I'm SO sorry that it took me so long to update! I had NaNo stress both in October and November, my preparation work was total overkill as usual, then RL was nothing but trouble, too, and in-between I'd been totally out-of-sync with this story.
I'm also very sorry that there are no answers to the reviews yet, I'll do them later or within the next couple of days. Knowing how lazy I am, I decided to get this chapter out of the house while I'm still motivated, I was worried that if I'd wait to answer all the reviews, then I'd postpone this again. Nonetheless, a huge thank you to all my reviewers! I love you all to pieces!
Chapter 3: In the light of day
In the comfortable four-poster bed in the Head Boy's dormitory, Tom Riddle was in a rather foul mood.
Tiberius Lestrange had already suffered from his mood, when he had come to whine about why Tom hadn't attended breakfast, Tom had chased him out of his dormitory with some very nasty Dark curses, some of which would hopefully permanently impair his family planning. He realised that Tiberius would sulk for days now, which didn't do anything to improve his mood, but by now, he thought, Lestrange really should be used to it that Tom Riddle never apologised. At least never apologised truthfully, that was.
He smirked grimly whilst he continued to stare daggers at the canopy of his four-poster. Tiberius had actually believed that Tom had grown soft, just because he had camped in the library for some days.
Ah, the library…
His thoughts wandered back to the Gryffindor girl and the Astronomy Tower. But then again, when didn't he think about her?
Tom hated to admit it even to himself and he would certainly send his basilisk on whoever might find out about it, but she had intrigued him. The mystery that surrounded her sudden appearance and disappearance intrigued him all the more. Despite his hate for all things Muggle, he himself was very Muggle in the way his mind worked. He believed in action and reaction and the action the reaction would cause. He believed in facts and in logic. No one did just appear and disappear without a trace, even in the wizarding world. There was a reason, a completely scientific explanation for everything.
The trick was just to be patient and ambitious enough to find that perfectly scientific explanation and to use it to one's own advantage.
Tom knew that this made him a weirdo in Slytherin, at best a Ravenclaw's mind would work that way. But then again, Tom wasn't much of a typical Slytherin in anything, at least on the surface. He didn't harassed the muggle-borns, not even the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, he didn't seemed to be opinionated on anything, be it the Muggle Protection Laws, the Dementors or Grindelwald's fall. Whenever someone drilled for answers, he smiled and told them that he trusted the Ministry to make the right decisions, he was just a mere student, he didn't understood these matters enough to have an own opinion on them.
Tom was a true snake, slick, flexible and impossible to pinpoint. He prided himself very much on it. What little people knew about his true opinions was such vague that everyone could interpret it in the way they liked.
To be vague made it considerably easier to pursue your ambitions in ways that would not land you in Azkaban straight away.
He had been slick on that night when he had met the Gryffindor girl, too. He hadn't given away much, had talked a lot and said preciously little.
Now in the aftermath, though, he wished that he would have been just a tiny bit more straightforward. Because neither subtlety nor all day sessions in the library had managed to provide him with the answers he yearned for. He had started to believe that she didn't possessed these answers, either, but he's convinced that she could have given him some clues, would he have asked for them.
It had been a funny night, for sure.
Tom had gone to the Astronomy Tower to escape the Halloween party, yet another instance of brainless teenagers who wasted their time with dumb activities such as to kill their few remaining brain cells with alcohol. He would never understand why the school actually supported them in that task.
And then she had come. Tom's first thought had been that she was one of Dumbledore's watchdogs. Indeed, he had been convinced of it. While he was rather popular, he doubted a girl would be quite crazy enough to voluntarily seek out his company in the middle of the night in the otherwise deserted Astronomy Tower. He was popular, for sure, but people were wary of him, too.
He had been convinced of it until she told him that she's muggle-born. If she was to keep him on a tight leash for Professor Dumbledore, then she would try to gain his trust, not try to make him hex her. Dumbledore and his Gryffindor cronies were the only ones who didn't believed in Tom's indifference.
Bit for bit, he had come to notice that something about her was suspicious. The way she talked and acted, the cut of her robes and her hairdo… And when she didn't knew that he was Head Boy, when she told him that she was a Gryffindor Prefect even though he wasted every single day precious minutes of his life away to deal with the dunderheads that claimed to be Gryffindor's finest, not that that said a lot about their capabilities, his suspicions had been confirmed.
Tom didn't knew what she was, let alone who she was, but he knew that she was either a very good actor – and a metamorphagus to boot – or she held a very peculiar secret which he was determined to uncover.
Tom had spent much time with books on past and present Hogwarts students, then he had moved to books about special phenomena that had occurred on Hogwarts grounds. He had found some clues and promising traces, but he still waited for the one big breakthrough.
