A/N : Okay, this is just a note for all of you. Yes, I know a lot of time is getting skipped, but do you really all want to read about all the things that Tom's learning when I could just summarize it all for you and save time/space? I mean, I have 22 years to cover of his "missing" years and I don't want the entire story to be nothing but his studying, that'd be a bit boring. This will be the first half of the story (about 27 chapters). The rest is going to be the approximately 15 years from his return to England to the follow-up after the Potters (which might actually end up being longer than the estimated 29 chapters for it). So, if there are any other readers out there of mine that agree with what RudyCholo said, I do sincerely apologize. This is just he way the story has turned out and I'm sorry if this throws you. I do plan, later in the story, to give you a summary/timeline for all the years covered so you don't get too lost when it comes to the time passage here. But, hey, just wait till the third part – that'll be about forty chapters and only cover three years. Talk about your detail. On with the story!!!
Chapter #5 – Accusations
It did not seem like more than four years had passed since he had begun learning from Rauthuell. Time had certainly flown. And, yet, he knew he had learned a considerable amount from his teacher in that space of time. He had actually grown to love transfiguration, something that seven years at Hogwarts had not accomplished – but that was mainly because of the professors that had taught him previous. And the animagus transformation was something he was considering learning.
Rauthuell had slowly begun to run out of things to teach his student, but he knew that he had taught Tom far more than the young wizard had thought there could be. Transfiguration was a branch of magic that did not seem to be all that useful for those that had not delved deeper into its study, but there were ways that any type of magic could be developed to fill anyone's purposes.
It was also very evident to Tom that his teacher was becoming thin on incantations to teach him. He had a feeling that it would also be time to leave once that time came. He had kept in close contact with all his old schoolmates since he had left England and with as much as Rex had been bugging him to go meet his grandparents in Italy, Tom thought that once he left Denmark, that would be the next place he headed. He had second thoughts, though, once he told Lena.
"Italy?!" There was a huge smile on her face. "Then I can go to Rome. I've only ever been to Aurorius Villa once. It's such a great…"
"Lena, you've done enough shopping already to last a lifetime."
The young witch looked at him for a moment, seemingly abashed. "No, I haven't."
Tom looked towards the several piles of books she had nearly stacked to the ceiling on one side of their loft room…and the books were only part of what she had been spending bags of gold on. "What more is there to buy?"
A look somewhere between shock and annoyance crossed her face for a moment before she responded simply: "Loads of things."
And shaking his head, he finished responding to the latest letter to Rex and sent it off before heading downstairs for his lessons. He could not believe how much Lena had spent in four years. Though her family was swimming in gold, it was no reason for her to try and spend it all. But if her father sent her the money, he guessed he really could not say much about it. If he thought she was not spending too much, then there must not really be a problem.
It was only a few months later, in the autumn of the year, when Rauthuell finally reached the end of his own grimoire. To his teacher, it was a rather sad event, closing his grimoire for the last time in teaching Tom for he knew his student's plans were already made to leave for Italy. He was sure it would be a sad parting, at least on his part, for he had enjoyed teaching the young wizard, knowing what it had been that his old friend had seen in him. Grindelwald had been right to want to take this talented young man under his tutelage.
Once Lena had finished the potion she had been working on, she and Tom said their farewells to Rauthuell. They returned to Måneby to stay for a while, to talk to all of his old friends, who still sat around the same table at the tavern talking about nearly the same thing. They were pleased that Tom was back to talk with them every day now, but they were saddened to find out that he was soon going to be leaving them.
As the short time Tom had passed before the Dorians were expecting him in Rome, most of the old topics were revisited. There was still the major problem of Mudbloods overrunning most of the smaller national schools across the Continent. A new headmaster at Durmstrang was had assured pureblooded families that the school would remain pureblood as long as he was headmaster. There was much rejoicing when this was announced.
It was only a few days before he was planning to leave when a new face appeared in the tavern. Most of the men at the table greeted him warmly, but there were a few that were looking at him almost nervously, glancing at Lena a few times, as that she was actually there and not off shopping more. The blonde haired man did not seem to be paying any attention to anyone at the moment besides Josef and his brother Fritz.
Tom took the time to study him. His hair was a bit untidy, looking as though he had just flown there after a long journey. His skin was pale, though there were the signs of sunburn creeping up on his face and hands. He rather looked like a man that had once been quite robust that had very quickly lost weight, for his skin sagged in places and his green eyes seemed sunken in some. He was dressed in heavy robes that were trimmed in copious amounts of fur, which was probably because he had flown and the air was starting to get rather cold.
After a few more minutes and a short bout of laughter from him and some of the men there, he turned his attention to the rest of the table. He saw, for the first time it seemed, the two people that were strangers to him. His eyes stayed on Tom only a moment, seeming to go automatically to Lena. The newcomer looked her over, studying her intently with his recessed green eyes. He seemed to have come to some shocking conclusion, as his eyes widened then narrowed. His gaze really bothered Lena, but his prolonged silence was even more annoying to her.
"So vhy is she here?" He was addressing Soren, acting as though Lena were not there now. "You know vhot I dink of…"
"Ja, Karl, ve do know," several of the men said together, seeming a bit bored with him and whatever he thought.
"Might I ask what you have against me, Sir," she asked so coldly several of the people around the table, including Tom, looked at her with surprise.
"I haff noding against you, Miss Vestbrook, it is your fader I haff de problem vid."
With a nearly appalled look, she exhaled loudly, a muscle at the edge of her mouth twitching slightly, eyes narrowed. "And why do you have anything against my father?"
Karl seemed completely unaffected by her coldness, though to everyone else it felt like a strong winter gale has just blown into the tavern. Tom did not even know why she was acting this way, but she always did seem a bit edgy when someone spoke of her father poorly.
