They still didn't like him in Slytherin. Sure, he had the protection of his six friends, now strengthened by Megan Yaxley, who was a childhood friend of Abraxas, and seemed to have grown a soft spot for Gwen really quickly. And all of them did all in their power to keep Gwen out of trouble too, since many a Slytherin considered her just as guilty as Tom for the 'fall' of their famous pureblood first years. It was funny that Tom's friends were members of four of the five most powerful pureblood families.
The last one were the Lestranges, but Nicolas Lestrange seemed to be keeping himself neutral in the whole ordeal. Tom was infinitely grateful for that. At least his calm dismissal meant many more students chose to let them be. Sadly, not all were as lucky.
Tom and Gwen were back on their way to the library, as they usually did every day after classes. They probably had read every single book in there, but it still wasn't enough for them. Tom was fascinated by magic and all of its uses, while Gwen just loved to read in general and was always hungry for more knowledge like a true Ravenclaw. When they approached the library, Gwen hissed. Hornby, Boot and Selwyn were taunting Octavian again.
"Leave him alone!" she hissed at the three Ravenclaws.
Olive Hornby looked over and sneered as she saw the two of them.
"What were you going to do, bloodtraitor?" she spat, her eyes flickering dangerously.
"She could hex you into oblivion," Tom threatened.
Boot's eyes rose and he chuckled weakly while Hornby just smirked at him.
"Look! Weasley made a mudblood friend!" she taunted.
"You two losers deserve each other. And a few proper hexes too."
"Just leave it, Olive," Abraxas suddenly spoke up, leaning against the doorframe to the library.
Hornby's eyes widened and her head snapped over to look at the famous pureblood son. The girl scowled, not even noticing that her two friends had ran off as soon as their eyes lay on Abraxas.
"Since when do you stick up for mudbloods and bloodtraitors, Abraxas?" she asked coldly.
"Since I have decided to call them my friends," Abraxas shrugged.
Hornby pulled a face and turned away from Octavian and the others. Before she left she looked at Abraxas again with an accusing glare.
"I'm telling father," she said.
Abraxas snorted and looked away with a bored expression, not even acknowledging the threat as the brunette girl huffed annoyed and walked away. Scowling, Tom walked into the library with Gwen and Octavian following behind him. After a second or two, Abraxas heaved a deep sigh and joined them.
"So the rumours are true?" Gwen blurted out suddenly, peering up curiously at Abraxas.
"About Olive Hornby and the Malfoy family… Is-is she your half-sister?"
Tom, who had pulled out a book he had wanted to read, dropped it in shock and he turned around.
"It is," Abraxas muttered reluctantly, glaring at Tom.
"Don't act so bloody surprised, Riddle! It's a regular practice for Purebloods. Most of the family heads have bastards somewhere. Some are even blood-adopted into the family, like Alphard and Artemis."
Tom's eyes widened even more, as did those of Gwen and Octavian.
"Alphard and Artemis Black are bastards?!" Octavian exclaimed shocked.
"Yeah, but Pollux likes to keep it quiet," Abraxas said.
"His wife blood-adopted them after their mother, Juliana Knight, died in childbirth."
"Bastards…" Tom said awed.
"Muggles see infidelity as some big scandal, and here all the rich families still have bastards regularly…"
Gwen laughed and grabbed Tom's hand before dragging him over to another section of the library. There, she pulled out a thick, old book and handed it over to Tom. He scowled as he read the title. 'Encyclopaedia of Pureblood Etiquettes: Family Bonds'
"It's part of a series," Gwen explained eagerly.
"Other parts I think would interest you are the ones about Politics and Behavioural Hierarchy."
"Or if you want to have a quicker and clearer overlook on Purebloods and Pureblood families, read this," Abraxas piped up, showing another, much more recent book.
Tom looked at it and raised a brow. This one was called 'The Pureblood Directory' and was written by Cantankerus Nott.
"It's a complete overview, easy to read," Abraxas told him smugly.
"Father knows the writer personally. He even financed the publicity of it."
"Is that how your name ended up in the 'Sacred 28?" Octavian asked.
"Of course not! How dare you even suggest such a thing?!" Abraxas hissed offended.
"The book has a list of the 28 most pure families in Britain," Gwen explained when she saw Tom's confused face.
"It's gotten a lot of criticism because it invited purebloods to interbreed among themselves, especially now that incest is actually realized as having negative effects."
"Only, Cantankerus Nott discovered that wizards don't have those negative effects," Abraxas interjected.
"Not as strongly," Octavian argued.
"It's still there! It just takes longer than with muggles. Marius Black is the perfect example."
Abraxas rolled his eyes in annoyance and gave a very annoyed sigh.
