A/N;

thanks for all the lovely reviews left to me. A number by guests who I can't reply to individually.

Tom IS jealous, and angry and confused. Buffy is still trying to sort out her very much changed life to deal with him at the moment. However, I have a few Buffy and Tom scenes lined up.

…...

Chapter 41 Dead 'N' Boring

As soon as the Potions lesson finished, Buffy took Spikey's box from out of her bag and began packing away her class notes and textbooks.

"Potions isn't my best subject," Rosalind Moody confessed, throwing her textbooks into her bag. "Alastor says that he isn't surprised, he says he's seen me trying to cook." She pulled a face. "He's sort of right, I forget, wander off and burn things. Our Ma gets mad, she's not like me, she's a great cook. Anyway, I'm sick of Alastor teasing me. This year I'm going to prove I'm just as good as he is. I'm going to stop going to watch Quidditch practises, do all the extra reading, and not forget to hand in the homework. Do you want to do study sessions in the library?"

"Sure." Not wanting Travers to feel left out, Buffy looked around, intending to ask Travers if he'd like to study with them. She needn't have bothered, the dark-haired boy was already halfway across the room as he headed for the door. He'd left without even saying goodbye.

Roz continued tightening the lids on her ink bottles before putting them in with her books and quill box. "None of my friends like Potions, they don't care what grades they get. I want to get something better than an Acceptable. Not that I intend to go into the Aurors." Seeing Buffy checking her timetable, she asked, "Where are you next?"

"History of Magic and then Charms," Buffy replied. Out the corner of her eye, she saw the gas mask box rock on the desk. Was Spikey worried in case she forgot him? Picking the box up, Buffy slung the handle over her shoulder and held the box against her.

Roz was already checking her timetable. "I've Runes and Transfig. DADA straight after lunch, what about you?" Roz threw her bag over her shoulder and stood up.

"DADA, then Runes for the rest of the afternoon." Buffy was looking forward to this afternoon's classes. Defence against the dark arts would be useful and, thanks to Giles, she already had a good grounding in Runes.

Over by the door, two Hufflepuff girls were waving in their direction. Roz waved back "Gotta go," she replied. "I'll see you in DADA?"

At Buffy's nod, she darted off – purposely pushing past Malfoy and giving Buffy a sly grin after she'd done it. All three Slytherin boys - Malfoy, Avery and Riddle – glowered at Roz, then looked over at Buffy to include her in their disapproval. Buffy lifted her chin, refusing to be cowed by three uppity schoolboys.

Malfoy sneered, saying something that Buffy assumed was about her and derogatory. Victor Avery shot her another glance, this time more curious than condescending, and Tom... Tom strode from the room, his shoulders up around his ears in an obvious huff. Buffy wondered what his problem was. He'd been prickly in the orphanage, but now she could see anger simmering behind his eyes. She gave a mental shrug, she already had enough to deal with.

Over at the blackboard, Professor Slughorn was cleaning off the lesson notes ready for the next class.

Slughorn smiled politely when she called his name. "Miss Lovegood-Summers, what can I do for you?"

"Please, it's just Summers," Buffy replied. Whenever anyone said Miss Lovegood-Summers she thought they were talking about someone else. "Can I speak to you about something?" He hesitated, shooting a look at the clock. "It's important," she added.

"Well... I do have another class arriving shortly, so you'll need to be quick or come back when it's more convenient."

"Can I speak to the hat?"

"The hat?" Slughorn frowned, holding the lapels of his robe and rocking back on his heels. "What hat? Oh! You mean the Sorting Hat?"

Buffy nodded.

Slughorn rocked again and gave her a disapproving look. With a shake of his head, he said, "I'm afraid you can't be re-sorted. If the hat says you're a Slytherin then– ."

"Oh, no. I'm happy to be in Slytherin." Buffy gave him a reassuring smile. She'd prefer to be a Ravenclaw but Slughorn wouldn't want to know that. "It's because of my amnesia. Did Dumbledore tell you about my accident?"

"Yes, he explained your circumstances. What does this have to do with the hat?"

Buffy felt Spikey bump gently against the side of the box and tapped her fingers against it to pacify him and cover any further noise. Although Spikey had promised to stay quiet, during the lesson he'd started banging on the side of the box. Buffy resorted to dropping her pencil on the floor, ducking under the table, and patting the box to keep him quiet. Now, the boggart was becoming bored and butting the box again. Buffy decided that she was never going to take him to lessons again. Tonight, she'd hunt out a disused wardrobe and he could move in there permanently.

"Miss Summers?" Slughorn said, peering at her with concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Um, yes. Did I just zone out?"

