A/N Thanks once again to Maria for taking the time to beta this.
Just a little reminder
*** denotes a time shift
### denotes a change of narrator
I've tried to make narrators identities as easy to figure out as possible. It is almost always the first person whose full name is given. If it is a scene between just Tom & Minerva it will never be either of them so look around and you can usually figure out who is narrating pretty easily. If the scene takes place in Tom's bedroom, nine times out of ten expect the narrator to be the portrait in the room. In the Charms classroom, the narrator was Professor Tofty. No first name was ever given for him in the books and I haven't found it necessary to give him one.
As something of a little treat for the AD/MM fans reading this who are waiting for the AD/MM part to begin, I have excerpted a little piece from later in the story. It's called Dumbledore's Beard. It is just fluff, but reading it, you can definitely see what the Sorting Hat meant when it sorted young Minerva into Slytherin. It is archived on this site, but if you want to copy and paste, the link is
http://64.4.8.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=b74e20e203b9622c709aad0c6072b312&lat=1073891525&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2efanfiction%2enet%2fread%2ephp%3fstoryid%3d1683469
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Standing in the Potions classroom after lunch, Albus Dumbledore had to admit he was astounded that his plan had made it this far. He had been more than convinced that Dippet would find out about his plan and intercede.
When the bell rang and the seats of Tom Riddle and Minerva Grindelwald remained empty Dumbledore was disappointed, but not at all surprised. He simply assumed that Dippet was allowing the other students the benefits of his knowledge while instructing that pair not to attend.
########################################
"I do _not_ want to go in that one! Take me to another one!"
Riddle looked quite exasperated. "Kitten, there is nothing wrong with this bathroom. Hurry or we will be late for Potions!"
Miss McGon - no that wasn't it - Miss Grindelwald replied in a tone that offered no room for bargaining. "I am _not_ going in there!"
Robert Binns had always been fond of eavesdropping on other people's conversations and today was no exception. While certainly he could intervene and try to help Mr. Riddle, he found it much more enjoyable to watch the young man struggle. So long as it wasn't directed at him, Binns found the girl's insolence most charming.
"Kitten, this is a girl's bathroom. Just go. We can't be late. It's Pomfrey's first day back and he'll be looking for any excuse to pass out detentions."
Clearly Mr. Riddle had not yet realized the futileness of arguing against that demanding tone. Again, so long as it was not directed against him, Binns admired the girl's adamant refusal to reconsider her position.
"I will _not_ use that one!"
Riddle gave the girl a perplexed look. "What's wrong with that one?"
Miss Grindelwald didn't look quite so confident now. "I do _not_ like the girl who lives in there."
'Lives' wasn't quite the word Binns would have used, but to each their own.
A change seemed to come over Mr. Riddle. He seemed less annoyed and more…more, well Binns wasn't sure more of what, but definitely more of something.
"That's right, I had forgotten. Myrtle has been sent back to stay here."
Riddle had an almost dreamy expression for a moment. He gave the girl a slightly appraising look as he quietly questioned her. "You aren't…you aren't afraid of Myrtle, are you?"
The girl hesitated only a moment before becoming indignant. Looking Riddle directly in the eye, she lied. "No! Of course _not!_ I am not afraid of anything!"
Less emphatically and not looking directly at him, she continued answering. "I just can _ not_ go with someone watching me."
Riddle stood there a moment, still watching the girl with that slightly appraising look. In the end, he was the one to capitulate. "Alright, we'll stop by your rooms, but quickly."
Binns couldn't blame the girl for not wanting to use that bathroom. He wouldn't want to use it either. Dead people gave him the heebie-jeebies. As far as he was concerned, they had no business loitering, making a nuisance of themselves. The castle ghosts were a bunch of no good layabouts.
########################################
******************************************
Albus Dumbledore looked over to the door as it opened.
