Chapter 16: Discovery

Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependent upon popular opinion? - William Lloyd Garrison

"I'm glad you've finally come to your senses" said Tom, still looking at Joelle. The latter just raised an eyebrow when he spoke along.

"Trying to live in this world instead of refusing it is one step closer. You will like it, no, you will love it. Too bad it still takes some time for school to start" Tom sighed, suppressing the urge to randomly pat Joelle's head as he would do in her cat form.

"I can't believe all the effort you put in this just to get me here. You're so...merciless when you want something. Oh god...your poor wife one day..." snickered Joelle. Tom looked up to her curiously, frowning.

"What?" He asked.

"Your poor wife. Or husband, in case you swing the other wa-"

"Joelle!"

Joelle laughed out loud upon Tom's scowling face, he huffed and crossed his arms. Silly girl.

"Stop laughing already. Jo-Joelle. Heh..." Tom couldn't help but grin; Joelle already cried from laughing so hard. It sounded good.

"If you were my wife, I could get used to hearing your giggles" he suddenly said without thinking, regretting it on an instant.

Joelle cleared her throat, raising an eyebrow, then chuckled again.

"You don't know what you're saying, Marvolo."

Tom looked at her, then sighed with a nod. She was right. Ridiculously right. What was he saying?

"I need to ask you something" murmured Joelle suddenly. Tom turned his head to her, he knew what was coming next.

"What happened with Amy and Dennis?"

Tom did not respond. He kept staring ahead.

"Where's the benefit of telling you?" He asked dryly, unshaken.

"You're doing the right thing...is that not enough?"

"Not to me" shrugged Tom.

"Marvolo, please tell me" sighed Joelle, looking into his eyes. Tom glanced at her, then away again.

"Do you remember when you said that you've had a dream at the countryside about me talking to snakes?" Tom asked. Joelle frowned, but nodded.

"It wasn't a dream. You have heard me talking to a snake that night. It's true. I can speak to them. I have researched on it of course...the language is called Parsel. Salazar Slytherin himself was a Parselmouth. The very founder of this house could speak to snakes...it's no coincidence that I was chosen for this house, there's no other person suited better, I'm sure..." Tom rubbed the snake's crest on his cloak, then looked back at Joelle. She frowned, her eyes were widened.

"Marvolo, that's crazy...when and how did you learn to talk to snakes?"

"I never did" Tom shrugged. "I could always do it without teaching myself." He grinned proudly, but cleared his throat when he saw Joelle's focused and awaiting face.

"The snake slithered into our tepee tent that night...it told me that they were waiting for me in the cave. The cave from your postcard you wanted to send to Bryan", Tom's nose snarled up at the name, "and then you ignored me...and didn't spend time with me...and then there were Amy and Dennis, playing with the toys you have given them for Christmas. They felt special! They felt special because you gave them presents...they did not deserve to feel like that, don't you understand!?" He glared at Joelle, but the latter said nothing at the moment.

"I could not suppress my anger anymore.

So I lured them into the cave..." His tone got softer, quiet.

"I told them...that I hid their toys there..." He smirked, recalling the memory. His eyes glistened in glee when he turned his head to Joelle, declaring proudly "the cave was full of hissing snakes."

Joelle frowned, her lips parted, and Tom almost bathed in her gasps. The sole reason he even began to bother telling her the story was exactly that face of shock and fear. He did not want it to stop, to go away, he liked the attention, the impact he had on her. So he went on.

"Hundreds of snakes...and...then..." He paused theatrically, his eyes swept over to Joelle again - she was pale as a ghost. Tom felt his heart beating faster, something in his body craved her reaction.

"...and then...I told them...to attack the kids." He snickered when Joelle gasped again, pressing her hand to her mouth as she observed him closely with her eyes dancing from the left and right - and at once, Tom's enjoyment turned into anger with one reaction he had not foreseen. Joelle scooted away from him - he wrapped his hand around her wrist tightly.

He had gone too far.

Joelle, peace-loving Joelle, was in favor of the two idiots called Dennis and Amy, how could he have let himself be so carried away by his longing of Joelle's reaction when it was exactly that reaction that meant the worst consequences for him? Tom had to think, had to win her back. He couldn't lose her.

