Chapter 16: Rerum Cognoscere Causas

She winced and instinctively slapped his hand away, freeing the Dittany dabbed cloth from his careful grip.

Though the scratches and lacerations to Artemis's face from the Quidditch match healed quickly and well during her days resting in the hospital wing, all of Tom's attempts to convince her to let Madame Hogbin treat the leftover scars met with immediate anger and a bed-pan and/or Stunner to the face. In between last minute study sessions in the Room of Requirement with Piper and Blink, he spent much of his time watching over her in silence, avoiding the unending, torrential rain that continued long after the day of the Inter House Quidditch Cup Final.

Artemis only spoke to Tula in the Wing and always in whispers, Tom learned the hard way, not to eavesdrop upon. Tula told him to give her time and noted that she understood the mental state of failure under pressure. Tom relented and left he be for the next couple days. But when he prepared her for release from the Hospital Wing, with closed eyes as he undid the back of her gown and handed her clothes to her from beyond the dividing curtain, he asked, "What do the scars mean to you, Artemis?"

He heard her halt buttoning up her dress shirt as she hesitated. She shuffled her feet a little against the cold tile floor and answered, "Why do you care?"

Tom grabbed the chair from next to the next bed over and sat down facing the ceiling. "I could see it in your eyes, even as you fought to keep them open as the wind and debris thrashed and cut you. Even as your tears coalesced with the rain and your hands shook and stretched to conquer your fear. I…"

Artemis poked just her head out of the curtain just above Tom's forehead and their eyes met as she finished, "Like the fear of what you saw that day on the train."

Tom, staring back at her and feeling sweat begin to pool in his hands as they clenched the arms of the wooden chair, replied softly, "Yes. Like that. You and I… Maybe we need that fear…At least for now.

Artemis stayed there, her mismatched eyes rapidly switching attention to either of Tom's dark green irises, "Why do you care, Tom? You already have…" She stopped short and abruptly closed the curtains. Tom sat up and faced the bed he woke in near the end of the previous school year. He looked to the bed Tarquin lay in next to his. The memory and vivid imagery of his rival's crouching, dejected form as a volley of Dungbombs impacted him atop No Man's Stair held in his mind for longer than he wished. Seeing his broken form at the edge of the staircase before Tom healed it.

"I don't know…But I feel like I saw you that day…And I wish that was the first time I ever did. Because that person, the one who gave everything even when she had nothing left to give…She is amazing. I want to meet her some day…" Tom stood up, grabbed the small bottle of Dittany from Artemis's bedside table and put it in his healer's robes. Looking just over his shoulder as he walked away, Tom said just loud enough for Artemis to hear beyond the curtain, "Don't forget your bag; it's in Hogbin's wardrobe to the left of her desk along with your washed Quidditch robes. Tom opened the second row of the tall ingredients cabinet and placed his bottle of Dittany with the others, dropped his healer's robes into the dirty bin by the exit, and left the Hospital Wing with his school robes bunched under one arm with both of hands shoved into his trouser pockets, heading towards the Great Hall for lunch.

Even within the tower, he felt the hot sun, thankful that summer finally came to Hogwarts after days of bitter cold and sleet. He ate lunch alone on the far side of the Slytherin house table. Nearly everyone huddled with their houses or bunched around a token Ravenclaw to help them cram for their finals. Tom needed no such help, confident in his abilities in every subject that mattered. Thankfully, his and Piper's exam schedule put Astronomy and History of Magic, their two least favorite classes, first. Having given a solid 'Acceptable' worthy effort in both, Tom sold his tattered Astronomy textbook and heavily tarnished brass telescope for 7 sickles to a 4th year Hufflepuff who somehow had worse.

Finishing his cold soup and small but hearty sandwich, Tom left the Great Hall and only took one step down the stairway to the dungeons before turning around. A small, momentary smirk creeped across his face as he tapped his wand in his trouser pocket and made his way towards a side-exit to the grounds. He hung his robes on an unlit sconce outside an overgrown and unused greenhouse and walked slowly the rest of the way to the beach around the other side of the lake. Motivated by the blinding reflection of the already hot sun, Tom pondered another, opaque variation to the translucent, magical umbrella spell the previous month's weather forced him to use daily. If only he could decode the glyphs and color combinations of the spells he cast using Aparecium.

