"Elsewhere, far away... too late, perhaps never more. For I know not whither you fly, nor you, where I go. O soul that I would have loved, and that you know!"
To a Passerby. The Flowers of Evil. Charles Baudelaire.
Chapter 20
When the letters arrived inviting Hermione and Tom to Hogwarts, they were both very excited. A few days later, Cecilia, her father, Lady Mary Riddle and her husband accompanied them on a visit to Diagon Alley to buy everything they would need for the new school year. It wasn't their first time there, but exploring all those stores was always fascinating. But of course the most awaited moment was the choice of wands. To Mr. Garrick Ollivander's surprise, the young Heir of Slytherin correctly guessed what his and Hermione's wands would be. Never in his entire career as a wandmaker had he ever seen a magician get to know in advance the allignance of a wand. The rest of the visit then went smoothly and without any major problems.
It was not long before the long-awaited moment of boarding the train on platform 9 3/4 arrived. During the train ride, Riddle realized that some people he had met in his other life had not ever been born. This was the case with Corvus Lestrange and Evan Rosier, whose parents had never married. On the other hand, there were also some new faces: Cassiopeia Black, now the younger sister, had two brothers in the third-year, the twins Pollux and Castor. Together with Gideon and Fabian, the quartet made up the biggest mess and all sort of pranks. Although the four came from traditionally opposite houses, the group of friends was very close.
The surprises didn't stop there though. Before they disembarked, Isolde Lovegood, then a seventh-year student and also Head Girl, greeted them by saying, "Good to know you managed to realize in time, Tom, that where your treasure is, there your heart will be." Although the two did not quite understand what she meant, they followed the other first-years to the boats. After crossing the Black Lake, both were sorted into Slytherin. This time Hermione soon made friends with a petite girl with long, white-blond hair; it was Theia, Abraxas' younger sister. The eldest of the Malfoys outside Azkaban had been educated in France with his sister and had only recently moved to the family estate in Wiltshire. Since they were minors, all business was handled by Apoline Delacour, their Veela godmother, whose granddaughter, Fleur, was also Abraxas's fiancée.
When the hunt for Death Eaters finally ended, many kids throughout Europe, especially those of Dark Lord followers, had to be placed in the care of family members and even under the protection of government authorities. In some serious cases, as with Virna Rosier or Antonin Dolohov, the parents themselves preferred to commit suicide and kill their own children rather than turn themselves in to the aurors. According to the records, there were more than one hundred orphans of all ages in Great Britain alone and more than fifteen hundred scattered throughout different countries, especially France, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy.
The deaths of so many magical folk spelled the end of a third of the families that made up the Sacred Twenty-eight. According to Catankerus Nott's account in the Pure-Blood Directory, these were the British families still "truly pure-blood" by the 1930s. In view of this situation and with the reduction of prejudice, many families decided to recognize their bastard children as legitimate heirs. Such was the case with the Selwyns, Rosiers and also the Princes, whose young half-blood heir Severus Snape was a favorite to teach Alchemy at Hogwarts after finishing his studies with Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel over the next year. His fiancée, a muggleborn witch named Lily Evans would likely be given a position as a professor of the other new subject to be instituted, Magical Theory.
Just two months after school began, Percival Nott, a fourth-year prefect, offered the two orphans an invitation. "You may have heard of the Knights of Walpurgis, and I would like to invite you to join our fellowship," Nott said enthusiastically. "But we are only half-bloods, and this fellowship has been accepting only pureblood wizards for centuries," argued Hermione. "This has changed since the Order of the Phoenix defeated Grindelwald. Last year we accepted two new members from Hufflepuff, Godwin Diggory, a fourth year pureblood and his girlfriend Agnes Selwyn, a third-year half-blood," Percival explained. "If so, we would both be honored to accept this invitation," Tom added. At that moment, Prudence Thicknesse, a fifth-year Slytherin and also a member of the Knights, said, "You two are the most powerful first-year students and the only ones who can practice wandless and nonverbal magic. We need such people to help protect Hogwarts. "
The next few months passed in a warmer and welcoming environment, and at the end of the school year Headmaster Dippet announced that he was relinquishing his post to Dumbledore. Some students complained because they would need a new Transfiguration teacher. However, the chosen professor who replaced Albus, a muggleborn called Minerva McGonagall soon became one of the most popular figures in the school. On the way back to London that year, Tom Riddle realized for the first time that he did not like at all the attention Percival Nott was giving Hermione over the past few months, nor how much Castor, the eldest Black twin, and Fleamont Potter, fifth-year Gryffindor prefect, had enjoyed spending time with her in the library the last two weeks for their Potions project. So a strange feeling arose in the young wizard that seemed to tighten his chest and compress his heart.
The Granger girl who seemed to read his thoughts said to the Heir of Slytherin, "Tom, you don't have to be jealous, we'll always be together." In response, the young wizard hugged her close and both remained the rest of the travel side by side. The future certainly held countless surprises, but the two knew that the feeling that bound them was their greatest treasure, more precious than all gold and even capable of outlasting time. Perhaps they were now the flowers of hope and no longer the flowers of evil.
This brings us to the end of the story. Thank you very much for reading. Even though many of the characters are not originally mine, it was great to share my ideas with you!