"I just wanted to scare them a little, Joelle. I would never truly hurt them. I know it was stupid but...I couldn't have told anyone. You know. They would have sent me to one of those doctors again...they would've said I'm mad. That I was making up all of those things. But I wasn't. I wasn't making it up, that's how it happened. Don't look at me like that. I just told the snakes to hiss at them. I didn't know it would result in...in that...I didn't tell you because I thought you would leave me..." Tom's voice cracked and he inwardly celebrated himself for being able to produce that sound. But Joelle did not yet respond. No. He had to try harder.

"I'm not evil...I'm not mad, Joelle, please...you have to believe me. I was just angry and sad and...they provoked me..." He looked at her with pleading eyes - and for once, Tom had to notice that he was actually sincere. Not about Amy and Dennis, but about pleading Joelle to not leave him now. She would try, now that she knew this, Tom was sure, she would definitely try. He could not let it happen, could not live with what perspective, he couldn't let Amy and Dennis win - and before Joelle knew it, Tom suddenly hugged her, but said no more.

"Don't hate me..." He whispered.

"I told you I don't hate you." She whispered as well. Tom felt good when Joelle hugged back at last.

"Snowman...you said that this Madam Pomfrey is a doctor, right?" She let go of him.

"She is a healer. There are no doctors in the wizarding world. They know better than to trust in doc-!" Tom spluttered out but Joelle raised her palm in a matter of telling him to let her speak.

"No doctor would ever believe what happened to Amy and Dennis. That's probably why they could not have been healed - they didn't believe the kids when they spoke the truth. We could possibly bring them here into this world, where a, healer you say? Could take care of them."

Tom looked at her, then away again, not liking this at all. He wanted Amy and Dennis to be miserable. They didn't deserve it any other way.

"That's not possible. Healers can only heal witches and wizards. Magical maladies outside of this world cannot be healed, it's forbidden. It may risk the exposure of our world. I'm sorry, Joelle." Said Tom, hoping Joelle would believe any of the nonsense he just made up, and she did, she nodded sadly.

"I really did not mean to hurt them that much...I underestimated the effect..." Tom looked away, suppressing a smirk.

"It's okay, snowman. I know you did not want that to happen."

"Can I ask you something, too?" Asked Tom. Joelle looked at him, nodding.

"What did you like about Bryan?" He stared at her intensively, resulting in a drawn out sigh from Joelle.

"Will the Bryan thing ever stop?" She asked, halfway amused and halfway annoyed. Tom shrugged.

"Answer my question and we will find out" said Tom simply. Joelle tabbed her index finger up and down her chin while thinking about her answer, probably just wondering how to word it.

"Bryan is a very caring person" she said, but Tom interrupted her immediately.

"He just cares because you're a girl."

Joelle chuckled. "Is that your belief? I wish you had used the chance to really get to know him-"

"Do you think I knew nothing of a guy living across my door for years?" Tom grumbled, smelling his chance. "You know nothing of Bryan. I know stories and-"

"I'm not going to allow you to taint my memory of him, Marvolo. So watch what you say next" declared Joelle in her stern tone. Tom frowned widely. He narrowed his eyes; felt the ticking bomb inside him.

"You don't want to let go of his memory...just a memory...! But you were fine about letting me go?!" Tom growled, about to lose his temper, but looking at Joelle and her frown promised him that if he lost it, he would regret it. If only anger came along with rationality, Tom would find it a lot easier to calm down, but he tried, for his sake and the sake of their relationship.

"Are you calm again?" Asked Joelle, but went on. "I was never fine about letting you go. You know that. But I did not want to make it harder for you by expressing my sadness too much, you had an awesome life ahead of you..."

"But just the thought of not seeing you until summer. It made me sad to see that you were accepting it."

"It would have been selfish of me not to accept it, snowman." She poked the tip of Tom's nose, smiling. "I wanted you to use the chance that I couldn't use."

"We can use it now. Together."

"Yes..." Sighed Joelle, though not sounding as happy as Tom. He frowned, not knowing what was wrong now. But then he had an idea.