If only he knew what the golden, door shaped glyphs meant.

If only he knew why Professor Dumbledore avoided him like he had spattergroit.

Dumbledore avoided eye contact during class and in the halls. He even passed over his impressive, improvised use of the Softening Charm on just the spines of a porcupine everyone else struggled to turn into a pincushion. It bounced like a ball around the room until Tarquin, Tom admitted to no one, used a brilliant spell to turn it into a red balloon with a golden string and the professor awarded Gryffindor 20 points. Tom resented the moment for most of that day until he found the balloon, slowly regaining its original form and spines, tied to the leg of the same table, far within the labyrinth of the Hogwarts Library stacks, he always sat at on the rare occasion he studied in the library.

Tom's thoughts orbited, but never committed to, the want to talk to Tarquin until a sharp poke in the ribs brought him back to reality and the sound of the waves now rising to his bare feet. Tom's heart skipped at a thought and only plummeted a little when he saw Blink asking non-verbally to sit next to him on the log. Tom nodded and moved to the other side to face the lake again. As he levitated and spun a porous rock in front of them, Blink mused, "An' 'ere I fough' I was vuh one who needed a day by vuh lake. Woe be my sigh's on'y tuh see someone's bea' me tuh me own log. I'll tell yuh mine if you tell me yours."

Tom levitated his own rock a sent it skidding across the lake as he answered, "I'm not sure yet, Blink. You know about the nightmares, but this one…"

Blink sent his skipping as well and finished for him, "Bu' you're no' ready ye'? Dis pas plus, Tommy-boy. I jus' hope I'm a' leas' fird in line behin' Pipe and swee' Too's. By vuh way, yuh bes' be care'foo, lad. Bes' stick tuh one, neivuh deserve tuh be played."

Tom turned to Blink the cogs in his brain grinding, "I don't understand, Piper and I aren'… and Tula…"

Blink placed a firm, too firm grip on Tom's shoulder and looked into Tom's dark green eyes with his hazel ones, "I ain' talking abou' Pipe, ma'e. We bof know they've on'y go' eyes for va' red-haired twa'. I'm talkin' abou' Ar'ee. Eivuh step back or do somefing. I migh' no' like her sen'imen's or opinions on mugg'oos, but no one deserve's vuh run'roun', Tommy. I know you don' ge' i', bu' you've go'a be mo' care-foo how you trea' gals, lad. If you ain' in i', don' make'em fink you are."

Tom looked hard into Blink's eyes before the latter released his grip and Tom looked back out to the lake, "Was she supposed to meet me somewhere a few months ago? Before holiday break?"

Blink exclaimed, blasting out his arms and nearly knocking Tom off the end of the log, "Hi' vuh nail on, he does. On'y took him a hin' vuh size an Ironbelly!…Yeah…I heard 'er talkin' to 'er bruvvah about summi' tuh va' effect. An' ven she saw yuh ou' here wiv Tules. No doub' bein' in vuh Wing wiv bof of yuh brough' i' all back."

Tom leaned back on his part of the log for a couple minutes, watching the sparse clouds above them pass and dissipate as he thought about Blink's assertion. He'd never considered anyone…He knew of people in romantic, if short lived and childish, relationships at Hogwarts. Even though it seemed more stable and focused than the rest, Blink and Isobel's relationship confused him too. Whatever feelings he had toward Tula… like his heart disregarded the laws of time and space…But he felt no such thing towards Artemis Woode. What did she want from him?

Blink nudged Tom again and reassured him, "I ain' sayin yuh have tuh stop bein' 'vere for eivuh one, bu' jus' keep i' in min'. I don' fink Tules wan's your attention divided eivuh. An' she don' seem like one tuh pu' up wiv it. I've on'y go' a year on yuh, bu' I've seen enough wiv' Iz and a' Ol' Red tuh know pickin' one is always be'uh 'van anyfing' else. Anyway, I'm glad you're 'ere. I mean' tuh ask aftuh break bu' Iz needed a tes' dummy for her N.E.W.'S. aftuh my trainin'. Are you goin' back to vuh orphanage vis summuh?"

