Chapter Eight

There and back again

After the duel, the rest of the Slytherin house acted more civilly towards Tom. They mainly didn't want to incur his anger as Nero Malfoy had done. They still made remarks about him, but behind his back. In fact once when he was reading, Tom heard Lestrange talking about him to Nott.

"Just leave him to his miserable self. He's going to die old and alone with only his books for company. And everyone will forget there ever was anyone called Tom Riddle." When he noticed Tom was in ear shot, Lestrange made a beeline for the dorms.

For the most part, lessons were going great. Tom was leaving his peers in the dust and passed every test with an average of one hundred and thirteen percent. For over a month after the duel, Nero Malfoy returned to the common room each night with filthy hands and a strong smell of bleach and other muggle cleaning fluids. He always shot a withering glare at Tom before returning to his dormitory.

Seth Malfoy seemed to be both impressed and disgusted with Tom: he was impressed that a half blood had won a wizards duel against his brother but he was less than happy with the punishment and humiliation that Nero now endured. He did keep up his superior pure blood image by reaming out Tom at every available opportunity but sometimes he slipped him a book, usually on dark curses. Tom assimilated the curses but he didn't practice them: they weren't exactly a tongue tying hex or a boil curse.

Easter came and went and before the first years knew it, they were studying in earnest for their first year exams. They were especially motivated to studying when they heard what the older students told them what would happen to them if they failed.

"First you suffer the humiliation of been thrown out of Hogwarts," they were told.

"Then comes the ultimate fate. You know the magicians and wizards at muggle children's birthday parties? They were also thrown out of Hogwarts for failing their first year exams." Needless to say, study was the only thing that the Slytherin first years had on their minds.

The exams started without a hitch. Surprisingly, many of his fellow students had asked Tom to tutor them in various subjects. He did this gladly: not only were they tutored but he had the opportunity to review the material actively rather than passive revision. By tutoring them, they also owed him a favour. That was how things worked in Slytherin house: by doing a favour, a debt was created. One day, that debt may be vital to the individual in question.

The written exams were dull. They had all been provided with special quills that were bewitched to prevent cheating and the parchment was charmed to repel self correcting ink. The only exam that posed any problems for Tom was the History of magic exam, when he mixed up the dates of several Goblin rebellions. Fortunately he identified and corrected most of the mistakes before the exam ended.

In the practical exams, things were very different. In Charms, they had to enchant an Orange to peal itself- extra points were given if the peal was in one strip. In Transfiguration they had two tasks to perform: the first was to transform two twigs into knitting needles and a handful of hay into wool. The second was to turn a rat into an ash tray. The tasks could be completed either way round. Tom transfigured the rat first then, as there a fair amount of time left he showed off a little. He didn't mean to, it just happened. He turned the objects into the desired tools, then charmed the needles to knit and directed them to knit the Slytherin crest. Dumbledore was impressed and promised to tell Flitwick about the impressive charm work for extra credit. Tom may have been imagining it but he got the impression that Dumbledore was discreetly watching him for the remainder of the exam. Their last test was in Herbology. Normally it would have been History of magic, but the Herbology had to be postponed: the greenhouses had been infected by Doxies. Apparently it was a prank and Professor Runner vowed that if she ever caught the person responsible she would make them fertilise the entire greenhouse with Dragon dung, without gloves.

Finally the exams were done with. The next two weeks were relatively easy. While they were still attending class, without the pressure of exams looming over them, they could study easier. They had two weeks before they found out how they did on their exams. In the mean time, Slytherin won the interhouse Quidditch cup, but only just.

Tom felt that they only because there was more money than talent on the team. Nero Malfoy the seeker was, according to the commentator, a player who caught more Bludgers than Snitches, the chasers were all Quafflehoggers and the Beaters were too fond of their clubs. There was a lot of money put into the game, mostly by Malfoy senior. He had apparently hired a coach for the team in exchange for his son getting on the team. The coach, Reyal Pluof had been kicked out of the Falmouth Falcons, when his dirty tactics had cost them the league championship three years in a row due to disqualifications.

About a week later, there was an uncomfortable tension in the air at Hogwarts. The students stopped laughing, the teachers often had whispered discussions, all the while looking around fearfully. This new attitude came with the arrival of the daily profit a few days earlier.

Grindelwald makes deal with dictator

The wizarding community lives in fear after rumours last night were confirmed. The dark wizard Gustavus Grindelwald has indeed forged an with Adolf Hitler, whom he helped rise to power as head of the German government. He is using magic to aid Hitler and his campaign. It is believed that Grindlewald will make Hitler launch an offensive on Britain.

Several Aurors have already been killed in failed attempts to confront Grindlewald. It is widely known that Grindlewald is a supporter of the purity of wizards blood, so why has he allied himself with a muggle? Many fear that he hopes to start a war that will weaken several countries, allowing him to take over in the aftermath.

