A/N: Here is another too short chapter that I have taken a long time to update. (sorry)
Alright, about Malfoy. They won't be friends at the moment cause I don't think that you'd befriend your archenemy all of a sudden, just because he doesn't know who you are. That with Voldemort was enough for the beginning. Later on that might be possible, but at the moment I have decided against it. Sorry for those who wanted them to become friends.
And Tom will slowly become darker (everyone seems to want it) and be totally on Voldemort's side. The last reviewer asked me to let him kill someone, so that'll happen in one of the next chapters I guess. I'm pretty sure it won't be right the next one though.
And thanks to my great reviewers! You guys helped me a lot.
Launigsiae : Yes, looks like most of you do!
HecateDeMort : Thank you!
ShatteredxDream : Thanks, Draco will realize, but not immediately.
anonymous : that might take some time though.
lestrange24 : Thank you, I always like new readers!
HoshiHikari4ever : Yeah... thanks for the review!
Lady Phasma : alright, thank you!
Ouroboros Vipertooth : Thanks, you got your wish.
remusisyummy : Thanks!
The Dark Flame : yo, thank you!
Shania Maxwell : Well, Ron probably not, and about Draco... not at the moment... but Hermione, yes. At least that.
Kees : Thank you, sorry 'bout Draco... but I agree, the question is definitely funny.
vampire-serpent : thank you!!
Alex riddle-granger : yeah, just tell me who (or whom, whatever)!
Chapter 11
"Cockroach Clusters... Sherbet Lemon... Chocolate frogs... Ice mice... Can't you just move aside?... Bertie Blott's every flavor beans... Butter beer... Lemon drops..." Tom was standing in front of Dumbledore's office and trying to figure out the password. "... Pepper Imps... Bloody Muffins... hey, I hadn't thought that one would work..."
The last one was apparently right, so Tom stood on the moving staircase. At the end, he knocked on the door of the office.
"Come in." Dumbledore called from inside.
Tom did so. He remained close to the door and looked at the headmaster who was sitting behind his desk, wearing a hat that looked like one of those Hermione had made for the house-elves. "Am I disturbing you, sir? I wanted to talk to you." He asked politely, looking around in the round office. The picture of one headmaster – Armando Dippet – looked at him quite surprised. Tom remembered seeing him in his father's diary – he had been headmaster when Voldemort had been at school.
"Ah, no, of course not, Mr. Riddle. What is it that you want to say?" Dumbledore asked merrily.
Tom pulled his attention away from the sword. "Hermione and I had the idea to continue with the DA meetings, so Remus Lupin and I could teach together."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment, then he said "That's a wonderful idea, how about we put up notices in the common rooms about it, so that everyone can join?"
"Yeah, okay. So – let's say we'll meet right on Thursday and decide on a regular meeting time."
"Great. It's good that you don't let yourself lose the right path because of minor things."
"Yes. Um – Professor, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course you may. Ask."
"What are you going to do now? About Voldemort, I mean. He's got all his Death Eaters back. And it's just a matter of time till more people die, isn't it?"
"Yes, you are right.", answered Dumbledore slowly. "But you need not worry. Besides, have you had any dreams lately?"
The old fool just changed the subject! But Tom replied, "Yes, I had several dreams about some creepy corridor. But nothing really happened, there was just the corridor."
"Oh.", was all that Dumbledore said.
"So what are you going to do now?" Tom didn't want to give up so fast.
Dumbledore looked uncomfortable. "Most of it is secret business of the order, so I can't tell you everything. But I think it's even better if you don't know that much, I don't want you in any problems or... well, things like that. We're not quite sure what Voldemort has in mind at the moment. Don't be worried, and please inform me about any dreams."
Tom should tell Dumbledore everything when the old man told him nothing? But, knowing the old man, he would not get a better answer. "Thank you sir. Goodbye." And he left.
The next morning at breakfast the school owl came with the other owls and held out her leg with a letter.
"Thanks.", said Tom friendly and gave her a piece of bread, untied the letter and let it slip into his bag. Again he noticed Malfoy's curious gaze, and this time, making him curse quietly, also Dumbledore's.
When he left the hall the headmaster held him back. "Good morning, I noticed you received a letter today – may I ask who was so kind?"
Tom would have liked to deny in a very rude tone, but he had to stay polite. "Oh... yes – it was from Tonks. I decided not to open it in there, it might contain something confidential."
