December 28, 1943
With a sharp gasp, Hermione found herself landing on snow covered ground. She took a moment to collect herself before carefully tucking her time turner beneath her cloak. She made to apparate when through the hedges of Riddle manor, she caught sight of her own self, wand drawn and directed right at her.
She faintly heard a door open and she sighed a breath of relief when her other self turned her attention away from her and towards Tom. She waited silently and unmoving until she saw herself apparate away and Tom retreat back into the manor.
Alone now, he vanished.
…
January 3, 1944
"Tom, now just wait a second." Tom stopped in his tracks, turning to face his father.
Tom remained passive as the car door slammed and his father fumbled with his coat pocket. Tom wished his father would hurry.
He finally grasped the box he had been rummaging for.
The remainder of his holiday, since returning from the cemetery, had been noticeably more somber and tension filled. Tom had kept to himself until now.
Tom let his grip on the trolley go, reaching out to accept his father's gift.
"I had meant to give it to you sooner. I was waiting for you..." he trailed off as he watched his son open the small leather box.
He looked inside... and slowly closed it, slipping it into his trouser pocket.
. . .
Tom looked down at his wrist before looking back at his partner.
"Eileen, the train will be reaching Hogwarts soon. We'll finish our rounds here." He told the younger prefect.
"Right, then," she said, as they set off along the train.
The corridors were almost completely empty now. Nearly everyone had returned to their carriages to change into their school robes and pack up their possessions. Tom was going to enter the slytherin sixth-year compartment when Eileen stopped him.
"Tom," She blurted out, "I," she began quietly, "I think it was really good of you, what you did." He faced her fully now. She seemed unsure of herself, but she held up her head determinedly.
"You stopped the attacks last year," she elaborated, "Being a slytherin it-"
"I," he interrupted, with a tight lipped smile, "was merely doing my duty to the school. I happened to be at the right place at the right time. Nothing more, Eileen."
She slowly began to nod her head her dark locks obscuring her hair before she went her separate way, sliding open a compartment door before leaving him in the empty corridor.
Tom entered the compartment and went straight for his trunk. The lanterns swinging from the carriage ceiling cast a bright light over slytherins.
"I can see Hogwarts," said Walburga, pointing out of the blackened window. "We'd better get our robes on."
Tom pulled on his robes like the others, then locked his trunk as the train slowed to a jerky crawl. Mulciber through the door open and muscled his way out into a crowd of second years, punching them aside as the rest of the compartment followed.
"A wrist watch, eh Riddle?" drawled Abraxas, closing his book and leaning closer. It was all sleek metals and shiny leather.
"It's quite… muggle of you," he said carefully.
"A gift from my father," Tom said sharply.
"I see," Abraxas said quietly, slipping his book into his robe pocket. "For your coming of age and all." Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautifully engraved, golden pocket watch. "Wizards are traditionally given a pocket watch when they turn of age."
Tom thought of the silver watch Professor Slughorn wore on a double-albert chain. Dumbledore had a watch he would occasionally pull out, with a face that would glow turquoise blue.
Tom stared at the boy's golden watch before looking back to his. He unstrapped the watch and removed it from his wrist, then tapped it with his pale yew wand.
The corridors were filling up again and at last, with a final lurch, the train came to a complete halt.
Together they made their way onto the dark platform.
. . .
They reached the castle steps at last and as the great oaken front doors swung open into the vast flagged entrance hall, a burst of talk and laughter and of tinkling plates and glasses greeted them through the doors standing open into the great Hall.
The Great Hall with its four long House tables and its staff table set at the top of the room, was decorated as usual with floating candles that made the plates below glitter and glow in a shimmering blur.
"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Grindelwald and his followers are at large and gaining strength."
The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Dippet spoke. Tom looked around the hall. Dippet had everyone's full attention now. Except for Walburga, who was not looking at Headmaster Dippet but instead, making his fork hove in midair with his wand, as though she found the headmaster's words unworthy of her attention.
He eye it as it crossed the table and proceeded to take a few good jabs at the girl's younger cousin.
"We cannot know for certain how dangerous the present situation is in effect to Hogwarts, but rest assured, much care has been taken to ensure that we remain safe. Still, we must guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them- in particular, the rule that you are not to be out after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves always, with the utmost regard for your own and other's safety."
Dippet's brown eyes swept over the students.
Tom listened attentively until food began appearing on the platters before them.
He reached across Rosier for a couple of chicken legs and a handful of chips as the great hall erupted in chatter.
"It's a load of bollocks if you ask me," Tom heard Yaxley saying.
"It's like this," he continued, "See, Grindelwald has control over most Europe and he's still working to build his reign there. Sure, theres been some activity in Britain, but he certainly doesn't have time to go raising an army there. There's no point to this curfew nonsense."
"That's right," Greengrass chipped in, "And over christmas I heard... things," The blonde said before taking a dainty bite into her salad. The slytherins leaned in closer towards her. Greengrass took a sip from her glass, relishing in the atmosphere she had created.
"Well? Get on with it, Olivia," Walburga hissed to the girl next to her.
She smirked and leaned in over the table, saying in hushed tones, "Grindelwald is letting the mudbloods go. Blood supremacy doesn't matter to him. It's the power he's after, he merely wants to dominate and rule the muggles," She told them.
"What are you on about, haven't you been keeping the news? All the attacks-"
"None targeted the mudbloods. It's power he's after, not blood supremacy. He's overthrowing the wizarding governments now, but first he had to infiltrate the muggle's.
And that's not all." She blinked and went back to eating her food.
"You're going to leave it at bloody that?" said Mulciber incredulously, his hand turning white around his knife.
"Ow! You absolute cow!" Greengrass complained, rubbing at her arm where Walburga had pinched her.
"Oh, just spit it out already!"
"I will not!"
"Olivia," Tom's velvety voice cut in quietly, "I'd be pleased to hear what you have to say. After all, you have proven time and again the value of your words."
Tom smiled mechanically.
"Oh! Of course Tom!" Greengrass simpered, the her cheeks faintly flushed. "Well, see, Grindelwald," she tucked a curly strand behind her ear, "They say he fears Dumbledore!" she explained, voice hushed.
The conversation halted, as a row of heads slowly turned to the front of the hall.
But not for long.
"That barmy codger?" Mulciber said confused. "You can't seriously expect us to believe the Dark Lord Grindelwald is afraid of him." He looked at Greengrass with disbelief.
"I don't tell lies, Mulciber," Greengrass hissed indignant.
None of them could deny that.
"There's no doubt Dumbledore is an accomplished wizard," Abraxas started slowly, "But it does seem quite mad," he said to Greengrass who raised her chin at them.
"I swear I heard it," she insisted.
The food vanished, replaced with puddings.
Grindelwald feared Dumbledore? Tom was intrigued.
"You're lying," Walburga hissed, "The dark lord Grindelwald would never fear a muggle lover like Dumbledore! And let's say if the other nonsense you heard about Grindelwald is true, at least he's doing something about those vermin. The muggles are offing each other by the hundreds, it's the best thing to happen to the wizarding world since Sleekeazy's!"
The fact was indisputable to the slytherins.
The conversation lulled.
With the usual deafening, scraping noise, the benches moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall toward their dormitories.
