population of the house.

"Tom!" A red haired girl sitting on a leather couch jumped up when he came in. She rushed to his side, a hoard of girls following behind her. "So, what's he like?"

"Did you find out anything?" Asked a blond behind her.

"Are the rumors true?" - another girl asked.

"Yeah, is he a spy?" - An older busty student asked.

"Never mind that!" A voice belonging to a dark haired fellow said as he plowed his way through the mob of women, stopping directly in front of Tom. "So, does he have a nice arse?"

The common room grew silent, most everybody stared at the teen as if he'd declare his love for a three headed Gryffindor. Tom crossed his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow at the question that came out of the only male Slytherin in the mob before him.

"And why are you so curious about what Hare's arse looks like, Black?" Tom asked, a smirk gracing his face. "And here I thought you fancied Hornby."

"Well I'm checking the competition is all, can't be unprepared, he could steal one of my girls." Black reasoned out, trying to fight back the pink color that stained his face.

"Right, well I didn't think his arse was important at the time so I don't know." Tom said before making his way to the boys dorms.

"Hmpf. Didn't even answer a single question!" The red headed said after a moment. "Bloody mudbloods, no help they are."

"Oy, he's not that bad! I mean once you get around that sexy cold exterior, I bet there's one cuddly love muffin." Black put in, leering.

The girls started at him. "Are you sure you don't fancy the wonders of the male body?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, Black." Another started, "We don't mind if you fancy Riddle or Hare." Most of the girls agreed.

"Yeah! As long as we get to watch!" Another said excitedly.

"I- what?" Black's face fell. "No- I-I'm not- no, you've got all wrong!" But Black didn't get the chance to explain what he actually meant because the hoard of Slytherin girls quickly dissipated, leaving him all alone. "Women." He murmured, shaking his head before walking away.

------

The next day (Thursday, October 14th), Tom was woken quite early by a bothersome raven, for a meeting with Slughorn. Tom knocked on when he Slughorn's door.

"Come in." Slughorn called.

"You asked for me, Professor?" Tom asked once he stepped foot into the Potions Lab. Slughorn was sitting behind his desk, scribbling away on a parchment. The potions professor set down his quill as soon as he heard Tom's voice.

"Ah, Tom! Yes, yes I have." Slughorn said, picking up a thin vial off his desk and gesturing him to come closer. "So my boy, did you find anything out about our mysterious Mister Hare?"

Eying the vial that Slughorn held in his hand, Tom said, "I wasn't aware I was appointed such a task, sir."

"Oh? Then why don't we make this an extra credit assignment?" Professor Slughorn stood up, moved around his desk and stood in front of Tom. "I would like to know as much as possible about this Hare fellow, I am even willing to provide some 'help' if needed." Professor Slughorn slipped the vial into Tom's hands.

Tom held it up, examining the contents. "A love potion."

"Yes, though I wouldn't recommend you dosing him with it yourself."

"And the effects?" Tom asked.

"It's a mild love potion, it will only last twenty minutes or so. It will cause the victim to wish to do anything for their 'love' in order to make them happy."

Tom nodded, slipping the vial into a pocket of his robes. "Thank you, sir. But I must get going."

"Yes, you have to tour him now don't you? Perhaps you could get something out of him then." Professor Slughorn said. "Well I better go find Headmaster, I need permission to leave for Diagon Alley to restock my supplies. Until later, Tom."

-----

Tom ventured over to Hare's rooms. Only to encounter the very grumpy, but beautiful portrait from last night. He was about to ask for Hare but the moment he opened his mouth to talk the portrait rudely cut in.

"There's no use in fetching him, mudblood." The portrait said, looking down her nose at him.

"I've been appointed to show him around." Tom glared at the animated woman.

"Yes but he's with that wizard with the obnoxious robes, Dumblydoor." She picked up a mirror and began fussing with her hair.

"Dumbledore, you mean?"

"Yes, that one." The woman nodded. "Been with him since four in the morning."

"Four?" Tom's eyebrows raised. "My, that's a bit early."

"Well, he was making such a racket, having a night terror I assume. Screaming something about Cedric, Sirius and a Professor."

"A night terror? Cedric, Sirius and a Professor?"

"Yes, he was so loud that I do believe the Fat Lady heard him. Even Peeves heard him, he was the one to fetch Dumblydoor. It was quite a scene really, Peeves began wailing on about Grindelwald's Nazi army..."

"Right." Tom said, he tuned her out, trying imagine what Hare could have dreamed that was so horrific? He interrupted the animated witch in mid sentence, saying a quick farewell before making his way to the transfiguration office.

He was about to knock when he arrived outside of the office, but caught the sound of Hare's smooth voice. Though what really caught his attention was what Hare and Dumbledore were talking about. A sinister grin appeared on the boy's face as he pressed his ear against the door.

A/N:

Wow, I have been in and out of the hospital for a while now. I've been back for a week but I've never gotten around to updating this. Sorry about that and hopefully you'll be able to forgive me.

Thanks for the reviews, watches, favs, and c2s.

See you all soon!