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The darkness vanished at a snail's pace and a smell of dead leaves mixed amid soil flooded into my nostrils...

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and gazed above me and saw thin shafts of moonbeams penetrating through the thick canopy of trees, while falling on a wet floor covered with dried and decomposed leaves.

Dazed, I blinked a couple of times and craned my neck around...Much to my horror and astonishment puffs of mists hovered amidst the tree trunks, looking eerily like faceless ghosts...

Feeling wet and cold; staggeringly I stood up. Then I tried to recall where I was or what had happened after I had come into the Forbidden forest.

As an answer to my question, I heard a rustle of leaves and a faint hissing noise, somewhere close to me...

Spiraling, I came face to face with Varnish! And once again I was hypnotized by his brick red eyes...

"We meet again, Your Grace..." it hissed and behind him I heard more noises, sort of like bone aching moans...

Following the directing of my gaze, the serpent flickered out its tongue:

"Ahhhhh, here comes our natural alliesssss..."

I screamed with sheer disbelief and terror as the so called "natural allies" came forth...

I definitely didn't like the sight of these hooded phantoms!

"Who or what are they?" I shrieked while Varnish wrapped its coils around me...

"They're known as Dementors, My Lord... Master created them in the days of his glory to capture the souls of unwanted wizards and mugglesss..."

As on cue, the Dementors flung off their cloaks and I stared transfixed!

Their bodies were like gauze, but shaped like an hour glass... their faces were squashed with nothing else on them except for two black holes for eyes and a two inch trunk like that of an anteater.

However, none of these characteristics ever came closer to the shock which I received when my eyes traveled upon their bodies... Through the transparency I could see vague shapes of human and wizard like forms twisting and squirming in agony...

Without Varnish telling me, I knew that those were the souls of devoured people who had once been alive...

"THAT'S ENOUGH! I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS HELLISH SIGHT! ASK THEM TO WEAR THEIR CLOAKS!"

I hid my face behind my hands, unable to bear the sight! I knew that I wouldn't ever be capable of forgetting the nightmare I had just seen!

My whole body was shivering and I kneeled on my knees, with my eyes closed...

Next to to me, I heard a faint soothing hiss and I opened my eyes to see the Dementors gone but instead Varnish was observing me with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"Master needn't be afraid, those are your subjects..." murmured the gigantic Serpent as its tail went around me...

"That was ghastly! Revolting! I don't think I would want to have such hideous fiends as anything..."

"Young Lord is still quite young and there's so much he should learn..." said the Varnish as if to himself.

"Can you please take me to the edge of the Forest so that I could return to Hogwarts?" I questioned weakly, feeling my strength failing me miserably.

"Indeed, but Master should wear this ring..." it retorted and spat out something from its throat.

Glancing on the ground, I saw that it was a silver ring shaped as a cobra head...

"Whenever you need my help, My Lord, feel free to whisper it to this ring...I will heed your call..." replied Varnish as I was suddenly flipped into the air by its tail and placed on its body.

"Hold on to the coils, I will take you to your destination..."

Then with what seemed like lightening, it slithered through the trees like a rollercoaster train and I was left breathless by the time we reached the end of our journey.

"I heard about the Tournament, Master... You are the legatee of a great Wizard; don't fail your blood..."

Saying that, the serpent winked at me and slithered back into the dark forest, leaving my mouth hanging completely open at such an escapade!

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"Professor Binns is so bloody boring!" exclaimed Felix as he leaned back on his chair and pretended to snore. "Honestly that fellow needs to die to spare us from going to our own death beds!"

"Isn't Binns a mudblood?" asked Laurent Longbottom as he yawned loudly.

I looked towards the Gryffindors and felt irritated. I never really liked Professor Binns much myself either because I found him incredibly boring... but some how I hated Potter even more for gloating in his obnoxious voice.

"Yeah he's a mudblood just like Riddle over there..." cried Felix and smirked widely at his thuggish friend.

Nonplussed and unaware of the wizard slang, I continued to dip my quill in the ink and write.