He nodded.

She winced and apologised. "Sorry, I have a lot on my mind.."

Slughorn remained silent, and Buffy looked at him blankly before realising that he was waiting for an answer.

"Oh, the hat and my amnesia! Um, you know how the hat sees into kids' heads to find out what House to put them in? When it looked into mine it saw things about me that I didn't know about. Things I'd forgotten. I've been thinking that, if I spoke to it again, I might remember valuable information about the Von Kendrick attack. It wouldn't just help me, it would be helping the Ministry as well. Can you arrange for me to have another one-to-one with it, Professor Slughorn?"

"Hmm, this is most unusual," hummed the professor.

"An unusual solution to an unusual problem." Buffy wheedled. "There might be information in my head that could lead to the arrest of a notorious dark wizard and maybe even Grindelwald." It could also lead to her knowing why she had two sets of memories and what the hat knew about Slayers.

"I suppose so..." Slughorn said, turning over what she'd said in his mind. "Of course, it isn't just down to me. I shall speak to the headmaster and let you know his decision."

Buffy gave him one of her mega-watt smiles. "Thanks, I'd appreciate it." Aware that she had a class to get to, she went to turn away. Slughorn stopped her.

"I hear you've already made friends in Slytherin," he mused. "Miss Walburga Black told me she's been helping you to find your feet and making introductions. You've made a good friend there, Miss Summers."

That explained her invitation to the Slug party. Buffy had known all along it hadn't been due to her academic brilliance or her charming smile. It was due to the interest a powerful family like the Blacks had in her and that in turn made her interesting to Slughorn.

"Walburga's been very helpful," Buffy replied tactfully. Despite being sorted into Slytherin she wasn't at all ambitious unless you counted her urge to destroy dangerous demons. She turned the spectrespecs over in her robe pocket and her thoughts moved to what she'd seen during the lesson. "Professor, did you know you have a Wrackspurt problem? I wasn't going to say anything, but a swarm of them came through the ceiling and I think you should know."

"Heh? What?" he looked above him, frowning. "Wrackspurts," he sucked his teeth thoughtfully. "I don't recall them. Are they an American species?"

"I don't think so. Although there's no reason why they don't live in America as well as Britain. Aunt Bendy Bones wasn't much of a traveller so I can't find anything in her notes."

"Aunt Bendy?"

"Yeah, she wrote a book on all the creatures she discovered while wearing her spectrespecs. " Buffy showed him her glasses.

"Ah, yes, I did see you wearing," Slughorn pointed to her spectrespecs, "those things. I'd rather you didn't put them on in my class again, I find them distracting when I'm teaching."

"I only wore them because the Wrackspurts set off my spidey-senses," she explained.

Slughorn looked as if someone had hit him with a Confundus Charm.

Not wanting the professor to think she hadn't been paying attention during class - teachers could become annoyed about that -, she went on, "It was when you listed the forty-two uses of Dragon Weed, from the gut-wrenching poisoning of garden gnomes to -."

"I know the uses of Dragon Weed, Miss Summers."

"There was a swarm, circling like mosquitoes near the ceiling lights."

Slughorn shot the lights a wary look.

"Wrackspurts invade people's heads. One tried to get into mine but I dodged. They make your brain go all fuzzy. Didn't you notice how fewer people were able to answer your questions after that?"

Rubbing at his forehead, Slughorn replied. "I thought they hadn't taken down adequate notes. Are you SURE there was an invasion of Wrack-. What did you say they were called?"

"Wrackspurts. They might have a nest in the castle somewhere," Buffy added helpfully. Lovell might know more about them since Wrackspurts looked like spindly-winged moths. Buffy had checked Aunt Bendy Bones book already, but the woman was frustratingly vague when it came down to tracking and killing the creatures she'd seen.

"I will speak to the castle caretaker, Mr Pringle, about it. He's in charge of pest control, not me." Slughorn checked his pocket watch again. "Miss Summers, don't you have a class to attend?"

Buffy's next class was up on the first floor and, luckily, she arrived speedily due to the staircases being non-moving today. She looked around. There was no sign of a teacher and since she was one of the last to arrive, most people had already found seats next to friends. Travers was sat beside a Ravenclaw boy and a little further off Lovell waved and pointed at the empty seat he'd saved for her.

As she pushed her way through a group of Slytherin boys discussing Quidditch try-outs, Alphard Black put out a hand and stopped her. Pulling her to one side, he gave her a warm smile.

"Rigel is being released this evening," he said. "Nurse Bones says she's had enough of his whining and he's well enough to start classes. He's been sorted into Slytherin so Walburga will bring him directly to the Common room after dinner."

