February 22, 1943
Overall, Merissa had expected the majority of the backlash she would receive from the article would be either jeers across the Great Hall asking if she needed her transfiguration homework done for her, or patronizing empathetic looks in the corridors from people who didn't know her well, both of which she was certain she could have held her head high and ignored.
While there was plenty of these, the reaction that she had not expected was how people she had class with for years were suddenly willing to ignore the hundreds of times she had performed magic in front of them and believe she was indeed, a squib. For this, she was entirely at a loss how to react to.
When in Charms she was slipped a note from Patrick Burke, a lanky fellow Ravenclaw, asking if it were true, all she could do was stare blankly back at him. Eventually she crumpled the slip of parchment and sending it floating back to him, what she thought was a answer enough to his question. Even then, he seemed more confused than convinced.
Not only were some willing to selectively forget five years of magic, but the fear mongering that had manifested in the last paragraph from the anonymous source created more of a reaction than she could have ever foreseen. Perhaps it had a bit to do with how she had become a member of a rather notorious group, or maybe how she had been skulking around the castle lately, or possibly it was just that the purplish bruises that crept up below her eyes had never really gone away this year. Equally so, she had a long history with Abraxas, who was best known for his quidditch talents, second only to his family's reputation of blood elitism. While the two seemed unrelated to Merissa, people had a propensity of tying wickedness along with it. The uneasy whispers and averted eyes as she passed by were better - and worse - than the alternative loud jokes.
Monday morning when she arrived at the greenhouses, she was determined to avoid all of it, marching through the flickering glances and outright stares to join Abby and James near the door the the greenhouse, just as their professor began ushering them in. After all, the news was days old now, she thought perhaps if she acted as normal as possible, others would follow suit. So far, it failed to catch on, eyes following her into the muggy warmth of the greenhouse.
"Good morning," she greeted the duo, walking alongside them to their station at the far end of the greenhouse.
"Good morning!" Abby piped brightly, "We missed you at breakfast."
"I wasn't hungry," Merissa shrugged, willing herself not to listen to the frantic whispering of Betty Macmillan to her Hufflepuff friends, just over the redhead's shoulder.
Macmillan's honey-blonde ponytail bounced like a bobber in her vigor. Despite her best efforts, Merissa distinctly heard the words "secret" "power-hungry" and "poison".
"Shut it, Macmillan," Susan snapped loudly, glowering down the group of yellow and black clad girls, as she arrived just behind them, "If anyone's a squib, its you. Spreading fertilizer in this class is the most impressive magic I've ever seen from you."
"Why don't you shut it, Nigellus?" Merissa shot back snidely, "Her only crime is believing rumors - you've been supplying them for weeks."
"It is her fault for berating you though," Susan muttered, ignoring the jibe as she joined them.
Another unexpected result of the article's release had been a major shift in demeanor in Susan. The girl, who had spent weeks as an aggressor, suddenly became Merissa's main defender, shutting down anyone that might even have an whisper of gossip on their lips. Although Merissa had never outwardly admitted it, she had missed her friend, which was why the timing of her switch could not be more ironic - it was the one thing Merissa refused to forgive her for. What she had done hadn't been some play for Alphard's attention or petty act of jealousy. It was downright vicious.
"Well it is your fault for selling me out to Clarence Day," Merissa bit back, pulling 101 Herbs and Fungi from her bag and slamming it onto the table. James raised his eyebrows at her while Susan groaned.
"I have told you every day since, I am sorry about messing with your notes that morning, but I did not ransack your things or speak to Day. I was in detention for the Hogsmeade trip, I couldn't have!"
"I doubt you would let anything hinder you from destroying my life," Merissa retorted, pulling on her long dragonhide gloves with a snap, "But I'm sure it was some other anonymous Ravenclaw."
"It was," the girl hissed back earnestly, pulling her hair back to begin working on the group's Chinese Chomping cabbage, "Or someone else who solved the eagle's riddle! There's plenty of people angry at you this year, Re. I want to know who did just as much as you."
