Unfinished Business
Chapter 8
After Tom had left, I climbed out of the bed clumsily and picked up my clothes that were spread all over the room. Clutching them, I then sneaked quickly into the bathroom, took a long shower, got dressed and returned to the room, where I pulled on my robes, shoes, scarf and gloves, before I exited and silently ascended the stairs, listening whether there was movement above. As there was no sound whatsoever, I climbed through the portrait hole and left the Head common room.
The hallways were deserted, a pale sun casting beams through the windows onto the cold walls and floor. The snow storm from last night had caused a terrible cold within the castle; windowsills were laden with mountains of fresh snow and, after a peek outside, the surroundings looked as if covered by a plain white blanket. And I was grateful for the scarf and gloves Tom had conjured for me.
Pulling my robe closer around my body, I quickly descended into the Entrance Hall, and, after avoiding a group of students exiting the Great Hall, dashed outside through the open Entrance doors. The grounds of Hogwarts were covered in so much snow; students having to get to the greenhouses had already made paths through the white element, their footsteps almost invisible in the narrow passes leading from the doors onto the grounds.
I decided to take a walk towards the lake and took one of the smaller narrow passes heading to the Quidditch pitch that soon parted into an even smaller path leading around the castle towards the lake. I reached the frozen lake and inhaled the clear air rushing from the mountains deeply. For a moment everything lingering on my mind vanished into thin air, the cold air cleansing every inch of my body and soul. And so I stood for a moment by the lake, my eyes closed, taking in everything around me.
Even though this part of the lake was the most solitary place in Hogwarts, it was then that I heard voices echoing over the lake from the green houses. Classes were over as it seemed. Was it lunch already? I stared up into the sky, looking for a sign, but the sun was firmly hid behind thick, light grey clouds, that made the world look even whiter. I looked around for anyone intruding but the voices were gone again and I remained by the edge of the lake, an eerie silence rushing through my ears.
I sighed loudly and slowly walked back towards the castle, the rim of my robes already soaked through, my face numb from the cold wind. Rubbing my gloved hands, I looked around the snowy grounds. What a beautiful place… and what a terrible fate is waiting ahead … I remembered images of burning trees, blackened grass, shattered glass by the greenhouses, the stands of the Quidditch pitch destroyed, smoke and fire erupting from the castle's windows, destruction, mayhem and terror waltzing over everything that was now covered in peaceful snow.
The near future did not look good.
As I reached the oaken front doors, I felt something rush down my spine. It is in your hands. In your hands to prevent anything bad from happening to this castle. I stopped and looked up into the grey sky, as my heart leapt against my ribcage. What a burden…
Lowering my eyes, I made a decision. Whatever it takes to save the world I am fond of, whatever it takes to stop anyone willing to destroy the means of Magic and peace, I have to be ready! I am ready. As another shiver ran down my spine, I blinked repeatedly, the weight inside my heart growing. I have to be ready… ready to do whatever it takes to stop him. Whatever it takes? Whatever
I nodded to myself. Whatever.
And I'll start right now!, I thought as I saw a group of people emerging from the castle, trailing away into the direction of the Forest that usually lay under a cloud of utter darkness, today, however, the snow took away most of its threatening appeal. I slowly followed the group of students whose green and silver scarves were glooming in the snow.
They headed straight to the edge of the Forest, past the place where Hagrid's hut would be decades later, ignoring the hills of snow in their way. I didn't know why I followed them, but something told me to do so; something about their appearance – not only the fact that they were Slytherins – but everyone wandering off towards the Forbidden Forest seemed suspicious.
Trying to stay in a safe distance – which proved difficult in the plain field of snow around me – I watched how they soon vanished behind the trees of the Forest. As I reached the edge of it, I pressed myself against the nearest tree trunk and snaked around – as I saw the group coming to a stop. Quickly hiding behind the tree, I listened hard.
"He's late", one of them said.
"Again", added another.
"You would think this might be more important than Christmas decorations", a third voice said.
"Can't say I expected him to reveal his true abilities once he had been promoted Head Boy", yet another voice said, causing me to frown.