And then Tiberius Lestrange had the nerve to disturb him. He would never understand that Tom Riddle wasn't just lazy, he had spent every night since Halloween on important research that a pea-sized brain like Tiberius would never be able to grasp anyway, even if Tom would for some strange reason decide to grace him with an explanation.
Last night, Tom had sneaked into the Restricted Section again and he had finally found a book that he felt would provide him with the last missing puzzle pieces. For the rest of the night, he had deactivated various charms and hexes on the book, as well as transfigured and charmed a cheap romance novel to take the place of Hogwarts' Dyrne Magick - Salazar Slytherin's Deork Laf. Rarely anyone bothered to use complicated translation spells to read books written in Old English and even fewer understood it, so he was optimistic that he would be done with the book by the time someone would miss it.
With a weary groan, he sat up in the bed, brushed the green-and-silver curtains aside and left the bed. Well, to be honest, it looked more like Tom tumbled out of the bed.
He yawned and cursed under his breath Tiberius Lestrange and all his descendants that the world would hopefully be spared of on his way to the bathroom. It was time to start yet another day of research. He felt it, he just knew it, that he's very close.
Three hours later on the top of the Astronomy Tower, Tom Riddle chewed the last of his pilfered sandwiches whilst he read Hogwarts' Dyrne Magick.
As time had passed, his optimism had increased and by now, Tom was so giddy with excitement that it downright pained him that he wasn't able to tell anyone about his impending success.
"Just that… yes, I can do that… a bit more difficult… yes, that's okay, I'll get to it right away", something like that he muttered under his breath whenever he didn't chewed on a sandwich.
Tom groaned as he picked up footsteps. He quickly angled for his wand and cast a concealment charm on the stolen book that would make it look like one of his History of Magic textbooks, but just in case, he stuffed it into his book bag.
"What are you doing up here all day, Riddle? Honestly, you're such a bookworm, it's embarrassing to have you in Slytherin", Tiberius Lestrange complained.
Tom played "absent-mindedly" with his wand, he waved it in Tiberius Lestrange's direction. "Unless you would like me to learn the Unforgivables on you, Lestrange, buzz off", he said calmly, it sounded more like a statement than like a threat. Not that he needed to learn the Unforgivables anymore, of course, he added in his thoughts, but Tiberius didn't need to know that yet.
The Lestranges second-oldest son, just a fourth year, but already very powerful in Slytherin, didn't looked impressed. "Yeah, sure, Riddle, as if a half-blood could curse me", he scoffed.
Anger flashed in Tom's eyes for a moment. Sadly, the Lestrange boys were among the few who had learned of his heritage and they didn't missed once a chance to rub it in. He hated it that he still let them get to him. "If you don't leave this very instant, Lestrange, you'll take the short cut." He pointedly peered down to the cobblestone far below the Astronomy Tower
Tiberius paled. "Fine, Riddle, have it your way!", he sneered and stalked off.
Tom shook his head and chuckled in amusement. Tiberius really was nothing like his older brother. He's ridiculously easy to get rid off, Tom almost wished for his older brother's return. The Lestrange heir had been two years above Tom and treated him accordingly, but at least he had had an inkling that Tom Riddle was nothing like the harmless, spineless nerd many mistook him for. But soon enough, they would learn their lesson anyway…
He waited until the sound of Lestrange's footsteps was fully gone, then he pulled his book out of the bookbag again, undid the charm and continued to read in silence.
Half an hour later, a broad smile spread on Tom's features. He shut the book with a snap and stored it away. Tom Riddle's green eyes glowed with happiness and triumph.
"Perfect!", he exclaimed in an awed voice.
To be continued…
The title of the book is supposed to be old English (though I doubt that my translation is anywhere near correct, so please bear with me). It means "Hogwarts' Secret Magic: Salazar Slytherin's Dark Heirloom". To translate it I used the vocabulary from: http:www.mun.ca/Ansaxdat/vocab/wordlist.html
Now, to be honest, I'm not completely happy with this chapter. I had planned to make it a bit longer, but after all that time I made you wait, I decided to upload it the way it is and instead make up for taking so long with quicker upload of the next chapters. Trying to make this chapter better is one of the reasons why this one took so long, I wanted to make it longer and more exciting, but in the end, it refused to be more than an interlude chapter. But I promise that the next couple ones will be more exciting! Hermione and Tom will meet again
As a kind of apology gift, I'll give you a chapter list here of what I have planned next. Chapter 4 and 5 are written, but I'll probably do some major editing.
Chapter 4 – When wonders will never cease 1 – Hermione
Chapter 5 – When wonders will never cease 2 – Hermione
Chapter 5 – When wonders will never cease 2 – Tom (maybe)
Chapter 6 – When wonders will never cease 3 – Hermione
Chapter 7 – The world doesn't stops – Others