Tom, dropped the rock he slowly twirled mid-air and lowered his wand. He didn't want to think of going back. Nor of the thought of being rejected by Dumbledore to stay on for another summer. Blink waited a minute before asking pointedly, "How's abou' yuh come back wiv' me an' stay a' Ol'Red?"

Tom felt his increasingly cold hands warm a little as he turned to face Blink, who now stood and skipped stones across the lake with his hands. Tom answered immediately, "Yeah! It's a sight better than going back my boring room at Wool's. But will you have…"

Blink chucked a rock in a high arc over the lake, carefully aimed his wand, and cast at just the right moment, "VENTUS!". A powerful burst of wind erupted from his wand and shot the rock even further across the water until it collided with a faint crack against the far cliffs below Hogwarts Castle. He turned to Tom with a smirk, "I' ain' gonna be free, min'. I star'ed off wiv vuh dishes, so we'll have yuh doin' va' a' firs'. No magic, voh. No' even my bes' bud, Chef A'ie, knows a fing. She fink's I'm a' some bordin' schoo' down in Whales. I tell's 'er vose crazy Welsh gimme an ow' because vuh schoo' is remo' and don' 'ave a telly-gram line. No' me bes' lie, bu' she owe-ways sends me lef'ovuh clippings abou' how Livuhpoo' is doin' anyway. I can' wai' till yuh mee' 'er. Blimey!"

Blink stomped his feet into the sand and stone beach twice as he wrestled his small watch out of his well-worn trousers. The mechanism to open it failed twice before Blink banged it off his palm a couple times, making Tom chuckle as he put his socks and shoes back on. Before Tom could ask, Blink yelled as he bolted towards the quickest path back to the castle, "Mee' me tonigh' and we'll talk more, Tommy-boy!"

Tom chuckled again and slowly made his way back to the greenhouse he hung his robes on, rolling his sleeve's back down and buttoning the cuffs as he walked past Professor Alvaric Einswald, who only briefly looked up from cutting open a severed head from a nearby Venomous Tentacula and nodded at him. Tom nodded back and hastened his pace as he looked up at the clock and saw why Blink rushed off: his next exam, and most important, was in 3 minutes. When he made it to the Grand Staircase, he nearly pushed an older Hufflepuff boy off the opposite edge of a rising staircase after he jumped onto it and skidded to a stop into the boy's book-laden body. Tom quickly jumped away to another and hurried through the door to the third floor corridor and into room 3C.

Piper smirked and shook their head as Tom took his seat next to them and set his wand on the edge of the desk just in time for Professor Merrythought to clear her throat and begin explaining the rules of the exam. Tom picked up the provided quill and jotted down the time given for the written portion, 35 minutes, in the bottom left corner of a provided piece of parchment. He looked around and saw that the only other person besides himself who looked confident for this exam was a wavy-haired Hufflepuff boy he didn't know. The boy winked at Tom as he balanced the tip of his quill on the tip of his wand, which itself balanced on the tip of the boy's finger. Tom scoffed and went over his notes in his mind and started the exam the second Professor Merrythought told them to begin.

All of their days holed up in the Room of Requirement or pestering an initially begrudging but ultimately, passionately, helpful Madame Fortescue on the topics of defense theory throughout wizarding history paid off. There was even a question answered offhand by the librarian that Tom only remembered because he couldn't stop laughing at a story Fortescue told about her great-great grandfather, Dexter Fortescue. The man became deaf in each ear after consecutive duels ended with illegal blood-boiling spells, forcing him to carry identical ear-horns with him during his days as Hogwarts Headmaster. Tom answered, in response to the question on why certain spells are deemed illegal by most wizarding institutions, with this example and he giggled as he remembered the school's librarian miming how her great-great grandfather looked when he used both, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out for effect.

The written portion came fairly easy to Tom and after placing his test and answer parchment in the assigned bins on Merrythought's desk at the front of the class, he took his place in the queue in front of Merrythought's office for the practical portion of the exam behind the only person who finished before him. Tom looked in mild jealousy at the Hufflepuff boy's obnoxiously broad shoulders and silky, yet wavy black hair that rested on said shoulders. The boy, sensing Tom's increasing frustration, whispered over his shoulder, "Best get used to this, Riddle. You, Tula, and that…thing had your time as favorites. The top marks will once again be owned the heir to the Shafiq fortune: Hamdun bin Razin al-Shafiq." The boy pounced and planted his feet with a showy gesture that ended with him flipping his hair in Tom's face. Tom's grip on his wand tightened as he fought against the urge to point at the boy's back and make him puke snakes in front of the entire class.