"You're worried about a wand, right? Don't be worried." Said Tom; Joelle looked up in surprise, it probably wasn't what she thought of, but she sighed and shook her head.

"No, Marvolo. We are not going to steal, you hear me?"

Tom grumbled. "Some objects don't deserve to be in the possession of somebody unworthy. And so many students here shouldn't have wands - they can barely use their legs to walk ahead without falling." He crossed his arms and looked away in anger while Joelle chuckled throatily, pushing his head to the side.

"You're so cheeky" she snickered, leaning back. Tom glanced over his shoulder, a grin on his face, but he said nothing for a few seconds before he jumped up and walked to his suitcase, pulling out some clothes for Joelle, handing them over. Joelle frowned.

"It makes me uncomfortable to know you roamed around in my underwear."

"You need them" shrugged Tom colorlessly. He was very professional when it came to his mission - he wasn't like Lestrange, who would have giggled and squeaked at the mere sight of a girl's bra.

"Over there", Tom pointed ahead to a door, "is the bathroom. It's quite roomy, there are showers, too. You need to wash your worn clothes in the sink until you know how to do it with magic. I'm telling you, having a wand is a privilege...you will have to learn it the hard way...maybe you'll be more accepting once you realized. l will turn you back into a cat over the nights, just in case" said Tom dryly when Joelle looked at him unamused, walking off. She came back fifteen minutes later, rubbing through her wet hair with a towel, dressed in normal daywear, blinking awkwardly at the sight of the other boys back in the room. It was difficult to determine the daytime with the windows leading into the depths of the lake. She forgot it was probably late in the evening.

"Time to sleep" said Tom. He couldn't help but like he fact that he controlled everything about her - what she was eating or wearing, or when she was sleeping, when she was a human or a cat - it all lay in his hands, or on his bed, curled up in her cat form the next moment.

Joelle woke up early the other morning, having an instinctive urge to run across the room as fast as she could. She dashed around above Tom's head, pawing at his cheek, then ran away with a bushy tail when he grumbled and turned over, only to pounce on him the next moment. Tom stretched and yawned, then sat up after turning on the light, shaking his head at Joelle as she sat there proudly with her fur fluffed out on her chest.

"Seems like being a cat for too long is adjusting your personality a bit, hm? I hope you won't come back here with a mouse..."

Joelle meowed loudly in a clear tone of disgust before her eyes turned all black when she lowered her head and fixed Tom's toe moving under the blanket with her eyes - he quickly pulled his foot away.

"Don't you" he muttered, then waved his wand at her. Joelle sat on the ground, frowning.

"I'm acting like an idiot as a cat! Make it stop!"

Tom shrugged, grinning to himself. "I can't help it, really" he muttered.

"Then don't whine to me when I poo on your pillow one day..." grumbled Joelle - and for the first time that she recalls, she heard Tom laughing. She threw a pillow his way, it landed flat against his face and he let himself fall back, then stretched once more.

"Five in the morning?" He frowned, shaking his head at Joelle again - but she just shrugged.

"It's your fault. You had to turn me into a cat."

"The jellyfish is still an option, you know..." Tom grumbled, pointing to the lake. "You could swim with the giant squid" he looked at her, but of course he was only joking.

"I can't wait to take you with me to the lessons. You will like it. Slughorn seems fond of you already. He liked your tail-" he was interrupted by the noise of Joelle's stomach growling. Her cheeks reddened a little and she turned her face away, much to Tom's amusement.

"Guess who will have to be a good girl today if she wants something to eat?" Mused Tom tauntingly, she ignored it because she hated to be mocked, but yawned and sat down on his bed, looking around, then glanced back in surprise when she felt softness of fabric on her body. Tom draped the blanket over her shoulder.

"It looked like you were freezing" he murmured, crossing his arms. "Your motherly nature rubbed off on me a little" he then glanced over to Lestrange, who got up and yawned while stretching, smacking his lips as he eyed up the room in confusion - Joelle giggled. Tom very well understood why. Lestrange had a clumsy tinge to himself.

