AN: thanks for the reviews so far, every review makes me squeak in joy!
Chapter 14: Inevitable Attention
There is no great genius without some touch of madness - Aristotle
"Joelle! Stop...stop it!" Tom hissed at the wiggling cat in his arms, struggling and clawing on him, trying to break out, but Tom quickly put her into the cage where she meowed heartbreakingly.
"I can't let you out, I'm sorry. You will come with me to Hogwarts. I would've transformed you into a snake had it been given my way but...snakes aren't allowed at Hogwarts. And I thought a cat suits your personality much better anyway. Stop meowing, please. I'm awaiting a letter any moment. It will be just a warning, I asked Professor Slughorn what happens to a student who uses a spell outside of school. I used a nonverbal spell, I hope that made it more difficult for them to make out what exactly I did. Joelle! Be quiet finally, will you!" Tom frowned when Joelle ran around in the cage with black eyes. She was enormously scared.
"Don't be scared. I'm here...l will take care. We are going home. Where we belong. We won't come back here anymore. I know your life will be changing but really, you should've expected this. I have paid so much attention in Dumbledore's classes. You remember that, shhhh. Shhh, that he teaches transfiguration, right? I've read plenty of books ever since I arrived, I planned this from the start. The most difficult part was getting down the techniques of nonverbal magic. But it's so easy once you know the basics. Joelle! Please, stop whining finally! I can't silence you now with another spell, they will- Look...there's the owl already..." Tom sighed and inhaled deeply, rolling his eyes, huffing as he read out the letter as soon as he let the owl in.
"Dear Mr Tom Marvolo Riddle,
Unknown magical activities have been detected at Wool's Orphanage, London, on the 25th of December 1938, 6:13 a.m. The Office of Improper Use of Magic prohibits the usage of underage magic outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are now hereby warned that in case such an activity is detected once more you will be expelled from said school.
Best regards,
O. H. Thicknesse"
Thicknesse. Tom made a mental note to remember humiliating somebody called Thicknesse somewhen in the future. Maybe even humiliate them in the very nest of the ministry of magic. With a low growl, he paid the owl a glare and let it fly back, holding up the letter to Joelle who had squished into the very corner of the cage, rolled up, shaking.
"See what I do for us? I am taking the risk of being expelled. But I knew that I would only have to do this once. Anything else can be done at school where I'm allowed to use my wand. Stop meowing. I'm not going to let you out. I can't. I will let you out once we are back. Oh. Before I forget." Tom smiled and pulled out a letter from his jacket, holding it up.
"I had prepared this weeks ago. It's a letter from you. Well, not from you, I wrote it of course. I've had plenty of opportunities to copy your handwriting and practice, given all the letters you've sent me, right?" Tom chuckled and read aloud.
"Dear Ellie,
I will be gone once you've read this. Everything here reminds me of Marvolo - I will be going where I can be free of that memory. I will write to you. Don't look for me, please. And in case somebody asks, I'm fine,
Joelle"
Tom put the letter on his desk.
"What do you think? I think it's quite okay, makes sense for you to say these things, right? And your joke of a father didn't even come for a visit anyway, does he even care where you are or where you aren't? Ah well. I've prepared a letter for him as well...just in case. Stop meowing already!" He suddenly thundered out when Joelle started to run around in her cage again.
"I've brought a sedative potion. Stole it from Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts, she's still so young and naive, didn't even notice when I sneaked in. What I mean to say is...I will use it on you, should you not be quiet now." He sighed and sat in front of the cage, staring into Joelle's black eyes; her iris was almost invisible due to the fear. Joelle was not quiet.
"You don't deserve to be that scared. I truly regret being the cause. But it has to happen. Shhh..." He said softly, having sneaked his hand into the cage to poke her with a needle; Joelle tried to squirm away but Tom was too fast. He watched how she slowly started to sink in, cuddling down to herself, her widened eyes growing heavier and heavier - until they closed. Tom kept his attention on her, grinning to himself while throwing his head back, completely satisfied and content with himself and the world for once.
"Mrs. Cole?" Asked Tom later. The harassed looking woman turned around in the kitchen, as if deeply startled by the sound of Tom's voice.
"Yes, Tom?"
Tom's lower eyelid twitched upon the name. "I just wanted to let you know that I will be leaving early tomorrow. My professor asked me to return, saying it's urgent."