Nevertheless, Zarken and Rod had understood whatever Felix had said so they were red like tomatoes.

"That slime called you a mudblood!" whispered Rod furiously while I raised my eye brows in question.

"You don't know what a mudblood is?" asked Zarken incredulously and I shook my head, not even wanting to care of whatever it was.

So I glared and jostled away my parchment.

"Look fellows, I have no time for this nonsense, either I stuff my head with the policies of Giant rebels or I get a bad grade on my History of Magic Paper. And believe me, I want the latter!"

Retorting so, I picked up the quill again and began to focus on my work but Zarken wasn't going to give up.

"Mudblood means dirty blood! Wizards who are muggle born but aren't of pure blood!"

I froze and converted my gaze towards Felix who was snickering with Laurent.

"I'm not a muggle born! But I guess pigs like that think they have the right to determine the heritage of others... Oh well when the time comes, I will show Felix what blood I contain..." I murmured through my gritted teeth and I definitely knew now that I wanted to win the Grand Finale no matter what the cost!

"Tom! I would rather you not to talk during my lessons," interrupted Professor Binns as he walked next to me while adjusting his spectacles.

I nodded, being aware that Professor Binns could be really irritating if he wished to be, so I continued with my work for the rest of the lesson, paying little heed to the whispers of my friends.

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"Hello... Tom Riddle I suppose?" asked a voice and I turned to hold the gaze with a brown eyed, red haired girl.

"Yes..." I replied remembering her to be the Gryffindor girl I saved. "I'm Tom."

"I would remember you from anywhere, you were so bold and dashing," replied Yamina Ashraf, her speech slurred with a slight accent.

Nonetheless, I stiffed and narrowed my eyes. The warmth in her greeting wasn't present in her looks and somehow my instinct told me that she wasn't being sincere...

"I thought a lot about you..." she cooed, and now I definitely knew she was lying, but instead since I wasn't used to talking to girls; I shrugged my shoulders mumbling a 'your welcome.'

Dismissing the matter, I started to head towards the Common Room, when Yamina placed a hand on my shoulder.

"What is it?"

This time, I felt agitated. One thing I hated most of all were insincere people and personally I wanted to have nothing to do with Gryffindors!

"I thought maybe we could talk..." she said, battering her eye lashes quite provocatively.

Eleven years old as I was, my intelligence warned me that this was bait; and that conclusion made me extremely furious!

"Look, I saved your life which was pretty stupid of me, and you thanked me for it so let's just get this business over and done with...Okay?"

With that, I strode away fast, hating the glances thrown at me when I had raised my voice.

I felt sick in my stomach! I loathed the way everyone tried to use me and most of all I despised people who treated me like a puppet.

Lying on my bed, I recalled the previous occasion in which I saw the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain bribing Yamina to use me as a spy to search out the tactics in Quidditch which the Slytherins created. It was all very disgusting.

"Does everyone assume that I am a stupid eleven year old baby? Well... They're certainly going to get a huge shock on that..." I proclaimed as I twisted my mouth into my most famous sinister grin...

Frustrated, I threw a pillow in the air and caught it!

Once again, my mind wandered off to sum up the tasks in the Grand Finale.

I did sign up my name already for the tournament. (Nearly the whole school had anyway) But the tasks set by the teachers were going to be next week and definitely I had to make sure that I had mastered every possible spell, hex and jinx I had ever learnt...

"Maybe I should steal into the restricted part of the library..." I mused and thought that it was a brilliant idea. "Seth would need to help me of course..."

Getting up, I wrote a note:

Dear Uncle,
A Tournament is coming up and I want to win it badly! I have to know every possible piece of magic you can teach... But most important of all, I need your help to break into the Library and acquire some books in the restricted section. Talk to me through the fire day after tomorrow.

Tom.

Folding the parchment, I strolled into the Owlery and found my owl Ozir perched in his nest.

"Come here boy..." I beckoned softly.

When it came, I tied the note securely and launched it into the air through the open window...

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A/N: Will continue as soon as possible.