"Why are you two up already?" Lestrange asked once he spotted the two of them. Tom shrugged, not feeling obliged to answer. "Go back to sleep."

"Can't sleep anymore." Sighed Lestrange, blushing a slight bit as he glanced at Joelle. Tom caught it on an instant, glaring at the boy across the room. Oh he hated it when others looked her up and down. Lestrange cleared his throat, then sat up, yawning again. It was funny to watch, at least for Joelle, who observed the whole ordeal with amusement, then cringed a little upon another wave of growling eruption from her stomach.

"Ngh..."

"Oh" frowned Lestrange. "Poor girl. Why don't you give her some cat food? Black has plenty."

Joelle glared, spluttering out before Tom. "Because, boy, I am not a cat!"

"You hiss like one" snickered Lestrange, then gasped when Joelle grabbed a pillow and harshly threw it his way; it rotated furiously in the air but flew past Lestrange and over to Avery - nailing him flat against the face.

"Oi...what the heck is going on! Stop it, you!" Avery grumbled and threw the pillow back at Lestrange, who ducked again and the pillow flew right against Joelle's head. The boys gasped, their first glance was not directed towards Joelle but Tom - who glared furiously at them. Joelle simply chuckled, finding it to be amusing, but Tom was not amused at all. How dare they.

"Lestrange. Give Joelle your wand."

"W-what?"

"Do it."

"Marvolo, I don't-"

"Quiet."

Lestrange handed over his wand to Joelle. The latter held it in her hand, observing it curiously, wanted to hand it back, but Tom's fingers fastened around her wrist.

"I want you to swing it at Avery" he murmured.

"What? No. You have seen what happens when the wand isn't your right match at Ollivander's, I don't want to hurt-"

"He deserves it. Do it, Joelle." said Tom sternly. Joelle glanced at him in disbelief, then over to Avery, who was sitting on his bed with eyes wide open. Joelle shook her head and handed Lestrange back his wand, glaring at Tom.

"Don't you ever command me to hurt someone. Especially when they do not", she emphasized, "deserve it, Marvolo." Her strict and firm voice threw Tom into a rage of fury, his hand instantly wrapping around his own wand, aiming it at her. She stared at him with that presence of persistent strictness, daring him to use disciplinary magic on her now. Tom was close to transform her back into a cat - but he didn't dare.

He just didn't dare.

Days passed. Tom trusted Joelle enough to show her around the castle and even took her with him to the Great Hall - where everyone adored Joelle and Tom's talent of training the cat such good manners. Joelle sat next to him, eating the food that he put down for her with her paw.

"I wish you weren't such a girl magnet" sighed Tom at her while studying in the library later, patting her head while she was cuddled down in his lap. Tom could see a couple of first and second year females luring behind bookshelves, giggling at Tom each time before they were thrown out of the library for being too loud. Tom sighed and shook his head and simply continued rubbing through Joelle's fur while reading when he suddenly raised his head, looking around, then back to his book again. Tom noticed this, however, couldn't comment it the way she wanted to, so she meowed at him.

"It's nothing. Don't worry" whispered Tom. He soon found out what it was that she tried to tell him through her cat form.

"Did you see what I'm trying to read right here?" He asked. Joelle shook her head.

"It's called Legilimency and Occlumency. Through that it is possible to...let's say enter somebody's mind and shield your own. I've been wondering why I didn't find this in the restricted section. But it makes sense, thinking about it. If it's as easy as it is shown to be in this book...hmm...then a lot of witches and wizards should be able to do it. One would want to know how it works, and how to block it. I'm going to try to learn it and use it on you. So I know for sure what you're thinking in your cat form. Wh- argh! Stop clawing on me! Joelle!" Tom hissed, but Joelle hissed back. She clearly wasn't impressed by his idea. He held her up in the air to his eye level. Joelle looked most unamused with her ears perked back, grumbling lowly, her bushy tail flicking to the left and right in passive aggression.

"Be a good girl. It's the best for the both of us. Or do you have anything to hide?" He grinned. Joelle hissed at him again, resulting in Tom closing his book, getting up from the chair.