"Excuse me," Merissa hissed, "Re is a pet name. Reserved for friends."
Susan closed her jaw tight, making Merissa smugly turn her full attention to her notes. Apparently, the cabbage's gaping mouth should have been covered last class with moss, which they had either missed, or more likely, was removed by an impassioned Hufflepuff after they had left. Surely, sabotaging her would have gone a long way with Betty Macmillan and her friends. Sighing, Merissa started dripping water into the cabbages lips to rehydrate them.
"Good morning class!" Professor Asselman called, preventing them from continuing their conversation, which Susan was likely to attempt, "I want to make absolutely sure everyone is wearing their gloves today, because we're going to be feeding and I don't want any missing fingers. They are particularly attracted to the scent of blood."
Abby blanched slightly, pulling her bare hand away from the animated vegetable. For now, it was only moving lethargically, still sleepy from its long nap inside the dark room of the greenhouse. James carefully placed it into a sunny patch on the table and its wide mouth began moving with more zeal. From there on, they worked diligently, if not more quietly than usual, taking turns tossing grubs to the cabbage, which munched them up with vigor. All the while, Susan hissed denials every few minutes, grating on Merissa's nerves. By the end of class, she slapped down her trowel, nearly cleaving the cabbage in half, and turned to look up at the olive-skinned girl.
"Fine, Nigellus," she agreed waspishly, "I will accept that it was not you and forgive you for what a complete fathead you've been if you can prove that it was someone else who spoke to Day."
"Deal," Susan nodded enthusiastically without hesitation, making Merissa scowl, "I'll be sure to update you as I make progress. I already have likely suspects . . ."
"Scapegoats," Merissa muttered under her breath.
As the class headed back to the castle, Merissa walked with James again, grateful that he was being a faithful friend despite his dislike for the attention being around her brought. Abby had been rather distracted, as Thomas had asked her out on several more dates since Merissa's party, not that anyone blamed her. Susan walked on the other side of James, which was wise, as Merissa would have a sudden urge to stretch and smack Susan with her elbow if the girl came too close.
As they reached the stone steps leading to the castle, they passed a group of fourth year Ravenclaws, who were whispering and pointing at them as they passed, earning a quite frightening glower from Susan, who asked loudly, "Can I hex them?"
"I hardly think that would solve any infamousy," Merissa replied, miffed.
James laughed softly, "The world really has gone mad if you don't think jinxing someone or something will help."
"I resent that," she said, though her lips twitched.
Once they had made it to Transfiguration, she felt as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders in crossing the threshold. As this class was with Gryffindors, she was not concerned about being overly ogled at and the chances of anyone saying anything were slim. Though some of her classmates avoided her more, largely they seemed too preoccupied with interhouse affairs and their upcoming quidditch match to be bothered by her. Charlus Potter even offered her a smile as she took her seat, several spots in front of him. Apparently, he didn't care about Witch Weekly.
As Professor Dumbledore greeted them, she felt secure enough to ease her shoulders back into her chair and take coherent notes as he began lecturing. By the end of the hour, she had several handsome and functional lamps on her desk where birds had been hoping a mere hour ago. Though she had been slipping in most of her classes, she had kept up to her usual high level in this one. Leaning back in her seat, she shot Abby a smirk from a few desks down where she was chatting with Thomas, turned completely around in his chair to face her. The redhead through back a dazzled grin over his shoulder and Merissa snorted lightly, turning back to her table just as Dumbledore breezed by.
"Excellent work, Miss Thorpe," her professor praised, transforming her lamps back into birds, which fluttered away to the rafters, "I am glad you are continuing to perform so well, even with so much of your time taken up after hours."