"Why I ever thought I'd get a Weasley to understand the complexities of Pureblood traditions, I have no idea."
Tom chuckled and shook his head. It was highly amusing to see them disagree, because while they argued, he could see the shine in their eyes that said they were happy to talk to each other. And he was happy too that he could consider these people his friends.
. . . . .
The Quidditch game between Slytherin and Hufflepuff was that day too, and it was the first game Tom attended, under heavy pressure of the Black twins, who had both green hair with silver tips and one dark green eye and one silver to show their support for the House Team. To his surprise, both Gwen and Octavian were there too, wearing Slytherin scarves and holding a large banner between them. This made Tom scowl confused.
"What are you two doing here? Ravenclaw isn't even playing," he said.
"We're cheering on Slytherin, dummy!" Gwen laughed.
"How come you're here now? I haven't seen you at any game yet!" Octavian asked cheerfully.
"I come see every game there is. I love Quidditch! I'm bad with a broom, but if I could, I'd definitely try out for the Ravenclaw team next year."
"Tom's here because our team needs all the support it can get for this game!" Artemis said cheerfully.
"Yeah! If we win this game, Slytherin is way ahead for the House Cup!" Alphard piped in, grinning.
Tom rolled his eyes and crossed his arms petulantly.
"I rather get us the House Cup by doing my best in classes," he muttered.
"I swear, Tom! You should have ended in Ravenclaw!" Seth laughed.
This earned him some chuckles from the others before they all turned towards the pitch as the two teams walked in. Tom watched almost bored while everyone around him started cheering loudly. Seth, Alphard and Megan were screaming in delight as everyone flew up while Artemis, Hope, Abraxas and the two Weasleys watched with wide grins.
While everyone was too busy cheering on the two teams, Tom sat back on the bleachers and opened a book he'd found in the library about Alchemy. It was amazing with how many different magical subjects there were. And it was especially upsetting that most of them weren't taught to them.
He'd done some looking up over the interesting subjects, and found that several of them were given as introduction courses in 7th year, or as extra classes for 3rd and up. Tom could already tell that he was going to have a lot of classes in his later years.
Sudden screams had Tom look back up, just in time to see a Bludger flying his way. His dark eyes widened in horror and he dove to the side with a fearful shout. He landed harshly on the ground, at his friend's feet just at the same time as he heard a loud splintering of wood behind him. He looked back and paled at the carnage that had happened on the exact spot he had been sitting only moments earlier.
"Oh Salazar! Tom!" Hope exclaimed.
Two sets of hands grabbed Tom and hauled him up and a second later, Tom was looking into the worried, ashen faces of the Black twins. Both of them had now pale white hair instead of the proud silver and green from earlier, and their eyes a pale blue.
"Are you alright, Tom?" he heard Gwen ask worried behind him.
Instead of answering, Tom slowly turned to look back to the pitch and found Rowle glare hatefully at him, his bat slung over one shoulder as his dark brown eyes bore into his own nearly black ones. The 5th year beater narrowed his eyes threateningly and turned away, flying back to join in the game again.
"Tom?" he heard Hope asked worried.
Tom turned his eyes back on his friends with a blank expression.
"This was the first and last time I ever set foot in the Quidditch Pitch," he said.
The Black twins chuckled nervously at that while Abraxas gave a crooked grin.
"In your case, I'm inclined to agree," the Malfoy heir muttered.
. . . . .
Aside from the Bludger incident, nothing really happened for the remainder of the year. Tom dove back into his studies and spent most of his free time in either library or in the common room along with his friends. It was amusing, really, how no one even noticed how he never went anywhere without at least one friend. Aside maybe from Rowle and Gwen.
The older boy always seemed to lurk nearby, glaring daggers at the back of his head. Some of the other older students pretty much did the same, especially the 7th years it seemed, though they were clearly divided in two. Those who followed Carp's hatred for Tom and Gwen, and those who agreed with Dorea Black.
Artemis, Alphard, Abraxas and Megan mostly ignored the snide remarks thrown at him and them, while Hope and Seth seemed to be more defensive. Artemis had more than once said that the best they could do was laugh it off, because they knew better than that anyway.
"I know it upsets you when someone is mean to Tom, but it won't help him if you stay so protective, Hope," Artemis told her best friend one day.
"You know how things go around here. Slytherins need to be able to stand up for themselves, and not giving Tom a chance is wrong."
"They don't give Tom a chance," Hope huffed.
"It's fine, Hope," Tom said, not Looking up from the 'Pureblood Directory' as he read through it with great interest.
"They're all 7th years anyway. They'll be gone next year, so I don't really care what they say."
