A/N: Hope everyone likes this chapter :). Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last one. Please, please take a little time to review this fic if you're enjoying it, especially if you have it on alert. Just a few words to let me know what you think make me feel so much happier and more inclined to write. Thank you :). Anyway, rant over, enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Rose POV

I spotted Lucy amidst the crowd of Slytherins making their way back up to the castle, and managed to slip away from the rest of the Quidditch team on the pretext of going to talk to Scorpius. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her aside silently, not wanting to risk being overheard. She came with me easily enough, knowing what I wanted to talk about.

I pulled her over to the Herbology greenhouses, making sure we were a good distance from everyone else, before I spoke, telling her about the look Tom had given me during the match. I was feeling a little calmer by this time, but more convinced than ever that there was something odd about him.

Lucy listened silently to everything I had to say. When I was done, she simply looked at me and said, somewhat sarcastically, 'Rose, we already knew there was something odd about him. We saw him yesterday. What, exactly, do you want to do about it?'

'I'm going to find out what it is,' I said determinedly. 'And, as no one else believes me, it looks like you're going to have to help me.'

She snorted. 'How exactly do you propose to figure this out?'

'I don't know,' I replied. 'But there must be a way. Look through books and records, or something, for a start. Try to figure out who he was, in his own time.'

She looked stunned, like she hadn't expected me to come up with an actual plan that stood a chance of working. Despite the serious circumstances, I felt good about proving to her that I wasn't the immature idiot she thought I was. A small voice in the back of my head told me that she had a right to think this, after the way I'd acted last term, but I ignored it.

'Fine,' she sighed, in a I'm-going-to-regret-this-tomorrow type of tone. 'I'll help you. Not right now though, I'm pretty sure our Quidditch Captain will want a team meeting in order to tell us everything he's picked up about Ravenclaw's technique from watching that match.'

This was fine with me. I was sure there was currently a party going on in the Gryffindor common room, and, as a member of the team, my presence would be missed if I didn't head up there soon. We arranged to meet in the library the next day, and then headed off to our respective common rooms. I was feeling slightly apprehensive about seeing Tom again, but tried to push it to the back of my mind; I'd be trying to figure out what was wrong soon enough, and tonight I should try to enjoy the party.

***

Lily POV

In the Gryffindor common room, a party was in full swing. James sat in the middle of the room, basking in everyone's congratulations, Swarna by his side. Someone had managed to blast a mix of the latest music throughout the room, and the rest of the team were scattered throughout the crowd, recounting the best bits of the match and drinking Butterbeer that James had produced earlier. I could hear several people wondering exactly how he had done this, and smiled to myself.

Most of the team were here, anyway. Rose still hadn't arrived. She was probably still talking to Scorpius outside, and I wished she would hurry up and come and join us. I'd been annoyed at her for her suspicions about Tom, but the general atmosphere of celebration made me want to make up with her. I hated fighting with Rose.

Just as this thought occurred, Tom himself appeared with two Butterbeers, one of which he gave me. I smiled my thanks, and he leaned towards me, in order to make himself heard above the din.

He indicated James. 'You brother seems to be enjoying himself, doesn't he?' he said with a grin.

I shook my head. 'If Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup this year, none of us will EVER hear the end of it.'

'He is a good captain though, you have to admit,' said Tom absently, still staring at James. 'Does he take after your father, like that?'

I nodded. 'My dad was the youngest Seeker Gryffindor had for a century. He was captain too, in his sixth year.'

'Is he proud, that James is following in his footsteps?' was the next question. I'd noticed that Tom seemed very interested in my family, asking questions about my parents every chance he got. I'd put it down to natural curiosity, since he was an orphan, but didn't really feel like answering those questions now.

'Why do you want to know?' I asked lightly, smiling to show I wasn't really offended. 'We're at a party, shouldn't we talk about our parents later?'

His face tightened for a second, then laughed. 'Sorry Lily. So, what do you want to talk about?'

I hadn't actually considered this. 'Um....'

'I can think of something,' he said, and leaned forward and kissed me.

***

Rose POV

I had been right about the party; I could hear the music from outside the portrait hole. The Fat Lady glared at me when I said the password, as if my presence at the party would cause the noise level to double, but she grudgingly swung open to let me in.

The first thing I saw was Lily, sitting on one of the tables in the corner.

Kissing Tom.

'No. No. This isn't happening. It can't be.' I thought. Yes, I'd known they were dating, but it was usually easy to ignore this disturbing fact, as Lily spent most of her time with us, and they didn't spend much time alone together. I'd hoped they'd decide a relationship wasn't smart, as, after all, the headmistress was trying to send Tom back to his own time, but apparently they hadn't.

