I do realize there has been a distinct lack of romance in the past couple of chapters, but never fear-I assure you that there will be plenty of it coming very soon! ;) There will also be a scene in Tom's POV.
There was no sign of Georgina at breakfast the next morning. After asking the others if they had seen her, and receiving a negative response, Danielle trudged up to the portrait of the Gryffindor common room to try and convince the Fat Lady to let her in.
"Miss Taylor has not left the common room this morning, I assure you!" the enormous lady cried, brandishing a napkin.
"Can you please let me in?" Danielle begged. "She's never been late before."
"I'm afraid I cannot. You are not a Gryffindor and you don't know the password!" the portrait answered. "If you were accompanied by one, then perhaps I might relent."
Danielle ground her teeth in frustration. "But I—"
"Amor Vincit Omnia," a smooth voice said from behind her, and she whirled around to see Tom standing there.
"How did you know that?" Danielle demanded.
"I heard Miss Taylor saying it yesterday," Tom explained. "She is not very practiced in the art of subtlety, in case you have not noticed." He turned his gaze onto the Fat Lady, who groaned but grudgingly swung open.
"What is this school coming to?" she could be heard muttering as she downed another glass of champagne. "Letting Slytherins into the Gryffindor common room…next the Houses will be done away with!"
Ignoring the moody portrait, Danielle hurried into the common room, calling out, "Georgina!" as she did.
"Why do you need to see her?" Tom asked, looking at their scarlet surroundings with unmitigated disgust.
"The Fat Lady says she hasn't been out all day. Something's wrong." Danielle had come to only one possible conclusion, one that she wanted to smack herself for overlooking—but if it proved to be true…
"Wait here!" she called to Tom, who for once seemed more than happy to oblige, taking the steps two at a time up to the girls' dormitory. She threw open the door to reveal—
…nothing. There was no one there, and no sign of luggage or personal items. All the beds were made and it looked completely deserted. That made no sense. Unless the Fat Lady was lying, Georgina had snuck out.
Feeling panicked, Danielle rushed back down to Tom. "She's gone!" she cried.
He raised an eyebrow. "That is unfortunate," he drawled, though he couldn't look any more indifferent about the matter.
"She was telling me that she missed home and wanted to go back if she found a way," Danielle exclaimed. "And now…she's gone."
"So…you propose that we go find her?" Tom asked in disbelief after a long silence, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "This is a new level of absurdity, Clara, even for you."
"But she knows how to defeat Grindelwald!" Danielle exclaimed. "She was about to tell me—but Erik interrupted her-"
Without another word, she dashed out of the common room and down the Grand Staircase in the direction of Dumbledore's office. Tom caught up with her easily, cornering her and pushing her back against the wall. He rested his palms on either side of her head and stared directly into her eyes, his own flickering back and forth between each of hers. "You are not seriously considering this?" he asked. "You do not know where to find a Time-Turner, not to mention you do not know what year to go to."
"Dumbledore will know!" she cried, as if the Transfiguration professor would hold all the answers. Tom sighed exasperatedly, but before he could respond there was a crash from farther down the hallway. They both turned around, but there was no one in sight.
Tom took a step back and pointed his wand at the sound. However, his search apparently yielded nothing, because he slowly lowered it looking frustrated.
Without waiting for him, Danielle headed down the hallway. As she passed the Prefects' Bathroom she skidded to a stop as her eyes fell on a folded piece of parchment tucked under the door. As she picked it up, the door swung open of its own accord and the ghost of Myrtle Pratt stared down at them. "What do you want?" she wailed.
"Why aren't you in your own bathroom?" Danielle asked. "There's no one here."
"Do you think it's fun, hanging around in the same bathroom all day?" Myrtle demanded. "I like to have a bit of variety. Not that anyone cares." When she spotted Tom, she immediately brightened. "You never come in here, Tom," she lamented. "I would have liked that…"
Admittedly, Danielle couldn't think of many females who would pass up the chance to spy on Tom Riddle in the bath (she certainly wouldn't), but the consequences if he ever found out certainly wouldn't be worth it.
While Tom was left to think up a charming comeback, she opened the note and frowned. There was a date written on it:
31/07/2050
"That's impossible…" Danielle muttered as Tom snatched the note from her hand. "It looks like my writing."
"Yes, judging by the indecipherable scrawl, I would assume it is," he said cuttingly.
"But how would—" Her expression suddenly smoothed out. "Tom, this is from my future self! This is the date that Georgina went back to!"
He didn't look convinced. "It could be a trap," he began, but Danielle wasn't in the mood for his cynicism.
"Dumbledore has my Time-Turner," she breathed, and sprinted off down the hall. Tom easily kept up with her and she hammered on the door of the Transfiguration professor's office not sixty seconds later. After an agonizingly long time, Dumbledore finally opened it, looking very surprised to see them there.
"Good afternoon, Miss Ashford, Mr Riddle," he said, inclining his head to them. "What brings you to my office in such a frenzy?"
In a breathless voice, Danielle explained what she had found out that day. "…And Georgina knows how to stop Grindelwald, Professor. I have to go find her."
Dumbledore's eyes, as bright a shade of blue as Tom's were dark, zeroed in on both of them, first surveying Danielle, then Tom himself. She waited on tenterhooks for his answer. "How exactly did she get into the future?" he asked.
"I don't know," Danielle admitted, "But that's not the point, is it? We have to go—"
"Patience, Miss Ashford," the professor said, holding up a hand. Slowly, he retreated back behind his desk and pulled out a box that Danielle was sure she had never seen before. He reached inside it and lifted up her Time-Turner, letting it dangle slowly in the air as it refracted light off the dust particles floating around the room. "You would go with her?" he asked Tom suddenly. When the Slytherin nodded, a smile crossed Dumbledore's lips. "I thought so," he said in a low voice, almost to himself. "Your thirst for knowledge and hatred of being left out means it would be impossible for you to refuse…as well as…" He looked thoughtfully over at Danielle before trailing off.
"Please say yes, Professor!" she begged.
After another unbearable silence, Dumbledore spoke again. "You would not be able to do it here-you would need to go to London first. But…if done properly, we might stand a chance."