Her eye flashed up, but the man had already moved on to Jame's desk, complimenting him on the detail on his single golden lamp. They were diminished shortly after, and Merissa wasted no time picking up her bag, and walking to lunch, slightly shaken. She told herself there was no way he could know, yet she had a hard time shaking the feeling, as Dumbledore always seemed to know more than he should. Cloaks were only so effective and she hadn't been as careful as usual. Dumbledore was, after all, who she had asked about the chamber in the first place. At the very least, he must have noticed her increased time spent with Riddle lately.
By the time she had reached the Great Hall, she had decided she should at least mention the professors' strange comment to Riddle. She would have to make it another half-truth, but it would be better than to say nothing, so she made her way to the far end of the Great Hall.
Even after the article, Merissa spent most of her meals at the Slytherin table, as they were significantly less likely to mention it. Those in Riddle's circle obvious knew she was quite adept at magic from dueling practice, and even those who were not seemed more impressed at the suggestion she would dabble in dark arts than frightened. The notable exception was Olive Hornby, who was livid that the rumors hadn't damaged Merissa's reputation further. The blonde girl raised her nose as Merissa passed, and thoughts of charming Olive's goblet had just began crossing her mind, when Merissa stopped abruptly in front of the stretch of bench she had claimed as her own, any thoughts of alerting Riddle completely scaping her at the perculariar sight. A handsome eagle owl occupying her seat, attempting to peck at passersby.
"What is this? Post comes in the morning," she asked, shooing the ill-tempered bird so she could sit. It hopped into Abraxas's spot, as he hadn't returned from Divination yet. Alphard shrugged, but she suspected he might have an inkling, his body turned decidedly away. The bird came closer and gave her thumb a mighty peck as she was lowering her bag onto the floor..
"Ow, bloody hell," she hissed as Alphard took her hand into his lap and began wrapping his napkin around her now bleeding finger without a word. She narrowed her eyes at the tawny creature before snatching the letter from it with her uninjured right hand.
The envelope only had her name written across the front. She didn't recognize the script and or the bright plum ink. Intrigued, she slashed the top open with a swish of her wand, pulling out a piece of parchment and three attached pages. The message on the first page was short.
Make sure you keep up with the news, Miss Thorpe. -C.D.
She flipped the parchment over, but it was otherwise blank. Moving on to the attached pages, she realized they were pulled from a magazine, a section dedicated to opinions written in by readers. Witch Weekly had a column like this, and she was all too aware of who the columnist in charge was.
"That's not?" Alphard hedged, peering over her shoulder.
"Oh, it is," she assured him, her eyes scanning down the page. This week, it seemed all anyone wanted to write in about was her, the supposed squib. Her name was referenced in every single paragraph, and if that wasn't obvious enough, the same neon ink that the note had been in had circled every single one. She flipped to the next page, finding it was a similar column from a different magazine. The third was the same, covered in small violet circles that somewhat reminded her of dragon pox. It made the page look diseased.
Even if the note hadn't been intialed she would have quickly guessed who would care enough to go through and highlight her name and then send her these. She shook her head, lips turning up as her eyes went down the page. A low laugh escaped her lips.
"As a mother of a Hogwarts student, the blatant disregard for safety as allowing a dangerous student like Merissa Thorpe among our children makes me frightened and concerned. I will be writing my child twice a day until this matter is resolved," Merissa read aloud to him, "Twice a day? Poor thing," she laughed louder.
He stared at her as if she had finally gone mad, but she was too busy reading to notice.
"Oh, this one is good, 'When I was in school they had real discipline for students, and they never would have gone so far out of line. Allowing a known bully a position of power like prefect is not punishment. If schools still practiced military discipline, we wouldn't have these delinquents,'" she snorted, her eyes moving further down the page, "You don't even want to know what this one calls me, though I think you'd enjoy the colorful insult."
"Why in the name of Merlin's overgrown nose hair would you find that funny," he snapped, taking the page she had already finished from the table.
"See that nose hair comment was exactly what I am talking about - it's an old one. These are fresh," she grinned as his frown deeped, eyes moving down the page.