"That's it, I'm bringing you back into the room. What? Will you behave?" He asked when Joelle meowed heartbreakingly, resulting in awwing from the girls. He put Joelle back on his lap where she curled up and hid her face in her bushy tail.

"She is so cute! At least I think it is female, is it?" Asked a girl a minute later. Tom could hear Joelle grumbling lowly, as if angered for being mistaken as anything else. Tom merely nodded at the girl, making it painfully obvious that he had no business with her- but she did not move an inch. Tom sighed.

It was obviously pointless to continue studying like that, so he closed the book, got up, pressed Joelle against himself and walked off, growling lowly as heavy footsteps echoed in the corridors.

"Ridiculous. Haven't they seen a cat before?!" He hissed. "I need a room to study...it should be possible to be alone in this huge castle for once! Just one room for-" Tom frowned and stopped, standing in front of a door in the wall that surely wasn't there a second ago. Joelle must have thought the same, she meowed hectically.

"Did you see that? Did the door just simply appear?" He asked. Joelle nodded.

"That's interesting..." Tom grinned and slowly turned the doorknob while instinctively pressing Joelle closer to himself. The door opened with a loud creaking sound - and ahead of Tom was an empty classroom and plenty of bookshelves. Tom frowned and checked for a note outside the door - there usually was a schedule saying what kind of lessons were taught here and when - but there was nothing. He slipped in and closed the door.

"Maybe it's a new classroom. It doesn't look that new, though..." He murmured, letting Joelle down, transforming her back. Joelle looked around.

"I saw it forming a door the very moment you said that you wanted to study alone" she said softly and sat down on the table. Tom, meanwhile, observed the room and several bookshelves.

"Brilliant. I can study here with you then" he smiled while pulling out a book- but Joelle thrusted it back in, standing next to him.

"I think we should have a discussion about that Legilimency thing you were talking about. You are going too far, Marvolo. My thoughts belong to me and only me. They are private. Do we have that clear?"

Tom glowered at her. "You don't know the advantage yet. I could know what you want to say and that's just perfect while you are a cat!"

"Enough! You have to respect my choice! It's private, it's mine, you stay out of that!"

"Bryan!" Tom barked. "Bryan, right?!"

"Knock it off already."

"You can't forbid me to learn the technique."

"I'm not forbidding you to learn it. I'm forbidding you to use it on me. And I want you to know that I would be very disappointed to see you using that on somebody else..." She sighed. "Snowman, you don't need to do those things to know what people think. You are very intuitive as it is. Learn to connect with people instead of scanning their minds. Not only for their protection but also for yours. There might be things you encounter that you do not want to know..."

Tom just stood there with crossed arms, looking away. He shook his head.

"I like the thought of knowing where and whom you spend your mental energy on..."

"Marvolo, would you want me to do that to you?" Joelle asked gently. Tom said nothing, he merely looked up to her, then to the book, then to her again.

"Be fair..." Joelle sighed. "I'm here with you. What else do you want?" She tilted her head to the side in attempts to understand. Tom stared at her intensively, he looked into her eyes for a few seconds, but again, said nothing.

The next day was interesting. It was the 30th of December and, as announced, Professor Slughorn's invitation came during breakfast. He invited Tom and some other students over for a New Year's Eve party and, of course, dinner. Tom petted Joelle's head, then walked up to the plump man after breakfast.

"Professor Slughorn, Sir. Do you mind if I bring my cat? Joelle is very well trained, she will behave."

"Oh, certainly I don't mind it at all, Tom. The problem is, you see. Miss Jordan is allergic to cat hair, poor girl can't stay in her own common room at Ravenclaw and she had to change bedrooms because her roommate has a cat, took some time to discover it. Anyway, Miss Jordan is invited, Riddle, that's why it'd be best for your precious cat", he patted Joelle's head, "to stay at her dormitory."

Tom looked most disappointed, but he forced a smile. "I understand, Sir. Of course" he said, watching Slughorn walking off, his stomach always taking the lead of him. Tom growled lowly, pressed Joelle to himself s little tighter as he stomped upstairs to the room he discovered yesterday, growling loudly.

"Marvolo..." Sighed Joelle when Tom kicked against a bookshelf after transforming her back.