Holding my breath, I dared to peek around the trunk to see four people standing in a circle, facing each other, hands deep in their pockets, scarves tightly around their necks, the hoods of their robes only half-covering their faces. Were they waiting for Tom? So the Death Eaters did already exist?
Just as I peered around the tree trunk, I heard heavy footsteps from the edge of the Forest. I gasped and quickly leapt around the tree, hiding behind a snow-covered bush. And there he was indeed… Tom Riddle, his pale face hidden underneath a black hood that he pulled off once he saw the other four boys. He glanced over his shoulder before he joined them, his expression unreadable.
"What took you so long, Riddle?", one of them asked, equally pulling off his hood, revealing short, dirty brown hair and a stubby nose.
"Unlike you, Avery, I do have other things to do", Tom replied in an unnaturally cold voice.
"Anyway, how are things?", another boy to Tom's right asked, his hair as black as Tom's, his face, however, even bonier and ill-looking.
"I didn't have the time to continue our planning, Christmas keeps me busy", Tom said, a little calmer, rummaging through his pockets.
"Why don't you leave that to the Mudblood, anyway?", the boy opposite Tom, tall, with a face like a monkey, said.
"It's called Head Boy and Girl, Nott!", Tom snapped. "Dippet keeps a close look on us and you know how Dumbledore tries to find the smallest hint that I might be occupied with… other stuff."
"Dumbledore can't do anything, he's only the Transfiguration teacher and Dippet has his own mind", the boy with the stubby nose, who seemed to be called Avery, said.
"Dippet is stupid", the monkey-faced boy named Nott spat out. "They are all stupid!"
"You shouldn't underestimate them, Dumbledore has more powers than you think", Tom stated, much to the surprise of the fellow boys.
"And I thought, you of all would hate Dumbledore, Riddle", the fourth boy said, his head still hidden under the hood of his robes, yet there were strands of blonde hair leaking from it, framing a pointy face.
"I do, Malfoy!", Tom said irritated. "Yet you should never misjudge your enemy!"
"Hear, hear", the other black-haired boy said with a wicked grin. "But you shouldn't be afraid of your enemies either, Riddle!"
"I'm not, Lestrange!", Tom bellowed, his hand shooting to his pockets. "And you better stop saying that –"
"Or else what, Riddle?", the other boy named Lestrange said, his hand also twitching inside his pocket, a long red line looming on his bony cheek.
I saw Tom narrowing his eyes, the scratch at his hairline shimmering red in dimness of the Forest. The boy to his right stared at him unblinkingly.
"Guys!", Avery interrupted, holding up his hands, his voice squeaky. "We've had enough of your arguments!"
"Shut up, Avery!", Tom and Lestrange both bellowed at the stubby-nosed boy.
"Now that we cleared that", Nott said, sounding bored. "How's our plan coming?"
Tom's jaw clenched visibly, before he looked away from Lestrange. "We have to postpone it", he merely said, looking around.
"Postpone it?", the boys echoed.
"Are you insane? Postpone it again?", Lestrange roared.
"You might have noticed that half the school will leave over Christmas, so it's no use, isn't it?", Tom snapped, staring at the black-haired boy.
"But we'd postponed it for ages!"
"And we postpone it again!", Tom said calmly, staring at everyone in turn. They immediately seemed to forget their rage.
"So we'll do it after Christmas?", the blonde boy – who, now that I thought about it, looked an awful lot like Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin from my brother Ron's year back in my time – said.
"Yes." Tom shoved his hands back into his pockets and looked up at the tree tops that were laden with snow.
Nobody else seemed to say anything against that.
"And you'll involve us this time?", Lestrange said, his tone undoubtedly angry and challenging.
"Only if you prove yourselves worthy", Tom replied.
"I thought we'd already done that!", the other boy replied, heatedly.
"And I thought we had that topic before", Tom said in an unnaturally soothing voice. "It is my quest, I'm the –"
"Heir, yeah, awesome!", Lestrange sneered.
Tom shot him an angry glare. "Are you questioning my ancestry?"
"I wouldn't dare", Lestrange replied calmly, a smirk playing around his thin lips. "I must obey the Heir", he imitated the squeak of a house-elf and even hinted a little bow.