"Yes, that was very clever of you. I'm proud.", said Dumbledore and smiled happily and patted Tom's shoulder.
Tom forced himself to return the smile. "Professor, I need to go to class now."
"Yes, right." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Have a nice day!"
Later he read the letter.
Dear Tom,
Meet me in Hogsmeade on Saturday around noon at the house on the left side of Zonko's. Enter through the back door.
Be careful.
Lord Voldemort
On Thursday evening many students had decided to attend the meeting in the room of requirement which grew much bigger because of that. A lot of people were eager to learn how to defend themselves because of Voldemort's return. Even Malfoy and his cronies had turned up which was a bit worrying. It was good that there were two teachers now, one probably wouldn't have been able to do all that alone. They voted to meet every Thursday evening as none of the houses had Quidditch practice then.
"That's wonderful, isn't it? I mean, that we have restarted the DA and all...", said Hermione afterwards. She had very well noticed that Tom was depressed. And he definitely had a reason.
Ron and Ginny had attended the meeting. At first Tom had been confident that that was a sign that they were giving him at least a chance and had approached them and tried to talk to them, but they had determinedly ignored him. So he had given it up, feeling completely downcast. Why, just why had they abandoned him like this? In a way, they were right, yes, but they sided with the old fool who hadn't even given them a reason to hate Tom, rather than with their friend? He should never have trusted them in the first place, them, with all their prejudices.
In the wizarding world it seemed to be all about blood. When he had met Ron, had he been better than Malfoy? No, he had also hated Malfoy before even knowing him, based on what he had heard about his family. Then, Malfoy hated people because they were not pureblood, also based on what he had heard about them. Actually the whole thing seemed quite stupid to Tom, as he now had changed sides. He was fitting in everywhere, but what counted in the end was what he had been born into. And as long as he couldn't change the rules, he would be on the pureblood side.
Without hating muggleborns, of course. He did hate muggles, at least the ones he knew, he was sure that there were some less... horrible muggles somewhere out there, but he didn't know them. And he didn't think that people like Malfoy or a lot of those other purebloods could really hate muggles. They didn't know any. They repeated what they had been told by their parents who had been told it by their own parents. That was not hate. It could be dislike, they could be convinced that they hated muggles, but it could never be true hate. What Voldemort felt towards muggles was real hate, or what Tom felt, because they had experienced first-handedly how muggles had made their lives miserable. But you could not hate what you did not know.
He smiled at Hermione and said, "Yeah, it's wonderful. Wait till we start the lessons, that'll be fun. With so many people... We'll have to start with some of the easier things, though."
Hermione looked relieved that he didn't lose his temper. In the common room he was eagerly awaited by Judy and another seventh year, Glenn. They had also attended the DA meeting.
"Hi, Tom! That's great, that you are doing this! Amazing! How did you get that teaching job?" Julie smiled. "Those Weasleys didn't look as if they were very pleased about it, though, but that's good, you know. I'd say they're a bit stupid. Fred and George were alright, though... they're twins and have graduated here last year. But the younger ones... oh, well", she sighed, "they're not my problem. But tell me, how did you get to teach along with Potter?"
"Oh, at my old school I was really good in Defense Against the Dark Arts, my old headmaster mentioned it to Dumbledore, so he offered me this."
"That's cool.", said Glenn. He didn't talk too much, he was always calm and collected. Tom enjoyed being around him because he always had this relaxing aura around him.
"We've still got to do a lot of homework.", reminded Judy.
"Trelawney's told us to write an essay about the different kinds of shapes in crystal balls, I guess she was angry cause some people couldn't stop themselves from bursting out laughing last lesson.", complained Tom.
They sat in the chairs close to the fireplace. Tom watched the fire. It reminded him of the Gryffindor Tower, he had often sat in chairs with his friends and looked into the fire. Judy waved an hand in front of his face and he got his book and parchment out and started to work. It didn't work very well, even though he asked Glenn and Judy to help him.
"You know, when we had Trelawney for the first time she told us that we had to be able to see, and then she knocked into the table in front of her... that was cool..." said Judy.
"Don't take it serious, just make something up. If you don't have the sight, you won't see.", said Glenn who usually took school almost as serious as Hermione, only that he never got nervous about it. "That professor hasn't got any idea on her subject, she's just putting up a show, my aunt and uncle are real seers, that's a totally different thing."
