Chapter 21: Goodbye, Old Friend

I don't want to die.

That was the thought going through Tom Riddle's head as he watched the Headmaster raise his wand, looking very remorseful.

I'm only fifteen. I've fallen in love, I've kissed a girl, I made some friends but… but I haven't lived. I'm only fifteen! Tom thought, screaming in his own head.

He knew he was much older, if only technically. He was almost fully flesh and blood. He bled to open the chamber. He could taste his mouth drying out in fearful anticipation. He couldn't even turn back to his ghastly diary form if he tried.

The world seemed to move so slow as the headmaster began twirling his wand, Tom thought back to his youth, Saint Radnor's. He had been brought there as a toddler after a small bout of accidental magic. He remembered when he first met Professor Albus Dumbledore.

-12st of July, 1938-

Tom watched in awe as an owl landed before him. He knew this day was coming and he was so excited. He had seen Lester get his first Hogwarts owl two years ago, and he was the next in line by a few years.

There weren't a lot of children in the orphanage, surprisingly. With some big Dark Wizard terrorizing the world, Tom figured there would be more, but maybe they just had family elsewhere to care for them.

Or maybe they're just dead.

How he hated the way the voice in his head laughed at that. It was cruel, angry. He had no idea why, since he himself wasn't like that.

Shaking his head, Tom carefully undid the knot that held the letter, opening it with an excited reverence.

"Taking your time, young man?" Came a voice from his right.

Tom looked up in surprise to see a man smiling at him with shockingly blue eyes that twinkled brightly.

"I'm just nervous." Tom said with an unapologetic shrug.

"We all are for our first letter, dear boy." The wizard said. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

"Oh, is that is?" Tom said with a smirk. "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Very well met, young Riddle." the man said with a smile.

"You too, sir." Tom said, smiling. "What brings you here?"

"If I may be honest, I am meeting with my new students." he said, smiling at the boy.

"You're gonna be one of my teachers?" Tom asked excitedly.

"Indeed, I have been the Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts for some time now. I do enjoy visiting around and meeting with students, new and old, and to let them know." Dumbledore said solemnly.

"Let them know what, sir?" Tom asked, taken in by Dumbledore's regale.

"That help in Hogwarts will always be available for anyone who asks."

-Present Time-

The headmaster was moving so slow.

Tom began shaking. He didn't know why he was thinking back to having met Professor Dumbledore, but the thought quickly faded as he saw the wand slowly trace a pattern.

This wasn't fair, at all. But he was the one who made the mistake. It was his to deal with. He saw the beginnings of a green flash, his throat closing up.

At least Luna gets to live.

That thought alone was making his resolve stay. He would die with dignity.

The green bolt approached, his stomach tightening. He felt sick.

He had just started breathing again. Despite the thick, musky air of the chamber, it was actual air. The castle, had it always smelled as it had? The warmth in the air. And all too soon it was to be taken again.

As he saw it close in, he had one final thought as a teardrop fell down his cheek.

I don't want to die.

OoooO

"When the hell did we all become so stereotypical?" Harry asked, frowning.

"What do you mean?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look around for a moment." Harry said.

Daphne took a moment and looked across the Great Hall. She didn't see anything out of place. Everyone seemed to be having an alright time waiting for the announcements.

"I don't see anything off." Daphne said.

"Pay closer attention. The Slytherin table is clustered around Montague and Malfoy, all discussing business and contacts." Harry said, setting it up.

Daphne nodded slowly and began looking around, seeing how the tables behaved.

Slytherins were in fact silently conducting business. Even within the chats, she saw a few handshakes exchange some gold. The Ravenclaws were reviewing their year of education, filling in whatever they hadn't understood and helping the younger students catch up. The Hufflepuffs were being chummy and annoyingly friendly all around, more so than normal. Even the Gryffindors were giving some of the younger, more worried students loud pep talks.

This was… disconcerting.

"I hadn't noticed that." Daphne said, frowning slightly.

"This whole Chamber debacle seems to have messed things up." Harry said with sigh. "Every House for themselves, virtues of the others be damned."

"Well that's rather dark." Said Tracey, sitting down next to Harry.

He smiled at her and she kissed his cheek, making Daphne roll her eyes and look around again. She saw Susan looking at her with a worried smile, wondering what that was about.

"Business as usual then?" Blaise asked with a smirk, looking at Harry from across the table with a smirk.

"You know, you and I need to have a long talk about puns." Tracey said with a mock pained expression.

"But I am worried." Blaise said, getting their attention. "Not just for my contacts. The mentality that you had to behave just as your house dictates slowly fazed out after the Dark Lord fell. And it came back so suddenly. How frail of a truce were we on, and what else changed?"