As he skimmed, Druella awkwardly reached around the sizable owl to put a hand on Merissa's shoulder, "You don't have to be strong, sweetie. What they wrote about you was a truly offensive and outrageous lie."
Merissa gave her a short smile. Druella was the last person's opinion she cared about at the moment.
"This one also says she plans on sending several howlers, preferably in the middle of the night as soon as she finds out how to send you mail directly" Alphard said, putting down the column and looking at her with apprehension.
"Maybe I can put it in Susan's bed," she considered, utterly unconcerned. She turned over the last page, "This one might be about you, Hornby, it says 'desperate skinflint'. Can you confirm Lestrange?"
"What is going on?" Abraxas had finally arrived, his eyes wide as he took in the scene. Not only was the large owl that occupied his intended stretch of bench was unfamiliar, but Lestrange has sprung up a few seats down, looking like he might hop the table to tackle Merissa.
"I would suggest you sit down, Lestrange," Abraxas told him coolly, as he forced the owl aside, avoiding its eager beak, "Assuming you value your face on that part of your body."
Lestrange looked incredulously to Riddle for support, but he had not paid them any mind, reading his Potions book and he ate. It was Mulciber who eventually yanked the sallow boy back down, muttering to himself.
"I have fans," Merissa told Abraxas loftily, ignoring the two Slytherin goons as she handed him the pages she had just finished.
"This is an opinion column," he frowned, "And it says this woman from Glasgow hopes you get expelled for being a filthy squib."
"Yes," she agreed, "It does."
"You don't care then?" Alphard clarified, watching her take a bite of roast. If he had seemed surprised she didn't crack at the release of the article, he was now entirely flabbergasted. Before he was waiting for her to cry, now he seemed ready for her to spontaneously combust.
She snorted, "What are angry housewives going to do? Make me do the dishes?"
"I don't get it," Andrew stated, Druella bobbed her head vigorously in agreement glancing from him to Merissa.
"Because this means this is the best they can do," Merissa stated, a flick of her wrist indicating the articles, "And it's pathetic. I didn't even see these on my own, Clarence Day had to send them to me directly. He's trying awfully hard to get me to care because its already had its run," she crumpled the pages into a ball and caught them on fire, allowing them to smoulder, "Wow, look, magic!" she exclaimed in feigned surprise. Alphard guffawed.
"It is ludicrous, even defending it," Abraxas sneered, "Besides the fact you are obviously able to perform magic, everyone know squibs cannot be produced by two purebloods. That should be enough proof for anyone with the slightest knowledge of magical bloodlines," his haughty stare made those who had doubted it for a moment look down in shame.
"Maybe she wasn't then," Lestrange said snidely from his spot several seats down. Merissa's eyes narrowed at him and his fork inexplicably began poking him furiously in the chest. Olive Hornby cried out, attempting to bat it away. She was unsuccessful and started to screech louder, looking around desperately.
"Be more careful with your wand Lestrange," Riddle drawled, flicking his own wand to stop Merissa's silent spell. She had gone back to her soup after taking Abraxas' hand back and displaying it on the table innocently. Tom eyed her knowingly before returning to his book.
"Anyone with half a brain knows it's codswallop, Merissa," Druella said earnestly, speaking up again. She was looking at Merissa and Abraxas' intertwined hands, "You two are the perfect example of a pureblood couple, as it should be - proper and arranged. Anyone to question your magic is as absurd as anyone questioning your relationship. Ridiculous."
The younger Rosier laughed, making Alphard wince next to her, but Merissa kept her smile, "Thank you Druella. It means a lot that you're being such a loyal friend."
Druella's comment was a reminder, however, that bad as things were, Merissa could be grateful Clarence Day was holding back the story he had seemed to originally be after. This, at least would not involve her parents or her precarious arrangement with Abraxas. Patronizing pity or mistrust were better than the alternative, or so she told herself. Turning back to her meal, she managed only a few more bites before she was interrupted again.