"Sorry we're late, Professor Pomfrey. It won't - " Riddle broke off as he realized it was not Pomfrey teaching the class. "What are you doing here? Where is Pomfrey?"
Ignoring the accusing tone, Dumbledore responded. "_Professor_ Pomfrey will not be returning until next week. Until then, you will have to make due with me. As for the tardiness, not to worry, Tom, I'm just glad to see you are joining us."
Tom shook his head and gathered the girl back up into his arms.
"Take a seat, Mr. Riddle." After a pause with no response, he repeated himself. "I said, take a seat, Tom."
Tom ignored his request and exited the dungeon classroom. Dumbledore paused only a moment before forsaking his class to follow after.
"Tom, return to the classroom at once!"
Dumbledore frowned as the boy ignored him and continued up the staircase.
"Five points from Slytherin for every step you climb, Mr. Riddle!"
The boy positively sneered as he turned around. "We'll just see what Dippet has to say about that."
"If you wish to go speak to the Headmaster, by all means go, however Miss Grindelwald will be returning to her Potions lesson with me."
Tom was unquestionably smug as he answered back. "Dippet said you aren't to be anywhere near Kitten!"
Dumbledore frowned and took issue with the only part of Tom's outburst that he legitimately could. "Her name is Minerva."
"No, it really isn't."
Weighed down by the girl, Riddle was not at all difficult to catch up to. Still, the way he clutched the girl, barring physically tearing her from Riddle's arms, there was no way to separate them. Unwilling to traumatize the child any further, a fuming Dumbledore made the trip to the Headmaster's office along with the pair. On the way, Dumbledore tried to calm himself with the knowledge that in just a few short weeks Tom would no longer be an influence on the child. Tom would be graduating, leaving Hogwarts and the girl behind.
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A/N Sorry I didn't get this posted up sooner, but Fanfiction.net cut off my access for a while because I violated one of their terms of service by having a chapter that contained only author's notes. Besides suspending my uploading privileges they ever so kindly removed the chapter in question. To get my chapter numbers somewhat back in order I am cutting this chapter in half and posting it in two parts but at the same time.
Thanks for reviewing Jessica, LinZE, Margo, Morpheus, Minerva Gwendolyn McGonagall, Punurple, Mara MG, CEA, Kbmaillist, HMT, and Cluttered.
Cluttered, Laura Kay and anyone else wanting to make a guess on the meanings of the predictions made by Artemisia - I won't respond here because I don't want to 'spoil' anything for other people, but if you want to send your predictions in an email, I will tell you if you are on the right track. So far no one has been entirely correct. If you just want to post them in your review so later once all is revealed you can revel if you get it right then by all means I fully support that idea. I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of people trying to work everything out.
MGM Give it a few more chapters and …
Margo I was trying to subtly imply with the reactions to the newspaper that Dumbledore received quite a bit of attention from his part in the defeat of Grindelwald. Just a little reminder in case anyone had forgotten Dumbledore's role in the matter. If that didn't come across, not to worry, it will be mentioned a few more times.
I'll address your feedback for my other story here since I know you read this too. At the moment When Kneazles Attack is being guarded by a sphinx who will not allow the story to continue until someone correctly answers the question posed at the end of the last chapter. Seriously, it was meant to be a short sweet little twenty or so chapter story that was easily followed. Something of the opposite of this epic length piece. I'm not quite sure what happened though, somewhere along the way I seemed to have lost everyone. The answer to the question 'What else is supposed to happen the day the students go home' was supposed to be an obvious one but no one figured it out. One reviewer came almost close, but then took it in the wrong direction. I had the second and third chapters half written before I posted the first one, but decided to concentrate more on this story instead when no one was able to figure it out. I might revisit the story later but probably not until someone figures it out. Even then, I am a little hesitant because when I gave up on Kneazles I absorbed a small plot point of that story into this one. So I guess if a reviewer can get past the sphinx, I could continue that story so long as everyone promises not to flame me for plagiarizing myself.