Several of the students around had heard Blaise, eyes darting across the tables nervously.

"Potter," Draco said, walking from down the table, "A word?"

Harry raised an eyebrow but nodded, signalling Blaise to follow. Just in case.

They walked out to a quiet spot outside of the Great Hall, perfect for a private conversation. Draco looked uncomfortable, but determined.

"So… what is it?" Harry asked.

With the revelation of Voldemort's cursed artifact opening the Chamber, his position as Heir of Slytherin had been revoked, much to Harry's immense thankfulness. Draco had originally reverted to being his usual antagonistic self, but he was also acting strange.

"Listen, I know you and I aren't friends." Draco began. Harry scoffed, earning a glare from the boy. "But you and I both know this Chamber incident changed things for the worse."

"I've noticed. Started very quickly." Harry commented dryly. Blaise nodded in agreement to both.

"Back during the days of the Dark Lord, Slytherin was the constant target from the three other houses. As a whole, we need to show a unified front." Draco said slowly, not sure if he liked his own words.

"Take care of our own and all that." Harry said, nodding. Draco nodded quickly.

"Yes. As I said, I know we'll never be friends, but being in Slytherin puts us at odds against the school, so at least we could be comrades in arms, in a sense." Draco said. "We take care of our own. We also take care to remember our own."

Harry looked at Blaise, who seemed to deliberate things for a moment before nodding. Harry turned to Draco and raised his hand. Draco looked at the reaching hand and sighed in relief, shaking hands quickly.

"You watch my back, I watch yours." Harry said.

"One for all, all for one." Draco said.

"All hail Slytherin." Blaise finished the Slytherin motto, looking around. "The teachers are coming, we need to get back into the Great Hall."

A moment later, the three found themselves settling back within their respective groups, both Harry and Draco promising to explain later. The loud footsteps came in, showing a very somber looking Dumbledore.

The last time Harry had seen the older wizard before today had been in the chamber after he cursed Riddle, and that had been a few days ago.

Harry shook his head. He couldn't clear the image out of his head, but he knew better than to dwell.

"Never show exactly what you're capable of. There will be plenty of people who will try to taunt it out of you, and showing off limits only leaves you open to attacks."

The words from his last private lesson with Quirrell came to mind, making him feel sick. Words from the man who betrayed himself.

"The world has plenty of unfortunate happenstances. You can't dwell, Potter. Focus on something out of place reduces your focus on the objective at hand. There's a time for dwelling, and a time for doing."

Dumbledore had reached his podium and was overlooking the crowd of students, his electric blue eyes seeming to scan the room.

"It is always," he began, his words echoing, their graveness clear, "Easy. It's easy to make the wrong choices, it's easy to do what's wrong. It's always the easier to choice to make because so often, we hope, or try to, believe that no one would harm us for being young."

He paused for a moment, letting his words hang before continuing.

"Even from beyond the grave, Lord Voldemort managed one final attempt against the wizarding world he sought to conquer. There was no regard for the safety or wellbeing of the children of his once followers, of the innocent, merely a drive to unleash a beast to spill as much blood as he could, costing us the lives of trained beast hunters, of our defense professor, and almost, yes, almost two students' lives."

A murmur ran across the room as the rumor of Lockhart's demise had been confirmed.

"The artifact he used left some very… traumatizing experiences to those it came in contact with, including the one who had it sent to our school." Dumbledore finished, his eyes lingering on Malfoy after sweeping the room.

"And finally, a couple of announcements." the headmaster began.

"Can't believe he didn't mention anything about Lovegood." Daphne muttered, her friends nodding.

"With what happened though, you'd wanna end on a high note, wouldn't you? Talking about what happened to Luna… it's just frightening." Tracey said without looking away from the headmaster.

"Why frightening?" Harry asked with a frown.

"We all held the diary. Anyone of us could have been affected like she was. We could have ended like she did." Daphne said, receiving a nod from her brunette friend.

The four friends sat in silence, their Housemates around them joining in the uncomfortable silence. Dumbledore was summing up the final House points, Slytherin winning by a notable margin which most of the school didn't seem to register.

Rumors and secrets spread fast, which meant every table knew the headmaster avoided mentioning that certain blonde Ravenclaw first year who was conspicuously missing. The tables were enchanted to have just enough room for all the students and no one mentioned that the Ravenclaw table was full.

"...And with that, I shall see you all next term, hopefully in good health." the Headmaster said, finishing up his end of year comments and announcements.

The four tables rose and shuffled out, a drone of muttering cutting through the otherwise silent dredge.

Harry and his friends arrived in the common room, some students taking a moment to make sure they were packed and ready.