Apparently they'd gotten more serious.

And I had no idea what to do about it.

I took a deep breath, pushing past Scott and Mele, who appeared to be too busy flirting to even notice me, and headed straight for the centre of the room, where I could see Helen, Swarna, James and Hugo. I forced myself to look away from Tom and Lily. Interfering with them in public would get me nowhere, I knew. It would only serve to make Lily angry with me and would have the added bonus of letting Tom know I suspected him of something.

'Hey Rose,' said Helen casually. 'Have you seen them?' She indicated Tom and Lily. I knew that, despite her tone, she was trying to find out whether I had gotten past my 'delusions' about Tom or not.

'Well, we all knew it was going to happen,' I replied, forcing a smile and dropping onto the arm of Swarna's armchair.

Swarna, too, looked at me shrewdly, but I ignored her and leaned over to congratulate James. His smile was a mile wide and he immediately launched into an explanation of which of his ideas he felt had worked the best, and his preliminary plans for our final match against Hufflepuff, which wasn't scheduled to take place for months.

I leaned back against the chair, knowing I wouldn't be required to participate in the conversation much. It looked like the research I was going to do the following day would be even more important than I'd realised.

***

The next morning, I awoke at dawn, and spent a couple of hours staring at the ceiling, trying to decide whether or not to speak to Lily again, now that Tom was nowhere near us. I knew I should wait until later, when hopefully I'd have found some information on who Tom actually was, but I really didn't want to. My instincts were telling me I needed to speak to Lily now, especially after what I'd seen the previous night.

If only I could manage to convince one of the others...Helen and Swarna didn't believe me, I knew, but maybe, if I explained the truth to James or Hugo? Or Scorpius...I hated the fact that I'd lied to him, but I'd promised Lily. Now, however, I thought that I should, for Lily's own good.

I continued along this train of thought until the others awoke, then waited until we were all dressed and almost ready to leave before I brought up the subject. No one had yet mentioned Lily and Tom's kiss last night, although Lily was virtually bouncing around the dormitory. I knew they were all trying to avoid this very subject, but I couldn't keep quiet any longer.

'Lily...' I began hesitantly. She looked at me, and I could see in her eyes that she knew where I was going. 'I saw you with Tom last night...and I-'

She cut me off, already sounding angry. 'Rose, please do not start all that crap about you thinking something's wrong with Tom again. We've already been through this.'

I tried a different tack. 'Lily, are you sure you want to be in a relationship with him?' I said, trying my hardest to keep my voice sound calm and reasonable. 'You've only known him a few weeks. And at some point he's going to disappear back off to his own time and you're never going to see him again.'

'He might not.' The volume of Lily's voice was increasing with every word, though I really didn't think I'd said that much to upset her. 'He'd rather stay here. He told me last night he'd rather stay here, with me.'

'Lily.' I said, completely exasperated now. 'He's known you for about five weeks, and you think he'd rather stay here than go back to his own life, just because of you? Does him saying that not show you there's something weird about him?'

'Rose, I don't know why you're doing this, but please just stay out of it.' Lily was still angry, but she now also sounded close to tears. 'I wouldn't have thought you'd be jealous, especially now that you're with Scorpius, but I can take care of myself.'

She stalked out of the dorm, slamming the door behind her. Helen and Swarna remained only to glare at me for a second before following her.

I stood there, shaking with anger and disbelief. I hadn't even had a chance to tell her about the way Tom had looked at me during the match, and it didn't look like I'd be able to now. I'd never had such a big fight with Lily. I'd never been in a situation where she, Helen and Swarna didn't believe what I said. What had Tom done to them? Why did everyone believe he was so perfect?

It was time to move on to my next plan. Telling Scorpius the truth. At this point, anyone I could get to believe me would help. He could join Lucy and I in searching for records of a Tom Gaudle at Hogwarts.

***

Downstairs, Scorpius was waiting for me in the Entrance Hall as he usually did.

'Are you OK, Rose?' he asked gently, as soon as he saw my face. 'Your friends just came through here, not looking particularly happy.'

'Look, can we just go outside?' I muttered. 'I need to talk to you about something.'

He followed me, looking worried. It was freezing outside, but I barely felt it. I was still in shock after fighting with Lily.

'Scorpius,' I said as soon as we'd left the castle. 'I have to tell you something.'

'You can tell me anything, Rose,' he said, still looking concerned.

I took a deep breath, and told him the whole story. From the truth about Tom, to the suspicions I had about him, to the giant argument I'd just had with Lily. His expression changed from concerned to disbelieving. By the time I'd finished, he looked slightly angry.