Just a little reminder
*** denotes a time shift
### denotes a change of narrator
I've tried to make narrators identities as easy to figure out as possible. It is almost always the first person whose full name is given. If it is a scene between just Tom & Minerva it will never be either of them so look around and you can usually figure out who is narrating pretty easily. If the scene takes place in Tom's bedroom, nine times out of ten expect the narrator to be the portrait in the room. In the Charms classroom, the narrator was Professor Tofty. No first name was ever given for him in the books and I haven't found it necessary to give him one.
As something of a little treat for the AD/MM fans reading this who are waiting for the AD/MM part to begin, I have excerpted a little piece from later in the story. It's called Dumbledore's Beard. It is just fluff, but reading it, you can definitely see what the Sorting Hat meant when it sorted young Minerva into Slytherin. It is archived on this site, but if you want to copy and paste, the link is
http://64.4.8.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=b74e20e203b9622c709aad0c6072b312&lat=1073891525&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2efanfiction%2enet%2fread%2ephp%3fstoryid%3d1683469
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Standing in the Potions classroom after lunch, Albus Dumbledore had to admit he was astounded that his plan had made it this far. He had been more than convinced that Dippet would find out about his plan and intercede.
When the bell rang and the seats of Tom Riddle and Minerva Grindelwald remained empty Dumbledore was disappointed, but not at all surprised. He simply assumed that Dippet was allowing the other students the benefits of his knowledge while instructing that pair not to attend.
########################################
"I do _not_ want to go in that one! Take me to another one!"
Riddle looked quite exasperated. "Kitten, there is nothing wrong with this bathroom. Hurry or we will be late for Potions!"
Miss McGon - no that wasn't it - Miss Grindelwald replied in a tone that offered no room for bargaining. "I am _not_ going in there!"
Robert Binns had always been fond of eavesdropping on other people's conversations and today was no exception. While certainly he could intervene and try to help Mr. Riddle, he found it much more enjoyable to watch the young man struggle. So long as it wasn't directed at him, Binns found the girl's insolence most charming.
"Kitten, this is a girl's bathroom. Just go. We can't be late. It's Pomfrey's first day back and he'll be looking for any excuse to pass out detentions."
Clearly Mr. Riddle had not yet realized the futileness of arguing against that demanding tone. Again, so long as it was not directed against him, Binns admired the girl's adamant refusal to reconsider her position.
"I will _not_ use that one!"
Riddle gave the girl a perplexed look. "What's wrong with that one?"
Miss Grindelwald didn't look quite so confident now. "I do _not_ like the girl who lives in there."
'Lives' wasn't quite the word Binns would have used, but to each their own.
A change seemed to come over Mr. Riddle. He seemed less annoyed and more…more, well Binns wasn't sure more of what, but definitely more of something.
"That's right, I had forgotten. Myrtle has been sent back to stay here."
Riddle had an almost dreamy expression for a moment. He gave the girl a slightly appraising look as he quietly questioned her. "You aren't…you aren't afraid of Myrtle, are you?"
The girl hesitated only a moment before becoming indignant. Looking Riddle directly in the eye, she lied. "No! Of course _not!_ I am not afraid of anything!"
Less emphatically and not looking directly at him, she continued answering. "I just can _ not_ go with someone watching me."
Riddle stood there a moment, still watching the girl with that slightly appraising look. In the end, he was the one to capitulate. "Alright, we'll stop by your rooms, but quickly."
Binns couldn't blame the girl for not wanting to use that bathroom. He wouldn't want to use it either. Dead people gave him the heebie-jeebies. As far as he was concerned, they had no business loitering, making a nuisance of themselves. The castle ghosts were a bunch of no good layabouts.
########################################
******************************************
Albus Dumbledore looked over to the door as it opened.
