Sophia dropped a stern glare at Abraxas, then she turned to Madonna. "I think I should leave, I have some important work in the Great Hall..." "Wait," Madonna held her hand back. Sophia blurted out "Are you serious, I am sure he is playing some tricks on us. I don't want to get humiliated again in front of everyone.""I guess we should look to this a bit carefully," Maddona reassured her.

Sophia didn't wait for another word, she turned back and rushed out of the library. Madonna too went after her in order to console her. Abraxas was left there all alone in the library; hefelt a bit offended anddishonoured in this situation.

Sophia was crying badly inside her dormitory, she was in a state of complete mental trauma. After all the insults, Malfoy was still at her back. He wouldn't stop bullying her until she left Hogwarts permanently. She sobbed on thinking about this. However, she didn't notice Madonna coming inside the dorm.

Madonna tried to rebuild her trust, "Sophia, maybe he is trying to correct himself. I think you should give him a chance."

Sophia rebuked, "Madonna, you know you are the only hope that I am staying in Hogwarts. You know that every Slytherin hates me because I am a halfbood and of my poor family status. How could you forget what Abraxas did to you in the corridor?"

"I haven't forgotten anything Sophia, but I can assure you one thing -- that no matter what happens, people all deserve a second chance. We all should have the opportunity to make the better of ourselves and correct all of our mistakes." Madonna said to her with a reassuring smile.

Suddenly,one ofRiddle'sfollowers interrupted her. "Mr.Riddle wants to meet you in the astronomy tower".

Madonna didn't want to leave her friend alone in this situation, but she had no other choice, reluctantly she headed in the direction of the Astronomy tower. She suddenly stumbled across the brown haired boy, Henry. The freckles on his smile was mesmerizing enough to make anyone fall for him just at the first sight.

"Greetings. Have called for me, Madonna?" Henry asked her cheerfully.

Madonna spoke to him in a low tune, cautiously and a bit stagerring while watching her surroundings "I wanted some serious help from you, it's a bit dangerous but it's our only chance to do it or else we all would suffer badly."

"What is it?"Henry replied puzelled.

"I have a plan, we have to steal some valuable informations, that Tom Riddle and his friends might be hiding from everyone_". Madonna stoped for a second, she gasped some air on her throat as she gathered some courage to finally articulate to Henry "I want you to cast Obliviate spell on Riddle. So I could do my part of work, without any casualties."

Henry rebuked, "What, you want me to mess upRiddle and all his other Slytherin friends, you know how they are right? Besides, Idon't even know anything about the Obliviate charm."

Madonna implored Henry, "Please Henry, you have to understand I don't have anyone else who could help me in this situation. And I wouldn't tell you if it wasn't so important."

Henry reproached"But I could Obliviate his friends instead of him..."

Madonna tried to convince him, "Henry, I will stay with Riddle, so you can get a chance to Obliviate him..."

"I may, but only on the condition that first you have to explain everything to me."

"I will tell you everything, meet me at the courtyard, soon after I finish talking with Riddle. Madonna assured him.

Henry muttered "I don't know why I am into this, but I feel that may be something that you are doing may be right and..."

"Hey.. Henry." His Griffindor friends called from behind.

Henry courteously mentioned his friends to come near them. Henry's friends came near him, but not before giving a piercing ascetic look at Madonna,it seemed likethey didn't like Madonna at all.

"Henry,what are doing with this Slytherin?"one of his friends asked him.

"You know how cunning and deceitful theyare right?"another friend mentioned it to him.

"For Merlin's sake, please don't think all Slytherins are the same. You people don't even know her. So how could you be so sure she is like the other Slytherins?"Henry defendedMadonna.

"It's alright Henry, I think I should leave you with your friends now. I don't want someone to dislike you just because of me."Madonna left Henry alone and went towards the Astronomy tower. She searched for Riddle in the entire seventh floor of the huge Hogwarts castle and finally found him inside the Hall of Hexes. She saw that Riddle was busy in observing something keenly. Madonna quickly went inside the small dimly lit room.

Riddle looked quite annoyed at her. "It's been nearly forty minutes since I called for you. Did Inot saythat I don't like to wait?You are just as useless as..."

Madonna said reproachingly, "I just had some important work to do."

Riddle locked his gaze at Madonna, "I warned you that if you want to work with me then you have to follow all my orders."

"But, I had some really important work..."

Irritated by her trifling justifications, Riddle bawled at her to keep quiet ,"You can do all your work you want, but then don't expect to work with me."

Madonna realized that Riddle was just treating her like his servant. She concealed her anger in the forethought that she could use it in abetter way againsthim later.

"Sorry, how can I assist you?"she finally yielded to Riddle.

"Do you have any knowledge about the revealing charms?" Riddle asked

"Not really,"she replied.

"Don't tell me that I have to teach you this too."

Madonna nodded her head in dissapointment.

"I thought the extraordinary girl at Hogwarts, whom teachers think to be my equal, would at least have some knowledge about transfiguration and advanced magic."Riddle said in a mocking tone. "But then since I have to work with you, I would have to take the pain in teaching you too."

Riddle motioned her to come near the broken slab at the corner. He picked up a small piece of black quill from it. He advised Madonna to hold his wand firmly at the object. "What do you think it might be?"he asked her.

"I don't see anything other then a piece of a quill."

Riddle nodded his head, "Of course no one else would see anything other than a silly price of drauge. That's why it easy to hide valuable objects into mere useless things. But at least try to make your mind figure something which might be valuable to you in this situation or which you are desperate to find."

Madonna picturized it in her mind. Just concentrate on the object like you are looking deeper inside it. And cast "Specialis_Revelio".

Madonna observed it very keenly and after a bit of self confidence and courage, she twisted her wand and chanted "Specialis_Revelio", looking directly at the object. With a quick stoke of her wand the object turned into a golden horn. Madonna looked at it shocked as well as delighted.

"At least you are not so bad in learning things. Now you may be a bit eligible to work with me." Riddle acknowledged her.

Riddle ordered Madonna to find some information about the History of Hogwarts, maybe they could get some information about Hogwarts relation with the dark wizard. Madonna obediently followed his instructions.

After sometime he asked her, "I heard that Professor Dumbledore had assisted you to an orphanage, why did he do that?"

"My father had abondoned me after I attended Hogwarts, he never approved me of being a witch and never wanted me to use any kind of magic."

"Your father abondoned you just because you knew magic?That's completely ridiculous." Riddle replied

"Maybe magic had left some terrible marks on him after I left him alone to attend Hogwarts." She looked at Riddle, "You are from an orphanage too, do you know anything about your parents?"

"No,but I know my parents had abondoned me in a muggle orphanage just after my birth. But I know may be my father is magical because my mother had died soon after she brought me to the orphanage."

Madonna was bemused, how could he think that his mother died because she wasn't a witch? "Death happens to all,no matter the person is magical or not. I never knew anything about my mother either."She added.

Madonna and Riddle both knew that they had one thing in common— that is,both of them grew upwithout the love of their parents.

Riddle stated "I think that's enough for today.We should just pack it up for today. We have our potions classes too in an hour."Madonna too remembered it;she left Riddle and ran into the clock tower courtyard to meet Henry. She knew that she have to convince him by any means to help her in this task or else she would lose the only opportunity she had to find the truth she wanted to know. She knew that Henry was her only hope, no one would be able to help her except him.

But would Henry help her in this task after he finds out the dark truth behind all this and how vulnurable it will be to mess with Tom Riddle and his friends?

Please leave comments if you are enjoying this story.

Edit-2nd chapter is changed and broken into two different chapters. 3rd chapter is newly added and published