Mrs. Cole seemed a little happier, but tried to hide it. "Indeed? Well, okay, sure. Joelle will be sad about that, I'm certain. Speaking of which, can you send her down? I need-"
"She fell asleep, Mrs. Cole. And I...would like to have her to myself until tomorrow. I won't see her until summer after all. I didn't yet tell her."
"Oh. Yes-I- yes. Of course, l understand. I understand." Mrs. Cole nodded at Tom, watching him walking off and back upstairs.
Tom opened the door, glancing at Joelle in the cage, she looked up to him weakly but did not make a sound. Tom sat down in front of her.
"Ah. You're up. We will be leaving soon, Joelle. I've packed some of your things. Not too many, I don't want anyone to notice weird clothes in my wardrobe at school after all...I don't think I forgot anything. Hm..." Tom looked around to see something that could mean an awful lot to Joelle that he could bring with him. His gaze jumped back and forth but stopped at the plenty of photographs, eyes narrowed when he saw some of Bryan and Joelle. He took them down, observing the pictures for a long time before Joelle could clearly see a dark gleam of red color in Tom's eyes, he stared at her for a few seconds before he simply ripped the photos into shreds, not taking his eyes off of her during that action.
"You will never see him again. And you will never talk to him again." He said simply before throwing the scraps out of the window where the wind carried them away.
Joelle turned around, snuggling her tiny chin into the fur, her back facing Tom now - she was too weak to do anything else. Her eyes felt heavy, everything felt heavy. She fell asleep for a long time.
"Mrs. Cole, I-"
"Oh! How cute. When did you get that cat?" Smiled Mrs. Cole and the other kids looked up curiously from the table, glancing into the cage.
"Joelle surprised me with it. We are allowed to bring a cat to Hogwarts. Anyway...I will be leaving for King's Cross now. Joelle didn't take it so well. She's upstairs and wants to be left alone." Tom said softly. Mrs. Cole nodded with a strong sigh, glancing to the direction of the stairs, then back at Tom.
"Yes. I understand. Well...We shall see you next summer, right?" She asked with a little too much hope in her voice. Tom nodded, then turned around without a single goodbye to anyone. He did not care about them. Not the least bit.
Tom got on the Knight Bus, just like he did before he came to the orphanage. He didn't like the bus that much - but once Avery told him about it, he thought there was no better opportunity than taking advantage of a bus that picks up stranded witches and wizards anywhere.
When Joelle heard rustling and noise of an engine, and Tom's voice that clearly said that he insisted on keeping the cage with him, she opened her eyes and looked around. She sat in his lap, the cage was on the seat ahead, she was free.
"Hello sleepyhead. We are on the train." said Tom, seeing that Joelle was awake. Joelle looked around, looked out of the window, watching how they passed fields and farms that were covered in thick snow, her eyes widened when they were on top of a bridge, staring down into the frozen water.
"I knew you would like it" said Tom then, gently patting through her fur. Joelle felt dizzy, her vision was still blurry, but she saw and heard enough to know that she did not like it.
"Shhh! Not so loud. You don't want me to put you back to sleep again, do you? I'm allowed to use magic on the train. Shh. That's right..." Tom sighed and rested back when Joelle stopped making noise.
"You must hate me now. I thought about what I said. I told you you wouldn't be allowed to ever return anymore, I think that's not a great motivation to gain your trust and loyalty. No, I believe I should at least allow you to see your...friends once a year, when we have to return. I need to tell you that I do try for us to stay in Hogwarts though, so don't get your hopes up. You will see, it will be amazing. I will teach you magic! I will get a wand for you, there are so many idiots carrying a wand...you won't believe it. Isn't that great? You just have to get used to it. I never accepted the fact that your parents forbade you to go to Hogwarts. It can't be a coincidence that we met! You are a witch. Those muggles could never understand! We have a long way to go...but with my help, I know you can do it." He patted through her fur again but suddenly, Joelle raised her paws and before Tom could even stop it from happening, she started to claw, bite and scratch him, hissing and roaring loudly - it resulted in being caged up the next moment again. Tom leaned back with a low grumble, glaring at her.