Tom's jaw clenched, a vein pumping viciously on his forehead. "I told you what would happen if one of you betrays me", he said in a low tone, his voice ice-cold.
The boys exchanged glances. Nott and Avery nodded eagerly, whilst Malfoy stared at Tom, his pointy face expressionless, Lestrange, however, froze in his motion. He straightened himself and glared at Tom, his bony face like stone.
"I was noble enough to allow you to accompany me and if you still think as I do, if we still have the same stance on things, then I expect you to respect me and my decisions. If not, well, if you prove yourself unworthy for this task, I shall find my ways to at least convince the others that I will not be betrayed!"
They all listened closely to Tom and I, myself, felt goosebumps on my skin as he had finished, his tone icy, his words cutting through the air like blades. Oh dear Merlin! So this was the side of him that would most likely support his dream of becoming the Darkest wizard of all times, be influential, be a leader…
Nott and Avery were nodding again, while Malfoy shot a glance at Lestrange who had his fists loosely at his sides, staring at Tom, yet no one dared to say a word. Tom already had them in his command. Tom inclined his head and watched the others jaw-clenched.
"I guess I'll see you after Christmas", he then said and turned to leave.
"Wait!" It was Lestrange who held him back. "Listen –" He sounded almost apologetically, even though there was still a notch of anger in his voice. "All I want is a little piece of the cake, you know?"
"That's everything you want?", Tom asked, looking over his shoulder at him.
"Yes", the other boy breathed.
"Then you have to wait until after Christmas!"
With that Tom left the group of boys, marching to the edge of the Forest and strolled across the snowy grounds towards the castle. I crouched behind the bush and watched how the other boys followed him, Nott and Avery hurtling out of the Forest quickly, while Malfoy remained with Lestrange.
"You shouldn't have pushed it!", I heard the blonde boy say.
"So what? Do you think I'm on his black list now?", Lestrange snapped, motioning the other boy to quit the Forest with him.
"If we really want a piece of that cake, we have to rely on him. He's the only one able to get this whole thing started. Once that is done, however, we won't be needing him anymore."
I gaped after the two boys, as they, Lestrange pulling his hood over his head, walked through the same narrow pass they had come. I waited a moment for them to walk away, before I left my hideout, staring after the group of people that in a not so distant future would become Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Even though I was quite shocked by what Lestrange and Malfoy were up to.
Did they plan to betray their leader? Did they… use Tom? They certainly wanted him to do something, start something, so that they could continue it without his help? But what? Did they plan an attack? Whatever it was, I had to wait until after Christmas… or I had to question Tom about it – no, bad idea! He must not know you overheard their conversation! He must not know about what you knew would happen!
So let's start pretending then!
With that I leapt out of my hideout and walked back to the castle, my body almost petrified by the cold, my robes damp from crouching in the snow, my face numb. I hurried back into the warmth of the Entrance Hall, just as large groups of students came down the stairs and headed to the Great Hall. Oi, lunch! I quickly squeezed past them and headed up to the library, ignoring the stares that followed me.
I reached the library and was almost knocked over by a black-haired girl who came running out of the room, her face drenched in tears. I jumped aside just in time and stared after her quite shocked – as I realized who that black-haired girl was. The girl I'd seen Tom with. Now that I thought about, she seemed quite familiar… but how –
"You'll get over it, Parkinson!", I heard a voice call after her.
Parkinson. Of course! This must be the grandmother or another relative of Pansy Parkinson, the pug-faced Slytherin from my time.
I then turned back to the entrance of the library, just in time to see Tom Riddle talk to a short woman, who seemed to be the librarian. Compared to the vulture-like woman the librarian of my time, Madam Pince, was, this woman looked quite nice, her grey hair in a tight bun, a pair of glasses on a short nose, round cheeks and a seemingly happy smile, she looked more like a relative of Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher of my time.
I walked a little closer and caught snippets of their conversation.
" – really sorry, Madam Sprout –", Tom just said, his voice soft. Oh the coincidence! "I didn't mean to disturb the quiet."
"Oh, Tom, it's alright", the round-faced woman said, beaming up at him. "It's quite alright. You know, there are so many rude students at this school, I find myself lucky to see that at least one of them cares to apologize."
Tom smiled down at her and nodded.