"We are all disturbed by this discovery but I must ask the magical community to remain calm," the minister of magic stated last night. "Many have lost loved ones to Grindlewald but I can assure you that we are working as hard as possible to bring Grindlewald to justice and to stop the situation from escalating."

Despite these comforting words, the public is in a state of panic. While the muggle military of Britain is superior to that of the German's, Grindlewald may aid them with magic, something the British Ministry of Magic is unwilling to do unless the situation becomes critical.

The mood was still present on the final day of term, despite Professor Dippet constantly stating that there was no cause for alarm. Slytherin won the house cup. Tom ate as much as he could, knowing that he would go over two months without proper food. His exam results were the highest in the year, not that that surprised anyone.

With his trunk packed, he sat down miserably in an empty compartment on the Hogwarts express. He was heading back to the orphanage; a place where he wasn't allowed to use magic. All too soon for his liking, the train arrived back in London. He had to get himself back to the orphanage as no one had bothered to come to great him at the station. He didn't get a welcome back or anything. He just blended in with the other orphans. No one asked him how his year had gone. Lister did seem mildly surprised that he had not heard a single bad thing about him from the school.

Tom soon felt hungry again and longed to be back at Hogwarts. He didn't belong here: he had never really fit in with the other orphans, but over this last year they seemed to be even more different from him. Unfortunately they had forgotten about the snake incident so they were as beastly as ever. Tom went out of his way to stay out of theirs. The last thing he wanted was to be expelled for some accidental magic that he might cause. He talked to Nepenthe for hours on end, did all his homework and purchased his second year books, as well as a few extra. He was able to hide these books quite well from the other orphans. He used the dust jackets of muggle books to cover his spell books. The other orphans were used to seeing him with his nose in a book, so they didn't give him a second glance.

Malcolm was still smarting from last year, however. He did all that he could to make Tom's life hell. From dumping water on him to beating him up. He also framed him for vandalising Listers office. Tom got himself a week in the wailing room with nothing to eat but one piece of dry bread and a glass of water every day. Tom was able to intimidate Malcolm to stopping though. Nepenthe had recently shed his skin and as much as Tom had wanted to keep it, he had thought of a better use for it. He waited until Malcolm was asleep then made his move. The skin still had all its features on it, including the eyes. He balanced the skin on his enemies sleeping chest with a note that simply said 'Until next time'. The next morning the whole orphanage was awakened by screaming. Tom could only laugh when he thought of how Malcolm must have felt when he opened his eyes and seen what he thought was a snake looking at him. Suffice to say, Tom's holidays became more bearable after that.

The days dragged by, but eventually Tom was packing his trunk and setting off to Platform nine and three quarters. He slipped through the barrier and managed to find an empty compartment. He pulled out a book from his trunk, which happened to be Hogwarts: A History. He hadn't touched the book since the revelation at Christmas. He flipped it open but he snapped it shut soon after. The account on Salazar Slytherin went on for two more pages and made references to books Slytherin himself had written concerning advanced potions, prophesies and the chamber of secrets. He couldn't concentrate on the new information when he was still preoccupied with the knowledge he had gained on the Quidditch pitch.

This trip he didn't have any uninvited guests. He bought some Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from the witch with the food trolley. He liked the chocolate and the cards were informative, but he was very unlucky with the beans. By the end of his bag, he had tasted rusty nails, glass, rubber, cyanide, blood, bubotuber pus, burnt spinach and Engine oil. With his luck, he didn't have enough courage to eat a brown coloured bean. It may have been chocolate or it might have been something unsanitary.

Finally, the train arrived at Hogsmeade station. This year he didn't have to take a boat trip with the first years that Ogg was gathering round him. He followed the knot of students to the carriages. Harnessed to the carriages were mighty Palomino horses with wings. Tom expected them to fly the carriages up to Hogwarts, but they pulled them the normal way. Tom was soon sat at the Slytherin table, eagerly anticipating the start of term feast. After been starved at the orphanage for the holidays, Tom couldn't wait to dig in and satiate his hunger. The sorting seemed to take an age, but when the last first year was seated, the tables were piled high with food. Tom dived in, enjoying the taste of proper food again. He did notice that Nero Malfoy was glowering at him. For a moment he couldn't figure out why, but then it clicked: Nero was now in third year and third years began their elective classes. That meant Muggle studies. Tom just snickered before returning to his food.

Once the food was cleared away and the start of term notices were read, Tom got to his feet and followed the other Slytherins to their common room. The new prefect gave the password ("Crystal ball"). Tom climbed the steps up to the second year dormitory and threw himself onto his bed. The other boys just ignored him but Tom was glad that he had finally come home.

I couldn't resist the title.