"Clearly my expectations regarding Potion's Class were sorely misplaced."

As they headed up to the Defense classroom from the Potion's dungeon, Tom mulled over his first day of experiences with his new teachers. The usual smirk placed proudly on his pale lips.

"What do you mean, Tom?" Hermoine asked him as they waited for the moving staircase to pause on the proper floor. "He's a bit ostentatious, sure, but overall I think he's a fairly good teacher."

"I'm not saying he's not a good teacher." He said. "I just thought his coursework would be a bit more difficult than it was. Considering how famous he is as a teacher in the subject."

Harry shrugged in response.

"I don't get you, mate." Ron said, shaking his head. "You say the weirdest things."

"Just the way my mind works, I suppose." Tom replied. "Hagrid seemed like an interesting enough Professor."

"He's a fair bloke, yeah."

"You confused him a good bit with that stunt which you pulled at the end of class." Harry said.

"Stunt?" Hermoine repeated.

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." He said flippantly. "Darling, what are you looking so down for? I thought Defense Against the Dark Arts was your favorite subject."

"It was," Harry said, unable to quite help himself from dragging his feet. "Then Snape got the job; he used to be the Potion's Master."

"Severus Snape, the current head of Slytherin House?"

"He hated my father because of what he did to him as a school boy, and he's hated me since the first day of school because I look like him."

"Not to mention he's a Death Eater."

"Ronald!" Hermoine swatted at him with her copy of Confronting the Faceless. "He was a Death Eater, but is now a respected member of the Order of the Phoenix; you know better."

"Once a Death Eater always a Death Eater." Tom said softly as they dismounted the stairs. "Lord Voldemort is good at scrambling the already brittle minds of his followers, and once he has his claws in you he doesn't let you go; you sell your soul when you take the Dark Mark."

"Dumbledore trusts him."

"And if Dumbledore were to tell you that You-Know-Who had reformed would you believe him?" Ron demanded.

"Oh, stop it! You know that would never happen!" Tom's efforts to smother a snicker resulted in an entirely undignified snort. Harry couldn't help but smile. "All three of you are horrible!"

She's sped her pace and headed into the room ahead of them.

"I'll never understand what she sees in him." Ron grumbled as they followed her. "I mean, sure. Dumbledore is a powerful wizard and the only one that You-Know-Who ever feared-."

"I wouldn't say feared; that's a little far." Tom cut in.

Ron ignored him and continued "but he's getting up in years. And even he can't be right all the time, can he?"

"No. You're absolutely right." The dark brunette said as they sat down at the table which Hermoine had claimed. "He can't be right about everything. No one can. Yet, like lemmings, many still take his word as gospel."

Their conversations came to an end as their Professor swept into the room, robes fluttering behind him like the leathery black wings of a massive bat.

"First day back together after the holidays." His black eyes centered in on Harry. "And we've the whole class back together again. Joy." Sarcasm dripped from his drawling tone like poison. "And we've a new student as well, I see. Potter's…boyfriend."

The Slytherins in the room all heckled. Tom simply smiled, pale lips pulling back over white teeth into a grin which reminded Harry poignantly of a shark. A smile which he'd seen only twice before, in the graveyard and in the Ministry, on the twisted pale perversion of his handsome youthful face.

Snape didn't quite succeed in keeping the sudden jolt of learned fear off his sallow, sharp featured face. Scenting blood Tom leaned forward over the desk, one graceful pale hand splaying carefully across the dark wood to support his weight.

"Tom Gaunt, Professor. I've heard a great deal about you from my boyfriend and I'm sure that you'll find my skill in this particular subject, as well as associated subjects… Impressive."

Regaining his composure at a speed which even Harry had to admit was admirable, Snape sneered at him. "We shall see. Though, frankly, I expect you to be as vapid as the company you use to warm your bed."

The snickering from the Slytherins had transformed into full-blown laughter now. The dangerous grin hadn't slipped an inch from Tom's face, nor did he relax his posture. It didn't escape the raven's notice that their Professor was now standing almost abnormally straight, shoulders set and tense.

"I am aware that the false Auror who managed to infiltrate the Castle during your fourth year taught the lot of you at the very least a brief overview of the Unforgivable Curses." He continued, beginning to pace the open stage at the front of the room. "Today we'll be going more in depth with one of them; the Imperious Curse. Or, more accurately, how to break free should you find yourself under the sway of such a spell. Draco," the smirking blonde was on his feet moments later, "you'll be one of the two students I'll use to demonstrate this matter to the class. Gaunt," his black eyes fell on Tom again, "you'll be the other."

"It would be my pleasure, Professor." Tom rose from his seat and strode serenely towards the front of the room to stand before Draco, who was grinning at him as if he were a cat expecting an easy kill.