"Would you excuse me now?", the woman said, turning her head towards the rows of shelves. "Someone jinxed the books in the Herbology section. They just won't stay in their shelves." She heaved a deep sigh and, after Tom nodded again, vanished behind the nearest bookshelf.
I saw how Tom looked after her, before he grabbed the bag to his feet and turned to leave – just as I decided to enter. Our gazes met and he immediately tilted his head.
"Hey", I said with a forced smile, still a little perplexed about the many facets of Tom I had seen in only a few hours time; first the commanding, threatening side, and now the charming, polite one. He was, without a doubt, an extraordinary character.
"Hey", he repeated and shot me a smile. "You have quite a good sense of timing."
"I just saw the masses running to the Great Hall, so I thought it's time for me to get away from there", I replied with a slight grin, eyeing him.
He raised an eyebrow in amusement, before he held out his hand, that I took with slight hesitation. Closing my eyes for just a second, I tried to remember the morning, and how I had felt back then. Why did I feel different now? Just because I had seen how he interacts with friends and staff? As if I hadn't known that he was persuasive, manipulating and controlling…
You've known that, so don't play shocked! Nope, no more shock. Let's pretend!
And so I smiled up at him, as he led me out of the library.
"How was your morning?", he asked as we walked along the corridor.
"Nice", I replied, looking at him. "I was by the lake."
"Beautiful place, isn't it?", he commented, his eyes darting over my face.
I nodded. "Yes, it's lovely and –"
"Solitary", he finished my thought, a genuine smile crossing his handsome features.
I smiled wider and hooked my arm into his. Yes. You know about solitary places, do you?
"The snow was beautiful as well, I'd missed that", I went on after a while.
But he merely nodded and stopped in front of a portrait of a rather gruesome looking bear that scraped its paw against the frame of the picture, roaring wildly. Tom looked around the deserted hallway and tipped the frame with his wand.
Wait a second. Was this –
The bear suddenly turned into a screeching dove that flew out of the portrait and vanished. The picture seemed empty except for a metallic looking water bowl. But as Tom stepped closer, one hand outstretched, I saw in utter surprise how his fingers slid through the canvas. He turned his head to me and nodded towards the portrait, before he climbed right into the picture.
I stared after him and expected to see him appear on the canvas, but no. He had simply vanished. I looked around in shock and almost jumped as I saw his hand emerging through the portrait. I grabbed it and was soon after pulled right through the canvas, before I landed on the other side, standing next to a smiling Tom.
No, this was definitely not the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, as I had half expected it to be.
The room I was facing now was a vast, yet cosy hall lined with tapestries and portraits, statues and busts, large chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling, carpets in many different styles plastered the floor. There was a great number of small, round tables on each side of the room, while the middle remained unoccupied, leaving enough space for at least fifty people to dance.
"Where are we?", I asked in awe, examining the nearest tapestry.
Tom strode past me along the aisle between the rows of tables towards the end of the room where a little platform loomed, before he turned around, facing me.
"This is the Graduation Hall", he said, his head inclined.
I nodded and looked around in astonishment. What a lovely room – and what a shame that I would never stand on that platform… I quickly shook my head to get rid of any depressing thought and followed Tom along the aisle, taking in everything around; the candles on and the cosy looking chairs standing around each table, the happy waving people in the portraits at the walls, all wearing black graduation robes and pointy hats, the tapestries of people dancing in fancy robes and dresses and musicians playing silent music in their paintings.
I then reached Tom and found his gaze. He watched me very closely, as if looking right through me, before he held out his hand, a small smile on his lips. I took his hand and continued watching him, as he then walked me towards one of the small tables that was opulently filled with anything one could eat for lunch.
"Let's eat", he simply said and again, I found myself caught in his charm, discovering yet another side of him.
It proved to be a lot more difficult to see through his varied personality, and even harder to differ his good and bad sides.
A/N: And a new chapter, new characters, new plot elements. Yes, we heading in the right direction, I would say.
Please tell me what you think. Remember, you guys keep me writing, so loads of reviews will definitely help me concentrate xD
Thanks to realm-creatress for the lovely review! Thanks to everyone reading this!
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me and no money is made with this. I wish!