"You're ungrateful! Ungrateful and selfish!" He barked, silencing her meowing with a loud and clear "Silencio!" And Joelle was heard no more. Tom still growled something under his breath, inspecting his bloody scratches before he finally healed them with his wand - not a single incantation was said.
"Hello dear. Would you like to have something to eat?" Asked the woman behind the trolley of food a bit later. Tom looked at her, then glanced at Joelle, nodding at the woman as he got up and paid for a beef sandwich. He watched how the woman disappeared, then ripped the sandwich apart and offered it to Joelle, but Joelle only turned her face away from the food and curled up, letting her ears hang down while she still looked around with those black and scared eyes, opening her mouth in silent meows. Tom sighed, resting back, shaking his head.
"What shall I do with you...you have to eat, girl. You didn't eat anything ever since you're a cat. I'll do it forcefully if you don't eat later. And you don't want me to do that, trust me." He said darkly now, absolutely annoyed. Why couldn't Joelle understand that he only wanted the best for her? Did she not want to stay with him? Did she not cry because he was gone, did he not see her eyes twinkling in amazement when they visited Diagon Alley that day? Surely she just had to get used to it. Surely some people required a firm hand to see their luck. Joelle was one of those, as it very well turned out.
The trip took a long time, and somewhen during that, Tom had fallen asleep. Once he realized that he did, he shot his eyes open, hastily looking over to the cage, but Joelle was still there. And she was not alone. Some girls had come over, pointing at the black cat that sat up and fluffed up her fur proudly, playfully swatting at the girls, then rolled around on her back.
"She's so beautiful!" Said one of the girls. She was a red haired girl from Ravenclaw, as Tom noticed, and maybe two years older than him. Next to her was a girl from Hufflepuff, about Tom's age, but he did not care much about who they were, he just did not want anyone near Joelle.
"Leave her alone" he said harshly. "She's very exhausted."
"Ah, but she's so cute, she played with us all the time, she's probably very bored" said the Ravenclaw girl, frowning at Tom - but Tom simply got up and shoved them out, closing the door firmly. A sigh escaped his lips as he turned around, staring at Joelle while shaking his head with a sarcastic huff.
"Tried to charm them to get you out, did you not? You're not stupid at all. People love cats. I will have to take good care of you." He then sat down in front of Joelle.
"One more thing. I will forbid you to ever try to see Dumbledore." He said darkly, glaring at her.
He could not take the risk of having Dumbledore, the master of Transfiguration, see what Tom did. Surely he would notice on an instant that Joelle was not a common cat. As far as Tom remembers, Dumbledore wasn't very fond of Tom as it is, which was a bad circumstance considering his good relationship with headmaster Dippet. No, Tom would have to lock Joelle up for a while, until he trusted her enough and until she trusted him again. All he needed was time. That was the only sacrifice - and time he always deemed most precious. Joelle once said that there's nothing better to give away to somebody than time, for anything else comes back, time never will. Did she really not see how much he sacrificed for her?
"We will be there in a minute or two, Joelle. I will take you downstairs into the dungeons first. I'm sharing a room with Black, Lestrange and Avery. None of them owns a pet, so you don't have to worry about anything while in our dormitory."
And that's exactly how it happened. Tom got out of the train, Joelle's eyes widened upon the view - they were in a village of sorts. She continued observing every detail as they moved along and then there was the castle. It was gigantic, Tom could clearly see how Joelle looked at it curiously. They entered.
"Ahh, Riddle!" Cheered a round and plump professor.
"Professor Slughorn, hello." Said Tom gently, subconsciously tightening the grip around the cage.
"Oh wow, what a precious cat, is that yours? Look at that elegant tail! Christmas present I suspect?" Slughorn smiled and bent down to Joelle's level, but Tom pulled the cage away, clearing his throat with a nod. He didn't need anyone to take too much of a good look.
"Yes, Sir. She's very tired, didn't like the train ride that much. I'll bring her down."
"Yes, yes of course, do that. I'll be seeing you around, oh." He then leaned closer to Tom.
"Very disappointed to have missed you on my Christmas Eve's party, very disappointed. I hope you find time to join us for New Year's Eve?" He asked hopefully. Tom chuckled lowly, nodding.
"I shall be there, Sir."
"Excellent, excellent! Await my owl soon, my dear boy." He tossed up his hand, then turned around and walked off. Tom sighed, looking down at Joelle.