"Sorry we're late, Professor Pomfrey. It won't - " Riddle broke off as he realized it was not Pomfrey teaching the class. "What are you doing here? Where is Pomfrey?"
Ignoring the accusing tone, Dumbledore responded. "_Professor_ Pomfrey will not be returning until next week. Until then, you will have to make due with me. As for the tardiness, not to worry, Tom, I'm just glad to see you are joining us."
Tom shook his head and gathered the girl back up into his arms.
"Take a seat, Mr. Riddle." After a pause with no response, he repeated himself. "I said, take a seat, Tom."
Tom ignored his request and exited the dungeon classroom. Dumbledore paused only a moment before forsaking his class to follow after.
"Tom, return to the classroom at once!"
Dumbledore frowned as the boy ignored him and continued up the staircase.
"Five points from Slytherin for every step you climb, Mr. Riddle!"
The boy positively sneered as he turned around. "We'll just see what Dippet has to say about that."
"If you wish to go speak to the Headmaster, by all means go, however Miss Grindelwald will be returning to her Potions lesson with me."
Tom was unquestionably smug as he answered back. "Dippet said you aren't to be anywhere near Kitten!"
Dumbledore frowned and took issue with the only part of Tom's outburst that he legitimately could. "Her name is Minerva."
"No, it really isn't."
Weighed down by the girl, Riddle was not at all difficult to catch up to. Still, the way he clutched the girl, barring physically tearing her from Riddle's arms, there was no way to separate them. Unwilling to traumatize the child any further, a fuming Dumbledore made the trip to the Headmaster's office along with the pair. On the way, Dumbledore tried to calm himself with the knowledge that in just a few short weeks Tom would no longer be an influence on the child. Tom would be graduating, leaving Hogwarts and the girl behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N Sorry I didn't get this posted up sooner, but Fanfiction.net cut off my access for a while because I violated one of their terms of service by having a chapter that contained only author's notes. Besides suspending my uploading privileges they ever so kindly removed the chapter in question. To get my chapter numbers somewhat back in order I am cutting this chapter in half and posting it in two parts but at the same time.
Thanks for reviewing Jessica, LinZE, Margo, Morpheus, Minerva Gwendolyn McGonagall, Punurple, Mara MG, CEA, Kbmaillist, HMT, and Cluttered.
Cluttered, Laura Kay and anyone else wanting to make a guess on the meanings of the predictions made by Artemisia - I won't respond here because I don't want to 'spoil' anything for other people, but if you want to send your predictions in an email, I will tell you if you are on the right track. So far no one has been entirely correct. If you just want to post them in your review so later once all is revealed you can revel if you get it right then by all means I fully support that idea. I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of people trying to work everything out.
MGM Give it a few more chapters and …
Margo I was trying to subtly imply with the reactions to the newspaper that Dumbledore received quite a bit of attention from his part in the defeat of Grindelwald. Just a little reminder in case anyone had forgotten Dumbledore's role in the matter. If that didn't come across, not to worry, it will be mentioned a few more times.
I'll address your feedback for my other story here since I know you read this too. At the moment When Kneazles Attack is being guarded by a sphinx who will not allow the story to continue until someone correctly answers the question posed at the end of the last chapter. Seriously, it was meant to be a short sweet little twenty or so chapter story that was easily followed. Something of the opposite of this epic length piece. I'm not quite sure what happened though, somewhere along the way I seemed to have lost everyone. The answer to the question 'What else is supposed to happen the day the students go home' was supposed to be an obvious one but no one figured it out. One reviewer came almost close, but then took it in the wrong direction. I had the second and third chapters half written before I posted the first one, but decided to concentrate more on this story instead when no one was able to figure it out. I might revisit the story later but probably not until someone figures it out. Even then, I am a little hesitant because when I gave up on Kneazles I absorbed a small plot point of that story into this one. So I guess if a reviewer can get past the sphinx, I could continue that story so long as everyone promises not to flame me for plagiarizing myself.