If not for the knowing, warning eyes Professor Merrythought directed at him as she opened the door and gestured Hamdun inside, Tom likely would have followed through. After a few minutes of silence and other students filing in behind him, Tom smirked as Hamdun opened the door with a look of feigned confidence and pride barely hiding a sweaty, downtrodden face Tom reveled in. For each of the 5 spells Merrythought asked him to perform, only the last, a general count-spell, gave him momentary trouble because its wand movement and incantation were hard to synchronize while under the effect of the Tarantallegra charm. Professor Merrythought shooed him out with a brief smile and he slipped Piper a five as he walked down the ramp and left the classroom to wait for Piper to finish as well.

However, as he listened to the barely audible tick-tock of the large clock inside the classroom beyond the closed double doors, the same Hufflepuff boy he ran into on the Grand Staircase speed-walked up to him and handed him a folded, purple wax stamped note and hurriedly muttered before rushing back in the direction he came, "He wishes you luck on your exam and that you may bring a guest, if you want. Bye."

Tom looked down and recognized the filigree heavy "D" stamped into the purple wax and opened it with instantly heightened curiosity. The note was short, with only a few more words than the name of person signing it:

Meet tonight after dinner, at 7. I have an olive branch to give.

Best Regards,

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

"An olive branch?" Tom wondered as he looked over the parchment for any clue or hint of more information. Finding none, he sighed and put the note in his robes and rested his head against the stone wall for a few minutes and Piper joined him with a hard poke with their wand in the side of his neck.

Together they went back to the Room of Requirement and snacked on biscuits and nearly a gallon of strong, black tea as they took turns quizzing each other on the different theories behind transfiguration spells and their creators. Their uproarious laughter echoed off the walls and filled the room as they upped the ante and awarded biscuits to each other if they answered correctly while also, willfully, under the influence of each other's increasingly powerful Tickling Charms.

Tom left his Transfiguration exam, where again Dumbledore made every effort to not meet his eyes, even during the practical exam. He would have asked after the note if it weren't for the professor quickly dismissing him after Tom performed, in his opinion, the best transformation of a beetle into a gleaming gold button the professor would see all day. He even waited until everyone, including Piper and Tula who left together discussing the color of their buttons, Tula's a brilliant silver and cobalt and Piper's a shining jade, left the classroom and he took his chance to speak with the professor alone. Unfortunately, Albus left without a trace down a secret path Tom knew not.

Dejected, Tom did not join Piper and Tula in the Great Hall for dinner and instead went straight to the Headmaster's Office. He saw Dumbledore emerge from a section of gently waving brick with a stern look and Tom hid behind a pillar to watch the professor storm up the stairs behind the gargoyle. Tom quickly but quietly glided forward and perked his ear to hear the professor slam the door to the Headmaster's Office and two booming voices scream at each other. Though he couldn't understand the content of their argument through granite steps' sound dissipation, he knew enough for his anger to subside and he winced as he stepped away to sit on a granite bench near a tall window overlooking the grounds, the lake and the distant Quidditch pitch.

Tom waited an hour, two, he lost count as the sun slowly set behind him and allowed his mind to wander. He meant to ask how Blink held up after the match but the words never left his mouth. Was it envy or ego that made him thankful for Blink not mentioning the match? Tom knew Blink gave it his all, giving so much that a day of his own stay in the Hospital Wing overlapped with Artemis's, much to her chagrin and vocal distaste. For all the effort, he never once placed blame or joked about the loss to her. The only thing he joked about was her inability to cast an Impervius Charm on her goggles before the match and her denial of his attempt to do it for her. Followed by a dramatic reenactment of one of their previous practices where Blink himself caught the snitch before her and boasted, half-arrogant and half-joking, that maybe he should just play every position at once. Tom wondered if that was his way of telling her he still relied on her, for every part of Blink as Tom saw him embodied genuine friendship.