"Professor Slughorn invites 'special' students over for dinner and whatnot. He calls it Slugclub. Haven't told you about it yet. I'm the youngest there, we've only had one meeting so far. Well two, counting the one I missed." He mumbled while walking downstairs.
"Elder Wand." Tom said in front of a stony wall that moved to the side upon those words. He stepped inside, both of them were greeted by the dim and green light that caused Joelle to squint shut her eyes.
"You can see the green color, I guess? I was wondering about your eyesight as a cat. I researched of course and the books said that cats can't see all colors." Tom murmured gently, then turned quiet upon seeing his fellow students on the couches.
"Hey!" Smirked Black, frowning at Joelle.
"You got a cat for Christmas? How funny. Me too." Black pointed to another cat in the common room, cuddled on top of a sofa under the window. It was a big and broad, grey British shorthair - and, by the looks of it, it was a male. Tom didn't know whether to laugh or frown upon seeing Joelle curling up in her cage. Poor Joelle.
"What's the cat's name?" Asked Tom then.
"Merlin" shrugged Black. "Couldn't think of anything else."
"Better than Pebbles..." Murmured Tom.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'll be off. Joelle needs to adjust. Better keep Merlin away from her. She doesn't like...male cats." Said Tom, slightly amused as he walked into the dormitory where he locked the door and put the cage on his bed.
"Joelle..." Sighed Tom when she again ran from the left to the right in her cage, still meowing silently, her paw stretching out to him in desperate attempts to make him sensitive for her situation - but Tom did not want to see it.
"Listen. If you behave, I will...transform you back for some time. Only if you promise me to behave, have I made myself clear?"
Joelle sat in her cage and nodded, still trying to meow. Tom growled, as if frustrated with himself that he was so kind and soft. After all, Joelle, in his opinion, hasn't done much to deserve any mercy yet.
"You will also have to be quiet. Whisper to me. Don't you dare scream, I mean it." He grumbled dangerously and Joelle nodded again, stretching out her arm to him once more. Tom bit his bottom lip, then opened the cage. Joelle shot out and ran over to Tom, pawing up to him to motion him to transform her back.
The next moment, Joelle sat on Tom's bed - just the way she looked before she was a cat. She instantly burst out in tears - tears Tom had never seen her crying. It was not one of those cute I-missed-you-so-much-tears, nor those tears she cried throughout the trial when she was frustrated with John's story - no, this was deeper, heartbreaking sobbing.
"Joelle..." Sighed Tom.
"You had" she yelped, choking from crying, "absolutely no right", her voice cracked, "to take me here with you! No right at all!"
"I have all the right in the world" glared Tom, clutching around his wand a little tighter. "You belong here."
"How dare you, Marvolo!" Hissed Joelle, her eyes red from the crying, a wrinkle of wrath showed on her forehead, she clenched her fists. It was such an exciting new side of her that Tom could not help but stare and take in this shade of Joelle that was so well hidden until now. Tom felt like provoking her a bit more.
"I can do whatever I want with you" he said simply, suppressing the smirk when he saw Joelle's ghostly face that looked like she just witnessed a deadly car crash.
"I've been so wrong about you...all wrong." She suddenly whispered and got up - and this time it was Tom who resembled a ghost. His fingertips felt cold - his body turned into an oven the other second, his breathing grew shorter and he glared ahead, then at her.
"You have one second to sit down before I'm going to turn you back into a cat." He murmured lowly, eyes on fire.
"It's an illusion to think I will stay here! Marvolo! It's not even legal! God damn, do you even think further than A to B?!" She yelled, causing Tom to frown again. She surely was the only person to ever evoke some sort of facial reaction from him.
"A to- to! I thought this through from A to Z and back!" He yelled, jumping up from the bed, his wand aimed at her. Joelle just stared at him, glaring, but she was not scared. Tom could barely take this look coming from her.
"You're not the man yet to tame me, Marvolo." Joelle said harshly. Tom thought his ears weren't receiving the correct information. The anger rose in him again, he growled loudly, aimed his wand at her and Joelle turned back into a cat, but her words kept on looping in his head.
"Yet..." He murmured. "Yet..." He narrowed his eyes with a promising tone. He would be.
Some day he would be the man to tame Joelle Cole.