"I'm glad." Buffy was genuinely pleased. No child deserved to be drowned and eaten by a pack of demons. "When I was up there last night, he still looked kinda pale and shaky."

Alphard nodded. "The nurse has been dosing him with an energy replenishing potion. I think Rigel's learned a valuable lesson from this and might think before being such an arse. Both Walburga and I owled our parents. We haven't heard back yet, but I'm sure Mother will be writing to you shortly. I imagine she and father will want to meet and thank you in person."

"Honestly, there's no need." Buffy knew she'd feel awkward and who knew what kind of questions they might start asking. Feeling eyes burning into her, she glanced over to see Tom and Victor Avery sitting nearby, they were listening in to Alphard's conversation.

"There is a need," Alphard insisted. "And I've told Rigel he must not harass you about..." His voice trailed away and he gave her a meaningful look.

Buffy guessed he was aware several people were shooting curious looks their way. He wouldn't want to discuss Rigel's idea of marrying her in front of everyone. She was glad that Alphard had spoken to the younger boy about harassing her before it happened. It would have been embarrassing if the eleven-year-old had followed her around Hogwarts, proposing marriage and asking if they could go on a date – in that order.

Her face must have shown her relief because Alphard laughed. "If he annoys you, in any way, be sure to speak to me and I'll put a stop to it."

"Thanks." Buffy made her way to Lovell and took the seat next to him.

Lovell gave her a shy smile as she placed her bag onto the table. "What did Alphard want?"

"He told me Rigel is coming out of the hospital."

"And how did you go on with Slughorn?" He fiddled with the top of his ink bottle, looking at her from under his long fringe of curly hair as she took her quill box and books from her bag.

"Fine. Sluggy is gonna ask Dippy about speaking to the hat." She placed Spikey's box on the table. Lovell stopped fiddling with the bottle of ink, looked at the box, and then at Buffy.

His face dropped. "Buffy, have you got Spikey in there?"

"Shh!" She took out her copy of The Goblin Wars and placed it on the desk. "Don't say his name so loud, he'll think you want him to come out and play."

"Play?" Lovell was a Lovegood through and through, but even he didn't think bringing a boggart into class was a good idea. "What if he springs out and goes into, er, scare mode?" he whispered.

Seeing her normally laid-back cousin becoming stressed and she leaned closer to him. "He won't do that, Lovell," she whispered back. "Not if he wants to stay with me."

Over on the other side of the class, Tom Riddle watched the two cousins whispering with their blonde heads together. Were they talking about him? Were they discussing his background?

Victor Avery noticed Tom's eyes drift across to the Lovegoods. "Why are they so interesting over there?" he asked.

Tom pulled his attention from the cousins to regard the boy beside him silently, deciding on how best to answer. "I'll bring it up at the meeting," he replied evasively. "Consider the Lovegoods, especially Buffy, as being on the knights' agenda."

Unaware that they were being watched, the two Lovegood cousins continued to whisper.

"Honestly, you need to stop worrying about my boggart." Buffy already regretted bringing the creature to class with her, but she didn't want to admit it - not even to Lovell. "Your toad escapes more than Spikey does."

"You don't get expelled for having a toad as a familiar," Lovell pointed out. "Spikey's not on the permitted animals list."

Buffy pouted. "He's a non-being, not an animal. And he won't try to escape, I told him that if he's quiet today I'll take him for a walk later."

"A walk?" Lovell stopped squinting at the box and narrowed his eyes at Buffy. "Don't forget, we've Astronomy class at midnight. Where are you planning on going for this walk?"

Buffy shrugged. "Somewhere around the castle, where it's quiet."

For a few seconds Lovell relaxed, then he tensed again "Where it's quiet? You know certain areas of the castle are out of bounds after lessons?"

"I'm not going after lessons. I'm going...later." Buffy intended to put the two hours between curfew and Astronomy class to good use. She'd sneak out and assuage her Slayer's urge to check the area for creepies and learn the castle's layout. This castle would be her territory during term time for the next few years. She instinctively knew she had to learn all the possible escape routes and dead-ends in case there was a fight. The urge to patrol felt like an itch that desperately needed scratching.

"And what if you meet the prefects or the caretaker?" Lovell asked. He glanced across the room, caught Tom Riddle's eye and looked away guiltily.

"Then I'll let Spikey take care of them for me," she replied brightly. "There's no use having a dog and barking yourself. Hey! Is that a ghost?"

Glad to distract Lovell's attention from Spikey, Buffy pointed to the wall. The ghostly form of a teacher was emerging from the blackboard. "When you said Binns was dead and boring, I never thought you meant it literally."