"Do you think it was on purpose?" Pansy Parkinson's voice rang out.

"Was what on purpose, Pans?" Theo asked, everyone knowing the answer.

"Not mention Loon- Lovegood. It could have been one of those mind slips." Pansy said.

Montague chuckled.

"A wracksprite, I think the little ditz called them?" he said. There was no malice in his voice.

"No, no, it was a wickspurt." Flint said, looking into the fire with a grin.

"Wrackspurt." Harry said, nodding at the attempt to remember that odd girl who seemed to have been met by everyone.

Malfoy nodded slowly before heading back to the dorms, the moment of camaraderie over.

We take care of our own. We also take care to remember our own.

Thinking back to that, Harry couldn't help but wonder if Draco had meant Luna. With a quick word to his friends, he went to check up on his things, Daphne doing the same with her belongings.

Daphne sighed as she entered her room, sighing loudly. She turned to lock her door, and almost immediately heard a crack behind her.

"M-missy Greengrass?" A familiar voice came.

"What?" Daphne asked, gritting her teeth. Her last couple of experiences with the elf were… less than good.

"Dobby just wanted to inform Missy Greengrass that Dobby has been fired." Dobby squeaked, rolling his hands nervously.

"What, Malfoy didn't take kindly to his elf following other orders?" Daphne deadpanned, waving her wand to get her belongings together.

"Well, yes. Master Draco informed his father and well… Dobby received the second most terrifying moment of his life." Dobby cried.

Daphne glanced at the elf and grimaced. The Greengrasses and Potters had house elves, but none of them behaved or looked as pitiful as Dobby did. The elf was covered from head to toe in makeshift bandages and the wounds seemed to not heal.

"So why are you telling me this?" she asked, wondering why the clearly pained elf was there.

"W-well, Mast- er… mister Malfoy made it so Dobby can't listen to the orders of a new witch or wizard." Dobby said, looking very worried.

Daphne understood. Unbound house elves died within weeks of not having masters. That's why elves were usually bred when families merged and the subsequent generations served the magical family.

"I'm sorry, Dobby. I'm not sure how I could help." she said, not entirely sure she would. Dobby had put her friends' life at risk.

"Dobby could be missy Greengrasses personal elf." Dobby said hopefully.

"But you can't follow the orders of a new witch." Daphne said with a frown.

"But missy Daphy isn't new. Dobby has followed her orders before." Dobby said with a nervous smile. "Dobby would prefer a kinder master, but I's between that or well, dying. And Dobby doesn t want to die!"

Daphne frowned at being called "Daphy", but nodded. She wasn't happy at being called an unkind person, but the elf had a point. She had taken some issues out on the elf over the year and he definitely did not deserve that.

"Fine, then let's perform the bond." Daphne said, remembering her father's instructions on "hiring" elves.

"Thank you, Missus Greengrass. Dobby will do his best." the elf said with a nervous smile.

OoooO

"Is that… is that her?"

"Yes, Xenophilius, that's her." Dumbledore said quietly, letting the bedraggled man into the hospital wing.

The Hogwarts Express had just departed, taking the students back to London. Albus had been waiting for Xenophilius to show up, most of the staff having gone home for the summer.

"My poor moonbean… she- she liked pudding. Did you know that?" Xeno asked, trying to maintain his crumbling composure.

"I did not, but I also wanted to apologize, Xeno. I realized this year, I have done awful as Headmaster" the older wizard said with a sigh.

"Whatever do you mean, Albus?" the younger man asked, grateful for the distraction.

"It seems your daughter dealt with a rather crippling amount of bullying this year, making her first year rather.. unpleasant, I'm afraid to say." Dumbledore said apologetically.

"But- but she mailed me, several times, excited about her classes and her new friends." Xenophilius said, confused and hurt.

"As a friend, I really must point out, hasn't young Luna been closer to the Weasley family than you? Because the letters she sent to Arthur show a much different point of view, from property theft to being left in darkened closets in abandoned hallways at night."

"Albus! Please, if that's true then it's my own damned fault for not being a better father, but what can a man do after seeing his wife and daughter die? My Luna is gone, don't make this worse!" Xenophilius shouted, tears falling now.

"My goodness. I wasn't aware young Miss Lovegood had died. Were you going to tell me?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the bed where a bleary eyed Luna was sitting, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"This is not at all like the heaven Mum had told me about." said a grumpy Luna.

"Dumbledore, please. Luna hates being woken out of her- LUNA!" Xenophilius cried, realized with sudden shock that his daughter wasn't dead.

"Yes, father?" Luna asked with a small yawn.