"Because," he said casually but still firmly, "he is not trustvordy."
"And why do you say this," she spat.
"Because he is a traitor und a spy," he said slowly, sure to emphasize every word, looking her straight in the eyes without blinking.
What happened then was done with in a fraction of a second but it had felt like an eternity. Lena had nearly flung herself fully across the table at Karl. The candles at the center of the table flew at Josef, nearly setting his robes on fire. Everyone was shouting, standing up, trying to pull them apart. Everyone in the tavern was looking at them. Tankards of ale and mead were now on the floor, their contents soaking the floor. Karl was struggling to get Lena's hands from around his neck, as were Fritz and Gregos. Tom grabbed her and pulled her away, though she was still clawing the air, wanting to finish strangling him.
"How dare you!" She was fighting to get out of Tom's tight grasp, her face scarlet in rage. "You sit there accusing my father of such…such horrendous things!"
"It vos your fader dat told Dumbledore vhere to find Grindelvald!" Fritz and Gregos were holding him back, for he wanted to start a duel with here right there. "It vos he…"
"You lying son of a bitch!" She struggled more, screaming, clawing at Tom's arms to release her. "Let me go! Let me kill him!"
"Lena," her lord told her quietly into her ear, ignoring the stinging in his arms were she had nearly drawn blood, "calm yourself. Calm…"
And as though he had done a spell on her, she fell limp in his arms, leaning her head back on his chest, closing her eyes. He wanted her to calm down, and so she would…as long as he held her at least. If he let go, she would go at Karl again. But she was sure that Tom knew that it was better if he continue to hold her tightly, for he was not relaxing his grip in the slightest.
"Karl! Out!" Soren looked infuriated, pointing to the door to the street. "Out!"
"I tell de truth und you kick me out! Very vell, den. But one day," he was waging his finger at Tom and Lena, "…one day you vill regret it!"
As he stormed out, Tom could not help but feel that he was telling the truth. It seemed to make sense…so much sense. But, with the way Lena had reacted to the accusation, he was not likely to voice his opinion any time soon in her presence. He did not want her to get that violent with him. He was also sure that saying such things would make her leave him, and he had not finished using her quite yet.
The tension from that meeting slowly ebbed during the remainder of the afternoon. Everyone seemed a bit uneasy about talking with Lena any so she ended up going out to shop, still fuming slightly. That was one of the few times that Tom did not actually mind her going out to shop, which gave him time to ask what that entire thing was about. Soren explained to him that Karl had been on about Korbin being the traitor that gave away Grindelwald's whereabouts, for it was said that Grindelwald had sent his last letter to Korbin through one of the Westbrooks' own owls.
Tom suddenly began to wonder if that could be true. Dumbledore and Korbin had been talking before the Leaving Feast years ago. Korbin had certainly overheard Grindelwald telling him, Tom, to send an owl of Korbin's once he had graduated and he would tell where he was. Could they have been planning all of it? Did they use him to allow Dumbledore to get to Grindelwald? A slight scowl formed on Tom's face, which made Soren ask what was wrong, but Tom brushed him off, but continued to mull over the possibility of it the rest of the day.
*********
To my reviewers –
All of you – *evil grin* think you have all the answers now, do you? Now come on, I can't make it that easy for you, can I?
Liv – yes, chapter 16…STILL…*sigh*…but I'll get finished with it…then have trouble with chapter 17…^_~…and you know what you could say instead of "I loved it" all the time? Tell me what you loved about it…:-P
RudyCholo – I am glad you've been a long time reader…and it's fine you haven't reviewed before…you're there in my enhanced stats, you know…^_^…and I'm very very very flattered that you think this is a good fic, though I know there are still a good many problems with it…I do hope I addressed your concern about the time passage in this story in my author's note (I thought it should be addressed to everyone in case anyone else might wonder)…and I'm sure you were bothered by FOUR years passing here…^_^;; Well, like I said, do you really want to see all the details about his studying? That'd get rather boring and repetitive to me…and frankly, my imagination just isn't big enough to cover all the things he could learn…I'm trying to stay as "indepth" as possible, but, this is a big task…I have 27 years to cover in this part of the fic – from his leaving Hogwarts to the trails of his Death Eaters after his fall…it's going to go fast…be careful not to get left behind…^_~…and I do hope you'll continue to enjoy this story…
(insert name here) – okay, just one question…is this someone that knows me personally by the name Sati? You just seem like some of my friends with that "I'd still be anonymous for all the truth it would hold" comment, is all…^_^ The one-shot, while not being posted today, will hopefully be up this weekend and the title will be "The Riddle and the Mirror"…just a little more tweaking is all I need…my casual treatment of the bomb is more tied to them not really caring much (though I guess they should have)…
lord archimonde – "questionable"…as in "things that Dark wizards do"…hmm, could have phrased it differently, I guess…*shrugs*…oh well…1830 words? Good length? ^_^ And more Icelandic, eh? *goes off to find a spell so she can learn the language instantly*
Lady Mandara Snake – more Tom/Lena? Um…*looks at upcoming chapters*…nope…no real Tom/Lena stuff…it's mainly all Tom and his studying…sorry…*frowns*
Aurdomiel, Ravenstar – and just what did you think of THIS chapter? Eh? *cackles evilly* Think you've figured it all out? Think you have your proof? It's still rumors! :-P Nothing is going to be 100% known for sure until much later…and you'll actually be surprised by what you find out. Just wait…it gets better…*evil grin*
RivanKnight – yes, he's interesting, but no longer in the story…*sigh*…so many people coming and going in this story…though I try to make them memorable…