Tom waited an hour more and just as his mind slowed and his head bobbed off and on the glass window in nervous jerks before sleep, the sound of heavy, stomping footfalls down the steps from the Headmaster's office jolted him awake. He wiped the drool off his face just in time for the Headmaster himself to grunt as he paused in passing in a set of elegant, flowing purple and silver robes that somehow never touched the ground despite their length, "This is your last day to continue the charade you have convinced Dumbledore lies within your mind. If he won't explain his motives or your importance beyond vaguery and opaque metaphor, you shall have no further cooperation from me. I have better uses for my office, thank you very much. I am disappointed, Riddle."

Tom stood immediately to respond, an unfortunate stammer leaving his lips in place meaningful words, but the Headmaster continued walking slammed the door to the stairs behind him. Tom stood in the silent corridor and waited, still looking at the door to the stairs, until he heard rain lightly pepper the glass window he rested his head on moments before. The accelerating pitter patter of the rain brought him back to reality and the fire in him rose a little as he remembered why he was here in the first place. He shoved his hands into his pockets and loosened his Slytherin tie as he walked past the griffin gargoyle guarding the great granite steps to the Headmaster's office.

Tom didn't bother to knock on the already ajar door, instead inquired with more menace than he intended as he stepped inside with his eyes closed, "If you're idea of an olive branch was to ignore me and the magic I performed at your exam today, Albus, I'm…" He stopped short as he opened his eyes and saw his Transfiguration professor standing stoic but bent over the glowing pool of the Pensieve. His head wasn't submerged but Tom gathered his words fell on deaf ears as he stepped around a coffee table to sit in one of the Headmaster's well cushioned, black leather armchairs.

He examined Albus for nearly a minute until the man finally spoke with a distant, almost wispy voice that contrasted his normally low pitch, "This was not easy to procure."

Tom took the hint and stood up with a grunt and joined him at the floating pool in the center of the room. Its glow sent a chill as he approached and almost lost his balance as he surveyed the scene depicted within. Tom retreated a step and looked at the back of Dumbledore's head in shock. His stammer returned, "…Ho… How… What're you…What is this, Albus?"

Albus answered with his normal voice, turning and leaning back on the ovular edge of the Pensieve, "Did the boy I sent give you every part of my instructions? He's a fine boy, but his memory has never served him well. Like his father."

Tom backed up until he felt the pointy, wooden edge of the coffee table and he sat down on it. He wrung his hands and ran them through his greased hair. Did he want anyone to see…He had to know first. "Is it from that night? When…"

Albus came closer and knelt with a heavy but comforting hand on Tom's shoulder and whispered as he used his other hand to raise Tom's eyes to meet his, "Have you let anyone this far in?"

Tom's first instinct to push the old man to the floor and scream and curse him to oblivion lasted only a moment but it was long enough for him to squeeze his nails hard enough into the skin between the top and palm of his thumb to draw blood. He did everything he could to cool his anger, knowing the consequences of the alternative. He closed his eyes and imagined the euphoria of touching the glass inside the Slytherin Common Room, his eyes meeting the singular eye of the Black Lake's guardian Giant Squid. He wiped away the slowly caking blood under his fingernails and shook his head.

Albus's hands glowed faintly as they lowered to hold Tom's in his hands and Tom felt a familiar, calm warmth flow from them as the man healed his minor wounds. "Would you like to? There is still time. Though less, given my unwillingness to divulge our predicament to Headmaster Dippet. What we will see today is indeed the last dip into the Pensieve until I can procure or craft one for my own use. Now…Is there still no one who you will let all the way in, Tom?"

Tom pulled his hands away and dug the nails of both hands into the underside of the coffee table. Was it worth it? Did they deserve it? What held him back? They never gave him a reason otherwise, Tom thought. Maybe…But did he want them any closer than the extended palm he showed when anyone attempted to close the distance? Tom sat in silence for a couple minutes, even as the professor sat and tucked his legs in to wait for his response. Albus's eyes barely blinked as he watched for the slightest change in Tom's face and Tom felt those eyes like beams of the sun amplified by a magnifying glass. They seared into him and he fidgeted against the discomfort they brought. Maybe…

Tom stood and said as he turned away from Professor Dumbledore, he looked into the pool and said without thinking further, "Okay."