"You coming, Re?" Abby called from across the aisle. Merissa frowned down at Abraxas' watch and found it was already time for potions. Her stomach still felt rather empty and she eyed the remainder of her roast.
"Yes, one second Abby," she called before turning to Abraxas as she picked up her bag, "You don't mind do you?" she asked him, for the benefit of their charade.
She was well aware he would rather her walk with them than anywhere close to Tom, who had recently departed the table, his potions book in tow. Abraxas nodded briefly, distracted by something Avery was muttering in his ear.
"You coming?" she asked Alphard as she slung her bag onto her shoulder.
"Naw, I'll catch up," he shrugged. He had bewitched the remainder of his roll to skate around his plate, occasionally slipping on gravy and now was watching it, amused. Apparently, he wasn't too concerned about being late. He didn't crave Slughorn's attention like the rest of his house.
"Fair enough," she said airily, raising her eyebrows at him as she went to join her friends. She had to admit - she didn't quite know how he had managed to make things anything but incredibly awkward between them, given their last encounter, but he had kept his unspoken promise and hadn't made a fuss about the matter. Things weren't quite uncomfortable, but not like they had been either.
When she reached the group, they formed a sort of protective formation around her, with James and Abby on either side and Susan taking up the back. Despite her anger, Merissa couldn't refute a certain amount of respect for the other girl's persistence.
As they descended into the dungeons, Merissa could feel a nervous shiver rising in her, an it took her until they were just outside the classroom for her to realize the cold air had little to do with it. The large congregation of Slytherin boy's outside made her realize, she had not talked to Tom since their confrontation last week, her having skeeved out of meeting with him over the weekend. Abraxas had conveyed the message that she was sick to him, and Merissa had been cautious enough to pretend to Abraxas as well that she was ill.
According to Abraxas, he had taken this well, so Merissa had theorized Tom didn't feel he had adequately bullied someone unless they avoided him somewhat after. He likely saw her inability to face him other than across the table at meals as appropriate. She refused to let him interfere with her school work however, so she marched into potions without bothering to see if he was with the gang of boys.
Sitting alone at their desk, she felt more confident. If he had been in the group - which she thought likely - he had surely just seen her swagger past without bothering any about him. Taking pride on her conviction, she sat with her back straight and her neck arched elegantly as she unpacked her potions kit and set up her ingredients. By the time she was pleased enough by her arrangement, the last few stragglers were coming in through the door, but Tom still hadn't arrived. Slughorn rose to close the door, his small eyes flickering to the vacant seat next to Merissa.
He wasn't coming, she realized, suddenly feeling like she had been dipped into the Black Lake. The icy chill solidified in her spine, making her shiver. Riddle never missed class, with a few significant exceptions. He had missed potions just once before, the day she had flaunted her successful removal of a curse on the necklace he had gifted to her. Racking her brain, she tried to recall if he had been acting peculiar, but he had done nothing but reading his potions textbook. She turned in her seat to look for any sign from Abraxas, but he stared blankly back at her until she swiveled back to face the front of the classroom.
Shaking her head, she tried to focus on what Slughorn was saying - something about tentacula leaves - but her thoughts were entirely invasive today. Could this absence be similar to the last? Was he perhaps dealing with someone, or having another conniption? Taking swift inventory of the classroom as she retrieved ingredients from Slughorn's desk, she found no one missing other than Riddle. Even more disturbingly, she wondered if he could have possibly had an epiphany about the chamber and be scoping it out, while she sat trapped in here. By all means, he could be opening it right now, she theorized panickedly, her eyes fixed on the door.
But this seemed unlikely. He didn't have the advantage that they did - knowing specifically what the page had said. Instead, he had a purposefully error ridden version that would lead him as far away from the truth as possible. The more she considered it, the more unlikely it seemed that Riddle would make any significant leaps today or any day until she already had. Calming herself with the thought, she finally was able to make clear the instructions Slughorn had written across the chalkboard. Flipping to the correct section, she poured all of her attention into the task.