They hadn't yet caught on to Rowle's new hobby of haunting Tom from the shadows, and if it was to him, they wouldn't ever. Hope sighed and nodded reluctantly.
"Fine. Sorry, Tom," she muttered.
"It's alright," the boy shrugged.
. . . . .
At last, the exams came around. Tom and the others had been studying for about two months now, though the Black twins and Megan had been more reluctant than the others, and Artemis and Alphard had only joined in after continuous hounding of Hope and Gwen.
It was incredibly hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an AntiCheating spell. For the Charms practical exam, they were called in one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk and Professor Dumbledore watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox. Slughorn had told Tom, Gwen and Hope loudly he expected nothing less than perfect from them before they started on their Forgetfulness Potion, which had caused the red haired Ravenclaw to pale and tremble as the nerves got to her.
Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free for a whole week until their exam results came out. When Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Alphard, Artemis and Seth cheered loudest of everyone and even conjured confetti, just to show off how happy they were that it was finally over.
"That was far easier than I thought it would be," Tom said as he and his friends walked out onto the sunny grounds.
"I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."
"The what of the what-now?" Alphard asked frowning.
"Why should we know things like that?! Did we learn that in class?"
This caused Artemis to huff out a laugh while Hope hit the dark haired boy over the head with a scowl.
"We spend two whole classes on the Werewolf Code of Conduct!" she exclaimed.
"Really?" Seth asked his twin confused.
"Huh. Must've slept through that one…"
. . . . .
Finally, the year was over, or unfortunately in Tom's case, since it meant he was soon to go back to the Orphanage for two whole months. At least he would go back with the knowledge he now had a place he could belong.
The end of year feast was something spectacular, and it only got better with the amazing silver and green decorations that hung everywhere in the Great Hall since the Slytherins had won the House Cup. Several of his Housemates even came up to Tom to congratulate him and thank him, since he had scored by far the most of points in their whole House.
He and his friends barely listened to Professor Dippet's speech, too caught up with each other as they whispered excitedly amongst each other. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that their first year was already over.
Before they knew it their trunks were packed, their beds were empty and everyone was ready to go home. Notes were handed out and every student was reminded they weren't allowed to use magic outside school.
"That's a right shame this," Alphard scoffed jokingly, making the group of friends chuckle amused.
All but Tom looked happy and excited, but all the young orphan could think of was how he wouldn't be able to protect himself from the other kids if he wasn't allowed to do any magic at all. He wasn't going to admit that he was in danger or anything of course, wasn't even planning on telling his friends anything about his treatment in the muggle world. He didn't need any pity. Especially not from them.
"You'll need to visit us this summer," Alphard told Tom and the Knights.
He hesitated a moment, looking at Gwen. Eventually it was Artemis that took over with a bright smile towards the red haired girl.
"You're welcome if you want as well, Gwen. We'll send you an owl," she said.
The Blacks and Abraxas were gone before Gwen and Tom who got pulled aside by the Knight twins.
"Come on, Tom. Our parents are dying to meet you!" Seth said cheerfully.
"You too, Gwen," Hope said chuckling while looking at the redhead.
"Dad is a colleague of your dad and he wanted to meet you too."
They were dragged over to where a couple was standing, bright, friendly smiles on their faces. The woman was tall and had long light hair that was maybe even whiter than that of the twins, while their father had golden curls and soft brown eyes. Tom smiled. It seemed that Hope and Seth had gotten their looks from their mother, as the woman turned her bright, silver eyes on him.
"Busy year?" Mrs. Knight asked as they had reached them and smiled at the raven.
"Yes. It was very exciting," Tom agreed.
He turned to look at his friends and smiled at Gwen, his first real friend ever.
"See you over summer?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'll send you owls," she said.
"Happy… um… Summer."
"Don't let the muggles get you down!" the twins said encouraging.
"Don't worry. I've always been able to take care of myself," Tom told them smirking.
With a that, he walked through the barrier with his trunk and towards the parking lot where an Orphanage worker was already waiting for him. Tom turned up his nose as he recognized the skinny, tall man with brown messy hair and piggy little eyes. He absolutely despised David Cornwell.
"Ready are you?" the man said as he saw Tom approach.
"Yes," Tom bit out frowning.
With one last look towards the station, he loaded his trunk in the back of the old, rusty car and slid in the passenger seat. Two months without magic or Hogwarts was going to be the worst time in his life. Especially now that he had tasted of a better world and better life.
And that's the end of year one! Hurray! I will start posting year two as a new story once I've gotten a good head start on storyline and maybe I'll synchronize updating with Gittiekittie's Slytherin Harry's second year since they will both intermix eventually. This Tom Riddle will eventually become the Lord Voldemort her Harry is facing after all.