'Rose, why didn't you tell me the truth?' he asked, as soon as I'd stopped talking. 'Even when you were talking about being suspicious of Tom before, why didn't you tell me about the Time Turner?'

I avoided his eyes. I knew I should have told him, if not at the beginning, than when I'd gone to him before. 'I promised Lily I wouldn't...' I muttered.

'Rose, I wouldn't have told anyone. You should have trusted me,' he said, sounding more upset than angry.

'I'm sorry, Scorpius, I really am,' I said desperately, not knowing what to say to make this better. 'But do you believe me? About Tom, I mean?'

'Rose, I don't think you've really told me anything new about why you're suspicious of Tom. You saw him from a broom, thirty feet above him. Are you really sure of what you saw?'

'Yes! Scorpius, please believe me!' I was pleading. I couldn't take this again.

'Rose, what you've just told me makes it even more understandable that Tom would have trouble adjusting. Are you sure you're not just feeling protective of your cousin? I agree that maybe her dating him is not the best idea, given that he doesn't belong in this time, but this isn't the way to deal with that.'

Anger bubbled up in me. I could see in his face that he wasn't going to believe me. I checked my watch. It was almost ten. Time to meet Lucy in the library.

'I'm sorry, Scorpius, I have to meet someone.' Again, I avoided his eyes, this time because I couldn't look at him. I'd trusted him to believe me, not take the side of someone who we'd only know for a few weeks.

I raced off, not looking back. I didn't want to see his face.

***

I arrived at the library ten minutes later, trying hard not to cry. What had I just done to our relationship? Why hadn't I told him about Tom from the start? Was he right in thinking that I hadn't trusted him enough?

Lucy was waiting for me, tapping her watch.

'Sorry I'm late,' I said, swallowing hard.

She peered at me, looking almost concerned. 'Is everything OK?'

'Fine,' I replied. 'Let's just get to work.'

And we did. For the next two hours, we scoured every book and record we could find that mentioned Hogwarts in the 1940s. There was no reference to Tom Gaudle anywhere.

'This is useless, Rose,' Lucy said at twelve. 'I'm going to get some lunch. Why don't you give it a rest and come with me?'

'No, thanks,' I replied distractedly, not looking up from the list of old Prefects I was reading. 'You go on.'

Half an hour later, I still had nothing, and was on the verge of giving up myself. I was beginning to think it was strange that someone as obviously intelligent as Tom wasn't mentioned anywhere. Apparently he hadn't been a Prefect, hadn't won any awards, hadn't taken any kind of prestigious jobs at the Ministry...unless. I jolted upright.

What if he hadn't been telling the truth? Lily had said he hadn't been Sorted using the hat, had just automatically entered Gryffindor. What proof did we have that his name was in fact Tom Gaudle? Nothing but his own word, and, if my instincts were correct, he was the type of person to lie. But, if that was true, how was I ever going to find him?

I sat, the book I'd been reading still in front of me, and tried to think it through. He might not have chosen an entirely new name, I reasoned. While it made sense that he would choose a new surname if he had something to hide, would he bother to change his first name? Adopting a new first name would be hugely difficult; it would be much simpler to keep his own.

I felt irrationally excited about this, then realised it really didn't help me much. Not only did I have no proof that his name was actually Tom, even if it was, there were so many Toms in the world that it probably wouldn't really narrow anything down. It was a pretty common name, in fact, I remembered my mother telling me Lord Voldemort had once been called....I froze.

'No. No. It's not possible. He's dead. It can't be.'

Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it could. My Uncle Harry had told us the full story of the wars, deciding a few years ago that we were mature enough to hear it. He'd told us how, in his second year, a teenage Voldemort had possessed my aunt using a diary. And that that Voldemort had had dark hair and eyes. Just like Tom. And he'd come from Hogwarts at about the right time.

Feverishly, I searched the shelves, grabbing a book on Lord Voldemort and flipping through it until I found what I needed. Yes, Tom Riddle has been a Prefect at Hogwarts 1941-43. Lily had pulled Tom back from 1943, and he'd been a sixth year. He was the right age.

The more I thought about it, the more clues I found. The way he seemed so obsessed with the wars, especially the Battle of Hogwarts, his own destruction. The words I'd heard him say in the library, words I hadn't thought about, focusing mainly on the look he'd given me. The way he often asked Lily questions about her parents, especially her father, when we were all together.

The book slipped out of my hand and landed on the table, still open on the page about Voldemort's last few years at Hogwarts. Next second, I was on my feet and sprinting out of the library.

It didn't matter that we'd had a fight. It didn't matter that at the moment she probably didn't want to speak to or even see me. I had to talk to Lily. Now.

Wow, longer chapter than usual. Please review!