Her father jumped to her side and held her in a way that made her freeze.

"Moonie, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" her father asked, backing up some.

Luna shook her head, looking at her father.

"Maybe this is heaven. My fath-daddy hasn't hugged me like that in a long while." Luna said quietly.

"Luna…" her father said, taken aback.

"Yes?" Luna asked, her voice breaking as she began crying.

"I'm so sorry… I am so sorry." Xenophilius said, holding her softly. "I've not been a good father and I'm just… I'm so sorry."

"I just never knew what I did wrong. I thought you didn't want me anymore." Luna said, crying into Xeno's shoulder.

"Oh, Luna, my love. I will never not want my dearest daughter." Xenophilius said tearfully.

Dumbledore let the Lovegoods have their moment, setting up some quick privacy charms while jovially smiling at the door itself, it seemed.

Maybe there's still hope for things to go right, he mused, smiling to himself.

Luna dismissed herself after a moment to clean herself up.

Xenophilius turned to Dumbledore, smiling through tearstained eyes. The elder wizard smiled softly, clearly reveling in the heartwarming scene before him.

"I-I just don't understand how." Xeno said after finally pulling himself together some.

"Sometimes, my dear friend, there are miracles even magic cannot explain. Be happy, however, that we made sure Miss Lovegood will make a full recovery, and should you so wish, be ready to go to any magical institute you wish, should you have reservations about Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, smiling.

"I will talk with Luna about that, but thank you, Albus. You've… you've given me my family back in one piece." Xeno said. Dumbledore nodded.

"Are we ready to leave, Daddy?" Luna asked, returning in her usual unusual attire.

"Yes, moonbean, we are ready to go as soon as you are." Xeno said with a beaming smile. Luna nodded, looking very hopefully at her father.

With a quick and final farewell, the Lovegoods left, talking with an excitement that felt almost tangible. Dumbledore smiled for a moment before his face found itself frowning once more. This year came with many worrisome revelations.

Voldemort had left himself a backdoor. Tom was a piece of him, but that didn't seem right. Voldemort would be sure to have a plan in place for his own demise. Horcruxes would, unfortunately, be very appealing to a man like that. With Tom being one, it seemed likely he would have another.

With that final thought, he looked at the last occupied bed in the infirmary before walking out. The sleeping boy rolled over and mumbled in his sleep.

There was an idea that needed to be checked.

OoooO

"It's so damned bright. I thought this was England." Bellatrix complained.

Sirius black found himself grinning despite the breathless pain in his side he felt.

"Bellatrix Druella Black, we just bloody swam all this way. You're complaining about the sun after Azkaban?" He said, laying back on the beach they found themselves on.

"Yes, but we did just escape. We're fugitives, Sirius. We can't relax too much." Bellatrix said, checking their surroundings.

"Boy, you must be fun at parties." Sirius said, snickering at Bellatrix's glare.

"I am very fun, thank you very much! I would just prefer not getting arrested again." Bella said, arms crossed.

"Your case is significantly easier than mine." Sirius said, looking quizzically at his cousin.

"And how the hell is that the case?" Bellatrix demanded.

"You did what you did under an Imperial contract. The whole world knew the Lestranges were a dark bunch of bastards, so there's that literal pile of paper work at your disposal." Sirius pointed out, making Bellatrix look surprised.

"Twelve years in that hell and it never occured to me to check for the documents." Bella said, looking dumbstruck.

"To be fair, you went directly to a nice cell without as much as a trial." Sirius said bitterly.

"And in your case, we need to find Peter Pettigrew." Bella said, frowning.

"Yeah, and we know he's a slippery prick. So for now, all of England, Scotland, and Ireland are not friends to the Blacks, so I know what we've gotta do." Sirius said, suddenly smiling.

"And what exactly is that?" Bella asked, wondering what that smile was for.

"We, my dear cousin, are going to the Caribbean. Sunshine, men, women, food, and merry times. We've twelve years in thay shit hole to make up for. So, we relax for a moment, clear our heads somewhere outside of the isles, and come back with a solid plan." Sirius said, his eyes shining with life not had in years

"You- you're serious, aren't you?" Bellatrix asked, wondering if Azkaban had affected him so badly.

"Since birth, Bella." Sirius grinned. His cousin groaned, but he didn't care. He was a free man, fugitive or not. As soon as he could get the little prick's trail, the rat was dead. This, Sirius vowed, would be so.

He would not be denied his revenge.

I am so sorry for the wait, I've been super busy between work and school that I totally forgot to check up if this chapter had been edited or not. The story will continue, and thank you for keeping up with it. Please favorite, follow and review, those help remind me to keep up with the story.

A quick note from the author,