Harry never would've thought he'd find himself in a situation in which he'd ever be worried for the safety of Draco Malfoy. Considering that the blonde stood before a younger version of the Dark Lord and was entirely unaware of that fact, he knew that Tom had nothing to worry about. The Malfoy heir was lucky that it was the Imperious Curse, and not the Cruciartus Curse, that they were learning to throw off that day.

"Draco, you will cast the spell and you, Gaunt, will shake it off. Or try to." He said. "Begin!"

"Imperio!" A cloud of yellowish-green smoke shot out of the tip of Draco's wand and swiftly made its way towards Tom. Once it had faded from view, the dark brunet raised an eyebrow.

"That's the best that you can do?" he sneered, fingering the carved handle of his own wand. "I can't tell if you're unable to muster up the proper intent or just so pitifully weak willed that your diminutive spell merely curled up and died the instant that it came up against mine. Allow me, Professor, to properly demonstrate to the class the Imperius Curse." The smile slid from Draco's face like oil as Tom leveled his wand at him. "Imperio!"

Malfoy's silver eyes instantly glazed over.

"Poor thing. He's simply no match for me." He trilled, grinning savagely. Raising his wand, he pointed the tip of it sharply at the floor. "On all fours. Bark like the little dog you are."

Ron looked gleeful at the display of the Malfoy heir on all fours doing an imitation of what could just as easily have been a seal as a dog. Hermoine, however, looked horrified.

"Tom, stop!"

But the other boy ignored him. "Why don't you show me your forearms, darling. Just to make sure you don't have any marks you really shouldn't."

Before he could comply with his demand Tom's wand went sailing out of his hand and into Snape's, breaking his concentration and the sway of the spell. Draco, flaming red with embarrassment, shot a mutinous look at Tom before fleeing back to his seat. Snape looked furious as he thrust the wand back at him.

"100 points from Gryffindor for attempting to humiliate another student. You will report to my office after dinner has concluded for detention so that you can be properly taught the moral code of this school."

"Of course, Professor." Tom replied, unabashed, as he took his wand. "I'll be there. Right on time."

"You had best be." He growled. "Class dismissed."

Chairs scraped against the tiled floor. Their classmates rose around them, chatting to each other as they stuffed their books back into their bags. Tom rejoined them with an air of disappointment to his features.

"Blast, I blew our chance." Tom huffed. "Should have had him do it earlier."

"You were going to use the Imperious Curse to attempt to substantiate a frankly ridiculous theory?" Hermoine hissed at him as they left. "He's too young to be a Death Eater!"

"I wouldn't say that, Hermoine." Harry said. "He might have been at one point, but now he's desperate for followers."

"I hadn't originally planned to use the Imperious Curse to make him reveal whether or not he had the Dark Mark, no. But the opportunity was so kindly dropped into my lap." Tom replied. "That I let that opportunity slip through my fingers shows I'm going soft."

"Or that you need to work on resisting the urge to toy with people."

"Hmm. Perhaps you're right, Precious."

"I can't believe we lost 100 points over you doing something so stupid!"

"I think that that show was worth it, even if it does put the Snake House Gits ahead of us in the race for the House Cup." Ron cackled as the Fat Lady's portrait swung open for them. "You should have made him lick your boots."

"It's lucky that he didn't." Harry said. "Snape probably would have killed him then and there."

"Oh, darling, you know that I can hold my ground. Even if I am facing off against a bat of a Professor. Or, for that matter, a batty Professor. I can't quite tell which one he is." Tom led the way up the dormitory stairs and tossed his textbook into his trunk. "Looks like Nagini has made herself quite a home on your bed, Harry." The massive snake was coiled up fast asleep and half buried beneath his unmade sheets. "Not hard to believe, considering that you left her a nest."

"She can stay there if she wants." He replied somewhat distractedly, closing the lid of his trunk with a dull thump. "We should head down to dinner now. You barely ate anything at lunch and missed breakfast all together. Detentions with Snape are horrible; you'll need the energy for cleaning out cauldrons."

"I'll be cleaning out cauldrons, will I? I thought he wasn't the Potion's Master anymore."

"He isn't, but having to scrub clean cauldrons is an awful experience and he's such a sadistic Prat that I doubt the punishment will have changed."

"Our definitions of 'sadistic' differ astronomically." He noted with a snort as they started back down the stairs. "On the subject of the Potion's Master, I had expected Horace Slughorn to be far more observant. Evidently I overestimated his abilities. And his memory."

"Better for us that we don't have to worry about him recognizing you."

"Bloody hell, you two don't waste a moment in getting to the bedroom talk once the day is over." Ron snickered, narrowly dodging Harry's elbow as they rejoined Hermoine who had been conversing with Ginny at the time. "Are you coming to dinner? Mum and Dad won't be happy if they find out I let you start skipping meals."

"I'll eat later, Ron." She told him, snapping her book closed. "I have homework and, unlike someone I know, I care enough about my schoolwork not to leave it to the last possible second."

"Oh, such venom!" Tom chuckled with a smirk which was mirrored by Hermoine. "Perhaps you ought to learn from your sister's example. Grades are important later in life, you know. And studying isn't overly difficult."

"Easy for you to say, mate; from what you pulled in our classes today I'd be willing to say you're even smarter than Hermoine!" Ron complained as they began to walk back towards the portrait hole. "How you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw I've no idea."

"The Hat considered it."

Ginny waited a good ten minutes after they'd vanished from sight and the common room had all but cleared out to set her plan in motion. Pushing her work aside she quickly scaled the stairs to the 6th year boy's dormitory. Poking her head in through the door, she cautiously scanned the room in order to ensure that she was truly alone before edging fully into the room and shutting the door behind her.

Well aware that they could return from dinner at any moment she quickly crossed the room to Harry's trunk and hauled open the lid. As swiftly as she could manage without causing undue disturbance to his surrounding belongings, Ginny sifted through his things in search of the innocent appearing parchment. Casting glances over her shoulder at the dormitory door every few moments to ensure that she was still alone. Then, finally, there.

The Marauder's Map.

She'd heard enough stories about the item by now to be intimately aware of what it did, who created it and how it was properly operated. And what made it worth the risk of breaking into the belongings of her long time crush and her brother's best friend was the particular property which had come to light during the Scabbars-Peter Pettigrew debacle.

It did not display aliases, only the person's true name.

Sending one final glance towards the stairs, she pulled her wand from her robes and tapped the parchment in her hands.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ink bloomed across its age-yellowed surface and Ginny wasted no time in ripping it open. Her eyes immediately went to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and scouring its length, locating her brother's name. Hermoine's. Harry's. And there, plain as day beside him, sat a monster.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

I knew it! She'd recognized the fair-faced demon the moment that she'd first laid eyes on him but hadn't been able to act against him while at home in the Burrow. He was the Dark Lord, or at least some shard of him, and even surrounded by able of-age witches and wizards she'd feared for her family.

But now that she was back at Hogwarts and had this final confirmation of his identity in hand she could finally get rid of him.

Ginny wasn't quite sure what he was-a shade of the bastard, like what had lived inside of the demented diary which had forced her to unleash the Basilisk during her first year, feeding off of the raven like a parasite or Voldemort himself using a glamor to play some manner of sick game with his obsession-but to her it really didn't make a difference. All that mattered was putting an end to it, and to do so she'd need help.

"Mischief Managed."

Concerns confirmed, she no longer needed the map and dropped it back amongst Harry's things. Now all she needed to do was get out of the dormitory before she was caught.

When the lid of the trunk fell closed Ginny found herself face to face with a loudly hissing Nagini; the serpent had gone unnoticed beneath the pile of sheets coiled at the foot of Harry's bed and had been disturbed by the sounds of her rummaging carelessly through his things. And, unfortunately for her, things kept getting worse for her from there. Her retreat out of the snake's reach led her to stumble straight into Harry's chest as he was coming up the stairs with Ron just behind.

"Ginny? What are you doing up here?" he asked, sounding both confused and genuinely concerned.

"I needed more parchment to finish my paper but my stores had run out so I came up here to borrow some from Ron," she lied, hastily looking him over in search of any signs of declining health. He wasn't any paler than usual, his green eyes were as clear and unshadowed as ever and the circular bruises which had braceleted his throat over break-she shuddered to think about the other potential explanation for them-had disappeared. "I must have mixed up your trunk with his and accidentally woke up the snake."

"Nagini?" he looked over at the serpent on his bed. She hissed something indecipherable which caused his eyebrows to knit together momentarily. "She didn't try to bite you, did she?"

Ginny shook her head. "No. Gave me a right scare, though."

"Sorry about that." He said as Ron handed her a piece of blank parchment alongside a mild admonishment about not following their mother's instructions to restock over the holiday.

Once both siblings had returned down the stairs Harry turned his attention back to Nagini. "You said that she had the Map?"

"I assume so. She spoke the charm needed to operate it."

He pulled open the lid of his trunk and looked inside; sitting atop the stirred contents was the familiar form of the Marauder's Map. "Do you know what she was looking at?"

"I can't be sure; I couldn't see around the lid."

"So it could have been nothing?"

"It could have been."

The rational part of him doubted that was true.