"Because some stupid girl is allergic to cat hair! One would think only muggles have to deal with those things, there must be a magical cure for that" his eyes swept over to the bookshelf, then shook his head.

"Pf, what do I care about her. She has to find out herself."

"Just pretend it's me who needs the cure" smiled Joelle, but Tom huffed again. "Nice try. I think-"

"It's okay for me not to go to the party. I could sleep a bit, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep. Every sound wakes me up at night, it's mostly Lestrange snoring. I'm not used to hearing so well as a cat."

"Yes, you clearly aren't used to hearing well..." Grumbled Tom.

"Marvolo!" Huffed Joelle. "You're mean" she sighed but chuckled when out of nowhere, Tom suddenly held a beautiful red rose in his hand that he gave to her. Joelle smiled and took it, bringing it to her nose to take in the natural scent while Tom seemed content with himself, watching her.

"It's so easy to make you happy. Just a flower..." Tom shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh why did you have to say that now?" Joelle huffed, half of her nose buried in the rose. Tom chuckled but shrugged, then looked away, his smile vanishing completely.

"Are you alright, snowman?" Asked Joelle.

"I will be twelve by tomorrow" said Tom, looking out of the window that allowed view into the beautiful landscape of Scotland.

"And that's a bad thing?" Asked Joelle along. Tom shrugged.

"Growing older happens so fast. Twelve years. Considering an average human is dead before his eightieth birthday..."

"Snowman...don't spend so much of your life thinking about death" she whispered, rubbing his shoulder gently. Tom glanced at her, then ahead again.

"I can't help it. Did you know that witches and wizards grow much older? You have visited enough biology courses to know what that means."

"Oh? What does it mean?" Asked Joelle, but it was more the kind of question that one would ask to hear the other's opinion.

"Only the fittest survive" Tom glanced at her. Joelle chuckled.

"And then they die" she said simply before turning around without the simplest of idea how much her words caused Tom's eyes to widen as he still stared out of the window, clinging tightly to the sill.

"Marvolo?" Asked Joelle. Tom cleared his throat, but he did not speak. Instead, he sat down and read something in a book.

"It's not that Legilimency stuff, is it?"

"No" said Tom. "I'm trying to find out what exactly this room is. So I'm reading Hogwarts, a History again. All noteworthy rooms are mentioned, actually. So far...hm...seventh floor...let's see..."

Tom paged through the book for a long time, but couldn't find anything. Rubbing his chin, he put the book back and glanced over to Joelle, observing her closely while she became interested in some of them herself. Tom saw how she pulled out one that discussed unicorns, and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Joelle. Unicorns. Of course.

"I'll read this in the common room while you're at the party" she smiled. Tom sighed, shaking his head.

"You believe that you're not coming with me?" He asked. Joelle frowned. "Well, what can we do? That girl is allergic to cat hair. And no, you can't bring a jellyfish to the party" Joelle giggled while Tom grinned. But of course he knew what to do. Why would somebody like Tom be okay with losing? Why would somebody like Tom accept the perspective that he could not have something his way? The problem, clearly so, was the girl. If somebody had to stay away from that party, it was her - and not his Joelle.

It couldn't get easier than that.

Walking downstairs, after transforming Joelle back into her cat form, Tom thought about possible ways of disposing of Jordan - even though he agreed to take the unicorn book with him. Joelle insisted, it seemed to mean a lot to her, and Tom needed to make her believe that she wouldn't be able to come with him. He was on the first floor when the staircase changed its direction and caused Tom to turn the other way, along a corridor he normally didn't walk off to - when he was sure that there it was again.

Tom stopped dead in his tracks, looking around, instinctively pressing Joelle closer against him. Where did that voice come from?

AN: I'm curious, how are you picturing Tom? Is it the boy from the film adaption or do you have a different picture in mind?

Shoutout:

The idea to create a room for Tom to study alone was inspired by Radiant Innocence : )

One more thing:

I can't thank you enough for the reviews so far! Feedback is so motivating and valuable - I love to hear what you guys think, I find it very inspiring! See you next chapter! : )