She began brewing, hindered slightly not having her usual helper. Still, she experimented enough on her own to get by and soon the cauldron was filled with mustard lapping liquid. Squinting at it as she directed it with her wand, she decided it was far too thin, and began adding pinches of beetle powder and it quickly became more like nectar.
Slughorn began rounding the room and came to her desk. Though he walked without apparent purpose, he rarely visited her desk, if only to smile and move on, so she knew when he lingered a moment he had something to say. Afterall, with Abraxas and Alphard brewing together just a few desks behind and Hornby and Susan in the last row, there were more pressing crises to prevent.
"Excellent work Miss Thorpe," Slughorn said brightly, watching her stir with one hand while she charmed her knife to chop boneset leaves. She smiled, nodded and thanked him, and he cleared his throat, "You wouldn't happen to know what became of Mr. Riddle this afternoon, would you?"
"I couldn't say sir," she told him plainly. This time he smiled and nodded, moving on to Avery and Nott's table. Once he had left, Merissa chewed on her lip, knowing even a month ago she would have leapt at the opportunity to add, 'Though Riddle looked perfectly healthy during lunch'. Undermining him seemed so petty now, she didn't know why she bothered.
A small part of her mind became available for other ponderings again, the potion mostly completed and it was quick to take up the same topic. While the possibility of Riddle opening the chamber seemed outlandish now that she was calmed, the question still remained, why skip class at all?
Merissa stopped stirring abruptly, splashing a few drops onto the hem of her robes, where it sizzled through the fabric. Blinking rapidly as if the invasive thought would be pushed away, she equally wanted nothing to do with the thought and wanted to bask in it all afternoon. Could the reason for his absence be because their last encounter had affected him too?
It seemed unlikely on first consideration. Riddle was always reserved and cool towards her - as he was to everyone. He cared about no one besides their obedience and what they could give him. They were all dogs to him, and not particularly interesting ones at that. But it was true that she seemed to be the only person who could elicit strong emotions from him, violent or otherwise.
Waving away the smoke,she realized it was from her robes which remained smoldering at spots. She waved her wand to extinguish them absentmindedly, not caring to fix the holes at the moment.
Pursing her lips, she went back to her potion. Though she doubted he lacked the capacity for real emotions, he had wanted to collect her. And maybe that would prove to be a powerful asset. That was all she could consider it - a hand over him. In the end, she needed to use every advantage she had if she wanted to find the chamber before the heir himself.
I'm BACKKK! Sorry for being The Worst and not updating, you know how it be with me and school haha. Its officially been over a year since I published my first chapter! Which is insane, but also just wanted to thank you guys so much, some of you have been with me since the very beginning and some probably just started reading this week but either way I am just so blessed and happy to have such kind and supportive people to talk with(: this story really was my baby and I've been re-reading a lot and even when the parts that I don't like so much, like some earlier chapters just so many memories and hours have been put into this and it had truly inspired me to do so much more literary wise. It opened a door for me that I thought since deciding to be a sciencey major would never really be opened for me so anyways there's my really long winded thank you to everyone(: Also I wanted to apologize from the depths of my heart because when I was looking back I realized I missed some of your guys reviews! Which is even worse than taking a while to update imo and I'm so sorry about that. As most of you have probably noticed I response to reviews every other update but since I missed some from the last I might be changing that because I legitimately feel awful about it. Responses are right below. Until next time, and I will try to make that soon, thank you so much for reading!
arizontea: Hahaha Tom probably applies Abraxas' exorbitant facial peels when no one is in the dormitory, let's be real. Merope willed this child to have only Tom Riddle Senior features and forgot to hope he wouldn't inherit any of her crazy person genes. *Me thinking back to how Merissa almost exactly like her mother except her hair* haha. . . yea that darn JK Rowling. "Riddle's eye narrowed at her from across the table, and as his expression deepend, one eye drifted slowly to the left." On a more serious note, yes Alphard ): he is a sweet summer child, however misconstrued his efforts might be at times. I probably don't need to say, but he will not get what he wants in the end here, and its actually pretty sad. He hasn't done anything wrong, and by all regards him and Merissa would be good with each other in most respects. The biggest issue is just that he lacks the ability to recognize or deal with any of her negative qualities because he idealizes her so much. Thank you so much for reviewing, always hilarious.