"Yeah, I met them, they're really good. A bit cryptic maybe.", agreed Judy. "Glenn has inherited some of the sight, too."
"Really?" Tom was surprised, he hadn't known that. "You're a seer?"
"Kind of. I cannot see something often or even on purpose but if I do then it's usually true. It's not always the future, sometimes it's also the past.", explained Glenn. "The problem is, it's easy to misinterpret sometimes."
After they had done their homework they kept talking for some time until they all became tired and went to their dorm rooms. Tom put his bag on the floor and sat down on his bed. A cough turned his attention to the other side of the room. Malfoy was sitting on his own bed, obviously awaiting him. Everybody else was asleep. Tom looked at Malfoy, not saying a word.
"I want to know what's going on.", demanded Malfoy.
"What do you mean?", asked Tom, playing ignorant.
"You know what I mean.", said Malfoy. "You, Riddle. What you are playing at. On which side you are."
"I still don't see that that's your business."
"First, you tell me you're neutral. Then, I see you writing letters to the Dark Lord. Next, you're leading Dumbledore's army. I'm confused and I don't like it. So would you mind enlighten me?"
Tom raised an eyebrow. "And risk you betraying me? I don't think so. You'll have to endure confusion, I'm sorry."
Malfoy looked furious. Tom wouldn't have been surprised to see steam coming out of his ears. "My father is in the Dark Lord's inner circle, as you already know. If you don't tell me, I will write him."
"This won't help you a lot, except maybe get you in trouble, Malfoy. In lots of trouble. So risk your life if you feel the need, but don't say I had not warned you." Tom was getting really annoyed, he had to do something about Malfoy.
"What, you want to kill me?", asked Malfoy, torn between being afraid and making fun of Tom.
Harsher means were necessary. "Did I say I would? Alright, I'm on Voldemort's side, and if I ask him he'll kill you and your family. Your father doesn't know about me and neither does any other Death Eater. Dumbledore thinks I'm on his side. And if you tell a soul about this, even your family, you are dead, believe me or not. And stop annoying me. Do I make myself clear?"
"You could be lying.", said Malfoy, but he was clearly losing his confidence.
"You want to try out? Go on then, who cares about a few more dead bodies.", said Tom icily. "And if you tell your father, trust me, I will know."
Malfoy was silent, but Tom was sure that he would not try anything anymore. Fear stood in Malfoy's face, fear of Tom.
Tom turned off the light and went to bed. Soon he felt Sylvie slither next to him on the pillow.
"What were you talking about with that boy?" she hissed. "You looked angry."
"He wanted to get me to tell him about my father and threatened to write to his. That would be really bad, because his father would surely recognize my name. Not many people would, but that man, yes." he hissed back quietly, aware of Malfoy still being awake. "Can you look out if he writes any letters, and if he does, tell me immediately, alright?"
"Yes, I'd love to. Sleep well."
"You too. Goodnight." And Sylvie glided away again.
Tom made a mental note to tell Voldemort about Malfoy in Hogsmeade. He hadn't meant to threaten Malfoy, he just hadn't known what else to do, and it had been the best way to make him shut up. But it had actually been good, maybe it had been a bit reckless, but he had scared Malfoy, and he had enjoyed that. A small smile formed on his face, invisible in the darkness.
On Friday afternoon Defense Against the Dark Arts was cancelled because Professor Candy's parrot was sick and she couldn't leave him alone. So Tom was sitting in the library and studying. The next day he was planning to meet Voldemort. He was just busy reading 'A collection of nonsensical spells that you never need' to Sylvie who, having left Malfoy for a while as he was hanging out with Crabbe and Goyle which bored her to death, was coiled up on his lap and having fun making jokes about the spells, when Hermione rushed in.
"I've been looking for you everywhere.", she panted. "Good news – Hagrid's back!"
A/N: That was it for today, but I'll be able to post the next chapter soon – sorry that I can't do it regularly.
As I said above, Tom will in a few chapters make his first kill – when exactly depends – and I need you to tell me who you want to die.
And I think I'll make these house-point questions. Tell me which house you are in and for every right answer there are points. Alright?
So, first question:
Where was Hagrid and what was he doing? (25 points) And it's not that difficult, he says so in book 5.
And you're all invited to give me suggestions if you have any.
Please review!!!