Purretzel: I missed responding to your review on 31 I am so sorry! When people review more than once I lump the reponses together and since that happened on either side of your review I missed it entirely, but please know that I read it and cherished it and then when I saw you reviewed again I had a revelation moment when I sat up in bed and realized I hadn't responded to you, oh jeez. I'm so flattered that you made an account to read this, my goodness. That's amazing to hear(: I know I too had that one story that made me actually make an account so I could follow and review as well. I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter! It was one of my favorites to write, and I've gone back to the last bit a lot when I need inspiration. The best Tom Riddle story? Ah, you're killing me, thank you, thank you! They have always been my favorite (as you could probably guess) but I was kinda sad that there weren't that many Tom/oc, because for whatever reason I can't read Tom/Hermione. So it was always my goal to make a story that I would want to read so its great to hear that it became that for someone else(: Imaging someone talking about my story is so wild, you have no idea haha, thank you again!
CarolinaFlint: Thank you for your review! I always know its going to be a good one when I see your username (: Haha I love Clarence Day too, I mean obviously I don't like him as a person but as character I have a blast being this dramatic as heck guy with ridiculous fashion sense. I'm happy to hear you liked the squib reveal, I was super back and forth about what he was going to write about, but ultimately I decided having the article be about Alphard would push them together more than I want right now. Ahh so jazzed to put out that last line! I've been sitting on that scene since before I even started posting. You're completely spot on about there being turmoil, particularly in her family now that there's the tension with his run for minister. I'm very excited to post the chapters when she's back home, its been hard not to skip ahead in the timeline and write them. Oh my gosh thank you for the lilt correction, I went back and couldn't believe I had missed it haha. Thank you again for reading! I've been loving your story as well as always (:
daughterofthechief: I missed your review, I'm so sorry! And it was too relatable as well, I love finding a new story that I forgo sleep and school and anything else to read, and I'm so glad my story could be that for you! Tom/Merissa interactions are my favorite, I make it goal to have at least one per chapter because I love writing them, and you all say you love reading them, so absolute win-win. This chapter wasn't too heavy with them, but I swear I have a reason. Always happy for another Tom fan - I'm sure most of us here are, but I really appreciate you saying so(: Happy to hear Merissa comes across a full-bodied character, she's my little brain child and I've really enjoyed the journey of developing her. Fun-fact: she is based off the main character of an original period piecey story I made when I was about 10 about demons haha. Obviously never fit ot see the light of day, but she developed into something more and I like that she's stayed with me. As for your question about canon, yes and no. I know that's a super vague response but its really the best answer I can give. Things like the opening of the chamber, the diary and the theft of Slytherin's locket/the Hufflepuff cup will happen at the same times, however the motivations of everything might not be what HP implies. If you've ever read Green Eyed Monster by sphinxs-legend (and if you haven't, you should because its my end all, be all and Egypt is AMAZING and so kind) I take that approach to canon. Everything 'could' have happened the way the fic is written, there is room for it in canon, just that motivations of certain things were assumed and some details overlooked. The reason some really important events occur or Tom does something really rash or dangerous *COUGH COUGH* is because of something Dumbledore wasn't aware of. I have some really big plans for why Tom is the way he is though and I look so forward to revealing them, and until then, sitting on them like the evil person I am. I hope that answers your question enough! Thank you again for reviewing (: